Where he was, was easy.

He didn't think there was a better word for it, but his mind was so pleasantly foggy that he didn't spend any time trying to figure out if there was.

He was in a park; gentle sloping hills and green grass, and there was a playground to the left and big trees to the right. Bones was pushing Christine in a swing, not really high at all, but the baby shrieked with laughter and the giggles tumbled though the air and into the distance so that it echoed pleasantly all around him. Parker scaled a tree, and though it seemed high, Booth wasn't worried. Bad things didn't happen in places like this.

He couldn't explain how he knew that. He just did.

He felt light, content, because here, nothing could touch them.

Here was the only place he wanted to be.

He was vaguely aware that this place, this moment, was going on for longer than it should, but again, the lethargic happiness wasn't something that allowed him to figure out why.

The first burst of cold was like a pinprick. Nothing major. An irritating draft. Bones pushed on, Christine laughed on and Parker climbed on.

But the cold spread. He could feel it. It started in his heart and moved outwards, invading his chest, then streaming into his limbs before settling in his fingers and toes.

He looked up and Parker was gone.

He turned to the left and the swing set was deserted.

The cold in his chest became a burn and he began to run desperately.

Bad things were happening. Where had his family gone?

He was yelling now. "Bones? Bones!" But everything sounded like he was underwater and he couldn't get his voice to be loud enough.

He spotted her then, on top of a hill in the distance. She couldn't have gotten there so fast and yet there she was. She turned to look at him and smiled, but he could tell her face was sad.

"No! Bones! Wait!" he shouted, as she turned away from him and stepped out of his sight.

He was two steps in her direction when the light came from behind him. It was bright and warm and that foggy feeling came over him again. Surely his family was there. In the warmth. He should join them. Things might be better if he went that way.

Except…

Bones had gone the other way. He knew that. He KNEW that.

The light would be easy again, he could tell.

But it had always been his experience that the right thing wasn't always the easy thing and that the easy thing wasn't always what he really wanted.

He took a deep breath, turned his back on the light and followed his partner over the hill.

B&B

She sat, reunited with her daughter, in a quiet park in a DC suburb. It was empty, save a few toddlers and their nannies on the play structure. Brennan and Christine sat far from them, on a blanket in the grass, reading Christine's favorite book.

On the fourth read through, a chime came from a pocket in the diaper bag. Brennan fished a phone out, and read the screen.

"He's awake.-A"

Brennan blinked back tears as she smiled in both relief and sadness.

"We have to go now, Christine."

The baby giggled happily as Brennan carried her to the car, depositing the cell phone in a nearby garbage can before she strapped Christine into her seat and drove away.

It was time to run again.

~end~