Booth and Brennan stood near the top of a deep pit.
"Where are my remains?" she demanded.
"According to the guy who found it, it's down there," Booth said, pointing down into the pit and to his left.
Brennan started forward. Booth followed. As they reached the edge of the pit, he grabbed her arm and said, "Let me go first to see how stable it is."
"Booth! I'm perfectly capable of making it safely down the incline."
As she jerked her arm to free it from his grasp, he tightened his grip. She tried again using greater force and managed to unbalance both of them. They tumbled down the hill together, a single mass of failing appendages with two voices saying things like "oof" and "ouch." It didn't take long for them to reach the bottom.
"Bones, are you okay?" Booth asked, a bit out of breath. Then he noticed their position. Somehow he had ended up lying on top of her. He tensed for a moment, worried about her reaction, and then looked into her eyes. Instead of the anger, frustration, and annoyance he expected, her blue eyes were wide and contained an expression he'd never seen before. His heart rate increased and he enjoyed the feel of having her underneath him and being stretched atop her. She watched as his eyes darkened with desire and a small shiver shook her frame.
The emotions he normally kept locked deep in his heart came rushing to the fore as his body and mind reacted to her proximity, the smell that was uniquely her. He bent his head toward her ear and whispered in a deep voice, "If you keep looking at me like that, I'm not sure I'll be able to resist kissing you."
"What? Booth!" she exclaimed, momentarily shocked. Then she lifted her head a bit and replied in a husky voice, "Not now. We're at a crime scene and we have an audience." She flicked her eyes toward the top of the pit. Not now? I can't believe I just said that.
Booth turned his head and saw policemen, other FBI agents, and about half of the crime scene technicians watching them. "Wait. Did you just…?" he questioned dazed. Then the rest of what she said sunk in. As he rolled off her, he promised in a whisper, "We'll finish this later."
He stood up, and for the benefit of their audience, offered her a hand and said loudly, "Bones, you alright?"
"I'm fine."
The two slapped the dust from their clothes and then proceeded to the remains, each desperately trying to return to their normal interaction and focus on the case. The crime scene technicians made their way down the slope more slowly and soon joined the partners.
As Brennan started her preliminary examination, Booth took notes like usual. Soon after Brennan finished exposing the skeleton, she was informing the technicians about the particulates and other evidence that needed to be collected and giving instructions for the transport of the remains.
Brennan and her team spent the rest of the day examining the evidence and putting together what happened to their victim. By 7:30 PM, the lab was mostly empty. Cam, Angela, Jack, and Zach had already left, but Brennan stayed to go over the bones another time.
Booth scanned his card and let himself onto the platform. "Bones, everybody else has gone home. It's time to get out of here."
Brennan looked up, intending to glare at him and make him leave her alone for a few more minutes so she could finish her examination of the bones. But the moment her eyes met his, the words died on her lips and memories of earlier in the day rushed back to her.
Booth quirked a smile at her. "Speechless, Bones? I'm flattered."
She gaped at him and then began to protest as he escorted her off the platform and to her office. He handed her her purse, helped her into her jacket, and had her halfway to the door, his hand resting in its usual place on her waist before her intention of completing her examination came to mind.
"Booth, I can't leave yet. I'm not done with my examination of the bones yet," she objected and started to turn back.
He slid his arm all the way around her waist to prevent her from leaving. "You have to eat sometime. You can update me over dinner about what you've found in the last few hours," he replied.
When she hesitated, he smiled his famous charm smile and she gave in. "Fine, but I want to eat Thai."
When they reached the SUV, he held the door for her and she started mumbling about his alpha-male tendencies under her breath. As he climbed into the driver's seat she noticed the vehicle smelled of food.
She took a deep breath and then said, "I love the smell of pad thai. Wait, you brought food with you? Why didn't you just bring it into the lab?"
Booth smiled at her, "It's a surprise."
He pulled out of the parking lot of the Jeffersonian, but instead of heading toward her apartment or his, he headed in another direction entirely.
Brennan tried to contain her desire to know where they were going, but after 15 minutes she couldn't wait any longer, "Where are we going?"
"I told you it's a surprise, Bones. But we're almost there. You'll see in a minute," he answered.
A minute later he turned right into the parking lot of a regional park. When the truck stopped she jumped out and began to look around. The park was large with lots of trees. To the west she could see the sun beginning to set.
"Come on," Booth said, and she turned to see him burdened with bags. She followed him across the park to the top of one the hills. He set the food down carefully and dropped the other bags.
"Booth, what are we doing here?" Brennan demanded.
"Eating dinner, Bones," he replied easily.
"We could eat dinner lots of places besides here…" she started to object.
Booth stepped into her personal space, leaned toward her, and said quietly, "Just go with me on this."
She gave him a small nod. He stepped back with a satisfied smile and began to spread out their dinner on a blanket. In a few minutes they were both happily chowing down on Thai food and Brennan was giving him the most recent details of their case.
When dinner was finished the two sat for a while, enjoying the relative quiet and watching the sun as it sunk beneath the horizon.