A/N: I don't own Bones or any of its characters.
Sweets was sitting across from a panel of psychiatrists. He was defending his latest work. It had taken him a long time to finish since he had to restart everything. Once he learned that Brennan and Booth had shared a kiss during their first case together, it had changed everything that he wrote about them. His whole theory was blown apart. He thought that the kiss would be a culmination of sexual tension that had lasted for years between them.
Instead, he had to rethink, reevaluate everything. It had taken him time, but he looked over every note he had made from their first session to the last. What he had discovered was something different. So, he again finished his book and Brennan and Booth. Now, the hard part remained. He still had to defend it to the psychiatry board at Rutgers.
"And do you believe that the Agent and the Doctor would ever have anything more than a professional relationship at this point?" one of the doctors asked.
"Yes, I do," Sweets answered. "They already do. They are everything but lovers at this point."
"Some would say that is a true friendship, nothing more," another doctor added.
"But with the underlying sexual tension and willingness to sacrifice for the other, it goes beyond a simple friendship."
"But you've mentioned repeatedly in your thesis that the Agent and the Doctor had set up some many barriers between them, I found it hard to believe that they could work through all of them without some outside help."
"And they clearly don't seem to want that outside help. You've mentioned their hostility towards your sessions and your profession. Do you honestly think that they can overcome all of this?"
Sweets thought about the question. Could Brennan and Booth really develop into a relationship? They were so different, after all. He was a God fearing man who relied on his gut. She was a hyper rational who dismissed feelings as nothing more than chemical reactions.
"Yes," he finally said. "But it would be like trying to dismantle an atomic bomb."
"Have I ever told you how much I hate New Jersey?" Booth asked. He was standing in the middle of muddy field of the coast of the Hudson River. They had been called when a skeleton hand had been found.
Further digging had revealed the rest of the body. The body was intact, except for the hands, feet and head, which had all the flesh removed. This made identification almost impossible.
Police had roped off the area so no one could get close. Hodgins was examining the dirt for different particulates. Booth was watching Brennan look over the bones while Cam was examining the rest of the body.
"Yes you have," Cam said. "Many times."
"Why are you so testy?" Hodgins asked.
"Because I'd really hate to find a mob burial ground tonight."
"Is there a better night to find a mob burial ground?" Brennan asked. Booth just sighed at Brennan's answer.
"I don't want a mob burial ground because that means the media will be involved. If they are involved then the boss is going to be breathing down my neck and I don't like that."
Booth rubbed the back of his neck and regrouped himself.
"What do we have?" he asked. "I see we have a dead woman, but do we have cause of death?"
"It's not a woman," Brennan said.
"What?" Booth questioned. "I can clearly see from the body that it's a woman."
"Not true. Look at the hands. The index finger is shorter than the ring finger. The eye cavities are rounder. The brow is more prominent and the jaw is shaped differently from a woman."
"But what about the body. It's a woman's body. How do you explain that?"
"The teeth don't fit," Cam said. "The canine's are shorter, that would suggest woman."
"Gender reassignment surgery. It can reshape the body is most attributes, but the hands have too many nerves to be reshaped this way. While the teeth can be filed, eye cavities cannot be reshaped. My hypothesis is that this was a biological male who went through gender reassignment surgery."
"We've got another one," Hodgins announced. While digging for different sediment, he came across another body. It, too, had the body intact, but the hands, feet, and skull had the flesh removed.
The discovery of a second body resulted in more people brought in to dig. They had found four other bodies, but they were more decomposed than the original two. Bones studied the skeletons for what seemed like forever. She looked very troubled by what she saw.
"What's the problem, Bones?" Booth asked.
"These four skeletons don't make any sense," she explained. "The head and hands are that of a man, but the pelvis is that of a woman. I don't know of any gender reassignment surgery that would reshape the pelvis, especially to switch from narrow to wide."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm not sure what to make of this."
Booth had never seen Brennan stumped like this. She always had an idea or at least would say she needed to study the bones. Now, it sounded like she didn't know what to make of the bones.
"Have we found all the bodies?" Booth asked. The police had brought in cadaver dogs to help find the rest of the remains.
"Yes, sir," replied a police officer.
"Okay, let's get this packed up and over to the Jeffersonian."
Brennan had spent the rest of the night looking over the bones, taking x-rays, and trying to find something that would ease her mind. Booth came into the Jeffersonian and found her bringing up the x-rays on her computer.
"Time to get home, Bones," he told her.
"Can't sleep."
"If you don't sleep, you won't be at your best mentally. We need you to on you A game for this one."
"I don't know what that means."
"It means," Booth said, swiping his card and going onto the secured platform. "That we need all of you brain power to help solve this case. So, come on, let's go."
"I can't. I need to know the answer."
"The answer will be there tomorrow. I don't want to wait either, but sometimes you have to."
Booth walked off the platform. He turned to see Brennan still standing. She hadn't move from her spot.
"Promise me that you'll sleep," Booth said.
"I promise."
"I promise."