Seven Plus One

Chapter One – What I've Done

"So when do I get to see it?"

"See what?"

"The outline for your new book. Am I in it again?"

"You weren't in it last time"

Booth sighed and ignored the need to be insulted as Bones continued typing on her computer. She was writing again and he was itching to know what this one was going to be about.

"Do you at least have a title?"

"My publisher sorts that out after it has been written. Why are you here?"

She finally tore her eyes from the screen and turned to face him. Even after all this time working together, he still got under her skin. He would arrive and stand, watching here and it was the most annoying thing that anyone could do.

"We have a case."

"Why didn't you tell me that when you first arrived rather then grill me on the book?"

"It's more fun to grill you. You in?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No"

Bones sighed and took the coat off the back of her chair before following him out of the lab. She needed to finish writing but she knew better then anyone else that the dead don't wait for a good time to show up. She would be pulling an all-nighter if things didn't slow down a little.

It took almost two hours of driving and Booth's constant stream of questions before they were finally at their crime scene.

"Are you going to tell me what we have or am I going to go in blind?"

"We have a body. That's all I know"

They got out of the car and moved closer to the constant flow of people that came with a crime scene. You had those that were doing something productive then you had those that just destroyed the evidence to do nothing more then satisfy morbid curiosity.

"HEY!"

Bones pulled away from Booth and ducked under the tape, pushing the man out of the way.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The man held up his hand, the other left at his side, a camera weighing it down.

"I'm a reporter Miss. The people deserve to know what's going on"

Bones snarled at him and snatched the camera from his hand. She pulled open the back and unwound the film, watching the mans face fall.

"You have no right to do that!"

"Get out of my crime scene"

The man moved closer to her, his face angry.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Bones grabbed his wrist and turned it quickly, feeling deeply satisfied as she felt the bones begin to strain under her fingers.

"I'll snap your wrist. Get out of my crime scene"

She released him and watched as he all but ran away and out of sight. Booth finally arrived at her side, his face pulled into a smile.

"Well handled."

"Where the hell is the security here? He should not have been able to get into the scene."

"Crime scenes are never 100 reporter proof, you know that"

She huffed ear out through her nostrils and silently counted to one hundred. This done, she finally looked down at the body. Or to be more correct, the torso. There was no head, no arms and no legs.

"Dismembered, right?"

Bones leaned in closer gently touching one of the leg stumps with her latexed finger.

"Booth, it's been eaten. See the jagged tear marks?"

Booth leaned closer next to her and nodded slowly.

"Are you able to identify whoever this was?"

"We'll take the torso back to the lab and see what we can find before we clean off the bones. Did they find anything else?"

Booth glanced at his notes before nodding and gently lifting what remained of the victim's shirt with his pen. A large circle with the letter "E" covered the entirety of the stomach.

"That looks new. See how the edges of the tattoo are puckered? It was done just before they were put into the water."

"So murder then?"

"Maybe. Could be suicide. People do drown themselves"

Booth stood and shook his head.

"Nah, I can feel it in my gut. We have a murder."

"Excuse me if I don't trust your gut but I would rather wait for the lab results"

Booth said nothing, just stood back and watched as Bones, with the assistance from one of the EMT's called onto the scene, loaded the oceans left-over's into a body bag.

Two hours later, having collected all the evidence that they could from the torso, the remains were lowered into a tank and the flesh eating beetles began to feast. Booth stayed well away from that room, he hated the sounds that the beetles made. He also had a fear of that ridiculously thin looking tank breaking.

"So what do we know Bones?"

"We know that our victim is male and that he had been out to see for quite a while."

"How do you know that?"

"Hodgins found fish eggs in his limb stumps and the shape of what was left of the pelvic bone gave us the rest."

"Is that all you have?"

Bones sighed.

"Booth, we don't have a skull or anything. We don't even know cause of death and we may never know. Unless you plan to go fishing and find the animals that ate his limbs, this is where the case ends."

"You're giving up awful easy"

"No, I'm stating the facts"

Booth sat back and looked at her. Bones ignored his gaze, even though she could feel it at the back of her skull.

"Unless you're going to read my thoughts, can you please stop trying to look into my thoughts?"

"I'm just a little confused it all"

"By what?"

"Your eagerness to give up on this case."

"I'm not giving up I'm just being honest."

"Well stop it, you're scaring me"

Bones rolled her eyes and resumed writing her very short notes that she had gotten so far on this case. There was nothing else to do. Perhaps the bones would show something but until the bugs had stopped their cleaning, it was just all a matter of guess work. Notes done, Bones put her pen down and started walking back to her office.

"Where you going Bones?"

"To write. Unless there is another reason that you have to interrupt my day"

Booth watched her go, confused by this new person in front of him. Bones, the one person that he could rely on to pull him into a case was ready to jump ship the moment that things got hard.

"Hey Ange"

Angela paused.

"Yeah?"

"What's up with Bones?"

Angela shrugged.

"I don't know. She's been on edge all week. I know that her publishers have been putting the pressure on for another book but she's run out of ideas."

"She looked busy when I walked in on her."

"She was completely stuck this morning and it was only the second chapter. She's got writers block I think"

"Can a woman with a brain that size get a block?"

"I'm actually surprised that it hasn't happened before. She's churned out her books in quick succession and I think she's starting to feel the burn."

Booth nodded and turned his attention back to the torso. He wasn't ready to give up quite yet. Something about this just didn't fit and he smelt a rat. He didn't know what it was but he got a feeling that this was not the end of whatever this was.

Booth knew that he would find her here. Where else would she be? He slipped into the office as quietly as he could so that he wouldn't disturb her. She had fallen asleep, using her arm as a pillow, her laptop still open, the page blank.

"Bones"

She sighed before lifting her head slightly.

"What do you want?"

"Why are you here? You should be at home"

"Writing"

She removed her head completely from her arms and sat up straight, her fingers finding the keyboard but not moving.

"I can't think of anything to write Booth"

"So don't"

"I don't have a choice. My publishers-"

"Screw them. You've made them plenty of money and they are hardly going to dump you just because you decide to take a break."

"What kind of break do you have in mind?"

"I can order some Wong Fu's if you like"

"Thanks Booth"

Booth nodded and pulled out his phone, placing a huge order of food. He knew that when Bones ate, she tended to graze and pick rather then eat in one sitting. He left the lab and waited out the front for Sid to show up with the order.

"Booth, why aren't you eating at the restaurant?"

"Hey Sid. Bones is working on a new novel and she's got a bit of writers block and she needs to refuel."

"Fair enough. I threw in a few extras in there for you guys, oh and this too"

Sid pushed a bottle of red wine in Booth's hand, a sly smile on his face.

"It's the inept beauty's favourite."

"Sid, I've told you before-"

Sid held his hands up and shook his head.

"I know, I know. Have a good meal and call me if you need anything else"

Booth watched him drive off before heading back into the lab again. Bones had not moved from her space in front of the computer and Booth set down the food with a sigh.

"Bones, give yourself a break. Sid gave me a bottle of your favourite wine."

"I don't think I should take a break."

"Staring at the screen will not get anything written. You need to relax, eat and help me drink this bottle of wine."

Bones groaned and moved from her seat to the one across from Booth, watching him as he laid the food out on the table.

"What am I going to do Booth? I have nothing"

"You need to relax. A brain like yours does not stay blocked for very long."

"I goggled writers block and there was a story there about a writer who didn't write for seven years! She had nothing for seven years!"

"So don't break a mirror then"

Bones frowned.

"Funny."

Booth pushed the container of noodles towards her, relaxing only when she started eating. He found some plastic cups and poured two cups of wine. Bones downed hers in one quick swallow and Booth filled it back up wordlessly. They remained silent as they ate and in Bones case, drunk. By the time the food was done, she was a little drunk and had curled up on the sofa, her eyes closed.

"Do you want me to drive you home Bones?"

"No, I'll just stay here."

Booth pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and laid it on top of her, pulling it up so that it covered her completely. He tidied up their mess and put the cap back on the wine. By the time he was done, she was fast asleep, her face buried in the blanket. Booth smiled as he went about switching off all the lights and in a final act of kindness, closed her laptop, settling the room in a heavy darkness.