A/N: Welcome to my first Bones fic. I used to write JAG fics, but its been about five years! So, I welcome all comments - but be nice!
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Bones. I wish I did!
Enjoy!
Chapter 1 – Cover-ups and Coveralls
Special Agent Seeley Booth pulled his SUV into the lakeside campground and shut off the ignition. "So much for not letting the locals know about the body," he said, looking at the five squad cars that still had their lights flashing.
"Tell me again why I didn't have enough time to get changed before coming out here?" asked his partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan, from the passenger seat. Booth turned and looked at her, something he had been trying to avoid during the past hour. When he had called her cell and told her that they had a case, she told him that she needed to go home and change, not mentioning that she was in a drop dead gorgeous blue silk dress. He thought she was being difficult and told her they had to go now. Now he was paying for it. The dress did amazing things to her eyes and accented the creaminess of her skin, but the way the silk hugged the curves of her body did amazing things to him. Her upswept hair exposed the slender curve of her neck and he found himself imagining, again, how it would feel against his lips.
"Booth?" The sound of his name brought him out of his thoughts and into the safer territory of the case.
"Well, the local Sheriff and Cullen go way back. So, when a body was found when they were widening this lake, the Sheriff knew his department couldn't handle a case like this, so he called in a favor from his buddy in the FBI." Booth pulled the keys out of the ignition and glanced back at her with a grin. "Plus, most of the residents in this area are older retirees. The Sheriff was worried about his constituents getting in a panic when they heard about a body. They want us to come in, collect the bones and let you do your thing back in DC."
"Don't let Hodgins hear that," laughed Brennan. "He'll say all we're missing are a few black helicopters and a bunch of guys in black suits and we've got the perfect Government cover-up."
"What, you mean the FBI swooping in and removing dead bodies in the middle of the night?" They shared a laugh, imagining Dr. Hodgins launching into one of his conspiracy driven tirades about secret government cover-ups.
"So, the sheriff calls Cullen, Cullen calls you, and you call me," mused Brennan.
"And, since the sense of urgency picks up speed as it rolls downhill, I was told that we had to get out here ASAP." Booth let his eyes run over her again, knowing that the effect that she had on him would be mirrored in the deputies milling around the lake in front of them. "If you had told me that you were at the Jeffersonian for a fundraiser dinner, I would have run you by your house. Don't worry, when Zack gets here you can change into your coveralls," he said, trying to use his trademark smile to smooth the way.
"You're lucky it's not in the middle of winter," she muttered as she opened the door.
Booth knew first hand the effect that Brennan would have on the men standing around by their squad cars. An all-business Brennan was sexy. A dressed-to-the-nines Brennan was dangerous. Deputy Jason Piccolo whistled low under his breath as he saw Brennan exit the black SUV. "Man, makes you want to join the FBI," he joked.
Deputy Scott Moran wasn't laughing. "What the hell is this? Since when does a crime scene count as a place to take a date?" he growled, grinding his cigarette into the ground before walking over to the newcomers.
Booth pulled out his badge as Moran walked up to him. "Special Agent Seeley Booth…."
"Yeah, I was told that you were coming," he interrupted. "Deputy Scott Moran." He glanced over at Brennan, then back at Booth. FBI Groupies, he thought. "If you want to follow me, I'll show you where we found the body." Brennan glanced at Booth, eyebrows raised. Booth shrugged his shoulders in answer to her silent question.
As they followed behind the surly deputy, Booth stuck close by Brennan. Thankfully she favored low heels, but the ground was still uneven. If she fell because he didn't give her enough time to change… well, his ears hurt just thinking about the tirade she'd let loose.
About five silent minutes later, they arrived at a one lane bridge over a murky, slow moving river. Judging from the construction equipment, the widening project was well underway, until the body was found that is.
"What is the condition of the body," asked Brennan.
"Well, ma'am, it's not in good condition at all. That's what happens when you're submerged under water for a while."
"No kidding," replied Brennan, quickly moving past irritation. "What I'm asking is what stage of decomposition the body is in."
"I'm sorry, ma'am. But I'm afraid I can't share that information with you. This is a police investigation and not a gossip session."
"What the hell…." Brennan sputtered; only to have Booth put a hand on her shoulder.
"What the hell is your problem Deputy? Your boss called us down here because you guys can't handle a case like this and you're going to give my partner attitude? We can leave right now and you can explain why your investigation isn't going anywhere."
"Partner?" stammered Moran. "But I was told you were bringing a doctor with you who could help on the case."
"Deputy Moran, meet Dr. Temperance Brennan," Booth said with a sarcastic smile.
"Damn, er, darn. I'm sorry ma'am, er, Dr. Brennan. I just assumed," he said, motioning to her dress, "I mean, you don't look like a doctor, or someone who looks at bodies all day."
"If I had been able to change clothes," Brennan said, with a pointed look at Booth, "I wouldn't be freezing to death in an eight hundred dollar dress waiting to be able to see the bodies." Booth shrugged out of his suit jacket and held it out for her. She accepted it with a small smile of thanks.
"Well, let me show you where we found it," said Moran. Partners, huh? He chuckled silently. Yeah right. He led them to the side of the bridge where a tall, dark haired man was standing near a wetsuit and dive equipment. "Dub here was taking a look down under the bridge to start planning for the river widening and he came up with this," he said, motioning to a video screen that had a human skull frozen in time.
Brennan looked at the video screen, taking in the size and shape of the skull and the debris in the surrounding mud. Something in the background caught her eye. "Dub, did you touch the skeleton at all?"
"No, ma'am. Once I saw that thing smiling at me, I got the hell, er, heck out of there." The sound of a truck engine caught their attention and Brennan nodded as she saw the Medico-Legal van pulling up, Hodgins behind the wheel and Zack in the passenger seat.
"Dub, I'm going to go down to have a look, can we use your video equipment?" Brennan asked.
"Sure thing! I'll get everything set up for you."
Brennan walked towards the van and Booth fell in to step beside her. "Why are you going to go down?" he asked.
"I think I saw something down there, Booth. I need to get a better look. From the way this river looks, I doubt that it could carry a body all the way down here and wedge it up under a one lane bridge." She handed his suit jacket back to him as they arrived at the van.
"What's the condition of the body, Dr. Brennan?" asked her assistant, Zack Addy.
"I don't know yet," replied Brennan. "The skull that they caught on video looks in an advanced stage of decomposition. I'm going in to take a closer look. Then we'll need to get the bones out of the water and I'll want the soil around the site collected for analysis," she said, climbing into the back of the van and selecting the case that held her wetsuit. "Zack, you get with Dub and make sure that his equipment is in good working order and supplement with whatever you need. Hodgins, I need you to start taking samples of the water and, well, you do your thing. Give me five minutes to get changed."
"Can I help?" asked Booth, who immediately realized how his question sounded. "I mean, do you have anything you need me to do while you're getting changed?"
Brennan laughed. "You do your thing, I'll get changed and do mine," she said, closing the door to the van. Booth turned around and saw Zack grinning at him. Booth scowled at the young scientist, feeling a little better when Zack scurried away after Hodgins.
Booth shook his head and walked away, his mind inside the trailer where Brennan was probably unzipping her dress and….Stop it! He ordered himself. He focused his attention on gathering information from the deputy that he had renamed Moron.
Twenty minutes later, Brennan was carefully making her way through the water. Her vision was greatly limited because the water was murky with disturbed silt. "So far, I've only found some branches and cinder blocks along the edges. How far am I from where you found the skull?" she asked over the radio.
"You're about six or seven feet away. You'll see a big branch and the skull was behind the branch," replied Dub, watching the monitor. "It's coming up in about two feet now."
But Brennan had stopped short of the area indicated by Dub. On the bank, the men watched the video monitor as she reached out to gently brush the mud off of what appeared to be a large pale rock. "Zack?" she asked.
"Do you want me to come down, Dr. Brennan?" he asked, excited to have the chance to help his mentor.
"Yes, Zack. And double check how much O2 we have." She said, pulling her hand back to reveal the empty eye sockets of the skull in front of her. "We're going to be here for a while."