Chapter 28

The next morning Zach woke up first. He rubbed his eyes and wandered into the bathroom. After using the toilet and brushing his teeth he sat down in front of the TV.

Zach flipped through the channels until he came to a show that looked interesting. It seemed to be a detective CSI type thing. What made it so interesting to Zach was that he couldn't figure out who did it. He was leaning toward the funny Psychologist guy studying the leading team. (Who Zach had a feeling should be getting together soon.) He was surprised to learn that at the end of the episode it was really the cute young assistant of the main character. Zach rewound the last few minutes to try to see if there were any clues he had missed. There wasn't.

Zach turned off the television in disgust. The show was so fake. Who would make the loveable young socially awkward lab rat a killer? Zach stopped walking and thought 'might make a good book actually.'

He wandered back upstairs and found Tempe also awake. She noticed the look on his face and asked him why he seemed so upset. He told her about the unrealistic plot line of the show and she looked thoughtful for a minute before saying the same thing he had thought. "Might make a good book." Zach nodded.

Tempe took him back down stairs and got them both bowels of cereal. Zach ate his in silence and Tempe thought about going to the beach today. She hoped the water would be warm. Or at least not freezing. They hadn't had the best luck with beach weather in the past. Her father always picked the one day it was cold and windy.

Tempe giggled and Zach looked over. "What?" He asked.

"Oh nothing." Tempe smiled. "Let's get everyone else up."

They ran upstairs again and Zach went to wake Jack and Booth up. Tempe walked over to Angela and tapped her shoulder.

"Ang. Angela wake up. Come on wanna go to the beach?" Tempe nudged her again.

"Beach! Where? I can be ready in 5 minutes!" Angela shot up and ran to her suitcase to get dressed.

Tempe giggled and went to get Russ and her parents. Once everyone was up they are breakfast (except Tempe and Zach) then packed bags for the beach.

The car ride was short and cramped, but no one complained. They each had packed their own bags and toys, Angela sat in the back seat of the mini van bouncing up and down with excitement, she hadn't been to the beach since she was 5.

Once they got to the parking lot and found a spot, everyone trooped up the steep dunes to the flat space of beach already packed with people. Once they found a spot the group spread out to do what ever it was they most enjoyed doing at the beach.

Angela spread out her pink flowery towel and lay down on her stomach to read her new favorite book. Zach sat on a beach chair slathered in sunscreen by Mrs. Brennan as per Mrs. Hodgins' orders. He stared out at the ocean watching the wave's crash.

Booth and Jack ran straight down to the water and sat in the wet sand where the waves would run up just enough to wet them. Every time the cold water came up Jack giggled and Booth would grunt angrily as the hole he was attempting to dig collapsed on it self.

Tempe was the only one brave enough to venture out into the water fully. She waded out until the water was up to her knees. Then quickly she sat down allowing the water to roll over her shoulders.

Tempe ran her hands over the sandy bottom until she had scooped up a handful of sand. Carefully Tempe dug through the handful, searching for something. Booth noticed her curious face as she sighed and dropped the sand, digging for another handful.

He waded out to her and sat down next to her. "What cha doing?" Booth asked cheerfully as he swirled water in front of him.

Tempe answered with her eyes still trained on the sand. "Periwinkles."

"Huh?" Booth looked confused.

Tempe smiled and pulled out a bluish purple shell out of the sand. "I'm looking for this." She held it up to him.

"What is it?" Booth asked Tempe scooped up more sand and slapped it into his hand. She then stuck the shell about half way into the pile. Booth watched in amazement as the little shell disappeared into the sand.

"How'd it do that?" He asked looking over at Tempe.

"I don't know it's just what they do. When I was 4 my daddy showed me. Last year Russ and I each tried to gather as many as we could in a bucket of sand and water." She frowned. "He won."

"I'm sorry." Booth patted her shoulder.

"It's only because he was taller and could go out deeper." Tempe picked up another periwinkle and slid in into the space between her finger and giggles as it burrowed itself down under her hand. It tickled.

She was thinking about the last time she was at the beach when suddenly an unexpected wave came and knocked her over. She sputtered and coughed as she tried to sit back up.

Suddenly she felt a pair of hands pull her upright.

Tempe rubbed the salt out of her stinging eyes and then saw Booths face very close to hers. "Are you ok?" He asked slightly hysterical.

She coughed and nodded. "Was that you?" She asked

Booth nodded, and then turned away.

"Thanks." Tempe said. "Wanna go make a sand castle?"

"Sure." Booth nodded and helped her up.

"I didn't know you could do that." Tempe said as they walked back up the small hill to the dry sand.

"Well you know adrenaline and all." Booth shrugged. "I'm just glad you're ok.

"Me too." Tempe said.

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SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry about the long wait between chapters. I've literally had play practice everyday since the beginning of October for 5 hours. That piled with homework and sleep there was no time to write. So here it is after a long time so long that I cant remember when I last updated. Enjoy.