Booth strode into the office of Dr. Temperance Brennan. Although his shoes clicked as he walked in to the office, she was so engrossed in the report she was writing that she didn't hear him. He cleared his throat to get her attention.
She jerked her head back from the computer screen, looked momentarily discomfited, and then asked, "Do we have a new case?"
"No," he replied.
Her attention obviously waned. "Did I forget to get you a paper or file you needed?"
Again he responded in the negative.
Annoyed, Brennan said, "Well, then, what are you doing here? We don't have a new case; I'm waiting for the results on several tests from our current case; and I don't owe you any paperwork. So I'd like to get back to this report if you don't mind. I really need to finish it before my 3 o'clock meeting."
As she turned her head back toward her computer monitor, he said, "Wait, Bones. I've got a proposition for you that you won't be able to resist."
At that moment, Angela walked in the door and said "Oooohhh… this I have to hear. I hope it involves something I would do." She winked at Brennan. Although Booth and Brennan both glared at Angela, their stares could not dampen her enthusiasm. Let me guess… You're taking her out for a romantic dinner. No wait, Bren's not a romantic, so she wouldn't find that irresistible. Um… we must have a new case!"
Attempting to derail Angela's guessing, Booth interrupted her cheerful monologue, "No. I was just going to invite her to go to a hockey game with me this evening."
Surprised, Brennan exclaimed, "I already told you how busy I am today. I'm sorry but I just don't have time. Besides, some of the test results for our current case are supposed be completed between six and ten tonight. Since our victim was clearly moved after death occurred, I'm hoping that they'll give us enough information about the victim to narrow down the location where he died. I'm also expecting delivery of the bones of a Native American chief, that I'm supposed to authenticate."
Brennan turned to Angela, "Speaking of which, do you have the facial reconstruction finished?"
Angela handed Brennan a drawing and replied, "Not yet. I finished the one for your latest body from limbo about five minutes after Zach brought the one for the current victim. I started on the skull you gave me, but I needed a break so I decided to bring the finished one to you. If you come by my office after your 3 o'clock, I should have the other face done."
"Come on, Bones," cajoled Booth, bringing the conversation back to the reason for his presence. "You spend too much time here. Since I wasn't around to make you eat, you probably didn't even bother to have lunch." Booth's lips quirked into a smile as Brennan head jerked a little. "The test results will hold for a few hours."
Angela jumped in. "That sounds like a great idea, sweetie. I bet you could get him to throw in a free dinner. You should go. It sounds fun." A thought struck Angela, and she turned to Booth, "I thought the tickets were all sold out weeks ago. How did you get tickets?"
Booth raised a skeptical eyebrow, "Since when do you know about hockey ticket sales?"
"Oh, I heard about it on the radio as I drove into work a few days ago," Angela brushed the question aside.
Booth said. "Well, anyway, I was supposed to be going with my brother. The Flyers are playing the Capitols tonight. We always used to see the Flyers as kids and we loved it. We haven't been to a game in a while and we haven't even seen each other much lately either. We've been planning this for a month. But he called this morning and his wife is really sick. So now I have an extra ticket."
"Why don't you take one of your guy friends and make it a guy's night out?" Brennan said, clearly hoping to conclude the conversation and get back to her report.
"Everybody else and their brother already have plans for the evening, so I thought I'd ask you," Booth said brightly.
"Booth, I seriously doubt everyone and his or her brother are all busy," replied Brennan.
Seeing the beginnings of spat, Angela jumped in. "Just go with him tonight, okay? Hodgins is going to be working late tonight, so I'll be here anyway. I can call you when the tests results are available. That way you can enjoy yourself and you won't be neglecting your work."
Brennan glared at Angela. "Since when did you become my social coordinator?"
"When you stopped having a social life, sweetie," smiled Angela.
Brennan huffed, "If I agree to go will you leave me alone to work?" She really needed to work. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?
At the same time Angela exulted, "Yes!" Booth replied, "Sure. See you at 6."
As he walked out of her office, Brennan called after him, "Booth, I don't know anything about hockey."
He glanced at her over his shoulder, smiled his charm smile, and said, "I didn't expect you to, Bones. Just think of it as an anthropological opportunity to analyze crowd behavior at a sporting event."
"Oooohhhh, when he smiles like that I don't know how you keep your hands off him." Angela teased, then darted out of the office as Brennan started spluttering about partners and professionalism.
Booth returned at 5:45 to find Brennan happily finishing a report. She nodded at him when he walked in and hit the print button. She grabbed the papers off her printer and signed them with a flourish, then turned to him, "You're early."
Smirking, Booth replied, "I knew it would take me a few minutes to get you out of the office and we really need to leave at 6."
"Well, you're in luck. The bones of that Native American chief arrived an hour ago and I finished the preliminaries. I just finished the report on the latest body from limbo. So I guess I'm ready. Just let me pack up my laptop."
While she gathered her things, Booth said, "Great. You're going to enjoy hockey. It's a fast paced game." He held her coat for her and grabbed her laptop bag. "Yeah, yeah, I know you're capable of carrying it yourself." As he ushered her toward the exit, she heard him mention something about hockey being kind of like soccer in some ways, and she was wondering why she had agreed to go. Oh yeah, because it was the only way to get him out of office so I could work.
Walking through the doors to the Verizon Center, Booth and Brennan got in line for security and ticket check. At the table, she opened her bag. The security guard glanced inside. "Don't you know you can't bring laptops into the arena?"
"Why not?" Brennan asked in surprise.
"You mean besides the fact that we're not equipped to scan them like airports are?" the guard asked sarcastically. In a more serious tone, he said, "There have been a series of thefts of a variety of types of electronic devices, including a few expensive laptops. The management banned laptops from the premises and is discouraging people from bringinh anything more than their cell phones."
Brennan opened her mouth to argue, but Booth cut in. Holding up his badge he said, "Look. We're with the FBI. We'll take the risk." Startled, the security guard gaped at them. Taking advantage of the moment, Booth handed the attendant their tickets and hustled Brennan through the turnstile.
After stopping to buy a program, Booth queried her about her foot preferences. After she selected from the options Booth listed, he handed her the ticket stub for her seat and directed her down the concourse toward the correct door. Then he got in line to purchase their dinner.
Brennan found the door and followed the signs to the correct section. She found her seat and was please to see that it was on the aisle. As she tucked her bag under her seat, a blond girl a few rows in front of her said "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out" to a boy who appeared to be her brother. Groaning, he said, "I can't believe you said it first." Brennan was confused. That didn't make any sense. I should ask Booth when he gets here with the food. The honking of horn caught her attention and she watched the players as they skated off the ice. Another door opened and a machine rolled onto the ice. Wondering where Booth was she turned to look toward the door.
The familiar sound of her cell phone ringing distracted her from her hunger. Glancing at the caller id, she said "Hi Angela. Do you have something for me?"
"Yes. Hodgins finished one of the tests on our murder victim and thought you should see the results. I sent it to you electronically."
Brennan reached for her bag and started to open it. "Let me boot up my laptop and I'll take a look." Pulling out her computer she put the screen up, balanced it on her knees, and pushed the power button. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching her as she typed her password. She was reaching for her modem when a loud throat-clearing grabbed her attention. Looking toward the aisle, she groaned to herself.
"You can't have a laptop here," the security guard said. "I can't believe you got that through the security check; I'm going to have to report that. I'm sorry miss, but you'll have to put it back in the bag and take it back to your vehicle. I'll arrange for you do be readmitted to the arena."
Brennan sighed and started to argue. "Look I heard all about the thefts. I'm really not worried about it. I'm perfectly capable of protecting my property and myself. And I work with the FBI, which is how I got it through security." She spoke into her phone, "Angela, did you hear that? I'll call you back after I get rid of the security guard."
"You expect me to believe you work with the FBI?" he asked incredulously.
Brennan, taking offense at his tone, retorted, "Of course. And also that I'm capable of defending myself."
The guard stepped back and looked her up and down, obviously skeptical.
Brennan had had enough. She put her laptop down on the seat next to her, pushed into his personal space, and started ranting about people interfering with her work. "You don't believe me? Fine. But I'm warning you, when my partner gets here, I'll have him pull his gun on you. You're interfering with a murder investigation."
By now their argument had attracted the attention of those nearby. Just as Brennan started threatening the security guard with Booth's gun, the man himself walked up behind the security guard, his hands full of food. He set their food down on the nearest empty seat and put a hand on the security guard's shoulder. "I'd stop arguing with her if I were you." The security guard jumped and tried to whirl around.
Brennan sighed in relief. "Booth," she ordered, "show the man your badge. I threatened him with your gun, but now I think I'd rather hit him." The guard turned his head back and forth looking at their serious faces. Realizing he had probably misread the situation, he started to feel nervous.
"Let me handle this, Bones," Booth said over the security guard's shoulder. He dropped his hand and the guard turned to face him. Booth started speaking quietly to the man. Brennan harrumphed, hit Angela's speed-dial number, sat down and pulled the laptop back onto her lap. Under her breath she muttered about stupid rules and people interfering with her work. She plugged in the modem and started looking at the test results. A few minutes later she barely noticed when Booth sat down next to her.
"Angela, please ask Hodigns to run this through the mass spectrometer first thing in the morning. I don't think there's anything else we can do this evening. Go home and relax. Thanks for staying until the tests were done. What? No the game hasn't started yet. Angela! I'm not going to do that. I'm hanging up now before you say anything more. See you tomorrow."
As Brennan shut the computer down and put it away, she turned to Booth. "You know, if you'd just let me stay in the lab like I wanted, there wouldn't have been all this hassle. I don't know why you wanted to drag me here."
Deciding to dodge Brennan's invitation to an argument, he handed her her pizza. If she had food in her mouth she couldn't argue. After a few bites, she remembered the girl's statement earlier. So she asked him, "A few minutes ago that girl over there said 'I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.' I don't know what that means." As Booth turned to explain the joke, the starting buzzer sounded. He leaned back in his seat, enjoying the presence of his companion and atmosphere of the arena. Grinning he thought to himself, "I'll turn Brennan into a hockey fan yet."
