Praying Hands 7

Booth watched Brennan in the rearview mirror of the SUV as they rode down the road. Beside him Rankin was rambling on about the information that they had gained from Zachariah, oblivious to Brennan's inattention. Her pensive mood was troubling, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.

When she didn't respond to Rankin's question about what she had discovered, he asked, "Bones are you ok?"

She finally looked up from her musings then, "Yeah Booth, I'm just processing. I recorded everything we did today; we need to review it."

"Ok," then turning to Rankin, "let's just head to the hotel, we'll be more comfortable there."

"No problem"

The car went silent again, as each person lost in thought. In quick order Rankin had pulled the SUV into a parking space at their hotel. The occupants got out and the two males made their way to the lobby doors, Brennan remained behind saying she needed to make a phone call.

She spent several minutes speaking with Dr. Nygri Pasuatu, a leading anthropologist in the study of polygamist societies. The discussion had given her time to get her emotions in check and set her mind to view the evidence in a scientific manner. After thanking the doctor for his time, she went up to the room.

When she entered the room Rankin had taken the desk chair and Booth was seated on the end of her bed, the two studying their notes from their interview with Zachariah.

Booth looked up when she came back into the room, "You ok Bones?"

"Of course."

He could tell from the look on her face she had hidden whatever was bothering her behind that veil of science, and wouldn't be willing to talk about it for a while, so instead he asked about the recording.

"Do you have your recorder?"

The men sat listening with interest to the conversations going on in the recording and taking notes, then sat and stared in horror when it came to the end of the cleansing ceremony. For her part, Brennan went to the restroom when she knew that part was coming. She emerged some time later, when she felt enough time had passed and those noises would have stopped.

When she reentered the room Ranking stopped the recording and turned to her, "You know, we have enough evidence here to get a court injunction to have the children removed from the compound."

"If you do that the women in the compound will shut down, and we won't get any information." This said by Booth.

"You don't know that."

"Come on Rankin, you heard what they do to their children. Do you think they are going to talk to strangers who come in and take their kids?"

"We just can't sit on this."

"And we won't. But if we act on this before we catch the killer we will never solve the case."

Rankin reluctantly agreed to hold the information, at least until after tomorrow. With the hour growing late, Rankin soon left, once again promising to return in the morning. As he left Booth shut the door and bolted it shut, when he returned to the main area of the hotel room, he found Brennan sitting on the edge of her bed staring at the floor, deep in thought again.

Booth walked over to the edge and sat down next to her, watching her face. After a few moments of silence, he leaned over and bumped her gently with his shoulder, "Hey Bones, you want to go out, have a drink?"

Brennan smiled, "Yeah."

After asking the night time desk clerk for directions to the nearest bar, the pair bundled up against the cold and made their way the two blocks down to the nearest bar. The neon sign out front read, 'Smokies' but the 'i' was out so it glowed, 'Smok es.' The inside was crowded with the locals, and blaring with "honky tonk" country music.

Booth placed a hand on her back as he steered them through the throng of moving people. The bar itself was less crowded than the floor, so they were able to find two bar stools next to each other open. They ordered whatever was on tap and easily settled in to watch the people around them.

After the first beer had been consumed and they were quickly draining the second, Booth leaned close to be heard over the din, "So what was bothering you today?"

"Nothing."

Booth cut her a look that said he clearly thought she was lying, "I can tell when something's wrong, something was definitely wrong."

"As an anthropologist I am suppose to study humans and human culture without judgment or interference."

"That's an excellent job description, Bones, but it doesn't tell me what's wrong."

"I seriously interfered in their lives today Booth. First rule of anthropology is to have a minimal effect of the study group."

"Right, but Bones, this isn't a study, it's a murder investigation. That changes the rules."

She got a wistful smile on her face, "I know, but for a little while, I felt like a real anthropologist again."

"You are a real anthropologist Bones. And what was so bad about what you did today?"

"I've jeopardized our investigation. And…"

"How did you endanger our investigation?"

"You don't think Sarah is going to scare the other women into being quiet?"

"I think she would have done that anyway. Besides, I think you are underestimating my considerable charm."

Brennan smiled, while her eyes filmed over with tears, "I don't think charm is going to be enough this time."

"If it isn't then we have the recording..."

She looked down at her hands, "Yeah the recording…"

"What?" Booth said leaning down, trying to look Brennan in the eye.

"Did you hear how scared they sounded?"

Booth scooted closer to Brennan, "Yeah I did, and I heard you trying to make it better."

"I didn't make it better, I made it worse, those girls are going to suffer consequences for my actions and…I shouldn't have gotten involved, but I just couldn't seem to stop myself."

When she didn't continue Booth reached down and took one of her hands in his, "Hey, you didn't do anything wrong. Don't you always say its some biological imperative to protect the young of society?"

Brennan smiled at him, "You're going to use my own argument against me?"

"That's the plan."

"I don't like it."

Booth smiled then, remembering that very same comment coming from his lips under very different circumstance, so he replied with her response then, "I'm fairly certain you're not supposed to."

This made Brennan chuckle.

"Seriously Bones, sometimes emotions get the better of you and that's ok, it's just part of being human."

Brennan sat up straighter in her chair and wiped her face, where tears had been, saying, "Well sometimes having feelings stinks."

Booth laughed, "Yeah it does. Now, let's head back to the room; we're going to need all the rest we can get if we're going to catch a murderer tomorrow."

After paying their tab, Booth ushered Brennan back through the crowd and onto the street.

As they walked back to their hotel, Booth couldn't help but watch Brennan out of the corner of his eye. She seemed so much more at ease than when they had walked this way a couple short hours ago, and he was glad he was in part the cause of this shift. She looked really beautiful when she was at ease and just being her.

Her facial expression was one of thoughtful contemplation; it begged him to ask, "What's on your mind Bones?"

"I was just thinking about how I enjoy studying other cultures, like I did before the Jeffersonian Institute."

"You aren't thinking about leaving me are you?" He asked with a playful smile on his face and bumped her on the shoulder again. It seemed as though once their shoulders touched, the rest of their arms followed suit, and ended with their hands clasped.

Neither appeared willing to acknowledge the continued contact as Brennan replied, "As much as I would enjoy returning to that field of study, I don't think I could ever leave you."

"Ah Bones, you're making me blush," he said playfully, but inside his heart was soaring, it was a far cry from those three words he longed to hear, but it was pretty darn close!!

"I mean, how would you ever solve murders without me?" She said with a grin of mischief on her face.

"Gee, thanks Bones."

"You're welcome."

Their playful banter continued all the way to the hotel, and up to their hotel room. It was only when Booth had to unlock the door, did they let go of each other's hands. After they had both showered and bundled down into bed, Booth couldn't sleep. His heart was still fluttering from Bone's backhanded confession. He pulled the cell phone off his and sent a quick text message to Gordon Gordon, "Patience is working."

A few minutes later, his reply beeped on Booth's phone, "Told you so." After reading it, he turned the volume off, checked that the alarm, then rolled over and went to sleep with a smile on his face.

So how did I do? Let me know what you think.