(After the Pain the Heart)

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I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

They had managed to see the things they wanted to see and everyone had had a good time. The Galleria Mall, The Space Center, The Natural History Museum, an Astros Game and on their last day they had visited the Antique Gallery of Houston located in Spring, Texas just north of Houston. Booth had rented a car and driven them to Spring on I45. It had been a pleasant drive and once they were there, they had taken their time looking through the different stalls, admiring the large variety of antiques.

Unable to contain his excitement, Booth had found an old-fashioned bakelite phone and quickly showed it to Brennan. It was deep black with a silver colored rotary dial. When he picked it up the weight had delighted him. "Now this is what a real phone should feel like. Heavy enough so if you need a weapon you can hit someone on the side of the head with it and you know it'll hurt them for sure. Pops had one of these until a couple of years ago until it fell apart. That phone we have at home is a piece of shit and the guy says this phone really works. It's ninety bucks, but I think it's worth it."

Brennan had found her boyfriend's enthusiasm very amusing and she let him wax nostalgic about how the phone tick tick ticked when you turned the dial and how you didn't have to listen to electronic bleets when you actually dialed a number.

Impressed, Parker had turned the rotary dial and liked the way it turned as he moved his finger to enter a number. "This is cool Dad."

Once that purchase was made, they wandered through the stalls and Brennan was delighted when she came upon a booth that sold bakelite jewelry. The necklaces were pretty and once she spied an Alex Kirk Vintage Bakelite beaded necklace she knew she had to have it. The beads were a mixture of blue and white beads interspersed with gold plated beads and both Brennan and Booth thought it was a lovely piece and would make a great addition to her collection at home. Booth loved the way it emphasized the color of Brennan's eyes and told her so.

Not to leave Parker out of the fun, they soon found a booth that sold old toys. The boy had noticed a Robby the Robot toy and though Booth had blanched at the asking price, he bought it anyway. "Okay, Parker. Just remember this is a collectable so you shouldn't really play with it. This is more for bragging rights do you understand? Like Daddy's collection of wall signs and the old cameras I have in my office. I don't really play with them because I could damage them."

Excited that his father was going to buy the robot, Parker nodded his head vigorously. "I know Dad. Thank you for buying it for me."

"You're welcome." After their purchases were made, the little family left the gallery and stopped at Puffabelly's Old Depot Restaurant for lunch. They mostly stopped at this particular restaurant because of the name, Booth couldn't resist and Brennan didn't care. After a meal of burgers and fries for the boys and a Texas Sampler for Brennan which consisted of a variety of vegetable appetizers they drove back to their hotel room and rested for a few hours after packing their bags to get ready to return home.

After dining at Hugo's for dinner, they returned to their hotel room, changed into swim suits and used the pool until about 7 pm. The pool suddenly became busy with other guests and soon Parker wanted to leave. He had accidently bumped into one of the adults splashing in the deep end of the pool who had taken exception and grabbed the boy's arm. Booth had responded quickly and forcefully removed the man's hand from Parker's arm. "Listen Buddy, my son didn't hit you on purpose. Let him go."

The force Booth had used to make the man release Parker had surprised the stranger and erring on the side of caution, he had moved to the other side of the pool. Parker's fun was spoiled and at that point wanted to leave. Once they were back in their hotel room, everyone took a shower and once that was done, watched a movie until Parker fell asleep. Once Booth had carried the boy into his room and settled him onto his bed, Booth returned to the living room and sat down next to Brennan. Still fuming about the incident at the pool, Booth shook his head. "That guy had no right to touch my boy, none at all. It was an accident and he's lucky I didn't break his damn hand."

Since she would rather have Booth in a good mood, Brennan turned, placed her hands on his shoulders, pushed him back on the couch, straddled him and kissed him. His response was positive and Brennan knew that the incident at the pool might not be forgotten, but it was now not in the forefront of Booth's thoughts. "This has been a great vacation, Booth. I've loved it very much."

His splayed hands on her hips, Booth gave her a deeper kiss and once they separated for a little air, Booth answered her. "It really has been. I've never been to Houston, so it's been pretty interesting, even the butterflies."

Her laugh showing how happy she was, Brennan leaned over and kissed Booth once more. The last few months had been extremely stressful and this vacation had been what both she and Booth had needed. She had never seen her boyfriend so relaxed. "It's a shame we have to go back tomorrow, but we'll have to plan a vacation in the fall. That cabin you spoke of sounds very romantic."

"Oh, it is, Bones, it really is." The thought of the both of them alone in a cabin in the woods made Booth realize just how lucky he was that they were more than partners. "I'll definitely talk to Carl about letting us use the cabin. Definitely."

Ooooooooooooooooo

After they returned home and dropped Parker off at his mother's house, Booth drove them back to their apartment where they unpacked and started doing laundry. While the wash was going, Brennan sorted the mail, making two piles, one for all of her mail and the other for Booth's mail. They had dropped by the grocery store on the way home and Booth unloaded the groceries in the kitchen. When he opened the vegetable crisper drawer in the fridge he had found a hideously rotten tomato and a head of lettuce that was stomach turning to look at. After he ditched them in the trash, he wiped out the crisper with soap and water and then stored the fresh vegetables in the drawer. The groceries put away, he found his pile of mail and started to sort through the letters. "Hey I've been invited by Scotland Yard to come to London and give a talk on how we do things in the FBI and how we have such a high solve rate." He scanned the letter again and thought the whole thing was so cool.

Surprised, Brennan held up an envelope and chuckled. "How interesting. I've been invited by Professor Ian Wexler of Oxford University to give a lecture on interstitial lamellae remodeling."

Whatever the hell that is. "Cool, um, when is the invite for?" Booth thought it was weird they had both received invitations from England. After checking the date, Brennan showed it to Booth who showed Brennan the date of his invitation. "This is some weird coinky dink shit, Bones."

Since she had no idea how their invitations had been offered for the same time period, Brennan shrugged her shoulders. "Do you wish to go?"

"Do you?" Booth wasn't wild to see Brennan go off by herself to far off London, so if she was going then so was he.

"I think so." Brennan didn't want to be separated from her mate, so she hoped he would choose to accept his invitation. "I think it would be an interesting experience and I think you should accept too."

Setting the letter aside, Booth smiled. "Well, looks like we're going to London Bones. Maybe we can see a castle or something while we're there."

Glad Booth was willing to go, Brennan set her letter aside too. "If we have time, I think we could find one to visit. If not, we could go see Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard. I think you might find that interesting."

"Well, it's settled." Booth didn't like to travel too much since he was out of the army, but since he was going to be with Brennan, he was sure it would be a lot of fun.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

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