Please read and review.

Olivia fairly squirmed in her seat in her anxiousness to escape the confines of the car she was in. They were on their way back to the safe house after a fairly uneventful day trip. She was able to confirm that the man they held; one Michael Joricho was indeed the leader of the latest scientific mind control experiment on Boston. He'd even admitted to having a partner that was still at large, but they'd gotten a few leads as to where he could be located and that meant there was a light at the end of the tunnel for this case.

When they pulled up to the house, Olivia was already unfastening her belt and opening the door. She needed to know everyone was okay and to see Peter. Just as they had probably worried over her, she had worried that something would happen to them while she was away and she wouldn't be able to help protect them. She was flying out the car door the second it came to a stop and running up the path to the front door. Olivia wriggled the handle to find it lock, and then cursed herself for being stupid enough to think a safe house door wouldn't be locked, but the door swung open to reveal Booth, aiming a gun at her. He dropped the sights of the weapon the second he saw it was her though, and stuffed the weapon into the back of his waist band.

"Olivia!" Booth ran forward and lifted her off the ground in an exuberant hug and spun her around. "You're alive!"

Olivia laughed heartily and hung on for dear life. "I wasn't gone that long!"

"Could you at least take that inside?" Broyles said from behind them, sounding rather upset that Booth had just run outside in broad daylight. Booth set her down looking rather sheepish and they walked inside while Broyles went back to the car to leave. Once the door was shut behind her all Olivia could see was Peter rushing down the stairs looking as if he hadn't slept the entire time she was gone. She dropped her bag on the floor and ran at him. He looked to be so shocked he barely had time to open his arms as she leapt into them.

He buried his face into her neck and hair, taking in her familiar scent, reveling in her. He pulled back just long enough to steal her lips in a deep kiss that felt more like they should've been behind bedroom doors but she didn't care at the time. She fisted her hands into his hair and wriggled closer to him. It wasn't until they started getting catcalls that they pulled apart, their chests heaving as they gasped for air.

Peter chuckled and Olivia blushed, preferring to hide her face in his chest while the others ribbed them for their impromptu make out session.

"Welcome back, Dunham." Peter said smiling down at her.

"Thanks," she mumbled before detaching herself from him. It didn't take long for Walter to shuffle over and envelope her in a hug as well. "Walter…" She droned, but smiled good naturedly and patted him on the back. And not to be left out, Astrid hugged her as well. When she turned to Brennan, the woman's arms were crossed over her chest and she was glaring at her balefully.

"You're not allowed to leave again. He was impossible to deal with and I'm not sure how you do it." She said and then smirked.

"Well, thanks for trying anyways." Olivia said, smiling at the other woman.

"Come on then; I've got about ten pies with your name on them." Astrid gently pushed Olivia in the direction of the kitchen and when she laughed in response, Astrid shook her head. "I'm not kidding. We've all eaten at least two each and since it's your fault we were all so worried you get the last ten."

"You have to try the apple-raspberry one with ice cream, Olivia, it's glorious!" Walter raved.

"She can't, Walter, you ate that entire pie by yourself last night after we all went to sleep." Astrid said dryly but still smiled at the mad scientist.

"Oh! Yes, I suppose I did." Walter said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Olivia couldn't help the laughter that escaped her. She was just so happy that everything and everyone was still their old selves. Two pieces of pie later, Astrid was refilling her plate much to her protest and Walter was still talking her ear off while Peter sat beside her, gently rubbing circles on her knee.

"So when are you going to tell us what happened?" Booth spoke up when Walter took a breath between sentences. They all turned to her expectantly and Astrid took the seat beside Walter and across from Peter.

"It was him." She said. Peter squeezed her knee and their eyes met in understanding.

"We're still here though, so what happened?" Peter asked.

"He's got a partner that hasn't been caught yet. They're moving the guy we do have into a very strict custody detail in hopes to limit the chance of escape and they've got a few leads as to where his partner might be." Olivia tried to be positive, but she didn't want to give anyone false hope either.

"So, we're stuck here for at least a few more days, but there's a chance we might be out before the New Year." Booth said, his shoulders slumping a bit in defeat.

"I'm sorry," Olivia said, feeling rather useless not being able to deliver news that they were escaping their confines tonight.

"Sorry?" Peter asked skeptically. "Why the hell are you sorry? They've got the main guy! We should celebrate tonight. Olivia's back safely and they've caught one of the two bad guys!"

Everyone around the table began to cheer up at the possibility of breaking the routine.

"Can we go bowling?" Walter asked excitedly.

Peter rolled his eyes at his father and shook his head. "Sorry Walter, we still can't leave the house, but we'll think of something fun to do. Why don't we break out into committees so that this is done properly; food, games, and decoration."

Everyone was nodding excitedly and Olivia smirked at her partner. He was just too clever for his own good sometimes. He'd managed to cheer everyone up and get them excited about something after they'd all been trapped inside the same house for almost three weeks now.

"Well, we know you two can't be on the same committee," Booth pointed to him and Olivia. "Or we might not have results since you'd be too busy making out in some dark corner."

"Or bright living room." Brennan chipped in smiling.

Olivia blushed but couldn't help but laugh. "Sounds fair."

"I want to be on the decoration committee!" Walter piped in, squirming in his seat out of excitement.

"Well, I vote Brennan and Astrid for food," Peter said smiling at the two. "We've eaten like royalty while you were gone." Astrid blushed a pleasant shade of pink before throwing a balled up napkin at him.

"And who says we want to cook more, right Brennan?" Astrid whined playfully.

"Well I know how Booth cooks and I'm not sure I want Walter or Olivia cooking, so I'm okay with it." Brennan chuckled.

"Trader," Astrid mocked and then laughed. "Fine! We'll be doing food."

"Well, I'm no fun, so I'll help Walter with decorations," Olivia offered. "Though between the two of us, I'm not sure anyone wants to expect too much."

"I was thinking circles! I've had the urge to calculate out the various sizes oh and pi!" Walter rambled on about his ideas while Booth and Peter agreed to do games.

"Start at 6pm tonight?" Brennan asked. "That gives us six hours to finish everything."

Everyone agreed and they all broke off to do their part, but not before Peter could steal one last long kiss that made Olivia's heart near burst with love and affection. She was hard put not to run off with him to get some alone time and by the look in his eyes it seemed he was already plotting just that.