A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting. In RL, I'm wrapping things up to move from the US to the UK for grad school, and am down to the single digits in terms of days now. Sadly, no, I'm not moving into Spade's house, either, nor will I have any of the NH characters' lackeys to help me schlep 3 suitcases around. *Annette scoffs at the idea of going anywhere with only THREE suitcases* No, just lil ole me dragging them from plane to train to train, with nary a vampire to help... where's Timothy, after all? No one's heard from him lately. Can't he magically show up to help me move? Anyway, on with the story... a combination of two chapters here, but in Bones' world, just 1 action sequence...

Because of the annoying airport security that I couldn't green eye away, Kitten and I headed to a FedEx store to box up our weapons to ship home. (We got a few odd looks in the store after I assembled the boxes and we began dumping our stakes and knives in them, but I soon had them forgetting they ever saw anything unusual and, with several snickers and snorts, labeled the boxes "tofu.")

We boarded with our carry-ons and I let Kitten have the window seat again. Ugh. I really, really, didn't like to fly the friendly skies. I still wasn't letting on to Kitten that I could fly myself, so if the plane started to crash technically I could grab her and fly us to safety, but if, say, something went wrong with the fuselage, even a vampire could just pray. That, or turn into an imitation of a firecracker.

I was waiting, eyes closed, for take off, when Kitten noticed that something was wrong. (Sadly, she wasn't the most observant of people at times, as this whole "pleasedon'tblowuppleasedon'tblowuppleasedon'tblowup" charade had totally missed her attention on the trip here.)

"You don't like to fly, do you?" she asked.

"No, not really. One of the few ways a bloke like me can accidentally die."

After liftoff, I felt a slender finger lift my eyelid. I glared at her amused expression.

"Don't you know anything about statistics? Safest way to travel if you play it by numbers."

"Not for a vampire. We can walk away from almost any car crash, train wreck, sunken ship, or whatever. Yet when a plane goes down, not even our kind can do much about it but pray. Lost a mate in that crash in the Everglades several years ago. Poor bugger, they only ever found his kneecap."

However, our plane did land smoothly. I then went about my own, personal way of hailing a cab. I'd just glare at the drivers with my green lights on to get them to stop. Which they did, even if they already had passengers. That routine happened twice, much to Kitten's embarrassment, before I finally flagged one without occupants and we started back to her house.

I had been quiet ever since we'd gotten off the plane, mulling things over, thinking over how to phrase the things I wanted to say, and it wasn't until we were within five minutes of her house that I suddenly broke my silence.

"I take it you don't want me to see you to the door and give you a kiss goodbye in front of your mum?"

"Absolutely not!"

I gave her a look that said I didn't appreciate how emphatic she was in her response. "Be that as it may, I want to see you tonight."

She heaved a sigh. "Bones, no. I'm barely ever home anymore. Next weekend I move into my new apartment, so these next few days with my family will be all I'll have for a while. Something tells me my grandparents won't be visiting often."

"Where's the apartment?" She was getting her own place? Was this manna from heaven?

"About six miles away from the campus."

Manna from heaven, indeed. "You'll be only twenty minutes from the cave, then." How convenient.

"I'll call you with the address on Friday. You can come over after my mother leaves. Not before. I mean it, Bones. Unless you get a lead on Hennessey or our mysterious masked rapist, give me a little time. It's already Sunday."

The taxi rounded the last corner and her long driveway came into sight. I saw it and took her hand.

"I want you to promise me something. Promise me you're not going to start running again."

"Running?" For a moment she looked perplexed, then my meaning became clear. "No, I'm too tired to run, and you're too fast. You'd only catch me."

"That's right, luv." I said it softly, but with steel underneath. "If you run from me, I'll chase you. And I'll find you."

The rest of the week was an exercise in how to go crazy without really trying. Everything was wrong, and nothing was right. My phone rang, but it wasn't the person I wanted to call, and I kept all calls short just in case I might miss a call from her. I restlessly prowled pubs and Bite, just to see if - on the slim chance - she might be there, but she never was. Finally, to keep from going completely 'round the bend, I took to flying (discreetly, of course) over her grandparents' cherry orchard on the off chance I might see the red head I'd come to love so much. I didn't, which didn't help the insanity. Eventually I took to playing endless Sudoku on my phone and watching non-stop CourtTV to keep from going completely mad.

Finally, the phone rang with the call I'd been wanting. I'd already been out doing some research on where her apartment might be earlier in the week, as part of my sanity campaign, so I just needed her to confirm which one it was, and once she did I snapped my cell shut and was quickly speeding her way on my bike.

I rapped twice on the door. When she opened it, her hair was damp from a recent wash, and I couldn't remember ever seeing anything so lovely in my life. I was moving through the entrance and locking it behind me while pulling her into my arms, all at once. Before she could breathe, my mouth covered hers in a kiss. Her hands trembled as they reached for my shoulders, but as I found her waistband and my hand dipped inside, they clenched tightly around my shirt.

"I can't breathe," she rasped, wrenching her head away.

My mouth went to her throat, lips and tongue moving over the sensitive skin as I bent her backwards until only my arms held her upright.

"I missed you," I growled, restlessly pulling off her clothes. I picked her up and just asked, "Where?"

She jerked her head in the vicinity of the bedroom, too busy licking and nibbling on my skin to answer.

I carried her into the small room and nearly flung her on the bed. Manna from heaven, indeed.