Spoilers: Nothing particular that I can think of. This is pretty much intended to be able to play at any point during the series. This has a hint of BB Romance, but mainly UST, just like the show.

Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own the rights to any of this, and only borrow the characters with the best of intentions of returning them to HH & Co. without a scratch so that we can finally, FINALLY, continue the 3rd season and hopefully see new episodes soon... sorry for the rant.

Author's Note: Ok, this is my first Bones fic. I'd appreciate any kind of feedback you are willing to give, 'cause I'm curious how you think this turned out.

I have several more ideas, not sure if they will manifest themselves as sequels or stand-alones.


Together

When he walked into view of the Medico-Legal Lab platform, he could see her leaning over one of the tables that was displaying yet another set of human remains, lost in thought - pretty much the same way he had left her over 4 hours ago. She was standing facing him over the table, not noticing his entrance, bent over the small rib cage examining the mostly-decomposed body.

She seemed to be alone on the platform, although he could hear Hodgins' and Angela's voices floating over the platform from the background, so the others' were obviously not far. A grimace of a smile flitted over his face as he realized that 5:00pm was just a random number on the face of the clock for the dedicated team of scientists, and not the time most of America looked forward to as the end of their workday. He didn't think any of them had probably ever left at five on the dot, EVER. He took a moment to thank Heaven that, of all the annoying squints and lab rats that he could have gotten stuck with, he got stuck with this particular squint team. That they took the cases and lives of total strangers as seriously as he did. As frustrating as the bunch of them was, that was what really mattered to Agent Seeley Booth, and he appreciated them for it.

Not that he would ever admit that to them.

As he reached the security barrier, he briefly paused to consider her.

She had on her usual blue Jeffersonian lab coat over a non-descript white blouse, her hair loosely tied back into a ponytail. A few strands of hair, as well as her bulky, artifact-like necklace and dangling earrings, were gently swayed forward by gravity due to her body's angle over the table. The fingers of her latex-gloved right hand were softly tracing the ribs of the body in front of her, as her eyebrows were drawn together in concentration. It wasn't quite a frown, but more a quirk of the eyebrows, one that Booth had come to clearly associate with his favorite squint in the team.

He smiled and shook his head at the familiarity of her expression, scanned his badge to gain access to the platform, and quietly ascended the stairs continuing to observe her without her knowledge. As he moved closer to her, her facial expression changed very subtly, and he could see her gently pause in her examination of the bones before bringing her left hand up to join her right on a particular rib that had caught her interest. She leaned in a little closer, needing a visual confirmation of what she thought she may have discovered, and her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed as she tried to make sense of her findings.

He stepped up to the table and she twisted her neck to complain about the interruption but her face softened when she realized it was Booth. "Booth. Back already?"

He smiled in greeting. "Hi Bones, what did you find?"

She frowned, unsure of how he knew that she had discovered something, and then even deeper when she thought about WHAT she had discovered. "I'm not sure yet, Booth. It doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't make any sense?" he pushed her.

She straightened her back and stated, "I said, I'm not sure yet. I'm not ready to jump to any conclusions, but I have found an abnormality." She blocked any further attempts he might have made to get any more information out of her by turning and calling for her trusty assistant. "Zach. ZACH!"

Zach Addy hurried up to the table glad to be needed and was followed by Hodgins and Angela who caught wind of something exciting happening. "Yes, Dr. Brennan?"

"Zach, I need samples of any particulates you can find on the inside of the costa secunda, here, and here" she pointed out two particular areas of the rib she had been examining, close to the sternum. Zach leaned forward trying to see what his mentor had noticed, but not truly succeeding as she continued, "then you can clean the bones, but be particularly careful with the ribs."

"Bren, what did you find?" Angela asked her friend softly, walking up closer to join Brennan, Booth, and Zach at the table.

Brennan was starting to get annoyed, but finally gave in to the questioning... somewhat. "There appears to be scoring on the posterior of the costa secunda --" she caught herself when Booth scowled at her. "--marks--" she was searching for the correct layman's term, "--scratches? On the underside of the second rib." She once again pointed to the area in discussion. "It is hard to see from this angle, but I can feel them - we will know more once Zach cleans the bones."

Zach, now on a mission, waved over two lab techs to help him maneuver the remains to the bone cleaning room.

Brennan snapped off her latex gloves and started in the direction of her office, Booth following a few steps behind her.

"But what does that MEAN, Bones? How could it have gotten there?" Didn't she know that she couldn't just tell him she found something, but not tell him what that information meant?

She shrugged her shoulders but did not look back at him, "I don't know, Booth."

His head was spinning trying to figure out the possibilities. "What kind of scratches? Could it be from a knife?" He was starting to get excited. They just might have the lead they needed to break this case. "Was the victim stabbed from behind?"

They had made their way to her office and she was already shrugging off her lab coat, and then hung it over the back of her chair, and sat down behind her desk. He walked over to her desk and perched on it, close enough for his thigh to brush her elbow.

She sighed and looked up to meet his gaze. "Booth, how many times do I have to tell you, I am--"

"-- not prepared to jump to conclusions," he finished for her. He smiled at her frown. "I know, Bones. But don't you have any theories?" He stooped down, invading her personal space, and smiled slyly. "You know, those that you can later scientifically prove or disprove according to the Scientific Method?"

She glared up at him, which turned his smile into a grin. He could be so annoying when he wanted to be.

He leaned in closer, his face just inches from hers, daring her to flinch or pull back -- or to kiss him? She was never sure of his intentions anymore these days.

"C'mon, Bones, try walking on the wild side of life."

Considering her train of thought right before his question, she had a hard time realizing what his comment was referring to.

There was a knock on her door and a not-so-shy "Ahem." Booth pulled back slightly embarrassed, not exactly sure why.

They turned to see Angela standing in the doorway, with a smile and twinkling eyes at having caught them during one of their 'moments'. "Sweetie, I'm bringing you back printouts of the facial reconstructions of the first four victims that I did on the Angelator." She held up the file and then stepped into the office to put the folder on Brennan's desk.

"Ok, Ange. Thanks for bringing them by."

"You let me know when you're ready for me to do the last one," she said before she stepped back out of the office.

"I will, Ange. Thanks for everything."

"No problem, Sweetie. You get some rest tonight, you look tired." And with that she was gone as suddenly as she had appeared.

Booth and Brennan turned back towards each other. "Bones, she's right, you do look tired."

Brennan sighed again and pushed her chair back as she stood up, agitatedly pacing around her office gathering up documents and photos and stuffing them back into their file folders. "I'm fine." She didn't want him to think she was weak, didn't need him to hover. She was a grown woman and could take care of herself.

She asked over her shoulder, "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were going back to the Kendall house to see if we overlooked anything there."

He got up from his perch on her desk as well and walked towards her. "I did. That was hours ago." He saw her face fall. "Yes, it's already--" he checked his watch "--almost 6pm on a Friday night, two weeks into our case, with currently no leads to go on." He put a hand on her elbow, took the forgotten files from her hands with the other and steered her towards her coat and purse. "What do you say we grab a bite to eat while we wait for Zach to do his thing? There isn't much you can do here right now, and I'm sure you could use a little break."

She considered his offer and must have realized that she had not eaten since this morning, because she nodded her head in acceptance. "Alright," she said, "but I want to come back here after dinner to go back over the case file. Just in case I missed something..."

He grinned at her, thinking that the two of them were sad examples of workaholics. He had already known he'd only be able to get her out of the lab for an hour or two. Actually, she had put up much less of a fight than he had originally anticipated. "Deal."

-BB-

They sat waiting for food at the diner in 'their' booth. There was not much of a crowd on a Friday night, most people apparently having better things to do than to sit in a tacky diner.

Brennan sighed and rubbed her face with the palms of her hands.

"That's the 3rd time you've sighed heavily tonight, Bones, are you alright?" Booth's concerned voice registered in her ears. She looked at him through her fingers covering her face and then dropped her hands back to the table.

"Yeah, I am. It's just been a long case without much development, and not only is that very frustrating, but the lack of adrenaline due to exciting developments also lets me realize that I am tired." He smiled at her squinty way of saying she was bored. "That last body we found in the woods just a few miles from the Kendall house... so close that it could very well be connected to the 4 bodies buried in the back yard there... I really thought we would make progress. That the fact that the body was not buried with the others meant there was something SPECIAL about it. And now -- now I'm just more frustrated than before."

He nodded in understanding. He felt the same way. Usually by now, they would have a lead, a suspect, a motive, ANYTHING, to pursue and to keep their minds off the lack of progress they were making. "But you found something today, Bones, and that something might break the case wide open."

She looked away. "Booth, what I found might turn out to be an old injury or a genetic abnormality. It might have nothing to do with the case," she said, absently drawing patterns on the table with her index finger.

"No, Bones, I saw the look on your face. You FOUND something." He covered her hand with his and gave it a squeeze. "And even if this isn't it, I know you'll find me the clue we need to solve the case."

She looked up and stared at him in amazement. "How can you be so sure?"

He shrugged and simply stated the obvious: "You always do." He squeezed her hand again and then released his hold on it.

She smiled, wordlessly thanking him for his encouragement.

Trying to lighten the mood, he said "Of course, I usually figure out the case beforehand anyway..."

She tried hard to resist the smile that was threatening to form on her face in response to his bad attempt at a joke. She really tried not to encourage him, but when she could no longer control the twitching corners of her mouth, she gave in, blaming her lack of success at it on the long day... week... month... year?

"Oh yeah? Is that so?" She leaned in, challenging him, her smile broadening.

"Mmh hmm." He leaned forward was well, nodding and grinning at her from so close she almost had to cross her eyes to focus on his face.

They stared at each other for a few long moments. Booth opened his mouth, as if he was about to say something else, and with that movement, inadvertently, her eyes darted to his mouth, just inches from her own. When he didn't speak, she forced her gaze back to his brown eyes, and the teasing look that was there just seconds ago had vanished without a trace, replaced by a much more intense one.

She swallowed. 'This is the point where one of us leans back from the table, one of us backs down, cracks another joke, and we go on, business as usual.'

And sure enough, Booth leaned forward a fraction of an inch and whispered, "But I would never want to deprive you of doing that squinty stuff you love to do. So I don't tell you." Then, proud of himself, he leaned back, grinning at her again with the twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

She chuckled and rolled her eyes at him, leaning back as well. "Oh, right."

By the time their food arrived, Brennan was already feeling better about life. Booth was right. They would eventually solve the case, she shouldn't give up hope. Afterall, that's what they did. They solved cases. Together.


Thanks for reading -- please hit that review button:)