Middle of September (One week left of dig/mission)

"Start brushing off those remains. Be sure to be extra careful with the cranial vault; I'd like to have a reconstruction done on a few victims."

"Right away, Dr. Brennan."

Despite her age, the other students working under her seemed to take to her as an authority figure relatively easily. A few other professors who had gone on the trip as well were nervous how some of the grad students, who were at least four years older than Brennan, would take to her. But she imitated Booth's charm smile quite well and it seemed to be working out for her so far.

They only had a week left in Guatemala and Brennan was ready to get home. She became more and more anxious as their leave date approached.

"Dr. Brennan? Can I speak with you for a minute?" Brennan heard the voice of the head coordinator of the project, Dr. Kent. He motioned for her to follow him to his office, which wasn't really much. It was a large tent with a makeshift desk and piles of papers.

She followed him, shouting over her shoulders to several other students who seemed to be slacking on their work. They passed a few Guatemalan guards who were there to make sure…well, she really wasn't sure what they were there for, but they kind of scared her. There were a few reservists there but they were scattered few and far between.

Standing in the tent was another man who dressed like the reservists but seemed oddly out of place.

"Dr. Brennan, this is Corporal Mauer," Dr. Kent introduced them. She shook the soldier's hand and the moment she did, she had an awful gut feeling.

No. Stay calm. Stay rational. Technically, since we're not married, they wouldn't send a chaplain to me; they'd send him to Pops. Gut feelings are Booth's thing, not mine.

"Dr. Brennan, you are Private Booth's emergency contact?" Corporal Mauer asked.

She nodded.

"Since he is direct combat and cannot leave, you are the next closest family to relay this information to. Hank and Jared Booth have been in a severe car accident. They are both in intensive care in Philadelphia. I have instructions from Private Booth to take you stateside with me."

"I thought Corporals were higher ranked than Privates. How come he told you what to do?" Brennan countered. She really did not want to believe what this man was saying.

"I have no say in family matters, ma'am. He asked me to take you back to the states."

"It'll be alright, Dr. Brennan. This dig can continue on without you," Dr. Kent told her.

She shook her head. "This is research for my dissertation! I could be set behind for months if I don't complete my research."

Kent sighed. "Dr. Brennan, I have agreed to be the advising professor on your dissertation. I'll file the necessary motion and file the required paperwork and we can alter your dissertation to accommodate this…occurrence. Don't worry, Temperance. We'll make it work. Go pack your things. Good luck."

Brennan knew she wasn't going to get anywhere by arguing with Dr. Kent. She knew she went to Georgetown for a reason. The faculty there was much more rational that the faculty, mainly Dr. Stires, at Northwestern.

"I'll only be a few minutes," she told Corporal Mauer and returned only after tossing her things haphazardly into her bag and giving a few of the students last minute instructions.

Corporal Mauer and Brennan said nothing to the other until they reached the temporary Army base near the coast.

"Don't wander off too far," Mauer told her, "I'm gonna get these guys going. We have to fuel the plane still and see who else is coming with us. Have you ever been on a cargo plane before?"

She shook her head. Mauer pulled a small bottle from a pocket. "Take some of this. It's for motion sickness. You're not going to want to throw up on that plane. It'll come right back in your face."

Brennan squirmed a bit and took a few of the pills dry.

"Stay close," Mauer ordered as he jogged off toward an oncoming group of soldiers.

The soldiers wandered from the jungle, completely dressed in Ghillie suits. It was their camouflaged suits that were made to look like the surrounding brush. To Brennan, the soldiers looked like walking trees and bushes, except for the fact that trees and bushes don't carry large guns.

She was standing in the middle of the tarmac. She felt awkward standing alone so she walked closer to the hangar and into the shade. It was hot there, the mercury reaching over one hundred.

"Dr. Brennan, we're going to have some company on the plane. Strap your bag in under the bench and strap yourself to the wall. This plane probably isn't like the one you took down here so just…be prepared for a lot of turbulence."

She nodded and followed Mauer to the cargo plane. As she was helped onto the plane, she noticed just how different it was. There was a small bench against one side of the plane, with boxes, bags and crates taking up every other bit of floor space. She shouldn't have been surprised. It was, after all, a cargo plane.

She heard other soldiers rustling around just outside the plane, a few of them stressing to make sure they had all of their belongings before boarding the plane. A few of them still had their Ghillie suits on and a few were in their normal fatigues.

Brennan placed her bag underneath the bench and strapped it in. She then did the same with herself and began to take in her surroundings. A few of the soldiers who were boarding the plane in their Ghillie suits were using moist wipes to get the camouflage face paint off. Most just wiped it off their eyes, mouth, nose and cheeks, leaving some behind, making their faces looked like they were caked in mud.

"Corporal, are you going home too?" one soldier in a Ghillie suit said. He took off his helmet covered with leaves and twigs.

"No, I'm escorting a civilian back to the states, then I'm returning to see the rest of the mission out."

"Corporal," another soldier said to him, standing outside the plane, "Private Booth is back. His mission was successful. What are your orders for him?"

Mauer glanced down at Brennan, who perked up at the sound of her fiancé's name.

"Tell him to take my spot on the plane. I'll tell the pilot to wait ten minutes. He has five to get down here."

"Yes, sir." The other soldier jogged off to find Booth.

Mauer stood up and the plane began to move. He walked to the pilot and told him to wait but to move the plane to the tarmac so they could take off as soon as Booth was on board.

She knew he would be happy to see her, but under the circumstances, she couldn't know how he would act. Apart from Brennan, Pops and Jared were the only family he had. Corporal Mauer only told her they were in an accident; he never said exactly how bad but they wouldn't have gone out of their way to come find her if they had a few scratches.

"Good luck, Dr. Brennan," Mauer said to her as he walked off the plane. The man was clearly detached to his job. Either that, or he was disappointed to not be going stateside.

"Thank you," she muttered, although she wasn't quite sure why he was wishing her luck. Mauer stood just off the plane, seemingly waiting for something.

Brennan was excited to see Booth, but as she saw him approaching, something didn't seem right about him. He was sulking, his face paint smeared across his skin.

"Private," Mauer addressed Booth. Booth stood at attention until Mauer told him, "at ease."

They exchanged a few words and Booth shouted to someone back in the hangar.

"Parker! Let me know when you get back to Georgia!"

A small, baby faced man smiled and gave Booth a thumbs-up. Booth bounded up the loading ramp of the cargo plane and yelled to the pilot that things were good to go.

"Hiya, Bren!" He plopped down on the bench next to her. He greeted her like nothing was out of the ordinary. He smiled at her and leaned over to kiss her.

"You know that civilian, Booth?" another soldier onboard asked. The guy next to him punched him in the shoulder.

"I don't think they'd be saying hello like that if they didn't know each other, dumbass," the second soldier said.

Booth introduced Brennan to the other two men on the plane with him and they soon took off. The blast into the air forced them to jerk into their seatbelts. Now she understood why Mauer told her to take that motion sickness medicine. They were shaking around and the turbulence seemed worse than anything that they would feel on a commercial flight. The noise from the engine was louder than a normal jet and was definitely louder than anything she had heard before. Booth reached under the bench and retrieved a pair of ear muffs meant to keep out the sound.

"What about you?" she shouted at him. She didn't want him to lose his hearing just because this plane engine was earsplitting.

"I'm fine. How much did they tell you about Pops and Jared?" he yelled back.

She shook her head. He shrugged.

"I guess we'll see when we get there."


They landed in Pensacola a few hours later and the Army put them on a bus to Philadelphia. It was an eighteen hour ride and Booth slept most of the way there. Brennan wanted to wake him so they could talk. She wanted to know what he did while he was in Guatemala but she doubted he'd give anything up.

Booth wanted to tell Brennan what he had done. He told her everything. But his was a matter of national security, a matter of life and death. He thought, in the back of his mind, she knew he was a sniper, or at least, she knew he would have to kill people. He was in the Army, going into combat. It should've been blatantly obvious. But he didn't want to keep anything from her. He didn't want any secrets between them.

Hours later, as they passed through Washington on their way to Philadelphia, Booth awoke and stretched his long legs as much as he could in the cramped bus.

"I've missed you," he whispered to her. She looked up from her book and smiled at him.

"I missed you, too. How was it down there?"

He shrugged. "Fine, I guess. About as good as war can be. How was your dig?"

She grinned even bigger. "Wonderful. I just wish I didn't have to leave early. But I do hope Pops and Jared are okay. We'll be there soon, right?"

Booth nodded. Thinking about his grandfather and Jared made him nervous. Not knowing how they were doing scared him but he wasn't ready to panic just yet. He noticed her fiddling with her engagement ring.

"Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it."

She gave him a sad smile. "I just can't figure out when we're gonna get married. There's never really a good time."

He took her hand and kissed it. "Don't worry, babe. I've got an idea."


A/N: Sorry this took so long! I wanted to get this part just right to lead into the next chapter! Let me know what you guys think!