Brennan woke up the next morning to find Booth gone again. She made her way to the kitchen and grabbed a peach from the fridge. She looked out the kitchen window and could see Booth in outside getting the boat ready.

After putting flip flops on, she went to the garage. She watched him struggle to reach the oars for the boat on the very top shelf of their storage unit.

"Want some help?" she offered. It scared Booth and he turned around quickly. She was still in her tank top and sleep shorts and she was leaning against the doorframe, eating her fruit. It turned Booth on to see her like that but he was focused on reaching the oars, without her help.

"Nah, I got it," he grunted, stand on his tip toes to reach. He swatted one oar down and used it to reach the other. Booth tossed the oars into the boat, which was hooked to a trailer on the car.

"Where'd you get the trailer?"

Booth shrugged. "Mr. Irvine next door let me borrow it. You wanna make lunch for us or should I?"

Brennan shrugged this time. "You get all the fishing poles and other equipment. When you're done, you can help me make lunch."

He smiled at her. "Yes, dear," he answered. She waved him off and she went back to the house.


By midmorning, they had a cooler packed with their lunches an extra change of clothes in case they got dirty. They were off to Van Sciver Lake, only a half hour drive from Hank's house. They sang along to, of course, Foreigner, the whole way there.

When they arrived, Booth parked near the dock and unloaded the boat rather quickly. Brennan took their cooler out of the back seat and waited for the boat to be in the water.

Once Booth had everything set up, Brennan looked the boat over.

"Uh…Booth? Where are we supposed to sit?" she asked, trying not to sound offensive. She didn't know much about this subject but she did know that most people didn't sit on the floor of the boat. He grabbed a blanket from the trunk of Hank's car and made a cushion for them.

Booth looked the boat over too. The boat was old and looked pretty scummy. The seats for the boat were long gone which was going to make rowing difficult. It was small too. They were going to have to decide between bringing their food or their fishing poles.

"Inside, genius. Okay, we don't have room. Cooler or poles?"

"Uh…cooler?" she offered. She didn't want to make him upset for not wanting to fish, but she was already getting hungry and she wasn't about to go without lunch.

"Okay." Booth tossed the cooler in the boat and waved her to come closer to the dock. He got in first, careful not to tip it. Booth held it steady as Brennan followed his lead and got into the boat.

"Alright, Bren. Ya ready?"

She nodded and watched as Booth used the oars to move them away from the dock.

It was a slow process. Booth was having problems rowing from the floor of the boat and Brennan felt bad for not helping. She would offer several times a minute but each time Booth refused.

She didn't want to hurt his pride but she knew it was going to take forever to get anywhere. After a good half hour of nonstop rowing, Booth decided to let the current of the motorboats passing by to take them where they may.

"Alright, Bren, let's eat! All I packed was the chips so what else is in that magical bag of goodness?"

Brennan unzipped the cooler bag and pulled out Booth's chips. She also handed him a pop can and set hers next to her feet.

"So I packed a few extra sandwiches since I know you get hungry every few hours. I made a few ham sandwiches for you and a fruit salad for me. I just hope it's still cold."

"Aww, Bren! You didn't have to make so much food for me. I'd have been fine with only one!"

She nodded and handed Booth a sandwich. "I know you wouldn't need more but you would whine and complain a lot. I do not want our entire afternoon to be filled the sounds of your stomach making all sorts of noises," she laughed.

Booth laughed too. "Okay, okay, Bren. You know, you don't have to force me to eat your food. You're a good cook."

Brennan beamed with pride. "Shut up and eat," she teased.

"I love you," Booth countered.

"I love you more."


It wasn't until the sun began to set that they realized they needed to make their way back to the dock to go home. Booth and Brennan had enjoyed a long afternoon of catching some rays and talking about nothing and everything.

"Would you like help, Booth? You seem to be struggling quite a bit." Brennan observed.

"Nah, Bren, I got it under control," he said between grunts. She attempted to steal an oar but he refused.

By the time they reached the dock, the sun was down and there was very little light. Once everything was loaded, the two finally collapsed in the car and drove back to Hank's house.

"Hey, uh, Bren, you know…I had an idea earlier and I thought it might, you know, interest you," Booth said, once back on the road.

"Well, what is this idea?"

"Okay, well answer this first: Are you living in the dorms again next year?"

She shrugged and nodded. "I can't exactly afford an apartment yet. I need to find a steady, part-time job first….Are you?"

Booth shook his head. "Nope, Pops is gonna help me out with the rent and food money and stuff," he told her, his eyes focused only on the road.

Brennan nodded again slowly. "Well…that'll be nice. Maybe we could do what we have been. You know, taking turns at each other's places…things like that," Brennan offered. She was disappointed, knowing she probably wouldn't be spending much time with him this next semester.

"Well, here's what I was thinking….you could, ya know, stay with me. Like…live with me. Kinda like now. It wouldn't be any different from now! Just no Jared sneaking in on us at the worse times."

"You'd be okay with that? Me living with you?"

He laughed. "Duh, Bren. Of course! I love you. I don't want to be across campus from you every night. That would suck! So what do ya say? Let's go back to Chicago early and we'll find some little place before classes start. Pops said he'd help too. He's totally cool with this, too; I already talked to him about it."

Brennan couldn't help but smile. "Of course I'll live with you, Booth. Why did you even have to ask?"