Spoilers: Whatever. None, I don't think.
Disclaimer: Whatever. I do own Laura and Alex, by the way...
Author's Note: Um, the Tempe in the books is a little claustrophobic, so I used it here. In case anyone was wondering what on Earth I'm talking about. Not much else to say except that I hope you like this chapter!
"Bones!" Booth screamed. Brennan's ears pricked up. She was on the top floor of their temporary house. Booth had gone downstairs to "explore, like a normal person". "Bones!" he called again.
Brennan was at the stairs in record time. Probably fell down some stairs. A smile made its way to her lips. Maybe we can leave...
Her thoughts turned to shock, however when she ran down the last flight of stairs, into the dark basement, running smack into Booth. Well, he can stand.
"Excited to see me, Bones?" he asked. She looked up at his grinning face as she pulled herself away from him quickly. Now she was just confused.
"Booth, I thought you were hurt!" she breathed. She could just make it out as he clutched his chest where she'd just run into him.
"Well, I think I am, now," he teased. She smacked his arm a little too hard. "Now that was uncalled for, Bones." She shot him a warning look. He grinned again. "But I'm touched you'd come running at such a speed if I was actually injured..."
Brennan looked down, embarrassed at being caught out. "I wasn't worried about you," she defended. "I was actually thinking that if you were injured, we could get out of here." She sighed wistfully. Booth laughed.
"Bones, we've been here for-" he looked at his watch "-and hour and a half." He shot her a skeptical look, but a smug glint lit his eyes.
Hers narrowed. "And I already hate it. Anyway, what were you yelling about that only sounded like my escape?" He smiled at her, then grinned like a child, grabbing her hand and putting his finger to his mouth in a gesture of quiet. She stared at him.
He flashed his eyebrows, then began to lead her further into the basement. "Booth-"
"Shh! You'll spoil it!" he scolded in whisper. She rolled her eyes, but didn't make a noise. She tripped a little, not even being able to see her feet anymore; it was a big basement. Booth whirled.
"Bones, you okay?" he asked worriedly. Brennan sighed tiredly.
"Yes, Booth, I'm fine," she said, sounding bored and annoyed. Booth smiled, glad she probably couldn't see him. He didn't reply, instead turning back around. Within five seconds, he'd found what he was looking for.
"Aha! Prepare to be excited..." he said in the best magician's voice he could. Brennan waited silently to show her impatience. He dropped her hand and took her shoulder instead, thanking God when he didn't accidentally grope her in the dark.
A beam of light appeared as Booth opened the wall. There was a bunker, much like one would imagine a bomb shelter, only much smaller; uninhabitably so. It would 'comfortably' fit three or four people, though, for perhaps an hour or two.
It didn't look much like it was meant to be used for any longer. She hoped it wasn't. Enclosed spaces weren't her thing.
She looked expectantly at Booth for an explanation of why this was so amazing that it warranted lumbering around in a dark basement for longer than should ever be done.
"It's a secret room, Bones!" he said excitedly. She couldn't help but smile a little at his expression of pure wonder, like a child who is seeing a dinosaur skeleton for the first time. His expression fell a little at her words.
"Of course it's a secret room, Booth. It's a safe-house. If there wasn't a room like this, it would be significantly less safe, now, wouldn't it?" she said condescendingly. He frowned at her.
"Party-pooper."
Brennan and Booth stared in amazement. Alex and Laura had been sitting in the lounge-room for an hour playing Eye Spy. Besides the fact that there really wasn't anything to 'spy' in the bland room, it was somewhat sickening to see two grown adults playing Eye Spy at all. Let alone for an hour.
"Something beginning with...'S'!" declared Alex as if he'd just discovered the cure for cancer. Laura looked around the room critically, scanning everything from top to bottom.
Booth looked at Brennan and nodded to the kitchen, which was separated from the lounge-room-slash-dining-room by a breakfast bar. Brennan nodded vigorously. It was still far enough away to go without being heard if one spoke quietly.
Besides, if the FBI had any respect at all, they would have left them with at the very least a bottle of wine.
Booth cheered as he found one without even having to look. Brennan grinned. Maybe it won't be so bad...
"Screen!" came a shout from the lounge room. Booth nearly dropped the wine glasses he was holding. Brennan looked at the other two agents in shock. They were laughing as Alex shook his head.
"Nope, guess again!"
Booth looked at Brennan. "I wonder if they're high, or something," he said, leaning closer. Brennan smiled conspiratorially.
"Just give me some wine, please," she said. Booth grinned and handed her a glass. They both leaned against the bench and looked into the lounge room to watch the other two. Brennan nearly snorted in laughter when Laura yelled.
"I've got it! Shelf!" She looked to Alex for confirmation, and he high-fived her excitedly.
Brennan put down her now-empty glass. "And you say I'm socially inept?" she scoffed quietly.
Booth grinned. "Of course you are, Bones." She shot him a look. He shrugged, lifting his glass to his mouth. "But at least you're smart," he grinned into his glass. Brennan rolled her eyes in agreement and moved out of the kitchen to the stairs.
"Oh! Doctor Brennan!" She swiveled. Alex was looking at her expectantly. She looked at him oddly.
"Um, call me Temperance..." she said, more automatically than anything. It seemed appropriate for her to say; most people said something like that when she was on 'level' ground with them.
"Temperance, Booth, we were thinking of playing a board game, would you like to play the Game of Life?"
"It's more fun with four people," encourages Laura. Brennan looked at Booth.
"I don't know what that means." She glanced around the room. Booth was standing still, looking as if he was trying to figure out how to politely refuse. The other two were staring at her. She shifted, uncomfortable under their gazes.
"What?" she asked barely hiding the hostility in her voice. She didn't want to make the week worse if she could avoid it.
Laura looked at Booth. "What does she mean by that?" she asked, sounding as confused as she looked. Before Booth could answer, Brennan lost her temper.
"I am here, you know. And what do you mean, 'what do I mean'? Why are you asking Booth?" she demanded. Laura looked shocked now, as Booth moved between them.
"Bones," he said to get her attention. "She didn't mean offence, okay? Just come and play. It's a game." He looked at her hopefully; she looked cautious. The other two shared a look. It seemed to say: What is up with those two?
Booth took her silence as a sign she wasn't angry anymore and put a hand one her arm leading her to the table where the other two were silently setting the game up.
Brennan sighed as she sat next to Booth on one side, the other two on the opposite side. Laura started.
"So, are we ready to start?" she asked brightly. Booth hadn't remembered the last time someone had recuperated from a verbal attack from Brennan, except himself and her other colleagues. They all nodded.
"I do not want to get married, Booth!" Brennan was nearly yelling by this point. Booth laughed.
"Bones, it's just a game," he reminded her for the fifth time that round.
"I don't care if it's a game, Booth. It's a matter of principal!" she told him sternly. "Marriage is an archaic constitution that was most likely put in place to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted births!"
Laura and Alex stared at her in shock. Marriage apparently struck a nerve. But Booth remained calm. It was as if they'd had the conversation before. Laura looked at Alex and he shrugged, both turning their attention to an annoyed looking Brennan and an impatiently amused Booth.
"Bones, it's a child's game!"
"That's better?" she demanded. Booth mentally kicked himself; they could be there a while. "It shouldn't be drummed into children from birth that the only way to love someone, or the only conditions under which sexual relations are acceptable is through marriage." She gave him an icy glare.
Alex briefly wondered just how bad their breakup had been.
Booth rolled his eyes, again as if he'd heard it all before. "Bones, no one is proposing to you. They're tiny little plastic blue poles! They aren't there to start anthropological warfare!"
Laura braced herself for a screaming match, but relaxed when it never happened. Brennan and Booth simply tried to stare each other down for a few minutes, before Brennan picked up plastic husband and smiled frostily at Booth. He grinned in response and victory and took his turn with a smug expression.
Looking at each other helplessly, Laura and Alex shrugged and continued the game. Brennan's only other outburst was when Booth exchanged his wife for Alex's, telling them she was too "nagging".
"Just a game, Bones," he said just loud enough for her to hear, patting her shoulder in finality before she could argue.
"Bones?" Booth called from the doorway. "Psst, Bones!" he whispered loudly. Brennan stirred. He didn't want to go into her room for fear of scaring her. He also wondered briefly if she'd packed her gun. He decided that Cullen had probably disallowed it; shooting your partner tended to be slightly counterproductive when it came to bonding.
"Booth?" he heard. She didn't' sound too annoyed, so he moved about a metre into the room. "What the hell are you doing in my room?"
Then again.
"Sorry to wake you," he lied. "I'm going to go sleep in the secret room, wanna join me?" he asked playfully. It didn't sound like innuendo, it sounded like a sneaky child who is just learning to break the rules. Brennan rolled her eyes from her pillow.
"No, Booth, I'm comfortable," she said flatly. He could hear the sleep in her voice. "Go back to bed." It wasn't an order, really, just a suggestion. She sounded like a tired parent. Lord knows, he needs it! She thought.
"Aw, come on, Bones! I mean, we're stuck here all week, we may as well have some fun," he said, shrugging. He moved further into the room. She turned to face him completely.
"Booth, go away." Her attempt at anger had been slightly skewed by her yawning.
"Not until you come with me!" he said playfully. He wasn't going to let up. Brennan tried for logic.
"Booth, it's probably freezing down there!" she said, raising her voice. Booth stood at the foot of the bed and took a fistful of Brennan's blankets. Brennan stared at him, wide-eyed.
"No, Booth," she warned. He grinned at her.
"Come with me."
"No. Don't you dare."
"Come with me."
"Booth!"
"Fine, it's up to you. But I'm stealing your blankets. Like you said, it will be cold down there," he said cheekily, tugging her blankets far enough to make sure she was in fact wearing pyjamas.
He almost giggled as he watched her grab for the blankets and try to keep comfortable. It wasn't really that cold. It was just annoying. "Booth!" she shrieked. Booth laughed.
"Shh, Bones! They're gonna think we're doing something inappropriate," he said suggestively. Brennan seemed to miss the innuendo entirely.
"Yeah, well, one of us is. Now give me my blankets back!" He pulled them down further, allowing himself only a short amount of time to stare at her.
"How about if I carry the mattress down? Will you come then?" he asked innocently.
"Booth, I can carry it myself!" she hissed. Instead of looking outdone, he looked triumphant. Brennan realized she'd as good as given up. She glared at him; he'd trapped her. More than anything, she wanted to sleep, though.
"Fine." Getting up, she flung a blanket around her shoulders and stormed out of the room. "You can get the mattress!" she snapped over her shoulder.
She was out the door before Booth grinned punched the air in victory.