Anthropologist on a Pole

Chapter One:

Disclaimer: Bones and any character affiliated with the show does not belong to me - otherwise I would make the writers do the job that I am doing to keep myself occupied.

It had been a long two weeks for Booth. Special Agent Seeley Booth didn't know what possessed him to tell Sully it would be okay for him to date his partner. He wanted things to return to normal, the way they were before Sully, before he shot the clown. Damn, if he hadn't been so irritable that day Sully would have never had the opportunity to poach on his territory.

"Booth!" He snapped out of his reverie and turned to where his partner was standing. She was wearing the standard blue lab coat, the uniform of the Jeffersonian. The things he wanted to do to her in that lab coat, in only that lab coat, would cost him at least five "Hail Mary's" and two "Our Fathers" in his monthly visit to the confessional.

"Sorry Bones. Lost in thought." He explained sheepishly.

"As I was telling you and Sully, same MO, same age range. Zach has the bones and they are being cleaned as we speak. Are you alright, you look flushed." She reached out and touched his forehead. "You definitely are hot."

He slapped her hand away. "I'm fine Bones. I didn't get much sleep last night." Cause I was having not so partner like dreams about you. He thought.

"Seeley if you aren't feeling great, I'll take the lead from here." Sully offered. He had just come back from the Caribbean and was partnered with Booth for the time being, much to Booth's dismay.

"It's fine Sully. I feel fine. I just need to catch up on paperwork in the office. Call me if you get an ID on the vic." He told them as he strode out of the office.

Brennan looked to where her partner just stood. She didn't know what was going on with him and made it a mental not to talk with him during the next therapy session. Right before he reached the door, she called out to him.

"Booth!"

He turned around, running his hands through his hair. "Yeah Bones."

"Lunch, me and you." She extended the olive branch.

"Where?"

"I don't know, I was thinking maybe Sid's. You know?" She suggested. "We could go back to where it all started." She smiled softly at him.

"Bones, I would like that." He flashed her the first genuine smile she had seen in weeks. "Twelve okay?"

"Yeah, are you picking me up?"

"Do I always?" He replied.

"See you at twelve." He waved to her, turning to leave. The early May sun warming his face.

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Booth nodded distractedly at his partner from across the table. She had been talking aimlessly about everything and anything, trying to keep the conversation between the two of them flowing. A smiled started creeping across his handsome features as he watched her suck on the last noodle that was in her soup. That was a damn lucky noodle he thought to himself. Damn lucky! He watched her as she sucked the noodle into her sensual mouth. She smiled contently. Oh god, he groaned inwardly. He was having food fetishes now! He thought back to the case of the pony play, willing himself to think of anything other than his partner sucking on a noodle.

So far the case had been one hell of a case. Four murders in four months. He had faces thanks to Angela, but no names. These women were going missing, and no one had bothered to report them. It infuriated Brennan who wanted didn't want these women's deaths to go unnoticed. She wanted to catch the rat bastard. Booth, enraged by the circumstances of the women's deaths, was just grateful though that they had a case to work on together. They had hit a month with no case together, and the separation was taxing on him. He was glad to be back with her to be in close proximity to her again.

"What!" She had been watching him watch her eat. "You know Booth I worry about my figure! I refuse to eat things that clog the arteries and could cause early death! I eat meat, just on a rare occasion."

"You really don't have to worry about your figure." He muttered, knowing she wouldn't hear it. "You really should just try one of the egg rolls or something. It really is good." He took a satisfying bite out of his egg roll.

She smacked him on the arm playfully, grabbing one of his egg rolls. God he wanted to be that egg roll.

He rolled his eyes. "Man." He muttered.

"Booth these really are good." She licked her lips.

Sid looked up from the bar, grateful to see the two back after a long absence. "You should always trust the Sid man." He grinned. Booth's cell went off, and he answered it. He got a grim look on his face. He turned off the phone and stood. He opened his wallet walking to the register.

"Your money still isn't good here G-Man." Sid looked up. "Just come back okay?"

"Sure Sid."

Sid nodded at Bones, thankful that she had just not talked about a case, marveling at the strides she had made to entering the world of the living. Booth had everything to do with that.

Booth helped Bones on with her light spring jacket as he escorted her out the door, telling her that an ID had been made and they had to go to a small town in southern Virginia to tell the next of kin. She nodded, turning to wave to Sid, telling him thanks for lunch. Sid chuckled as he watched the two of the leave, knowing what had been on Seeley Booth's mind all during lunch. It was just so sad that the Bone lady didn't seem to see it.

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It had been a long day for the duo, pulling back into the Hoover parking deck around eight at night. The FBI team assigned to the case were still there, burning the midnight oil. Cullen waved them into the room, giving them seats in the front.

"What did you two find out?" Cullen looked at the two.

Booth spoke up. "The vic, Stephanie Williams, was engaged to Tim Purser who had reported her missing. She was working as a waitress at a gentlemen's club. We didn't get to question the employer. The club wasn't open until 9:00 tonight."

"You mean she was a stripper?" Sully asked.

"Seems to be." Brennan sighed. She knew that from anthropological viewpoints that Stephanie Williams was a woman who wasn't supposed to be missed. She was considered the lowest of the low, a lady of the night, who remained anonymous to the world until now. It didn't make her any less of a human being though. Booth placed a hand on her neck and rubbed it lightly. Brennan had taken the news a little hard, receding into herself for most of the car ride home.

Cullen looked over the crowd. He cleared his throat. "We are going to need an undercover team for this one. They won't open up willingly to the Feds, so we are going to have to infiltrate slowly to get the people who knew her best to open up. Is there anyway this case is not related to the others."

Brennan shook her head no.

Cullen sighed. "Okay men, lets see if we have any female agents who could work as an exotic dancer." Cullen left the room for a couple of moments to inform his superiors of the plan.

The techie booted up the computer and filtered out the agents who would be acceptable. Five candidates pulled up that fit the age range. Brennan sighed, watching the men play dress up using an automated bathing suit site. Groans came from the men as they put the women in the suits. No one would work, no one had the right body or the right look. Two were expecting and would definitely be no goes.

Booth sighed. "Well, I guess it's a no go plan."

Brennan looked up from her notes. "I'll do it."

Sully and Booth just stared at her. Cullen walked into the room. The rest of the men sat their quietly.

"Dr. Brennan, we appreciate your willingness, but there a skills you have to possess. I don't think ass-kicking drug lords will work on this one." Cullen answered her.

"I know how to strip." She told him. Booth threw a look at her. The last image he wanted now was of her stripping off her close, teasing him. "I think I have a fairly good body." She interrupted his thoughts.

"Damn straight." A younger agent said. Booth threw death stares at him.

"No Bones." Booth declared. "I'm not letting you do it."

"Since when do you let me do anything Agent Booth?" Brennan replied icily.

"You two my office now!" Cullen barked storming out of the door.

"See what you did!" Booth pointed a finger at her. "Shit."

Sweets watched the two from his seat in the room. It was going to be an interesting case for the two. It may require more time on the couch.

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Brennan walked slowly into the office after Cullen, watching her partner sulk in.

"Agent Booth what in the hell is your problem." Cullen address.

"She isn't an agent. She isn't trained to be out there! Hell, we don't even know if we need to do this." He explained.

"You would be going with her. She has done just fine in other field work and has been undercover with you before. You called her an invaluable asset to your investigation in Las Vegas."

"See." Brennan saw him flinch.

"However Dr. Brennan, we still need someone who knows how to strip. It's not like doing a dance for your lover." Cullen told her.

Booth was growing uncomfortable with this situation.

"Sir, the women were raped, severely beaten beyond recognition, bleach was poured on their face. Organs were removed from their bodies!" Booth explained. "I don't want her out there."

"It's not your call Booth." Brennan told him.

"It's not your call either." Cullen informed her. "We have to be completely sure of your ability to do this. To not screw this up. It takes a lack on inhibition, which Dr. Brennan, I'm not sure you possess."

"I'll prove it to you." She challenged. "Line up the boys in the gym and meet me there. I have to go get some music and my workout clothes."

Cullen sighed. He saw the other agents and knew they were not appropriate for the case. "Fine fine."

"Give me fifteen minutes for Ange to come with what I need, and I'll need five minutes to stretch."

Booth sighed and arched his eyebrow at Cullen as his partner left the room. "Sir."

"Relax Booth. This is Dr. Brennan, the helplessly awkward women we both know. Do you really think she can pull this off?"

Booth sighed, following his boss out the door. He kept his answer silent to himself, praying that Cullen was right for her sake.

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Seven men stood sat in chairs on the gym floor, waiting to see what surprise Brennan had up her sleeve this time. Angela walked in a couple minutes later sitting next to Booth.

"For the record if you don't keep her safe, I'll kill you." She handed him a bottle of water. "You're going to need it."

"How does she know how to do it?" Booth whispered.

"We take a strip dancing/belly dancing class at our gym. I talked her into it. It is great exercise on the abs." Angela explained. "And so much more fun than doing crunches."

Angela walked over to the CD deck and started the music. Booth began to wonder where his partner was when he didn't see her. Hopefully she came to her senses and decided not to do it. The door swung open and she walked out. She was wearing a skirt, a pair for four inch heels, and her blue lab coat. She grabbed the pole for the first part of the dance. Coming off the pole, her movement were perfectly attuned to the music. She looked around the room, spotting her partner, who was watching her intently. So far he had survived watching her dance, watching her tease the pole.

She reached for the zipper on her lab coat and pulled it down, a little to slow for many of the men's taste. They were jeering her on, yelling cat calls at her. She looked around for her partner, needing his strength. She gracefully pulled the jacket off, revealing her black lace bra.

"Oh, how I have missed that bra." Sully announced, getting cheers from the crowd.

Booth kept his temper in check, taking a long swig from the water that Angela handed him. He had somehow gone cotton mouth looking at her strip.

Cullen stood up. "Okay Dr. Brennan, I think you have proved your point. You are capable of stripping." He had no intention of letting her go all the way. She looked around for her lab coat, and couldn't find it.

Booth pulled off his sweatshirt and handed it to her. She smiled and put it on. "How are you going to take these men touching you all over the place?" He asked her.

"I'll handle it Booth." She told him.

"You know you can't defend yourself in a place like that." Cullen reminded her. "You just have to take it."

"I understand." She sighed. Sully found her lab coat which had been tossed on top of the basketball hop. Booth looked at her one last time and walked away, stepping into the cool night air, wondering how they were going to make it out of this one alright.

AN: 18 hours on a plane can do something to the wondering mind. This idea came and it was written, so I decided to post it. It is a very strong T for now - don't know if I will venture into smut - we will see. I am working on my other stories, however I just had some major changes at work so it might take more time for those to get out. Please review and let me know what you think. Should I change it to an M or leave it a T, do you want more, or should I just leave it?