Hey there everybody! Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out…this week has been insanely crazy. Once again, I want to thank you all for continuing to read this story. I really am thrilled that so many of you are still enjoying it. And as I described in my comments for Chapter 1…please be reminded that this installment of the series is set IN the context of the Season One episode "Woman at the Airport". As such you will find that I've included much of the same dialogue from that episode, though I've reworked it and added a bit of my own :o)
Chapter 2
"You know, somehow this doesn't quite live up to what I had in mind…" Sitting beside Booth in their rental car as they drove along Rodeo Drive, Brennan's attentions were easily drawn to the rows of palm trees lining the road as they past.
…And much to her chagrin, she was once again seated dutifully in the passenger seat.
"Sorry?" Booth echoed from beside her, the sunshine beating down on him as he directed them through traffic.
"Never mind," she dismissed with a shake of her head. Then squinting against the brightness of the sun she casually observed, "You know, this car doesn't feel very FBI'ey."
"Bones!" he seemed aghast, "This is a 1966 Mustang…it's a classic! What goes better than that with the FBI?"
"How come on the rental agreement under model you made the guy write 'sedan'?"
"Come on Bones!" then reaching his free arm over and around her back, Booth tried his best to lighten the mood, "We're in California. Look! Palm trees!"
Though despite his best efforts, it was clear that Brennan was not going to forget his promise so easily, "You know I'd like to drive sometimes."
Deciding in favor of casual ignorance, Booth continued in his attempts to change the subject, "Look, our contact out here is Special Agent Tricia Finn."
"I'm an excellent driver," she threw in.
"Yeah, I'm aware of that Bones. You only remind me of it every chance you get."
"Well, maybe I wouldn't feel so inclined to remind you if you'd actually let me drive once in a while," her observation was logical even if it was unlikely.
"Yeah but see Bones…all I'm really doing is invoking my driving rights as the winner of our little New Year's wager." A stolen glance in her direction told him that she wasn't likely to concede so quickly, "You do remember our bet don't you?"
Training her eyes squarely on his, she couldn't help the annoyance that leaked through her voice, "Mercifully, how could I forget…"
Letting a hint of smugness cloud his grin, Booth accelerated down the stretch of road before them; though his next comment was a clear indication that he'd made the mistake of becoming a bit too overconfident.
"If I were you Bones, I'd learn to like the view from your side of the '66 Mustang, 'cause by the looks of it…you're going to be seeing a whole 'lot of it baby!" Adjusting his sunglasses a bit too triumphantly, he turned his smile back toward the road. His worn leather jacket provided a perfect substitute for his standard Government Issue dark suit and tie.
And just because he looked so handsome in that leather jacket and sunglasses, she was willing to let that last 'baby' comment slide.
Allowing him his smugness for just a fraction of a moment longer, Brennan considered him with an interested smile. When finally it seemed as though he'd settled his fullest attentions back to the road ahead of them she surprised him with a clever retort.
"I'm not above telling Deputy Director Cullen what kind of car you rented."
She watched with level interest as the meaning of her words sunk in, and suddenly he was slowly chancing a glance in her direction.
"You wouldn't," he challenged.
Letting a degree of smugness contort her own features, Brennan carefully turned her attention away from him and back toward the passing palm trees.
It was sweet that he seemed so sure.
"No?" she shifted her head back in his direction, her eyebrows quirked suggestively, "Are you sure you want to test that theory?"
Fixing a befuddled stare in her direction, Booth was astonished to find her grinning in accomplishment. Apparently she was quite satisfied with herself.
This was most certainly not good.
…But he'd be damned if she wasn't the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in the brilliance of the California sun.
…Son of a…
Steering the car over to the side of the road, Booth slowed the vehicle to a stop and cut the engine as she turned inquiring eyes on him. Quirking a questioning eyebrow at his sudden decision, she watched him as he shook his head dejectedly before ultimately moving to step out of the car; though not without a hint of a smile she noticed. As he circled the front of the car wordlessly and traded positions with her, Brennan settled into the driver's seat, a satisfied smirk covering her lips.
Within seconds Booth had situated himself on the opposite side and she started the engine and put the Mustang in gear. In no time at all they were cruising down the boulevard once again; although not a word had passed between them since her idle threat to rat him out to his superiors.
Wind blowing through her hair, the warmth of the sun beating down on her…
Ah, she thought, this was nice.
Booth, in the meanwhile, remained positively silent as he sulked in on himself in the seat beside her. As she turned slightly she noted his defeated posture and grinned proudly, "Who's in the passenger seat now?"
Turning surprised and glimmering eyes on her, Booth failed in his effort to resist the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. Despite his moodiness, and the current state of his slightly bruised male-ego, he easily managed to consider her with a tender smile, "Yeah, yeah…"
Temperance could hear the tension in her own voice as she examined the remains of their latest victim, "I need all the dirt, silt, and bits and pieces collected with the body parts sent back to the Jeffersonian immediately."
"You know what I like…when there's no flesh on the bones…just a personal preference," Booth expertly chimed in as she moved to lift the forearm of the victim so that she could examine it more closely.
"There's not much left anyway," she answered conversationally.
Their comfortable exchange was cut short by the annoying tone of their L.A. counterpart, Special Agent Tricia Finn, who it seemed was content to observe from a distance, "You know Dr. Brennan, as a screenplay writer myself I'd be happy to help in any way that I can with regard to your movie."
Never pulling her attention from the remains in front of her, Brennan couldn't help the growing annoyance that was tugging at her when it came to Agent Finn, "Excuse me?"
Eagerly leaning forward, the young woman explained, "Someone told me they were thinking of making your book into a movie."
"You could say something Bones…" Booth seemed slightly put out that he hadn't been made privy to this knowledge.
"All I know is I'm supposed to meet with some big movie producer while I'm here if I have time, which I probably won't," silently Brennan hoped that her brief explanation would be enough of an apology. Turning her body more towards the Agent behind her, Brennan now addressed Finn, "Does the pathologist need any further access to the remaining soft tissue?"
"Ah, no… he got everything out of it that he could…so, my own screenplay is about this FBI agent who finds herself on the trail of a former boyfriend and…"
As the woman continued talking, Brennan attempted to return her fullest attention back toward the case at hand. She returned to the remains and lifted the victim's skull.
This overzealous, Mooney-eyed Special Agent routine was becoming more than she could handle…so she decided to put an end to it.
Her eyes never leaving the skull she held carefully in her hands, Brennan purposely ripped at the remaining fleshy tissues covering the facial remains, a move which quickly sent Agent Finn rushing for the exit, her hand firmly pressed against her mouth as if to shield the onslaught of sickness.
"Oh God…" she'd heard as the woman brushed past her.
"It's okay if you have to leave," Booth allowed, all the while missing the satisfied inward grin that sprang from deep within Brennan.
Now maybe they'd have some peace and quiet while she worked.
"This is not good," she instantly observed.
"Yeah, thanks for that insight," it was astonishing to her how immune to her examinations of human remains Booth had become during their time as partners.
"No…" she shifted the skull in her hands, "I mean the architecture of the skull has been radically altered."
"You mean by rotting, and being eaten by coyotes, and having the face ripped off by you?"
"No, by surgery…lots of surgery," it was her quizzical tone more than it was her actual statement that elicited his undivided attention as she continued, "I'm not sure I'll be able to tell who this was."
Booth's surprise and visible concern was mirrored in his own tone of voice, "You mean she had major reconstruction to her skull? I know this is L.A. and all, but what kind of plastic surgeon messes with your bone structure?"
"I'm not sure," she told him, "but it can't be many. It might give us a place to start."
"What about her dental records? Couldn't you use them to give you a positive ID?"
"Well I could try but it's no guarantee. For one, we'd have to assume that whatever reconstruction was performed altered the structure of her jaw. Secondly we'd have to hope that she didn't have any additional oral surgery which might have compromised our ability to glean meaningful information to positively ID her," Brennan's growing anxiousness was a clear indication of her frustration, "and thirdly, I'm not sure I'd even know where to start here Booth. It's going to be pretty difficult to piece together the elements of the murder without any definitive knowledge about the victim."
While he appreciated the challenge she was faced with, Booth remained unconcerned, "Well Bones…that's why you're the best."
As she shook her head playfully, a tight smile pulled at the corners of Brennan's mouth whilst Booth circled the length of the table to stand beside her.
"So I guess it's not looking so promising for that date you promised me," she sounded disappointed.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, it appears that this case is anything but open and shut. It's going to be quite an effort to properly identify our victim; a fact which I don't have to tell you will be crucial if we have any hope of catching her killer."
"Good point, the mystery of our Jane Doe's murder is definitely shaping up to be quite a challenge," he conceded as she nodded solemnly. "But last I checked…even FBI agents and their brilliant forensic anthropologists needed to break to eat, so I fail to see how this interferes with our dinner plans."
One word in particular had caught her attention, "'Their' anthropologists?"
His answer was a quick smirk though he didn't let her correction deter his agenda.
"You surprise me Booth. I've never known you to indulge in any distractions while working a case. Why the sudden determination?"
Attempting nonchalance, Booth answered by shrugging slightly, "What? A guy can't be excited about taking his girlfriend out for dinner?"
"Girlfriend?" she was clearly shocked by the casualness of his comment, though she wasn't entirely sure that it was in a negative way.
The strange look she shot him in response prompted his follow-up, "What?"
"Well…aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself there Booth? I mean, technically we haven't even gone out on a date yet," the second the words were out of her mouth she was aware of how poorly he might interpret them.
"So…?" he was obviously growing more confused.
Her brow drew closer to her hairline, "So…nothing. I just think it's interesting that you've suddenly chosen to call me your girlfriend when we haven't really established our relationship in any conventional form or by any traditional custom."
Ah…Dr. Temperance Brennan, world-famous anthropologist makes a formal appearance…
Booth always found it intriguing how she seemed to revert to her expert knowledge of the human species every time things between them tended toward the personal.
With a smile he indulged her for a moment, "Well, correct me if I'm wrong Bones…but I thought we'd already established our claim on each other. I wouldn't have thought that hearing it out loud would have made so much of a difference."
'Made our claim on each other…'? That was interesting, she noted. Brennan's eyebrows quirked in intrigue but she remained thoughtfully silent.
What she failed to realize was that her silence was becoming more distressing to him, "Look, I'm sorry if I made an incorrect assumption," he tried.
Maybe it was too much to hope for…he was becoming more and more disappointed by the instant.
"I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable Bones," he told her sullenly as he physically withdrew from her. It was his growing distance that finally spurred her out of her motionless stare.
"Booth, I didn't say it made me uncomfortable!" His eyes conveyed a very certain sense of hopefulness as she continued to put him at ease, "I just said that it surprised me. I mean, I thought men were always the more reticent partner in any relationship while the women were always the ones pressuring for more of a commitment."
He watched her carefully as she added more quietly, "At least…that's always been my experience."
"Oh…" the realization of her insecurity dawned on him though he appeared momentarily dumbstruck by it.
Though she was deeply apologetic, she was having difficulty finding the right words to convey her sentiments, "I didn't mean to imply…I mean, I…"
"Bones," his eyes which had been fixed on the floor beneath him sought hers once again, "I think you'll find that I'm not your typical commitment phobic Alpha Male." His choice of words drew an immediate sigh of relief from within her, "I sort of pride myself on being unique that way."
Once again distrusting her own ability to speak, Temperance simply nodded her acceptance of the deeper truth within that statement. She had a sense that time would tell her quite a few things about Seeley Booth that would exceed her expectations.
"I really am sorry Booth…" she started again.
With a warm smile he bridged the distance he'd initially put between them moments before, "Don't worry about it Bones. You're forgiven."
Reaching out for her, Booth drew her closer into his warmth, slowly caressing the length of her upper arms, "So what do you say Bones," he breathed softly, "…pick you up at your room at eight?"
As she willingly let herself be drawn into his arms and charming smile, Brennan couldn't help but look up at him with a soft smile of her own, "Okay, but on one condition…" she prodded as he considered her thoughtfully.
"And that is…?" he eagerly wrapped her closer against him as she reached up to encircle his neck.
"Think you could call me your girlfriend again…?"
The deep throaty chuckle that erupted from within his chest spurred her own light laughter. Pulling her the last couple of inches into him, Booth finally closed his lips over hers…but not before murmuring quietly, "And I was worried it was going to be something tough…"
Okay so what did you all think? For those of you who are interested...I'm expecting to post chapter 3 by Monday :o)