A/N: Michael is 20 and Christine is 14

It was just after six the next morning when Booth pulled out of the driveway. "Booth, I don't understand why we have to leave so early. The sun has only been up for fifteen minutes."

Booth chuckled little, "Traffic through Arlington won't be too bad at this hour and that way we'll have more beach time today."

"Yes, but it was extremely hard to get Michael up this morning when it was still dark out. He thinks when it's dark out that's sleeping time, he's not wrong…"

Booth looked to the back seat and grinned a little, "He's fine, he and Christine are asleep already."

"Good, hopefully they'll sleep most of the way."

"Hopefully. I'm excited to go on vacation. We haven't been on one with the kids in forever…"

"The last time we tried to visit Russ and Amy Michael was 10…."

"Myrtle Beach was a disaster…too much stimulation for Mikey ."

"Yes. Michael is older and he's in a better place now on better medications. this year will be different. At least I hope so."'

"It will be different and if he can't handle it we have a house he can come back to and deal with everything however he needs to. Plus, Parker and Adi will be there to help out."

"Yes, I'm glad we have the beach house instead of a hotel room or two to stay in for the week. I'm also glad Parker and Adi are coming with us; we've never taken a vacation with Parker."

"I haven't either really, Rebecca didn't really let me have him a lot and when she did it was only for a couple days. We went camping a few times and when he was a baby and toddler I took him to Philly to see Pops a few times. Then when we started working together, it was hard to get time off to actually go somewhere. Most of our vacations were staycations, we'd do fun stuff in D.C. and come see you and use the pool…"

"Parker loved your staycations, Booth. He said it was more fun to stay home with you than Rebecca because you didn't work at home…"

"He did? How do you know?"

"He told me once after dad's science club and he came to my office to wait for you to pick us both up."

Booth smiled, "I enjoyed our staycations too. I worked at home during them too, I just waited until he was in bed. I enjoy staycations with you and the kids too, although swinging kills my back more than it used to."

"You don't have to swing with Michael, he'd be just as happy if just sat with him."

"I know and sometimes I do just sit with him, but sometimes I want to do something he enjoys with him and since I can't draw, at least as not as good as he can, I swing."

"I know what you mean, when I found out I was pregnant with him I envisioned doing all the things that mom and dad never did with Russ and I because of their 'jobs'. Then when it was apparent that wouldn't be happening, at least not the way I envisioned, it made me sad. One day I took the day off, I took Christine to dad's and just did whatever Michael wanted. We went to the indoor playground for the morning then we went to the park and had a picnic When we came home Michael asked for me to build a blanket fort in the living room I did. He asked to watch Cars, when I put the movie in, he asked me to come in the fort he got in my lap and fell asleep. It was the best day. It wasn't anything like I'd envisioned spending a day with my child to be , but it was the perfect day with Michael."

"Yeah, last summer he wanted to go on that all day bike ride, thankfully Parker went with us in his car to switch off. I couldn't have walked beside him for the whole thing. It was like 7 miles. I don't know how he managed to ride that long…"

"He's young and doesn't have a really good concept of time or distance."

"Yeah, but it was a fun day for all of us."

"Yes, I don't remember when he's been happier."

"Yeah." Silence fell over the SUV as he drove out of Arlington Booth glanced over at Brennan, he smiled a little when he noticed she was asleep. Almost two hours later Michael woke up, "There yet?"

Booth chuckled, "no, buddy. We'll be stopping in a few minutes to get some breakfast. Wake up Christine for me."

"Okay." Michael grinned and leaned over, poking Christine in the shoulder.

"Mikey, stop poking me!" Michael grinned and poked Christine again. "Dad, make Mikey stop poking me!"

Booth chuckled, "I asked him to wake you up. We're going to be stopping for breakfast soon."

"Oh. Good, I'm hungry. "

A few minutes later Booth pulled into the parking lot of Swaggy P's Kitchen.

"This looks like a nice place."

"Yeah, the food must be good the place is crowded."

"Hopefully."

Booth and Brennan got out of the SUV and waited for Michael and Christine. They crossed the parking lot and went inside. The waitress seated them at the last open table for four. The waitress laid four menus on the table and said she would be back in a few minutes. Booth handed everyone a menu and quietly read the breakfast section to Michael. He settled on a ham and cheese omelet ,bacon, hash browns ,and toast. Booth ordered the same but with fried eggs. Christine got a sausage egg and cheese biscuit with hash browns and Brennan ordered French toast. An hour and a half later they were back in the SUV, Michael put on one of the books on tape that Brennan made for him and Christine got out her iPod and a book. Once Booth was sure the kids couldn't hear him, he turned to Brennan "Parker texted when you and Christine were in the bathroom, he and Adi are about an hour behind us…. They overslept…."

"It might even out once we stop for groceries before we get to Virginia Beach."

"Yeah, they're going to be so excited that Parker and Adi are coming too."

"Yes. I have to admit I'm looking forward to this too."

"So am I." Right before they got to Virginia Beach Booth stopped at a grocery store. "It looks crowded, this might not end well for Michael…"

"Yeah, all we can do is try and one of us needs be prepared to make a quick exit with him while the other one shops."

"I'll go out with him if he needs it."

"All right, let's do this shopping thing so we can hit the beach!" The four headed into the store, Michael was holding tightly to Brennan's hand. Twenty minutes later Brennan whispered to Booth, "I'm going to take Michael out, it's starting to be too much…"

Booth nodded and put an arm around Michael's shoulders, "It's all right, buddy. Mom's going to go to the car with you to wait until Christine and I get done shopping."

"K."

Twenty-five minutes later Christine climbed in the backseat with a bag, she pulled out two bottles of water and a snack bag of Cheese-its and a snack bag of Doritos then she handed the bag to Brennan. "The rest is for you and dad. He thought the water and crackers would help Mikey." Christine broke the seal on one of the waters and tightened the lid back on before she put it in the cup holder next to Michael Then she handed Michael his crackers and put her hands over his, helping him open the bag. Seeing that Michael was okay Brennan looked at what else was in the bag, in addition to two bottles of water there was a bag of barbeque potato chips for Booth and bag of pretzels for her, Brennan smiled and grabbed her pretzels and a water. A few minutes later Booth climbed behind the wheel.

"The snacks weren't necessary for the remaining 45 minutes to the beach house…."

"Yeah well, I started to just get water, but then I saw the crackers and I thought Mikey would like them…. Plus, with how the traffic is picking up it might take a while to get there. Is Michael okay?"

"Yes. As soon as we got outside he calmed down a lot. When we got to the SUV he went back to his book. I think he dozed off a little."

"That's good."

"yes."

B&B

Just over an hour later Booth pulled into the driveway of their home for the week.

"We're staying here?"

"Yes…"

"Cool! The house is huge!"

"Yes, it's larger than we need, but it was one of the 'smaller' homes available…"

"Before you go explore take your stuff inside…"

"Okay, dad." Christine hurried out of the car.

Booth shook his head and turn to Brennan "you unlock the door and I'll get the bags and Mikey…"

"Okay." Brennan got out of the SUV and walked up the sidewalk. Booth smiled as Michael opened the door and slowly got out of the SUV. He went and to the back and handed Michael and Christine their suitcases. Christine hurried up the sidewalk. Michael just stood by the back of the SUV. Booth grabbed his and Brennan's suitcases and closed the hatch. "Come on, buddy. Let's go check out the house…. "Michael just stood there; Booth gently pulled on his hand. Michael tightly gripped Booth's hand and they headed inside. Booth walked through the house to the kitchen. "This is nice. Let's go look at the bedrooms, you can pick out which room you want to sleep in." Michael nodded and followed Booth down the hall. Booth stopped at the master bedroom and sat his and Brennan's suitcases by the bed. "Mom and I will sleep in here." Michael nodded and went in the bedroom across the hall and put his suitcase and backpack by the bed and sat down on it.

"Are you sure this is the room you want? There are more bedrooms to choose from."

"I sleep here…"

"Okay. Let's go find your sister and see the rest of the house." Michael got up and followed Booth down the hall and up the stairs to the second floor. They found her in the bedroom with bunkbeds. "You're sleeping in here, Christine?"

"Yep, I've always wanted to sleep in a bunkbed…"

Booth chuckled, "Okay. Why don't you and Mikey go explore while I help mom bring in the rest of our stuff?"

"Okay. Mikey come on…". Booth watched Michael follow Christine down the hall before he went back downstairs to help Brennan with the rest of their stuff.

"Michael is sleeping in the room across from ours…"

"I figured as much…"

"Me too. Christine is in the room with the bunkbeds because she's always wanted to sleep in a bunkbed." Booth shrugged." They're exploring the house… I'll get the cooler with the leftovers from yesterday then we can have lunch or an early dinner soon."

"Okay. "

A few minutes later Brennan was putting the leftovers in the refrigerator when Christine came inside.

"Christine, where's Michael?"

"He's on the deck-"

"You can't leave him alone, Christine-"

"He's fine, Bones. I can see him from here."

"Oh"

"I just came in to tell you that we're going to sit out there and get my book…"

"Okay. Can you take Michael his drawing supplies and his audio books in case he wants them?"

"Uh-huh." Christine ran to Michael's room and got his backpack. Then she started to run upstairs to get her book. "You don't have to run upstairs. Your brother is fine…" Christine nodded and slowed down a little as she went upstairs. A few minutes later she was back outside with Michael.

Booth went over to Brennan, wrapping his arms around her. "Relax Bones. Christine wouldn't let anything happen to Mikey. You know that…"

"Yes, but she's only fourteen and Michael can be a lot to handle in a new situation…"

"She's almost fifteen. And she had him sit in a choir we can see from the house…She wouldn't have left him out there if he was anxious or agitated. If she couldn't get him inside on her own she'd have opened the door and screamed for us like she did that one time he got freaked out by the noise the neighbors were making when they were moving in. Remember? She was a few days past her eighth birthday…"

"Yes, it took both of us. You got Michael inside while I calmed her down, she'd never really seen him have a full-on meltdown before. It scared her when he started pacing and when she got close to him to try to get him inside he started yelling at her…"

"yeah, we had dinner and built a blanket fort that we all sat in and watched movies in until they fell asleep. It took us weeks to get her to play with him without one of us there."

"Yes, that part figuratively broke my heart."

"Mine too."

"I'm going to make sure they put sunscreen on…". Booth chuckled a bit and kissed Brennan's cheek. "I love you, Bones."

"I love you too, Booth."

B&B

An hour later the side door to the deck silently opened and closed. "There you two are!"

Christine's head snapped up, "PARKER!" Christine tossed her book and iPod aside and ran to her oldest brother and threw her arms around him. "Why are you so happy to see me? You saw me yesterday and the day before that…."

"Yeah, but that was only for a few hours. If you and Adi are here that means you're gonna be on vacation with us…"

"Actually, we only came to have lunch with everybody then we're going home…."

"Oh…" Christine looked down at the deck and started running her toe along the gap in the boards.

Gotcha… we're staying for the week….."

"Parker, that was mean! I'm glad you and Adi are staying here for the week."

"Us too."

"It'll be fun…"

"Yep. Mikey is happy to see you too, but he's busy drawing…"

"I get it, he's in the zone…" Adison bent over and put the Yorkie she was carrying on the ground and smiled as he made a beeline for Michael and jumped up in his lap. "Teddy!" Michael put his sketchbook aside and picked up Teddy before walking over to everyone.

"Parkor! Adi!"

"Hey Mikey! I see Teddy is happy to see you…"

"Uh-huh…"

Booth opened the door and stuck his head out. "Come inside and make your plates and we can eat outside if you want."

"Okay." Everybody went to the kitchen and got their food then they went back outside to the picnic table.

"Mom, can we go in the pool?"

"Yes, after everyone is done eating."

"Okay." An hour later lunch was cleaned up and everyone as enjoying the pool.

Later that night Michael and Christine were in bed, Parker and Addison were in the living room watching a movie, and Booth and Brennan were on the deck enjoying the night together.

"Today was a good first day of vacation, Bones. No major meltdowns and nobody peed in the pool."

"It was a good day. I got Michael out of the grocery store just in time."

"I think we should let everybody sleep as late as they want and just hang out at the beach and here at the pool tomorrow. There are attractions we could go to in town that would be fun, but they'd be too much stimulation for Mikey. I am going to go to the small grocery store in town to get stuff for s'mores and hotdogs and buns so we can use the firepit tomorrow for dinner. I'll even get tofu dogs for you… if they have them…"

"Thank you, Booth. If they don't have them we have leftovers I can eat. We need to spend at least part of one day sightseeing. If Michael can't handle it I will stay back with him."

"You always stay back, Bones."

"I know, but I'm usually who Michael wants when He's overstimulated, he feels the safest with me."

"I know, and I get it, but sometimes it bothers me that I'm not the one he wants or needs when he's having a meltdown. I mean I can get him through one if you're not with us, but it takes longer."

"I know. Sometimes, especially when he was younger I wished he'd need you more… I love being his 'person', but sometimes I wish I wasn't his only person… You're the fun one anyway, he never asks me to walk beside his bike while he rides. He doesn't ask me to play games with him and Christine often anymore. He prefers that you take him to school. He asks you to swing with him more than he does me. He likes your pancakes better…"

"Because you try to make them really healthy and use stuff like wheat germ and whole wheat flour and vegan butter and that really bitter syrup and turkey bacon…"

Brennan laughed, "You liked the wheat germ pancakes…"

"They weren't bad and the syrup isn't bad either. I just like the other syrup we get from the lady that has the honey better."

"Her syrup is better I brought large jars of both with us, by the way."

"Good. How about we try switching off with Michael if he's not too out of control?"

"Sounds good to me. I hope he sleeps well while we're here. I brought his meds just in case."

"I think he'll be fine. When I checked on both of them before coming out here he was sound asleep with Teddy curled up next to him."

"I don't know who loves who more."

"I think the feeling is mutual. We should get a dog…. It'd be good for Mikey …"

"It would be good for Michael to have a dog, maybe for Christmas. We need to get him really settled into working and his art class at Georgetown before we add the chaos of a dog. We will have to pick it out for him, taking him to the shelter would be too much stimulation and too many choices. Christine would want to adopt them all…"

"Yeah…"

B&B

It was almost 9 the next morning before anyone other than Booth and Brennan made their way into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Parker, Adi."

"Morning dad, Bones."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, the bed is really comfortable."

"That's good."

"I'm assuming Teddy is still in Mikey's room."

"Yes, we didn't hear a peep out of either of them all night. Thank you for bringing him along."

'You're welcome. We didn't see any reason to board him when Mikey loves him so much."

"He does love him, but Teddy loves him too."

"Yeah."

Christine wandered into the kitchen followed by Michael carrying Teddy,

"Good morning you two. Did you sleep well?"

"Uh-huh.

I hungry."

Brennan smiled and leaned in, kissing Michael's forehead. "Put Teddy down then go sit at the table. The breakfast casserole is ready."

"Okay. " Michael put teddy on the floor and washed his hands before sitting at the table. Everyone ate for a few minutes.

"What are we gonna do today?"

"We're going to go to the beech and hang out here at the pool later."

"Cool."

After the breakfast mess was cleaned up everyone started getting ready for the beach. "Bones, I'm going to go to the store and get hotdogs, buns, chips and stuff for s'mores for dinner tonight then I'll meet you guys at the beach."

"Okay."

"I come.."

Booth stopped halfway to the door "You want to go to the grocery store with me, Michael?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay. Get your shoes on, I'll wait."

"K." Michael went to get his shoes.

"Why do you think Michael wants to go to the store ?"

"I don't know redemption for yesterday?"

"Perhaps." A few minutes later Booth and Michael were on their way to the store. Thankfully the store wasn't too busy, Booth got a cart and pretended not to notice when Michael grabbed onto it like he did when he was younger. Luckily for Booth the s'more makings were in a display at the front of the store, he grabbed two bags of marshmallows and two boxes of graham crackers and a package of chocolate bars. On the way to the meat department to get the hotdogs, Booth stopped by the deli and got some potato and macaroni salad. Booth smiled as Michael wandered over to the bakery section and picked up a box of donuts and started walking toward Booth, "get another box and two boxes of chocolate donut holes…"

"K." Michael picked up the boxes of donuts and walked over to Booth and carefully put them in the cart. "Good job, bud." They went to the meat department where Booth picked up three packages of turkey hotdogs and one package of tofu hotdogs for Brennan. They got the buns and a few different kinds of chips and dips to go with them, next. Their next stop was the condiments, Michael put bottles of ketchup, mustard and relish in the cart. Booth tossed a package of paper plates in the cart as he detoured to the candy section and got some full-size peanut butter cups. "Are you ready to check out and go to the beach, Michael?"

"Yeah.."

"Let's go." Fifteen minutes later the groceries were loaded in the SUV and Booth and Michael were headed back to the beach house. "Michael, you did well in the store. I'm proud of you."

"Mom?"

"Mom will be proud of you too, once I tell her how well you did."

"K,"

When they got to the beach house Booth handed Michael a bag. "Take this in the kitchen and put it on the counter then go to your room and get your stuff ready to go to the beach."

"Okay." Michael took the bag and headed inside. Booth followed and put the hotdogs, the salads and dips in the refrigerator. He put the donuts on the counter and left everything else in the bags. Five minutes later Booth and Michael were covered in sunscreen and walking toward Brennan.

"MOM!"

Brennan looked up from the journal she was reading, relieved that the grocery outing had gone well and Michael was happy. "Hi Sweetheart. Did you have a good time at the store with dad?"

"Uh- huh…"

"That's good. I'm proud of you."

Michael grinned and sat down in the beach chair Brennan had set up for him and pulled out the audiobook he was listening to and popped in his earbuds. Brennan smiled and pulled the umbrella over him a little more. After a few minutes when Booth was sure Michael couldn't hear him, he turned to Brennan. "He did really good at the store, he wasn't anxious. He did hold onto the cart as I was pushing it though."

"That's been his thing lately, I don't mind it though it's easier to keep an eye on him…"

"Yeah. I got you one pack of tofu dogs and three packs of turkey dogs for the rest of us. We got buns, chips, dips, and condiments for all of it. I got macaroni and potato salad too plus s'mores makings. I also got paper plates; I don't want to risk something happening to the plates that belong with the house. "

"Good idea." Brennan went back to her journal and Booth pulled his hat down lower and settled back to relax.

A little while later Christine stood up, "Mom, I'm going to go look for shells."

"Okay, don't go too far down the beach."

"I won't. come on, Mikey, lets go look for shells…."

"Christine, I don't think-"

"You two go, have fun and be careful."

"Okay, dad. Come on, Mikey!" Christine held out her hand, Michael took it and the two of them started down the beach. Booth put his arms around Brennan. "You need to relax. Michael will be fine. He needs to get used to doing things with Christine without us."

"I know, but what if he gets agitated by noise and heads for the ocean?"

"He won't…"

"You don't know…"

"I don't, but I do know that Michael hasn't ran from us in YEARS. If I thought there was any danger of that happening I wouldn't have let them go without me. Plus, Christine is walking on the side closest to the water, he'd have to go through her first and I'm pretty sure she could lay him out flat if it came to that…"

"Michael as an adult scare me more than child Michael did. He's more independent, but he's still highly dependent on us and everyone else to navigate the world. he's not going to be able to live by himself without a moderate degree of help and supervision. It makes me sad sometimes. I just want him to be happy and successful."

'That what every parent wants for their kids. We'll just keep working with Michael to give him what he needs to be as successful as he can be without us."

"I know. I seriously wish we could live forever, one, because I can't fathom living without you. Two because I don't want Michael to be alone and taken care of by anyone but us."

"Me too. Christine and Parker will take good care of him."

"I know they will…"

"Let's take a walk, Bones, the opposite end of the beach so the kids don't think we're spying on them."

"Okay."

"Parks, Bones and I are going to take a beach walk. Can you two watch our spot and keep an eye on the kids?"

"Sure."

Booth and Brennan had been back at their spot on the beach a few minutes when Michael sat down in his beach chair. "Hi sweetheart, did you have fun with Christine looking for shells?"

"Uh-huh. I thirsty." Brennan opened a small cooler and handed him water.

"I'm glad you had fun with Christine looking for shells."

"Uh-huh."

They stayed at the beach a little while longer before they went back to the beach house and changed for the pool. Just before dark Booth lit a fire in the firepit. When the fire was reedy they started roasting their hotdogs. When they were done everyone started roasting marshmallows and making s'mores, Michael caught two marshmallows on fire and lost the third in the fire pit. Seeing he was getting agitated Booth grabbed a few more marshmallows

and walked over to Michael.

"Come on , bud let's do it again…"

"NO! I not want to!"

"I'll help you so your marshmallow doesn't fall off your stick or catch fire." Michael didn't say anything he just held his stick out and Booth wordlessly stuck a marshmallow on the end of it and walked to the firepit. Booth put his hand over Michael's and they began roasting his marshmallow. Fifteen minutes later Michael was sitting next to Brennan eating his s'more and getting it all over himself in the process.

"Are you enjoying your s'more, Michael?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Good."

B&B

The next morning Booth woke up and groaned when he saw the rain steadily coming down outside the window.

"Too many hotdogs and marshmallows last night, Booth?" Brennan rolled over and kissed Booth. "Good morning."

"Good morning. I wish. It's raining."

"Michael isn't going to like that…"

"Nope… What are we going to do?"

"We can try to go to the aquarium, Michael will love it if it's not too crowded."

"Sounds good to me, Bones."

A few minutes later Booth was in the kitchen making coffee and setting out the donuts Michael got the day before.

"I can't believe he got donuts by himself…"

"I couldn't say no because it was the first time he'd ever gotten anything at the store without us telling him what to pick up and put on the cart… Plus he was doing so good, I didn't want to ruin it."

"I wouldn't have told him no either…" Brennan sat a bowl of fruit salad on the table. Soon everyone was eating donuts and a little of the fruit salad Brennan had made.

"What are we doing today?"

"Since it's raining we thought we'd go to the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Sciences center…"

"Cool!'

An hour and a half later they were all at the somewhat crowded aquarium enjoying looking at and learning about all the animals. Thirty minutes into their visit Brennan turned to Booth. "Booth, I'm going to take Michael back to the house, he's about five minutes away from a major meltdown…"

"Okay." Booth looked at Michael, "it's okay, bud. I'm proud of you for trying your best. Mom is going to take you back to the house. You can draw and play with Teddy, okay?" Michael nodded a little.

"Bones, take my car, Adi and I can ride back with dad. Theirs water and blankets in the trunk."

"Thanks, Parker." Brennan took his keys and started guiding Michael to the exit.

B&B

A few hours later everyone came back loaded with bags of delicious smelling Mexican food.

"Hey Bones. We got dinner. How's Mikey?"

"Michael is fine, when we got here he said he didn't need extra meds. He took a little nap with Teddy. When he woke up, he asked for a hotdog for lunch then they went up to the second-floor den and he's been calm and drawing ever since."

"That's good. I'm going to go get him for dinner…"

Brennan nodded and got napkins and silverware.

Booth knocked on the doorframe and smiled when Michael looked up. "DAD!"

"Hey buddy, do you feel better now?"

"Yeah.."

"That's good."

"See fish?"

"You want to go back to the aquarium?"

"yeah."

"Okay, you and I will go back before we go home."

"Mom?"

"Mom will come too if you want her to…"

"Yeah. "

"Okay. Let's go eat dinner, we brought you back tacos."

"'Yummy!" Booth laughed and followed Michael and Teddy downstairs to the kitchen.

B&B

The rest of the vacation was spent at the beach and the pool. On the last full day Booth and Brennan took Michael back to the aquarium, while Christine, Parker and Addison went on a pirate ship adventure. The aquarium wasn't crowded this time and Michael was able to fully enjoy everything. That night they had hotdogs and s'mores for dinner. Later after Christine and Michael were in bed Booth and Brennan were sitting on the deck taking.

"This was the best vacation we've been on in a long time, Bones. I've never seen Mikey so relaxed and happy."

"Yes, I think we found his 'happy place'. He only had the one episode at the aquarium and that was mostly our fault. We should have known that it would be extremely crowded and just stayed here and let him draw and play with Teddy."

"Yeah…Bones, I noticed some places for sale when we were driving back this afternoon. They aren't beachfront like this, but it's still close. We should look at them before we go, it'd be nice to have our own place to escape to whenever we wanted especially after we retire in a few years. Plus, Mikey loves it here…"

"If Parker and Addison aren't in a hurry to go home and would stay here with the kids we could go early in the morning…"

"I'll go ask…" Booth went inside and up to the second-floor den, Parker and Addison were watching a movie.

"Hey you two."

"Hey, dad…"

"Are you guys in a hurry to go home?"

"No, we were thinking about getting a hotel for a few days. Neither of us have to be back at work until Thursday."

"That will be nice. Can you hang with the monkeys for a while in the morning? Bones and I want to do something before we head home and it'd be easier to do it without the kids."

"Sure."

"Thanks, bub."

B&B

The next morning Booth and Brennan left the house before anyone else was awake to meet the real estate agent. They looked a half dozen homes before deciding to buy the beach front house not too far away from where they were staying.

"That was easy…"

"Yes, Michael and Christine will be very excited…"

"I'm too, Bones!"

"Me too!" Booth laughed and kissed Brennan as she got in the SUV. When they got back to the house everybody was on the deck.

"Everybody get your stuff and load up, mom and have another surprise to show everybody."

"Okay." Thirty minutes later Parker was following Booth to their newly purchased beachfront home.

"Are we not gonna go home now?"

"We're going home, but mom and I wanted to show everybody the beach house we just bought so we can come here whenever we want…."

"COOL!" Christine scrambled from the SUV. Booth shook his head and waited for Brennan and Michael while he told Parker and Addison why they had to go out before everyone was up. After a little coaxing and explaining what they were doing Michael got out of the SUV and took Brennan's hand. Everybody went inside and started exploring, Michael held tightly to Booth and Brennan's hands as walked him from room to room. "What do you think, buddy?" Michael shrugged as they went in one of the bedrooms. "This is going to be mine and dad's room. We thought you'd like the room down the hall. It's big and has a big window where we can put a drawing table so you can draw." They went in the bedroom and Michael nodded. "I like… Bed?"

"We'll have to get you a new bed and another Mickey sheet and blanket set."

"NO! Want my bed!"

"Buddy, we can't bring your bed from home when we come here. We'll make sure your new bed is just like the one you have at home…"

"K." Michael left the room. Booth and Brennan chuckled as they followed him. An hour later Booth, Brennan and the kids were headed home. Parker and Addison were headed to the store to get an air mattress and patio furniture so they could stay at the beach house instead of getting a hotel for a few days.

A/N2: Michael starts working and I'm gonna put him through a lot of experiences. We'll see the beach again for a little bit too