Chapter 11: Narrowing the search

"Love is like seaweed; even if you have pushed it away, you will not prevent it from coming back." Nigerian Proverb.

"Mr Parker?"

"Yes," Booth held open the door, smiling welcomingly at the man and woman standing on the other side. Both were on the young side, neatly dressed in almost matching his and her suits, creating the first impression of friendly yet businesslike.

"James Davis," the man introduced himself, "and this is my associate Mary Taylor. Mr Haversham arranged for us to visit with you this morning to talk weddings?"

"Of course, come in," Booth stepped back and let them in. "This is my fiancée Lillian Ross."

"Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials," Mary smiled at Bones, clearly aligning herself to the female half of their clients. It was logical, having a male/female team consulting. That way you had the male's point of view covered while still allowing the females to gush over all the details that men thought unimportant. Brennan wasn't sure she'd be able to gush convincingly and hoped it wouldn't be necessary for their charade to be believable.

"Thank you," Temperance moved to stand next to Booth, the way his arm came over her shoulders to gather her close feeling too much like habit already. For a moment she wondered how they were going to return to normal but determinedly pushed that worrying thought aside.

"Let's sit down with our guests Honey," Booth suggested, moving towards the sitting area. He waited until Brennan sat down on the two seater couch before sitting down next to her. Unlike when they sat on the couch in Doctor Sweets' office where each had their own corner, this time Booth didn't give her that space. In fact he didn't give her any space, his larger body crowding her in a way that she had to admit was pleasant – in an alpha male protective way.

"You've decided on a private ceremony?" Mary asked, the two consultants sitting in each of the two single seater chairs across the table.

"We want it to be special," Booth answered for both of them. "Lil was thinking maybe the combined ceremony until we found out that some of the couples aren't as sincere about their feelings as we are."

"We do get an interesting mix of people, particularly this time of year," James agreed with a conspiratorial chuckle for Booth's benefit. "Let's just say that not everyone knows their own mind ... or is as willing to be completely honest with their partner as the two of you obviously are. I understand that you don't want to align yourselves with anything less than the real deal."

"That's it exactly," Booth grinned. "I bet you could tell some stories, right?"

"You have no idea," James shared a meaningful glance with Mary but didn't elaborate.

"Mr Haversham also mentioned that there are always dropouts ...," Brennan said uncertainly. "When I thought we'd do the combined ceremony I wanted to meet the other couples but Mr Haversham said there are always couples who change their minds."

"Lil's shy," Booth explained. Brennan glanced at him and was surprised to see that even she could read his expression - a mix of pride and the need to protect. She smiled uncertainly as Booth continued. "I didn't want to put her through the effort of meeting a group of strangers if it ends up amounting to nothing."

"We do have couples who don't go through with it," Mary confirmed. "Usually they're the 'spur of the moment' types – our Valentine's Day weekend gives people time to think and not surprisingly some of them do change their minds. And not just those doing the group ceremony. I remember last year we had one couple who got all the way to the day – paperwork, fees, and everything – but then didn't turn up for their ceremony."

"That won't be us, right honey?" Booth put a hand on Brennan's knee, squeezing lightly. "We've had this planned almost since the day we met."

"How did you meet, if you don't mind my asking?" James asked curiously before Brennan could voice another question about that previous year's couple.

"My construction company was contracted to do some emergency maintenance work at Lil's school," Booth began. "She's a teacher," he added proudly, looking at Brennan instead of their audience.

"Joe interrupted my class," Brennan smiled, keeping her gaze to Booth's as she imagined a real couple in love would. "I was annoyed but at the same time intrigued by this man who came in and just took over."

"There was definitely a spark there," Booth agreed. "I was forced to work with Lil to coordinate the repairs around her class schedule and by the end of the contract we'd become a couple."

"I knew, from the very beginning, that he was the one," Brennan added, worried they hadn't made their meeting sound romantic enough to spur a dash to Vegas three months later to get married.

"Yeah, it was love pretty much at first sight, for both of us," Booth agreed, his eyes locked on hers. The depths she saw there captivated her enough that she couldn't look away. It had happened numerous times before but this time it was different - either because of their pretended closeness or the fact that they'd slipped across the line more than once in recent days and it no longer felt strictly pretend. For the first time Brennan felt close to deciphering the meaning swirling inside Booth's eyes and understanding once and for all the true nature of their relationship.

"That's so sweet," Mary's words broke into their private moment, both of them snapping back to reality and abruptly looking back to the consultants.

"I'm sure there are a lot more romantic stories out there," Booth said with a laugh. "This one is special because it's ours," he added, pressing a warm kiss to Brennan's temple. "There was no point waiting any longer to get married. When you're sure, you're sure, right Babe?"

"Right, muffin," Brennan took secret delight in knowing Booth would find the endearment just as distasteful as she found his 'baby' and all its derivatives.

"Well, you make a lovely couple," Mary gushed enthusiastically. "Don't they James?"

"You do have an air of togetherness we don't normally see in people who've been together for what is a relatively short time," James agreed.

"We just clicked, you know?" Brennan kept her expression blank as Booth shared another of those obvious man-to-man looks with James. "Like soul mates, or something."

"A friend suggested that Joe and I had known each other in another life," Brennan added, "and while I don't believe in reincarnation, the sentiment behind the statement was both touching and appropriate."

"See – soul mates," Booth repeated with a laugh. "I don't understand half of what she says but I know I like it."

"Okay, let's talk options then," James suggested, getting down to business. "So, you're set on a private ceremony?"

"I think so," Booth agreed, exchanging a meaningful glance with Brennan. Leaning down he put his mouth close to her ear and whispered "do something," the heat of his breath making her shiver slightly.

Brennan frowned, her eyes on his, his expression urging her to act. Mentally replaying the conversation so far she suddenly realised what he was silently asking of her. They needed to get the conversation back to that couple who hadn't turned up for their own private ceremony and he wanted her to acheive that.

"That's what I want too," Brennan let the last work out in a half sob, dropping her head to hide her expression, hoping that Booth would understand and play along.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Booth put a hand on her back in concern.

"Nothing," Brennan looked up suddenly, tears in her eyes. "It's just ... what if this is the wrong thing Joe? What if we're making a mistake eloping like this?"

"We're not making a mistake," Booth shot James and Mary an apologetic look before focussing back on his distraught fiancée.

"How can you know that?" Brennan demanded, getting more tears to gather and then overflow down her cheeks. "You heard them Joe – they said another couple only last year changed their minds at the last minute! I just ... I don't want to start our life together on the wrong foot." She gave in, resting her head on Booth's chest and letting more tears fall.

"They're not us honey," Booth insisted, running his hand up and down her back.

"Your fiancé is right Ms Ross," Mary said. "The couple I spoke of must have had some kind of family emergency that required them to leave suddenly ... they didn't stop to tell anyone."

"You didn't think that was strange?" Booth asked curiously, continuing to pat Brennan's back as she quietly sobbed.

"Emergencies happen all the time," Mary shrugged, "and it's not our place to query what the clients decide to do. I rang the mobile Maggie gave me – that's the bride – but there was no answer, understandable if they'd been called to the hospital or something like that. There were other weddings to organise so I didn't give it another thought, but they were very much in love. I'm sure that as soon as they could they got married somewhere else."

"Oh," Brennan made a play out of sniffing and then bravely wiping her eyes. Smiling weakly at Booth she sniffed again. "Sorry – I guess I'm more nervous about this than I realised. Not about marrying you of course, just about the wedding itself."

"It's okay," Booth bent his head low, whispering in her ear "that was inspired Bones ... Oscar winning material."

She smiled - it was always satisfying to surprise her partner. Turning to their audience she tried to look apologetic. "I'm sorry – please, continue."

James nodded, launching back into what was probably his standard spiel about the various ways they could get married at the Bellagio. Brennan and Booth played along, answering questions, making snap decisions, and then filling in forms with details they kept as close to the truth as possible to avoid slipping up. When it was done Joe Parker and Lillian Ross were scheduled for a simple private ceremony on the morning of Valentine's Day ... in two days time.

"Okay, that's it," James finally announced after what felt to Booth like hours.

"You guys were great," Mary added. "You have no idea how even the most in love couples argue over details. You seemed to agree on just about everything."

"Soul mates," Booth said a little lamely, thinking maybe they shouldn't have been quite so agreeable with each other.

"Joe is just being kind," Brennan grabbed his hand and held on tightly. "Before I met him I had no real social life. In fact I was totally consumed with my work – I'm just not that concerned about details I know most women would argue over because having him in my life is more important than anything else."

Even though he knew she was acting - and doing a damn fine job of it, her words still touched him. Maybe she didn't love him but he was important to her and that meant something. "Back at ya," Booth couldn't stop himself from leaning in and kissing her firmly. "So, are we done?" he asked James, doing that male bonding 'I want to sex up my woman so please leave' thing he'd done with the desk clerk the day before.

"We'll leave you to 'celebrate'," James said with an amused smile. Holding out a hand he shook Booth's. "It will be a pleasure to organise your wedding."

"Thank you," Booth stood, escorting the two consultants to the door and opening it for them. Breathing a sigh of relief as soon as the door closed, he turned and leaned back against it tiredly. The line between what was real and what was an act and what was real that they were utilising for their act had become more than a little blurry. Looking over at where Brennan still sat on the couch Booth smiled weakly. "That was interesting."

"How so?" Bones got up and moved to the bar, pouring herself a glass of water. Bringing the bottle as well she handed it to Booth before moving to stand beside the window.

"He could be our guy," Booth said, taking a drink gratefully. "He's got inside information and he's in a position to bury it should someone notice the disappearance of too many couples. He's the right age too and clearly believes in the ideal as well as the reality of love and marriage." Taking out his phone he punched in the number for the FBI. "Charlie, I need you to run another name ... James Davis, wedding consultant for the Bellagio. I want everything, how long he's been here, his background, lost loves, every detail you can get me."

"Okay," Charlie agreed. "I ran that other name. Nigel Haversham. Born in London thirty nine years ago. Started at the Bellagio as a clerk in 1996 and slowly worked up to manager of special events. I checked out his movements the past couple of Valentine's Days – he's heavily involved in hosting all the events there. I can't see him having the time to do what was done to both sets of vics."

"He wasn't really on my list," Booth agreed. "Thanks Charlie – get back to me as soon as you can on Davis."

"Will do," Charlie agreed before hanging up.

"So what now?" Brennan asked, watching him fold his phone away.

"Something to eat?" Booth smiled hopefully.

"Is there ever a time when you're not hungry?" Brennan asked, amused.

"When I'm asleep," Booth joked, "although sometimes I do dream about pie. Do you think that means something?"

"I'll ask Sweets at our next session."

"Did you just make a joke?" Booth laughed, wrapping his arm around Bones companionably and moving towards the door.

"Hello," Brennan just stopped herself from answering her phone with the usual 'Doctor Temperance Brennan'.

"Sweetie, how's everything going?" Angela Montenegro answered.

"Angela," Brennan said for Booth's benefit as well. He smiled at her from across the table before turning his attention to the other patrons present in the cafe they'd settled on. "Although we haven't made any significant discoveries things appear to be going well," Brennan responded to her friends question.

"What about Booth ... are you still worried about him?"

Brennan hesitated, not sure how to answer given that Booth was sitting within hearing distance. "I can't talk about that now," she decided on delaying the inevitable conversation.

"Oh, he's there with you," Angela laughed. "I understand. You can just answer with yes or no, okay? So, are you still concerned?"

"Yes and no," Brennan said truthfully.

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that you're undercover pretending to be an engaged couple?"

"What? How did you -," Brennan broke off, frowning.

"Agent Burns called Cam for some information about the remains this morning and let it drop," Brennan could hear the grin in her friend's voice. "Funny how you failed to share this piece of vital information with your best friend."

"Because I knew what you would say!" Brennan shot back. "It's a pretence Angela."

"A pretence he wishes was real," Angela said gently.

"You can't know that," Brennan insisted. Booth looked at her with a concerned expression and she shook her head slightly, trying to tell him it was nothing. He nodded, but continued to watch her curiously. "It's fine Angela," she said dismissively.

"Doesn't the fact that you can convince a hotel full of staff that you're in love tell you something?" Angela persisted.

"People see what they expect to see," Brennan repeated something that Booth had told her many times over the years.

"You know, if I were you I'd see this as a golden opportunity," Angela said slyly. "A trial run to see what it would be like to be with Booth for real. At the very least you'd finally get the chance to see what it's like to give in to the sexual attraction between you instead of ignoring it like there's no tomorrow!"

"I'm already in possession of that information," Brennan admitted honestly.

"What? You had sex with Booth?" Angela exclaimed. "When? What happened?"

"No! It wasn't like that Angela. Nothing happened," Brennan explained, using her logical, emotionless tone. "You can ask Booth if you don't believe me."

"Ask me what?" Booth asked, leaning forward.

"Don't worry, I will!" Angela replied at the same time. "In fact, put him on now. And don't bother refusing because you know I'll just call him instead."

Brennan held her phone out to Booth expressionlessly. "She wants to speak to you."

Booth took the phone from hs partner, frowning. "Angela, is everything okay?"

"You slept with Bren?" Angela accused.

"What? No! Why would you think that?" Booth looked at Bones. "Why does she think we," he leaned in closer and whispered "slept together?"

"Well, technically we did sleep together, although not in the manner Angela thinks," Bones returned logically.

"It was -," Booth broke off with a grimace. "You know what, now isn't the time to talk about this Angela."

"Well, whatever happened, I'm sure it wasn't part of your little 'soon to be a married couple' charade!" Angela sighed. "Aren't you tired of pretending?"

"It's our job," Booth deliberately misunderstood. Now wasn't the time to talk about that either.

"Right," Angela was silent for a moment and then spoke seriously. "Booth, let me give you some advice here. Don't make the mistake of taking everything Brennan says as the truth of what she wants. She's afraid and uncertain and when she gets that way she doesn't see things as clearly as you think. She might be logical and reasoned on the surface but that's not always what's going on inside."

"I would never - , Booth broke off again, his eyes locked on his partner's, frustrated at the half conversation.

"I know you would never hurt her," Angela said softly. "And she knows it too. She's afraid of herself Booth, not you. Just think about it, okay?"

"Okay," Booth agreed. "Listen, we have to go - there's a lunch thing here. Bones and I need to make an appearance."

"Just be careful," Angela urged.

"I'll look after her," Booth promised, his eyes still on Bones as he ended the call and handed her back her phone.

"I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself!" Brennan said irritably.

"Doesn't mean I can't assist you with that," Booth refused to rise to the bait. "You done?" he gestured to her teacup.

"Yes. What did Angela say?" Bones continued without a pause.

"You don't want to know," he returned evasively.

"Yes I do," Bones insisted.

"Trust me, you don't," Booth got up, threw some bills on the table and then put his hand under her elbow to urge her up too. "Come on, we've got work to do - time to get back in character."

"I find this high handed behaviour of yours to be very annoying," Bones murmured even as she smiled and let him draw her closer.

"If you still want to know once the case is done I'll tell you then," Booth promised.

Bones still looked like she wanted to argue but to his relief she nodded, turning her attention back to the job at hand.

Back at the Jeffersonian Wendell Bray had done all that he could to extract enough material from between the victims teeth for Hodgins to test. When the older man skidded to a stop outside the lab late in the day and urged Wendell to come with him to Doctor Saroyan's office, the young anthropologist was hopeful that finally they had a genuine lead.

"We need to talk to Dr B," Hodgins announced before they'd made it fully inside the room.

"Talk about what Doctor Hodgins?" Cam asked mildly.

"About what the killer used to clean the bones," Hodgins grinned. "You're gonna love this one."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense then."

"I'd prefer to talk to Dr B first," Hodgins insisted.

"Right, of course you would," Cam sighed. "Make the call Mr Bray."

Wendell grinned, quickly putting in a video call to the Bellagio. As soon as Doctor Brennan appeared on screen, clearly dressed for dinner, a suited Agent Booth standing behind her, Hodgins launched into speech.

"I know why there are no scalpel marks, no stains on the bones, no outward signs of how the flesh was removed," Hodgins revealed with an air of excited challenge. "If we had the crime scenes there'd be no traces of beetle activity either. It's because the killer didn't use any of those methods, or anything else I've ever seen before. Ask me what he used."

"Hodgins," Cam looked at him pointedly, silently requesting that he get on with it.

"Pygocentrus nattereri," Hodgins said it reverently as though he thought they'd all know what that was and be equally as impressed.

"Which is ...?," Cam asked expectantly.

"Red-bellied piranhas," Hodgins grinned at their incredulous expressions. "That shadow Dr B detected turned out to be microscopic fragments of scales from the tail fin of a red-bellied piranha. It also explains those minute striations all over the bones. They were teeth marks, again consistent with the jaw of the same species."

"Piranhas?" Booth repeated disbelievingly.

"I know, I hear you man," Hodgins replied. "Given the time between when our first set of victims disappeared from that hotel and when we think they were most likely arranged in the National Park, plus the fact that the bones show no signs of softening due to an extended immersion in water, I'd say a school of at least four hundred ... in a really big tank." He looked around and then announced "King of the lab," with a jubilant grin.

"Hodgins," Cam said warningly, her attention fixed on where Brennan stood, eyes wide and face paler than it had been before Jack's revelation. Something was wrong.

"Booth," Brennan said urgently, turning to her partner.

"What is it?" Booth instinctively stepped forward protectively, bending his head closer and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"My lecture ... the day we met," Brennan looked at him, the expression in her eyes a mix of horror and dread.

"Ah ... that was on de-fleshing methods too, right?" For once Seeley didn't try to pretend he hadn't learned a thing in the years he'd been working so closely with the squints. "Is that important?"

"Yes!" Brennan turned to look back at the laptop where the rest of their audience were watching curiously. "I was lecturing at the American University the first time Booth approached me to assist with identifying the remains of a young girl. A course on traditional and emerging methods for de-fleshing skeletal remains while preserving the entirety of the bones."

"And piranhas were one of the methods you suggested?" Booth asked uncertainly.

"No," Brennan returned. "The myth about piranhas devouring whole bodies in a matter of minutes is just that – a myth. One of my students asked about it during the lecture – I only remember because the rest of the class laughed and it took me some effort to return them to an appropriate degree of levity."

"I bet you didn't laugh," Booth said with a faint smile.

"Of course not," Brennan looked insulted for a moment. "Scientific endeavour requires creativity just as much as it does the application of rigorous and defensible techniques. I congratulated the student on his suggestion and urged him to research exactly how many specimens in what volume of water would be needed to make the technique a viable one."

"And did he?" Booth had that tingling feeling that said finally they were on the right track.

"I have no idea," Brennan revealed grimly. "It never came up again ... the course only ran for a few weeks."

"I don't suppose you remember his name?" Booth asked hopefully.

"It was most than seven years ago," Bones reminded him unnecessarily.

"What about if you had a class list?" Booth persisted. "Would you remember it then?"

"Maybe," Bones allowed. "I don't have one but I'm sure the American University is diligent in fulfilling its record keeping requirements."

"I can contact the University," Cam suggested, "get you that list."

"Thanks Cam," Booth said. "As soon as you have it, send it to my mobile. Bones and I will have to continue with what we're doing here until we've got a name we can match to the hotel staff. He'll be here somewhere and the last thing we need is to tip him off before we're ready to pick him up."

"Just be careful Seeley, you too Doctor Brennan," Cam urged. "Don't underestimate how dangerous this individual is."

"We'll be diligent Mom," Booth said sarcastically. "Just get us that list," he moved to shut down the connection. Brennan let him, calling out a hurried 'excellent work Doctor Hodgins' before they disappeared from the screen.

"King of the lab," Hodgins said again in a low tone.

"King of the lab," Cam agreed, patting his shoulder before moving to call the University.

Authors Note:

Apologies I didn't get a chapter out last night - a very full day of presenting training and then flying home had me crashing out on the couch at 9:30pm and not waking up until 3am! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, particularly everyone I can't reply to directly. This story has broken all my Stargate fanfic records for alerts and number of reviews for a single chapter which is awesome but nerve wracking too because I really want the rest of this to live up to expectations! I'll do my best ... starting with this chapter which was hopefully believable rather than ridiculous!

As always, thank you all for reading!