Chapter 2—A Pain That I'm Used To

Disclaimer: Still don't own them.

Author's notes: I hope you all are enjoying this story so far. Thanks again for reading (even if you aren't reviewing) and special thanks to all of you who have taken the time to review.

Thanks to 'a red burn' for the spoiler tips…I may try to incorporate those into the story.

And thanks to 'elliot02uk' for your nice review. I can appreciate your objection to certain things being included in fiction…it doesn't make you grumpy; you just like what you like. In my defense though, Parker was just begging to come out and play in the last story.

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The miles of trees lining the sides of the roadway did not provide the scenic beauty that Booth usually preferred. A nice warm beach with scantily clad women and an open bar nearby sounded more appealing than driving over the river and through the woods to a double homicide scene. Booth sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day as he stared out the front windshield of the SUV at more trees and more roadway. They had been driving for well over an hour but it felt more like five hours. The oppressive silence that enveloped the SUV had not helped.

Booth glanced over at Brennan and briefly wondered if he should parlay his thoughts about a beachfront getaway with bikinis and open bars. When he found himself wondering what type of bathing suit Brennan owned, Booth decided it would be in his best interest to keep his mouth shut.

For her part, Temperance Brennan had effectively ignored her partner and his continuous sighing sessions. She had become engrossed in the file that Booth had provided her. The file itself was extremely skimpy and did not contain much information but she found herself captivated by the letter that had accompanied the map to the bodies. Booth had been correct in his assertion that the map was indeed very detailed. The person who drew the map had included the distances from the main highway, the lake that was near the graves and several trees that had markings in them where teenagers had declared their love for one another with hearts, initials and plus signs.

Watching as she poured over the letter yet again, Booth noticed that a lock of Brennan's long auburn hair blocked a full view of her face. He reached his right hand out and gently tucked the strand behind her ear, his action catching her by surprise. Brennan's head shot up and she turned her face to him.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were awake," he joked.

"I was reading." She finished the task of pushing the lock of hair behind her ear. Looking around at the scenery, Brennan sighed. "Wow, that's a lot of trees."

Booth chuckled. "Yeah, I think we've passed the same one a few times."

"That would mean we've been driving in a circle and I believe the map clearly outlined that this highway is a straight stretch to Willow Lake." Brennan quickly pulled out the map that Booth had left in her charge.

"Joke, Bones. It was a joke…never mind." He let a few minutes pass before he spoke again. "So you doing okay?"

In the few minutes of silence, Brennan had averted her attention once again to the letter from the killer or killers. "I'm fine," she replied curtly.

For the last four months she had been asked on an almost daily basis if she was okay and Brennan was quickly growing tired of the question and of her patent answer of 'fine'. If she really wanted to examine how she was—and she didn't—she would have to admit that 'fine' and 'okay' were not adjectives that could be applied to Dr. Temperance Brennan as of late.

"I just thought you know…if there's anything on your mind….something bothering you…we've got at least another hour before we get to the crime scene." Booth smiled at her.

He knew that she wasn't fine. She had not been fine for four months but Booth thought if nothing else, perhaps Brennan would discuss how much that old fart benefactor had pissed her off. If she would just acknowledge that much, Booth knew that he, not necessarily Brennan, would feel better. The truth was her lack of emotional response since her mother's funeral bothered him greatly. She had become increasingly moody, her outburst were a little more volatile and she seemed to have retreated more and more into herself.

"What the hell is this Booth, a therapy session?" Now Brennan's attention was solely concentrated on him and Booth found that he didn't feel comfortable under her icy gaze.

"No Bones," he said evenly, with a great deal of patience, "it's not a therapy session. It's just two friends driving to a crime scene having a friendly discussion. You know, friends discuss their feelings with each other occasionally…"

He looked over at her and was met with a blank stare. "Come on Bones. I know you and Angela…okay; I know Angela has come to you and discussed her feelings about things in her life. Give it a try. You know, monkey see, monkey do."

Brennan continued to stare at him which caused Booth to squirm slightly in his seat. "I fail to see the connection between primates and sharing ones feelings."

"It's just a saying Bones. God, do you have to be so argumentative about everything? I was just trying to get you to tell me how pissed off you were at that Moore guy…but no, instead you start an argument and now I'm pissed off!" Booth gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead.

"If you knew the incident with Mr. Moore was bothering me then why did you ask if I was okay?" Brennan quirked one eyebrow at her partner as she studied his body language. While she was a novice at reading people, Brennan knew that Booth was extremely irritated at the moment.

"I wanted you to tell me about it Bones…I wanted you to feel that you could talk to me about that or anything for that matter. You know what…just drop it." Frustration dripped through his tone and tensed the muscles in his body.

After a few minutes Booth slowly released his death grip on the steering wheel. Brennan studied him for a moment, noting that his posture was a little more relaxed.

"Booth?"

Another sigh escaped his lips. "Yeah Bones?"

"I know that I can talk to you about anything," she replied firmly but in a quiet tone.

A small smile formed on his lips. "Good Bones. That's good."

"But I don't want to talk about anything right now." Brennan opted for flipping the file open again instead of watching the dizzying sight of a million trees pass by.

Booth shook his head at his partner. "Always gotta have that last word, huh?"

She shrugged, her eyes never leaving the file. "Usually works out that way Booth."

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The SUV pulled onto the small gravel road with the Jeffersonian van close behind. Both of the vehicles came to a stop behind a mass of marked sheriff office units. Booth and Brennan both noted a large group of deputies standing on the road outside of the crime scene tape that covered the east side of the wooded area.

Angela hopped out of the van and quickly made her way over to Brennan. "Bren, I refuse to ride in that van with Zach and Hodgins anymore today! I have just endured the most asinine, inane, stupid conversations and arguments for the past three hours without a break or a means of escape…"

"Ange, Booth and I have been arguing too."

"Oh well, color me shocked," Angela replied sarcastically. "I don't care, Bren. I am not going back to DC in that van with those two."

Booth stifled a laugh as he watched Brennan attempt to calm the dark-haired woman. He could no longer contain his laughter when the objects of Angela's disgust walked toward them, arguing over whether Harry Potter would survive in the last book of the series.

"Don't worry Angela. I personally like you too much to subject you to that type of conversation any further." Booth patted her on the back in a show of sympathy.

"Special Agent Booth?" A tall fair haired man in uniform approached the group. Booth turned and acknowledged the man by extending his right hand.

"I'm Booth. Are you Sheriff Fife?" Booth observed the man's stiff posture and deduced that Fife had spent some time in a branch of the military. He estimated that the man was around 40 years of age and from the look in his eyes, Booth knew that Fife had seen a lot in his life.

"Yeah, but call me Mike please," he said as he flashed a grin at Angela and Brennan. "Actually you can call me anything but Barney." Fife stretched out a hand toward Brennan who accepted it.

"Why would we call you Barney when you just told us your name is Mike?" Brennan questioned, confusion creasing her brow.

Sheriff Fife laughed heartily as he finally released her hand. "I like you ma'am."

"That's Dr. Temperance Brennan…" Booth began his introductions.

"Oh, I know who she is," Sheriff Fife turned his attention back to Brennan. "I've read your book plus a few articles that you've written. That information was very helpful in preserving this crime scene. We uncovered just enough of one of the skeletons to make sure that this wasn't bogus and then I set my men outside of the tape."

"Well that was very...thorough of you." Brennan shifted uneasily under the sheriff's effusive attention.

"Yeah, thorough. Anyway, that is Angela Montenegro, forensic artist; Dr. Jack Hodgins, bug and slime guy extraordinaire; and Zach Addy, Bones' assistant. Or the squint squad as I affectionately call them." Booth smiled at the group and received several glares in return.

"Bones?" Sheriff Fife questioned.

"That would be Booth's affectionate nickname for Brennan," Angela explained as she stepped past him.

"Oh…okay." Sheriff Fife nodded, appearing to understand the implied dynamic between the special agent and the forensic anthropologist. "Well, let me lead you all to the site so you can get started."

Booth held up the crime scene tape so Brennan could enter the wooded area. He took one of the bags containing her equipment from her hands and walked ahead of her before she could argue. Beside her, Angela chuckled. "Well, he's learning."

"Learning what? How to annoy the hell out of me even more than usual?" Brennan huffed.

"No, he's just learning to walk faster before you have a chance to chew him out." Angela continued to chuckle as Brennan quietly seethed.

After a few minutes hike, the group came to a small clearing in the woods and were taken aback by the quiet beauty of the lake nearby. The clearing was private enough to bury two bodies and never be seen but open enough to stare out at the lake on a clear day for hours.

Angela quickly removed the digital camera from its carrying case and began taking photographs of the clearing, the area around and the small area in the ground that had been disturbed by the deputies.

"How is this an FBI case Booth? This isn't a national park…" Brennan glanced over at Booth, who stood with his hands on his hips, appraising the small area.

"I punted this one to the FBI, Dr. Brennan," Sheriff Fife explained. "Once we figured out that this wasn't a hoax, I knew that my department was in over our heads. We've not had a murder in this community in over 20 years. I just don't know what to make of this." He shook his head in a sad manner.

"We'll do everything we can to help sheriff," Booth replied. "Bones and her team are the best at this kind of stuff."

"Okay Bren, I've taken all of the preliminary photographs." Angela returned to her spot beside Brennan.

"Good. Just continue to photograph the graves and the condition of the remains as we uncover them." Brennan turned to Booth. "Do you have the map?"

"Yeah," he replied as he pulled it out of the file.

"That looks like a copy," Sheriff Fife observed.

"It is…we made copies of the letter and the map so that the folks in Documents could analyze the handwriting and the forensic people could look for fingerprints," Booth explained as he handed the map to Brennan.

Holding the map in front of her, Brennan and Zach studied it intently. "Okay, the second body should be three feet or so to the left of the other one. Jack, find a tree that has the initials 'B.R'. and 'N.T.' scratched into it and measure out fifty feet southwest from it," she instructed.

Hodgins did as he was told and marked a spot in the ground approximately four feet to the left of the slightly exposed grave. "I'm going to take a topsoil sample from both areas before you two get started."

Brennan nodded as she and Zach slipped on coveralls and gloves. She handed Zach a shovel and a trowel as she began doling out instructions. "Zach, you take the exposed site, tell me what you see as you go and be careful not to damage the remains."

"Yes, Dr. Brennan." Zach settled into his spot and began removing the soft earth around the exposed bones. "Dr. Brennan, I've got the ulna and radius of the left forearm exposed. This grave appears to be approximately three feet deep."

"Okay Zach," Brennan replied as she began to carefully dig a few feet away where Hodgins had marked the other grave site.

Booth removed his suit jacket, placed it on a tree limb and loosened his tie. "Sheriff, you might want to grab a seat…or a tree stump….we're going to be here awhile."

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Booth stretched and looked at his watch. Brennan and Zach had been digging and moving soil around for five hours without a break. Booth noticed the young man stealing glances at his mentor in hopes that she would announce that it was time for a break but Brennan never looked up and never stopped working. Angela and Hodgins had walked around the area for a few minutes at a time and had taken their share of water and bathroom breaks.

"Hey Bones, you thirsty?" Booth stood above her holding out a cold bottle of water.

Brennan used the sleeve of the coveralls to wipe away the sweat rolling down her forehead. "I'll get something after I'm done."

"You and the kid could die of heat exhaustion before you're done." Booth turned to Zach and waved the water bottle at him. "Kid, how about you? Or are you going to be as stubborn as your teacher there?"

Zach glanced over at Brennan and then at the water bottle, clearly struggling with his decision. Brennan sighed. "Zach, take five minutes."

"Take ten minutes Zach, replenish your fluids, grab one of the sandwiches that Fife's men got for us," Booth instructed.

"Thanks Agent Booth." Zach quickly climbed out of the grave, grabbed the water bottle from Booth's hand and made his way toward the deputies.

"I told him five minutes Booth." Brennan stared up at him, astonished that Zach had taken orders from Booth and not her.

"Come on Bones, you and the kid haven't stopped working for five hours. He deserved a break…you do too." Booth leaned down and smiled at her. "You know you wanna climb out of there…"

"And smack that smug smile off your face? Then you would be correct." Brennan resumed moving soil until she located the top of the skull.

"Tsk, tsk, Bones. Such violent tendencies and you wonder why I don't allow you to carry a gun."

Brennan ignored his comment and climbed out of the grave, causing Booth to step back. "Whoa Bones, I was just joking."

Brennan looked down into the grave that Zach had been working in. She quickly leaned forward, down into the site and moved some of the soil around.

"Bones, what the hell? The kid will be back in ten measly minutes. You don't have to work on both graves by yourself!" Booth watched as she stood and walked back to the grave site she had previously occupied, looked down and then walked back to the other site.

"Bones? Hey Bones? You wanna let me in what's so fascinating?"

Sheriff Fife slowly approached with drinks and food for the agent and anthropologist. "You find something?"

Booth shrugged at the man, waiting for enlightenment from Brennan.

"Male, Caucasian, 43 to 46 years of age and female, also Caucasian, also 43 to 46 years of age," she mumbled more to herself than to her audience.

Booth took out a notepad from his back pocket and wrote down Brennan's observations. "Sheriff, does that description match any possible missing persons you have on file?"

"Oh my god…I bet its Ronald and Katherine Thompson." The sheriff stood stoically as he watched Brennan continue to work.

"Thompson?" Booth questioned.

"They went missing two years ago…left behind two kids…no one had a clue what happened to them," he answered softly.

Booth noticed Brennan's head slowly rise up at the sheriff's answer as memories of her past came crashing in on her once again.