(After 'The Past in the Present')
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A/N: Fanfiction was down for six days, so many stories under the authors you follow were not posted or updated. It is fixed, so I think fanfic authors will start posting again.
I don't own Bones.
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Much to Booth's displeasure, Parker wouldn't be staying the summer with him after all. Rebecca called to let him know that their son had been invited to go to Italy by one of his friends for the summer, all expenses paid by the friend's parents and Parker didn't want to refuse the offer. Rebecca knew the family and trusted their good judgment so she felt it was safe for the boy to go. Booth had wanted to override her, but after talking to Parker he realized that the boy really wanted to vacation with his friend and he'd probably resent having to pass up the trip if he insisted. He wanted his boy to be happy, so he'd said he didn't mind if Parker skipped coming home for the summer.
"I wanted us to go on vacation somewhere, Bones. With Parker." Booth was sitting in the living room staring sullenly at the coffee table. "I guess I can't beat Italy and beaches and shit like that . . . this sucks."
She could see that Booth was upset, but he had given the boy permission to go and she knew he was only venting his frustration about the situation. "Perhaps we can go somewhere. I don't want to go camping since Christine is so young and prefers comforts like air conditioning and bug free environments, but we could book a hotel somewhere with a beach. You love beaches."
"Yeah, we could do that." Booth knew that Brennan was right. Parker was doing something he wanted to do and he knew that the vacation would probably be educational. "Do you have someplace in mind?" If Brennan wanted to go somewhere then he felt she should pick the place since he wasn't in the mood to come up with a plan.
"We could go to Virginia Beach . . . It's not too far away and we could avoid plane travel." Wary of plane travel when babies were involved, Brennan felt that a beach close enough to drive to would be suitable. "I don't think Christine would enjoy plane travel, not at her age."
Since he'd been on planes with screaming babies, he knew she was right. "Yeah, Virginia Beach is okay . . . If you want to go then book a hotel and we'll go. Just give me a week's notice so I can tell Fairburn. Harris says he's going on vacation in September around Labor Day so we're good anytime for the next two months."
"I'll research hotels. It's June, so I assume booking a hotel may be difficult . . . I may look at Bed & Breakfast establishments as well. Someone may have a cancelation." Brennan moved over to the desk in the corner of the living room, sat down and turned on her PC. There was no time to waste if she wanted to find them a vacation spot for the summer. She was determined to give Booth the vacation he needed even if it didn't include Parker.
Disappointed that he wouldn't get to see his son until Thanksgiving, Booth knew he'd have to make the best of the situation. He was the one that had said Parker could go, so he had no right to spoil any vacation plans that Brennan came up with. He felt that she deserved whatever she wanted to do. It still sent chills down his back when he thought about Brennan being a murder suspect. That could have ended up very badly and the thought of Brennan in prison awaiting trial made him shiver. He owed Hodgins for saving her from that and he wouldn't forget it. "Hey Bones. If you want to invite Hodgins and Angela to come with us you can . . . I mean if you want to, it's up to you. I just thought it might be nice to have friends with us on vacation."
Surprised, Brennan turned around to look at her mate. As a rule, Booth didn't like to share his time with his family with anyone else, unless it was for barbecues or birthday parties. "I could ask Angela if they have plans for the summer before I book anything . . . if that's what you want to do." She wasn't sure if Booth was being sincere and she didn't want to do anything to make him unhappy since he was dealing with Parker's alternative vacation plans.
"It's up to you." Booth stood up and sighed. "I'm going to go and watch a game in the man cave . . . or a movie."
Once he was out of the room, Brennan retrieved her phone from the charging station and made a call. She decided to take Booth's word that he didn't mind if they had company on their vacation. In fact, she thought it might be nice to include her best friend in their vacation plans for once.
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Astonishingly, Booth was told a few days later that Hodgins had invited him and Brennan to his vacation home on Martha's Vineyard. Apparently one of Hodgins' ancestors had bought a summer home there in the late 1800's and Hodgins liked to use it in July or August every year. He hated to be in Washington D.C. in the summer because the humidity was stifling. Angela assured Brennan that there was enough rooms in the place to accommodate guests, so Brennan had accepted the generous offer. "We can drive there and take the ferry to the island. Angela says the house isn't too far from a lighthouse and you can see it from the beach behind the house. She says we can use the summer house whenever we want to, it doesn't have to be when they're there."
The house sounded a little too good to be true, but then Booth knew that Hodgins was stinking rich and he probably had a castle and called it a cabin. The rich were facetious about things like that. "Sure, if that's what you want to do." He was apathetic about his vacation plans and he decided that whatever Brennan wanted to do would be fine since it was her vacation too. "When do you want to go?"
"I was thinking 4th of July week." Brennan heard that there usually festivities that celebrated the holiday on the island and Angela said they were going to be there that entire week. "We can stay a week or two if you would like to. Angela told me that the house has central air so no matter how hot it gets there, Christine and Michael Vincent will be comfortable."
Shrugging his shoulders, Booth knew that Brennan wanted this and he'd accept it. "Sure, that's fine. A week should be good." He knew he'd have to get in a better mood before they went because the last thing he wanted to do was to make Brennan unhappy. He needed to get used to the fact that he couldn't see his son whenever he wanted to. The boy had a new life that didn't include him and he'd have to accept it now.
"I'll let Angela know." Brennan was looking forward to the vacation. After she'd arranged to have Ethan Sawyer buried in the cemetery where her mother was buried, Brennan had attended the funeral with Booth and that lonely ceremony had left her feeling sad. She needed to move on and come back reenergized and ready to go after Christopher Pelant. She found it galling that the man was still walking around free after he had killed three people. She also found it disturbing that he had found a way to try to implicate her in Ethan's murder and she felt it was imperative that Pelant be jailed as soon as they could find the evidence to implicate him. For the moment though, everyone needed to relax and to have a vacation from their stressful lives. The problem of Pelant would still be there when they came back, unfortunately.
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"So you're going to Martha's Vineyard?" Harris leaned against the doorframe of Booth's office and watched as Booth continued to type on his PC. "Isn't that where they filmed 'Jaws'?"
"It was a movie, Harris." Booth knew that his friend was trying to tease him, but he wasn't in the mood. "It's not like the shark was real."
Moving away from the doorway, Harris moved over to the chair in front of Booth's desk and sat down. "Just because that was a mechanical shark doesn't mean they don't have real sharks there . . . I prefer the mountains. Less chance of becoming shark chum."
Unamused, Booth stopped typing and turned to face his friend. "I've been to plenty of beaches and I've never seen a shark . . . well, even if I did, I know they usually leave people alone."
"Usually." Harris chuckled. "I wouldn't risk my life on usually."
Annoyed, Booth glared at his friend. "Don't you have work to do?"
"I thought I'd let you know that Christopher Pelant has been released from house arrest. He has to report to a parole officer once a week, but besides that, he's free to come and go as he pleases." Harris hated the fact that they hadn't been able to prove that the hacktivist had killed Ezra Krane or Inger Johannsen. "I may have a word with the police where he lives and ask them to keep an eye on the guy, at least once in a while . . . He's going to kill again. He's escalating his little reign of terror and God knows how far he'll go."
"Just make sure you don't give him a reason to go to court and say we're harassing him." Booth was wary of Pelant and didn't want the man to use the courts against them. "He's too smart for his own good. He's going to make a mistake and when he does we're going to get the sorry bastard . . . He went after Bones this last time. I'm not going to forget that."
"None of us are going to forget that Booth."
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