Hey, all. This is my first stab at Bones fan fiction. Basically, this is going to be a series of one-shots that follow a time line fast-forwarding through the Booth/Brennan relationship. As always, comments are greatly appreciated and although I'd like to put a down payment on David Boreanaz, I own nothing related to Bones.

Chapter 1 - All the Pharaoh's Men

Special Agent Seeley Booth stepped into the Medico-legal lab like a zombie into the twilight zone. For the first time he could remember, the lab lay in perfect stillness without a squint to be seen. He was about to head toward Brennan's office when a tittering of voices drifted down from the upstairs conference room. The deafening pop! of a champagne bottle being opened punctuated his entrance.

"Wow, did they find Jimmy Hoffa?" He quipped at the beaming faces in front of him.

"Not yet, but on that day, I'll be celebrating with something stronger than champagne, I can tell you that right now." Hodgins lifted his glass for emphasis and took a small sip.

"The good doctor here has been selected to head the anthropological team excavating the newly discovered pyramid in Egypt," Angela said, throwing her arm around an ecstatic Temperance.

"Six months in Egypt surrounded by mummified royalty-- are you sure you don't need me to come along?" Zach looked at her hopefully.

Booth glanced between the four of them, his eyes finally settling on Brennan. "Six months? Well, that's great. Congratulations, Bones." She opened her mouth to thank him, but he interjected, eager to get away from the festivities. "I just stopped by to pick up the Mirando file and then I'll get out of your hair." He didn't wait for a response, but scampered off in the direction of Brennan's office.

Angela caught up with him just as he was about to walk through the door. "Now you listen to me, Seeley Booth…"

"Can we not do this? Please?" He interrupted, rifling through the stacks of files on Brennan's desk.

"Uh, no, we are so going to do this. The woman in that room is my best friend and I haven't seen her this happy in a very long time, Booth. Do not ruin this for her." She stood tall, arms crossed in front of her. Though he was standing a few feet from her, the slightest hint of grapefruit and ginger perfume filled the distance.

"I said I was happy for her," was his only response as he intensified his search for the missing file.

"Yeah, you know, I hear you say those words, but I gotta tell ya, sweetie, subtlety? Not your strong suit." Booth could feel her eyes burning into him as he continued sifting. "Do you love her?"

His hands froze over the new stack of files he had been about to lift out of his way. "I don't really see how that's relevant here."

"Booth." Angela's tone was stern, defiant even. He looked up at her for the first time, his dark chocolate eyes softening in affirmation.

"I thought as much," she said, quietly, taking a moment to study her hands. "A major manifesto of the Best Friend Oath of Confidence would be violated if I were to tell you the feeling is mutual, so instead, I'll tell you this-- she will come back. But you have to let her go first, Seeley."

"Let who go?" Brennan asked from the doorway, champagne glass in one hand, champagne bottle in the other.

"The anthropological ghost of Christmas future," Angela replied, smirking across the room at Booth as she left.

"I don't know what that means."

"It's probably better that way, Bones. Where is the file?" He turned back toward her desk, running a hand through his muddy brown hair in frustration. Setting the bottle down, she reached around him and lifted a worn brown folder from the top of one of the stacks.

"Thanks," was all he could bring himself to say as he brushed past Brennan toward the open door. "Say hello to Tutt for me."

"Booth, wait…"

Against his better judgment and the screaming voice of reason in his head, he turned back to face her.

"That's all I get? I'm leaving for six months and all you have is a salutation for a mummified pharaoh?" Her hands firmly gripped her hips as she stared at him.

"What do you want me to say? 'Thanks for leaving me high and dry for six months, but enjoy your career defining dig,'" he snapped, waving the folder around in front of him as he spoke. He watched as her face hardened and he immediately wanted to take those words back.

"Is that what you think? That I'm abandoning you? Because if that's what this is about, I fully intend to still consult on cases while I'm over there."

Booth looked at the ground in front of him, resisting the urge to just walk away. "It's not the same and you know it. I can't believe you'd be satisfied not having any hands on access to the cases."

Brennan crossed her arms and sighed heavily in frustration. "It's not my preference, but I've waited my whole career for an excavation like this to come along. This isn't just something I want; it's something I need, Booth." Her watery blue eyes pleaded with him as he prepared to show her no mercy.

Laughing bitterly, he took a step closer to her. "See, that's the part that gets me. What was this? Just some brain stretching exercise to bide the time until you go a better offer?"

This time she took a step closer. "You know better than that. I love working these cases with you."

Booth swallowed the lump forming in his throat before he looked back up at her. "Then why are you leaving, Bones?"

Brennan opened her mouth to answer him, but closed it again. He could see the angry tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Fine, I won't go." She didn't look at him as she tried to leave. He caught her arm as she moved past him.

"I'm sorry." He let go of her arm, sighing heavily in surrender. "Don't listen to me. Go. Go on your dig. I'm sure I'll still be here when you get back." He offered her a half smile and his heart lifted a little when she returned it.

"Do you mean that?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Just go play with your bones." The corners of his mouth curled into a playful smirk as he waved the file at her and walked out of her office.

Booth dug into his pocket for his keys as he strode toward the black dot of his FBI vehicle. Just as he was about to reach for the door handle, he heard the sharp, tense tapping of heels behind him and he stopped. He smiled at his reflection in the dark tint of the windows.

"You forgot something," Brennan said, her voice breathy and winded. The taps moved closer and his heart skipped as he turned to find her inches from him. Something inside him forced his body forward until their noses were no more than a hair apart.

Brennan closed the remaining space in one final step, her lips crashing into his own. A shiver slowly weaved its way down his spine as he relaxed into her. His hands found her hips and his arms followed, snaking themselves around her waist, pulling her closer to him. His skin tingled as her fingers danced up his arms, finally tangling themselves in his hair. He kissed her until his lungs could no longer take it and reluctantly, he broke away from her lips.

"You'd think I would have remembered this."

She leaned back to look at him. "Booth?"

"Yeah?" He loosened his grip on her waist just enough to look back at her.

"Shut up." She kissed him again, this time with less urgency and walked away.

"I expect souvenirs when you get back, Bones," he called after her. She just smirked at him as the elevator doors slid shut.