Chapter 7 – A rock and a …

Well, it's been a while, but you might be happy to know that one of my (secret) New Years resolutions involves being a better fanfic writer, which in turn involves more timely posting!

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter (now over 100!). They were quite nice, they made me want to update quicker, alas want and actually having time to do it are two different things.

Edited 1/8 – Yes! Alerts and reviews seem to be working again. I got a late start on the next chapter but I hope to have it up by the end of the week.

--

The storm had subsided by the time Brennan awoke, leaving the city covered in a blanket of pure white snow. The view from the window was entirely white and she wondered how much snow had fallen, but there was no way she was going to get up out of the warm bed to look. Shivering as she remembered last night's wintry trek, she snuggled in closer to Booth who was lying behind her with his arms wrapped firmly around her. Like he is trying to protect me even in his sleep. She thought, only slightly annoyed at the patriarchal undertones, and unable to keep a satisfied smile from spreading across her face.

Last night's fight seemed like a distant memory and she hoped they could just move on and not revisit it. As for other aspects of last night, well she could hardly wait until they were repeated. Almost as if he could read her mind, Booth stirred and began kissing her on the neck. "Mmm. Good morning Booth." She said idly.

"Morning Bones." Booth said propping himself up on his elbow and finally unwinding his arms. She leaned up to kiss him before settling back down into the bed.

"Were you afraid I was going to go somewhere during the night?" She asked indicating his arms.

He smiled and said, "You never know Bones, and I'm beginning to think keeping you safe is a full time job."

"I am perfectly capable of defending myself, though having a gun would help." She replied pointedly.

"Yeah," Booth said ignoring her plea for a weapon, "I meant keeping you safe from yourself. Making sure you don't go driving sports cars in blizzards, running off after criminals, that sort of thing."

"Ha ha, Booth." She said rolling her eyes at him. He ignored the gesture and concentrated again on kissing her neck. Brennan ran her hands over the tight muscles of his abdomen and waist, enjoying both his reaction and the way his skin felt under her fingers. His kisses had progressed steadily downward and she felt a familiar heat flooding her body. Suddenly an image of the skeleton on her table jumped into her mind and she froze.

"What's wrong?" Booth asked pulling away. He could tell that her mood had just totally shifted.

"It's nothing," She insisted and moved towards him again, but he didn't believe her.

"Bones," He said edgily. Now he was afraid she was going to freak out on him, as she had done last time they had woken up together. He really didn't think he could take that again.

She sighed and looked up at him. "I just remembered what we have to do today."

"I'm assuming that doesn't mean laying in bed all day." Booth said expressionless.

"We will probably get the ID on the girl today-"

"Which means that later we could be telling someone their child is dead." Booth finished for her. She nodded, looking sad. At least it wasn't regret and more 'we can't do this,' He thought, feeling both relieved and guilty at the same time.

The cases they worked on affected her; he knew that even if she rarely let it show. Though how much they affected her, he reflected as he studied her, he didn't know. She spent so much time immersed in her work; it was her escape. Well that and her writing, which was basically a fictional account of how they spent their days. He too had trouble sometimes, trouble letting go of the death and destruction he spent his days wrapped up in, but he had other outlets and hobbies. He worried about her because she didn't have much besides work.

"It's hard Bones, I know." He said gently, pulling her tight against his body.

She looked at him with a hint of surprise in her eyes. "I just need to get to the lab and work on the ID." She paused before she continued. It's be nice being with someone who understands..."

He agreed with her about that. "You're forgetting one detail thought," Booth said.

"What?" She answered, wrinkling up her forehead and she searched for the missing detail.

Booth rolled over on his side and said, "And just how do you think you are going to get to work today? Dogsled?"

She gave him an impish grin and said, "Luckily I know an FBI agent with a really big … truck."

--

"So," Brennan said starting to recap the case as Booth carefully steered the big SUV through the snowy and mostly empty streets. " We have the first victim, a Caucasian male approximately 22 years old. He was killed by a shotgun blast to the chest at close range. Premortem injuries indicate that the man was fighting with someone before he was killed. His teeth seemed to indicate that he was a heavy methamphetamine user."

"He was found with a really nice watch and an Ipod." Booth added. "If he was doing that many drugs it had to be expensive. You think he would have pawned the watch."

"Right," Brennan nodded. "His wallet and his clothing weren't high quality, so I would question how he afforded the drugs."

"The female victim was 20 and was of Asian ancestry." Brennan continued. "She died from a shotgun wound to the back. There were no signs of any other violence on her body. She was wearing a bracelet that appeared to be diamond. Hodgins was going to look at the gems to determine if they are real, but I think they are."

"So we're left with two victims, found buried within half a mile, both died from shotgun wounds and appear to be drug users." Booth summarized.

"Do you think there were just some kids who got mixed up with drugs and the bad crowd?" Brennan asked, eager to hear her partners read on the situation.

"I don't think so," Booth said shaking his head. "Something feels off about this case." He waited for Bones to make a joke about solving cases with his gut, but she seemed to be genuinely listening to him. He felt himself puff up a bit before he continued.

"Both bodies were found close to Senator Boyd's estate and the thing with the medical examiner and the male body. You really think Cam was up to something?"

"Well I don't have any proof, but -"

"You feel it in your gut." He said teasingly.

"Yes," She replied quietly, not wanting him to take too much credit.

Booth smiled his charm smile, but wisely chose not to comment. "I'm going to work on getting the remain from the first body for you to examine. Our first step, after identification, should be to determine if both deaths are related."

"I agree," She said.

It was quiet in the car as they both pondered the facts of the case. Though the driving was slow, it helped that most of the city had decided to stay at home. Booth pulled over next to her car, which had been further plowed into the snow bank overnight. "Well your car isn't going anywhere without some help. I know a guy, I'll call him." He got out of the truck and cleared away enough snow for Brennan to get the files out of her car.

"Who did you threaten to kill?" She asked once they were driving again, remembering his earlier words.

"What?" Booth said looking away from the road at her, surprised by her sudden change of topic.

"You said you had threatened to kill someone for me, or because of me." Brennan asked hesitantly, unsure if she really wanted to know the answer.

Booth waited a minute then said, "That gang leader you beat up put a hit out on you. I convinced him to call it off."

"Oh," She said as a shiver ran up her spine; someone had wanted to kill her and she hadn't even known it.

"You never told me why you beat him up."

"He was a gang leader. Isn't that a good enough reason?" Brennan asked. Booth just raised his eyebrows at her. Now it was her turn hesitate. "Ok. Several years ago I was taken captive by Salvadorian insurgents for three days while working on a mass grave. He reminded me of their leader and I guess I wanted some form of revenge." She spoke quickly and watched Booth carefully out of the corner of her eye for his reaction.

The though of Bones kidnapped by gun toting South American thugs caused his teeth to grind and his knuckles to turn white on the steering wheel. He had a million questions about her revelation, but being familiar with wartime captivity he figured this wasn't the best time or place to discuss it. Instead, he said swallowed hard and forced his voice to sound upbeat, "See, there we go. We're already working on our communication skills." He switched lanes and turned into the employee parking lot at the Jeffersonian pulling up in front of the entrance to the forensics lab.

"This whole thing," he motioned to the two of them, "will probably make us better investigators."

Brennan gathered her materials from the car and stared to open the door. She stopped with her fingers on the handle.

"You're not coming in?" She asked, realizing that he hadn't parked.

"I've got some things to do this morning. Hopefully I'll be back later with a body for you." She perked up at the mention of the body and Booth wondered how he had ended up with a woman that would rather get a dead body than a gift. Just one of the things that I love about her, he admitted silently.

"Be careful." He said suddenly

"Booth," she said with a laugh, "I'm just going to be in the lab, what could happen?"

"Don't say that." He said seriously

"Just kiss me and promise that you will be careful." He said. She rolled her eyes, but carried out his instructions.

He waited and watched her walk into the building, not focused on the sway of her hips or the splash of hair across her shoulders as he usually was. He almost felt sick at the prospect of letting her out of his sight. Kidnapped by insurgents? He added that to the list of deadly situations he tracked in his mind. Frozen in a blizzard, kidnapped while working in another country, murdered by an obsessed serial killer, hurt because of her father, silenced by someone who didn't want her to testify…. Shaking his head, he forced himself to end the list. As he pulled back into traffic, he realized that he wasn't sure if he was going to survive Temperance Brennan, but at least it promised to be quite a ride.

--

The town was still a virtual ghost town, populated only by plows, cars abandoned along the road now covered in snow, and few hearty souls making their way slowly along in large four wheel drives when Booth headed back to the Jeffersonian later that day. It had been a fruitful morning considering that the entire city was shut down. It was an unusual sight to see Washington D.C. so still, especially when Congress was in session, but even the mighty politicians couldn't best mother nature.

He'd been able to get a hold of the proper people to release the remains of the first body to the Jeffersonian, though not everyone had been happy to be called at home on a snowy morning and he had spent too much time on the phone for his liking. He was more action oriented and didn't always look forward to the meticulous detail parts of the investigation, that was more his partner's thing.

Bones was working quietly by herself on the elevated platform. She didn't seem to notice his presence until he scanned in his access card. Looking up from the microscope, Booth saw her expression morph from concentration to a something else as a smile lit up her face. He returned the smile, wanting to kiss her, but knowing she would never allow that behavior in the lab. He settled for a quick touch on her arm as he moved to stand next to her.

"I think I have managed to isolate the dispersal pattern of the shotgun pellets. I should be able to determine if both wounds were caused by the same gun." She said, obviously pleased with herself.

"That's great cause the body should be here this afternoon, or probably tomorrow," he said reconsidering due to the weather.

"Nice!" She said flashing another brilliant smile.

Booth felt his pulse quicken, but forced himself to focus on the case. "Any luck with the ID?" He asked taking a seat next to her.

"No," Brennan shook her head and her expression turned darker. "Angela left a note that the teeth were too badly corrupted for dental identification. I haven't found anything distinctive in the bones yet that could be used for ID."

Booth reached out and brushed a finger on her cheek. "We'll find out who she is Bones." He said reassuringly. He knew how upset she got when she couldn't identify a body. "Maybe when we get the ID of the guy it will lead us to her."

Brennan seemed reassured by this thought and asked, "Was it the body Cam was working on?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Let's go question Cam." Brennan said, quickly rising from the chair and grabbing her lab coat.

"Whoa, slow down Bones." Booth said, stepping in front of her to cut off her path. "We can't just march into her office and start demanding answers."

"Yes we can, that's what we do." She answered slightly confused.

"I know, I meant … maybe I should be the one to talk to Cam … alone." He finished.

She seemed taken aback and asked softly, "Because you were lovers?"

"No, Bones. It has nothing to do with that, and I hate that word by the way." He stood up and pulled the poker chip out of his pocket and tossed it into the air. "You guys have clashed on this case already and it might be better if I ask the tough questions. There is a better chance she will tell the truth." He explained.

A pang of jealousy shot through her at the thought of Booth and Cam alone. Our relationship is brand new and here I am already jealous. I guess some things are anthropological inevitabilities, she thought with a groan. Booth walked over to her desk and put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"You work on the specifics of the shotgun and I'll work on Cam." He said before walking out of her office.

Booth wasn't looking forward to questioning Cam, though he was glad that she was still at home. It would be easier to get her to talk if they weren't at the lab. His gut was telling him that she was somehow involved. Despite all that had happened since she had arrived at the Jeffersonian, he had, at one time, cared a great deal about her and he hoped his suspicions didn't turn out to be correct. As her drove slowly towards Cam's apartment, he organized the evidence in his head.

"Wow! To what do I owe this honor?" Cam asked sarcastically when she answered the door.

"Hello to you too Cam." He said. "Can I come in?" he asked. Cam stood her ground for a few seconds and then stepped aside allowing him in. His eyes automatically scanned the apartment.

"What is this about Seeley?" She asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"I've got some questions for you. Why don't we sit?" He said gesturing towards the table.

"You are aware that we found a body yesterday," He began awkwardly.

"Right," Cam said quickly. "I believe Dr. Brennan identified it as a 20 year old female."

"And do you know cause of death?" Booth asked.

"I don't believe Dr. Brennan has made her final determination, although a gun shot wound seems likely."

"While Brennan was working on the excavation, I found another crime scene about ten minutes away. A body had been removed within the last couple days." He said carefully.

Cam took a sudden interest in a candle on her table and asked without looking up, "Did you find out who did the removal?"

"Apparently the case was handled early this week by the D.C. Medical Examiners office, but I'm having trouble getting much information out of them." He stopped and studied Cam's reaction carefully, but her face was masked and her eyes dark.

"Did you assist the medical examiner with a removal at a scene by Hyde park early this week?"

She stood up from the table and looked down at him. "Is this an official FBI investigation?" She asked harshly.

"Not yet," Booth said shaking his head. "Though we are officially investigating the young woman's death."

"Well I'm sorry Booth," Cam said shaking her head. "I'm not going to comment on the case I assisted on unless it is an official investigation. If you think you can get information from me just because we … have a past, you are wrong."

Booth sighed and stood up to face her. "Then I will talk to you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" She asked puzzled.

"I have made a request for the remains of the victim you worked on to be transported back to the Jeffersonian."

"What?" Cam gasped.

"Brennan thinks that the shotgun wound on the female in similar to the one on the male victim that you allowed her to briefly examine. I bet that she will prove the connection by tomorrow and the case should be under my jurisdiction shortly. Then we can have this conversation down at FBI headquarters."

Cam's face turned pale and she sat back down. Goddamn that woman! Why did I let her look at that body? Cam thought desperately.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me?" He said. Cam shook her head. "If there is anything unusual about the body you worked on Brennan will find out. You know that right?"

"Booth, I don't know what you think I-"

"Camille," he said cutting her off. "We will find out what happened. I am giving you a chance here before this investigation goes too far; a chance I wouldn't give to just anyone."

She dropped her head into her hands and when she straightened back up, there were tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry Seeley. I never meant to screw up an investigation … I just couldn't stay and he told me that if I …." Cam's speech descended into a sob and Booth allowed her a moment to compose herself before he continued the interrogation.

"What did you do Cam?" He asked in a tone that signaled he wasn't to be lied to.

"I took something," She finally said. "From the scene. He told me that if I did this he could get me a job."

"What did you take?" He asked

"A phone," she whispered.

Sitting back Booth rubbed his hand across his face. He could feel a dull pounding begin in his temples. He didn't want Cam to be involved in this.

"Who asked you to do this?" He asked, fearing the answer.

She shook her head, "I can't tell you that Seeley."

"You have to." Booth insisted.

"Not yet I don't."

"Fine." Booth said and stood up and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Cam cried. "What's going to happen to me?"

"I don't know, but I doubt it will be good. " He answered truthfully.

Cam grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving. "You have to help me Seeley. I made a mistake, but I can fix it. I can get you the phone." She offered desperately. "I'll get you the phone and you don't have to mention me."

"I can't do that Cam."

"Yes you can. You are the only one that knows. I'll give you the phone and you guys can investigate the case. That's the only thing I did. I swear." Cam knew she sounded crazy, but she had to make him understand.

Booth frowned at her. "I'm gonna have to tell Brennan."

"No! If you tell Brennan my career will be over. She'll report me and I will lose my certification. I'm a good pathologist and you know that Booth." It seemed she was starting to convince him, so she kept going. "I don't deserve to have my career ruined over one mistake. Think of how many criminals I've put away."

Booth sighed and ran his hand through his hair. His head was really pounding now. "Camille," he began in a resigned tone.

"Seeley, please." Cam said cutting him off. The tears were running freely down her face now. "I've already got another job lined up, and it's not related to this," She added quickly at his look. "I'm moving to Texas to spend a few years doing penance working for the medical examiners office. After I took the phone I couldn't go through with it. That's why I still have it." Cam took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Please don't tell her. It was a mistake that will never happen again. I haven't been happy here and I was just trying to find a way out. Please." She begged one final time.

"Get me that phone by tomorrow morning," was all Booth said before he shut the door behind him.

--

"So what did Cam have to say?" Brennan asked when Booth called.

Booth cleared his throat, trying to indicate that he wasn't comfortable over the phone. "I'll fill you in on it tonight."

"What's tonight?" Brennan asked, trying to remember if there was something going on that she had forgotten about.

"Nothing. I just assumed that you and I would, you know get together tonight."

"Oh," She said with an embarrassed laugh. "Of course. Why don't you come over to my place after work and we can cook something."

"Sounds good. I'll pick up some groceries and show you some real Italian cooking. I'll see you tonight, Bones."

Booth ended the call and stared down at the phone in his hands. He had no idea what he was going to tell her. Cam was right; she had made a mistake, but she shouldn't have her career ruined over it. Especially if all she did was take the evidence and she returned it. Of course, Brennan would report her to … whomever they report things like this to. He didn't blame Bones for it; it's part of who she is, though there isn't exactly an overabundance of well-qualified forensic pathologists in the world. But Bones was his partner. She was more than that now and he couldn't lie to her, even if it was to protect an old friend, could he?

--

Please let me know what you thought.

I think there is only one more chapter, but sometimes the chapters get a little long so I split them. On a related note, how do you guys feel about chapter size? I looked at a few other stories on this site and the chapters seem to be shorter than mine. It won't really affect this story, but anyone have a preference, short or long chapters?