"It's so exciting to meet you, Dr. Brennan. I'm such a big fan!" Temperance signed the book with a smile and the next customer stepped up with a similarly gushing greeting. This continued for a while until Brennan's hand cramped up. Luckily, the publicist assigned to her broke in and dismissed the dwindling crowd.

"Thank you for coming everybody but Dr. Brennan has to leave now." The woman ushered Brennan out the back of the store away from her admirers. "Let's go to lunch. There's a great salad place around here. I'm on Atkins so no carbs for me!" The author gave a tight smile as she listened to the younger woman ramble on. A shrill cell phone ring cut through the woman's voice and Brennan was grateful.

"I need to take this." She stepped away from the publicist and flipped open her phone. "Booth, my savior."

"Always, but why this time?"

"My publicist is overly perky, overly blonde almost teenager who is trying to convince me to give up carbohydrates."

"Sounds rough," Booth chuckled. She knew he was extremely amused at her expense.

"Why don't you tell me why you called?

"I have to have a reason besides wanting to talk with my favorite forensic anthropologist?"

"What is it, Booth?"

"We solved the Liddell case. I wanted to let you know the details. Two illegal aliens kidnapped Amanda hoping to get enough ransom money to bring some of their family over from Mexico. When Mr. Liddell screwed up the ransom drop, they thought it was a plot to catch them and broke contact. However, right after they made the second attempt at contact, Amanda tried to escape and there was a struggle. She fell, hit her head against a table, and died. The kidnappers panicked. One of them worked construction at the restaurant and knew about their contract and liquor license problems so they thought they could hide the body unnoticed there while they got out of town. We just arrested them in Durham, North Carolina doing construction work there."

"Thanks for filling me in."

"No problem. I loved your book by the way. That Andy is so incredibly smart and sexy."

"Very funny, Booth." She rolled her eyes, even though she was smiling at his teasing. "Why did you even buy it? I could have gotten you a copy."

"No worries, Bones. We've got to get you to the top of the best seller list somehow." She could hear his smile through the phone.

"Listen, I've got to grab some lunch before another signing this afternoon, but I'll talk to you again soon." She closed her cell phone and walked over to where the publicist was waiting by the car.

"Was that Agent Booth? The one you dedicated your book to?" Brennan nodded. "FBI: that is so cool. Is he just like Andy Lister?" Climbing into the car, Brennan squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to stave off the tension headache she knew was coming.

00000000000000000000

"Dr. Brennan, I love your books. They're so fascinating!"

"Can you make it out to Agnes, that's my mom. I'm going to give her this book for her birthday."

"I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it!" As annoying as her publicist was, Temperance occasionally enjoyed these signings. She often felt out of the loop of popular society and these signings made her feel like a part of something larger. If all these people liked her book, then maybe she wasn't completely out of touch with the rest of humanity.

"Dr. Brennan, it's a pleasure to meet you finally. I love your books."

"Thank you, sir."

"No, I mean I really loved them. They spoke to me." Brennan looked up, startled by the man's illogical words spoken with such intensity. However, the man was smiling and looked completely normal – not like someone who was hearing voices coming from inanimate objects. It's just a figure of speech, Temperance. You take things way to literally. She signed the book and handed it back. The man smiled at her and stepped aside for the next person in line stepped up.

The signing continued for another hour and was followed by an interview with the local paper and dinner with her editor. By the time Brennan got back to her hotel room, she was exhausted.

It was still rather early in the evening but she went about her nightly routine anyway. Taking a quick shower, she changed into her pajamas, washed her face, brushed her teeth and climbed into bed with a book.

She was a few chapters in when her phone rang. A smile graced her face when she saw Booth's name on her caller ID.

"Hey Booth."

"Bones, are you done being a best selling author? I need my partner back."

"I've been gone 3 days. You miss me that much already?"

"No. We've got another body."

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