A couple of days later, Booth and Brennan were sitting in her office talking about the case. The body was discovered to be a waiter at an illegal gambling facility in Maryland. Booth was wondering if he had maybe gotten greedy and tried to grab a piece of the pie for himself, but his wife seemed like a likely suspect as well.

"She did have that insurance policy out on him Booth. $500,000 is nothing to sneeze at when you bring home $40k a year."

"Yeah, I know Bones, but she just didn't strike me as the type to strangle her own husband."

"That's because she was pretty and she was flirting with you. I noticed how you kept touching her hand every time she started to cry."

"A little jealous there Bones?"

"No, not at all. I simply noticed that your tactic of questioning her revolved around you creating a bond through contact. Now, I've really got to finish the next chapter in my book Booth, I mean if we're at a standstill here. Let me know if any new evidence turns up. Hodgins is still analyzing the substance that I found with the body. He discovered it was some type of honey, but is doing further analysis to figure out where the honey came from."

"Listen Bones, why don't we blow this place and have dinner at my apartment? I'll even cook for you. Lasagna."

"I really should finish this chapter," Brennan said moving from the couch to her desk. "I owe the first 10 chapters of the book to my editor by next week, and I'm only on chapter 7. What do you think of Kathy finding a miniature doll of herself sitting on her bed when she comes home?"

"Is this the Voodoo story you're writing? That stuff just freaks me out after the time we spent down there."

Brennan looked at her email. She realized that she had been neglecting them for the last hour as she and Booth talked. There was one from Cam, and another from her Northwestern buddy Holden. She opened up the Facebook message and read:

"Hi Dr. Brennan, thanks for responding to my last email. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry that you don't get to examine as many ancient skeletons as you used to. Have you thought it might be time to leave the Jeffersonian and DC, especially if you don't have a significant other or family in the area."

"Hmm, that's odd."

"What is?" Booth asked.

"Oh nothing really, it's just this guy is sort of assuming that I don't have family and a significant other in DC. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, I haven't been sleeping too much lately."

"What guy? Some guy you don't know has been emailing you and you didn't tell me?"

"Booth, you're not my husband, I don't have to tell you every time I get an email from a strange man."

"How often are you getting emails from strange men? I'm going to talk to Cam about getting a filter on your email account here."

"Booth, you're being ridiculous. I can take care of myself. An email isn't going to hurt me. Plus, it wouldn't do any good to put a filter on my Jeffersonian email anyway. This message is through Facebook."

"Facebook? You belong to that stupid site. What are you doing on there?"

"Booth, just because you're a luddite doesn't mean that something doesn't have some merit. It keeps me in touch with people that I otherwise wouldn't have the time to see or talk to. I'm very busy, and this way I can talk with Russ' step-daughters."

"And strange men who are stalking you."

"He's not stalking me Booth, he just asked an odd question, that's all. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Let me see the email?"

Booth walked over behind Brennan and read the email over her shoulder.

"I don't like this Bones, I think you should cut off all communication with this guy."

"I'm fine Booth, you're completely overreacting, but if it makes you happy, I won't reply. OK?"

"OK. Now let's head to my place for lasagna."

"You go to your place and start and I'll meet you there around 8:30 OK?"

"OK. I have to have some time to perfect my sauce anyway. See you at 8:30."

After Booth left, Brennan stared at the email again. "I'm sure I'm just overreacting," she thought. She shook her head and dove into her 8th chapter.

Kathy walked into her bedroom to find a doll on her bed. Every little detail of the doll matched her own image, all the way down to her grandmother's diamond earrings that she had on that day…

--

Booth heard a knock on his door.

"Booth, it's me, Bones."

"Hey Bones, it's open come on in."

Brennan opened the door and headed into Booth's apartment. When she entered she was hit with the aroma of homemade marinara sauce mingling with mozzarella cheese. Booth was in the kitchen. He stood in front of the stove stirring some sauce. He had changed out of his suit from earlier. He now wore a pair of dark jeans and a light grey t-shirt that said "Bowery" across the front. His muscles were peaking out of the edge of the sleeves just enough to make Brennan's breath skip. She walked up behind him and took in his scent.

"Smells good."

"Thanks, I've been cooking since I left you."

"Cooking, yeah, right."

"Just a few more minutes and it will be done. The lasagna is already cooking, but I made some extra sauce to go on top. Just like my grandma made. Do you want a beer?"

"Sure."

Booth went to the refrigerator and took out two beers. He walked across the kitchen to the part of the counter where Brennan was leaning. He put the two beers down beside her and then leaned in. For a second Brennan thought he was going to kiss her. He was so close she could feel his muscles through the thin t-shirt. Booth reached passed her and into the cabinet behind her head.

"The bottle opener." He paused a moment, sensing the tension he had created by his presence. "It's in here." He grabbed the opener and continued to stand in his current spot while opening the first beer and handing it to Brennan. She slowly took it from him, her breathing noticeably labored, and took a quick sip to steady herself. Then Booth opened the other beer.

"To us…solving the case I mean."

"We haven't solved the case yet Bones," he said very slowly with a sly smile across his lips."

"Yes, but I'm sure we will. We work very well together," she said smiling back.

At that moment Booth leaned in brushing his lips against hers ever so softly until she began to respond with her own lips. They leaned into each other and began to kiss more passionately, tongues mingling, tasting each other, when all of a sudden the timer buzzed. Brennan pulled back.

"The lasagna, we don't want it to burn."

"That's not the only thing in here that's burning." Booth joked.

"Get the food Booth."

Brennan removed herself from the space between Booth's arms and sat down at the table in his kitchen.

"Let's just concentrate on dinner Booth, ok?"

"Alright Bones, if that's what you want, but I'll warn you that my lasagna has wooed many a good woman in it's day."

Bones chuckled and dove into the lasagna trying rather unsuccessfully not to think of the kiss they had just shared.