The fire glow warms the blackness around him, shadows dance amongst the trees like spirits as embers float upwards into the darkness of the night. He stares into the flames, his gaze stone cold against the heat beside him. He runs the edge of his blade against the steel swiftly. Stroke one, the blade glints as a newly revealed slither of metal basks in the fiery glow. Stroke two, his excitement builds, the arousal becoming sickening as he anticipates his long awaited pleasure. Stroke three, his prey cries out in despair as it realizes the end of days that are about to begin. The wind howls through the trees and almost as though it is aiding his cause, his passion it drowns the final screams of the tortured creature.
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She stands up in the hollowed earth and wipes the back of a mud smeared hand across her forehead, red mud stains her fair features and she blows a thin strand of hair from her face. Reaching up to the edge of the pit she grabs a bottle of water, gasping from it she allows some of the liquid to travel down her chin and onto her throat. Staring down at the ground beneath her feet she frowns as a stray beam of sunlight teases a hidden object into view.

"Bones?" A shadow stretches into her pit and she holds up a gloved hand as she reaches down to retrieve the trinket. "What you got?" Booth peers over her shoulder from the upper edges of the pit as he tries to work out what has gripped her fascination.

"I don't know yet. It looks like a necklace….. It is a necklace." She bags it and stands to face him holding the bag up for him to retrieve. He takes it and grimaces at the new evidence in front of him as she hauls herself up from the grave below. He reaches down and takes her forearm gently to prevent her from falling back. She smiles gratefully.

"So what about the body, what did you find?" She smirks discreetly as she pulls the latex gloves from her fingers. "You mean apart from noticing how you conveniently weren't around to help catalogue any evidence or search for any clues"

"Come on, I know how much you love to get your hands dirty…. Besides, this one was a bit…you know..icky"

"Icky? Zach took the bones back to the lab…. I'll have to have a closer look, but I'd say she was flayed while she was still alive. At this time I believe that the killer was probably a hunter of some kind… The cuts were clean, those that had touched the bone only touched once… you would expect the cuts to be hesitant, maybe have a couple of knife strokes showing for each attempt….this person, they knew what they were doing. But, like I said, that's only what I think at this time. It could all change"

Booth nods solemnly, he looks up at the darkening clouds and puts a hand on the small of her back. "It's gonna start getting dark, we should get out of here." He smirks as he finally notices the smear of mud on her forehead and stopping her he wipes the edge of his sleeve over her face to rid her of the dirt. She moves closer to him instinctively and unconsciously breathes in the scent of his cologne when he looks down at her she feels like a deer, caught in the range of a rifle, knowing that danger is lurking. He senses a change in her mood but doesn't press her for an explanation. "You had mud on your face." She nods mutely and pushes past him. He shakes his head gently and follows her into the trees.

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Angela leans over Brennan's shoulder as she busies herself with assembling the bones on the examination table. Brennan glances up as Booth swipes his card through the security reader and jogs up the steps to join them on the platform. He flashes a flirtatious grin at Angela and stops with hands on his hips in front of the female squints. "What we got"

"Exactly the same as we had when you weren't helping today." Brennan returns her focus to the task at hand and Booth holds up his hands in mock defeat and pulls a face.

Angela smiles and walks around the examination table to stop beside him. She touches his arm and shakes her head. "Don't worry sweetie, she's been like this since she got back to the lab.

"Well that's reassuring."

Brennan sighs and looks up from the bones, she leans across the table bracing herself against the sides. "I am in the room you know. Booth if you have nothing constructive to add to the investigation at this time, maybe you could go chase up some other leads… or go see Cam or something." Her eyes are averted back to the table and the last sentence is somewhat mumbled, but that does not reduce the effect on Booth or the look of hurt that crosses his features, unseen by the scientist but not missed by the artist.

He looks to Angela quickly and nods "Right…I should go chase some leads or... something…"

Angela tries to offer him a reassuring smile as he turns and exits the lab platform. Angela watches him leave and then turns to her friend."What the hell was that all about"

"What was what about"

"Go chase some leads or see Cam"

Brennan looks up from the table and shrugs. "He wasn't being constructive, and I'm not in the mood for any long drawn out banter"

"Sweetie, there are some things you don't do… and using his girlfriend against him is one of them….. What is going on between you two? Things have been…. I don't know, so strained between you both lately"

"Everything is fine. I just want to get on with my work"

Zack and Jack swipe through the security entrance unnoticed by both women. Angela walks around the table to face her friend.

"The hell it is. You need to resolve these tension issues with Booth…. You either need to tell him how you feel or get over with the fact that he's with Cam. What you just did was completely out of line, you need to stop and think before you say these things to him"

Both men stop dead in their tracks as they watch the two women sizing each other up. Brennan folds her arms across her chest and juts her chin out defiantly.

"Angela, stop projecting your fears and apprehensions about dating Jack onto me and Booth. If you have issues with dating a work colleague maybe you should speak to him about it instead of fixating on myself and my relationships all the time…. "

Angela looks stunned, grabbing the skull from the table she turns on her heel to march off of the platform. The sight of both men stop her dead in her tracks, her eyes meet Jack's and she lowers them to the ground before taking her leave. Jack follows slowly and Zack turns back to meet Brennan's stare as she challenges him to make a sound. He relents and silently joins her at the table. Her eyes lift once more to watch her friend storm towards the offices before she gets back to concentrating on the task at hand.

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Oh no…. what's up with Brennan?