"Go ahead, you wanted to talk to him," Booth said to Ryan.
"Sir, I am going to have to ask you to stop yelling and poking me first off," the young Agent-to-be began.
"And why's that?! You all are in the way and told all my guys they can't work! I think you'd better start explaining something to me right quick before I do more than poke you!" The overweight man said, poking repeatedly.
"Because!" Booth and Garbarino both pulled out their badges, Booth also pulling his jacket back to reveal his firearm. "We are the FBI, and a body has been found inside that cave over there," Booth finished, gesturing toward a hole in the mountain cordoned off with police tape. "So poke the kid one more time. Go on, it'll give me a reason to haul you in and take my time getting to questioning you."
Bones gave Booth a quick look, as if to say 'are you serious?'. "Mister..."
"D'Lesardo. Gary d'Lesardo. This here is my quarry."
"Mr. d'Lesardo, as Agent Booth explained to you, a body was found when your crew began to remove the rubble. We were called because Booth and I are called in when the remains are too degraded or mutilated to otherwise be taken care of by local police," Temperance explained in a calm manner. "As far as him taking you into custody, he will do it since you have technically assaulted an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He's done it before to entire groups, so one man won't be too much of a hassle for him."
"So miss, who is it then?" d'Lesardo snapped back.
"Doctor. Doctor Temperance Brennan, and while I am the best in my field, I certainly am not that good considering the remains were buried under thousands of pounds of earth, as well as being inside that cave or whatever you call it in the industry when the explosives went off." Fishing her phone out of the pocket in her jeans, Bones answered with her curt "Brennan!" response. "Oh, ok Hodgins. What's that? Oh, yes, certainly. I will send Booth's intern to escort you two in."
"Sending me to escort who Bones?"Garbarino asked, perking up when he heard his title mentioned.
"No no. You will not call me Bones. Booth and his son are the only two people that are allowed to call me that. I am Dr. Brennan."
"I... sorry Dr. Brennan. I just assumed, but you know what they say about assuming. Where am I going?" Ryan responded, taken aback but recovering nicely.
"No, I do not know what they say about assuming. You will have to go over to the quarry entrance and escort Dr. Hodgins and whoever is with him. You saw Dr. Hodgins and this new person on the video conference we had. He has a beard, and I believe drove a small car today. Booth called it a Matchbox a few years ago."
In the meantime, Booth had been able to explain the situation to the fiery quarry owner and had suggested the man contact his lawyer. "So..." Booth began, looking intensely at Brennan.
"So... dinner tonight when we get back?" Brennan asked hesitantly. 'What are you doing Temperance... it is just Booth, why are you hesitant and shy?'
"Of course. You know I'd drag you to the Diner anyway. We'll just stop on the way back with the kid."
"No! I mean... well, just you and I? I kind of wanted to talk to you tonight... alone?" 'Tempe, it is just Booth! Get a hold of yourself!'
"Oh... uh, sure Bones. Whatever you want. It's a date!" Booth said emphatically, flashing a full-on charm smile. A lazy smile warmed Brennan's face while she nodded vigorously. 'What is up with her all of a sudden?' The comical 'meep-meep' of the horn in Hodgins' Mini shook the partners out of the reverie they didn't even realize they were sharing. Just before their eye contact broke, a flash of desire washed over both their eyes, with both the people person and the bone person knowing what they saw, but wondering if they really saw it or just imagined it.
"Dr. B, Booth! What's up? You usually don't invite me to go on a field trip! This here is Lynn Smith, Cam and Angie's new intern."
Extending her hand to both the beautiful doctor and the handsome FBI agent, Lynn squeaked out a modest "p-p-pleased to m-m-meet you" before she tried to hide in the crowd of four... five as Agent Garbarino walked up.
"So Dr. B, what've we got? You said you were very confused and needed me out here for something."
"Yes Dr. Hodgins come and I will show you what we have." The entire group followed her to the grizzly scene where parts of a human skeleton lay crushed into a nearly paper-thin mockery of a body. "I called you out here because we are going to need your expertise in geology to help us understand what is bone, stone, and silt. Ms. Smith is it? You said you have a master's in crime scene reconstruction?" The petite girl nodded while looking around with wide eyes, taking in every detail while failing to notice the adoring gaze of the young FBI trainee. Agent Booth noticed the gaze when his broke from a similar watchfulness of Bones. 'I'm going to have to have a chat with the kid when we get back to the Hoover. Fantastic.' "Ms. Smith, I believe you and Agent Garbarino can work together to figure out what stones came from where, which could help us determine a lot about the damage to the skeleton. Does anyone have any ideas as to how we can safely take the skeleton back to the Jeffersonian without copious amounts of dirt, but without just putting all the pieces in a bag?"
"Bones, remember what you told me you guys did to get that bride out of the stack of cardboard? With the sheet of metal? Could that work?" Booth offered. Brennan pondered for a moment before nodding her head. She stripped the gloves off her hands and started walking out of the cave. "Back to DC to wait for the remains?" Again Brennan nodded as she walked toward the SUV. "Right to the lab or?"
"Yes, please."
"You got it Bones," Booth said, placing his hand on the small of her back. Temperance melted into the touch and extended the length of their walk by slowing down before she climbed into the SUV.
"Hey! What about... me..." Agent Garbarino finished as the pair drove out of the quarry. "Uh," Ryan began after walking back toward Jack," Dr. Hodgins? Can I get a ride back to Washington with you? Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth just left without me."
AN: Yeah, so... I realized that the very ending of this and parts of the next few parts of this little narrative didn't exactly coalesce, so I edited this bit instead of re-writing the whole next chapter or two. Mea culpa.
