Ace pulled his SUV up his driveway, surprised that it had been plowed recently. He noticed that Parker's car was in the driveway, and glanced to Booth. "I wonder what Parker's doing here."
"They probably shut down his office for the day." Booth said, shrugging. "At least he cleared the driveway." They parked the SUV and climbed out, as Ace walked over toward the storage garage. They were about to open the door when Booth felt a sudden 'thwap' of snow on the back of his head. "What the…?" He said, turning around, as another snowball hit him in the chest, and there was giggling behind a nearby snowbank.
"Ha! They got you!" Ace said, as a curly head popped up and hurled a snowball, hitting Ace in the face. "Hey!" Ace exclaimed as Booth laughed. "That's not fair!" Ace ducked behind the car and watched as Booth came around the back. "What do you hoodlums think you're doing?" Ace shouted, listening to the giggling.
"We got you!" Luke exclaimed, climbing out from behind the snowbank, he tumbled over the snow laughing. Nate continued hiding behind the snowbank with Parker as they started throwing snowballs at Luke. "Ah! Pops! Save me!" He exclaimed, running onto the other side of the car with Ace and Booth, who started pelting the other two with snowballs over the hood of the car.
"You're going to regret that you started this!" Booth shouted as he threw snowball after snowball, sending Nate into a fit of laughter as he tumbled off the top of the snowbank. Ace supplied the snowballs as Booth hurled them, and Parker laughed as he continued throwing snowballs at them, supplying Nate with them as the little boy laughed.
"Okay! Okay!" Ace exclaimed. "Truce!" He called, laughing as he dodged a snowball in his direction.
"Truce!" Luke said, repeating Ace as he held his hands up. "Truce!"
The snowballs stopped flying, and Booth and Ace came out from behind the SUV, as Parker lifted Nate into the driveway and laughed. Luke came running around and Booth lifted him up. "What are you doing here?" Booth asked his son, accepting a hug from Luke as he watched Ace lift Nate up.
"They sent us home. Didn't want us to get stuck there. I got here about an hour ago, Mom mentioned you guys were heading over. I was going to stop by the hospital, but I figured if I didn't get over here soon, the boys would be stuck here with Mom all day, and she's had them since Christmas." He said, sighing as he watched Booth and Ace glance at one another. "How is Grace?"
"She's doing much better, she may be able to come home tomorrow. Still in a lot of pain, but her spirits seem better." Booth nodded.
"Good." Parker said with a smile. "Mom mentioned you guys were coming here for the snowmobiles?"
"Yeah, we have a bit of a thing we have to do." Booth said.
"So official business?" Parker asked, lifting Luke from his father's arms.
"Uh, yeah. Kind of." Ace said, glancing to the storage garage. "Why, do you want to come along?"
Parker shrugged. "What exactly are you guys doing?"
"He is starting to sound like Bones." Booth said, glancing to Ace, who nodded. "You sound way too suspicious. Too many questions."
Parker laughed, setting Luke down, he pulled Nate from Ace's arms, and set him on the ground. "Boys, go tell Grandma you're ready for your hot cocoa."
"Oh! Hot cocoa!" They shouted in unison, as their little legs carried them both quickly to the back door of the house.
Parker lifted an eyebrow, and Booth sighed. "You can come too if you want, we have to go see if we can find your sister."
"Ant? What has she gotten herself into this time?" Parker asked.
"We'll explain as we hook up the trailer." Booth said glancing to Ace, who nodded and opened the storage garage.
Antonia walked around the cabin looking for anything that may help with their predicament, noting that there were no sheets of plastic, or tape within the confines of the cabin. She walked around the table, looking at the size of the planks that it was made from, she considered dismantling it, but it wouldn't do any good without nails or a hammer.
She walked over to the suspects and knelt down slightly. "Alright, boys. I've been informed that I probably shouldn't keep you guys like this for too much longer, so in the interest of our current condition, we're going to do a little moving around." She said, watching as they struggled slightly. "I'm going to be extremely clear here. I am a forensic anthropologist, and I have every skill available to kill you and make your death look like an accident, so if I were you, I'd behave from now on, you got it?" She reached over and disconnected the tie from between the handcuffs and the feet of one of the suspects. She grabbed him by his collar and rolled him onto his back, allowing him very little movement, but at least he was able to sit up if he needed to. She moved to the other, and did the same, allowing him to roll onto his back. She walked over to the first suspect, and tugged at his boots, pulling the first one from his foot.
"What the hell are you doing?" The suspect asked as she reached for his other boot and pulled at it, pulling it from his foot. She ignored their protests as she removed the boots of the other suspect.
"It appears that you and your companion wish to escape." She said, taking both pairs of boots. She walked over to the broken window, and threw both pairs of boots outside into the snow. "You escape, you can do it barefoot." She said as she walked over to them, dragging them apart as she glanced to Aiden. "There won't be anymore incidents, and you will both keep your mouths shut unless you'd like those delightful socks on your feet shoved into your mouth. Are we clear?" She asked, watching as the two suspects glared angrily. "Are we clear?" she asked again, her tone angry and stern as they both nodded their heads, agreeing. "Thank you." She said, walking over toward Aiden.
She knelt beside him, she checked on him, touching his forehead with her hand, it was slightly damp, but his skin was warm, as the fire was keeping him comfortable. It appeared that lack of movement on his part had calmed him considerably, and the pain had dulled slightly. "I have some Tylenol, it might take the edge off." She whispered. He simply nodded and she walked over to her bag, pulling out one of the small bottles of water, and two Tylenol from a container. She stepped over to him and knelt again, popping them into his mouth, she tried to hold his head at a slight angle as she put the water bottle to his lips. He sipped lightly, and she pulled the bottle away, watching as he nodded.
"Thank you." He said softly, his brow furrowed as she carefully lay his head back down. "Did you figure out what you're going to do?"
"I'm considering making those two morons stand in front of it." She said, giving him a wink as she watched him smile slightly. "Are you scared?" She asked.
"No." he said solemnly. "I know you've got this." He whispered.
"I'm glad you have confidence in me." She said, touching his cheek. "I'm glad one of us does. I'm sorry that I got us into this situation. I'm sorry."
"No." he said, shaking his head slightly, his eyes closing from the pain. "No, it wasn't your fault. You were right, we needed more evidence. And we did catch them." He said, watching as she looked around the room again, she glanced to the fire, her eyes concentrated on the flames as she felt the warmth as it swirled with the cold from the broken window.
"Where were they getting the firewood from?" She asked, watching as he looked at her with a confused glance. "We're not low on firewood in here, but where do you think they got it?"
"There might be a wood pile in the back." He said, furrowing his brow. "Why?"
"I have an idea." She said, leaning forward to kiss his forehead, she quickly stood up and walked around him, around the table, and out the door of the cabin.
Aiden drifted in and out of sleep, his attention compromised slightly due to the pain, and lack of sleep from the previous night. He could hear Antonia moving around, her voice was soft and lilting as she whispered something under her breath as if it were a mantra. He heard her bring in more wood, dropping load after load onto the porch and dragging it into the cabin. "Tex?" he called weakly, hearing her swear under her breath after he heard a log fall hard onto the ground.
"Do you need something?" She asked, walking over to him, she knelt beside him and pulled her glove off, touching his face gently with her hand.
"Just checking on you." He said softly. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm okay." She said, running her fingers through his hair, she listened to his breathing for a moment. It was sounding slightly shallower. "How are you doing?"
He smacked his lips and swallowed hard. "Thirsty." He whispered.
"Here." She said, twisting the cap off the water bottle beside him, she lifted his head slightly and held the bottle for him as he sipped the water. "Are you hungry? Do you need anything else?" She put the cap on the bottle and set it beside him.
"I'm okay." He whispered. "Thank you."
"I'm not far." She said, watching him tenderly for a moment, before standing up and continuing her mission of blocking off the window. "I found a tarp on the wood pile outside." She said, moving some more logs around. "I don't know how long we'll be here, so I want to bring in as much wood as I can. I'll pile it by the window and use it to anchor the tarp down once I manage to get it up on the window."
"Good idea." Aiden said from his spot on the floor, he turned his head, feeling pain ripple through his body, and let out a pain filled groan. She looked over and saw his eyes looking in her direction. "I wish I could help." He whispered.
"Just rest, it's giving me something to do. You can help me when it's dark out." She said, watching his tender smile as he lay admiring her from afar.
"And how would I do that?" He asked, his brow furrowed.
"Talking to me." She whispered, stepping close to him, she knelt beside him again. "I don't like the dark." She whispered.
"Okay." He said, smiling a bit. "Hospitals, elevators, dinosaurs, the dark, and people sneaking up on you." He said, watching as her eyes narrowed. "I don't want to cross you." He said, his smile a little brighter. "You know, since you can kill me and make it look like an accident."
"I'm not going to kill you, Aiden." She teased as she leaned over him carefully, making sure her mouth was just a whisper away from his. "But I'm not above torture." She said, staring into his eyes. He let out a little whimper, his eyes moving across her face. She leaned up, kissed his nose, and then sat back, watching his brow furrow. "I need to get back to work, it's going to be dark soon." She said softly as she stood up, watching him narrow his eyes playfully. She then turned and stepped back out of the cabin for more wood.