Thanks to all who voted (and reviewed) in the last chapter. Hodgins won by a landslide. Let me know what you think!

If you'd like to imagine that this piece follows up my chapter 3 ("Payback") of "First Week Back," I think it fits pretty nicely. Shout out to TwoBecomeOne, who left me a review on that chapter saying the Jeffersonian team needed to see Booth's back.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones.

"Atta boy, Booth."

Booth glanced over his shoulder. "What?"

"Good night last night, huh?" The agent next to Booth grinned and nodded at another agent in the locker room, who gave a knowing smile as he glanced at Booth.

Another agent walking out the showers let out a low whistle as he passed by, staring at the scores on Booth's bare back. "Damn."

"Your doctor lady got a fierce set on nails on her, and she knows how to use 'em."

"Back off, Rogers."

The agent continued with a grin. "She gets rough."

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Booth reached into the locker for his clean clothes. "You're asking for it."

The agent who had whistled at Booth's wounds earlier laughed. "He's just mad because he's not getting any."

"Shut up, Mitch," Rogers immediately retorted.

"Ah, defensive." Booth grinned. "Guess it's true. That's a crying shame, Rogers, but I don't blame your girlfriend for not wanting to bang your ugly mug. Does she put a bag over your head when she gets in bed with you?"

"That sure as hell ain't true," Rogers shook his head. "I do just fine."

"If you did just fine, you wouldn't have to tell us," Mitch shot back, laughing as he ducked a punch from Rogers.

Still rummaging through his locker, Booth was annoyed with not being able to find a clean undershirt. "Where the hell did I put it …" he thought out loud, and then remembered why it was missing — a certain anthropologist had woken him up at three that morning, insisting she was cold and needed his clean undershirt from his side of the bed. When their alarm had gone off several hours later, he had happily and quickly got rid of said undershirt from said anthropologist's body. Their rendezvous had cost him a few minutes at the gym, but it was way more fun than sweating it out with Rogers and Mitch. "Worth it," he thought as he reached for his shirt, having to forego the undershirt. As he worked on the buttons, he heard the shrill tone of his phone. "Booth."

"Yo, Dr. Brennan! Nice job turning Booth into a filet!"

"More like ground chuck if we're being honest," Mitch muttered with a sly grin.

Booth glared at both of them, making threatening gestures as he indicated to his gun holstered in his locker. "Can you text me the address?" He paused. "You sure? I don't mind … oh, of course. Hodgins and Cam? Why?" He listened again. "This is going to be fun one, isn't it? You've got that giddy tone." He rolled his eyes and refrained from sighing. "Yep, like I thought … loads of fun. See you in the next hour, Bones."

Since the investigating team had requested Cam, Brennan, and Hodgins, Brennan had instructed Booth to meet them at the scene, which was a solid half hour away from Booth's office. He arrived minutes after the Jeffersonian team, but could already tell Hodgins and Brennan were hard at work.

"Whadda we got, Cam?"

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Beats me if I know."

"Ah, come on. They asked for you for a reason."

"Apparently there's two bodies. The fleshy one is over there." She gestured toward the ditch area where Brennan was kneeling, pointedly giving input to several techs.

"And you're over here why?"

"Eh, Dr. Brennan has this under control."

"The bone one is touching the fleshy one?"

"How'd you know?" Cam asked dryly.

"Crazy guess." Booth shrugged. "You know how protective she gets with her bones."

"Booth!"

"Oh, look, she's spotted you." Cam smiled as she watched Brennan waving to get Booth's attention.

"Damn. I really don't want to go down into that mess."

"Better go see what she wants." She patted him on the back with a grin, noticing as he flinched just slightly. "What's wrong with your back?"

"Nothing."

"You winced." Cam looked at him curiously.

"Just hit the gym a little hard today, that's all." He sighed as he looked down into the ditch.

"Booth?" came Brennan's call again. "Are you coming?"

"Godspeed." Cam gave Booth a thumbs up as he rolled his eyes and started down the path to the ditch. "Let me know when they're ready for me to look at the fleshy one."

"Hey Bones, you got any Neosporin?"

She pointed in the direction of her office. "Put it on in there and be sure to wash your hands thoroughly. The oil will …"

"Rub off on your bones and mess it up. I know." Booth strode off the platform, scratching his neck viciously as he went in search of the ointment. When he returned a few minutes later, he found Hodgins pointing and loudly proclaiming facts about some sort of special plant.

"This stuff is potent — like make your skin flake off potent. Typically, it grows in tropical areas — it's native to Florida."

"So why was it there?" Brennan mused, studying the computer screen. "And it's more potent than plants like poison sumac?"

"Yes, absolutely. How'd you remove your jumpsuit after the crime scene?"

"According to protocol standards — like I always do." Brennan shrugged. "I'm not itchy."

Hodgins clicked through several photographs from the crime scene, pausing at one of them. "Oh shit."

"What, Hodgins?" Booth was royally annoyed as he watched Hodgins' eyes grow wider and wider as he magnified the picture. "Good news or bad news?"

"Good news … for me. I've never seen a Campsis radicans in this kind of habit, especially along with the Hippomane mancinella. This is ground breaking … and a little confusing. I'll have to …"

"What does it mean for us?"

"Um, it means we got exposed to some pretty toxic stuff."

Booth raised an eyebrow. "Toxic?"

"Yeah. We'll need to have the seats in the cars cleaned to clear any traces. And we better take a dose of antihistamines just in case." Hodgins looked over at Booth and glanced around the lab for Cam. "Booth, you and Cam, too. You both were in the general area."

"Huh?" Booth paused in his scratching and froze as Hodgins stared at him. "What?"

"Are you scratching something?"

"Yeah, my neck and back itch like hell."

"Get your shirt off," Hodgins ordered.

"What?"

"Booth, take it off," Brennan requested. "Hodgins is right."

"Uh uh, no way."

"Booth! You weren't wearing the jumpsuits like we were, so you weren't as protected. You must have come in contact with some of the plants, and they're leaching through your shirt. You need to remove it." She looked at Hodgins. "What do you have in the lab for his neck?"

"I can find something … you should get that shirt off, Booth."

Booth groaned as he began to unbutton his shirt. "This the worst Monday in a while, you two."

"Hey man, I warned you about the plants at the scene. It's not my fault you didn't listen. Did you lean up against a tree or something?"

"Probably." Booth nearly had the shirt unbuttoned when Hodgins came over with gloved hands. "Um, what are you doing?"

"Taking it off so you don't spread the poison and spores everywhere."

"I can take off my own shirt, thank you very much."

"Just trying to prevent you from spreading it."

Brennan sighed. "Quit being so stubborn. Hodgins is trying to help you."

"Fine." Booth held out his arms to allow Hodgins to peel off the offending button-down, completely freezing when Hodgins let out a short whistle.

"Dude, you might need a hospital visit."

"No way."

"This stuff has already done a number on your back. I mean, it looks like someone took to you with claws and just had at it …. ohhhhh, " Hodgins trailed off, his brain finally registering why most of the redness and all the scratches on Booth's back were there. "I mean … I've never seen anything quite like this before … uh, but I'm sure you're going to be just fine. Yeah."

"Holy shit, Seeley." Cam's heels clicked up the platform and Booth looked over his shoulder to see her staring at his back. "Hodgins, you need to kill off whatever plant did this. It does not need to be in existence for any reason."

"Um … yeah." Hodgins nodded vigorously, desperately trying not to laugh. "I got it under control, Cam. No worries. I'll whip up some cream and his back will be back to normal in no time."

Brennan remained quiet, her lips pressed tightly together as she avoided looking at Booth. "Thank you, Hodgins."

"Not a problem. I'll … uh, let me go get started on something for that itch. You should probably hit the contamination shower."

"He's right," Brennan agreed. "Come on, I'll take you there."

"I know where the contamination shower is, Bones."

"I'll go with you anyway."

Hodgins let out a half snort, half cough as he fled down the platform steps. Looking around for Angela, he headed to take refuge in his office and allow himself to laugh freely without the risk of angering Booth.

"Booth, I'm …"

"Not a word," Booth muttered to Brennan through clenched teeth. "I'm walking half naked through your lab bearing marks from you all over me."

"They all know we have sex. We have a daughter."

"I already got ribbed for this at the gym this morning. Your lab rats seeing me in all my 'Dr. Brennan-has-marked-me-as-her-own' glory is just icing on the cake."

"I'm sorry you're embarrassed."

"I know, but I'm still mad."

"Well, you shouldn't be. I'm quite sure that Hodgins has seen this before — I'm sure Angela has done the same …"

"Uh uh, don't even start. I don't want to think about Hodgins and Angela's sex life."

"I honestly didn't realize I had scratched you quite so hard."

"You're never getting a manicure again."

"Angela says it isn't a manicure — it's shellac."

"I don't care what it is — your nails could tear up a brick wall right now."

"I find that highly unlikely …" She trailed off as she saw Booth's annoyed look. "Right. You were using hyperbole. Where was your undershirt today?"

"If my memory serves me correctly, a certain someone insisted she was cold last night and took my clean undershirt off the chair."

Unable to hide her smile, she replied sweetly, "It's not my fault that you forgot to pack another one."

"Bones, don't get me started."

Thoughts for what you want to see next? Got a character you want me to include? Thanks for reading and reviewing.