"Oh, what do we have here," Jack Hodgins asked as he stepped onto the examination platform at the Jeffersonian. Cam looked up at him as she picked a large tendril of kelp from the remains and set it aside for examination.
"A little gift from Booth all the way from California," the pathologist commented before handing the dish with the kelp to the entomologist.
"I'll bet Dr. Brennan can't be too happy with working on a case in the middle of a forensics conference. Oh, what's this? Hello you little sea snail, what are you doing on this body huh?" Hodgins plopped the striped shell snail into a small specimin cup and grinned at it.
"Dr. Brennan made it quite clear on the phone that she is not working the case with Booth, and only had the remains shipped here out of professional courtesy."
"Something's going on between the two of them. She's been acting weird about him for a week now," Angela added before looking at the remains. "Ew, if that's what salt water does to someone, remind me to never get in the ocean again."
"I'm sure you're safe for the time being. You don't think they've finally quit the partners pretense and started dating, do you?" Cam crossed her arms and looked over at Angela.
"No, Bren would have said something to me. When do you think the skull will be ready for me?"
"Mid afternoon at the earliest. I have to finish my examination before Zack can clean the bones."
"Well, I'll be in my office then. Archaeology wants me to do a reconstruction of an Anasazi village for a new display." With that, she left the platform. Zack turned the remains over and probed at the exposed bone.
"Dr. Saroyan, have you seen the amount of damage to the posterior? There seems to be a lot of predation." Hodgins looked over at the remains and examined the bite marks.
"Hmmm, it looks like it was done by Triakis Semifasciata."
"The leopard shark? But they don't attack humans," Zack said, frowning.
"Yeah, but with that amount of predation on the posterior, it has to be the leopard shark."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because it's a notorious bottom feeder." Cam groaned while Zack just looked confused.
"All right boys, just get back to work. Booth needs answers." Camille fixed them with a firm glare before returning to the remains on the table.
XxXxX
Booth sat at a borrowed desk at the FBI field office in San Diego, looking through missing persons reports. Though he didn't have much more than an age range and sex to go on, it at least gave him something to do while he waited for the results to come in from the Jeffersonian. As he flipped through a file, he ran his hand through his hair and sighed. If his partner was going to make things difficult between them, it was probably for the best that she wasn't working the case.
"Agent Booth?" A young man popped his head into the office, holding out a small stack of papers. "This just came over for you from Washington DC. It's something regarding an assignment."
"Thanks," Booth said as he stood and retrieved the papers from the young agent. He flipped through the papers and frowned. Why in the world was he being removed from the case? He was requested to work it because of his association with Brennan and now they were pulling him off of the case? It didn't make sense.
"Well, well, well, sexy Seeley." Booth looked up at the woman standing in the doorway and everything suddenly became clear. The woman there was nothing but long legs and large breasts with a body like Angelina Jolie's. She was stunningly gorgeous with thick black hair pulled neatly back in a sleek chignon, peircing green eyes and an olive complexion.
"Noor, fancy meeting you here. Last I heard you were working with the Syrian government to make peace arrangements regarding Lebanon."
"Yes, and now that assignment has finished." She walked into the room, the conservative cut of her pant suit doing nothing to hide the curves of her figure. Sitting down on the edge of the desk, she looked at him with a smile. "Now, I'm all about what you can do for me."
"Oh yeah, and what's that? You want another ride on the Booth Express after all these years?" Booth leaned back in his chair and smiled at her in return. Noor shook her head at his cocky attitude and gave a husky chuckle that sent a surge of feeling down Booth's spine. That laugh was just like his partner's.
"As much fun as that would be again, it should never have happened the first time. I was young and didn't know what I was doing."
"You knew exactly what you were doing Noor, and we both know that."
"Regardless, I'm here in town for a benefit and due to the number of threats against me recently, I find that I'm in need for...protection."
"What kind of protection?"
"My father feels that there is a great possibility that my life could be threatened while I am in town and wants for me to have trustworthy security."
"And you looked me up?" Noor smiled at him and leaned forward slightly.
"I've followed your career since the day you saved my life. I'm impressed with your track record Seeley. You're the only person I would trust to protect my life."
"When exactly am I being put to work?"
"Tonight. I am scheduled to speak at a benefit here in town. You would be my escort. I already have an appointment for you to be fitted for a tux, and we have dinner reservations at seven before the benefit begins. I hope you don't mind my planning of the evening."
"No, of course not. I look forward to it." She leaned down and kissed Booth on the lips before standing and pulling a business card from her pocket.
"Here's the address for the tuxedo shop. I'll have a car for you at six o'clock." She moved to the door, pausing as she reached the threshold of the office. "Oh and Seeley? If you're good, I might be interested in that ride on the Booth Express after all." She winked at him before brushing from the office and past the auburn haired woman standing there with her arms crossed. As soon as Noor was out of sight, Brennan entered the office and sat down across from Booth.
"What's up Bones?" Booth looked at his partner as he fiddled with the business card in his hand.
"What was all that about?"
"Just setting up a friendly dinner with a colleague is all."
A ride on the 'Booth Express' would hardly be classified as dinner. She was blatantly propositioning you for sex."
"Yeah, I caught that, thanks. Now, what are you doing here Bones?"
"Angela called with some of the results from the examination of the remains. The victim has been dead for approximately ten days. Angela entered her sketch of the victim into the missing persons data base, but she didn't get any hits."
"Okay, have her fax over a copy of the sketch and see if we can get it on the evening news. There has to be someone out there who recognizes her."
"There's another thing Booth. Cam discovered that the victim was sexually assaulted before she died. She found seminole fluid and is just waiting for the dna results to see if there is a match in CODIS."
"Great, thanks, I'll pass on the information so you can get back to your conference," Booth said in a way of dismissal. He looked at Temperance and noticed she seemed to be vascillating on a decision.
"I might have been a bit hasty in my earlier refusal to assist with the case."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I'm with you on this case, but I still have a schedule to keep at the forensics conference."
"That's not necessary really, but it is nice to know you still want to work with me. For a while I thought you were avoiding me because you were uncomfortable with me having asked you out."
"You aren't going to have sex with her, are you?"
"What?"
"Your colleague. Are you going to have sex with her?"
"I hadn't really thought about it, but most likely not. I've been assigned to work with her. Why, are you planning to bump uglies with Professor Hilldale?"
"It's Dr. Hillson, and no, I'm not considering it. Is that what you expected from me when you asked me to dinner?"
"Not right away, no. Look Temperance, I told you why I asked you out. While eventually I would want to be intimate with you, it certainly wouldn't be for at least a few dates, but since you turned me down, I don't see how this conversation has any relevance."
"Of course it's relevant. Two years ago, you thought I was gossiping about you and Rebecca. You gave me this speech about how there are too many strings attached to have sex with some people. When you discovered Cam was the one gossiping, you slept with her. Now after I turned down your offer, you're immediately going out to dinner with another woman. Are you trying to prove something to me?"
"Noor and I have a complicated history Bones, one which I will not be getting into with you. She's a brilliant linguist, has a Phd in Forensic Psychology and serves as an ambassador and interpreter for the United Nations. I haven't seen her in a long time, and am having dinner with her before working an assignment I've been put on with her. That's it."
"So you aren't intending to have sex?"
"No, but I'll tell you one thing. That guy you're meeting? He'll be expecting you to put out."
XxXxX
"Sweetie, how's the conference going," Angela asked Temperance over the phone as the forensic anthropologist changed for her dinner date.
"It's going okay. I give a presentation tomorrow on discovering bullet striations via bone markers."
"Sounds fascinating, really. So what's going on with you and Booth?"
"Nothing's going on Ange, you should know that."
"Really? Because you've been giving him the cold shoulder all week."
"I don't know what that means."
"You've been avoiding him and not in a good way."
"Booth and I are fine, so please stop hunting for details."
"It's fishing for details. Well if the two of you are fine, why haven't you been talking to him?"
"Can we please discuss this later? I'm meeting someone for dinner in half an hour."
"Really? So who is he?"
"Dr. Nathan Hillson. He's a forensic anthropologist based out of Gloucester, England. Booth interrupted his presentation yesterday, so I agreed to have dinner with him to make it up."
"Does Booth know about your date?"
"As a matter of fact, he does, and it's not a date, it's just dinner."
"And he's okay with it?"
"He's having dinner with a colleague of his own." Brennan pulled a face at the thought of the leggy, exotic looking woman.
"Really now? You don't sound too happy with the arrangement."
"There's just...she made a very blatant sexual advance on Booth, and when I asked him about it, he brushed it off as though it weren't an issue."
"Well sweetie, it probably is no big deal. He doesn't seem the type to sleep around...okay, I mean with colleagues...okay you know what? Never mind. Have fun with Dr. Hillson, and be careful."
"Of course I'm going to be careful, why wouldn't I be?"
"I just don't think his intentions are completely honorable."
"Huh, Booth said the same thing."
"Well Booth's a smart man. I'll talk to you later Bren. Call me when your dinner's over."
"I will." The two bade each other goodbye and hung up the phone.
XxXxX
"Thank you for taking this assignment Seeley. I know you were probably in the middle of something else," Noor said as Booth held open the door to the restaurant for her.
"Well, I do what I'm told."
"No you don't," Noor laughed. "If you did what you're told, then we never would have had that time together before. Besides, my investigators have said that you're interested in that scientist you work with on cases."
"I...that's...I'm not...you've had me investigated?" Booth looked briefly around the foyer of the restaruant before giving their information to the hostess. As she led them to their table, Noor brushed her hand up his arm.
"Of course, I had to. I couldn't just have you assigned to me, even if I know you to be an honorable man." Booth pulled out a seat for her, and then sat next to her, his back to a wall and facing the entrance of the restaurant.
"Well, as for my partner, you can't believe everything you hear, otherwise I'd have to believe that you're finally looking to settle down."
"What do you expect? I'm in my late twenties, and my father is insisting I marry soon. He says I should have already been married and have children, it's what a good Lebanese woman does. You should try the seared tuna here. It's incredible."
"You have a very direct way about you, it's kind of refreshing."
"How else is a woman supposed to get what she wants?" Noor picked up a glass of water and smiled at Booth before taking a sip.
XxXxX
"Ah, Temperance, I'm glad you could make it." Nathan smiled at her as she approached George's at the Cove. The restaurant wasn't far from her hotel, and she'd snjoyed the walk in the warmth of the evening.
"Of course," she commented back as she joined him, heading down the stairs toward the restaurant doors.
"I'm still amazed that you've agreed to join me. Who would have thought such a reknowned anthropologist would be available." Brennan looked at him for a long moment. Something about the comment didn't sit right with her.
"Well, it's the least I can do to make up for the interruption."
"Shall we?" Nathan motioned to the door, but made no move to open it. Brennan looked at him expectantly, then with a sigh, opened the door herself.
"Welcome to George's, do you have a reservation? Oh my gosh, you're Dr. Brennan." The hostess grinned at Brennan and practically bounced on her toes. "I have the perfect table for you, looks right out over the water."
"Wonderful, thank you." Brennan followed the enthusiastic young woman, with Nathan close beside her.
"So Dr. Brennan, I have to know...are the characters in your books based on real people? I mean Andy Lister is way to yummy to be fake, right?" Brennan opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again as she heard a familiar bark of laughter from a nearby table off to her left. She groaned and shook her head. Of course he would be at the same restaurant.
"Booth."
