"Come on, Temperance, come on…" Angela muttered under her breath. "Pick up…"
"Hello?"
"Booth?!" Angela nearly dropped the receiver, "What are you doing at Brennen's house?"
"Uh…Well…Um…"
"Booth," Bones' voice sounded in the background. "Give me the phone."
"Okay."
"Yeah?"
"Sweetie, why is Booth at your house?" Angela demanded.
"Forget that, what's up?"
"I won't tell you until you answer the question!"
"Angela, come on! I'll explain later."
"Promise?"
"Yes! Now why did you call?"
"Fine…" Angela sighed. "We've got a car bomb. The driver and front passenger are burned beyond recognition. The third victim, who was sitting behind the driver, isn't that bad, we may be able to ID her…"
"Are the bodies in yet?"
"Yeah."
"Tell ?????? to take DNA samples off of the skin, see if he can lift prints. Ange, I need you to take pictures, and then have the grad student boil down the bodies if Cam is finished with the remaining soft tissue. Make sure that he keeps some tissue samples in case Cam needs further evidence off of them."
"Anything else?"
"No, I think that's it for right now…Wait, where's the car?"
"Still at the scene."
"Tell them to keep it there. After I come in and check things at the lab, Booth and I will go examine the remains of the car."
"AFTER you tell me!"
"Yes, okay, okay."
"See you soon." Angela put the receiver down. She was going to love having Brennen explain this one!
"After she tells you what?" Hodgins had come up behind her.
"You promise me you won't spread this around?"
"Promise." He flashed a smile.
"Okay. When I called to tell her about the case, Booth answered the phone!"
"Booth, as in, the never up before seven-thirty, our FBI agent and ex-sniper BOOTH? Why is he up at eight? And at Dr. Brennen's house?"
"I don't know, but she's going to tell me."
"Okay." Hodgins turned to leave.
"Wait," Angela caught his arm, "Not a word to anyone, and I mean ANYONE about Booth at Brennen's house, okay?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"I promise…but I still think it is very cruel of you to prevent me from telling Sweets and Cam the sweetest story of the year."
"Well, I'm just cruel like that, then."
"See you later." Hodgin's kissed her cheek.
He walked out in the hallway as they were wheeling the third body in. They passed right in front of him. The vic was burned black and red, her face looking like something from a nightmare. Hair, burned black and short, was still there in places. It must have, at one time, been beautiful. It had a…feathery look to it. The vic, a girl, must have been very pretty. She was young, looking barely out of high school.
Hodgins swallowed. Not many burned bodies came into the Jeffersonian, but they were always just so much worse.
"Is that the last vic?" Sweets asked.
"Yeah…"
"Wow…She looks so young…"
"I know… Hey, why are you here?"
"I was going to see if I could set up another session with Brennen." He was lying.
"You get bored in that little shrink-office, don't you?"
"No…. Okay: Yes."
"Well…. While you're here, want to hear something good?"
"Good in what way?" Sweets asked, sounding almost scared of the answer.
"Good as in, if you don't hear, you will regret it."
"I'll probably regret it anyway, but fire away."
"Okay, so Angela called Brennen's house to tell her about the case, right? Well, Booth answered the phone."
"Booth?" Sweets looked at his watch. "He would never be up at this hour unless he had to come in to work. Why is he up and at Dr. Brennen's house already?"
"What if he had been there all night?"
Sweets couldn't answer. He opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, and once more shut it. He shook his head.
"So Booth is at Dr. Bennen's house?"
"Cam?!" Hodgins and Sweets spun around at the same time, startled.
"You weren't supposed to hear that…" Hodgins muttered.
"Well, too late, I heard it. So, that's the story?"
"Yes." Hodgins said.
"So, are they going to be here soon?" Cam asked.
"Yes."
"Good. I can't wait to hear this story."
Minutes passed. Hodgins and the others worked, listening for the arrival of Bones and Booth.
Five minutes…Ten…Fifteen.
Doors opened, and voices echoed down the hall. Two of them. Bones and Booth.
Angela, Cam, Sweets, and Hodgins were in the hall instantly, walking toward the pair.
Bones glanced at Booth, who gave a small smile. She relaxed a little, only to tighten up again when Angela reached her.
"Okay, sweetie. Spill!"
"All of the others know, too?" Bones looked at Angela, indignant.
"Apparently so." Angela shot a look at the very guilty Hodgins.
"We were going to have to tell them anyway." Booth murmured in her ear.
"Yes, but…" Bones sighed, "Angela, just you first, okay?"
"Sure. Come on." Angela went with Bones to Bones' office. Booth stayed to get the information on the case, and to prevent the others from following.
"So?" Angela prompted.
"Well…" Bones gnawed her lip for a moment. She closed her eyes, and wordlessly held up her left hand.
Angela stared, checking that her eyes weren't lying to her. There, on Bones' ring finger was a beautiful diamond ring. Gold band.
"Did he really?"
"Yes."
Angela hugged Bones tightly.
"Oh, my gosh, sweetie!" She took Bones' left hand to further examine the engagement ring. "It's so beautiful!"
"Thanks, Angela." Bones smiled, "He proposed last night."
"I gathered that." Angela laughed. "So he stayed at your place?"
"Yes."
"Well, let's not go into details then. My imagination works just fine."
"Angela!"
"Kidding, kidding! So, how are we going to announce the good news to the others?"
"Ugh…" Bones rubbed her temples, "I was hoping Booth could handle that.."
"Yeah, sure he will." Angela laughed. "Come on."
"Dr. Brennen, what is going on?" Sweets demanded the second he caught sight of her.
"So, Booth didn't tell you?"
"No." Hodgins glared at Booth. "Not a stinking word."
"Hon, be nice." Angela swatted his arm.
"Well, last night, Booth and I went out for coffee and pie, like always…"
"And this time I made her get pie." Booth grinned.
"Oh, I like French Silk pie, so it wasn't that hard!" Bones said.
"So, I'm in there so much I had made a deal with the owner. I told him to put something…very special in the pie."
"Special in what way?" Sweets asked, as Angela bounced up and down.
"Well, if I didn't eat my pie slowly and in small pieces, I might have chocked on it…"
"Brennen, don't be so negative." Booth grinned. "Special as in has a gold band, a diamond, and goes onto one's left hand."
"He proposed to you?" Hodgins, Cam, and Sweets said at once.
"Yes." Bones laughed as Booth put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
"Well, well, well." Caroline had appeared behind the group. "I'm glad you two finally got together, but you have to get out into the field and examine that car. The rest of you-get busy!"
"Yes, Caroline." Bones rolled her eyes.
"Where's the car?" Booth asked.
"How do you expect me to remember that address?" Caroline handed him a piece of paper. "That's where you need to go."
"I'm coming with you!" Angela said.
"Hey, me, too." Cam walked over to the pair.
"Anyone else?" Bones asked. "No, Hodgins, you have to stay and see if the bodies have any particulates on them."
Hodgins slumped and walked to his station.
"I'll just go back to my office, then." Sweets walked away with a very self-satisfied smile.
"Let's go." Angela said.
The drive to the bombsite was…interesting.
"Are you humming what I think you're humming?" Bones asked Booth as he hummed and tapped the steering wheel in rhythm.
"Let's find out." Booth grinned, "I've got a love-e-lee bunch of co-co-nuts."
"Dee-dle-ee-dee." Bones joined in. "There they are a-standing in a row."
"Bum bum bum."
"Big ones."
"Small ones."
"Some as big as your head!" They sang at once, pointing to each other's heads.
"Wow…" Angela stage-whispered to Cam, "I'm engaged and I never do anything this crazy."
"In front of people." Bones said. "I'll bet you and Hodgins are like this all the time!"
"Uh…Maybe…" Angela said. "But nothing involving coconuts."
"I've never done anything this crazy…At all." Cam laughed.
"No, you just let yourself get hypnotized and cluck like a chicken." Bones laughed.
"In front of three-thousand people." Angela added.
"Well…I didn't know I was clucking!"
"Well…this is it." Booth stopped the car.
In front of them was the burned skeleton of a car, blackened and charred. The smell of scorched seat foam and burnt rubber was everywhere, causing Bones to wrinkle her nose.
"Wow…this was bad…" Angela gaped at the scene.
"The bomb detonated right in the driver's seat…" Bones noticed. "It went through the windshield."
"So, it was thrown from the road." Booth said, walking around the car.
"Correct. The driver's seat was blasted back, which is probably what killed the driver's side passenger. It might have hit her head."
"Passenger was killed by the blast." Angela noted. "And…Temperance, you have got to see this. You won't believe it."
"I believed the guy in the truck tire."
"Would you believe me if I told you someone survived this?"
"Until you show me really solid proof, no. It's practically impossible."
"Bones, nothing is impossible, not really. Just improbable." Booth said.
"It's impossible for you to find socks that match." Bones laughed.
"So…"
"So, why do you say someone may have survived?"
"Just look."
The rear passenger seat looked much like the others. Scorched, except for void where a person had sat.
"How many bodies where brought in?"
"Three."
"Guys, we've got a survivor out there somewhere."