Title: The Trail in the Woods with a Spork
Rating: M
Summary: Lost in the woods, bickering, rain, and a one-man tent.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bones outside the bounds of my imaginary universe.
...Finally, satisfied that he had scavenged enough supplies for a moderate sized fire, Booth returned to their "campsite."
"Wow Bones, that was pretty quick." Booth surveyed the assembled tent, which seemed no bigger than it had been in its little nylon pouch. He laughed nervously for no reason.
"It's a pop-up tent. Simple manipulations of the flexible—"
"Booones, I know what a pop-up tent is." He placed his thumb and index finger along the upper bridge of his nose. He was tired and probably somewhat dehydrated which probably contributed to his headache.
He knelt down and began to dig a shallow hole in which to set up his fire. Brennan meanwhile busied herself with organizing their food and water. She continued her usual internal observations of her surroundings. She found it humorous that they, while very much evolved city people, fell immediately into the routine of the hunter-gatherer.
By the time Brennan looked back over at her partner, he was already nursing an adolescent flame.
"Booth, you got the fire started already? That's amazing. How did you do it?" She came closer. Twilight had set in and she looked forward to some warmth.
Booth looked back at her as she approached, with the trademark twinkle in his eye. He stretched out his palm, revealing his small silver encased lighter.
"Hah!" She exclaimed. "You're such a cheater, weren't you ever a boy scout?" She nudged him playfully on the shoulder.
"Yes I was." He answered smugly. "And I learned to always carry a lighter." The boyish twinkle was back in his eyes. He pulled on Brennan's wrist until she sat down next to him.
The fire slowly grew in front of them and they both sighed as the heat penetrated their clothes. They hadn't realized how much the temperature in the air around them had dropped until now.
Booth eventually retrieved some of the snacks for them to share.
"Booth can I have some of that beef jerky?" He pulled the bag away as she reached for it.
"I thought you said you were going vegetarian?" He continued feeding himself pieces out of the bag.
"I said that I was thinking about it since it is better for the environment. I haven't made any decisions yet." She reached for the bag again, and Booth continued to evade her reach.
"Bones, this is premium beef jerky that I picked out my self from my corner deli. If you are a very good girl then maybe I will share with you." He gazed at her playfully.
"You know, early male hominids often times used meat they had hunted in order to gain sexual access to females." This wiped the grin off Booth's face.
"Boneeess." He muttered as he returned a piece of beef jerky back to its bag, sealing the zip-top. "Why do you always have to do that?" He fidgeted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable.
"What?! What did I do?" She was completely oblivious.
"We were having some good conversation, a little witty banter and you have to turn our innocent little pow-wow into something sexual." He placed the beef jerky next to him on the side furthest from her and crossed his arms over his chest.
"What are you talking about? I was just stating a historical fact. How did I sexualize the situation?" She looked at him in disbelief.
"Look Bones, I know you're a little weak when it comes to social situations, so let me just try and make things easier to understand. We are a man and women, attractive—"
"And intelligent." Brennan interjected.
"Okay, we are both attractive and intelligent members of the opposite sex. We are stranded alone under the stars—"
"We can't see the stars because of the—" Booth stopped her before she could finish verbalizing her comment.
"We are all by ourselves under the stars—which may or may not be visible at the moment—sitting side by side in front of a cozy fire that I built with my own strong, big hands—"
"You used—" Booth placed his index finger on her lips to silence her. The softness of her lips and his impulsive reaction to her interruption shocked him into pulling his finger away just enough so that it was hovering in front of her lips instead of touching them. The shocked expression remained on her face, but she stayed silent allowing him to continue.
"As I was saying, I built this fire, with my own two hands—with the minor assistance of an incendiary device—and here we are nice and warm, shoulder to shoulder joking around and feeding each other, well sharing food I mean. And at the end of the night when we get tired we are going to get into that." He placed a deep emphasis on that as he pointed towards the itty-bitty tent they would be sharing. "So as you can see the scene has been set and you saying the 'S' word, just makes things harder." He paused for a moment. "Or let's use the word difficult instead."
"I cannot believe you just called it 'the S word,'" Brennan smirked at him.
Before Booth could respond rain began to fall. Brennan jumped up and grabbed all of their food, hurrying to the tent as the tempo of the rain started increase.
"Booth we need to get into the tent, if we get too wet, it will be hard to maintain our body temperature." She ducked into the tent and Booth followed behind her.
"Jesus!" Booth struggled to fold himself into a shape that would be tolerated by the confining walls.
"Booth, this tent is meant for sleeping not dancing." She was already stretched out on the open sleeping bag, but she pressed herself against the tent wall to avoid his flailing limbs.
Booth finally settled on his side, which was the only way they both fit in the tent. The rain created a mild pitter-patter of background noise. The rhythmic sound finally alerted both partners to their exhaustion. Brennan yawned and Booth followed with his own yawn wondering to himself if Bones could explain why yawns were so contagious.
"Good night Booth." Brennan sighed.
"Good night Bones." Booth rolled over to face the tent wall, just to be safe.
The pitter-patter of rain slowly lulled them to sleep in the closer quarters...
AN: Thanks for reading! :) xoxo, S.
