Masked Love: sequel to the Body in the Building…I suggest you read that one first, but you don't have to, it'll just help.

And I'm just warning you that I won't be able to post the next chapter for a week or so because I'm going away…with no computers. But to be nice I decided to post this before I left AND I made it extra long….so I hope you like it!

Masked Love

By SnitchCatcher

Chapter 1

Sweet Dreams

It was a cool spring night in D.C. The wind blew gently outside as a solitary car drove down the street. Inside an apartment building in town, Dr. Temperance Brennan slept soundly as dreams skipped through her head. If only temporarily...

Brennan woke to the sound of her cell phone buzzing on the nightstand next to her bed. She groaned as she rolled over and saw the digital clock next to her bed flash 2:17 am. Groggily she flipped open her phone.

"Brennan." She felt her bed shift next to her.

"Hey, I was just checking to make sure you were okay." Temperance sighed. She knew that she should be touched by his show of thoughtfulness. He was simply concerned for her after the last case that had just finished up. He had seen the pain and distance in her eyes when she had said goodbye that night. But in the name of god, it was 2 in the morning!

"Mmmm…sleep…" And she quickly hung up the phone on him without even a goodbye.

The body next to her shifted again. "Who was that?"

"Just Boyd."

"Oh, okay."

Special Agent Sam Boyd was Temperance's boyfriend, and had been for almost two months now. She had met him while working on a case with Booth and they had somehow managed to get involved. How it happened was beyond her because Temperance Brennan hated the idea of inner-work dating. Not like they were working together anymore, but still, at the time they had been.

Booth had hated him from the start. Brennan had chalked it up to his over-protective alpha-male tendencies, but then it had happened. She had slept with him one night, after she had started seeing Boyd. Luckily after Booth almost died trying to save Brennan's kidnapper from jumping off the bridge, things had been able to go back to normal.

At least on the outside. They still had their playful, flirty banter. And they were still best friends. But on the inside, Brennan couldn't forget that night. However, Brennan knew that she had a boyfriend and Booth himself had agreed that they should just be friends, unspokenly of course. They seemed to have a silent agreement to never talk about it. But that didn't mean she couldn't think about it.

Brennan turned over on her side and tried to drift back to sleep but her mind kept wandering.

The case had been extremely tough on her, but when Boyd had offered to stay with her, she had said she was fine and had sent him on his way. This, of course, confused her; Boyd had been her boyfriend for almost two months now, a long time for Brennan, and yet she still hadn't wanted him to stay with her. Maybe it was her fear of opening up, but he was her boyfriend and that's what they're supposed to do, comfort.

An hour after he had left, Angela had shown up on her doorstep with pizza and a movie. She had stayed with her until they had fallen asleep, nearly two hours ago.

Brennan glanced up at the clock again. 3:23 am. Three hours ago. She sighed and looked over at her friend's sleeping form, wondering if she would wake her if she got out of bed.

But she didn't wonder much longer as her cell phone began to go off again.

"Turn the damn thing off why don't you?" Angela groaned as she pulled herself up and rested her back up against the backboard.

Temperance ignored her friend and opened her phone. "Brennan."

"Hey…" He stopped, suddenly unsure of himself.

"Hey, are you alright?" Her voice was quickly laced with concern when she heard his voice.

"Yea, having a hard time sleeping and I just thought I'd call you." Brennan felt a smile spread across her face. She slid out of bed and walked towards her living room, disregarding her friends questioning look as she left.

"Me too."

"Good." She could feel him smile through the phone, but he quickly started to ramble. "I mean, not good that you aren't sleeping, because that's not good. But, you know, good that I didn't disturb your sleep."

"Booth, I get what you mean."

"Well Bones, I'd have to say that's a first."

"Hey!" He chuckled on the other end of the phone and the smile reappeared on her face.

A comfortable silence fell over the two of them and they were content to just sit there on the phone in the quiet listening to each other breathe.

"Are you going to be okay?" She was worried about her partner, but tried to hide the unease in her voice.

"Yea Bones. I'll be alright now."

"Okay, well, call me if you need me." She waited a few more moments before she hesitantly continued. "Good night, Booth."

"Night, Bones. Sweet Dreams."

She closed her cell phone and laid her head back on the couch. After a few minutes and with a smile on her face, she returned to her bedroom.

"So who was it this time?" Angela smiled knowingly from her position on the bed.

"No one." Brennan slid back under the covers and rolled over, hoping to avoid her friend's questions.

"Yea, sure no one. If it was no one then why did you feel the need to have a ten minute long conversation with the person? Out of my hearing range none the less."

"None of your business Ange."

"Oh my God! Are you cheating on Boyd? Was that, like, your secret lover on the phone?"

Brennan shot up from her spot on the bed and gaped at Angela. "It was just Booth!"

"I was right! You're having a secret affair with Booth! Oh this is too good." Angela squealed as she rambled on about her favorite 'couple'.

"Ange, we're just friends. He's my partner."

"Mm Hmm, then why did you have a private ten minute long conversation with him but when your real boyfriend calls you just hang up on him?"

"Booth needed me." Angela just continued to give her a questioning stare. "Really!"

"Yea sure…let's just get some sleep, and pray that no one else decides to call in the few hours that we have left before work."

Angela slid back down under the covers and switched off the light on the night stand next to her. She rolled over and within a minute was able to fall back asleep. Brennan, on the other hand, laid there thinking about a certain someone, before falling asleep an hour later.

Brennan made her way from her car to the entrance of the medico-lab sleepily rubbing her eyes. On top of the hour or so of sleep she had gotten the night before, she had managed to get maybe six hours of sleep the previous four nights while working on a case. So now she was as tired and grumpy as ever.

She managed to find her way to her office without biting anyone's head off, but before she could unlock her door, she heard footsteps coming up behind her.

Without turning around Brennan called out. "What do you want Booth?"

"How…? Never mind." Booth followed her into her office and plopped down on the couch. "Really sorry Bones, but we have another case."

Brennan looked up from her hands where she had been holding up her head and glanced over to Booth.

"So soon?" She almost whined in response.

"Yup, murderers don't stop just to give us a break after finishing another case." Booth stood up from the couch where he was contemplating falling asleep and walked over to Brennan's desk.

"Alright, let me just grab my kit and we can go." She stood from her seat and walked towards the door. She only stopped when Booth called out to her.

"You might need more than your kit."

"What do you mean?"

"We're going to South Carolina."

Brennan grumbled as she made her way out of her office and towards her boss's. She gently rapped on the door before poking her head inside.

"Cam, there are some remains that the FBI wants me to check out in South Carolina, so I'm not going to be here today."

Booth squeezed his head in above Brennan's. "Actually, it's more of a 'we don't know how long this might take and if there might be another body'. So we might need Bones for a few days."

Brennan tilted her head up and tried to look at Booth. "Why didn't you tell me that? You never tell me the full story."

He dropped his head to look her in the eyes. "Yeah, Bones, because if I ever told you the whole deal, I would never get you to agree to come."

"How do you know that? It's not like you ever tried."

"Okay, if I had told you this was going to be for a few days would you had said yes?"

"Probably not…"

"Ha, I prove my point."

"But that's this time. It's only because I haven't really slept in like five days."

"Bones, when do you ever sleep?"

"Normally, when you're not around bugging me, I do sleep."

"Yea, and I'm the Queen of England."

"That doesn't make any sense Booth."

"It's a saying Bones."

"It still doesn't make any sense."

"That's beside the point and anyway—"

"Would you two like some privacy?" Cam stood and walked over to the two heads that were squabbling through her door. "Because you know, I could leave my office and come back when you two are done."

"Sorry Cam." Booth smiled his charm smile at her, making Brennan's stomach clench for a moment before she refocused her attention on the matter at hand. "So do you mind if I steal Bones for a few days?"

Cam turned her attention to Brennan. "Promise to call in and check up and send us some things to work on and I don't see why not."

"Thanks." Booth pulled back his head and grabbed Brennan's arm, telling her to hurry up.

After stopping at Brennan's apartment to grab some clothes and stuff, Booth headed for Dallas Airport. They had to run to catch their flight and barely made it. Once they had settled into their seat, Brennan took out a book and began to read. Booth tried to sleep but was too preoccupied and eventually turned to face Brennan.

"Hey Bones?"

"Yes Booth." She didn't even bother to look up from her book as she replied.

"Watcha reading?"

"A book."

"I could see that."

"Then why did you ask?"

Booth just sighed in response as he turned back in his seat and look forward. But that only lasted for a few minutes before he turned back to Brennan again.

"Hey Bones?"

"Yes Booth."

"Do you want to play cards or something?" He looked at her hopeful.

"Not really Booth."

"Oh." He sighed before trying again. "Well, maybe do you want to talk?"

Brennan closed her book and looked at her partner, trying to figure out what was bothering him. That's when she remembered. He was afraid of flying.

The frustration in her face quickly disappeared as she looked at Booth. "Alright, anything in particular you want to talk about?"

"I hadn't really thought that far in advanced."

His face dropped in disappointment and she smiled. He was so cute was he looked like that, like a little lost puppy.

"Are you still seeing Cam?" Brennan mentally smacked herself. She hadn't meant to let that slip. She had been curious, but she didn't want Booth to know that.

A smile quickly spread across his face. "Why Bones? You jealous?"

She snorted at this, rolled her eyes, and replied casually. "Hardly." Damn straight I am!

"Ouch Bones, you sure know how to bruise am man's ego."

"Well, your ego could be deflated a size or two. I'm just helping." She smiled smugly at him.

A hostess walked down the isle and flashed Booth a seductive smile as she passed. Brennan just rolls her eyes at this, which didn't go unnoticed by Booth.

"You know, Bones, you're just about the only woman who has never swooned at the sight of me."

"Then maybe I've done you some good."

"I think that just took my ego down a good four sizes." Booth shook his head. He was going to get even with her for that one.

"What and now you want me to stroke your ego to make you feel better?" She smiled seductively at Booth before returning her attention to her book.

He just gaped. Since when had Bones learned how to flirt like that? He turned around in his seat and took a deep gulp of his drink, trying to get the image out of his mind of Brennan 'stroking his ego.'

"Booth I think your lost." Brennan complained as she looked out her window.

"We're not lost Bones, I'm just taking the long way to get there."

"Myrtle Beach State Park is only 15 minutes from the airport. We have been driving around for at least an hour now."

Booth slowed the rental SUV to a stop and looked out ahead of him. "See, we're here! I told you I knew where I was going."

Brennan just ignored his comment and jumped out of the SUV and grabbed her kit. She approached the police tape but was stopped by an officer.

"Sorry. Crime scene, can't let you by."

"I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan with the Jeffersonian. I'm here to examine the remains for the FBI."

"Right, and I'm the Queen of England."

"I wouldn't say that to her if I were you." Booth caught up to Brennan and held out his badge. "Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI, and this is my partner, Dr. Brennan."

"Geez, I'm really sorry," He lifted up the tape for Brenan and Booth. "It's just, we've been getting reporters trying to sneak by and lie their way through."

By this point, Brennan wasn't even paying attention as she had already found her way to the remains, or some of them at least. She crouched down to the ground and examined the bones.

"Left femur, right scapula and a few phalanges." She stood from her spot on the ground and made her way to another patch of ground. "Vertebrate, metacarpals, and the skull, in multiple parts."

While Booth hung behind and talked to some of the officers to find out the basic who, what, and where, Brennan began to dig around the site to see if she could find anymore bones. After a few hours of searching the area, they decided that they had found all that they could and sent them off to the local morgue.

The car ride to their hotel was spent in silence as Brennan had fallen asleep. Booth glanced over at his partner every few minutes just to watch her before turning his gaze back to the road.

When they reached the hotel, Booth went inside and checked in before coming back outside to wake Brennan up. She slumped out of the car as he pulled her door open and landed in his arms.

"Come on Bones, let's get you into bed." Booth gently wrapped his arm around her waist and led her towards the hotel. After a long elevator ride involving Booth trying to keep Brennan standing up straight, they reached their floor.

Booth opened the door and pushed Brennan through it while he grabbed their bags. When he turned around from closing the door, Booth found Brennan already asleep on top of one of the beds.

"Okay, then I'll take the one next to the window I guess." Booth mumbled as he placed their bags down.

After a quick change in the bathroom and the brushing of teeth, Booth came back to find Brennan exactly as he had left her. He walked over to her and gently pulled her shoes off of her feet. Then he picked her up and pulled down the sheets before placing her down and pulling the sheets up around her.

Booth looked over at his partner before kissing her lightly on the head and crawling into his own bed and turning off the light.

As Booth drifted off to sleep his head filled with dreams of his best friend.

TBC…