With the pavement quickly turning to slurry and the clouds shifting to an even more toxic shade of steel-wool, Booth's mood-iffy already-began a sharp, threatening nosedive south. What could have once been categorized as mere crankiness was now reaching positively Vesuvian levels.
Miles through the park's deserted main road revealed no signs of any kind of clearing in the woods which might lead to donut guy's cabin. And after nearly four hours of constant breaking and accelerating because he absolutely refused to hand over the reins of his fate to the vagaries of cruise-control, the mild burning sensation along his spine had become a gargantuan, epic knot which no amount of butt-shifting in his seat was likely to untie.
Could there be any sort of upside to this ill-timed expedition that might justify the tons of ibuprofen he was going to have to choke down later tonight? The loss of two perfectly good, center-ice seats along with a steady supply of cold beer?
Where was the silver lining that he almost always managed to find in almost every situation?
He sullenly concluded that this time around, there just wasn't any.
And that's when things finally reached a boiling point for the agent. Slamming the steering wheel of Brennan's car hard, he let out a resentful grunt before tightening his knuckles once again in a stranglehold around the slender, vinyl-wrapped circle. The automotive component might not be to blame for their current situation, but since someone couldn't pay, something had to.
Because he couldn't very well throttle his partner although he was sorely tempted to, for lots of different but equally valid reasons.
She was, after all, his partner. It wouldn't look good on his record to be charged with assault and battery on a coworker, especially a woman.
And perhaps an even bigger concern, he was well aware that Bones was more than capable of defending herself. The prospect of spending the next two weeks icing his nether parts or possibly looking for their replacement was really not such a pleasant one.
Plus, the most troubling fact of all remained-he liked the occasionally infuriating forensic anthropologist way too much. Sometimes far, far more than was at all remotely safe for his mental health.
So rather than take things out on her as he was currently fantasizing about, he gripped the innocent wheel harder and whacked the radio button on to release some of his pent-up irritation. Hopefully, his blatant manhandling of his partner's new prized possession would telegraph loud and clear to her just how unhappy he was at now coming dangerously close to missing the entire first period of the game.
"Please be more gentle with the electronics in the car" she scolded sternly, bypassing a discussion of the possible source of his bad temper.
Booth could be such a baby sometimes, Brennan griped in silence, watching him press random buttons on the console of her car. She looked down her nose in his direction and frowned.
Tension, tension, tension.
Both passenger and driver were feeling it, though neither seemed willing to acknowledge why it was there at all-why it'd been there for months.
While the two partners stewed in their respective vats of unidentified frustration, an official-sounding voice suddenly droned on to life on the radio.
In others news, this is a reminder to all of our listeners that there is a winter weather alert in effect beginning at six pm tonight and continuing until late Sunday morning for the following counties... Expect up to four feet of snow to accumulate in some outlying areas with drifts up to eight feet high, and winds possibly gusting to 45 miles per hour. The state's Department of Transportation has requested that non-emergency vehicles stay off roads and highways in all affected areas. Commissioner Michael Campos warns that poor driving conditions and impaired visibility may make it impossible for emergency crews to reach stranded travelers in a timely manner and urges the use of caution and common sense when going outside. Again, a winter weather advisory...
A final poke from a restless finger abruptly turned the radio off. The FBI agent looked to his right, a belligerent I-told-you-so practically pouncing from his eyes.
"Caution and common sense, Bones. Do we have any?"
Brennan stared out the windshield as her resolve began to flag. The snow was starting to pick up, and they weren't even to the cabin yet. Still, they were practically there. All that tedious, unpleasant driving, the litany of passive-aggressive comments she had endured for most of the day, for nothing.
Angrily tossing the map in the backseat she closed her eyes, an unexplained lump suddenly forming deep inside her throat.
"If you want to go back Booth, feel free to turn around" she said dejectedly, capitulating to the meteorological realities. "I've already come to terms with the fact that we won't get to Snell's cabin today. We'll have to come back Tuesday when conditions have improved, assuming this road is accessible by then."
She didn't know she was pouting, and that's exactly what made the expression on the rosy mouth with its protruding, slightly quivering lower lip so blastedly effective.
Curse and damn his fate, Booth thought.
Never in the whole history of the Seeley Booth/Temperance Brennan partnership had the FBI agent been able to stand up to that little-girl-accidentally-left-behind-at-the-store look of hers, and it sure as hell wasn't going to happen now.
"You're going to be really disappointed if we don't make it there today, aren't you?" he asked gently.
Brennan, pretending not to care but realizing she was probably doing it poorly because for some unfathomable reason she did care, shrugged her shoulders in what she hoped passed for insouciance.
"It's alright, Booth. This clearly unproductive journey has already taken up enough of your time. Let's just drive to your game and forget about Snell for today."
It was stupid to get teary eyed over such a minor setback, but even so, Brennan felt the rims of her eyes begin to sting. She turned away from her partner, trying to sniff back tears before he had the chance to notice the uncharacteristic moment of weakness. Her second one of the day, to boot. It's just that for a minute there, this adventure of theirs had seemed like it was taking them somewhere; somewhere that wasn't just going to be a scene of murder and mayhem. An idiotic assumption, because that's exactly where they'd been heading-that, or a hockey game.
And now, back to square one. Although she acknowledged that in all probability they had never actually left that starting position.
Booth inspected his insanely pretty, misty-eyed companion carefully and then he smiled.
"Hey, what the hell. We're already here, right? And that trail has to be close-a park ranger can't be wrong. Especially not a guy with a name like Ranger Rick. Let's just keep looking for a little while longer. How's that, Bones? The road's got to be around here somewhere."
"How about caution and common sense?"
"Eh-who needs those? Not Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan, that's who" he intoned cheerfully. "We're so good together we can afford to throw common sense out the window."
Her face lit up immediately, exactly as if he'd just given her a bouquet of withered ulnas for her birthday. And that's all he ever wanted, right there in that smile.
And Brennan was smiling; how could she not?
Booth-so charming, so devastatingly sweet, she conceded as her downtrodden spirits began to lift. Underneath the cocky attitude, the impossible amounts of swagger and the occasional thorn or two, nothing but sweetness and charm. One of the many reasons she was so irrationally drawn to her partner on all levels-physical, emotional, and maybe even spiritual, not that she necessarily even believed in the existence of the latter.
All those surprising contradictions that somehow defined Special Agent Seeley Joseph Booth; that kept her guessing and coming back for more as she unsuccessfully tried to decipher the mystery that lay at the heart of the former Ranger.
Well that, along with his undeniably impressive physical attributes. Brennan belatedly bit the inside of her cheek to try to keep a suspicious grin off her lips.
"What?" he asked, looking befuddled.
"Nothing. It's just that sometimes you are extremely nice. I don't like bringing it up very often because I know it might only encourage you to have an even higher opinion of yourself than you already have, but it's true."
After mulling over the compliment, Booth turned to Brennan with a tilt of the head and his signature grin. "Yeah-you're right. I am nice."
The peaceful interlude, like many others before it, wasn't meant to last.
"And that's precisely why I didn't want to mention it. Booth, there's a raccoon in the middle of the road-please pay more attention to where you're going!"
Booth uttered a mild swear word as swerved around the lumbering animal, missing it by a hair.
He sped on for a couple of miles more until his partner, who was purposefully refusing to flatter her coworker any further now that she'd gotten her way, held out her hand and pointed to an almost invisible opening in the woods. The words 'no trespassing, private land' had been hand-written on a sign tacked onto a rusty chain which ran between two beat-up metal poles flanking the entrance.
"There, I believe that might be the road to the victim's cabin" Brennan announced. "The location approximates the one Mr. Rick drew out for us."
Pulling over and getting out of the car, Booth eyed the otherwise unmarked trail warily; at least the ground was mostly frozen, he consoled himself. Trying to traverse that glorified donkey path in the mud, in this stupid go-cart, would be impossible.
"You sure you want to do this?" he asked as Brennan joined him by the side of the road.
"Last chance; once we're on this thing, we're kind of committed to it. I think Ranger Rick might be right. It doesn't look like there's much room to U-turn it, probably not until the very end."
"Until the very end..."
Those very austere-sounding words began to register slowly inside the anthropologist's brain.
Was she committed? Was she? Yes, she was.
"I do want to do this, Booth" she replied, mirroring almost word for word her grave assertion about their hockey game earlier that morning. "And I understand what you're saying; once we embark on this venture, there's no room for regrets. I know that."
Again, there was a vehemence to her voice that made Booth wonder what the heck they were talking about. Was this last minute escapade of theirs just one big metaphor for their relationship of late? If so, that might very well be his missing silver lining-loopy park rangers, errant raccoons and all.
"You heard what Mr. Rick said," she reminded him. "The cabin's already in a state of advanced decay; if we wait much longer, there may be nothing left for us to examine."
A statement that could also describe their chances at a relationship, Brennan noted.
Somebody had to push this unwieldly behemoth along and Booth and his almost unnatural shyness when it came to making a move were quite obviously not up to the task. While she too had suffered from the stinging pain brought on by romantic rejection, she supposed he'd been turned down way more times, possibly instilling in him a lifelong fear of proposals of any kind.
So perhaps forward movement was entirely up to her.
After checking Brennan's expression for any signs of waffling, Booth made her stand behind him. He pulled his gun out of its holster and fired. A single shot propelled an ancient lock in a dozen directions, leaving the chain slack and the path clear.
The agent looked at the broken fragments while he considered this very strange day so replete with odd conversations. He decided that before he got back into the car he simply had to be sure about things, although at this point he wasn't sure what it was he had to be sure about.
"You positive about this?" he asked, twin rising eyebrows underscoring the importance of both his question and her answer.
"Positive," she said.
An accompanying luminous smile-not entirely partnery, not entirely friendshippy, made countless candy-colored balloons take flight within the special agent's chest.
Rubbing his hands together enthusiastically Booth smiled back, suddenly feeling invincible.
"Okay-we're doing this then" he announced.
The travelers got back inside their vehicle and the engine hummed quietly to life.
The car, a little unsteadily, a little wobbly perhaps began to creep forward rather slowly, but forward it crept.
