"Hey Bud", Booth said to his son as he blocked the doorway to his apartment, "You'll like this".

Parker Booth looked up at his father through his long blonde locks of hair that covered his face. His eyes were full of delight, and a touch of confusion, but Booth could see the excitement building. "Have you got me a new toy?", Parker asked as he jumped up and down.

"You could say that", Booth told him as he pushed the door open.

Parker was speechless to the sight before him. Boxes upon boxes of Lego lined the walls of his dad's apartment. This was better than Christmas in his opinion and he could play with it all week. He was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity and when he tried to go one way, he wanted to go another. Booth just laughed at him as his brain tried to decide on what to do next. And then Parker saw the dragon.

He ran straight for it and examined it thoroughly before even touching it. As soon as he picked it up, he began to run around the room. The dragon's flight was a bumpy one to say the least before it came to a rest in Parker's lap. "This is so cool!", he exclaimed as he discovered the wings and tail could move, "Where did you get all of it?".

"I beat Hodgins and Sweets in a contest for it. I built the dragon", Booth smiled as he sat down, gesturing towards the object in Parker's hands.

"Can you make another?", the boy asked, his eyes full of glee.

"Suppose we could", as Booth said those words, Parker jumped up and opened the box closest to him.

He popped the lid of the plastic box and took out a handful of the multicoloured bricks. Some fell from his hands as he walked over to his dad, leaving a trail behind him. Booth had never seen his son so happy in a long time, maybe not since he gave him the robot Zack made at Christmas. "How about we get the whole box out", Booth said as he stood, "It will minimise the mess".

But it didn't help, as soon the floor of his apartment was covered in a layer of plastic bricks. They ended up instead of making a dragon; the boys started making some sort of car with strange extras built onto it. It had aeroplane propellers on the bonnet, a fire engine ladder on the roof, and a garden of all things being pulled on a trailer behind. Parker called it zero carbon emissions. Booth thought if Bones were only there with them, she would have complained about it being unpractical.

"Are we going to show Dr. Bones?", Parker asked as he found yet another wheel to join the twenty already attached to the underside of the car.

"When she gets back from Scotland", Booth rubbed his son's head, when his pocket started to vibrate, "Speak of the devil".

Parker laughed as his dad pulled out his cell phone and put it to his ear. "Booth", he answered.

"Hey Booth", the female voice said on the other end.

"Hey Bones. Everything good in the land of the kilts?", he asked her.

"What's a kilt?", Parker asked his dad as he looked up from his contraption.

"You've got Parker? I thought you weren't supposed to be seeing him until Thursday", Bones said to him on the other end.

"Yeah well, Rebecca is busy after school all week, so the little guy is with me until about six", he smiled, until he saw the expression on his son's face, "I'll tell you what a kilt is once I finished talking to Bones, okay?".

Parker nodded and went back to adding various pieces to his car. It looked like he had some sort of tree in his hand. "So, what's up Bones?".

She was silent on the other end. Booth knew there and then that something was up. "Bones, what has happened?".

"I'm missing you that's all".

"Really", Booth was surprised by her answer, "How?".

"Well, the past few times I've been away, you have come with me".

"It's okay Bones, you will be back Friday, and then we can go back to solving horrible, gruesome, disgusting murders all over the country".

"Nice use of the rule of three for effect there Booth".

"Thanks Bones. Now you get some sleep and I'll come and pick you up on Friday, yeah?".

"Okay. Night Booth".

"Goodnight Bones".

Booth sighed as he hung up. Parker had added quite a few items to the car during his conversation with Bones. A skeleton was now sitting at the wheel with its arm hanging out of the window like a truck driver. "So what's a kilt", Parker asked not looking up from his masterpiece.

Booth shook his head. How was he going to explain that men wore skirts with no underwear? He had dug himself this hole, and was going to have a serious time digging himself out.

There were ten large beams of wood holding up the ceiling above, fifteen spindles on the backboard of her bed, and she now had the plot outline for her next book. No matter what Temperance did, she could not get back to sleep. She didn't feel tired, but she knew the reasons behind it. It was the day. Sleep would catch her up eventually, probably when she least expected it.

She rolled over onto her side to see Mandible in a deep sleep. She was dreaming about something as her feet were twitching and she was sniffing the air. Last night they had sat together for an hour. They had just sat nothing else. Mandible enjoyed the attention as she was scratched in all the hard to get places as her friend phoned her partner back in DC.

Brennan enjoyed the time to just think. She thought about everything, and felt more at peace than when she was with Booth. This was the first time she realised since before they had first started to work together that she could actually just think to herself without any interruptions of any kind.

Brennan then directed her gaze towards her rather chewed up alarm clock on the bedside table. It read 5.30. Great. She had been awake for a good hour, and was now bored, which was strange for her. It was light outside, and she listened for any movement in the house. There was nothing bar McCullough's loud snoring, but she couldn't tell whether it was coming from Bart or the chief.

It was too early to be sociable, but too late to fall back asleep. She sat up, and carefully and quietly walked over to her dragon and the nest of her clothing. Brennan reached down and took out a black shirt and a pair of khaki coloured trousers. They were warm from Mandible's body heat, and the dragon groaned as it rolled over.

Brennan went over to her window once she was dressed and opened up the blinds and opened it fully. She had learnt from Aidan that they were designed so dragons could fly in and out through them. Temperance slowly crept back over to Mandible and attached the safety cord to her belt. She gave the dragon a little stroke on the top of her head, and Mandible's eyes slowly fluttered open. "C'mon Mandible, we are going for an early flight", Brennan said as the dragon looked up at her.

Mandible stretched and gave out a quiet yawn, before being led over to the window. She ducked through first and Tempe was soon to follow behind, and they walked through the long grass together to get some height on the hill above the house before they took off. The sky was a wonderful orange colour, and the village was as quiet as both dragon and rider had ever seen.

As they reached a suitable height, Brennan climbed onto the back of Mandible. She gave the dragon a little nudge to signal go and waited for the rush of air past her face. But nothing happened. Mandible just stood there. She didn't move, just gazed out over the village. "Mandible, what's up?", Brennan asked as she rubbed the scales on top of Mandible's head.

But whilst Brennan waited for a reaction, Mandible bucked her off. Temperance landed with a thud beside the dragon, and her rear end hurt after coming into contact with the ground. She stood and scampered around to the front of the dragon. Mandible sat, and looked at Temperance, not blinking. As Brennan stared back, she could feel the invisible metaphoric vibes come of the dragon. She had the same expression Angela did when she knew things were not all good.

The expression made Temperance's stomach feel strange. She knew it must be Booth's gut feeling when the stomach acids become upset. She glared back at her dragon, but had to look away when she knew this expression meant more than she was aware. Mandible knew that there was something wrong with today, and wasn't going anywhere until her friend told her. "You won't like it, I promise you", Temperance told the dragon as she played about with a piece of grass.

Mandible made a little squeak, and bent her head down to try and catch her rider's gaze. With her tail, she forcibly tilted Brennan's head up to face her. Just like Booth did with his finger. "Mandible, I can't explain it to you because you won't understand it until later", Tempe told her, tears in her eyes.

Mandible whined as she moved around and rubbed into Brennan. Tempe laughed as the dragon snuggled around her like she did last night. She instantly felt better, and gave out a small laugh as Mandible looked up at her again with her big blue eyes. "I'm so sorry about what you are going to have to go through, and I hope you forgive me for it", she told her friend, "I'm worrying about it now, so please go easy on me afterwards. You won't be the only one going through it".

Mandible did her best sort of smile before the two watched the sun rise on the horizon. Once it was really blinding them, the dragon jumped up on her hind legs, making Brennan jump. She bent back down and signalled for her rider to get onboard. Temperance smiled and jumped on, and as the magnetism clicked the safety cord into place, Mandible did a vertical takeoff. She flew out over the island, and out to sea. Brennan looked confused as she turned around to watch the village quickly disappear. "No offence Mandible, but the island is back that way. It isn't safe off the island", she told it.

Mandible did a sort of laugh, before increasing her speed by flying downward. They flew feet above the sea, and Brennan watched their reflection below. Mandible's wings were beating in a smooth rhythm, even though they seemed to be moving faster and faster. She looked back up to find they were approaching some sort of island at great speeds.

To Brennan it resembled some sort of extinct volcano with large pieces of rock jutting out from all places with one central spike in the centre of the island. As they approached, Brennan squinted at a large white object that seemed to create some sort of arch onto the island from a small wooden jetty. There were no buildings on this island and a strange mist seemed to loom around it. As they got closer, Temperance could see that the arch was in fact a large skull of some sort of dragon.

Mandible adjusted the angle of her wings and they slowed down for landing. Mandible dug her feet into the gravel of the beach, and Temperance just looked around in amazement. The island was incredibly quiet, and the only sound was the waves crashing on the ocean. Why the hell did Mandible bring her here?

Brennan detached herself and hopped down from her dragon. The gravel moved under her feet as she walked over to the skull. It had a multitude of eye sockets, and its jaw space was massive. She walked under it and ran her fingers over the bone. The texture comforted her and she started instinctually looking for signs of trauma. She found evidence of burning that looked like it had been tried to clean off. Brennan deduced that the bone was incredibly old. She thought this is why Mandible had brought her here, to feel comfort in the one area of expertise she shinned in.

A roar echoed around the island, making Tempe jump. She turned on the spot to see it had come from Mandible who was looking up the main turret of rock. She ran to her dragon who just kept looking upward. Brennan followed her gaze to see what she was looking for or at.

Something large and black shot out from at the top, and swooped downwards at an incredible speed. As it slowed to land, Brennan recognised it as a Night Fury. This one was at least twice the size of Mandible and Fredo with scaly out growths at its elbows and a line of spikes ran along its spine. Its eyes were a deep purple, and to be honest its claws actually made Brennan feel some sort of fear for her life. Brennan then knew that Mandible was far from fully grown.

It gave Mandible a stern look and Brennan started to creep around to the back of her dragon. As she looked around from behind Mandible, the least expected thing happened. The two dragons bounded at each other and started grooming each other. Mandible then started to play with this other dragon and soon they got into a playful fight and she lost her dragon in a mass of black scales rolling around on the gravel. It ended with the larger dragon pinning Mandible down, who then licked the nose of the larger one. Brennan just stared at the goings on, and was absolutely speechless.

Mandible made a small grumble and look towards Temperance. The larger dragon lifted up its head and released Mandible from its grip. Tempe stood absolutely still as it plodded towards her. Mandible bounced alongside it like a spring lamb. It stood a good height above Brennan and leant down to sniff her hair. It snorted as it continued to inspect the rest of her. All Temperance could feel was her heart pounding hard in her chest.

It came back around to her front and looked at Brennan in a strange sort of way. It glanced back over to Mandible who was sitting off to the side. They shared some noises between each other before the large Night Fury came to look back at her. Before she even knew it had happened, it roared in Temperance's face. She felt the entire colour drain from her skin as she looked terrified at this dragon.

Mandible then bounded over as if nothing had happened as the larger dragon sat. She nudged Brennan in the back who stroked her face back. Mandible then began to count with her feet. Tempe in her head counted along until they got to thirteen. Then she started again and they got to fifteen, and then another set of thirteen. Brennan knew she was trying to tell her something and her super fast brain started to analyse the information.

"Mum?", Brennan questioned her dragon who bounced back over to the other.

Mandible shook her head and rubbed into the larger dragon. "That is your mother?", Brennan questioned again as she slowly approached.

The larger dragon bent down, and tilted her head. Brennan had no idea what to do, and looked to Mandible for help. She gestured her head towards her supposed mother, and Brennan could only guess that she wanted her to touch. Nerves shaking all the muscles of her being, Brennan reached out with her hand. Before she knew, she had made contact.

The scales were rougher than Mandibles, yet the texture seemed to have a grace about it. Brennan smiled to herself as she recoiled her hand. Mum looked at her reassuringly and nodded slightly. Brennan then wished that she could understand their language, as she was afraid to disappoint the mother.

Mandible was there to rescue her again, and nudged at her rear pocket; where her phone was located. Brennan took it out and went to the menu. She began to run over all the icons until Mandible stopped her at the Gallery icon. She opened it and scrolled down until Mandible stopped her again; this time on photos. Then Brennan understood. She had met Mandible's mother, now she wanted her to meet hers. Temperance gulped, and decided the best option was to show them the picture of her father.

She turned it around for the two dragons to gaze at. "My mother died fifteen years ago, but this is my father", she told the two as the Mum looked intently at the picture.

Mandible then jerker her head to the right, and Brennan guessed she wanted more. She hit the next button and Russ' photo popped up onto the screen. "That is my brother Russ. He is married with two adopted children", she told them as Mandible gesture yet again.

Brennan sighed and decided it was just best to scroll through all of them. Angela, Cam, Hodgins, Booth, Sweets, for some reason Zack's picture was on there, Caroline (why?), Daisy, Wendell, Vincent, Fisher and Arastoo were all shown to the dragons. Brennan could only guess that Angela had hijacked her phone when she wasn't looking and taken photos of everyone. It was like she had seen that in the future Brennan needed them, which was impossible. Typical Angela, but Temperance forgot all about what was going to happen later that day, so Mandible's plan had worked.

Angela walked through the doors of the Jeffersonian on the Tuesday morning only to find Booth skulking on the platform, leaning over the railings looking at the floor. He was supposed to be on a week's vacation, yet he decided to spend his time here. Angela knew that would never happen in her case. "Hey Big Man. What are you doing here?", she asked him as she stood below him by Jack's station.

He looked up at her, "To be honest Ange, I haven't got a clue".

"Well, at least I got an answer, huh", she smiled at him as she walked over to her office.

Jack Hodgins was the next one to turn up. Booth had moved now and was now looking at something on one of the workbenches. Hodgins threw his bag onto the desk surface and jogged up the steps after swiping himself in. "Hey Booth, what you got there?", he asked as he approached the FBI agent, who was supposed to be on holidays.

"Something that looks rather threatening", he said as he turned around holding up a pair of what looked like industrial sized scissors.

"Don't worry. We don't use them on live human beings", Hodgins smiled as he turned on the computer nearest to them.

"Hi Jack, any idea what we are doing today?", Angela asked as she joined the men on the platform, doing up the buttons on her lab coat.

"Haven't the foggiest. But I think Cam will want us to give Booth something to do", Hodgins pointed behind him where Booth was standing with a creepy sort of smile on his face.

The three turned to face the automatic doors as they heard them slide open. Cam walked through, her heels clunking on the floor as she went like normal, but this time, she had company. A blonde man, coming close to six foot tall, with dark blue eyes followed behind. From what the three could tell he looked rather muscular under his three piece suit, and Angela felt her heart flutter from the symmetry of his features. Cam turned to stop him, before she continued up onto the platform. "Who's your friend Cam", Angela asked as she watched the guy look around the Jeffersonian like all first time visitors did.

"That is Jason Jenkins, and he is writing a book on the Gormogons", she told them.

The three all became agitated as she spoke the last word, all with their own reasons but one did unite them all. "I know that it is a sensitive topic, but the guy is going to give a very generous donation to the institute", Cam told them in hushed tones.

"So what?", Booth replied back at the same sound level.

"Cam has been ordered by Goodman to take any donations or publicity she can get for the Jeffersonian", Hodgins jumped in, looking very smug.

"That's absurd Jack", Cam whispered back.

"But I am right though", she just gave him a look that could kill.

"But Brennan isn't here", Angela stated.

"I told him and he said he can come back next week", Cam reassured the team.

"Well, can't he interview us next week with Bones?", Booth asked.

"We aren't solving any murders at the moment and we have to focus all, well most of our attentions on them when Booth and Brennan get back to work next week. No doubt that Monday morning there will be one waiting for us, and we will get it solved quicker if we aren't popping in and out of interviews".

"I see your logic", Hodgins told Cam.

"Well, if it makes sense to you, I'm in", Angela added, and they all looked towards Booth.

"I haven't got anything better to do", he sighed looking at the floor.

"Good. He is just going to look around this morning and see how we all work and then this afternoon he is going to start interviewing. Booth", she said making the agent jump, "you are in charge of him".

"What? No... Camille... I don't think... damn", he argued as she walked hastily off the platform.

"Have fun dude", Hodgins said slapping him on the back as he went to get his lab coat.

Booth looked to Angela who was smiling. Her arms tucked around her sketch pad, she started making her way to her room. "Good luck Booth", she told him as she passed him.

"Thanks Angela", he told the artist as she went past.

He then looked to this Jenkins guy. There was a strange vibe coming off him that Booth did not like one bit. He was acting like he was excited by the sheer size of the Jeffersonian, but at the same time, it seemed that he was surveying and planning something. Hands in pockets, Booth made his way down off the platform, and the man stopped as he saw Booth heading his way. He extended his hand, and Booth joined him in the gesture with the shake. "Jason Jenkins, and you are doctor...", he started squinting his eyes as he looked at Booth.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth at your service", he said shaking back, and Booth saw the foolish look on the man's face, "Where would you like to go first?".

Eight o'clock and the weather did not in any way represent the mood. Aidan was wearing a face worse than death itself, Betha had been here since seven missing breakfast, and Caley had just turned up scuffing his feet. Today was going to be utter crap if you ask me. All the dragons could sense something was up as they kept exchanging confused glances and trying to get any reassurance from us. Oh, and not to mention Dr. Brennan was missing. Her tracker said that she was about a hundred miles north, most likely exploring the dragon colonies.

Then we all heard the whistling. Hands went straight to our ears just in time for the contact with the cliff, and then we watched the predicted area for Mandible's landing. Two seconds later, there she was, with a rather happy looking Temperance on her shoulders. Why the hell was she smiling, this is not a happy day, and she looked like crap last night. What the hell was going through her head?

"B, you are not making it any better for us looking like that", Aidan said to her coldly.

Her smile quickly disappeared as she remembered what today was. "Sorry" she told us before taking Mandible and tying her up with the rest of the dragons in the centre of the ring.

"Where did you go?", Caley asked as she sat down next to us on the rock face of the ring.

"I think I met Mandible and Fredo's mother", she said to us.

"There you have it", Aidan said as she stood.

"There you have what?", she asked as we watched her take the keys from her bag.

Aidan looked at me. I knew that she wasn't really up for conversing any more than she needed to today. "Temps", I caught her attention, "Mandible taking you to meet her mother means that she has formally accepted you as her rider".

"I didn't know there was a formality to it", she looked about us, surprised.

"Night Furies are proud creatures and have a different agenda to the other dragon species", Betha commented.

"They aren't very sociable creatures, but when it comes to family and the deed, they have exceptions", Caley added.

"That's why Fredo and Mandible get on so well. If they were not related, you would never find them together on the island as they are sort of territorial with one territory to a family group with the mum as the alpha", I told her, "If Fredo wasn't my dragon, he would have been eventually kicked out to go and make his own territory".

She nodded. "I see. They sort of resemble feral cats, with all the females in one central colony, and the males in their own territories that surround the females, only entering to mate".

"Suppose that's right", I looked at her, she was enjoying learning about this a little too much.

We all jumped at the sound of Aidan pulling the heavy wooden doors to one of the storage holes. They used to hold the dragons in the dragon war, but now, Aidan kept training aids in there. And this one she just opened was the worst of all. She pulled out a cart, and we all knew what was under the sheets when the dragons started growling and getting as far away from it as possible.

We all stood and made our ways over. Aidan was trying her best to regulate her breathing, and looked about us nervously as she reached to remove the sheet. As she pulled the cloth off the rack, all the dragons started growling and trying to fly away. It was lined by hand guns and packs of ammo, and at the bottom of the small wooden structure were attachments for our saddles and what looked like large rifles. "The gun you choose is yours to keep", Aidan said as she reached into the basket that hung off the cart, "The first part of today's lesson will be getting used to holding it. Then we will move onto mounted shooting depending on how quickly the dragons get used to the guns, and then, if we can, we will do some flying shots".

We all reached for a gun. Betha was shaking as she picked up hers, Caley was quick for his and just held it at his side, and I was slow and held it around my front. Brennan was last, expecting all the ones left before picking the one furthest back. She immediately cocked it ready to shoot, and made sure it was safe before putting it in her pocket. "Hey B", Aidan said, "Could you help me with this".

The two women went back into the cupboard and came out with a load of targets on some sort of trolley. There were various holes from obviously last year's class in a few, and new ones that resembled men. "Okay, go and stand by your dragons in a line, and when I tell you, shoot at the corresponding target", Aidan almost yelled at us as we moved towards the said area.

Brennan took out her gun, and the rest of us copied her as she readied to shoot. Aidan raised her arm, and dropped it down. Gun fire ringed around the island, and soon I was out of ammo, and then followed shortly by Caley and Betha. We all had made the target at least once, but when we looked towards the docs, there wasn't even a scratch. "Temp, can't you shoot straight", I asked the doc next to me.

She smiled at me, and looked behind at the dragons. They all looked terrified, but Mandible seemed curious more than anything. Her ears were pricked forward and her eyes were watching the doc like she was waiting to be shown. Aidan started to march over, curious to what the hell was going on. "I have never seen a dragon look like that", she told us all as we stared at Mandible, "Are you going to shoot?".

Brennan opened her mouth to speak, but noting came out. She looked at Mandible who nodded; she wanted this to happen which was beyond strange. Why the hell did Temp have to have the strange dragon? The doc readied her gun, adjusted her legs and readied herself to shoot. She shot three rounds, and I jumped on everyone. Mandible however lay down as if nothing had happened. "B, what have you done to your dragon?", Aidan asked as she pointed towards the completely chilled out Mandible.

"I haven't done anything", she said raising her arms in protest, and looking towards her target, "Except get bull's-eye every time".

Aidan looked down to the targets. Sure enough, she had got all three bullets within the centre ring. She wasn't joking last night. She was damn good with a gun.

AN: Look at that, I updated, finally. The info about the cats I got from reading a book. I would like to thank Soului for her awsome idea as now the story will flow even better! Any questions, just ask. Audience participation is still welcome, and please review if you have or haven't done so already. Thanks