A/N: Trying my hand at including some case stuff along with my B&B relationship fascination. Being as how I was an English major in college, please forgive any forensic errors I might have made! There'll be some ansty, romanc-y stuff coming, along with some danger and hopefully catching the bad guy! Please let me know if you like or don't like!

Disclaimer: Wouldn't be writing this stuff if I owned Bones now would I?

Chapter 1 – The Dumping Ground

"Come on, Bones, we've got a case!" Booth said as he bounded onto the platform with his characteristic ebullience. He strode quickly across the platform to where his partner stood, peering at some apparently ancient remains. He stopped on the other side of the table from her, leaning towards her.

"Bones!" he said again, louder this time. She finally looked up at him, her blue eyes flashing. "I heard you the first time, Booth; you don't need to shout at me." He flashed a grin and leaned back. "Come on, Bones, let's go! Those bones are gonna be just as ancient when you get back."

She sighed and started to pull off her latex gloves as he waved her off the platform, hurrying her along. "What's the big hurry, Booth? If it's a dead body, it's not going to get any more or less dead in the next few minutes." He laughed and continued to direct her toward her office, his hand on her back. "Good one, Bones! It's not getting anymore dead, but I know how you hate to have the evidence compromised and the longer we leave it laying around, the more likely it is something important might go missing." She huffed and rolled her eyes, but quickly stripped off her lab coat and grabbed her go bag.

Once they were in Booth's SUV and on the road, Brennan asked, "Ok, so what do we have?" Booth tossed her a case file and said, "Some woman was taking an afternoon walk on the land around her office building and noticed something sticking up out of the leaves near the trail. She pulled some of them back and found skeletonized remains. She hightailed it back to the office and called the locals. Given the condition of the body, they called us." Brennan frowned as she reviewed the limited information they had. "I hope she didn't disturb the scene too much," she muttered, flipping through the pages.

Booth snickered. "I don't think she was real interested in sticking around to touch anything once she realized she was looking at a dead human, Bones. Not everyone's as fascinated by rotting corpses as you are, you know." She glared at him. "I'm not fascinated by rotting corpses, Booth, there's too much flesh. You know I prefer skeletal remains," she said testily. It was Booth's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, right, sorry, what was I thinking?"

When they arrived at the crime scene, Brennan immediately set to work. Booth stood by, notebook ready, waiting for her initial impressions. FBI crime scene techs scurried nearby, collecting samples and searching the surrounding area.

After carefully clearing away the leaves and the debris covering the body, Brennan got her first good look at the skeleton. "The bones are mostly devoid of flesh, " she noted. "So I would estimate the remains have been here for at least six to nine months. Hodgins should be able to get a more accurate time frame with soil samples." She paused, leaning closer to get a better look. "Female, age 18-23. Never given birth, given the shape of the pelvis. Relatively small prognathism, oval shaped nasal cavity and rounded orbital shape indicate Asian descent. " She stopped suddenly and leaned forward to brush more debris off the ribs. She took a deep breath and looked up at Booth.

He stopped writing and glanced at her. Her expression made him kneel down next to her, careful not to disturb anything. "What, Bones? What do you see?" She motioned to the ribcage, drawing his attention. "Look at the marks on the ribs. There are cut marks on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th ribs, as well as the sternum and menubrium." The marks were well-defined and Booth could see them clearly. He frowned and said, "Ok, cut marks, a lot of them…." He trailed off, waiting for her to explain further. "Yes, Booth, a lot of them," she said, gesturing impatiently at body. "These marks were made with a great deal of force, reflecting repeated, violent stabbing. And look, they may actually go completely through the thoracic cavity to the thoracic vertebrae." Booth nodded, catching up with her now. "Classic overkill," he said. "Lots of rage here."

Brennan opened her mouth to agree when they were interrupted by a shout from one of the FBI techs. "Agent Booth! Dr. Brennan!" the tech called. The pair stood and looked further into the forest to where the tech was pointing. "I think I've found another body!"

With a quick glance at each other, the partners moved quickly to the area of the woods the FBI tech had been searching. Brennan knelt and began brushing away the accumulated leaves and dirt. A cursory examination had her looking up at Booth and nodding. "Damn," Booth murmured and turned to the agents who had gathered nearby. "Ok, guys, this whole area needs to be thoroughly searched. We may have found a dumping ground. I want a grid set up and every inch of this place gone over with a fine tooth comb. All the evidence goes back to the Jeffersonian."

It was late into the evening before the search of the woods was complete. Brennan had examined each of the bodies as they were uncovered, directing the best recovery technique for each before moving on. Booth approached her quietly as she supervised the latest find. "Bones?" She met his eyes and nodded slowly, answering his unspoken question. "How many total?" she asked softly. "I lost count...." He closed his eyes as his head dropped back. "20 total. There haven't been anymore in the last two hours, so it looks like we've found them all." His eyes drifted over her and noted how exhausted she looked. "Come on, everything will be transported back to the lab and you can start in the morning. Let's get something to eat and then catch some sleep."

Brennan started to protest, but realized from the look on his face that Booth wasn't taking no for an answer. "Alright," she said, gathering up her gear. "We'll start fresh tomorrow."