A/N: This piece hasn't bee beta'ed…sorry. And no, it's not part of anything bigger. It's just a scene that I thought of and wanted to right. There is no case. This is it….only a one shot.


Doctor Temperance Brennan walked into the Discovery Place disgusted that her partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth had dragged her away from a lecture about famed anthropologist Margaret Mead. For the past six hours, Brennan had said the bare- minimal, making the drive from DC to Charlotte, North Carolina stretch out forever. "You know it's not my fault," Booth said, as he followed the scientist out of the heat into the air-conditioned building.

"This couldn't have waited?" Brennan questioned.

"Bones, it's a dead body," Booth pleaded. "I've never seen you turn down a dead body." Brennan shot him a glare over her shoulder as they approached a man dressed in a blue suit.

Booth pulled out his badge and flashed it at the man. "I'm Agent Booth," he said. "This is my partner, Doctor Brennan."

"Agent Ken Snee," the other man replied. "I'm glad that you both could come."

"Could you show us to the body?" Brennan cut in, eager to get this over with. Maybe she could be back in DC in time for the second part of the lecture tomorrow. Snee raised an eyebrow at the doctor, but turned on his heels and lead them passed the front desk.

The mumblings between Booth and Brennan echoed through the empty halls as they followed Snee at a distance. "I still don't see why you're so upset," Booth hissed.

"Because I've had that lecture planned for months," Brennan whispered back. "You know that."

"It's not my fault some dead body got discovered." They were both drawn to Snee when he cleared his throat.

"The body is right through there," he said, drawing back the curtain that had been hung to cover the entrance. Booth and Brennan glared at each other, but preceded through the opening. They both stopped-- stunned. Around them were preserved bodies performing all sorts of actives. Each one with the skin with moved but all other organs left in place.

"Booth," Brennan started. "There's lots of dead bodies here."

"What is this place?" Booth questioned.

"It's Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds," Snee answered. "The anatomical exhibition of real human bodies."

"Oh, I've heard of this guy," Brennan said, walking over to a body jumping a hurdle. Her eyes ablaze with excitement. "The specimens preserved through a revolutionary process called Plastination."

"Plasti-who?" Booth asked, still taking in the whole thing. A whole exhibit of dead people. I wouldn't want to bring Parker here, he thought to himself.

"Plastination. It's a preservation technique that replaces bodily fluids and fat with reactive plastics, thereby preserving human tissue in its natural state."

"That's just creepy," Booth commented with a shiver.

"It's quite remarkable, really. Hagens gives us a chance to observe and learn about the human body by studying real bodies."

"Still weird," Booth said and then turned to Snee. "There is a body other then these…specimens, right?"

"Yes, sir, right this way." Snee started off and Booth took Brennan by the arm and began to drag her away.

"You can be a tourist later," he told her. "First, let's figure out how a dead body got in here with the dead bodies."


Visit the website the Body World at www(dot)discoveryplace(dot)org/bodyworlds/home/bodyworlds-home.php