"What is your physical relationship like?" Sweets' face was, as usual, slightly over-eager and smiling.
Brennan's eyes narrowed slightly and she crossed her arms, leaning back into the couch.
Booth sat up and sputtered his indignation. "What?" He finally managed. "What physical relationship?"
"We haven't had sex with each other." Brennan stated in a reasonable tone of voice. Booth squirmed.
"So you've said before. By 'physical' I don't necessarily mean 'sexual'." Sweets conceded. "You do have a physical relationship. Agent Booth, you're physically protective of Doctor Brennan. You display classic dominant male possessiveness. Placing your hand on Doctor Brennan's back or arm to lead her, opening doors, pulling out chairs…"
"I was raised to be a gentleman, Sweets." Booth said in a disdainful and dismissive tone. "I'd do the same for any woman."
"Would you?" Sweets countered. Booth glared.
Sweets continued. "Do you hug one another?"
"No." Booth said flatly, still glaring.
"Yes." Brennan said simultaneously. She turned and met Booth's frowning stare. "Well, we do hug sometimes. When it's appropriate." She turned back to Sweets and repeated. "When it's appropriate."
"Yeah, appropriate." Booth echoed. "Friendly hugs."
"Friendly hugs." Sweets smiled and scrawled briefly in his notebook. "Very interesting."
"No, that's not interesting." Booth growled. "Why the hell are we talking about this?"
"I saw you dancing together at the Annual Foundation Gala last week." Sweets replied. "Well, Daisy noticed it first." He amended.
"Noticed what, that we were dancing? What's wrong with that?" Booth said defensively. They glanced at each other and a silent message passed between them: close ranks.
"I asked Booth to dance with me." Brennan said. "I had been dancing all night with foundation donors and they were all terrible dancers. Booth is an excellent dancer…"
"Thank you." Booth grinned at her. She smiled back then turned back to Sweets with a frown.
"…and I wanted a break from getting my toes stepped on and engaging in tedious small talk." Brennan concluded.
"Four slow dances in a row?" Sweets raised an eyebrow.
The partners glanced at one another with matching wary expressions then looked quickly away. Brennan's cheeks were pink.
"Her toes were really hurting." Booth said lamely.
"Really hurting." Brennan echoed.
Booth's cell phone rang. He answered it. "Booth."
"Hey guys, so not cool." Sweets whined. "I thought we agreed no cell phones…"
Booth ignored him and continued listening to his caller. "Got it. Okay. On our way." He snapped his phone closed. Brennan was already rising and Booth cupped her elbow. "C'mon let's go. Case, Bones!" He announced, opening the door to Sweets' office and guiding her through.
"So we'll just…" Sweets started. The door closed behind the two partners. "…pick this up next week." He finished, now speaking to his empty office.
Booth hustled Brennan down the hallway, his hand on the small of her back firmly propelling her. They reached the elevator bank and he pressed the 'down' button.
"You do display protective and dominant male behavior around me, Booth." Brennan piped up as they waited for the doors to open. She turned her head to look down at his hand, now gently grasping her upper arm. Booth glanced at his hand and dropped it to his side. The elevator doors opened and Booth let Brennan step in first. He pressed the lobby button and the doors closed.
"I'm not trying to dominate you, Bones." He finally spoke.
"You couldn't." Brennan stated. Booth frowned then stepped into her personal space so they were nearly nose to nose. Brennan didn't budge. "You are very intimidating." She said with her eyes level on his. "But, I know you would never hurt me."
Booth's eyes warmed and his mouth quirked into a smile. Brennan smiled back. They stood like this for a long moment until the elevator doors opened and Caroline Julian stood in the opening. Her sharp eyes took in the scene and she gave a smug smirk. Booth took a step back from Brennan and Caroline stepped into the elevator between them.
"Press three for me, Cherie." She said to Booth. He scowled and did so. She exited the elevator on the third floor and the partners were alone again.
"So what's the case?" Brennan asked.
"Remains of two victims were found together in a shallow grave outside a campground." Booth replied. They exited the elevator and headed for Booth's black SUV and their work.
"Both are female, late twenties, early thirties. Cause of death appears to be strangulation. Crushing of the hyoid bones in both victims. I'll need to get them back to the lab before I verify that. One appears to have markers that indicate childbirth." Brennan muttered, crouching by the gruesome scene. Booth stood back, jotting notes. Brennan pointed at one set of remains. "In spite of the advanced rate of decomposition in both, these remains are older. The other is quite fresh, no older than two weeks, but last week's heat wave would have sped up the rate of decomp. Hodgins will be able to narrow time of death. Angela can get us ID's from dental records or facial reconstruction."
Brennan snapped off her latex gloves.
"Back to the Jeffersonian now?" Booth asked, pointing the end of his pen at the remains.
"Yes, and the soil around them too. It may hold some evidence." Brennan confirmed. Booth reached down for her hand to help her rise. Once she was standing, they both looked down simultaneously at their joined hands and quickly let go, not meeting one another's eyes.