NOTE: I am very proud to announce that TRUSSELL33 has graciously agreed to collaborate with me on this story. I hope you will find as much fun reading it as we are having writing it.

Disclaimer: neither of us owns Booth, Brennan or any other character, although at times we wished we did.

Scene 2: And Now We Begin

It was late afternoon when he called her. "Bones, we have a case, and it's in New York…"

"Yes, Booth, I just received the information from Cam. I understand New York CSI is the department with jurisdiction in the case? So why are we going up there?"

"The owner of the house, Lydia Lee's attorney, called a friend in the Senate, who called Cullen's boss, who called Cullen who then, of course, called me. Once Cullen was called he also called Cam who called you. Got it?"

"Yes, Booth, I understand how we were called but WHY were we called?"

"Because of Lydia Lee, Bones. You do know who she is, don't you? Not hearing an immediate response he added, "You know, Lydia Lee the actress."

"Oh yes. I remember an actress named Lydia Lee. She was one of my Father's favorites and her husband, Clark Mason, was one of my Mother's favorites. I often saw their movies. They played a very good Murder Solving Couple. Much like us but where're not married. I still don't see how the body being found in Ms Lee's garden necessitates us being involved."

"Neither do I Bones but we are, so to New York we will go."

"So I assume we are driving up there this evening? I know it's a long drive, over four hours, but I really want to be at the crime scene as soon as we have access. I understand we won't officially have the scene turned over to us until you and I are there to sign for all the evidence. Booth, I am very concerned about contamination of the evidence…"

As she took a breath he took the chance to break in to her contamination tirade. "Bones, it is CSI they will not contaminate the crime scene, and before you say they don't do it your way, may I add as soon as I found out, I had both your guys and mine e-mailing them. They have a complete up to date set of crime scene protocols, as set forth by you and know to wait until you arrive to retrieve the body and evidence. They are not happy, but the request they received was from government channels telling them to protect the scene according to your wishes. Trust me your scene is safe. This time we have time to get everything we need together and take it with us. It will be fine until we get there tomorrow."

"So are we driving up there? She almost groaned aloud at the thought of being in the SUV for four hours without having the chance to work out the kinks in her back from bending over the table in Limbo most of the day. She loved her alone time in the vehicle with Booth, but she loved it even more when she was comfortable.

"What do you think about taking the train? We can take all the equipment and don't have the hassle of driving once we are in the city? Plus it would give us some time to unwind. You know talk, we haven't done that in awhile."

She was so good at recognizing the voice he used with the special charm smiles he reserved just for her she could hear them over the phone. Even over the phone she couldn't resist that smile. Her eyes narrowed at the unexpected option of travel Booth had just presented, her mind clicking through the pros and cons with amazing efficiency. They would be able to stretch and walk around at will. Booth wanted to talk and the train would let them focus solely on each other and their conversation instead of him having to divide his attention between her and the road. Plus, they would both have the opportunity to catch some sleep and be refreshed and ready to get to work when they arrived in New York. "That sounds fine Booth I'll make the reservations."

"Oh no way, the guy who thinks it up gets to pay and make the reservations, so there."

She had to smile at the excitement in his voice. He was so easy to please. "Ok then that means since you haven't mentioned a hotel and I have one I have always wanted to stay at, I'm making those reservations and I'm paying. Besides as you so often remind me, my expense account is much bigger than yours so let's take advantage of it."

"I don't know, Bones, you usually stay in places my expense account won't even cover. Letting you pay for my room, somehow seems like cheating."

"Look, Booth, if it makes you feel better we can share a room. That way you can pay half." She heard the sharp intake of his breath. Did that mean he might be ready to get rid of the damn line?

He wondered at bit at her offer, did it mean she wanted to move their relationship onto the next level? Yeah, right, his Bones was so shy about things of a sexual nature that she would choose to tell him that she wanted to sleep with him by suggesting they share a room, rather than just telling him. Not! Ignoring the voice in his head that was chuckling merrily at the hope he couldn't seem to repress, Booth decided to just go with it and see where it took them. "Ok Bones you can choose the hotel. I'll call with the time the train leaves and meet you at the lab. That way we can get all the equipment and leave from there. I don't know how long we'll be gone but I guess we had better plan on four or five days. See ya later."

They met at the lab at 9:00pm. Their train left at 11pm and he wanted to make sure she had all the help she needed to get the equipment packed. He had picked up Homeland Security Seals to seal the boxes so they would not have to be opened and made sure each box was carefully marked by number, sealed and entered on the manifest. He wanted to make sure all of it got to New York in one piece. He told her the FBI made arrangements for two agents to meet their train. One would take them to their hotel, the second would take the equipment to an office they had been given to use temporarily.

At 10 they were ready and everything was loaded into his SUV. He had chosen Business Class tickets which offered baggage handling as well. Once at Union Station Booth and the baggage handlers made quick work of the bags and equipment boxes. They were then shown to their seats. Looking around the roomy area, Brennan quickly decided this could easily become her favorite way to travel.

"Booth these are quite nice. I was not aware these amenities were available on a train."

"Yeah, well I got us Business Class seats; I wanted to make sure we both had plenty of room. So lean back Bones and relax." Already seated, Booth patted the seat next to him invitingly, unable to pull his eyes from beautiful blue ones that reflected the wonder of a child at Christmas as she tried to look at everything at once, all the while trying to appear blasé. Turning to him and seeing his grin, she gave up and smiled back at him, letting her excitement shine through.

"I will, Booth, as soon as we go over the case file. With making sure the interns had directions for the time we will be gone and the preparations for New York today, we didn't have time to review it and you know I like to know what I am going into,"

Booth heard her voice, but couldn't decipher the words because his entire attention was focused on his hand. The hand that was trapped between Brennan's firm rear end and the seat she had slid into so fast he didn't have time to move it out of the way. At least, that's what he told himself, telling the voice in his head howling with laughter over that one to shut up. Okay, fine, maybe he could have moved his hand if he hadn't been so busy flipping it over so his palm and fingers would be cupping firm flesh when he saw what was going to happen, but it hadn't been a conscience decision and he mentally flogged himself for it. He just didn't know how to gracefully extricate himself from the situation without seeming like a pervert who was trying to cop a feel.

All hopes of this situation ending without embarrassment vanished as Brennan frowned slightly and squirmed in her seat, apparently thinking there was a lump in her chair. She was quickly disabused of that notion when Booth's fingers, totally without his permission, flexed on her bottom. She froze and Booth bit his lower lip to hold back a groan. "Booth," she said quietly, looking everywhere but at him, "am I sitting on your hand?"

"Um, yeah, Bones. You sat down so fast I didn't have time to move it." He hoped she believed him.

"Would you like to move it now?" She was still as a statue as his fingers tightened on her right butt cheek at the question.

Hell, yeah, he'd like to move it now, but he didn't think that was what she meant. "Sure, Bones. You just lift up and I'll get it out of your way."

God, she hoped so, because feeling his hand cupping her butt was sending all kinds of inappropriate thoughts through her head, many much more interesting ways to spend their travel time than studying the file. She really tried to just lift herself up with her hands on the arm of her chair, but was unable to stop her body from pressing itself into Booth's hand before she was able to do so. She turned her head away and suppressed a gasp as his fingers flexed and his hand drew across her bottom and hip in a slow caress before moving to the armrest on his own chair.

Studying her flushed, averted face, he couldn't help but grin, mistaking the flush of arousal for embarrassment. Who would have thought copping a feel would put his partner so far out of her comfort zone? It had sure made him stand at attention, but he sure thought it would take a lot more to rattle his partner. "Better?" he asked softly.

Not at all, she wanted to insist he put his hand back and take things from there. Instead, she nodded and picked up the file. "Are you ready to get to work?"

"Sure," he said pulling down the large tray and opening the file so both of them could read it. "The body was found in the garden of one Lydia Lee. She was a movie star in the 40's and 50's. It was found while she was having some new landscaping done. Her lawyer, one Steven Shapiro, was the one who requested us. Evidently he did not want the locals to handle this due to possible publicity, so he called his Senator; of course who else would you call if your client had a body in her garden. Anyway the Senator, living in DC, was very familiar with our closure rate so he passed our name on to the lawyer. The rest is history."

"What do you mean history? How can there be any history Booth we haven't even gotten there yet to make any history?"

"It's just a saying, Bones. It means he called Cullen's boss who called Cullen who called me and Cam called you, so here we are on a train in the middle of the night on our way to New York. By the way I got the train tickets and you said you are taking care of the hotel. So where are we staying?'

"It's a surprise Booth."

"Ummm I'm not sure I like the sound of that. It usually means something expensive,"

Turning so she could face him, taking his hand in hers forcing him to face her, she smiled. "Booth, we need to talk about this."

"What?"

"Booth, I mean the Grey Elephant in the room. You are aware of the concept?" At his nod she continued "well our particular elephant is money. Now hear me out first. You know I write because I enjoy the challenge, the mystery, the fun. As a byproduct of the experience I receive very good compensation. While you may be aware of only a few philanthropic things I am a part of, like the bridge in Andy's hometown, there are many things you have no knowledge of. Let me say I am quite comfortable with those gifts. I have more than enough to satisfy my own needs and still have plenty to spend as I wish. This last bit of money is our Grey Elephant. I want to stay at this hotel and I can afford it, but I don't want to stay there alone. I find the more time I spend with you the less time I want to spend on my own. When we are in DC this isn't an issue. We often see each other after work at the diner, Founding Fathers or just spend time at each other's apartments watching movies or sharing dinner. Out of town it often means long nights in a hotel room alone. New York is a very exciting city, Booth; I want to share it all with you. So how about we come to an agreement a split as it were, what about 80-20?"

Studying the almost pleading look on his beautiful partner's face, he knew he was going to give her this one. He was enough of an alpha male to be a little uncomfortable with the extent of her wealth, but he was enough of a man in love to want to spend every moment he could with the woman beside him. Besides, New York was a very dangerous place and he needed to be there to protect her. At night? While she's sleeping? Absolutely, he told his conscience, she was his partner and he would do anything to protect her, even if it meant sharing a room or even a bed with her. A man had to do what a man had to do.

"What about 60-40? he said with his smile.

"70-30 non-negotiable Booth," she replied with her dazzling smile.

She was so beautiful. She was giving him an out. She wasn't paying for everything making him feel like a gigolo. He might have preferred the split be higher on his side but he would do as she asked. "Do you always have to have last word?"

"Yes."

"OK 70-30," he said reaching out his hand to shake hers.

After shaking his hand, she brought their still, joined hands down onto their common armrest, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a huge yawn. "Come on Booth let's get some sleep." Giving him a sleepy smile, she wiggled around until she was comfortable which meant her body was angled toward him and her head rested on his shoulder. "Goodnight," she whispered and closed her eyes with a sigh of contentment, showing no signs of releasing his hand.

Not that Booth minded, quite the opposite in fact. Nothing would make him happier than going to sleep with this woman every night and waking up to her every morning. With a contented sigh of his own, he rested his cheek atop her head and closed his eyes.

If you have never traveled by train try it some time. I traveled up the west coast from San Francisco (Oakland really) to Seattle Washington in a sleeper. It is a beautiful way to travel and brings back memories of old movies like the Orient Express. Not the murder part just the glamour. ~Nyre~

We hope you are enjoying this. By the way I am trying to find a way to send all of you who review this story a reward. Right now I have sent a question to the support desk to see how it might be done. If it can be it will be.

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Nyre & TRUSSELL33