Yikes, it's been almost two weeks since I last updated. Sorry for the wait; I got back from vacation about a week ago, and I've been trying to get this done ever since then. Hope this was worth the wait. :)

Disclaimer: I figured I'd put this since I can't remember the last time I did it. I don't own Bones!!


"Booth looked tired," a voice commented from off to the side. She glanced up to see that Cam was standing nearby, leaned with her back against the edge of the platform. She didn't look like she'd gotten much sleep either, but she chose not to comment on that. She knew that her boss' family was in town, which was bound to be a topic she really wanted to avoid.

She shrugged in response to the question, straightening up and stretching slightly. The remains from Limbo that were on the table were the second ones she'd been through that morning, the first having been a mostly easy identification through dentals. "I was up late reading, and he stayed up with me."

Clearly Cam had noticed that it was only Booth who looked tired, and not her as well, but she didn't continue with that line of conversation, obviously seeing that it was a topic they shouldn't discuss.

"I'm half-hoping he brings us a case, and half-hoping he doesn't," she said instead.

"Why?" she asked, frowning.

"Well, if he does then it's a hassle depending on how much evidence there is, seeing as we're two short."

"Three," Temperance corrected. "Mr. Nigel-Murray is out sick."

"Right," Cam sighed. "Forgot about him... well, three down, then. It would be sort of challenging to pull off an entire case in our usual timeframe when we're so understaffed."

"We could always borrow some interns. My students in particular would be quite eager to aid us in an investigation."

"I'm sure," Cam said with a raised eyebrow, and she was pretty sure there was a touch of sarcasm in there. It was confirmed when she continued, "And are they all like the last batch of grad-students? Because we can't really have old car salesmen, structured praying times, horribly depressing attitudes, and... etcetera, all running around in here at once again. You might not have had to deal with it while you were out chasing suspects with Booth... but it was chaos here whenever you went through those doors and they were loose. You have no idea how many experiments went on, with me only able to stop about half of them before they occurred. Of course, most of that was from Hodgins' influence..."

She'd started rambling, and Temperance found that she was only half listening, attempting to nod at the right places so as not to offend her... boss/friend.

"Anyways," Cam went on with a sigh, "Basically... I'm bored but I'm afraid of the effects if we got something that would interest me coming in here."

She nodded thoughtfully in response to that. "I suppose that is a logical conclusion, she agreed. "Were my grad-students really that terrible in here?" she added as an afterthought instead of immediately returning to the remains in front of her.

An amused half laugh from the other woman was her response, then Cam waved as she headed to the stairs, assumably going back to her office to do something tedious such as paperwork. A sigh escaped her lips as she recalled she still had some paperwork of her own to go through later; there was a small amount from the recently identified John Doe of that morning as well as some finishing papers that needed assessment and signatures from the last case.

She scratched absentmindedly at the bandages on her arm, which she'd had to change that morning. They weren't incredibly cumbersome, especially since she could use her other arm to examine remains, but she was looking forward to having full mobility of both her hands again, so she could observe crime scenes and look over damage to bones in the way she was most used to.

The doors opened, and her eyes flew up almost subconsciously before dropping immediately back down when she saw it was a lab tech and not Booth.

Personally, she was hoping for a case, no matter how difficult it would be with only Cam and Thomson to help her in the lab. But Nigel-Murray would be back soon, certainly, so they'd have an extra hand. She had to say, though, that it was getting more and more clear with each passing day just how lacking her work place was without her best friend and Hodgins working by her side and trading theories, with Ange giving advice and the entomologist running experiments with Nigel-Murray.

She didn't even hear the doors open a second time, but a moment later someone was coming up the steps, and she jumped as he appeared immediately by her side. He grinned at her teasingly as she glared.

"Will you stop doing that?" she asked irritably.

He laughed quietly before answering, murmuring softly in her ear, "No, it's actually rather fun. You're supposed to be difficult to sneak up on, I thought?"

"Yeah, well, this is what happens when I decide to trust someone and relax completely around them. Big surprise that they'd abuse that power, isn't it?"

His eyebrows went up in surprise at that, to which she tilted her head up defiantly.

"Hey, Bones, I'm sorry," he said sincerely, clearly stunned by what she'd said. A smile played across her lips. Good, she'd been looking to dig up a little guilt for that. The startling her thing was getting rather old. "I didn't realize... I was just trying to... you know, be amusing... I didn't mean..."

"I know," she told him calmly. "Just..."

"Stop? Yeah, I can do that. I didn't realize I was upsetting you... I would have stopped if I had, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I know that, Booth. Sorry I snapped at you, I think I'm just getting really bored around here and it's not normal for me... even Cam was trying to use small talk as a distraction from paperwork. Hey, you didn't happen to bring a case, did you?" Her eyes lit up hopefully at the possibility, and the smile he gave her only brightened her expression further.

He held up a file with a grin, and she eagerly took it from his hand and flipped it open. "How come we aren't going to the scene?" she questioned, a bit disappointed. "And are they bringing the body here soon?"

"It's in a little town in Maryland," he started to explain, "The local police attempted to handle it, but a second body just turned up and their local coroner is getting overwhelmed with not enough technology to work through all the evidence... basically they just bumped it to us and asked for help. Seeing as the bodies have already been examined, we can't really go to a crime scene unless we count the morgue. We will, however, be heading out there to work with them on this, and seeing the crime scene minus the body will definitely be a part of our investigation."

"When do we leave?" she asked, all traces of her minor agitation from earlier gone with this excellent new field work coming up.

He eyed her injuries suddenly instead of answering, as if he'd just remembered them.

"I'll be fine," she said tersely. "Now, when are we leaving?"

"As soon as you like, Bones. It's just about a two hour drive. We should still have plenty of time to start working on the case when we get there, and we'll get a hotel room for the stay. Or two, if you want, they can be rather small, and no doubt unsanitary..."

"No," she broke in, interrupting him mid-speech, "No," she repeated, shaking her head. He tilted his head to the side questioningly, and she bit her lip and looked away, "I just... not two rooms," she muttered.

He nodded carefully, "Okay, Bones, one room."

She wasn't sure how to tell him that she wasn't really sure if she'd even be able to sleep without him next to her, after how used to his presence she'd grown, so she just nodded quickly to that last statement, not meeting his eyes. Until he lifted her chin up with his finger and gave her a serious but gentle look, which prompted her to speak without saying a word himself.

"I don't want to sleep in a room all alone," she muttered softly, feeling ashamed at the concept. Where had she gone, the Brennan of old, the one who would have scoffed at the concept of relying on someone so completely, of basing all her happiness on another living person who might end up being unreliable or might end up taken from her... all the things that could have gone wrong... all of that pushed away now and left to ashes as she stared at him, forgetting all of that and just hoping he wouldn't react the wrong way? That was all that mattered. And... for some reason, she didn't care that she felt that way. She didn't want back the Brennan who refused to rely on anyone but herself, who looked down on long-term relationships and those who got hurt because they were foolish enough to get so wrapped up in them.

She knew she was right to put all of her trust in him, though, because he answered just how she had been desperately hoping he would. He pulled her closer, instead of pushing her away or teasing her in that joking manner that he sometimes liked to use. She sighed into his shirt, feeling the warmth of his arms around her and relaxing into it. This was why she was so glad to be free of all that doubt and that caution... because this was her reward. A soft kiss to the top of her head seemed to only further provide evidence for her case.

"I understand," he murmured gently. "I'll be right next to you if you want me there," he promised, and she nodded, smiling softly back at him as she tilted her head back to look up into his eyes. He leaned his head down to kiss her warmly, and she responded gratefully, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pushing her fingers through his thick brown hair.

"You two are getting as bad as the early stages of Angela and Hodgins," they were interrupted by a bemused Cam. They pulled apart slightly, but didn't lose contact with one another completely, their arms still touching. The smile on her boss's face, though, told her she wasn't upset by the display in the center of the lab, despite the raised eyebrows of some nearby lab techs and the nervous coughing from a janitor who was attempting to clean up a spill at the edge of the platform and remain mostly unnoticed as he did so. They'd forgotten there were other people around, caught up as they were in their emotions. But she didn't mind, and it didn't seem like Booth did much either. "Don't get me wrong, I was expecting this to happen as much as Ange and the rest of them... but I will get cold water if need be. And..." she coughed slightly, "Dr. Brennan does have an office. Just... those other two weren't very discrete with..." another cough, "Locations. Security cameras? Remember them, got it?" she gave them both a stern look that didn't fully mask her amusement at the scene she'd walked in on before she headed back off with the empty coffee cup that was assumably her reason for leaving her office in the first place.

She found she was looking away from Booth again, and knew he wasn't focusing on her either. Both were thinking the same thing, she had a pretty good feeling, and neither mentioned it. After all, it only made sense that their colleagues, upon seeing them making out in the middle of the lab, would assume they were also sexually active. It had been months, after all, since... what had happened, and given the way she acted at work it only made sense they assumed she was fully coping. Many of the lab workers she saw daily or consulted with didn't even know the details of her life, so surely they assumed even more so than Cam did.

She did want to talk more about it with Booth, because it was a topic he avoided far too quickly in her opinion, but right now seemed like an inappropriate time to do so, and he would certainly agree with her on that.

"So..." the word came out without much prompting. "We should go and... get some stuff at the apartment."

"Right," he said quickly, and steered her down from the platform. "We'll just... call Cam later and fill her in. Anyways, we'll be sending stuff back here to be analyzed, so she'll be involved."

A quick nod of agreement from her, and then they were out the lab doors, his hand resting on the small of her back and neither of them really talking much for the rest of the walk or even the drive back to their building.

It didn't take her long at all to pack up her things, and she was rather amused to see that it took him longer than her to gather his things. She stood by, watching as he folded a shirt and tossed it into his bag with an eyebrow raised. He glanced at her and then turned back with a roll of his eyes.

"What?" she asked, her tone taking a bit of an indignant tone to it. It wasn't her fault that he was slow, after all.

"Nothing, Bones."

"No, you expressed irritation, why?"

He chuckled softly, probably at her wording, but he answered anyways. "How on earth did you pack so quickly?" he asked. "'Cuz that is just not fair if you keep a bag ready to go all the time or something."

"I don't," she answered smugly. "I guess I'm just quicker than you. Besides, you fold slow and... rather sloppy," she added, looking with disapproval at a pair of jeans he was tossing in the bag.

He gave her a look, and she surprised herself by actually understanding it. She smiled and took him up on the silent dare, grabbing his bag and dumping it upside-down before efficiently and rapidly refolding each and every article. He dropped down onto the mattress, resigning to just letting her do it all for him.

When she'd finished, everything neatly in place and well organized, she collected his toothbrush for him and dropping it in a plastic bag, zipped up his bag and handed it to him with a smirk.

He just shook his head at her, a smile tilting up the corners of his mouth. "You're crazy, you know that, right, Bones?"

She gave him a look, but before she could even ask him what exactly he meant by it he was already continuing.

"In a good way, of course. You know, like a... what would I do without my crazy, wonderful Bones, way." She laughed and then brushed past him, grabbing the keys from the kitchen counter before he could.

"Never should have put them down," she teased as he stopped short and his shoulders hunched as he saw her with them.

"Next time I won't," he muttered, but a moment later he was jokingly attempting to snatch them away from her. Easily evading him, she slung her own overnight bag over her shoulder and was the first one to exit the door.


"This is ridiculous."

"Aw, come on, Bones, it's pretty much a road trip. Gotta do something to pass the time."

"I was doing something, though," she said with a sigh.

"Yeah, well reading isn't entertaining for anyone but you. Just... go along with me on this, okay? Please?"

She shut the book with a heavy sigh and slid it into the glove box. "I give in to your begging and agree to let you drive for the sole purpose of me reading in order to pass the time, and this is how you repay me." He gave her a pleading look, and she rolled her eyes. "Fine," she huffed.

He grinned at her, "Okay, should we look at license plates, or count flags?"

She gave him an incredulous look. "You are kidding, right?"

"Hey, I've got a kid, those are the kind of fun things you do on the road."

She raised an eyebrow, not convinced at all, and then reached for the radio and flipped it on. "I vote we listen to music," she said firmly as she began searching through the stations.

There was no protest from him, for which she was grateful. Music would be much more relaxing, and it would fill the silence without the awkwardness of a child's game. Booth clearly agreed with her on choosing music, although not on the relaxing part, because before long he'd reached a finger over and tapped a button. Immediately the car was filled with some song she didn't' really know, and he was banging his hands on the steering wheel like it was a drum and singing along at the top of his lungs.

She glanced at the digital clock display. They'd been on the road for roughly an hour. Which meant there was another sixty minutes to go. Sometime in that span of driving she knew they were going to have to talk about the issues they were still working through. And if they somehow evaded doing so during this time, then it would have to be addressed at some point during their stay in this small town, or at the very least on the way back.

Out of the corner of her eye she glanced at him as the song changed. He thrummed along to the beginning guitar intro, nodding his head up and down to the beat. She reached over and hit the power button, plunging them into complete silence. Booth's hand fell with a final tap on the wheel, and he turned to frown at her, not really in anger or frustration, but more in confusion. Might as well get it out of the way right now.

She bit her lip and then started, "Booth, we need to... discuss some things."

"Now?" he questioned apprehensively. It was quite clear he knew exactly what she was referring to when she said 'some things.'

She just nodded, watching him carefully to see his reaction. He didn't act distressed by that, though, and instead he waited for her to continue on her own time, his eyes going back and forth at intervals from her to the road.

"What Cam said..." she began.

"That doesn't mean anything," he cut in before she could go any further, surprising her with the suddenness of his words. "We don't have to follow by the expectations of others, and we aren't going to. Okay, Bones? This is..." he sighed, "This is something that is between us, and doesn't involve anyone else or any outside influence. And... Bones, I just don't think..."

"You don't think I'm ready," she finished for him, her tone empty of emotion, her voice calm and controlled.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, sucking in a breath through his teeth. Then he nodded with one jerky movement of his head.

"And when exactly will you think I'm ready?"

"I don't... I just... Bones, I told you, this isn't something to be... rushed." He stumbled onwards, "What if... I mean..." he sighed as he searched for words, and she waited in silence for him to continue. "What if I hurt you?" he whispered.

"You wouldn't," she said confidently, and he snorted in response, making her eyebrows fly upwards.

"Yeah, sure. How can you know that? How can either of us know that? Bones, what happened... I don't..."

He didn't want to make it all come back, she realized. Her hand flew up, telling him to stop, to not go on with whatever he might have said next while her thoughts caught up. She knew he was so hesitant because he was so protective of her, and he didn't want to hurt her. It should make sense that he might actually be more afraid of emotionally scarring her than physically. He'd been through a lot throughout all of this, too, she reminded herself. He'd seen her more vulnerable than she would ever let anyone see her, and he had chosen to be the one who brought her back to safety because he truly cared about her. He wouldn't be able to bear it, she knew with sudden clarity, if he upset her in any way if they were to actually sleep together.

But they would eventually. She would not let... him... have such a hold over her that she could not have a normal relationship with the person she loved.

What if Booth was right, though? What if it all came back to her, the nightmares, the flashbacks, the emotions... could she handle that, if it all attacked her at once and plunged her back into that darkness that she'd recently clawed her way mostly out of? Could Booth handle it?

"You're right," she said calmly, and received a surprised look from the seat next to her. "Let's... not talk about this now."

"But you want to talk about it later," he concluded.

She frowned thoughtfully, then shook her head. "No," she assured him, "Not later as in this week or even next... but down the road, eventually, we will. You know that, right?"

"Of course," he agreed. She felt a soft smile or relief twitch the corners of her lips upwards. It was always calming to know that he understood her so completely that he knew it was a matter that was 'of course.' And the fact that he wasn't telling her a cautious 'Someday, but we'll think about it when it comes around' like others probably would have. Instead he was confident and understanding. Her smile widened, and he smiled back at her, his eyes reflecting the emotion as they softened warmly.

"Hey, we will be back for this weekend, right?" she questioned suddenly, the thought occurring to her.

"What?" he asked, bewilderment suddenly taking over on his face, "Oh! Yeah, of course, Bones. Wouldn't want to miss Parker, now would we? Besides, this case doesn't sound incredibly weird like a lot of the ones we get called out on. Should only take a couple of days... we weren't in Washington that long, remember? And that was one freaky case."

She chuckled, "You still remember that?" she asked in surprise. That was only... what? The fourth case they'd ever worked together?"

"You bet I do!" he replied indignantly. "What do you think I do, Bones, forget cases we worked on together?"

"I just thought, you know, it was a long time ago... what else do you remember about that one?"

"The look on that guy's face when you started picking up the bear poop with your hands."

"I had gloves on!" she defended herself.

"Yeah, but, Bones... that's still just..." he scowled and shook his head. "It's gross. But I do remember that guy at the post office, well... actually, all the guys in town, not just him, had a thing for you. Remember when we went to that bar and they kept stealing you from each other?"

"Why on earth do you remember a little detail like that? That had no relation to the case," she reminded him. She still remembered it rather clearly, though, as well.

"You expect me to forget it? Again, Bones, you're hurting me here, you know. Ange was a genius suggesting we go that bar, after all."

"Why?" she had a hunch, but she was curious to hear what he had to say. Besides, she didn't like going off of hunches.

He smirked, "That was the first time I got to dance with a certain somebody," he said, his smile firmly in place and his eyes never leaving the road. Her mouth opened slightly and she stared at him, then her lips formed into an immediate smile. She'd been mostly right. But she couldn't resist pointing out the other part of it as well.

"You were jealous," she said, not making it a question but rather an undeniable statement. He chuckled at her.

"Wow, get right to the heart of it, huh, Bones?" He chuckled, and then admitted, "Of course I was jealous. Every guy in the town was... interested in you. I didn't exactly care much for it. Turned out I was right, though, wasn't I? After all, you danced with the creep who ended up being a murderous cannibal who was pretty much clinically insane."

Now she scowled, and then quickly quipped back, "Yes, but neither of us knew that. And you would have been jealous regardless of who it had been."

"Awfully confident about that, aren't we now?"

She shrugged, but she felt her sureness about the matter waver slightly.

"Relax," he said, seeing her change in expression. He was smiling gently at her. "You aren't wrong in thinking that. Besides, you always knew what an overprotective alpha-male I was, so it stands to reason I'd be jealous and ready to defend you against pretty much anyone."

"You were dating Tessa then, though," she recalled with a more firm frown drawing down her eyebrows.

"Oh, now who's the one remembering small details not relating to the case?" she didn't laugh at the teasing tone in his voice though, and he went on, "I told you, Bones, and I will always stick by it, that I would never cheat. I never have, and now, with you... well you can't exactly even expect me to find someone worth cheating with if I actually did want to when you're around, now can you?" That drew a smile out of her, and she felt that familiar warm feeling she always got around Booth strengthen even more so at the compliment. "I did really like her, though," he continued, going back to the original conversation about Tessa, "But I saw pretty quick that she and I wouldn't work out at all. I won't deny that I was... intrigued by you, though, even then."

"We barely knew each other," she replied, trying to see what had interested him about her back then. She knew most of her prior boyfriends had been initially interested because of her features rather than who she was, but she had a feeling that, being who he was, Booth had caught on to who she was as a person just as quickly as most males judged who was worth chasing over how pretty they were.

"You were fascinating," he replied with a shrug. "And I saw you practically every day, so I learned more about you constantly."

They were silent for a while, and she wondered how they'd ended up at this topic in the first place. Where had they even started out at that would get them to this point? It wasn't often that either of them talked about cases they'd worked on together from years ago. They were always too busy focusing on the here and now to bother with it.

"We wouldn't be like this if you'd never picked me up from the airport that day," she said quietly, a thoughtful edge to her voice.

"Huh?" he asked, clearly startled by the sudden statement.

"If you hadn't chosen to come to the airport, if I'd been successful in driving you away like everyone else, I'd still be in there all day long, I'd still be who I was four years ago." It was true, she couldn't deny it. If he'd never become a part of her life, but merely a quick shadow going in and out, forgotten almost immediately, she'd be far from the person she was today. She'd be Dr. Brennan... not Bones. She'd be the world renowned forensic anthropologist, a partner to none, cared about by few. Her life would be drastically different if she'd never let him in, or if he'd never tried to be let in. Risks... those risks she'd taken, some without even realizing it at the time... what would she be like without them, if she'd locked herself forever in that shell of protection? She shook her head, realizing she was drifting off into an almost psychological debate in her head. It wasn't worthwhile to think of what ifs, she should know that by now.

"But I did," he replied softly. "And you might have thought you were pushing me away, but you were just amazing me continuously. Plus, I was pretty frustrated my charm wasn't working on you," he added, smirking teasingly at her.

Laughter filled the car from first her and then him as well, and the topic drifted away from the past and back into small and trivial matters. They argued over stations on the radio, and compared the benefits of being a vegetarian to those of the average American. It was because of the second one that they did not stop at the McDonalds that Booth had attempted to steer them to. Instead, she directed him quite firmly to a small restaurant that was quite obviously family-owned and operated.

"My choice would have been cheaper," he complained as they flipped through the menu.

"So? I'm paying," she said, leaving no room for argument.

"Bones..." he groaned, and she glared at him, not wanting to get into this argument over who paid the bill once more. It already happened often enough when they were just making routine trips to the diner or the local Thai place.

"Just leave it, okay, Booth? If we were married I doubt you'd complain when you used money I'd earned." She turned her attention back to the menu, scanning it for a salad section. She located it, but her attention was forced upward as she felt his eyes on her. Too late, she realized what she'd said, and how her logical argument must have sounded. She swore inside her head, and began to rapidly think of a way to clean up the new issue she'd managed to bring up. "Not that we ever will be," she said carefully. "Just... I meant, hypothetically, you would not object if we actually shared an account like married couples do. So... just let me pay."

She turned abruptly back to finding something to order, putting the menu up to shield her face completely from his gaze. It was a long few seconds before she heard him pick up his again and open it once more. She groaned inwardly, cursing herself for being so stupid as to bring up the subject when she was the one who always avoided it. She did not want to give him the wrong idea, and with statements like that... well she was certainly going to have to be more careful with thinking before she spoke.

Suddenly she was immensely grateful for the trip out of town. She didn't really want to see Sweets again anytime soon, and they'd had a session scheduled for today for the first time since she'd gotten out of the hospital. Now it would have to be pushed back, a fact that gave her immense relief. More time to compose herself before facing the psychologist once more. He would probably just absolutely love delving into what all this meant.

The waiter came around shortly and got their orders. Booth ordered steak and French fries, and she got herself the fried eggplant with pasta and a side salad.

She was thankful that the conversation, while starting off with difficulty, eventually flowed back to its rapid pace until they were once more talking continuously without any trouble. Neither of them brought marriage back up, but Booth did bring the conversation rather close to it when they got on the topic of Angela and Hodgins just after their food arrived.

"So you have no clue when they might be coming back?"

"None," she answered with a sigh, sliding her fork, laden with pasta, into her mouth. "I did ask Cam, though," she added as she finished chewing that first bite. "And she said Hodgins told her they'd be gone two to three weeks roughly before they left. So they still have quite some time left away."

He nodded thoughtfully. She quickly dragged the conversation away from their friends' honeymoon and back to anything case-related. They talked about that for most of the rest of their meal, making sure to keep the details to a minimum seeing as they were in public and they didn't want to terrify the couple in the booth behind them.

"You sure you don't want dessert?" he questioned after she asked for the bill.

"Yes," she replied firmly, "Booth, I could barely finish my meal, let alone eat one of those giant pieces of chocolate cake you kept eyeing on the dessert menu." She pulled her coat on with a glance outside, at where it had started to rain. He followed her gaze and made a face at the sight of the change in weather.

"That looks pleasant," he muttered. She shrugged in response, and then pulled out her wallet to pay for the meal upon the return of the waiter, leaving a generous tip for him in the process.

"Come on, let's go," she said as she got to her feet.

Sighing, he followed along after her. Together they dashed through the rain and climbed, equally soaked, into their seats in his SUV. She pulled the wet strands of hair out of her eyes and shook out her wet hands, knowing there wasn't much else she could do about her current state. Booth wasn't looking much better, the short run having nonetheless left his hair completely flattened to his head and a blotchy pattern of raindrops covered his clothing. Glancing down at herself, she realized the same applied to her own outfit.

It was going to be a long rest of the ride, she thought as the engine roared to life and the windshield wipers began to rapidly swipe back and forth at a steady pace, the only sound in the vehicle besides the never ending thrumming of the large raindrops onto the pavement and the roof of the car.

She leaned against the window and closed her eyes, letting the sound relax her. She hadn't even realized how tired she was until now.

When Booth glanced over at her a minute later... she was fast asleep. He smiled softly at the peacefulness of the calm slight smile on her face and the slow and steady sound of her breathing.

"Sleep well," he murmured softly to her, turning his attention back to the blurry road ahead.

Somewhere, deep in a surprisingly dream free sleep... his voice reached her, and her smile turned up a bit more as she shifted slightly and then sighed off further into the comfortable depths.


Just so you know, I have not a clue where this is going right now. This case was never in my outline, and yet here it is now. Stories seriously do write themselves. And don't fear, there WILL be a weekend with Parker. Sometime soon. And Booth will have that talk with Sweets that I sorta forgot about with the whole Brennan ending up in the hospital thing.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, and everyone who wished me a happy vacation, too. :)