Summary: A body is found in a shipping container in a large port on the southeastern coast. It's up to B&B to find the truth about the victim - and themselves - along the way.

A/N: AU. Set shortly after "The Night at the Bones Museum". Will eventually be 'M', so consider yourself warned. And if you are under legal age to be viewing said content ... keep on moving! I will not be held responsible for destroying your innocence!

Big thanks to Jasper777 for allowing me to pick at her brain on government agency travel. Also, thanks go to threesquares and Diko for helping me fix a major character faux pas early on - even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear. And a great big hug and thanks to Tracy for her beta. You ladies are amazing!

Disclaimer: If Bones were mine, B&B would've gotten together in season 2 or 3 and the show would have to be moved to HBO ;) (In other words, they aren't mine)

The Happening in the Holy City
Chapter 1: Serendipity

"Pizza."

"Thai?" She smirked.

"The diner?"

"I have leftover lasagna at home."

"Ooh, lasagna!" He laughed, licking his lips at the thought.

"It's vegetarian lasagna."

"Blech! Thai it is," Booth sighed, taking a long swallow of his beer as he saw Brennan smile at having won the evening's round of 'What to Eat for Dinner'. "But I pick the restaurant."

"I find that satisfactory," she smiled as she lifted her own bottle to her lips, enjoying the taste of the cool amber liquid as she swallowed the last of her brew.

The partners had finished their latest case involving a murdered anthropologist at the Jeffersonian and Brennan, in the midst of the investigation, discovered the actual cause of death for an Egyptian mummy as well as discovered and returned a stolen priceless ruby. These events, in turn, created an opportunity for Egypt to throw a party at the museum celebrating the discoveries and the partners had pushed their post-case ritual of dinner & drinks back to the following weekend.

Booth dropped several bills on the counter while Brennan donned her coat and, after downing the last of his draft, the pair left the Founding Fathers and headed out in search of dinner.

As they climbed into Booth's SUV, the phone range, causing him to groan in frustration. "Hacker," he said in explanation before answering the call with a frown, listening as his superior began to rattle off details about a body that demanded the FBI's - and most importantly, Brennan's - attention. Booth jotted down a few quick notes on a notecard he found in the console and steered the vehicle towards Brennan's apartment so she could pack for their trip with the agreement they would meet at Ronald Reagan National later that night.

They arrived at Charleston International Airport a little over four hours later. The case - a body discovered earlier in the evening inside a shipping container at the city's busiest shipping port - had been reviewed thoroughly by Booth before he fell asleep.

The flight had not been easy. Turbulence accompanied the stormy weather which did little to comfort the small child and an obviously unhappy baby sitting relatively close by. Unaccustomed to flying in anything other than First Class, Brennan found herself in Business Class unexpectedly. Whether an airline employee was to blame or one of the clerks within the Bureau's travel agency, she wasn't sure; nonetheless she was reserved to a seat beside her partner. She brought along several papers written by her interns and decided to get a start on correcting them while Booth napped. After reading through the first three she tried to rest, but the small space was not conducive to relaxation. She felt cramped and uncomfortable. And, although she was not ready to admit it, the increasingly close proximity to Booth also made for a fitful sleep. So, reluctantly, she replaced the papers in her bag and tried to focus her mind on anything other than her partner.

Her thoughts wandered over the events of the last several days. Although they were never more than acquaintances in the two years Dr. Kaswell had been with the Jeffersonian, Brennan was still somewhat shaken by her death. And knowing her close colleague, Dr. Turnbull, was responsible for the murder was even more unnerving for her. She had appeared calm throughout the investigation and the gala, but the loss of her two associates started Brennan thinking about her own life. Her thoughts wandered over her past relationship with Sully, her new friendship with Andrew and finally settled again on Booth.

She learned early on in their partnership to avoid thoughts of him in any manner other than associates and, later, friends. After the impromptu make out session following their first case together - and the ramifications the feelings between them caused - she knew she could not think of him in a sexual manner if they were to continue working together. It had been somewhat difficult at first, to learn to compartmentalize her attraction to Booth, but over time it became second nature. She found it more difficult to override the attraction at certain times in their partnership: the undercover assignment to Las Vegas; the kiss under the mistletoe for Caroline; undercover yet again to infiltrate a circus and spending days with him in the tiny trailer they called "home"; the thirteen hour return flight from China with the teenager who killed his father's lover. Finally her thoughts settled on Booth's meatloaf story and how hurt he had seemed when he learned of her telling Andrew the treasured story. "What's between us is ours." His words rang in her mind, his voice still raw with the pain she caused him. Later, when they visited the exhibit, she repeated his words back to him, telling him in a way that she realized what she had done and she was sorry for the pain she had caused.

Then there was a moment. A moment when she had been sure she would once again feel his soft lips on hers. The thought of kissing him again sparked inside her a myriad of feelings. She did not move toward him in that moment, but decided in her mind she would not move away if he moved closer towards her. He did, then, lean minutely closer and she felt her stomach flip with anticipation of what was to come. But as he moved closer still, his eyes seemingly locked on her lips, they were pulled back into reality by the sound of approaching laughter.

And as quickly as it had developed, the moment was gone. She shook her head, clearing the memory from her mind as she heard the flight attendant announce their arrival.

After exiting the plane, they quickly made their way to collect the luggage and headed to the rental counter to pick up their car. Brennan was tired and made her way outside, leaving Booth to settle the arrangements. She took a deep breath of the warm night air, noticing the slightly pungent odor emanating from the surrounding marshlands. As she stood waiting in the darkness, her mind began to wander again. She thought of Booth and how he had changed since waking from his coma a few months earlier.

They had discussed, once, his coma dream and how she had read to him the book she was writing while keeping vigil by his bed. As she wrote, she read everything aloud, hoping he could hear her and that her voice was some form of comfort to him. His mind took the characters and the story and replaced them with the people he knew, creating a new world in which for him to live. She had noticed a difference in him since his wakening and she had mentioned it to him once. He rejected the idea immediately, passing his behavior as simply feeling his way around his life again. Even Angela mentioned once to her that he seemed to be sad for the "other life". He dreamed we were married, she thought. Does he long for that life over this one? A life where he is a husband and has a wife, a family? Does he think of us being married? Despite the warm spring air, a shiver ran through her at the thought of being married. Married to Booth, she thought. She shivered once more, unsure if it was excitement at the thought of being with Booth or her detestation of the institute of marriage that made her tremble.

"Bones? Earth to Bones?" She blinked, seeing Booth's hand waving in front of her. "I've been calling your name since I came out. Where were you?"

She shook her head back and forth trying once again to clear her thoughts the way a child clears an Etch-a-Sketch. "I'm right here, Booth. I've been standing here since you started speaking with the rental clerk."

He smiled, noticing that although she was tired, she obviously was still the same person, literal and analytical. "I know, Bones. I just meant that it seemed like your mind was somewhere else. You were thinking really hard about something." He looked down at her, meeting her eye to eye. "You okay, Bones?"

She exhaled and closed her eyes, briefly avoiding his gaze. She wasn't sure of her own feelings at the images her mind had thrown her way during the flight and was only sure that she didn't want to reveal anything. "I'm fine, Booth. Just tired. I didn't rest on the plane as well as you did," she replied. "Let's just get to the hotel so we can get some rest."

They arrived at their hotel to find the reservations for their rooms were unable to be fulfilled. Booth presented the clerk with the confirmation information provided to him from the Bureau, but an apparent glitch in the computer system showed their rooms to be double-booked and already filled by other customers, leaving the young man behind the counter apologizing profusely to the agent standing before him. Booth sighed dejectedly, rubbing his hands across his neck, hoping to relieve some of the tension that had started to settle in his back and shoulders.

"Listen, kid," he started. "I know it's not your fault that things are screwed up, okay? Just give us whatever rooms you have available." He glanced at Brennan beside him, her face a match for his own. He could see the fatigue in her eyes and he hated that she had not been able to rest on the flight down. Looking away from her partner, she nodded to the kid behind the counter indicating that she was willing to accept any lodging that was readily available.

The kid looked at the pair before him, nervously eying them both. "Um ..." He cleared his throat, obviously trying to find the words to use to deliver the bad news. "Well, sir ... Ma'am" he stumbled, glancing from the man with the gun on his side to the somewhat familiar looking woman leaning on the counter. "You see, this is a bad weekend for you folks to be in town. And, well..." he stopped, still hoping he wouldn't have to say the words he knew needed to be said. From the looks of the twosome, he knew the news would not be well received.

"Just spit it out, kid!" Booth boomed, his voice growing louder and more forceful, a tone Brennan knew he rarely used outside the interrogation room.

"Booth," Brennan called quietly, her hand coming to rest on his arm in a silent plea for him to calm down. "What's wrong?" She turned to the young man again, seeing the fear across his features at the sound of Booth's displeasure.

"Well, ma'am," he started again, his accent growing thicker as he cleared his throat, his eyes darting between the pair and down to the computer in front of him. "Unfortunately, we don't have any rooms available right now." He glanced quickly at Booth, then back at Brennan, wanting more to deal with her than the man beside her.

"Okay." Sensing the man's apprehension with Booth, Brennan took control, moving closer to the counter, placing herself between the boy and Booth. She could feel the tension rolling off her partner in waves, the lateness of the hour and the events of the day finally catching up with him. "Can you please direct us to another establishment that does have an open availability?"

She saw the kid's face pale slightly before he lowered his gaze again to the computer screen. She heard Booth shuffle his feet against the dingy carpet, a sign that his calm was truly about to end. She steadied her own sights on the kid in front of her, silently begging him to direct them to another establishment as soon as possible so they could both relax and get some sleep.

"Well, ma'am, that's going to be hard to do," he said finally, lifting his eyes but not meeting her gaze. "You see, this weekend is really special because we have a big race here in town and lots of festivals going on and stuff." He looked up at her again, his eyes pleading with her to understand what he was trying to tell her. Her brow wrinkled as she processed what he said.

"You don't mean ..." A city as large as this one can't possibly ...

"Yes, ma'am. Probably every room in the city is booked for the weekend." At the man's confirmation of her worst thought, she heard Booth exit the lobby of the hotel, the door slamming closed behind him with a loud bang!

What?! No rooms?! Anywhere?! Not possible! (Except that it is!) So now they are in a strange city, late at night, with a dead body awaiting them ... and they have nowhere to sleep. What else can go wrong?! You know you want to know ... and I want to tell you. So please take a moment to comment and let me know what you think. Comments make me strong!

Story Facts: The annual race the clerk mentioned is the Cooper River Bridge Run and it occurs the first weekend in April in Charleston, SC each year. (If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I am a loyal participant of this event.) The same weekend generally holds the Family Circle Cup (tennis), along with the Flower Festival and the Cajun Festival in the nearby cities Summerville and Johns Island, respectively. So, yes - it is possible to have a large city with zero available hotel rooms! ;)