Author's note: Stick with me here as I wrap up the case. It's very light on dialogue this chapter. More kisses? Your wish...

Disclaimer: If I-i-i-i…were the quee-e-e-e-e-en…of the netwo-o-o-o-o-ork….

Booth whipped his sedan onto the dirt lane leading to the balloon field. He ground to a stop and jumped out of the car, pulling out his gun and moving quickly but cautiously to the only other car parked there. It was a green Ford Mustang, its license plate had "OFF2OZ" on it, and there was a bumper sticker that said "Don't you have to go feed your flying monkeys?"

"Must be the place," Booth muttered, proceeding to the field where he could see about twenty hot air balloons, half of them inflated and tethered to the ground.

He peered into the baskets that he passed on the ground, not really expecting to find her in one of them. When he reached the first inflated balloon, he called out, "Bones?"

He didn't hear her answer, nor did he see the basket move. He couldn't be sure that she was conscious. Or alive, he thought to himself, then forced the thought back. "Temperance!" he called out across the entire field. He watched closely for any sign of movement in the other floating balloons.

But what caught his eye was not motion. "How about a little fire," he murmered to himself, breaking into a full run. He stopped underneath a balloon with flames printed on it and yelled up to the basket, "Temperance! Are you up there?"

Finally, he saw the basket move. "Bones?" he called again.

"Booth?" she answered groggily.

He sighed with relief and said, "Are you okay? Can you stand?"

There was a pause as she assessed her situation, then she called out, "I'm tied up!"

"Okay, I'm climbing up to get you!" he called, moving to the rope keeping the balloon from drifting away. He holstered his gun and began pulling himself up the rope.

"Booth!" Tempe yelled. "The rope is connected to the torch!"

He immediately dropped back down. He considered his options before calling up to her, "I'm gonna wait for backup. Are you okay up there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Suddenly, Booth heard another torch fire up. He looked around and saw the man they were after—The Wizard—cutting the rope tethering his balloon to the ground.

Booth started to move in his direction, when he heard a small pop behind him. He spun back and saw that the peg holding Brennan's tether to the ground had been set with a charge. The balloon was rising and Temperance was calling out to Booth.

He ran and jumped to grab a hold of the rope. He could hear the torch going, but he continued to climb, refusing to abandon Brennan.

By the time he'd climbed to the lip of the basket, they were high over the field and Booth could see backup finally arriving far below them. He pulled himself over the edge of the basket and immediately went to Brennan.

Her wrists and ankles were tightly bound, just like the girl he'd rescued at the shipping yard. He cut the bindings and took her wrists in his hands, rubbing them to help restore circulation. He saw that the skin was red and raw, and he placed a gentle kiss on the inside of each wrist before standing up and surveying their surroundings. He saw the Wizard's balloon a few dozen yards away, and he got an idea.

Pulling out his weapon, Booth aimed carefully. Brennan was pulling herself up when he fired the first shot.

"Geez, Booth!" she exclaimed. "Isn't that against some FBI code, shooting at an unarmed suspect?"

"I'm not shooting at him, Bones," he said, taking aim again. "I'm trying to hit the torch so that he can't go any higher."

"That could explode," she said, though her tone indicated that it was more of an intrigued statement than an objection.

"There is a high probability of that," he answered with the air of one discussing the weather. He fired another shot, and this time he hit his mark.

There wasn't much by way of an explosion, but the material of the balloon was doused in torch fuel and caught fire. His balloon sank from the sky, and as he was going down Booth and Brennan could hear him yell, "I'm melting, me-e-e-e-elting! Oh, what a world, what a world!" He landed with a hard thud right in a circle of very irritated FBI agents.

"Eat your heart out, Margaret Hamilton," Booth muttered, shaking his head.

"I don't know what that means," Brennan answered.

He merely looked at her appraisingly. She broke into a grin to show that she was kidding, and he laughed.

Despite being stuck for the time being in a balloon, with no knowledge of how to operate it besides making it go higher, Booth and Brennan were in pretty high spirits.

They sat down next to each other and leaned against the wicker side. There was no wind, but the air was colder at that altitude, and when Brennan began to shiver, Booth took off his blazer and wrapped it around her, leaving his arm draped over her shoulders.

"We did good, Bones."

She looked at him and gave him that lopsided smile that he secretly loved. "Yeah, we did, didn't we?" He pressed his lips to her forehead, and she lay her head on his shoulder. They sat in silent reflection of their day.

Dusk fell on one balloon drifting down to meet flashing lights.

To be continued…

One chapter to go! Review it if you read it, please. Anonymous reviews accepted and welcomed! ;)