Story: Let Me Count the Ways

Disclaimer: WE OWN NOTHING!!! Basic idea is courtesy of Rockerbaby423

Spoilers: none

Pairing: BoothxBrennan of course…

Chapters: currently 6, number subject to change

Summary: Valentine's Day is around the corner, and little gifts keep popping up before Brennan's eyes.

Chapter 3: Patience Is a Virtue

Note from azarathangel: WOW it's been awhile!! SO sorry guys! Thanks for your patience with us and stupid life, homework, etc., so I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

Note from Rockerbaby423: I'm really sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but life got in the way! A big thank you to all the reviewers!! Your words were inspiring and we appreciated that you took the time to review!

Another general note: This chapter was begun by Rockerbaby and then taken up by azarathangel when life got in the way! Additions, corrections, edits done by both parties!

Azarathangel note, again..: Ash would like to give a special shout out to her super duper wonderful fanfiction mommy, AJeff!!! You're amazing!

Rating: K+

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Temperance Brennan shivered slightly as she stepped out of the shower onto the cool tile floor of her bathroom. The cold seeped through her feet and she quickly switched from the cold tile to the warmer bath rug by her sink. Wrapping a plush towel around herself, she moved to the mirror and wiped away the condensation that had gathered.

'Much better,' was the phrase that came to mind as she stared intently at her reflection. The dark circles were still beneath her eyes, but all traces of death had been scrubbed away from her skin. No longer did she smell of the lab, of disinfectant, latex gloves, and decay, but now the sweet aroma of lavender encompassed her body. She was one of those people who looked forward to a hot shower at the end of each day; it washed away the stress and trouble that perpetually lingered over her work like a dark cloud that would never go away.

Today, though, had been much better than she'd first imagined that morning, and the lab, thankfully, was none the worse for the wear after the boys' experiment. But perhaps the most drastic improvement from the long workday was her appearance. She really did look—and for that matter, feel—much better after the long, hot shower had washed away the last of the nauseating sulfur from her pores and the ash that stained her cheeks and hair.

Brennan looked closer at the mirror, leaning in as she turned her head ever so slightly. Where a streak of ash had been earlier, there was now a faint line running the length of her cheekbone. Frowning, she grabbed a dry washcloth from where it hung on the towel bar beside her sink. Brennan switched the hot water on with a flip of her hand, and after soaking the washcloth in steaming water and pumping some antibacterial soap on it, she scrubbed the cloth across her face. Rinsing, she watched the very last of the day spiral down her sink. Now left with only a fading red mark across her cheek, Brennan gave her reflection a weary smile.

Yes, everything was much better.

But crawling into bed later that night turned her thoughts back to something else. She knew if she were to be really honest with herself, than that was not the case. Not everything was much better; she was still no closer to figuring out who had left her the anonymous gifts, and the face that she couldn't figure out a seemingly simple puzzle bothered her more than a streak of ash ever could. Grumbling in her rediscovered annoyance, Brennan rolled onto her side and switched off the light. Trying to push all thoughts of Valentine's Day out of her head, Brennan finally drifted off into a deep sleep, her dreams invaded by a certain smiling FBI agent holding little bags of Hershey's chocolate behind his back.

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The next morning dawned cold and bright as Temperance crossed the parking structure of the Jeffersonian, coat drawn tight and a plan in mind. After waking up more than once, she had finally decided that she would be in her office earlier than usual that morning in order to finish off the precarious mountain of paperwork that still threatened to topple off her desk. If she happened to catch her secret admirer delivering another gift, it would simply be another added bonus to her day. Catching the culprit delivering the gift was the real reason she kept waking up, not paperwork, and the plan really was to catch the person, but she'd be damned to admit that little tidbit of information.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Angela called out as she paraded through the door to Brennan's office. Looking up from the her desk as her friend flopped rather unceremoniously on the couch, Brennan noticed the two large coffees that Angela had deposited on the table next to a small parcel.

"Good morning to you, too." Brennan mumbled, cursing the holiday of commercial pink hearts under her breath.

"Oh, right, good morning, sweetie!" Angela laughed. Brennan sighed softly as she came around the desk to join Angela on the sofa, grateful for Angela's forethought. After Angela handed her the Styrofoam cup, she took a tentative sip of the cup of coffee to make sure it wasn't too hot before drinking deeply, cherishing every drop of the glorious caffeine. The rich smell washed over her in comforting waves, further relaxing her.

When she was sure Brennan had had enough caffeine to pacify her, Angela reched out, picked up the package, and handed it to the auburn-haired scientist. "Open it!"

Brennan's brows furrowed in confusion before doing what she was told. A small gasp escaped her lips when she removed the lid of the box. Inside was a gift certificated for a girls' day at Angela's favorite spa across town. She gave her friend a quick hug.

"Thank you, Ange, but you really didn't have to get me anything." She said.

"You can say thank you by coming with me for your day of beauty on Saturday instead of coming to the lab." Angela replied, smiling triumphantly. Deciding that it was simply easier to agree rather than try and argue and lose said argument, Brennan conceded before shooing Angela out of the office so that she could finish the paperwork for the San Salvadoran case in—hopefully—uninterrupted peace.

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It was just after noon when a knock at her office door startled the forensic anthropologist. It was Angela, of course, who as usual suggested in a way that left absolutely no room for debate that she join the team for lunch at Wong Fu's as a special Valentine's treat. Gathering the files she was working on into a neat, and considerably smaller pile than before, Brennan put on her coat and locked the office door.

When the squints all arrived at the restaurant, Booth was already at a table near the front, waiting. He stood up and allowed Brennan to slide in before sitting back down opposite Hodgins. As the group waited for Sid to bring them exactly what they needed, they talked about their plans for the evening. Angela and Hodgins were going to dinner, Booth had Parker, Brennan had a date with a WWII victim, and Zach was going out with an intern from another part of the museum.

"No way, Zach, you have an actual date?!" Hodgins laughed. Angela swatted at his arm with her hand, silencing him as her multiple wooden bracelets made contact.

"Now, Jack, that's no way to treat a colleague." Angela scolded before turning to Zach. "Alright, Zach, who is she, what part of the museum does she work at, what does she look like, how long have you been going, out are you excited!?!"

"Like that's any better…" Hodgins muttered. Zach blinked several times before beginning slowly.

"It's Cindy from research and I just asked her to go out with me yesterday…" Zach said.

"Oh Zach, congratulations! You have to tell me ALL about it tomorrow." Zach looked a little scared and was saved from having to answer Angela by Sid dropping a plate of chicken in front of him.

"No garlic." Sid winked before setting a bowl of soup down in front of Angela and moving on to Hodgins. Booth and Brennan had been watching the entire exchange with amused expressions, every now and then looking at each other and sharing a silent laugh like they always did. With the arrival of the food and abandonment of Zach's social life, however, Angela redirected the topic of conversation to Brennan's secret admirer, a line of questioning Brennan had hoped to avoid at all costs. Booth looked distinctly uncomfortable with this turn of events, but nobody seemed to notice; they were all too busy goading Brennan and making guesses as to the identity of the gift giver, and she was too busy deflecting their questions and guesses with anything she could think of.

"Can we just stop talking about this right now?" Booth spoke, earning him two questioning looks, one glare, and a soft thankful smile. The glare shifted into an evil grin.

"Someone's jealous…" Angela crowed, her eyes glittering. The thankful smile turned into a questioning look as Brennan's eyebrows rose slightly.

"No, but Bones doesn't know who it is so she obviously can't tell you who it is so all of your questions are pointless noise." Booth tried to make the sentence as good-natured as possible, not wanting to upset the friendly atmosphere. It worked, and their conversation gradually fell back into normalcy. Well, as normal as it could get for them.

"You'll never guess what my beetles did this morning!" Hodgins said. Angela groaned.

"This better not be another joke about fornicating macaroni…"

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Sid came to the table to clear their plates, all of them empty save one. Brennan found herself unable to finish her meal, remembering how she spent the morning picking on the remainder of the Hershey's kisses. Sid promised to wrap it up for her in a few takeout cartons and he left the table.

A few minutes later, the cheery owner came back out holding two carry-out style cartons. He handed them to Brennan and she opened them to check on the food that they carried. One held her Mein Lo noodles, but from the other, steam did not rise from the opened carton, nor did it smell of the delicious food she had eaten earlier. Bringing it closer, she pulled out a silver fortune cookie with a matching set of silver chopsticks. They rested on oriental style tissue paper.

The silver chopsticks had some characters inlaid in red running down the side, and a small slip of paper peeked out of the fold of the silver cookie. Brennan stared down at the silver fortune cookie in her hand, the chopsticks back in the box with the tips poking out of the carton. Booth leaned over to her.

"Wadda ya have there, Bones?" He asked before catching sight of the small cookie resting in her hand.

"Bren?" Angela's speculative voice brought a pair of brown and a pair of blue eyes up to meet hers. Brennan looked at her hand again before lifting the silver cookie up to where the others could see.

"A silver fortune cookie and a pair of silver chopsticks that say 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.' It's a Chinese proverb…" Brennan mused as she fingered the red Chinese characters on the thin piece of metal.

"You can read Chinese?" Booth asked in disbelief as he stared at her. Brennan gave him a quizzical look.

"It's in English on the other chopstick…" She picked it up and showed him. Hodgins laughed.

"Well, what's in the cookie?" Zach piped up.

"Oh yes, what's your fortune, sweetie?" Angela smiled as she watched Brennan turn the delicate silver cookie in her hand. Brennan grasped the edge of the white paper between her fingers and gently pulled the slip from the folds of silver.

"Love is patient." Brennan said, reading from the little piece of paper with the red type on it. All were silent for a second before Brennan noticed Sid retreating to the kitchen.

"Wait, Sid!" He turned. "Who sent this?" Brennan demanded, brandishing her silver chopsticks like a deadly weapon. In her hands, they were. Sid didn't even bother answering; he simply shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen.

Brennan sighed in frustration. Now she was even more confused as to who gave her the gifts. The chopsticks and Sid's involvement would almost certainly imply Booth, but he didn't seem happy that she received more gifts from her admirer. As she snuck a glance at him, Brennan almost smiled as she watched him glare at the cookie in her hand. It was as if he was willing it to spontaneously combust…

"I need to get back to work." Booth suddenly stood. Brennan was right behind him, voicing her own need to return to the office. Booth turned around to say something to her, but upon noticing the rest of the squints standing and watching them, he just gave her a quick smile, as charming as ever, and walked out the door.

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Whew, it's done!! This, I think, marks the halfway point of our story!! Any ideas about the gift giver?? CHOCOLATE BOOTHS TO ALL!! And squint-squad, kudos on finding that mold!!!

REVIEW!!!

-Ash and Lauren

Btw, fornicating macaroni joke is courtesy of Ash… hehehe