The hour long pirate tour at Rehoboth Beach had been a huge success. Christine and Hank had both been given black eye patches and paper pirate hats to wear as the creaky wooden ship sailed around the harbor, and as the tour progressed, all of the children who were on the tour were invited to help the pirate leader, 'Captain Blood', find his buried treasure, which consisted of a large trunk filled with wrapped candy and strings of brightly colored plastic beads and many other assorted 'jewels'. Each child got their own share of the 'booty' to take home in a miniature plastic chest, along with the eye patches and hats, and everyone sang a rousing chorus of 'Fifteen men on a dead man's chest...yo ho ho and a bottle of rum' as the ship sailed back to the pier.

Booth and Brennan had also enjoyed the tour, discussing it as they reminisced about one of their first cases together while enjoying the veranda's porch swing later that day. Christine and Hank were playing pirates in the sand nearby as their watchful parents chatted quietly.

"I still think that coroner was kind of skeevy, Bones. He was way too fascinated with thinking about what you'd look like in a wetsuit for my liking." Booth grimaced slightly as he remembered the odd man from so many years ago. "He kept making comments about how much he enjoyed a challenge, and I don't think he was talking about the conversations between the two of you."

"That's ridiculous, Booth. You and I barely knew each other at the time. Why would you be concerned over what that man thought about my body?" Brennan shook her head as she thought about the case. "He really was incompetent, destroying evidence on that phalange the way he did, but that doesn't mean he was socially inept or some sort of sexual predator." Grinning slyly, she reached over and took Booth's hand. "Were you merely jealous of his attention towards me, or were you also thinking about what I'd look like in a wetsuit?"

"Bones! Not in front of the kids!" Booth chuckled as he twitched his eyebrow at his wife. "I was just making sure the guy acted like a gentleman, okay? No pervert was gonna get away with treating my partner like some sort of sex object." Blushing slightly at his wife's sexy smirk, he nodded. "And I was maybe just a little bit possessive of you, even back then, and yes, I was probably thinking about how you might fill out a wetsuit, okay? I couldn't help it. You were so hot...and you still are. C'mere…" He gave her a kiss and smiled suggestively. "Maybe later we can hunt for a different kind of treasure. Whatd'ya think? A little role play? I'll be the pirate captain and you can be my wench. I want my share of the booty..." He winked as he reached down to pat her butt. "If you know what I mean…"

"I think I'd enjoy that very much, Captain Booth, but I'm not sure your doctor would approve of too much rough housing, even though your injury seems to be completely healed. I think he wants to see you one more time before he clears you for that sort of activity. After all, your 'wench' might want to find her own treasure." Seeing Booth's disappointment, Brennan gave him a kiss on the cheek. "However, if we use our imagination, and we aren't too rambunctious, I'm sure we can find a way to entertain ourselves that would be stimulating enough to satisfy you without causing you any further injury. Don't forget...I'm an expert in kinesiology, and I know how to move in all the right ways…"

Groaning softly as his imagination ran amok, Booth was brought back to reality by Christine tugging on his sleeve. "Daddy! Daddy! Look at my map! I made it when I buried my treasure box down by the beach!"

"Excellent, Christine!" Brennan took the map from her daughter and studied it carefully. "It looks like this map will be easy to follow. Look, Booth...ten steps from the edge of the porch and then twenty steps east toward the water…"

"Hey, that is good." Booth winked at the little girl as he pointed at the piece of paper. "But are these Christine sized steps or Daddy sized steps?"

"I made the map, so the steps are my size. C'mon, Daddy, I'll show you. Please?" Christine batted her eyelashes at her father and then deployed a fair imitation of sad puppy eyes. "Hank's no fun. He can't read the map to look for my treasure chest. I want you to play pirates with me, Daddy…it'll be fun. Please?"

"Booth, why don't you go find the treasure with Christine while I transfer the laundry to the dryer? Then, when you find it, you can move it to a different location and make another map, so that Hank and I can find it again after he's had a nap. I'm sure Christine would have fun, and it would help her observational skills." Brennan smiled as she patted the little girl's head. "You'll have to be clever, though. I'm very good at reading charts and maps…"

"Come on, Sweetheart. I bet we can bury this treasure where Mommy will never find it, even with a really good map." Booth took his daughter's hand as they walked away from the porch. "Okay, let's count steps….one, two, three…"

Brennan grinned as she picked up a sleepy Hank, watching as Booth tried to shorten his steps to match Christine's stride. She was pleased to see how relaxed and playful Booth had been over the last few days. Even though she'd never admit it to her husband, Brennan realized that their time at the beach house had been much more relaxing than she had anticipated. Perhaps an annual summer vacation to the beach might be a good thing, she thought to herself as she picked up some beach towels to take inside. They'd had so much fun over the last week, and it would be very pleasant to be able to enjoy more time together next year.

She lay Hank in his bed before walking into the kitchen to get a drink of water. She could see Booth and Christine through the kitchen window, watching them as they dug a hole in the sand, evidently finding the spot where the 'treasure' had been buried. Turning away so she could put the clothes in the dryer, she was surprised to hear Christine's indignant squeal. Booth had picked the little girl up and was hurriedly walking toward the house.

"What happened? What's wrong?", Brennan exclaimed as she saw her daughter's tears. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's gonna be fine, aren't you, Sweetheart? I think she's more scared than hurt." Booth bit his lip to avoid laughing at Christine's pouty expression as he sat her on the kitchen counter. "We were digging for the treasure chest when we disturbed a little crab, who wasn't very happy about the intrusion, and he nipped her finger with his claw." Holding the finger where his wife could see, he pointed to the small wound. "We need to clean this cut out a little bit and put a bandaid on it, and she'll be fixed up good as new in no time."

"That crab was mean! We weren't going to hurt him, but he pinched me anyway." Christine sniffled a bit as her mother washed her wound. "Ow! That hurts, Mommy!"

"I'm sure it stings a little, but it's just soap." Brennan got out the first aid kit and found a Little Mermaid bandage to wrap around Christine's finger. "You know, we have to share the beach with the animals who live here. They've been here a lot longer than us, right? The crab didn't know what you were doing, Christine. He was just trying to protect his home from intruders." Kissing the little girl's finger, she ruffled the child's hair. "I have an idea. Let's have some apple slices, and then later today you and Daddy can cautiously check the spot where the treasure is buried to see if the crab is still there before you dig in the sand some more."

"Okay, Mommy. Can I have some peanut butter, too?" Christine wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I think that can be arranged. Go wash your hands, please." Chuckling as she took the peanut butter out of the cupboard, Brennan turned to her husband. "It appears that being a pirate is quite dangerous, Booth. Who knew you'd encounter killer crabs as you searched for buried treasure."

"Yeah, I guess so. That little guy thought he was pretty ferocious, standing there waving his claws in the air, daring us to mess with him." Booth embraced his wife and caressed her gently. "But I know just how he feels. Someone comes messing with my house, and I'm gonna take them out, right?"

"Yes, I know that's true." Brennan sighed softly as she embraced her husband. "But I don't want to think about that right now. I just want to think about spending time together with our family. That's really the only treasure I'm looking for right now."

"And I'm gonna help you find that." He drew her closer and kissed her. "This is worth more to me than anything I could buy."

"Mama, I hungry." Hank pulled on his mother's shorts. "Wanna nack, mama."

"You're supposed to be napping, young man." Brennan giggled as she picked up her son. "Okay, you can have a snack. Christine is going to have some apples and peanut butter. How does that sound?"

"Yay. Want apples, mama." Hank tried to squirm from his mother's grasp. "Want down, mama."

"Here...sit in your chair. Christine, come sit down." The family gathered around the kitchen table to enjoy a snack.

"Bones, I think tomorrow we oughta go over to Assateague Island. Smitty said that there's a tent and some cots out in the garage we can use to camp on the beach for the night."

"I think Christine would enjoy the trip. Remember how much you liked that book, Christine? Misty of Chincoteague? Daddy wants to go to barrier islands where the horses live."

Christine munched on an apple slice as she thought about the plans for the next day. "That sounds like fun! Will we get to see some of the horses, Daddy?"

"I don't know. I guess we can look, right?" Booth smiled at his little girl. "I think the horses are wild, though. We can't ride them, or anything like that."

"I know. I'd just like to look at them." Christine took another big bite of apple. "Maybe we can take them some apples and carrots."

"The horses are feral animals, Christine. I'm not sure feeding them is a good idea." Brennan's brow furrowed slightly as she thought about their plans. "I'm also unsure as to whether or not it's a good idea to tent camp on the beach. Won't it be really windy on the shore after sunset, Booth?"

"Nah, it'll be fine. We just have to use some really long tent stakes." He wiped a dab of peanut butter from his lip as he continued. "It'll just be overnight. We can have sandwiches for dinner and build a campfire. It'll be fun."

Still unconvinced, Brennan glared slightly at her husband. "We'll see. I suppose that will work."

"Yeah, you'll see. It'll be great. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we go play some miniature golf?"

"Daddy, we're supposed to go check on the treasure." Christine rolled her eyes at her forgetful father. "We need to do that before we play golf."

"Oh, I forgot. Okay, let's help Mommy clean up first, and then we'll go look for it. Maybe the crab will leave us alone now."

"I hope so. I really want to dig up the treasure chest.", Christine sighed.

Oooooooooo

Later that afternoon, Booth and Hank were teamed against Brennan and Christine as they played miniature golf on the resort community's small course. Hank spent most of the game trying to throw the brightly colored balls into the various holes, laughing merrily as he ran away while his daddy chased him to get the golf balls away from his son. Brennan scored a couple of holes in one, due to her superior understanding of the laws of physics and the mechanics of the windmill hazard, but Christine ended up with the low score, winning the game by three strokes.

After dinner, Hank and Christine took turns hiding their treasure chests in the house for each other to find before it was time for them to go to bed. After a quick bath and a couple of short books, the children were soon tucked into to their beds, sound asleep.

Brennan joined her husband on the porch swing, laying her head on his shoulder, listening to the sounds of the night as the cool breezes wafted off the bay. "We had a good day today, didn't we, Booth?"

"A very good day. I loved it." Booth put his arm around his wife and pulled her close. "I'll remember this day for a long time."

"Really? We didn't do anything that special today, other than the pirate tour…"

"Yes, we did. We spent the day with our kids, having fun together. The pirate cruise we took this morning was fun, right? And it was great listening to Hank laugh as he ran away with my golf ball, and Christine had a lot of fun playing pirate and burying the treasure, even if she was nipped by that crab." He kissed the top of Brennan's head. "That's everything I could ever ask for in my life...being with my wife and kids while we play together all day long. Today we made memories I'm gonna treasure for the rest of my life. I love you, Bones…"

"I love you, too, Booth."