A time for war and a time for peace.

"Booth!" Dr. Temperance Brennan called, looking around the house for her fiancé, "Where are you?"

"In here," Special Agent Seeley Booth called from the walk-in closet in his bedroom.

"'Here'," her voice drew nearer to him as she followed the sound of his voice, "Is one of the least-specific answers that one can give when asked to provide one's location."

"And yet," he grinned, coming out to meet her in the hallway, "Here I am."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes, "Indeed. So what are you attempting to accomplish?"

He ushered her into the room, hand on her lower back, "Come see."

Boxes littered the bedroom floor where he had been making room for her things among his own. They had decided that, since his townhouse was big enough for the two of them as well as Parker, she would move into the townhouse after the wedding. Her apartment, then, would eventually be put on the market and sold. With all of the plans that were going into the wedding- along with their workload, which was keeping them busy as well- they had decided to wait to put her apartment up for sale.

"I never realized how much stuff I've accumulated over the years," Booth commented as they wove throughout the boxes on their way to the closet.

Brennan nodded, "I am finding the same to be true with my belongings as well."

They reached the closet and Booth opened the door, revealing a half-empty closet, "Ta-da! It's all ready for you to move in, Bones. Well, almost," he looked over at a pile of things still left to be sorted through, "Shouldn't take too much longer."

She smiled, taking in the space, it felt almost as if she were intruding on a very private space. While the left half was empty save for one pile, the right contained everything from dog-eared books, to sports paraphernalia, as well as a pair of boxer shorts adorned with cartoon characters.

"May I be of assistance?" she offered, not sure if she was overstepping her bounds or not.

"Sure, Bones," he smiled, lowering himself to the floor and motioning her to join him, "Thanks. Like I said, I've just got this one pile left to sort through. Well, that and then finding a place for all of the boxes out there. All I'm doing is just organizing things into boxes for right now."

He pulled out an empty box, set it up, taped the bottom and labeled the box, "Ranger Stuff".

"A very scientific labeling process you have in place, I see," she teased him.

He grinned, "You know me, Bones- as scientific as they come."

"Well," she returned, "You are marrying a scientist."

He leaned over and kissed her, "That I am, Bones. That I am."

"Though your lone foray into the scientific arena was highly prejudicial and not particularly accurate."

"Heh," he smiled, "I just found that lab coat while I was cleaning up. Not sure which box I put it in come to think about it."

He began handing her things from the pile in front of them for her to put into the box. She wondered idly if he would have simply scooped up the entire mess and plopped it in if it weren't for her presence, but he seemed thankful for her aid so she said nothing. He would also accompany each item with a small anecdote; the odd-smelling boots that he had not taken off for a month straight while in Afghanistan; the k-bar knife that had been passed down from generation to generation of Booth men dating back to World War One- he planned to give it to Parker when the boy was old enough.

"Now this," Booth pulled out an old uniform, "Brings back memories."

She took it from him, noting the worn fabric riddled with small tears, "Did you wear this for a month as well?" she asked.

"Nope," he shook his head, "That was my very first uniform, Bones. I wore it through Basic and then all through my sniper training too. Some of my best buddies out on the field were guys I met during training."

"A sports field?" she asked, confused.

"No, Bones- the battlefield," he explained.

She reddened slightly and went back to silently packing things up.

"Here," Booth dug around in the pile, "Here's a picture of us after graduation."

Brennan leaned over his shoulder to view the picture, "You look," she searched for the correct word, "Young."

He nodded, "We were kids there. Had no clue what we were getting ourselves into, really. We all thought we were invincible."

"It is a common trait among young men," she shrugged, "Society views adolescence and early adulthood as the 'prime of life', therefore thoughts of mortality are pushed aside as irrelevant and death is assigned as something that only occurs in the elderly and infirm."

"Yeah, well, we found out how wrong we were quick," Booth pointed to two of the men on the right-hand side of the picture, "Steve was killed our first mission out. Red only lasted to the third."

"I'm sorry, Booth," she placed a hand on his arm, "You don't have to relive these memories if it is too painful. I know you must have lost several friends over your years of service."

He shook his head, laying the picture down reverently into the box, "No, I don't mind, Bones. Sometimes it's good to remember them; you know, keep their memories alive. The guys who never talk about it are the ones who have problems down the line."

They worked in companionable silence for several minutes; the pile dwindling as the box filled.

"Why do you have a rock in your closet, Booth?" she held up a smooth, oblong stone.

"That, my dear Bones, is Spanky," he grinned, "Official pet rock for our unit down in Guatemala."

"Do I want to know why you named a rock 'Spanky'?" she inquired cautiously.

"Probably not," he smiled; a twinkle in his eye.

"You certainly have a number of unique accouterments here," she commented.

"Thanks, Bones; I think. The Rangers were like a family to me, you know? They taught me a lot about sacrifice, discipline, loyalty, duty, and patriotism. I think every boy in America could really benefit from a year of military service."

"But what about the risks?" she met his eyes, careful not to sound unfeeling, "You lost friends, you were tortured, and you could have died any moment. Was it truly worth all of that?"

Booth set the last of his Ranger memorabilia inside of the box and faced her, holding a picture out to her, "That's the Suarez family," he explained, tone soft, "They were put on a hit list by their own government for exposing the corruption of one of the country's top leaders. Their kids couldn't even go to school for fear they would be shot or kidnapped. I took out the main assassin that had been sent out for them while my unit helped smuggle them out of the country. They live here now- safe and able to raise their family without fear of reprisal.

"Freedom never comes without a price, Bones. And I would willingly lay down my life so that people like the Suarezes can live in peace," he reached out and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, "It's no different to me than the danger that we put ourselves in sometimes solving cases. There are evil, evil people in this world, Bones and you and I- we get a shot at removing them from society and keeping other potential victims safe. I know that some people are opposed to violence, but we have to accept that it exists and choose to do something about it rather than turn a blind eye. And you have to admit, Bones, we're doing a pretty good job."

"Brain and heart?" she smiled.

"You got it!"

"You are a good man, Booth," she kissed him on the lips, "I look forward to sharing my life with you."

"And now the closet is all ready for you," he grinned triumphantly.

"Well," she picked up the dirty boxers and hung them by a finger, "Almost ready."