Humming softly to himself, Seeley Booth strode into the Jeffersonian. Up on the platform he could see Zach Addy leaning over a set of remains displayed on the table.
Why do we always have to show the bodies like that? Death isn't perfect. Displaying them like that feels like a sham
He noticed Jack Hodgins at the far end of the platform, pointing at something on a monitor and attempting to explain it to Angela Montenegro. To her credit, Angela was smiling politely and nodding sincerely although Booth could see, even at this distance, that the focus of Angela's attention seemed to be in running her fingers through Hodgins' hair. Not that Hodgins seemed to mind.
Cam was standing apart from the pair, her brow furrowed as she scanned a piece of paper in her hand. Her mouth was pursed slightly in concentration.
Booth had just moved his lips to form the words "Where's Bones?" when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, his partner striding towards him. He turned to face her and had to suppress a grin when he did.
Temperance Brennan's hair was quite dishevelled. He could see that it had been in a bun at some stage of the morning but now loose tendrils floated about her face and the hair at the back of her head was struggling to remain elevated. Her features were soft with sleep, her eyes gentle. She looked beautiful.
But that was not what was tugging at the corners of Booth's mouth. No, it was rather glaringly obvious that Brennan had succumbed to a quick nap at her desk…and had managed to stain a section of her right cheekbone with blue ink in doing so.
"What?" She stood before him and was looking questionably at his frantically twitching face.
"Nothing, Bones. Nothing. It's just that you've got a little something" he moved his hand in a circle across the entire circumference of his face "here." Booth couldn't help but laugh as her eyes widened in panic and she placed a hand on the side of her face.
"You've been dreaming!" He teased in a singsong voice, suppressing the urge to accompany his song with a little dance. Only barely suppressing.
Her eyes widened even further, if that were possible. How does he know? How could he possibly know? If he knows what I was dreaming about… Brennan's face flushed scarlet.
She started to move away from him, but to her surprise, almost as much as to his own, she was stopped by his right hand gently reaching up and holding her chin. His fingers lay along the length of the left side of her jaw line while his thumb rested next to her mouth.
Hardly daring to breathe, she raised her eyes to meet his. "I was only joking Bones. You just…you have a little ink here." On the "here" he moved his thumb upward and gently began stroking the spot.
Every instinct in her was telling her to run. To thank him for pointing it out and quickly make her way to the restroom to remove the offending mark and calm her racing heart. But his touch felt so good…
Surprised that she hadn't bolted, Booth set about removing the ink himself. He rubbed his thumb back and forth over the stain. He was being extremely gentle. Her skin was so fair, so pure; he didn't want to blemish it. In spite of herself, she closed her eyes and sighed slightly.
After a moment, Booth slid his thumb from her cheekbone and rested it on her lips. "Lick it." Her eyes shot open.
"What?!"
"Look, just lick it. The mark's nearly gone. I'd lick it myself but it might be rude and, well, I'm pretty sure you don't want to go around with a face that smells like coffee."
Brennan hesitated. Ignoring her rational side, she hesitantly opened her lips and ran the tip of her tongue over the pad of Booth's thumb. Both chose to ignore the electricity that was generated between them by this action. Booth continued his previous administrations and slowly stepped back.
"There. All done."
She smiled at him, eyes lowered.
At this moment they realised that their little exchange had met the attention of the group on the platform. Clearing his throat loudly Booth spun around and started walking towards the exit, dragging Brennan with him. "Right, Bones. We've got a suspect."
Up on the platform, Angela sighed from where she had positioned herself against the railings, the best vantage point. Hodgins poked her in the side.
"Was that a sigh of happiness or frustration?"
Angela groaned slightly and rolled her eyes. "I just wish those two would jump each other already."
Hodgins was about to make a snappy comeback but was interrupted by Cam striding past them, nodding thoughtfully to herself "So do I."
Angela flashed Hodgins a triumphant smirk and went over to explain the situation to Zach who, as usual, looked utterly lost.