1Title: Golfing
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING, this is CBPC challenge for February
Challenge: Full Monty, Nakedness at its greatest without any sex . . . must be kept at T or less . . .
Rating T or PG-13, your pick
Booth tapped his fingers on the steering wheel of his Tahoe to the song on the radio. His partner sat in the seat next to him reading the file on her lap, absently making remarks to his notes as they drove toward West Virginia. Brennan flipped to the last page and closed the file before turning to watch her partner in his seat.
After a long moment, he glanced at her and turned on his charm smile. "What?" He asked with a small chuckle.
Brennan watched quietly for a moment longer, taking note of his underlying architecture. "I was just thinking." She responded and he waited for her to continue. "What exactly is The Arcadia Resort and why did our victim seem to spend all that money just to go? I'm sure whatever it is, there is one closer to his home."
"It's a good question, and we'll ask it when we get there." He said as they passed the large 'West Virginia welcomes you' sign.
"It's unusual that we couldn't find anything more than an address for this place." Brennan commented. "I tried googling it and it was a member only site."
"Maybe it's some sort of high end celebrity detox place." Booth said as the song changed, he immediately turned it to the next song. "Cam did say that there was a huge amount of antichlorine drugs . . . "
"It's Anticholinergic." She corrected as Booth made a left hand turn. "Anyway anticholinergic drugs are not a recreational and is used for gastrointestinal cramps, muscle spasms, asthma . . . "
"I got it Bones, maybe he had another kind of drug problem." He said, taking off his sunglasses and glancing at her.
"The tox-screen didn't show traces of any other drugs. If anything the wear on his shoulders are congruent with golfers, and this was some high priced golf resort." She responded as he turned into a large parking lot and pulled into a space in the back.
"I'm all right if it's golf club. If we finish this up early, we can hit a few balls." He said, and excitement filled his voice. She stopped and looked at him with the same look she gave when looking over a set of remains and he wasn't a fan of being under it. "What?"
"I don't see you as a golfer." She said as she made her way out of the car and to the back of SUV, he met her at the back and placed his hand on the small of her back as they headed to the large lodge-like building.
"Well, I don't get to do it very much." He answered modestly and opened the door for them. Both stopped in the doorway to take in the interior, and the room was white with a single desk, plant and another door. "We might have to call Agent Mulder to take care of this one."
"Who?" Asked Brennan as they walked to the desk, a woman who was also wearing white sitting at the desk. His eyes opened wide and frowned, what this woman did to him should be outlawed.
"Welcome to The Arcadia Resort, how can I help you?" Said the woman, her bright smile almost faded into the room. "Are you looking for some pamphlets for our facility?"
Booth shook his head and pulled out his ID. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth and this my partner Temperance Brennan, we would like to talk to the person in charge." He said officially. The woman nodded and picked up the phone. He leaned over to his partner and whispered, "Honestly Bones, Fox Mulder? X-files? This isn't my first reference to him."
She shook her head and opened her mouth to respond when a man wearing a robe entered the room. "Special Agent Booth and Ms. Brennan I am Jordan Barker, owner and operator of The Arcadia Resort." He said proudly. The man had to be in his early fifties and was as tan as anyone in Miami to match the bleach blond hair.
Before the doctor could correct him, Booth extended his hand and shook the mans hand. "We are sorry to bother you, but we have some questions to ask you." Booth reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture of the victim, leaving Brennan with a frown on her face. "Do you know who this man is?"
Barker took the picture from his hand and frowned. "That's Mitch Collins, he's been a member since 1995." He responded, handing the picture back to Booth. "Is he in some sort of trouble?"
"Mitch is dead." Said Brennan with a frown, growing annoyed by the man.
"What?" Barker said, fighting to find words that matched his feelings. After some stuttering he finally made progress with speech. "How?" Wrinkles surrounded his eyes and his forehead.
Booth cut her off again. "We are still working on that, we were wondering if we could talk to other members about Mr. Collins." Booth answered, not telling the whole truth.
"Of course." He said, turning back to the door and motioned the pair to follow into a locker room and then stopped causing Brennan to run into Booth. "But we have a strict dress code."
"Dress code?" Asked Brennan, steadying herself on her feet.
"Yeah." He pointed to the sign next to the door, the pair turned around and read the bolded letters on the wall, 'No clothing beyond this point.'
The FBI agent paled visibly and Brennan placed her hands on her hips. "Arcadia Resort is a nudist colony?" She asked, as Barker handed both of them a towel and a pair of thin flip flops.
"Yes and the most exclusive colony in the western hemisphere." He responded, reaching for the other door before turning back. "I will wait outside for you to undress and then you can interview whomever you want. Just leave your belongings in the lockers and come join me on the veranda."
"Excuse me, but that isn't going to happen." Said Booth, folding his arms prepared to argue the matter. "We are not taking our clothes off. . . . "
"I'm sorry Agent Booth, but its Resort policy and everyone must comply." Argued Barker, folding his arms and matching his stance. "Or you don't get your interview."
The anthropologist placed a hand on his arm and spoke. "Booth, we have to respect these peoples culture. Anthropologically, western civilization has the most negative attitude to the human body. Most people who practice find that it's a freeing experience, totally unsexual, as if they have nothing to hide." Brennan lectured, unbuttoning her over shirt. "There are religious views also, Adam and Eve didn't even realize that they were naked until. . . ."
"I got it Bones." He said miserably, she was using religion against him. Barker cleared his throat and stood expectantly in front of another door.
"Can we get a list of all the members?" Asked Brennan, sliding the fabric from her shoulders, leaving her standing in a white camisole and jeans, the man nodded and left. Brennan looked at her partner and frowned. "Are you all right?"
"Fine." He answered moodily.
He turned his back to her and began to loosen his tie before Brennan spoke again. "I don't know why you are so upset about this. . . ." She said as she was interrupted, sliding her jeans down her long hips.
"I don't get upset Bones," He turned around to look at her, seeing her in less clothes than he had ever had hoped to see outside of a bedroom. "You make me sound like a teenaged girl." His eyes closed and fought off the images of her half-dressed body from his mind, knew it was only going to get worse.
"Let me rephrase that; I don't know why you are so bothered by it, you obviously have nothing to be ashamed of." She answered, leaving Booth standing behind in his boxers with his eyes closed tighter as suddenly the temperature rose. "Your muscles are well defined from all the hard anaerobic exercise that you do and it really compliments your skeletal structure." She waited for a retort or anything, but only got silence. "Do you want me to wait for you?"
Without taking his eyes off the metal door of the locker. "Go ahead, I won't be long."She placed a hand on his bare shoulder, causing him to tense like her hand was on fire.
"Are you sure you're all right? I mean if you are uncomfortable, I can do it myself."She said, pulling off her hand and moving to the exit, knowing that it was against the rules for her to do an interview by herself.
"Just give me a second, please." He said, again closing his eyes cursing under his breath as for the second time the door opened and shut as she left. He pulled down his boxers and wrapped the towel tightly around his lean waist and the mirror to his right stood mocking him. The slight bulge that rested under towel caused him to curse louder. "Damn it."
Of all the times his partner had reduced him to erections, he was lucky enough to be able to hide it under the boxers and slacks or jeans, but under a towel was there for the whole world to see. "Ok . . . think Booth." He said to himself, trying to find the tick to turn him off. "The case, male mid forties found in a ditch an hour south from his apartment, Bones said cause of death . . . " He flinched, thinking of work led to the cause of his problem. The thought of Temperance Brennan leaning over the set of remains with her . . . "Ok I need to think of something else. Hodgins in a dress, Hodgins in Bones Vegas dress."
That did the trick.
Taking a deep breath, he left the locker room to see his partner talking animatedly to Barker and other people, each one of them as naked as the day they were born, were standing on the veranda. He took the steps to the small group and glanced at his partner, her arms folded and the towel resting dangerously low onto her hips.
She was asking the standard questions: how long they knew the victim, how well they knew the victim, where were they two weeks ago. He watched her lips move, a small smile playing on her lips and she listened intently to the answers and spoke to the people with a passions that he realized was something that she had learned from him.
He took in her body, knowing well enough if she saw him looking at her he would be missing some vital part of his anatomy. Starting with her toes, ten perfect toes all painted a matching red hue, looking up her ankles to where the towel stopped just below the knee, but looked as if they could go on for miles. The towel started and next to come was the naval that rested on her milky white stomach to her arms.
Her arms covered most of her breasts, but didn't leave much to the imagination either. He sent a prayer upwards thanking that she wasn't talking to him, or he would be in more trouble. The cleavage led to her necklace and to her shoulders, where her long auburn hair rested on her shoulders and flowed down her back, which itself looked soft to the touch.
His hand reached out to its spot, as if it had a mind of its own to her back, also thanking that she was paying attention to the answers and as his hand made contact his mind grew blank. Until Brennan called his name, caused him to jump.
"Huh?" He asked, his hand going back to his side. "Sorry."
"I asked if you had any more questions?" She asked again, her arm tightening on her chest.
"No, none at all." He said, rubbing his hands together like everything was normal and that he hadn't been staring at his partners body for the last twenty minutes. "Are we ready to go?"
Brennan rolled her eyes, knowing exactly that he hadn't heard a word that she had said and that he was staring at her body. A coy smile played on her lips and decided that she was going to allow him this one chance to look. Not that she minded, she was in the same boat as him. His muscles were shaped and accented in the right places and tan. She involuntarily shivered and silently scolded herself.
"Doctor Brennan here told me you were somewhat of a golfer. We've got a full eighteen hole golf course and driving range if you're interested if playing a round." Said Barker with a smile. "You've never experienced it until you've played it naked."
He shivered, keeping his eyes above the horizon, not wanting to see any more parts than necessary. "No thanks, come on Bones lets go get dressed."