It was the beginning of August now and Brennan and Booth had a moving trailer packed, bound for Chicago. They said their goodbyes to Jared and Hank and checked the house over one last time, just so they didn't forget anything.

As soon as they started driving down the road, Booth said, "Can we make one quick stop? I just…need to do something before we go." Brennan nodded and let him drive where he wanted.

The trailer looked out of place in their first destination before campus.

"Wait here," Booth told Brennan before he got out of the trailer. He walked up to Lizzie's house alone. Brennan was nervous. She knew he wouldn't freak out again like he did the last time he saw her but Bren wasn't sure what was on his agenda for this.

He knocked on the door and waited. Like the first time he was there, Sadie answered the door.

"Hi, Big Brother!" Sadie shrieked. The girl flung her arms around his legs for a hug. Booth bent down and hugged her back.

"I haven't seen you in forever. Are you staying for dinner like you did last time? Mommy's making my favorite, mac and cheese. It's so yummy but Sasha doesn't like it. Mommy says she will when she's bigger. Where's Jared? He comes over here all the time. Why is your girlfriend still sitting in your big truck?" The little girl rambled, not letting Booth get a word in.

"Sadie, can you go get your mom…our mommy? I need to talk to her," Booth said gently.

"Okay!" she yelled and ran up the stairs. He could hear Sasha crying and Sadie telling Lizzie he was here. There was some frantic movement upstairs and Lizzie hurried down the stairs fast with the baby in her arms and Sadie following closely behind.

"Seeley," she said when she reached the front door, "I'm glad you're here. Your sister missed you." He held a hand up to silence her.

"I'm not staying," Booth started staying. He didn't want to sound too harsh so he said, "I can't," and motioned to Brennan, waiting in the moving truck.

"Oh," Lizzie said. Knowing Sadie was going to be devastated if Seeley didn't play with her, she begged him to stay just for a few minutes.

"Look…uh, Sadie, maybe you should go play somewhere else," Booth suggested. He knew exactly what Lizzie was thinking and wasn't about to hurt some little girl's feelings by leaving, his sister or not.

Sadie whined but followed directions when Lizzie asked more sternly.

"Look, I'm leaving. I'm going back to school," he told Lizzie. "I can't…don't expect me to stop by either when I come home, either. I can't do this. I'm sorry if Sadie doesn't understand or something and I'm sorry if you don't either but I can't help but think of everything that happened after you left. Those were things you could've prevented if you had tried harder. I'm not going to stop Jared from coming over. He can hang out here as much as he wants, for all I care. But don't expect me back."

She nodded. "I never expected you to forgive me. But if you ever need something, you can call. I still hate myself for leaving you and your brother but I really thought Joseph would stop or I guess I made myself believe that it did. I still care for you and your brother. I still love you two very much and if you can't feel the same, I understand. But, please, if you ever change your mind, I'll be right here," she said quietly, a few tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Bye, Mom," he mumbled. He hugged her quickly and jogged back to the moving truck.

"Are you okay?" Brennan asked. She knew he was crying but he wouldn't admit it.

"Yeah," he breathed, "I'm fine."

Booth shook it off and put on a smile for her. "You ready to go?"

"Yes, let's go."


They made it back to campus easily, the sun was setting and it was nice to be back on familiar ground. Booth drove the moving truck to his friend's apartment. Adam, the wide receiver who helped them win the title, offered them his living room floor to sleep on until they found a place of their own. Brennan liked Adam. He was quiet and reserved during the day but once nighttime came, the party animal in Adam came out.

The next day, the couple woke up early and started their apartment hunting. They walked around the residential area just outside of campus, looking for one bedroom or studio apartments they could afford. Brennan had taken initiative and called the only company in the area who rented one bedroom apartments. The saleswoman met them a few complexes and showed them what they had left. With classes coming soon, the couple was running out of options. They didn't have a chance to be picky.

The woman showed them a few apartments quite far from campus, but nothing seemed quite right for them. Booth needed something closer to the football practice facilities and Brennan needed something closer to the anthropology building. They'd be entering their second year and even though Booth was on track like a normal student, Brennan would start working on her master's degree by second semester and would benefit from living close to campus.

"I'm just not sure this is gonna work," Booth told the woman. They were standing in the middle of a studio apartment. From the kitchen, he could see the sitting area, bedroom, and toilet. It was small and the photos the realtor showed them from the tenant before them and assuming they'd have the same amount of stuff, the place would be packed. Booth wasn't much of a fan of small spaces and from the moment they stepped into the apartment, Brennan expressed her distaste of it.

The realtor's phone rang. "Excuse me," she said and walked into the hallway.

Booth heaved a deep sigh and asked, "So, Bren, what do you think?"

She looked at him. "I'm thinking at least a one bedroom. Look at this place! We would hate it here. Plus, it's almost two miles from campus and almost ten from your practice buildings. Without a car, it's extremely impractical to live this far out here."

"I was thinking the same thing," he whispered. Booth stepped forward, towards her and he wrapped his arms around her. They kissed and the realtor walked back into the tiny apartment.

"You two are in luck," she told Booth and Brennan. "We just received word that one tenant for next fall is backing out on his lease of a one bedroom apartment. We'll cut the rent in half for you. Would you like to go look at it?"

They both nodded furiously and followed the woman out the door.

Twenty minutes later, and just one block from campus, they stood in a small, one bedroom apartment.

"This is perfect!" Booth shouted the minute he walked in the door. They looked around and the realtor showed them all of the amenities of the place. Brennan was thrilled the apartment was not only above an organic grocery store, but just two blocks around the corner from the anthropology building.

They signed the lease right there and went straight to Adam's place to pick up the moving truck and their things from his living room.

"I can't believe we found a place!" Booth shouted as they brought the first few boxes into their new apartment.

"We were quite lucky," Brennan said.

Booth dropped the box on the kitchen counter and took the box from Brennan's hand. He put it down next to the other box and then pulled Bren into a big hug.

"This year is going to be wonderful," he whispered into her hair.

Brennan squeezed him tight and hoped he was right.


A/N: So here we go with that time jump I keep talking about. I'll be skipping ahead about three years but for now, I'll just be doing oneshots of sorts that will capture the their time together in those three years I'll be skipping. I hope that makes sense. It makes sense in my head. I'm not sure how many there'll be before I head right back into the full story. I hope you like it! Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! :)