Booth stretched lazily out across the bed. Three days home, no interruptions, no cases, no crazy-ass rapist out on the street after his partner, friend, lover, mother of his child, whatever you wanted to call her, just not mate, she used the term mate and it seemed so clinical. Three days alone was their plan, three days. His hand hit her thigh and felt its way around her leg. Through blurry blinks he finally made out her beautiful shape, the swell of her tummy, their baby daughter still safe and sound inside her, came into focus first.
"Morning." He mumbled as he reached up to kiss her. "Any more contractions?"
She shook her head in answer. "No, not even one." Looking down on him she ran her fingers through his messy hair.
"How long have you been watching me?"
Smiling sweetly, she slipped back down to lay next to him. "Too long, she woke me up early kicking."
"She's strong, like her dad." He beamed as he lay claim to this torturous trait. Temperance Brennan loved that charming smile more than just about anything in the world. Secretly, she had to admit, she would do just about anything, agree to just about anything, when faced with that lovely smile.
Laughing lightly, she moved his hand to where Christine was kicking. "Feel? Very strong."
They needed this time, this space, to process everything that had happened. They'd lived with the pressure and stress of her experience and this case hanging over them for so long, it was an adjustment to live without it, a new beginning. There would be tears, moments of release, pent up fears, sorrows, and pain held onto, hidden. He knew that, anticipated it. Hope seemed to be settling in, at least he could feel it, as they were finally able to plan a future that didn't involve an FBI detail or Micah working days for the rest of his life.
"You can see why I couldn't sleep."
He pulled her in, into his arms, into his joy and peace and love, into this moment that was just theirs.
"Have I told you how beautiful you are or what a great mom you're going to be?" He showered her with little peck-like kisses. She giggled in response. Her smile, that giggle, this baby, he held his whole world in his hands. Hands that gently moved over her, feeling his child move beneath them. This tiny miracle managed to force it's way through such a dark and difficult time. "I'm going to miss this after she's born."
"I can hardly wait to be close to you again." She mused softly as she nuzzled into his chest and neck.
"You are close to me."
"I know, but I mean-"
"I know what you mean." He rescued her, reassured her. "Hmmm," he hummed against her neck. They settled into the comfort of each other.
Relaxation lasted about fifteen minutes.
"So," she drew out the word long and slow. "We have to start packing if we're going to move before Christine is born. We need to decide which items we're bringing from each of our apartme-"
"We have to find a house, don't forget to put that on the list, Bones, we have to find a house first. Then we can worry about packing" He added dryly. She seemed excited, her mind frantically skipping from one item on the to do list to another. He tensed up. "Can't we just enjoy a day, maybe two days before we jump on all of that?" Booth already knew the answer to that. Fear of being unprepared for the baby had been so overbearing when she went into preterm labor that she couldn't escape the need to put it all in order, just in case Christine made an early appearance. "Bedrest, Bones, does bedrest mean anything to you?'
"Booth, I will rest better once all these things are taken care of, you know that about me." He did. She'd already pulled herself from his arms and started to get out of bed. He followed, grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"Let me make you breakfast." Kissing her, he let his lips linger just a bit. "And, no errands out for a couple days, we work on what we can do here." Pausing for effect, he waited for her acknowledgment and agreement. "Pops always says, 'someone has to supervise,' you are that someone, Bones. You point and I'll do the work." He gave a little nod and waited for hers in return. The tilt of her head, the look in her eyes, all protested, but she relented as he stared her down. That smile got her again.
With a legal pad and pen in hand, she scrawled out a long list of preparations as Booth buzzed around the small kitchen making breakfast. Finally settling across from her at the table, he had to smile at the notepad, which took center stage. Her breakfast barely touched, off to the side. Picking up the plate, he set it on top of the notepad.
"You have to eat." He said, still chewing his last bite. Irritation stared back at him as she moved the plate just enough to keep writing. Grabbing her fork, he loaded it with some fresh fruit and a bite of pancake. "Come on, open up." Her lips pursed and pure stubbornness in her eyes stared back at him until he started making train noises and chugging the fork towards her.
"Booth," she whined.
"What? I'm just practicing for when Christine starts eating. Chug, chug, chug, chug, toot, toot!" His exaggerated voice, his silly expression, she cracked a smile and relented, opening for a bite of food. As she chewed, he took the pen from her hand and set it aside, replacing it with the fork. He was good for her.
They were just about wrapping up the three page list and the breakfast dishes when they heard a sharp fast knock at the door.
Both groaned, as he dried his hands on the dish towel and tossed it on the counter, making obvious his displeasure. "They found us."
"We didn't go anywhere, Booth, we couldn't have been hard to find." Slightly confused, she hollered after him.
"It's your dad." He hollered back before he'd even opened the door. Over the past months, he'd gotten used to his knock.
Booth found Max's slightly over exaggerated chipperness a bit invasive but welcomed him in. They'd all been through this experience, at times they went through it together, at times, stuck alone in the anger and frustration of it all. Booth understood, they'd all endured the painful parts of this experience in their own way. They all needed the opportunity to celebrate together, at least a little. Rubbing the back of his head and neck with one hand, he motioned wide with the other welcoming Max and motioning for him to come in.
Coming out to the living room, she saw her dad standing with a tray of drinks and a bag of pastries. Max was quick to jump to his justification for the visit.
"I know you guys said you wanted the weekend alone, but I figured I'd bring by someā¦" Holding up his goodies, he floundered around a little, the house still smelt of warm pancakes and syrup. "Besides, I wanted to know how my baby girl was doing, see how my granddaughter was treating you."
"I'm fine dad, she's fine." Her toleration for Max had grown, Booth called it love. She wasn't sure if it was love, but had come to terms with their relationship. Although she figured he would never be a father figure like most dads are to their daughters, they could make their version within the parameters she set. Their time together over these last few months had changed things between them for the better.
It wasn't a planned visit, but they sat and enjoyed Max's company as they shared more details from the standoff. He'd heard parts, small bites of information, from Angela and Shaw mostly, and whispers, rumors from other agents in their private waiting room at the hospital. All generalities, no details. This dad wanted details.
Booth watched Bones so very carefully, this weekend wasn't supposed to be stressful, she was still at risk for going back into labor. He held her close as they rehearsed for Max the back and forth exchanges during the standoff with Chambers. Booth's hand rubbed her shoulder gently while the other hand rested gently on her tummy. His constant reminder to her that he could make this conversation end whenever she wanted. When they got to the end of the story, Max was quick to jump in.
"It wasn't me, I didn't kill him." It came out brash and defensive.
"I didn't think it was, Max." Booth retorted quickly. "I told Bones right away it was too difficult of a shot for you."
"Well, thanks, I think. Should I take that as a compliment or an insult?" Max tried to laugh it off and lighten the mood.
"It was nothing more than clearing you as a suspect, Max, not a compliment or an insult."
"Do you know who did it?"
Booth answered quickly. "Nope, and I don't I care. The bastard's dead - that's good enough for me." Pulling Bones closer, he kissed her on the forehead. They'd been over it privately, just the two of them, no one could know about Jon. Booth assured her it had to be Jon, but to their family and friends, he didn't exist, couldn't exist.
Steering the topic away from Chambers, they shared their plans, their three page list. Bones happily showed Max the webpages for a few houses they were seriously considering and talked logistics of clearing out Bones' apartment. Booth fielded a call from Caroline, leaving the room for just a few minutes. Huddled over Tempe's laptop watching the virtual tour of one of the houses, Booth's solemn demeanor caught both of their attention.
She quickly closed the laptop. "Is everything okay, Booth?" He shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah, it is." He let a long breath before continuing. "They brought in Amy Halverson for questioning. Caroline was just telling me about it." He seemed unsettled and though he didn't offer anymore up voluntarily, he continued when prompted. "Amy Halverson, she admitted to baiting you into that lunch meeting you had with her." Booth sat back down next to Bones, his hand came to rest on her knee. "Said that Chambers was blackmailing her, which is not surprising. He paid her or was going to pay her some crazy amount of cash and he had some compromising pictures that he promised to keep out of the press. Apparently, when she didn't bite at his first offer, he kept adding to it until he came to something she couldn't refuse."
"Pictures?" Her cheeks and that small triangle just below her neck on her chest reddened and he watched as every muscle in her body tense.
"Yeah." Another sigh, so heavy and burdened escaped him. "I don't know what pictures, Bones. Chambers apparently wasn't clear with her who the pictures were with, the lady in the Philippines, the other victims, you. She wasn't clear enough for Caroline to give me a straight answer on that. Just that Chambers had pictures of her husband in the act he would release to the press if she didn't call you and get you to come to The Science Club." Leaning back against the couch, he pulled her stiff body back into his arms, safe, protective.
"Okay." She mumbled, still considering everything Booth said. Max looked back and forth between the two.
"Not okay." Max was insistent and more than a little irrate. "Those pictures could still be out there, who knows who has access to them."
"Hey." Booth, not in the mood to get a lesson from Max on how to protect his daughter, jumped right back at him. "I know that, we know that. Caroline got a warrant, they're seizing pretty much everything the man owned. If there are pictures, we'll find them, okay?"
Max started in on the limited reach of the FBI and how they don't think like criminals, how he would be better suited to figure out where Chambers hid something like that. Booth countered, strongly warned him to stay out of it, jokingly reminded him that if he didn't drop it, Booth would not be opposed to taking another swing at him.
"The point is, Caroline is trying to get a deal for her, probably just probation for her part in luring you there." He cringed as he waited for their reaction. "She just sees her as another victim."
"You're okay with that?" Max almost spit out.
"No, not really." Booth replied emphatically. "She could have gotten Bones killed, could've killed our baby. Obviously, I'm not okay with that . I don't think she should go unpunished for that, but, I don't know, in some ways she is just another victim." The awkward back and forth got intense quickly. Booth tried to pull the conversation back to calmer ground; angered that Max would push the issue when he knew his daughter needed to stay relaxed. Bones jumped in unexpectedly, halting both men.
"I am okay with it." She agreed with Booth. "Amy Halverson didn't mean to harm me, she even tried to warn me to leave when she realized what she'd done. I just didn't realize what she was trying to say." She looked back and forth between Max and Booth. "If I hadn't have met her there, it is very likely Ian would still be out there. If I had left early, the same. It's over and it happened the way it happened." She felt the warmth of Booth's hand rubbing her shoulder up and down in a soft, smooth motion. Turning to him, she affirmed what still seemed unreal. "It's over."
"Yeah, yeah it is." Booth offered softly. Max agreed.
There would be no more arguing. They landed on something they could all agree on, the world was definitely a better place without Chambers in it. A good place to leave it, Max made his way to the door, offering up hugs and congratulations and goodbyes.
As soon as the door closed, Booth started harping on her about laying down.
"You need to get those feet up. And where's your water? You aren't drinking enough water." He buzzed around her not acknowledging her heavy eye roll or her attempts to interject and answer. "Dehydration, Bones, dehydration could put you back into labor, right? Remember?" Collapsing on the couch, she gave into her fate as he moved and maneuvered her around. He finally stopped when she settled, laying on the couch, with her head in his lap, sipping water through one of Parker's crazy straws. "There, that's better, right? Right, much better."
His fingers moved her hair, tucked, smoothed, stroked, until they both settled into reclaiming their alone time. Quiet of just being together in this moment, but he could feel a tension in her that she held onto. He waited.
"Booth?" Whispering faintly, she sounded hesitant to him. "What if, what if there are pictures out there?" Small fidgets and twitches told him she was more worried about this than she'd admit. "Or worse, what if there's something worse out there?"
She could feel his body move, but was faced away from him, staring out at the living room, laying on her side, and couldn't see his nod.
"I'm going to do everything in my power to find out, Bones, everything, okay? In the meantime, you know, we live our lives and enjoy our family." Pulling her up into his lap where he could see her, he continued. "We love each other, and this baby." She found his touch, words, his voice, the confidence with which he spoke, comforting, soothing to her nervous mind and heart. "And, if it comes up, we deal with it, together, okay? We just deal with it."
Her forehead rested on his, she nodded, lightly, they nodded together. "Okay?" He added.
"Okay."
"Worrying about it now, won't help us know if they exist or find them, it won't change what's out there. I already sent a message to Sweets and Shaw, we're going to talk to that little Filipina girl Chambers brought over, see if she knew anything, any other places he hid stuff or sent stuff, though it seemed like he kept her out of the loop. I'll take a go at Mrs. Halverson myself, see if maybe there's something she forgot. FBI techs and Sweets are already going through all the papers, video, pictures that we got from Asia and his houses here. We're looking for bank deposit boxes, storages, you know, that kind of thing." Her body still tense beneath his touch, her heart rate still elevated.
"So worrying only hurts you, hurts the baby."
"I'm not intentionally hurting the baby." An exaggerated drawn out tone mocked him as her anger flared.
"Bones, you know that's not what I meant." Pulling away, she started pacing. "I just, you're just supposed to relax, you know, rest, so you don't go back into labor, right?" Ranting, she marched to and fro at an ever quickening pace and pitch. Abruptly she halted, turned to face him, and stared him down with all the intensity she felt.
"You want me to relax, but won't let do anything that I find relaxing." With that she stomped off into the bedroom and slammed the door. His head fell into hands. So much for his three peaceful days.
Slowly, he pulled himself up from the couch and made his way towards the bedroom door. The old wood and hinges creaked when he opened it, giving her ample warning that he'd followed her into the bedroom. She stripped and laid down wrapping the sheet around her. Leaning against the door frame, he took in a long, loud, heavy breath and watched as she huffed in frustration, fiercely rolled over, yanking and tugging madly at the sheet as she went, leaving her back to him. The overtly dramatic gesture drew a smirk from his lips as she sent a clear message. One he chose not to listen to. Pushing off the door frame, he came to the bed and sat down next to her. Just sat, sat and watched her until with a huff of his own, he stood and started to strip himself. Hearing the rustling of clothes as he pulled them off his body and the soft thuds as they hit the floor, she couldn't help but turn and look.
He loved the confused, but inquisitive look on her face as she tried to figure out his intent. He'd stumped her. She still had her head craned, looking over her shoulder when he finished, standing there, silently, completely bare. His fingers twitched, his hands wiggled just a little as he caught her eyes. When he finally moved, just a step or two, he ended up touching the edge of the bed. Her chest still rose and fell rapidly from agitation, this didn't help, though to him she appeared to have stopped running. Laying down next to her, he tugged at the sheet, pulled it away for her body. Swaddling her in his embrace,his entire body curled around her replacing the sheet.
"Make me forget." She pleaded in a barely audible whisper. His hand made it's way across stomach, along the same path where'd he first felt those intense and scary contractions. Fingertips splayed out, moved along her sensitive skin while he said nothing. She knew his unuttered concern, his hesitancy vibrated off him.
"I haven't had one, not one." With that, his hands began to move against her skin. Closing her eyes, breathing, she started to let it all go. "I just want to forget." Her body, her mind and heart, responded in everyway to each touch, each kiss. "I need to forget." Intense and passionate, they let themselves go, completely lost in the moment. Every movement happened with ease, like a beautifully choreographed dance, they came together as one. Slammed by the wave of their release, she collapsed on his body and sobbed, her hands grabbed frantically at his arms and chest as she tried to twist her fingers in him tightly, like she'd done so often with his shirts.
"I needed it too, Bones, you're not alone, I'm here. I needed it to." Holding, rubbing, squeezing him fiercely, she couldn't stop the steady flow of tears, the gasps for breath, she was inconsolable. This release every bit as powerful and out of control as the last. His affirmations and pleas soft and low until she'd calmed enough for him to lift her head up. "I needed it to." He reaffirmed as she saw his tears and carefully wiped them from his cheeks. Collapsing back down on him, she let herself cry until she fell asleep. He held out on sleep, his hand drifted back to its natural guard post, waited for contractions, but none came. Finally, he let himself relax and rest. With Chambers dead, gone, out of the picture, they had reclaimed one another.
Huddled together tightly, they slept until the invasive pounding at the door woke them several hours later.
"Hold on." He yelled at the door as he yanked on some gym shorts and pulled a t-shirt over his head. Muttering, he made his way to the door ready to kill whoever it was. They'd interrupted just about the best nap they'd had ever. "Three days, was it that hard to understand? I thought I was pretty damned clear about it. Is it a counting thing, no one can do simple math, can't count? Is it so hard just to give us the damned three days?" He still carried on as Sweets pushed his way into the apartment and started talking rapidly over him, excitement and energy pouring off of him.
"Dude, I totally broke the code. Well, not really I, more like we, but we broke it." Booth looked confused. "Agent Booth, did I wake you up?" Booth only nodded and gave Sweets a sharp look telling him to keep it down.
"Bones is still asleep, wake her and I kill you right here and right now."
His wide eyes stared up at Booth from the couch, where he'd already sat himself down and started spreading things out.
"Okay, then." He dragged out the words a little cautiously. Then jumped back into his excited explanation. "See. See this right here." Pointing emphatically, he poked at the book, jabbed it. "All these codes represent stuff. These are reference numbers and correspond with names. It took forever to break just that code alone. There are some freaking high ranking people on this list, by the way." Sweets went on to describe the whole mess in great detail, each name had corresponding numbers, different number and letter codes that linked them to video and pictures, mostly screen grabs from the video, different codes for materials on memory sticks, DVDs, and external hard drives. "All of the items were stored at different locations." He started rummaging through a backpack he'd brought in with him, slung most casually over his shoulder.
"See." He dumped several meticulously labeled hard plastic DVD case and a couple hard drives on the table and sat back satisfied.
"No, I don't see, Sweets. What the hell? You interrupted my weekend, our weekend, our first real rest in God knows when, to give me a list of entitled hoity toities caught with their pants around their ankles." Booth's anger flared and seemed out of control. Coming to a stop, he huffed and let his hands come to rest on his hips, chest slightly jetted out, all indicators to Sweets that Booth was ready for a fight.
Quietly, Sweets moved the discs and external hard drives towards Booth. "I think these are what you're looking for, Agent Booth." Suddenly solemn, he looked the agent towering over him in the eye. "I think these are Dr. Brennan's." He waited for Booth to move, to breath, to acknowledge in any way what he'd just laid out before him. Booth rubbed his face, then let himself fall down onto the couch next to Sweets. Turning his attention to the kid psychologist, he just stared at him in disbelief, a deep sorrow welled up in his eyes. Sweets pushed the materials over towards Booth. "I didn't look at them, not even a little, so, I could be wrong. I don't think I am. Based on the way we broke the code, these should be hers. I brought them straight here."
"Who else worked on this?" Booth's hand reached for the DVD. The fact that such a commonplace item might hold such uncommon and disturbing footage rocked him.
"Me, Angela, Hodgins." He looked at Booth. "We had some help, outside help." Help Sweets had obviously been unsure Booth would approve of since he hung his head and looked away, eyes darting around the apartment.
"Who?"
"Zack." His voice was low as if confessing a sin. "Zack helped when we got stuck."
"Does he know? Did he se-"
"No, no he doesn't, he didn't. " Sweets motioned towards the small pile of hard drives and DVDs. "None of us have looked at these at all, Agent Booth. None of us."
She stood in the doorway to the bedroom, her heart pounded as she stepped into the room.
"What did Zack do?"
Booth explained, tenderly rehearsed everything that he and Sweets had been over. Sweets jumped in with the details. Bones grabbed the DVD off the top and headed for the DVD player. Booth had always been so careful with her, she often forgot how quick and strong he was. Before she could take even a full step, he'd taken the disk from her hand.
"Both of you out," he demanded. "Now." He looked back and forth between the two who stood still and stared back. Sweets looked genuinely confused, Bones ready for war. "You." He pointed at Sweets, "go in the kitchen or the hall or I don't care where, but get out of this room." Sweets nodded and complied, heading toward the kitchen. Booth hollered after him to help himself to a beer.
"You." It came out completely different from the way he'd just spoken to Sweets. "You do not need to see this." She started to argue, but he cut her off. "I'm just going to watch enough to know if it's you, okay? If it is, it's going into the safe. We aren't watching it now, not today, not tomorrow, maybe not ever, understand?" She tucked herself into his arms, under his chin, feeling small and somewhat helpless. "I'll tell you though, if these are yours, if you're on them, I'll tell you. But, you and the baby don't need this right now. If we watch them, it will be on our terms, when we're ready." He felt her nod against his chest. "Go back in the bedroom, okay? Close the door." She did.
He didn't want this job, he felt every bit of anger and disgust rise up in him. But, she needed him to do this for her, to be strong for her. Sweets and the others had preserved her privacy, he needed to protect her. Pushing the DVD into the machine he grabbed the remote and quickly muted the television. It would be bad enough to watch, even a little, he couldn't hear it, just couldn't.
Staggering backwards, he recognized the alley by The Science Club immediately. Then, he had to wait as the feed was stagnant, no people, no movement, at first. His heart pounded in his ears as he waited then watched in horror as he saw her attackers gather in the alley. She staggered out the door and almost immediately the struggle began. Moving closer to the TV, he braced himself against the book shelves that surrounded it and continued to look on as she lost her battle, fell to the ground and the men jockied for first rights. When it became clear that the rape was on the disc, he stopped it, removed the DVD and put it in the case. Setting the disc on the shelf, he hovered over the bookshelf as before, fought the urge to vomit, fought to breathe, his chest so tight it seemed impossible to inhale or exhale.
Both Sweets and Bones came running when they heard the horrific crash followed by splintering and skittering of tiny pieces across the hardwood floors. They found Booth, hold still to the shelves for support, white knuckled, head hung low. No need to ask if it had been her on the video, the answer painfully clear. He grabbed the discs and the hard drives and headed straight for his wall safe. He locked them away.
"Don't get into them, understand? Not without me. I'll move them out of the house later." Wide eyed, she willingly agreed.
"Guys." Sweets didn't want to be the barer of bad news, but he had to tell them. "There's more." Booth pushed off the bookshelf and came to sit in one of his chairs pulling Bones onto his lap. For him, he did it for himself, he needed her in his arms, the reminder that she'd made it through that, the security of holding her safe.
"We couldn't find the memory sticks that go with her code. We know they have an alphanumeric assigned, but hers and some other ones are missing." Booth laid his head on her shoulder and listened. "The other ones are some pretty big names in politics and business. I think that he set these aside as a nest egg.'
Never lifting his head, he talked through clenched teeth, his jaw tight, firmly closed. "For himself? Did we check on safety deposit boxes and storage units?"
"Yes, there was nothing, but I don't think he did it for himself, Agent Booth. I think he was setting up Yanna, the Filipina girl. The bureau's running a check right now to see if anything's in her name. And Caroline's getting a DNA test on the baby. I think the baby belongs to one of the four men. Chambers claimed the baby as his own, kept journals for Yanna very similar to the ones he kept for Dr. Brennan." Booth put up his hand to stop Sweets. He didn't want to hear more, had no desire to hear more. "Just one more thing. Yanna wants to stay, here, in the US. Caroline is working on that and we're using it as leverage to try and get the memory stick. Booth, we've done some research on her. I think she's still a minor."
Booth looked up at Sweets, his mind couldn't help but do the math. That made her fourteen maybe fifteen, when they'd taken advantage of her in the Philippines, bought her for the night and considered that willingness and consent. He felt Bones hand rub gentle circles across his back and he leaned into her for support.
"She may have to go back, though her daughter was born here, or we may be able to bring her family here. Right now, we're moving her to a foster family that specializes in young girls recovering from sex trafficking." Booth nodded in agreement. "We're hoping she knows where the memory sticks are and gives them up willingly."
"Good work, Sweets." It had been meant as a compliment, but came out flat. Sweets understood.
"I know you two are, you know, taking a break for a bit here, but after the baby is born and things settle down, we need to continue therapy." Booth rolled his eyes, not the time or place. "Or, you know, if you need to talk to me before then, I'm always here for you guys." He kept making his pitch as Booth moved Bones, stood, and moved him toward a hasty exit, still talking over his shoulder about hospitals, flashbacks, and his availability for them as he went.
Booth closed the door and leaned back against it. This had not been how this day was supposed to go, not at all. Bones came to him, wrapped her arms around him tightly, he couldn't help but relax in her arms. Her careful touch, her tender words reaching beyond the terrible trauma of the little he'd seen on that disk.
"Thank you." She whispered, knowing full well the sacrifice he'd made to spare her and protect her privacy, surely equivalent to living one of the many night terrors that had plagued him since the attack. Grabbing his hand, she moved it around to the side of her body where sharp little kicks hit his hand in rapid succession.
Perspective, little baby girl Booth, had a perfect gentle way of putting it all back into perspective. They stayed that way for a long time, until Christine stopped kicking and settled.
"I love you, Temperance, more than the whole wide world."
"I love you too, Booth."
He let another few minutes pass then spoke with a little excitement and mischievousness in his voice. "So, Bones, you up for a road trip?"
She giggled against his chest, her body moving lightly against him.
"Because, I think the only way we are going to get some damned privacy is to leave, do you want to leave, I think I wanna leave, just for a day or two, just to get away."
"Yes, now that sounds relaxing." Relief filled her voice and her whole being relaxed. He pushed off the door and they started walking towards the bedroom to pack. Excitement and banter filled the air as they negotiated where to go. Bones had a long list historically significant sites they could visit. Booth had one requirement, no people.
"I know a perfect place, Booth, but you won't like the price."
"Today, I don't care about the price." Smiling smugly she left the room, making calls in quick succession.
"Hurry, our plane leaves in two hours and forty-five minutes."
"What? Bones, that's not exactly what I mea-"
"It doesn't matter what you meant, it's done."
"Can you even fly? Are you allowed?"
"We are taking Hodgins private plane, it's all arranged." She paused her preparations and stared at him. "Hurry."
Later, she'd explain that they were going to a bed and breakfast called The Swag in North Carolina. She'd rented them a cabin for privacy. But there were trails, couples massages, fishing, stone fireplaces, a delicious menu, and a jacuzzi tub for two." We're in 'Gail's Room' it has a private outdoor shower and bath on the deck." The more she talked the more he regretted saying he didn't care about the price and the more he looked forward to their time away.
On the plane, she curled into his arm. Through sleepy eyes she looked up at him and smiled.
"This was a great idea, Booth." Her head came to rest on his arm, her soft sighs melted his heart. It was a great idea, a perfect idea, he thought as he turned and kissed the top of her sweet head.
ooooo0ooooo
Ah, if only I had the money to fly out to North Carolina and get a room at The Swag but it'll have to wait until, as my son puts it, we are ridiculously rich. I don't anticipate that happening anytime soon. LOL
Special thanks to craftyjhawk for her willingness to advise, correct, and hold my hand as I fret! If you haven't already, you should check out her writing and Bones stories! They are great!
Thank you to all those that have supported, read, and reviewed over the long long months it's taken to write this story. Just a wee bit to go and we're done. Thanks also to all those just finding the story, all the favorites and follows, they always make my day. I have been admittedly terrible about answering reviews. Please know that I treasure them, I have just been swamped and have used the time to write. Those reviews really fuel my writing. Like even right now, I am dying to know what y'all thought!
