It was mid afternoon on their last day at the chalet. They had slept late, then gotten up and luxuriated in the bubbling water of the hot tub upstairs. Booth had gone downstairs, cooked up a batch of pancakes and made coffee and brought it back upstairs. They sat on the bed and ate and drank coffee, before jumping back in the hot tub and making love one more time.

Brennan stripped the bed, and threw the sheets in the wash, even though they had spent their nights sleeping in front of the large fireplace downstairs. She had a shower and washed her hair, while the machine ran, then threw them in the dryer. Booth was downstairs cleaning out the fridge and packing their leftovers in the hamper. "I'd love to come up here again Bones. And we could bring Christine next time. She'd love playing in the snow" he said, as she came back downstairs. Booth stood, smiling as he imagined himself helping his daughter build a snowman and make big and little snow angels.

Brennan agreed with him completely. She had enjoyed their time alone, but she also thought bringing their daughter with them would be wonderful. A real family holiday. "That sounds lovely Booth" she agreed, running upstairs to pull the now dry sheets out of the dryer and remake the bed.

They had completely spoiled themselves for three days with good food, great wines, and walks out in the snow. They had talked, argued, laughed, and made up. They made love over and over. Exploring each other, finding things about each other that they had forgotten since Christine had been born. Booth loved the way the swell of her belly curved between her hips, and how her breasts, were heavier and hung lower and fuller than before. Her face had filled out and her expression was softer than it used to be. Her smile was wider and her eyes sparkled brighter than he remembered.

Brennan had forgotten how broad his back was, how well defined the muscles in his shoulder and arms were. She loved how his hips jutted out slightly, making that dent that ran down to the inside of his thigh more prominent. She also adored his little belly, which he refused to acknowledge existed. She loved the little lines around his eyes that deepened when he smiled at her. And he had been smiling a lot this weekend. And she loved the deep brown of his eyes, how they reminded her of soft velvet when they made love and how they changed colour depending on how the light caught them, sometimes almost black, sometimes, golden.

There was a photography hide about half a mile from the chalet Booth had been told. They decided to go for a walk and have a look as it was a beautiful sunny day. Booth grabbed some fruit and water and they made the short walk up the hill. It was actually a bit nicer than what Booth was expecting. It was more like a tiny cabin. There were chairs and table, and a small potbelly stove with a pile of wood next to it. A pile of folded blankets were on the table. A large kettle stood on the stove. There were a dozen large mugs on the bench next to the stove.

"They clearly spend a bit of time here" Brennan noted, looking around. Booth grinned "Well he is a keen photographer. I know he rents the chalet out to a lot of people who are wildlife enthusiasts" Booth said, speaking of the owner.

Brennan pulled a chair up to a low set viewing port and sat down. "You can see quite well through these" she said, quite surprised. Just as she turned back to look out the port again, she caught her breath and started waving her hand to Booth. "What" he started to speak but was cut off by her madly waving her hand and frowning at him "Shhh. Come and look" she whispered. Booth stood next to her at another viewing port, set up higher in the wall. "do you see?" she whispered. There on the edge of the tree line, a deer was delicately stepping through the snow covered bracken into the clearing. A moment later a tiny fawn followed, picking it's way awkwardly behind it's mother, it's tiny feet sinking into the soft snow. Brennan felt her eyes prick with tears "She's beautiful Booth" she said, her voice barely audible. Booth rubbed at her shoulder, hearing the emotion in her voice, watching the mother and baby lift their heads, sniffing at the air. Then as quietly as they had appeared, they turned and disappeared into the trees.

Brennan turned her face up to him "Oh Booth. That was wonderful. I've never seen anything so lovely" she said. Booth frowned, "We've seen deer before Bones" he said, surprised at her reaction. "I know, but that was just so sweet" she said. She sniffed, "I'm being silly. I don't know why I'm so emotional today" she said shaking her head and laughing. They ate their fruit and drank the water and watched, but no more animals appeared. Booth looked at his watch. "We better start back" he said, knowing it was going to take them a few hours to drive home.

They held hands and walked down the gentle slope, stopping to make a snowman, and snow angels. Brennan had not understood what a snow angel was at first. She thought it was going to be another kind of snowman and wondered how you made wings out of snow. But Booth had laughed and fallen backwards into the snow and started waving his arms and legs backwards and forwards through the snow, forming the wings and gown of the angel. He stood up and waved his hands in a flourish. Brennan had frowned, not understanding why anyone would lie in the cold snow. But Booth had eventually encouraged her to get down onto the ground, with a little help, and she reluctantly did as she was told, dragging her arms and legs through the snow. He helped her up and they stood together, admiring their angels, he with a goofy smile and her with a confused frown.

He ran ahead to a snow drift and started making snow balls. He turned and faced her, his hand held high. "No Booth. No!" she cried as he launched a loosely formed snowball at her. It exploded as it hit her shoulder. She barely had time to turn around and another one hit her in the head, almost knocking her hat off her head. "Booth! What are you". Another one hit her in the chest, the snow flying up and hitting her in the face.

"Come on Bones!" he yelled, dancing from left to right, both arms raised in the air, presenting himself as a target. She stood, her lips clamped tightly together staring at him. "Bones! I bet you can't hit me!" he taunted. She frowned, not wanting to indulge his childish game, but he got the better of her and she bent down and formed a snowball, stood up and lifted her arm, taking aim. "You're never gonna get me" he yelled, still jumping around on the spot his hands banging his chest.

His vocal taunting cut short as a firmly packed snowball hit him squarely in the face. He yelled and fell backwards, knocked off his feet, not so much by the force of the hit, but by the shock that she actually made the shot.

"Booth!" She cried as she ran towards him. He lay in the snow on his back as she knelt down next to him. He was laughing. His smile wide, his eyes blinking, snowflakes clinging to his eyelashes and nose. "Shot Bones!" he said as she brushed the snow from his face. "I'm sorry Booth. I was aiming lower" she said apologetically. He sat up grabbing her hands and pulling her to him, kissing her. She could taste the snow on his lips. "I wish we could stay a bit longer" he said looking into her eyes.

"I know, but we have work, and I miss Christine. Don't you?" she said smiling, brushing a snowflake from his eyebrow.

He flopped back down into the snow "Ahh work." he muttered. He hadn't thought about work once since they got here. "I guess you're right" he finally said getting up and brushing the snow from the back of his ski suit. "I wonder how Max has fared with our little princess?" he mused smiling at Brennan.

They walked the short distance back to the chalet, changed out of the ski suits into their jeans and sweaters. Booth took their ski gear out to the car and packed it in the trunk while Brennan took one last look around. "All ready?" he asked as she suddenly ran over to the fireplace and pulled one of the sheepskin rugs off the other one and placed it back where it had originally been. "Don't want him to get any ideas about us" she said blushing. Booth laughed, picking up the hamper that held the leftover food and drinks, "I'm pretty sure he knew what kind of weekend we were going to have, considering we were coming up with without Christine" he said, his eyebrows raising up high.

He stood holding the door open for her, spanking her on the behind as she walked past him. "It was good wasn't it Bones? And we didn't end up missing anything in those bags after all, did we?" he asked her referring to the luggage he had left behind. She turned and smiled at him "Not really. Although I wouldn't have minded my camera." she said. He nodded, "Oh, yeah, that might have been handy" he said pulling the door closed.

"Well there was one thing I probably should have had" she said flashing a smile at him, before turning and walking to the car. "Oh come on Bones. What could possibly have been that important that you needed it this weekend" he said as he followed her down the path.

She got in the car and grinned widely at him "My birth control pills."