Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love love love the feedback!

bb.bb.bb.bb.bb.bb.bb

"The body was discovered just below this bluff. The couple who discovered it were in the middle of a romantic Sunday-afternoon walk… which ended pretty abruptly. The local Coroner brought us in for identification." Cam explained and motioned over to the young couple sitting on the back of a patrol car talking to one of the local cops as she lead the partners down a grassy hill. "The middle of a countryside meadow just outside the Baltimore suburbs isn't really somewhere you'd expect to find human remains, especially on a date." She said as she and Brennan knelt down to begin examining the body.

"Finding a decomposed corpse? Yea, that'd be a definite mood killer." Booth and Cam shared a friendly grin before being interrupted by Brennan's preliminary findings.

"Male. Caucasian. Late thirties- early forties. Not well muscled, his job obviously didn't involve manual labor. Cause of death right now looks like sharp-force trauma to the temporal bone. Though decomp suggests about 9 days, I'd say he's been out here almost two weeks. The weather in early October is cool enough to slow decomp, but not by much"

Booth finished writing down her findings and flipped his notebook shut. "K Bones, so where are we going from here?"

"The victim has some visible professional dental work, after we get him back to the lab we should be able to ID him by records."

She sighed and stood up and addressed the two interns standing nearby. "We'll need full evidence retrieval; soil samples to three inches, samples of surrounding flora, and as many pictures as you can manage. Hodgins is definitely going to earn his keep on this one."

The taller intern, a redheaded boy answered. "It'll take us a couple hours Dr. Brennan. We'll call you when the evidence and remains are ready for transport."

"Alright then…" Booth said steering Brennan away from the crime scene epicenter and the pre-squints. "We're going to take a look around while they do that."

"Okay."

They walked through the meadow aimlessly, both pretending to 'look for evidence' as they enjoyed the azure mid-autumn sky and the haze of red and orange trees in the distance. Their long coats flapped behind them in the crisp breeze; the weather just cool enough that a suit jacket wouldn't quite keep you comfortable. Where the grass was tall, it was turning yellow and Brennan unconsciously brushed her palms along the tops. Booth had his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the mountains in the distance. Brennan slowed to a stop in the middle of a patch of black-eyed-susans and watched the black shape of a hawk float and soar through the cloudless air.

Booth got about twenty yards further before noticing that he was alone. He turned around and spotted her.

"Bones?"

She didn't answer him. She was in her own world. He walked over and waved a hand in front of her unfocused eyes.

"Earth to Bones…"

Her eyes shut tight and she shook her head, awakening from her daydream.

She focused on him with a soft look in her eyes. "Sorry Booth, I guess I was just spacing down."

"Out. Spacing out. And you've been doing it a lot lately. Is something bothering you? You're not getting that seasonal depression thing Zach was depressing us with the other day are you?"

"No, the opposite actually. I love October; the landscape is so beautiful. And…" She bit her bottom lip in hesitation. "… and it's just really pretty."

"Bones… remember that I can tell when you aren't being straight with me. So what's up? Why specifically October instead of just Fall?"

She went quiet again, turning her attention back to the sky, and after a few moments Booth decided she wasn't going to answer him so he stepped beside her and watched the graceful dips and dives of the hawk, as he floated farther and farther away. When it became too small to see, Brennan looked down at the yellow flowers that surrounded her boots and then up at her partner.

When she finally spoke her voice was barely more than a murmur. "Picnics. My family loved picnics. My last vivid memory of my family before my parents disappeared was that October, a family picnic in our backyard. It was a day just like this. I was so happy; we were so happy, and the memory of that day soon became my favorite. It got me through the winter and the fifteen years after that. But just now I realized that hadn't thought about it for a couple years."

"A couple years? …So you've been happier now that I'm in your life?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows with a facetious smile.

She hit him on the shoulder playfully with the back of her hand. "Very funny Booth. But actually, I guess you were the one who helped me see that friends can be just as good as family… maybe even better."

"I did, did I?" He said proudly, slinging a friendly arm around her shoulders and continuing their leisurely walk.

"So you think we'll ID this guy today?"

They reached the edge of the meadow, where a white clapboard fence separated them from the single lane asphalt road beyond.

"I don't know Booth. Probably."

Across the road stood a small white chapel with a set of deep red doors. The sign in front of it read 'Pray for Pastor Mike. Missing since 10/01'.

They exchanged looks.

"Definitely."

bb.bb.bb.bb.bb.bb.bb

People who review always get on Santa's 'nice' list... haha... I'm shameless.

What do you guy think of giving a fanfic story as a Christmas present? My cousins love Bones and I thought maybe some of this story ( or another one) would make a fun gift...