|| Greetings! I haven't done a lot of writing lately and felt bad for not posting so here is a chapter 17 which marks the beginning chapters to the end of this particular installment. Until I decide how to do the sequel that is. Hopefully it won't be a couple week until my next update and if it is I apologize in advance.

Chapter 17

Their week long getaway came to an end quicker than either of them wanted it to. Driving away from their cocoon of mountains they both sighed knowing that they were on their way back to reality. "We'll have to come back again." She said with a smile keeping the memory of their vacation close to heart for as long as she could.

"We definitely will, maybe bring Parker and go fishing! He'd love rock climbing too." Booth grinned. Taking her hand she then squeezed it in agreement. "Are you ready to go back to work?" He then asked as she rolled her eyes.

"I'll have to call Angela when we get within cell phone range, if she'll accept my call that is." Their friend had called three days into their vacation on the emergency number they had given to Cam and weren't surprised in the least that she had forced the number from the Pathologist. Nor were they surprised when she was angry at both of them for just up and leaving the day after the trial without letting her know they were okay. Brennan had answered the phone and Booth had hung it up after witnessing the stress Angela had caused his girlfriend within a few minutes.

"No, call her when we're back and settled in." He argued, still upset that Angela had thought she had the right to be mad at them for leaving. "When we're home, let's just enjoy the last few hours of just us time okay, Bones?" He asked.

"I suppose the phone call can wait a little while longer. I just don't like when we're fighting." She frowned and he sighed placing his hand on her thigh. "I have never exactly been good at best friend etiquette so I want to make things right if I can." He knew of course that she never quite understood the social ques of friendship but he fully knew that Angela was the one wrong in this instance.

The trip back to DC was peaceful with minimal traffic, causing them to pull into the parking garage of her building faster than expected. Grabbing their bags he followed her up and waited as she unlocked the apartment before putting everything down and expecting each room to make sure nothing was out of sorts. "Everything looks the same." He declared.

"I would hope so." She murmured as she sifted through the mail that had been collecting over the past few days before laying them on the island. "I think I'm going to go check in at the lab, do you want to come with me?"

He groaned at the thought of her already thinking about work but knew he had won when getting her to both leave for a week as well as not call and check in. "No, you go ahead I know you're going to want to inspect everything they've been working on. I should probably head to the office for a minute as well before checking in on my place."

Bidding their goodbyes he made his way towards the FBI and immediately knew that someone had his eye on him. Stopping in front of the Hoover Building he scanned the area before he caught the gentlemen out of the corner of his eye. Colonel Pelant stood stiff waiting for Booth to come near and he fought the urge to ignore him but instead let his gut get the best of him.

"What can I do for you, Colonel?" He asked as an envelope was handed to him. The neatly written exchange addressed to him immediately made him regret leaving Bones' apartment as the man explained what the Army wanted from him. Without another word he left him standing beneath the trees and entered the secured building.

He checked in with the receptionist and gathered anything left for him before locking the door of his office and opening the letter. The Army requesting him to re-enlist was not something he had ever imagined this late in his career. While he was the man for the job and he knew it, something told him that taking it would be a bigger change than he was ready for. Instead he placed the envelope in his pocket and went home. The Army wasn't who he was anymore.

She walked into the Jeffersonian and poked her head into Cam's office. "Hello, Dr. Saroyan." Cam looked up from her computer and smiled as she walked in and sat in front of her desk.

"Dr. Brennan, welcome back! When did you return? I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow." She stated and Brennan shrugged as she pulled her hair into a loose pony.

"We got back about an hour ago, I wanted to come and check in on things. Booth needed to head to the FBI so that we're ready to get back to work tomorrow." Looking behind her towards the hallway she saw Angela walking towards her office. "I wanted to come see you and Ang." Brennan continued hoping her best friend wasn't still too upset with her. "I hope us leaving wasn't too big of an inconvenience, I told Booth it wasn't a good idea to just leave but well you know Booth."

Cam laughed lightly before shaking her head. "We all needed a break after last week, we haven't had any cases come up. I think we all needed this past week to just relax. I caught up on paperwork and Hodgins and Angela worked on a few of their projects as well. I however owe you an apology for giving Angela the cabin number, I wasn't expecting her to jump all over you like that."

She looked at her confused, not familiar with how she could have jumped over her but chose to let the phrase go and figure it out on her own. "I suppose I should have been more interactive and told her we were leaving. It was probably shocking for us to just pick up and leave without notice." Chewing on her bottom lip she advised Cam she'd speak with her later before making her way to Angela's office.

Knocking on the door lightly she put a soft smile. "Ang." She greeted walking in cautiously as her best friend turned around from where she was staring at her large screen working. "Are you still angry with me?" She continued nervously though she was never one to be truly nervous. She just didn't want anyone to feel angry with her.

Almost instantly Angela smiled before offering a hug. "No, Hodgins told me how dumb I was being and well he was right." She rolled her eyes causing Brennan to laugh as she sat down. "Did you have a good time? Please tell me you kept that man in bed all week because I would never let him go if I had a week alone with him."

Just like that the tension she was feeling being back home dissolved as she gave Angela the shortened and much more PG rated that her friend wanted version of her adventures with Booth.