A/N: Happy New Years! :D
At the Jeffersonian; Booth stood inside Brennan's office. His phone was against his ear. Director Cullen was informing him about the lead Sully and Perotta had gotten from the suspect's house. Booth wasn't surprised about the house exploding, probably because he read the case file while Brennan was doing her squint stuff.
"Yeah." Booth nodded, watching his partner enter her office. She sat at her desk and went on her laptop. She glanced up at him as he finished his conversation. "I'll get right on it."
"Since Sully and Perotta will be busy tonight finishing that full report, I want Dr. Brennan and yourself to go to the victim's house—" Cullen told him.
"The one that blew up?" Booth furrowed his eyebrows and reluctantly looked at his partner, who raised her eyebrows back at him.
"You got a problem with that?"
"No sir." Booth rolled his eyes. "Do you want the squints to look for any clues?"
"Yes. The FBI bomb squad and forensics will be there when you arrive. I want that whole entire area covered." He said with a stern voice.
"You got it, sir." Booth shut his phone and heavily sighed.
"What'd he say?" Brennan asked her partner. He walked over to her couch and sat down with a plop.
"He wants us to go to the house that blew Sully and Perotta up… cover the area… try to find what ever we can find." He told her with a exhausted expression. Brennan widened her eyes but Booth told her before she could make a peep. "Don't worry, they're both okay. They're just in trouble for not noticing that the brother of the victim used to work with explosives."
Brennan didn't know whether to call Sully to check if he's okay or to just stay concerned for the both of them. "Tomorrow morning?"
"Yeah." Booth nodded. "I'll pick you up unless you want to meet at the Jeffersonian first."
"Jeffersonian first, I need to grab my equipment before we go to the field." She looked at her laptop and started checking her email.
Booth rested his head against the top of the couch and closed his eyes. "Why do we have to do the dirty work?"
"Well it could've been the other way around, Booth. You could've gotten blown up, again." She responded without looking away from her computer.
"Good point," He opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling and raised his eyebrow. "I think."
That night, Perotta parked her car in the parking lot that sat right in front of the dock. She looked at all of the boats and spotted one of them. Its lights were on. It was very obvious that it was Sully's. Perotta got out of her car and grabbed the case file before slamming the car door and locking it. She walked down the dock and stopped in front of Sully's boat. She took a good look at it and wondered why he would ever want to live his life in that thing. There was no door on it nor was there any door bell. Perotta crooked the side of her mouth and decided to yell for him.
"Sully!?" She curiously yelled, being very cautious of her surroundings.
"Over here!" Sully yelled back. Perotta furrowed her eyebrows and turned the corner. She found Sully on the connecting dock, grilling something in a griller. It smelled really good.
"What are you doing?" She smirked, walking towards him.
"Cooking." He told her with a wide smile. He cut off a piece and stabbed it with a fork. He held it in her direction and she gladly took it. She wrapped her mouth around the piece of meat and slid it off. Perotta widened her eyes in amazement.
"Wow, this is really good – what is it?" She chewed.
"Classic Sirloin Steak with a touch of Sully." He joked. He popped a lid on the grill and faced her. He widened his eyes once he saw what she was wearing. She looked back at him and then at her blue jeans.
"What?" She looked up at him again.
"Nothing…" He gasped. "… It—I've just never seen you in jeans before."
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." She rolled her eyes with a smile.
"I just might." He said, glancing down at her. Perotta smirked and playfully whacked him on the arm. He laughed and told her he'd meet her on the boat. "Let me grab these off the grill and I'll meet you inside the boat.
"Okay." She turned and boarded the boat with caution. Sully grabbed the steaks and lowered them onto a stainless steel pan. He climbed onto the boat and placed the pan on the table that was right near the deck. Perotta sat on the deck and was gazing at the horizon. Her mouth was ajar and her eyes sparkled. It was quite the sight for her.
"You like?" He gasped, making her almost jump. She smiled and nodded.
"It's beautiful."
"Yeah…" He said, watching her instead of the horizon. "…It's really amazing."
"Does it always look this colorful?" She asked. Perotta was about to turn to get off the deck. At that moment, Sully immediately looked at the horizon instead of her.
"Um, yeah. It sure is colorful this time of year." He nervously nodded in agreement. He gently tugged on her sweatshirt but before he could acknowledge his actions, Perotta looked down at his hand that was still grasping her sweatshirt. She looked up at him and waited for his reaction but all she saw was his blank expressionless face. She looked down at his hand again.
"Um, Sully…" She hinted to him. Sully looked down at his hand and slowly started to ease his grasp on her. Perotta smirked and walked towards the table where the steaks were. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Sully widened his eyes and turned to face her. "I—I, uh – I kind of spaced out there." A poor excuse but an excuse nonetheless.
"Mm, they smell good." She immediately changed the subject, hinting Sully that she no longer wanted to linger around that moment.
"Yeah. They aren't that hard to cook." Sully admired his cooking skills.
"Maybe someday you could teach me how to cook them."
He looked over at her while they both took their seats. They both caught each other's gaze and before they knew it, they both grew wide smiles. "Someday."
After a warm meal surrounded by a colorful horizon, the two began to work on their report inside the boat. There was a table inside the boat, covered by wooden sliding doors. Inside was a portable plug in heater that Perotta had immediately grown attached to. Sully walked inside and sat down next to her. Perotta was on Sully's laptop, typing away on their full detailed report.
"How's it going?" He asked her, sneaking a peak at the monitor.
She glared at him before looking back at the monitor. "Well so far, I've covered everything but the explosion you set off."
Sully furrowed his eyebrows and innocently looked at her. "Hey, I'm the one who got blown up though so maybe a little sympathy would be nice. And besides, you were the one that over looked the fact that the victim's brother, a.k.a 'cute guy'," he air quoted with his fingers, " was a mastermind of explosions and kaboomies."
"Don't get snappy with me, Sully. You're the one that had to close the door on the way out."
"Oh, so you're punishing me for being a gentleman and an anti-burglar?" He shook his head at her.
"Fine then. If you feel this compelled in becoming a gentleman, then why don't you," Perotta moved the laptop so that it faced him," finish the rest of the report."
Sully, with his mouth completely ajar, looked at her and then at the laptop. "You know what – fine. Fine, I'll finish the report for us. You owe me one Eyes."
"I do not owe you one, I finished most of the report – and why do you keep on insisting in calling me that stupid nickname of yours? It's really childish of you." She crossed her arms and leaned against the wooden sliding door that felt like a nice backboard.
Sully frowned like a child. His bottom lip plumped up and his eyebrows were furrowed. He looked at her with that puppy dog face. "What, you don't like my nickname for you?"
Perotta stared at him and eventually shook her head. "You're such a weirdo." She gasped. Sully laughed and began to type out the rest of the report. After a couple minutes, Perotta moved next to him to make sure that he wasn't putting any funny sentences in there. She moved her head next to his and glanced at the monitor. He then began to slowly glance at her.
"What are you doing?" He asked her. His breath brushed against her cheek a little.
"Making sure that you don't put anything in our report that could jeopardize our jobs." She responded.
"You think I'd actually do that, after all the hard work you've already put into this thing?" He pointed at his laptop and waited for her reaction.
She looked up at him and lingered there for a moment. Sully began to slowly gaze down at her lips and then at her eyes. Just when he thought something was about to happen, Perotta nodded.
"Yeah." She agreed, cutting the moment and the sexual tension that she obviously didn't notice.
Sully heavily sighed and kept on typing. "Well because it's almost midnight, I really can't find the energy to upset you." His words were endearing to her.
"That's very sweet of you and at the same time, not like you at all." She smiled.
"What? C'mon. You've known me for a day and you act as if you already know everything there is to know about me." He chuckled.
"As an FBI Agent, we have to make quick decisions." Perotta told him. Her eyes started to flutter. The word midnight kept floating through her mind; in other words, she was ready to fall asleep. The rocking of the boat and her drowsiness danced with each other and just like that, she had already closed her eyes.
"So, in a day, you've come to the conclusion that I'm the type of guy that always fools around but also tries to be a gentleman?" He asked her. After a few seconds, he felt something hit his shoulder. He glanced in her direction and saw her eyes closed, her mouth slightly open and her head resting on his shoulder. Sully smiled and pressed the period key on his laptop. Right when she passed out, he had finished their report. He gently closed his laptop and silently moved his partner so that she was sleeping on the cushions right near the table. He watched her sleep for a couple seconds before getting some blankets out from a small compartment inside the small room. He laid one blanket over her before whispering in her ear.
"Good night, Eyes."
His gentle voice made her stir. She grasped the blanket and began to tuck her legs in. Sully widened his smile and before he knew it, he was sleeping on the adjacent side with his head resting right next to hers.
Booth and Brennan had arrived at the scene of the explosion. They both climbed out of the car and slowly gazed upon the mess that had been made. Booth took off his sunglasses and whistled.
"Wow, Sully sure did a number on the house."
"I don't see any numbers." Brennan gasped, waiting for his response. He glanced over at her with such an open mouth. After all these years they've spent together, she still hasn't gotten the hang of his figures of speech.
"You know, Bones, one day I'm going to buy you a book on figure of speeches and I'll make sure that you read it." He smiled in her direction, watching where he was walking. They both made their way closer to the house with the FBI bomb squad and forensics already trailing behind them.
"I don't see why Cullen wants me to be here seeing as how there are no fleshless corpses in sight." The forensic anthropologist glanced up at her partner.
"Well you are the best, Bones." He chuckled.
"I'm the best in my field as well as yourself but since there are no corpses in sight, I can go back to the Jeffersonian and work on the victims that are waiting for me on the forensic platform." She turned around and started to walk back to the car.
"But—Bones…" Booth looked at the mess before chasing after his partner. "I'm sure Cullen just wanted you to take a look at the mess – you know, take some pictures, give them to Angela, recreate the explosion—that kind of stuff." He tried to make her feel useful.
"Booth, unless there's some kind of corpse lying around, I see no point in staying here." She was about to climb back into Booth's SUV until one of the FBI Forensics called her name.
"Um, Dr. Brennan." The guy said loudly.
At this point, both Booth and Brennan looked in his direction. The FBI forensic guy held up something with a pair of tweezers. It was a little white and a little tan. It looked like a small bone from a human. The sun did not help at all. Brennan walked up to the forensic guy and took the tweezers from him, still holding up the bone.
"What is it Bones?" Booth asked, standing next to her.
"It's a phalange." Brennan's mouth was ajar. She looked at her partner and he looked back at her.
"Great…" Booth sighed.
"Get everyone to thoroughly search the entire area. The bone fragments were probably scattered when the explosion occurred." With that said, Brennan cautiously made her to the mess.
"You heard her. Everyone thoroughly search the area." Booth heavily sighed before looking at the scattered pieces of wood and glass. "This is going to be a long day."
"You know what really bugs me?" Angela asked Hodgins. She was leaning against his desk, just itching to talk about whatever was on her mind.
Hodigns looked up from his microscope. "The possibility of more faceless victims just waiting to be identified?"
"Besides that." Angela waved his hand at him. She looked at Brennan's empty office and began to furrow her eyebrows. "Did Brennan even come to work today?"
"Yeah." Hodgins told her, looking back down at the particulates that sat in his microscope. "She came here early in the morning and grabbed her stuff. She said Cullen wanted her and Booth at the victim's brother's house."
"You mean the house that blew up?" Angela furrowed her eyebrows.
"Yeah." He responded.
"You see," She complained, "Why does she always get alone time with him?"
"Because they're partners…" Hodgins looked up at her in confusion. "…Why? Am I sensing some jealousy?" He looked back into the microscope.
"No." Angela crossed her arms across her chest. "It's just that – everyone can see that they're perfect with each other. They practically spend ninety percent of their lives with each other. It's been years and they still haven't jumped one another."
Hodgins backed away from his microscope, looked up at her and gave a heavy sigh. "Please don't tell me you're going to play match maker."
"Oh no." She shook her head. "I've already tried that."
"So what are you going to do?" Hodgins asked curiously.
"Mm." Angela hummed. "Nothing." She then began with walk away with a wide smile.
"Oh—wait!?" Hodgins turned to face her back. "Nothing?"
"Yup." Angela nodded before turning to face him. "Why, did you expect me to do something?"
"Well yeah – I mean – you're Angela. You always do something about it." Hodgins became confused. Angela chuckled and walked to her office while he pondered about their conversation.