A/N: Now for something completely different. The words I used in this chapter are garage sale, elephant tusks, and gloat.

It was early on a sunny Saturday morning. Brennan tried to stifle a yawn as she picked up her tablet and her coffee cup and wandered into the garage, wondering if she was ready for the day's activities. "I suppose it doesn't make any difference if I'm 'ready' or not.," she mumbled to herself. "Either way, it's going to start soon…"

Nodding resolutely, she opened the garage door and positioned a lawn chair and a small table on the driveway. "Now we wait…"

She normally didn't bother with garage sales, preferring instead to donate her family's unwanted items to local charity thrift shops. However, their neighborhood association had recently decided that the community playground was in need of an upgrade, and so a neighborhood garage sale had been organized, with the suggestion being made that some of the sales proceeds from the day could be donated to that worthy cause. Since her children had used the playground many times over the years, she'd decided to put aside her aversion in order to participate. Nodding, Brennan took a sip of her coffee. And, anthropologically speaking, joining in this sort of common activity is a good way to bond with others in our community…

In the weeks preceding the sale, she'd managed to find enough items to make that participation worthwhile. Gently used toys and several books her children had outgrown joined various kitchen utensils and an assortment of lamps, pillows, and other decorative items, all laid out on the tables she'd set up in the garage. She smiled in satisfaction as she looked over the display. Any money she did earn would be donated to the cause, along with a nice check to round it out. Anything she didn't sell that morning would be donated to charity. All in all, it would most likely be an efficient way to dispose of items, and she would've easily anticipated a great success in decluttering her home, except for two small details, both of which were related to her wonderful husband.

To begin with, he'd often found it difficult to part with any of his vast collection of possessions. He still clung to his many band tee shirts and hundreds of compact discs with an admirable tenacity. He loved his vintage toys, his assorted well worn airplane parts, his old fashioned barware, and his antique telephones, especially if those objects could be set out in a way where he could see all of them. For the most part, Brennan didn't mind his knickknacks, since she had her own collection of anthropological artifacts to display, but the sheer number of Booth's miscellaneous oddities was on the verge of becoming overwhelming.

And therein lay the root of the second minor issue…Booth loved garage sales. He began looking forward to the event as soon as it was announced. "I can't wait! Just think of all the cool stuff I might find!"

His wife had not been impressed with that statement. "Booth…the point of having a garage sale is to rid ourselves of extraneous items and thus reduce clutter, not to replace those items with other extraneous items…"

"Aw, c'mon, Bones…where's the fun in that?" Seeing her glare, he'd rolled his eyes. "Look, I promise to be good, okay? I promise I won't bring home a used car or a set of elephant tusks…"

She'd crossed her arms over her chest. "It's highly unlikely that you'd be able to bring home elephant tusks since the sale of ivory is severely restricted in the US. However, I must admit that I am concerned about gaining another partially restored Mustang in our already crowded garage…"

Placing his right hand over his heart, he'd offered a Boothy grin as he held up his left hand. "Alright…I swear…I won't bring home a beat up Mustang."

Brennan had sighed softly in response. "Somehow I don't find that very comforting…"

As she considered that exchange, Brennan watched with interest as Booth and Hank walked out of the house. "I suppose you two are off on an adventure…"

"Yep…we're gonna go exploring…at least as far as our neighborhood extends." Booth patted Hank's shoulder. "Me and Hank are gonna see what's for sale this morning. Hank says he's gonna be my conscience…you know, he's gonna make sure I don't buy a lot of junk…"

"I see. So you're actually going to listen to what a nine year old boy has to say about buying something useless?" She giggled at Booth's slight scowl. "Alright then…have fun."

Settling back in her chair, Brennan watched as father and son strolled down the sidewalk before accessing a program on her tablet. The men would enjoy spending the morning together. Christine was helping her Girl Scout troop sell refreshments to those attending the sale. And since I don't anticipate having many customers, maybe I can enjoy a quiet morning with my latest journal…

Oooooooooo

It was almost noon, and it seemed the sale was winding down. Brennan had been busy enough with her customers to keep from being bored, and was pleased to have sold several items. After boxing up the few remaining things that were left scattered on the tables, she'd have accomplished some decluttering as well as contributing to the upgrade of the new playground. Over all, an excellent use of my time…

Unfortunately, she still had a bit of trepidation to overcome. Booth and Hank hadn't returned home as of yet. She wasn't concerned for their safety, of course…but she was concerned about how much junk they might've purchased as they walked around the neighborhood. It's been several hours…and they might have several hundred dollars worth of odds and ends…

"Hiya, Bones!" Grinning cheerfully, Booth walked up the driveway, followed by Hank, who was lugging a rather large cardboard box. "So…how'd we do?"

"I haven't counted all of the money, but I'd estimate we made 175 dollars or so…possibly more. Not bad considering what I had to sell and that our house isn't directly on the cul de sac." She eyed the box suspiciously. "It seems that you found some bargains…"

"Actually, I showed considerable restraint, just like I said I would, but this stuff was just too good to pass up." Booth watched as Hank placed the box on a table. "Look…it's vintage fishing gear! Mr. Salisbury's father had to move into a memory care unit, so they decided to sell his fishing tackle for pennies on the dollar! I gave him a twenty and got all this cool stuff!" He reached into the box. "Some of these lures are at least fifty years old, and they're still in their original packaging! That might make them worth a lot of money! Plus, they're cool to look at, see? Look at all these bright colors! And this one is covered with gold glitter!"

Brennan sighed in exasperation. "Do you even like to go fishing, Booth? If I remember correctly, you suffered quite badly from seasickness when you went deep sea fishing with Hodgins several years ago…"

Narrowing his eyes at her, Booth grumbled, "Yeah, well…that was just a fluke, okay? Besides, now that Hank's older, there's a bunch of places in Annapolis where me and him can fish from a pier, so maybe we'll start doing that…but this tackle isn't really for that kind of fishing…and anyway, these things are really valuable. A lot of people like to collect this sort of thing, and I thought it might be kinda fun for me and Hank to do some research about that together, you know? We can look up facts about the lures and prices and stuff like that." He pulled a small green reel from the box. "You never know…this baby might be worth some big bucks!"

"Only if you can find someone willing to pay for it…and, more importantly, only if you're willing to part with it…which, given the amount of collectibles you already have, doesn't seem likely." Seeing his glare, Brennan laughed. "Well, I must say that I'm pleased with your efforts to be frugal, and I'm glad you didn't bring back a lot of things we don't need. Now, since you're home…why don't you two help me clean up?"

Booth grinned as he nudged Hank. "See? I told you we needed to do more shopping! Your mom's gonna make us work for our lunch. C'mon, buddy. Let's get things picked up so we can eat sooner…"

Oooooooooo

Later that afternoon, the house was quiet as the family rested from their busy morning. Brennan was working on chapter revisions in her office. Booth was sitting in his favorite chair, working the day's crossword, when Hank came bursting into the room.

"DAD! Look what I found in that box of fishing stuff!" He held up a small package containing a shiny black lure. "It's called a 740 Floater Punkinseed, and guess what?" He thrust his tablet into his father's hands. "Since it's in its original package, it's worth 125 dollars!"

"Wow! Seriously? Let me see that. Hey, look! It still has the original price tag on the package, too! See? It cost 75 cents when it was new! That is so cool!" As Booth read the article on Hank's tablet, a grin spread across his face. "Hmm…okay. So I need a screen shot of this…" He pulled his phone from his pocket. "...and a picture of this…and then I'm gonna attach them to an email…and then hit send…" He winked at his son. "...and three…two…one…" He laughed as he heard the office door fly open. "Here comes your mom…"

"Booth!" Brennan held up her phone. "Are you really gloating about the supposed worth of your garage sale finds via email?"

"What? Me? Gloat? No way! I'd never do such a childish thing…" He laughed at her annoyance. "I just wanted to let you know that we got a good return on our twenty dollar investment, that's all."

"I see." She stood with her hands on her hips, studying her husband and son as they tried to stifle their cheeky grins. Finally, she nodded. "Well, then…if it's worth that much, perhaps we should sell the lure and put the money in Hank's college fund."

"But I don't wanna sell it!," Hank wailed. "It's my favorite out of all of the ones in that box! Look…it's got black and glittery silver stripes and everything, Mom! I mean, it's almost painted to look like a superhero, see? Can't I keep it? Please?"

Booth reached over to pat Hank's shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy. Your mom is just kidding…aren't you, Bones? You're just kidding, right? You wouldn't make a kid sell his favorite fishing lure, would you?"

"Well…no…I suppose not." Knowing she was beaten, she exhaled sharply. "However, I do expect it to be put in a safe place, Hank…and please, don't use it when you go fishing."

"Okay, Mom…I'll go put it in my secret lock box and hide it under my bed." Grinning happily, Hank ran his fingers over the shiny cellophane package. "Dad…can we go look at some more garage sales next weekend? I want to see if I can find another one of these!"

"I don't know about next weekend, but we'll go again sometime soon, okay? Now, do as your mom says and go put that Punkinseed somewhere safe."

"Okay, Dad." Hank quickly left the room to put his prized possession away.

Brennan tapped her foot as she studied her husband. "Well, I hope you're satisfied, Booth."

Sensing that his wife was annoyed, Booth gave her an innocent look. "I don't know what you mean, Bones…"

"It seems you've led our son astray. Soon he'll become a packrat, just like his father! He'll have multiple collections of various odds and ends filling up his room from floor to ceiling! I can just imagine how much stuff we'll have to store when he goes to college."

He rolled his eyes at her complaint. "Oh, c'mon, Bones…most kids collect things, okay? I mean, sometimes it's rocks…sometimes it's baseball cards…sometimes it's small animal skeletons, okay?" Chuckling, he rose from his chair and took her into his arms. "So who cares if he collects fishing lures? They look cool, and they don't take up a lot of space, right?" He reached up to caress her cheek. "Anyway, there must be some sort of anthropology thing about why people like to collect stuff…"

"I'm sure there is…" She giggled as he nibbled her ear. "However, you don't seem to be in the mood to hear about it at the moment."

"Not really." He twitched an eyebrow at her. "Maybe you can explain it to me..."

"Maybe so…but it'll have to be later this evening, because right now I have work to do…"

His shoulders slumped a bit. "Oh…well, I guess you'd better get it…"

"Yes…I'd better…"

As she walked away from him, he let go a low whistle. "You know what, Bones? As much as I like collecting stuff, there's something I only need one of…"

"Really?" She wore a sultry smile as she turned to face him. "What's that?"

"I only need one wife…because I got a bargain on my first try…and I didn't even have to go to a garage sale to find her."

Chuckling softly, Brennan ran her hands down her sides. "So I suppose I'm one collectible you're planning to keep for several years, correct?"

"Oh yeah…because you're definitely gonna keep increasing in value for the next forty or fifty years…"

"Even without the original packaging?"

Booth laughed happily. "Actually, I prefer it if you had no packaging at all, if you know what I mean…"

"Perhaps that can be arranged…later tonight. However, at the moment, I have work to do…"

"Okay…if you insist."

"I do." She arched an eyebrow at him. "But now you'll have something to look forward to…"

He sighed happily as she left the room. Looking around at all the things he'd collected throughout his lifetime, he nodded to himself. At one time he'd clung to those things as a way to keep him connected to his past. He had so few good memories of his childhood, but those items reminded him of a happier time…the time spent with his grandparents…

Now he knew no matter how much he enjoyed looking at his stuff, he'd give up everything in a heartbeat to keep his Bones in his life...and to keep his family intact. Of course, she'd be quick to tell him that he didn't own her, but in his heart he knew the truth, no matter what she said…

His wife and family would always be his most prized possessions.

A/N: if you have time to review, I'd appreciate it. More soon...