Booth heard the jingle of the bell on the door to the diner and he didn't need to look as he heard the familiar footfalls heading in his direction, he simply smiled at her as his partner slipped into the seat across from him. "Morning, Bones."
"Good morning." A soft smile played at the edges of her mouth as she settled herself in the seat and motioned for the waitress to bring her coffee and her usual. She felt uncharacteristically nervous as she regarded the man who she'd been kissing the life out of less than twelve hours before.
"I've gone through most of the files, so if you want to start with these we can get all caught up." He gestured towards the larger of the two stacks of files from the night before and studied her to see if she was opening up or shutting him out after what had transpired between them the night before. His brow pinched together as he realized she seemed disappointed.
"Oh, yes, the files…I thought you wanted to discuss…the files." She let her words trail off as she fished into her bag for a pen and considered that maybe she'd misread the situation. She reached for the first file only to find Booth's hand covering hers and giving it a squeeze. She looked up to find a soft cozy expression that made her metaphorical heart flip.
"We will…I just thought if we started with the files…just in case I kinda freaked you out last night, I wanted to give you an out." He gave her hand another squeeze and then let it drift back to his coffee cup for something safer to hold onto.
"I found you to be an excellent kisser." She had a vulnerable smug expression on her face as she continued. "But then I already knew that you were."
He let out a soft chuckle, his eyes twinkling brightly. "So then, was that a no on the freak out part?"
She shook her head and let out a soft laugh of her own. "I am experiencing a certain measure of trepidation over what all of this means, however, I am prepared to accept the anecdotal evidence that it is a normal byproduct of a newly formed romantic relationship."
"So we're doing this then." He couldn't have been more pleased if he tried. His grin could have illuminated the inside of a black hole.
"Yes." Her brow quirked a bit. "Unless you're having second thoughts." She knew what she wanted; however, she should have confirmed with him that it was what he wanted too.
"Don't have to think twice, Bones. I know." Oh and did he. Any second guessing that he'd done about whether he was right for Bones had been torpedoed and sent abroad with the woman he should have never tried to be with. As for whether Bones was right for him, he'd never had any doubts.
"Do you think that the FBI will try to split us up when they find out that we're going to be seeing each other socially?" Her concern was well founded, but it was something that she'd considered before she'd decided that the risk to be with Booth in a more meaningful was far exceeded the risk of possibly losing their working relationship.
Booth snickered at how formal she was being. "I think half the Bureau assumed that we already were…well at least before."
"Before Hannah." Before she'd rejected him and had run off half way across the world to clear her head and gain some perspective, nearly missing an opportunity that she had found she wanted very much.
"Yeah." There was a bit of sadness around his eyes, not because things hadn't worked out with Hannah, but because if he hadn't pushed the issue with Bones, maybe he could have saved having his heart broken twice in the span of a year.
"But you are no longer with her, you're with me." Brennan's smile was pleased and proud and a little possessive.
"Yes, yes I am with you." He couldn't resist, he reached out and caught her hand again, giving it a squeeze before letting his hand return to his cup of coffee. He caught a flash of someone out of the corner of his eye and then looked back at Bones. "Sweets at three o'clock."
"What? I don't recall having a session scheduled with Dr. Sweets." Her brow furrowed as the waitress silently delivered her usual order of coffee, oatmeal and fruit.
"No, I mean he's outside at three o'clock." Really if he was being accurate, it would have been the nine o'clock position from where Bones was sitting.
"Why would he be outside at three? He's outside right now and it's just before eight. Is he planning on standing outside for a particular reason?" She looked at him in confusion.
"It's an expression, Bones. And I just meant he's coming this way and that maybe we should put the kibosh on talking about us when his shrinky-dink skills have been well rested." He smirked.
"Ah, right." She drew out her words conspiratorially. "What's between us stays between us."
"Just until we sort it all out, and then I'm all for shouting it from the mountain tops." His grin was infectious.
"It would be quite likely that no one would be able to hear you from such a distance, so in fact, the secret would be quite safe." She smirked back as the jingle on the door signaled Sweets' arrival.
"Dr. Brennan. Agent Booth." Sweets smiled at the pair as he slid uninvited, but seemingly not unwelcome at the table.
"Hey, Sweets." Booth pushed the files out of the shrink's way to give him a little room. "You got a profile for us yet?"
"I was going to bring it by your office, but yes, basically you're looking for a man or maybe a woman in their mid to late fifties, possibly recently laid off from a career that meant quite a bit to them and have either had to find work at a considerably lower wage and status." Sweets picked up the menu to see if there was anything new and put it right back down as he realized it probably wouldn't matter. He gestured to the waitress for his usual and then addressed the partners who seemed to be having an entire conversation without even speaking.
"That sounds pretty vague." Booth took another sip from his coffee and glanced over at Bones who was working away signing off on files as she ate her breakfast.
"I'm gonna need more to put together a more detailed profile. The identity of the victim for instance." Sweets glanced at the pair and shrugged his shoulders.
Brennan directed her attention at Sweets. "We have come to standstill on identification until Doctor Saroyan completes her examination. I would assume that once I have access to all of the bones, it will be easier to make an identification."
"Of course, I was in no way inferring that your efforts were insufficient." Sweets wasn't sure if she was simply stating facts or interjecting commentary with subtext that he would need to have translated if he was going to understand it
"I know that." Brennan smiled at him. For as soft as she regarded his brand of science, he had definitely proven that there was some value in it when trying to identify and apprehend suspects.
"You do?" Sweets seemed momentarily flustered.
"Yes. Why would I say I did if I didn't?" Surely he should know by now that she didn't say things she didn't mean.
"Look, everyone knows we're all working as hard as we can on this case." Booth felt a little like a referee but before he could say anything else, his phone chirped. "Booth." His brow furrowed as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. Finally, he spoke. "Pops, there's no reason for you and Bernice to hop on a bus and come down here. I told you that I'd get you down here to pick up the car." He glanced over at Bones and a very intrigued Sweets.
Brennan quirked an eyebrow at him. "Hank?"
Booth nodded. "Pop's a cab is going to cost a fortune." He really didn't need the complication of his antsy grandfather and Bernice coming back down to DC to get themselves into more trouble before they took the apparently now repaired car back up to Willow River.
Brennan motioned for him to give her the phone. "May I speak with Hank?"
"What? Hey, Pop's, Bones wants to talk to you." Booth looked at her incredulously but gave her the phone anyway, shooting Sweets a glare for the amusement that seemed to spring up on the shrink's face.
"Hank, it's Temperance." She smiled as she heard the older man launch into some sort of explanation that she assumed he'd also told Booth. When he seemed to have finished, she interjected. "May I suggest that Booth and I could come up there and pick you and Bernice up after we finish up for the day?" She fell silent a few seconds longer. "You could stay in my guest room again and then pick the car up in the morning." She smiled as she seemed to have solved the whole dilemma and ended the call, handing Booth his phone back.
"Why can't we bring them the car?" Booth had been hoping that he could get a chance to slip behind the wheel of that fifty-four Century and have a leisurely drive up to Willow River.
"We're in the middle of a murder investigation, Booth." She smirked at him.
"So Booth's grandfather and his girlfriend stayed with you previously, Dr. Brennan?" Sweets honed right in on that little nugget.
Booth cut him off. "Not important, Sweets." He turned his attention to Bones and gestured towards the files. "I should get to the Hoover, but I'll stop by the lab around noon and pick them up, okay?" He offered a soft smile.
"Yes, I should have them completed by then." She smiled in return and couldn't help but feel a bit more of that metaphorical heart flip. "Would you mind dropping me by the lab?"
"Sure, Bones." That was a fine idea and if he was lucky, he might just have a chance to say good morning to her properly now that they'd decided to step into this epic romance.
Sweets sensed that something was up, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, and before he had a chance to query the pair, they'd both gathered up their things and left the diner, leaving him with the bill.
