Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has emailed and pmed me asking when this was going to be updated. This is dedicated to you! I hope it doesn't take this long to get the next chapter up. Real life is going crazy right now. My hubster and I are looking into buying a home, work has been super stressful, and school…well its going crazy!
Anyway, thank you all so much! I hope you are still sticking with this. It's going to be a bumpy ride for our two favorites !

Unbeta-ed so please forgive any mistakes.
-Mana

The room was scattered with toys: a rocking horse, a child's play tool box, a little table and chair with crayons spread atop. It was, in a word, chaos. They were settled on a comfy little sofa, piled high with pillows. The décor in the room was casual chic, light blue walls with white trim, minimal clutter. The walls were adorned with black and white photographs of Brianna in a wedding gown, Brianna and a dark haired man smiling at each other, and a baby, obviously Aiden, in several different poses and locales.

It was obviously a well lived in home.

Brianna entered the room with 2 mugs of coffee. Handing them to Booth and Brennan, she bent down and scooped Aiden up from the floor. He had been intently playing with a Magna Doodle, and immediately began to cry.

"I'm sorry, if you'll just give me a few minutes to put him down," she whispered over the rising din of cries.

Brennan nodded and Booth just raised his brows in approval. While she was gone, Brennan took the opportunity to look around the room, surveying the property. She was in the middle of looking at a selection on baby photographs on the mantel when she heard Booth sigh softly. Turning, she watched as he rolled his neck, reaching up behind him to massage the sore muscles. They'd slept in the den again; both scared to acknowledge the large bed that had still yet to be unmade. However, it was getting ridiculous. Neither of them were going to be able to continue working if they weren't getting adequate rest. Something was going to need to change.



"Sorry it took so long, he's a bear to get down for his nap," Brianna said as she appeared in the room. "I swear, I'd love to have a nap every day."

Brennan walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Booth.

"I gotta say," Brianna continued. "It's really nice to have adult time. Usually once Mike leaves for work in the morning, all that goes on around here is Dora, Diego and Pooh." She laughed.

Brennan frowned, "Who?"

Brianna looked taken aback for a moment. "I'm sorry, you can tell I'm a mom. I forget that people don't know what I'm talking about sometimes. Dora the Explorer and Diego are kid's TV shows. Pooh is another show and books. Aiden loves all three." Brianna pointed to his toys, in particular a stuffed yellow bear and odd looking plush toy of a girl with pink backpack.

"Oh," Brennan replied.

An awkward silence crept into the room like a cat through fog. Breaking the silence, Booth spoke up.

"So, Brianna, what do you usually do when Aiden is sleeping?" He took a sip of his coffee, which was completely too strong.

"Usually I clean up a little bit. Sometimes, on good days, I'm able to get a bit of my art done." She smiled, running a hand through her hair.

Brennan perked up a bit. "You're an artist? My best friend is an artist."

Brianna smiled. "Yeah, I paint, and I also work with acrylics, make a bit of pottery." She stood. "You want to see?" She gestured over her shoulder to a small room in the back.

Brennan stood, setting her coffee down on the table. "Sure," she smiled.

Booth followed the two into a small room at the back of the house. The walls were a bright cheery yellow, and a black desk stood at one end of the room. A large easel was placed near the window, and canvases were scattered around the baseboards. A small work table was covered in clay smudges, and a potter's wheel sat beside it.

Brianna looked around for a moment, then bent and picked up a small canvas. She handed it to Brennan who took it.

The piece was of a large oak tree in the middle of a field, a storm brewing in the distance. The grass and leaves were so green, and the brewing storm looked as if it was about to pop off the canvas. Brennan had never seen colors this vivid.

"The colors on this are amazing," Booth said, looking over Brennan's shoulder.

"Thanks," Brianna pushed her hair behind her ears. "It's a special kind of acrylic. You can't get it at stores, you have to order it specially, but it's definitely worth it."

Brennan nodded, "It is definitely gorgeous. This is a beautiful piece. You definitely have a gift for realism."

Brianna smiled, white teeth peeking out from behind her lips. "Thanks. Not many people get to see my stuff anymore. I don't have a lot of time to do it anymore, with Aiden. I was preparing for a show when I found out I was pregnant, but had to stop because of the fumes." She shrugged.

Brennan knitted her brows for a moment weighing whether to pursue her thought or not. She decided to go ahead. "And you're okay with that? Giving up everything for a family?"



Brianna looked shocked for a moment and Booth bumped into her in annoyance.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I miss doing my art, but I wouldn't give Aiden up for the world. I love being a mother, even though I always told myself I didn't want children. It was a shock when we found out we were pregnant, but there isn't a day I regret having him. He's my everything." She gestured around her. "These, these are just things, a hobby. Aiden is my life."

Brennan considered this for a moment then nodded. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

Brianna smiled, "its okay. I probably came off disappointed. I don't get a lot of adult interaction really, so it's kind of hard getting my thoughts across the way I want them to. I'm home all day every day."

Booth took this opportunity to butt in. "Actually, I had a question about that," he paused. "Have you seen anything weird going on around here?"

Brianna looked confused for a moment. "What do you mean?"

Booth continued, "Well, we talked to another neighbor the other day, Annabelle Reynolds, and she mentioned that a few couples have gone missing around here."

"Oh, yeah," Brianna shrugged. "I heard about that. Annabelle's friend Tricia and her husband just up and vanished. I haven't heard of any others, I don't think. Why do you ask?"

Brennan shook her head. "It's just odd, that's all. Apparently every year around this time, a couple goes missing. We've talked to a couple other people, and it seems that the last 3 years or so it's been happening."

Brianna looked down at her hands, picking at the skin around her nail. "Yeah, I don't know anything about that."

Brennan and Booth looked at her. She didn't meet their eyes, and her body language was screaming that she knew something that she wasn't letting on.

Brianna looked up at them. "I hate to seem like I'm rushing you out, but I need to get some cleaning done before Aiden wakes up." She brushed passed them and they followed her to the door.

They had barely made it out onto the porch before the door slammed behind them.

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