So, I bet you are all saying Virtue took her own sweet time to tell us about what happened with Booth and Phillip. But the thing was I had school as usual, tests, presentations. I had no time to really tweak this chapter. But I did today and here it is…though I can tell you, if you wanted a Booth/Phillip fight, you will be disappointed.
Disclaimer: Bones isn't mine, though a girl can wish. That thing in the last chapter about Brennan being a cuddler, I stole from SSJL.
They walked out of the Jeffersonian in a huffy silence. Booth was annoyed with himself for noticing that Bones' walk got a little exaggerated when she was ticked off, even through his blinding anger. She got to her side of the SUV and folded her arms.
He pressed the little button on the alarm to open the doors and they entered the car.
"I don't see why you're upset," he mumbled, trying to get the image of her in his socks out of his head.
"I could ask you the same question, Booth!" she spat, "It is really unnecessary for you to talk to Phillip."
"What you don't want me to meet him?"
"That is not what I mean. The pictures look perfectly fine. You just feel the need to exert your alpha-male tendencies for some unnecessary reason, that's what's wrong!"
What's wrong is that the entire male population of America now has a fantasy with you in it, Booth thought.
"You don't know Bones. You don't know what kind of people they expect to do these things."
"All of those women are respected professionals in their chosen field!"
"That's beside the point."
"No, it isn't. I am no different from any of the women in this magazine."
Yes, you are, Booth thought, I know you, I see you every day, I have to look into those eyes, the same eyes that looked at Phillip in that way…
He pressed down on the gas a little too hard.
"Morgan's gives the women in these positions a way to express themselves in a healthy forum. And compared to other magazines, it is very tasteful. Look at this one of me. I'm lying across a bed in a corset and a skirt. In any other magazine, you know what I would have had on?"
He stopped at a stoplight and glanced over. But what he saw made him do a double take.
"Mother of…!" he grabbed the magazine from her.
She was lying across a big four poster bed on a quilt that looked comfy and inviting. The room around her was bathed in warm lighting. They did her make-up to look like the romanticized image of a Spanish lady. Her hair looked longer (done by what we ladies know as extensions) and there was a large red rose at the side of her head. The corset she had on cinched her cleavage until a generous amount spilled over the top. It was made of red silk and had black lace trim. The 'skirt' as she had called it, was not what he would have named the piece of cloth that covered less than what the skirts cheerleaders at NFL games wore. It was made of red silk as well, and was situated over a pair of legs covered with fishnet stockings and red heels.
The image in his mind switched from Casablanca to Moulin Rouge.
"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No."
He pushed the magazine back to her as if to get it as far away as possible. He wanted to kill Phillip now.
"Why are you saying no?" she asked.
"Bones, you're…" beautiful, "You look like…" an angel, "Bones, you didn't do this!"
"Obviously, yes I did," said Bones, "I don't see what the big deal is Booth. They are just pictures."
"They're pictures of you, Bones! This has already reached the Bureau! They're probably all going wild over there! What about your publisher, huh? What is she gonna say about this?"
"Seeing that I called her before I did it and she encouraged me further, I would have to say she would still be okay with it."
Booth felt like the world had turned upside-down while he was sleeping. Overnight, Bones had become some sort of sex symbol. Even thinking those words made him queasy. He glanced down at the picture of her and resolved to burn his copy of Moulin Rouge along with the magazine. He couldn't ever watch it again.
The angry beeps from the cars behind him alerted him to the fact that the light had changed.
He pressed even harder on the gas. This Phillip guy was going to get a piece of his mind.
………………………….
He was hugging her too tight.
Bones never let him hug her so tight. Why was this Phillip guy so special?
Booth found himself forming fists as he watched the two of them.
Phillip had spiky black hair, shining blue eyes and a goatee. He also had a smile that Booth had a feeling every woman would fall to her knees over. He was also huge; muscles were straining against the purple T-shirt he had on.
Booth wanted to kick something. They had been hugging for at least a minute and a half. Finally he let Booth's partner go.
"So, what brings my princess to me today?" Phillip asked.
"Don't call me princess, Phillip," said Bones. Her smile turned to a frown as she looked back at Booth, "This is my partner that I told you about, Special Agent Seely Booth. He was the one who dragged me here. He has some questions about your work."
"Oh! So you're the partner!" Phillip smiled and stuck out his hand towards Booth, "Phillip Scott, at your service. Any friend of the princess is a friend of mine."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Booth ignored the hand, "What the hell are these?"
Phillip looked at the bed picture Booth held up. "Oh! I love that picture. She looks so innocent and yet so playfully sensual. The romantic lighting and the make-up is sophisticated, yet the…"
Booth cut him off, "Dude, I don't give a damn. What I'm concerned about is the fact that you have turned my partner into some…" he could hardly say the words, "sex kitten."
"There is nothing wrong with the pictures, Booth!" Bones shouted in a vain attempt to make Booth stop acting like a jealous boyfriend.
"Have you looked at her lately? She's a sex kitten all on her own!" said Phillip.
The comment got him a playful slap from Bones and a murderous glare from Booth.
"Hey man, I'm just kidding. She did say she understood the way our magazine was formatted. We do these sorts of photos all the while. They aren't meant to be overly raunchy and I don't think that Dr. Brennan's photos are in any way."
"No, they aren't Phillip. Booth is just asserting his alpha-male tendencies. He feels the need to protect me, even when it's evident that I do not need protection." Bones glared in Booth's direction, but he missed it because he was glaring at Phillip.
"If it makes you feel any better Agent Booth, we do these shoots with the utmost professionalism. And the photographers that work here have even been awarded. I myself received an award for the work I did with Lauren Baker, the young opera singer."
The look on Booth's face changed, "The one with her riding the Merry-Go-Round in a bikini? I have that issue at home!"
"Really? So you actually read the magazine?"
"I subscribe to it! I love the girls in there each month. You guys always find some strong smart girls who look damn sexy too!"
"Do you remember the ambassador Marianne Harper? She's the one that…"
"Had only a towel on in the steamy shower. I have that one too. It's one of my favourites…"
"WHAT!"
The two men looked at Bones. She was boiling with anger.
"You mean to tell me that you have no problem with these other women, but you have a problem with me taking pictures?!"
"Well of course!"
"Why?"
"Because, Bones you're my partner! I'm the one who has to see you every day!"
Bones' brows drew together, "That makes no sense, Booth."
"Sure it does!"
"It isn't like you are going to see me in a corset or a tub of bubbles every day!"
"No, but that is going to be the only thing on the mind of every perp we catch from now on, you in a corset and a tub of bubbles!"
"That makes no sense either!"
Through the entire exchange, Phillip had been smiling.
"Dr, Brennan, can I talk to your partner alone a second?"
"What are you going to do?" she asked him."
He smiled, "I just wanna set him straight."
She seemed to think that was needed, "Okay,"
"Listen," Booth said as the door clicked shut, "She is my partner and all I'm doing is looking out for her…"
"Agent Booth, you have the hots for your partner!"
It wasn't the first time he had been accused of it. But he didn't. He didn't!
Not that he didn't see why guys would think Bones was hot. He was a red-blooded male, after all. She was beautiful, of course, he'd be an idiot not to see that. But that didn't translate to him having intimate feelings for her!
It was the pictures that were the problem. The pictures were just too much. Who could handle Bones in a shirt alone, with legs going on forever; in a bathtub full of bubbles; on a comfy looking carpet; wearing a tiny dress that looked more like a fancy blouse; in fishnet stockings and a corset, for crying out loud! With a look on her face that made you want to be in the picture with her…
"Hey! You still with me?"
"Yes. No! I do not have the hots for my partner! I'm more worried about you."
"Me?"
"You think I don't see the way you look at her, how you hug her? How you make her look in those pictures? It's like you're in love. You're a married man, Phillip. I'd mind myself if I were you."
To his surprise, Phillip laughed and sat on his desk.
"You know, my wife," he handed Booth a picture of a pretty woman with raven black hair as he spoke, "would be very interested to hear you say that. She always asks me if any of the boyfriends or husbands of the women I photograph ever accuse me of having feelings for their wives or girlfriends. She'd be very interested to know that the first person to accuse me doesn't even like the woman!"
"Who says I don't like her?" said Booth, before he began to ramble, "I like Bones, I love her! - Not in the way you think I mean, I mean as a friend, we're just friends, nothing else. And that is the way we both like it, especially me. I don't have any feelings for her at all. Except the friendly ones, only friendly ones… Wipe that smile off your face, I didn't say anything funny!"
"You know, as a subscriber, you get a free poster with your issue. I really hope you enjoy it," said Phillip. That moment Bones walked back into the room.
"Sorry, but Hodgins just called me and said he has something interesting to show us with regards to the hockey player case. We have to go back to the Jeffersonian. What's wrong, Booth? Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"
He tried to return to normal, but the impact of what Phillip just told him had hit hard. A full size poster. With Bones on it. He really had to set up a bonfire when he went home, to purge this whole thing out of his system.
"Let's go, Booth. Nice to see you again, Phillip."
"Love you, princess. And remember the dinner on Saturday. You can bring someone if you want."
"We'll see." She was out the door.
Booth made to follow, but suddenly turned to Phillip.
"I do not have the hots for her, got that?"
"Okay, man I got you."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Bones came back into the room and dragged Booth by the jacket, "We have to go."
The door closed behind them, leaving Phillip alone to let out a big laugh.
That thing at the beginning, where Brennan's walk got exaggerated when she was ticked off, that's me. The thing is I walk normally, according to my friends, like I'm auditioning for Caribbean Model Search. And when I'm really not in a good mood, my walk gets really wild, the way my guy friends like it.
Okay, I will stop making up pictures after the poster. Seven pictures are way too much.
So, you know the drill, REVIEW!