I take it you guys enjoyed my previous chapter a whole lot. Thank you everyone for your reviews and kind wordsm follows and alerts. Shout outs to: LoveShipper, GalaxieGurl (I'm not so sure about Booth not needing to mark his territory), 554Laura, Lauwy (glad to know you got warm and fuzzyy reading it), Poppyblue5, kareneb, bookwormlady, mendenbar (you're right not much if not no nutrition was taken in at their lunch lol!), FaithinBones, jsboneslover, Monique Sampson, yoshimi0701.

Fort

Of the married couple, Dr Temperance Brennan renowned forensic anthropologist and best-selling author was usually the one who was invited to share her wealth of knowledge in her field, or to book signings around the country. So when FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth got invited across the country to share his experience in law enforcement at the FBI field offices in San Francisco and Sacramento, he jumped at the opportunity to be the one to travel instead, leaving Brennan with the kids for a week. After all he was Head of the Major Crimes Division at the Hoover. He knew he would miss his family, but it would only be a week and he promised to call nightly.

The first night he was away he had planned to make a video call to Brennan so that he could talk to the kids and they would be able to see each other as they talked. However, the Agents at the San Francisco field office were such good hosts that they took him out for dinner and drinks that took longer than Booth had anticipated. It was past the kids' bedtime by the time he got back to his hotel room and made the phone call to his wife.

"Hey Bones."

"Hi Booth."

"I'm sorry it's so late."

"The kids were disappointed."

"Yeah, time really got away from me. I didn't even realise it was so late."

"I told them you'll call tomorrow."

"I wouldn't miss that for the world."

"So how's the trip so far?"

"It's you know, going. Nothing special. How was your day? Kids okay?"

"There're no cases for us if that's what you're asking. Oh, but Hank said the word apple today."

"Yeah?"

Hank Booth was now past two and just like his sister, had hit all his milestones on schedule except speech. His vocabulary was currently limited to "Mama" and "Dada", when he should have been using simple phrases by now. It was clear Hank didn't have an issue with his hearing and could understand the instructions given to him. He was also able to convey his needs and wants with sounds and gestures but simply didn't use words like he was supposed to. Brennan had been worried and had wanted to take him to a speech therapist, but Booth had convinced her to give their son more time. He was certain their little boy would catch up soon.

"I had given him orange slices for his snack and he said apple, indicating he wanted what Christine was having."

"Atta boy! See, I told you there was nothin' to worry about. Soon he'll be saying a whole bunch of stuff."

"It's just one more word to his vocabulary Booth."

"And he'll get there. He'll be talking soon okay?"

"I believe you. I just wish you were here to share the moment."

Booth sighed. "Me too. Maybe tomorrow night he'll say something else huh?"

"I hope so."

"Look I gotta go. I still have a presentation I need to prepare for."

Brennan rolled her eyes. She had told him before that he should have prepared before he left DC but Booth being Booth had been sure he could get it prepared in no time while he was on his trip.

"I won't hold you back then."

"I'll call tomorrow. Talk to the kids. I promise. I love you."

True to his word Booth called home before the kids' bedtime the next night. The family talked over a video call.

"Hi Daddy!" Christine beamed into the laptop camera.

"Dada!" Hank grinned.

"Hey guys. I missed you."

"Look what I did at school today Daddy!" Christine held up a drawing. "This is us at the park. See you're going down the slide with me."

"That's a really nice picture Sweetheart. I'll make sure I put that in my office when I get back."

Christine beamed proudly.

"And what did you do today Hank? Said anything new?"

Hank didn't answer his father but simply patted the laptop screen as if reaching for his Dad.

"He didn't Booth." Brennan replied for her son.

"Hey you wanna say apple? Or how about ball huh? You love when we play ball together."

Hank still didn't say a word but turned his head towards the soft bouncy ball in the corner of the family room.

"What did you do today Daddy?" Christine asked.

"Nothing special. Gave a bunch of presentations. I missed you all though."

"I miss you too. When are you coming home?"

"Your Dad will only come home at the end of the week Christine. We've discussed this." Brennan answered.

"That's too long." Christine whined.

"That's just a couple more sleeps away Sweetheart. I'll be home before you know it."

"Dada!" Hank whined, copying his sister.

"We had better let Daddy get some rest. It's almost their bedtime Booth. Hank's a little grumpy."

"Right, okay. Bedtime you two. Be good and listen to Mommy. I love you." Booth pressed kisses to his fingers then pressed his fingers towards Christine and Hank on the laptop screen. "I love you too Bones. We'll talk again tomorrow."

The next few days saw Booth being unexpectedly asked to consult on a case in Sacramento which was not in his planned itinerary. Wanting to go home as soon as he could to his family, Booth threw himself into the case trying to solve it in record time.

Back home in DC, the planned trip now looking like it would be extended and the busyness from the case preventing Booth from calling home as often as he had planned, resulted in the two Booth children getting crankier with each passing day as they missed their father.

Christine could verbalise her emotions and coped a little better. Hank on the other hand grew moodier. Christine had the experience of her father being incarcerated and moving away from home when he had gambled again, but this was the first time Hank had been separated from his father for such a long stretch of time. It had been ten days since Booth left and Brennan had just given Hank his bath. The two year-year-old now clad in his pyjamas had ambled into his parents' room as if looking for his father.

Not finding his Dad there, the little boy headed to the family room as if expecting to find his Dad on the couch. Not finding the person he was looking for there either, he turned to Brennan who had been following her son through the house.

"Dada." He pointed to Booth's favourite spot on the couch.

"Your Dad's not home yet. But he will be soon Hank." Brennan scooped Hank into her arms, settling him on her hips. Christine who had been waiting on the couch for Brennan to read them a bedtime story was missing her father too. "I miss Daddy."

"Wan Dada." Hank teared.

Brennan smiled. Hank had said another new word. But little Hank wasn't smiling. He started to cry. "Wan Dada!"

Brennan rocked Hank, trying to soothe him. "Your Dad would be home soon. I promise."

Refusing to be pacified, Hank cried louder. Hating to see her son in distress Brennan racked her brain to come up with a solution to comfort him.

"A fort!" Brennan exclaimed. She remembered how Booth loved building a fort with Hank and Christine. He would use chairs and blankets and on some nights, he would pretend they were soldiers defending the fort. She knew the children loved when he got out the sleeping bags and the three of them would spend the night in their sleeping bags on the family room floor inside the fort he had built.

"Let's build a fort just like Daddy does." Brennan sat Hank on the couch and started to pull the coffee table to a corner of the room. "Christine, would you like to help?"

"Yeah! I'll get our blankets." She took off running to their bedroom.

… …

It was late that night when Booth quietly turned the keys to his front door. He slowly entered the darkened family room and was surprised by what he saw before him.

There was what appeared to be a fort in the middle of the room. It was very similar to what he would build for his children. It had chairs and the couch as walls and blankets were draped over to form the roof. As he walked closer, he spied what he knew were Brennan's feet sticking out of the entrance. He chuckled softly to himself.

"Booth?" he heard her call out.

"Yeah, who'd you think it was?" Booth toed off his shoes and shrugged off his jacket. He got on his hands and knees and crawled in.

Brennan was sleeping on her side, a throw blanket over herself. Christine and Hank were tucked into their sleeping bags. Christine had wedged herself against her mother and Hank had snuggled up to his big sister. The sight warmed his heart and reminded Booth just how much he had missed his family. Booth was a big man and there wasn't much room for him in the tiny space but he managed to squeeze in between the couch and Hank, sandwiching the two small children between their parents. He propped his head up on an elbow, grinning at Brennan.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming home?" Brennan asked in a hushed voice as she propped herself up too, mirroring Booth's action.

"The case was wrapped up and I got on the next flight to DC. I wanted to come home, take off all my clothes and surprise my wife in bed. But this is nice too."

He reached for her and she took his hand. He slowly brought her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

"I missed you, a lot."

"I missed you too. So did the kids. In fact, Hank missed you so much that he started crying for you earlier tonight. That's when I thought it would be a good idea to do something you usually do with them."

"So you built a fort?"

"Yes. Do you like it?"

"Not bad for your first time. At least the roof hasn't collapsed on us."

Beside him, little Hank stirred. He peeked open his eyes, rubbing them with one chubby hand. "Dada?"

"Hey Tiger. Daddy's home." Booth leaned down to press a kiss to the top of Hank's head. "Go back to sleep."

"Wan Dada." Hank said sleepily.

Booth raised his eyebrows at Brennan who smiled back proudly in return.

"I'm right here buddy." He gently caressed Hank's head, causing the little boy to drift back into sleep.

"Maybe you should go away more often. It seems that missing you has made Hank decide he needs to speak up more." Brennan teased.

"Nah, I think I've had enough of being away from you guys. My place is here, with you and the kids."

"It is." Brennan smiled back at her husband. "I'm glad you're home."

"Me too Bones, me too." Booth yawned. He lay his head back down. "I'm gonna wake up with a cramp tomorrow but it doesn't matter. I can't think of a better way to spend my first night back home than sleeping on the floor with the three of you. Maybe tomorrow night we'll spend some quality time together, just the two of us, without clothes, in our bed."

"I'm looking forward very much to tomorrow night then."

A/N: It's been a fruitful couple of days of writing. I'll be posting the last chapter of "The Revelations in the Past" soon. I've just updated my other story, "The Couple in The Alternate Universe", which now has an M-rating. For those of you who don't foray into the M section, or don't like AU, I have about 4 or 5 more one shots in the works, not to mention a story idea for another multi-chapter fic. So keep on reading!