Animal Behaviour and Private Conversations

A/N: Sorry, I didn't actually write a soccer bit. You just assume that this picks up a little later. The horses in this chapter are thrown in because I am horse-crazy. This chapter doesn't make a lot of sense. Kudos to whoever spots the book Tempe reference!

"Everyone ready to go to Uncle Fred's?" Booth (A/N: 'Seeley' seems so wrong) asked the kids after a quick consultation with his father.

"Yea!" Susanna, the younger girl, squealed.

"Okay, go get your bathing suits."

"I don't suppose you brought one?"

"Booth, it's November."

"Oh, come on. Lucy will lend you one."

"Booth, I am not going swimming."

"Okay, Bones."

Booth drew the short straw and so they were the ones who spent half an hour in the car with the excited kids. Her ears were ringing when they climbed out.

"Booth, this is beautiful." It was. There was a lake and forest and the buildings were like old-fashioned lodges, built of wooden logs.

"Uncle Fred!"

"Hello, munchkins." He greeted them.

"I'm Fred."

"Tempe." She shook the outstretched hand. He was athletic and weather-beaten, his face wrinkled and his smile easy.

"Do you guys want to water-ski?" he asked them. The answer was an enthusiastic yes.

"I take it you two would rather ride?" he asked. They nodded. "I'll get these munchkins ready. You two can go on up. I won't start anything until the rest of them get here."

"Thanks, Uncle Fred. Good to see you."

"Good to see you too, son. Especially with a pretty lady and a boy." And he turned and left them.

"Come on. I'll show you the stable."

"So you rode as a kid?"

"Some, here. Not like, lessons, or a lot. Lilah was a lot more into it. Katherine is, too. In kids, riding's mostly a girl thing. Jared used to hang out here to meet girls."

"But not you?" he laughed.

"Maybe I spent more time driving Lilah here than I needed to."

"I always liked horses."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Animals in general, really. Their behaviour makes a lot more sense than people's. I once had a cat, Birdie." A comfortable silence stretched out as she greeted each horse.

"Thanks for doing this, Bones. Lucy said she rescued you from my Mom. Just – thanks. It means a lot."

"Enough to get me a gun?" he laughed.

"After the Gravedigger thing, maybe. I'll talk to Cullen."

"Hey, guys." It was Lilah.

"Hey. What took you guys so long?"

"Katherine has her learner's." she said, as though it explained everything.

"I heard that." The teenager said, entering behind her. "Fred already tacked up Misty and Raven. He wasn't sure who you'd want or how many there'd be." She passed Seeley and Tempe helmets.

"You got a preference, Seel?" Lilah asked.

"Nope. I only ever came to pick up girls. And I happen to have my eye on one right now." Tempe elbowed him.

"Okay, I'll take Jake, then." Lilah said, with a glance at Katherine.

"Fine with me. Misty's mine. I'll get someone for Tempe. Come on." She walked down the aisle. A finely built chestnut kicked the door. Katherine stopped and cocked her head to the side in thought.

"This is Angel. How about her?"

"Sure." Katherine nodded and started to get her ready, tying her up and picking out her feet. Tempe picked up a brush and held it up for Katherine's approval, which she received.

"Is it hard?" she asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Your job – is it hard? You know, to like, be around death all the time?"

"Well – sometimes. But – well, you don't get used to it. But it's like being a medical doctor. Sometimes there are hard cases, but at the end of the day - we give names and faces back to people who don't have them anymore. And we give answers and closure to their families."

"Yeah."

"But we're not really normal – ask Booth. Except Angela. She's normal – sort of. She's an artist."

"Cool."

"Are you thinking of going into something…?" she trailed off as Katherine saddled the mare.

"I don't know. Maybe. I was thinking more about archaeology,"

"My boss was an archaeologist." She nodded.

"Do you love him?"

"Dr. Goodman? No, he's –oh. Seeley – uh,"

"I'm sorry. You're under enough pressure from my freak show of a family as it is." She smiled wryly and slipped the bit into the mare's mouth.

Katherine knew the trails best, so she led. Tempe ended up beside Lilah when the trail widened. The birdsong and the almost hypnotic motion of the horse beneath her were soothing.

"Are we taking you away from your family?" Lilah asked.

"Uh – sort of – not really. My brother lives in North Carolina, and he was going to spend Thanksgiving with his girlfriend and her two children. Girls, like yours."

"Your parents?" Lilah asked.

"Um – my mother's dead."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. And I know my father's alive but not where he is or even, really, who he is." She mused aloud.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, really. Booth – Seeley has been helping me a lot with it. What do you do?"

"I'm a lawyer. Mark and I have our own practice. Divorce, mostly." She laughed. So did Tempe.

"But it works." She shrugged. Then they cantered for a while and then Katherine and Lilah wanted to go off on another trail to gallop.

"Stay on this one and it'll take you back to the stable." They instructed. Booth and Bones were left alone again.

"We are having a party tonight. A 'get together' with 'a few friends'. At least they won't all have single daughters." He smiled ruefully.

"Your family's very protective of you." She said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Katherine asked me if I loved you and then Lilah was quizzing me about my family."

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

"Okay."

"Katherine asked me about my job."

"Like she was interested?"

"She's leaning more towards archaeology."

"Squints are squints." He informed her. She stuck out her tongue playfully.