Friday, July 13- 6:30pm

The Booth household was filled with the sound of happy chatter from family and guests, as they waited patiently for dinner to begin. Temperance was sitting on the sofa, Fiona tucked in her lap as she spoke to Anna about their move and their most recent experiences in Washington D.C., trying to avoid the inevitable conversation about the whereabouts of Aiden and Antonia.

Grace and Jack had arrived, as well as Parker, and his boys, who were poking in and out of the kitchen where Booth was, laughing and giggling when he'd growl at them playfully. The doorbell rang as Booth stepped into the room, and he nodded his head toward the door with a smile. "I'll get that." He said, walking briskly toward the door with a confused expression on his face. He opened the door and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Nichols? What are you doing here?"

The agent stood with his head tilted, a plate of cookies in his hand as he looked confused. "Uh, Doctor Brennan invited me to dinner." He said, glancing into the house, he watched Booth's confusion clear. "Uh, It's okay that I came, right? I mean I could go. I don't have to come for…"

"Just get inside, Nichols. If Bones invited you, then you're invited." He said, rolling his eyes. The agent walked inside and nodded toward everyone.

"I assumed since he was working on the case, that we could at least invite him to dinner. He is part of the team, and since I've seen hide nor hair of Christopher for the past three days, it seemed appropriate to invite him." Temperance said as Booth shrugged a little.

"Hey everyone." Nichols said with a smile. He turned and nearly hit Booth with the plate of cookies. "Uh, sorry. I brought some cookies. Didn't know if I should or whatever, but…"

"Just sit down." Booth said, taking the cookies from the agent, he walked toward the kitchen. "Dinner is almost ready." He grunted.

Nichols smiled politely and sat in one of the chairs, as Temperance introduced him to those who weren't familiar with the agent.

Fiona watched Booth disappear into the kitchen, and slowly moved from Temperance's arms. She hopped to the floor and walked to the kitchen cautiously. She opened the door and slipped quietly inside.

Booth looked up from the stove to see the little girl's entrance and smiled over at her. "Hey, kiddo." Booth said with a friendly smile, he tapped on the counter to indicate that she could climb onto one of the barstools to keep him company.

"Hey, Pops." She said, her smile was bright, but there was a bit of happiness missing from her eyes.

"What's going on with you? The boys aren't picking on you, are they?" He asked, watching her shake her head. "It's weird being here without Uncle Aiden or Ant, isn't it?"

"Yeah." She sighed. "Do you know when they're coming home?" She asked hopefully, watching as Booth gave her a light shake of his head, she looked to the counter, and her fingers as she tried to hold in her disappointment.

"I'll tell you what." He said as he turned around to face her, he leaned on the counter as he watched the sad pout on the little girl's face. "After dinner, we'll use the computer, and we'll call them, and have a little video chat with them, face to face."

"Really?" She asked, her grin brighter than ever as she watched Booth nod his head.

"Absolutely. I miss them too, so we'll check on them and see how they're doing." He said, watching as the little girl hopped from the barstool , ran around the counter, and attached herself to his leg in a playful hug.

"Pops, you're the best!" She squeaked happily.

"I do what I can." He said, looking down at the green eyes looking up at him, he smiled down at her. "Dinner is almost ready. Why don't you go get Grace, and see if she'll help you set the table."

"Okay! And then after dinner, we'll call Ant!" She said with a giggle, as she turned and ran out of the kitchen.

It was only a minute or two before Grace came walking into the kitchen with Fiona pulling her along, her voice chattering on about this and that. Booth smiled at her, and she moved toward the cupboard for the plates and silverware. "Nobody told Nichols about Ant and Aiden, huh?" Grace asked her father.

"Huh?" Booth said, looking at Grace in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Nichols, Dad. Ant and Sam were going out for a while. He just asked me if she was seeing anyone." Grace said, handing the basket of silverware to Fiona.

"They weren't dating, were they?" Booth asked. "What did you tell him?"

"I just told him she was with someone. It's not really his business." Grace replied.

"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged. "Are you sure they went out?"

"Why do you think he transferred?"

"I thought he wanted to try something else." Booth shrugged.

"Yeah, more like Ant wanted to try someone else." She snickered playfully.

"Alright, that's not nice." He handed Grace the pile of plates. She smirked and thanked him, and she and Fiona disappeared into the dining room together.

Grace began to put the plates around the table while Fiona followed after her, happily talking about this or that as she helped set the table. After a few moments, Fiona quieted, and seemed to become a bit thoughtful.

"Hey, are you okay? I thought we were talking." Grace smiled. "You look sad."

"Uh, not sad." She shrugged, smiling in a way that didn't quite make it to her eyes. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?" Grace asked. She stopped what she was doing and sat in one of the chairs, watching as the little girl approached her.

"Uncle Aiden and Ant are watching a little girl, right?" Fiona asked, leaning against the table next to Grace, she sighed heavily.

"Well, yeah. They are at a safe place looking after a little girl." Grace said, watching the look on her face as she stood there thoughtfully. "Are you worried you're going to be replaced?" Grace teased, watching Fiona's eyes snap to hers for a moment, and her brow furrow.

"No." She said, shaking her head. "It's just that… we were at Uncle Aiden's, and I saw all of the things that he had for the little girl. Like her bed, and her toys and coloring books and stuff."

"Yeah?" Grace said, watching as Fiona tried to figure out what she wanted to say.

"Yeah, but it was weird. In the coloring book, she kept writing the same numbers over and over again. Zero, zero, five, five, four, two , six, nine, zero. Over and over again. It's just weird." She shrugged. "Not just on one picture either, but all of the pictures had that number on it." Fiona said, with a frustrated sigh.

"Yeah, that is weird." Grace said, looking up to see the door from the kitchen open and Booth step in. "Fiona, tell Pops what you just told me."

Fiona glanced between Grace and Booth for a moment and furrowed her brow. "The little girl that Uncle Aiden and Ant are watching, she kept writing a number in her coloring book." She said softly, unsure of why she was being asked to repeat the information.

"What was the number?" Booth asked, crouching down to her level to show her how important the information she was giving him was.

"It was, um… Zero, zero… five, five, four, two, six, nine, zero." She nodded with each number. "It was on all of her coloring book pages."

"Do you think it's an identification number?" Grace asked her father as Booth shook his head. "Like her ID number for the group home or something?"

"No, it's too long." Booth sighed. "They would never give a kid a number that long to memorize."

"Is it her social security number?" Grace asked.

"I don't know." Booth shook his head. "Write it down, we'll check into a few things." He said, nodding his head. "Dinner's ready… you hungry?" Booth asked, standing up, he watched Fiona smile brightly.

"Yes!"

"Go let everyone know." He said, as he nodded toward where everyone was gathered.

Fiona giggled and ran for the living room. Just as she announced that dinner was ready, and everyone got up to go into the dining room, the doorbell rang.

Booth poked his head out from the kitchen, and exchanged a look with Temperance. "You invite anyone else?" He asked, watching Temperance shake her head.

"I'll get it." Parker said, already on his way to the door. He opened the door and instantly offered his hand to the man at the door. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked with a smile as everyone waited to see who was at the door.

Parker stepped back to let him pass, a smile on his face as he looked across the room of surprised people.

"Uncle Aiden!" Fiona squealed loudly, running at full speed toward him, and he easily lifted her into his arms with a laugh.

"Hey everyone. What's for dinner?" He asked, looking around the room at everyone, as he dropped a kiss on his niece's cheek, and waited for a response.