Chapter 12

Monday

8:57 AM

Brennan turned on the computer in her office and sat down at her desk. She shuffled through the mail that had come in over the weekend. Having nothing important, she set it aside and opened her e-mail. As she scanned through the digital messages, she heard the sound of high heels quickly heading towards her. Brennan looked up just in time to see Angela practically running into her office.

"So?" Angela asked, her eyes lit up like she was excited about something.

"So…what?" Brennan replied.

Angela looked at Brennan's left hand and opened her mouth wide. There was no ring. Angela crossed her arms over her chest, obviously unhappy. She wasn't sure what went wrong with Booth's proposal, but obviously something did. Either Booth lost his nerve and didn't ask Brennan to marry him or Brennan had said no. Either way, Angela was not happy. She had spent a long time helping Booth plan his special night and she wanted the payout.

"How was your date on Saturday?" Angela questioned.

"It was lovely."

"Lovely? That's all you have to say?"

"Booth and I had a very nice evening."

Angela sat down on the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table. Hearing that Brennan and Booth were not engaged was not how she wanted to start her morning. She wanted to come right out and ask Brennan if Booth had proposed, but she couldn't do that. If Booth hadn't proposed, she'd be spoiling the surprise.

"So…nothing exciting happened, then?" Angela probed.

"Well, Booth did have the entire Lincoln Memorial reserved for us."

"Yeah, sweetie, I know. I'm the one who helped him set it up."

"Then I guess I should say thank you."

"That's not what I was getting at!" Angela exclaimed. She threw her hands up in the air and huffed. She stood up from the couch and began to stomp off for the door.

"Oh…and Booth and I are getting married," Brennan added before Angela could make it completely out of the room.

Angela turned on the spot.

"What did you say?"

"I said Booth and I are getting married. He proposed."

Angela's jaw dropped. She marched over to Brennan's desk and poked her finger at her.

"You were messing with me!" She accused. "You knew I was trying to find out whether or not Booth proposed and you avoided the question!"

"If I recall," Brennan said with a smug smile. "You didn't actually ask me that question."

Angela put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "I taught you too well."

"Booth says I'm getting much better at teasing."

"I'll bet." Angela went back over to the couch and sat. She patted the cushion next to her. "Come on."

"What?"

"Come sit on the couch and spill."

"Spill what?"

"The details, Brennan. I want the details."

"Why can't I tell you from here?"

"Because that's no fun. Now come here." Brennan slid her chair away from her desk and joined Angela on the couch. "So, how did he do it?"

"Do what?"

"Propose, Brennan. How did he propose? You know, what did he say? Did he get down on one knee? Were you crying? Was he crying?"

"That was an awful lot of questions."

"Brennan!"

"Yes, he got down on one knee. He was very eloquent and yes, I did cry a little. It was a very nice moment."

"Nice?"

"Yes, nice."

"And you agreed? Just like that? You agreed to marry him?"

"Yes."

"Wow."

"You seem surprised."

"Well, Bren, considering we all know your views on marriage, I am a little surprised."

"Booth asked me to trust him. That's what I'm doing."

Angela could feel tears beginning to well in her eyes. She couldn't help it. After so many years of watching Booth and Brennan dance around each other, knowing that they were finally together made her tear up.

"Are you upset?" Brennan asked.

Angela leaned over and hugged her. "No, sweetie. I'm just happy for you. I'm very happy for both of you."

"So they're happy tears?"

"Yes."

"Happy tears are good."

"I just have one question," Angela said, wiping at her tears. "Where's the ring?"

"I left it at home," Brennan answered.

"You…what?"

"I left it at home. It's not practical to wear it to work."

"Does Booth know that you're not wearing it?"

Brennan shook her head. "I don't think so. He left before me this morning. Although, I don't know why it matters."

"Oh, sweetie, it matters."

"Why?"

Brennan's cell phone rang. She went over to her desk and pulled her phone out of her bag.

"Brennan," she answered.
"We've got a dead body," Booth said.

"Text me the address."

"You might want to bring Cam. This one's got flesh. Bring Hodgins too. Body's been outdoors for a long time."

"Be there as soon as we can," Brennan replied.

She hung up the phone and put it back in her bag.

"Was that Booth?" Angela asked.

"Yes. We've got a case," Brennan answered.

"Boy, you two sure know how to sweet talk over the phone."

"This is work, Angela."

Brennan began to gather all of the materials she knew she would need out in the field.

"I know, but a simple good morning honey would have been nice."

"Booth doesn't call me honey." Angela rolled her eyes. "Can you get Dr. Saroyan and Dr. Hodgins, please? Booth requested them as well."

"How come nobody requests me?" Angela asked as she stood up.

"Would you like to join us, Angela? I'm sure we can use your expertise."

"Trudging through some gross crime scene? No thank you, sweetie. I'll be here when you're done." She began to walk out of the room. "Oh, and congratulations." She winked at Brennan before going off to find Cam and Hodgins.

10:16 AM

Standing at the edge of a forest, Booth heard a car pull up to the scene. He looked over his shoulder and saw Brennan sitting in the passenger seat of Cam's car. Cam was driving. Hodgins was in the back. Booth excused himself from the police officer he was talking to and approached the car. He opened Brennan's door.

"Hi," he said as she got out of the car. She was wearing her usual blue, Jeffersonian jumpsuit. Booth couldn't explain it, but it was incredibly sexy.

"Hi."

As Cam and Hodgins got out of the car, they gave each other a knowing glance. Even though Booth and Brennan remained professional at work, it was obvious that something had changed between them. Even the way they looked at each other had changed.

"What have we got?" Cam asked.

Booth tore his eyes away from Brennan to look at Cam. He pointed towards the trees.

"Two teenagers found a human head in the middle of the woods."

"A head?" Brennan questioned as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves.

"Cadaver dogs found the rest of the body a couple hundred yards away," Booth answered.

"Is the rest in one piece?" Cam asked.

"As far as we can tell, yes," Booth replied. "Looks like the body's been out here for a while, though. There's not much left."

"Any bugs?" Hodgins asked excitedly.

"Oh yeah, there are bugs," Booth answered.

"Well, let's get started," Brennan said.

Booth led them to the edge of the woods. Other police officers were around, taking notes and discussing the corpse. One young officer was on the side of the road vomiting. Booth didn't envy him. They walked into the forest. The trees grew denser as they continued on their way.

"Watch your step," Booth said as the ground became uneven with roots and rocks.

As they approached the crime scene, a foul order filled the air. Booth put his hand to his nose, trying to mask the smell. To Brennan, Cam, and Hodgins, the smell barely registered. They were used to awful smells. All four of them ducked under the yellow crime scene tape that surrounded the victim. Brennan and Cam kneeled next to what barely looked like a human body. As Booth had told him, the body was headless. Although some of the flesh still clung to the bones, most of it had been removed. It was just a matter of figuring out whether it had been removed by animals in the forest or by someone. The body was badly decomposed. Maggots and other bugs crawled over it.

"Definitely male," Brennan stated. "Late thirties. About 185 centimeters." She looked closely at his right knee. "He had a right knee replacement. I would say it was fairly new when he died."

"That's rare for a person so young to have a knee replacement, isn't it?" Booth asked.

"It's less common," Brennan answered.

"We could be looking for an athlete of some kind then," Booth suggested. "Or someone whose profession causes a lot of wear and tear on the knees."

"Based on the decomposition," Cam added, "I'd say the body's been out here for at least three months. Maybe more."

Hodgins scooped one of the maggots off the chest cavity with a pair of tweezers and held it up.

"These guys should be able to give us a more accurate time of death once I can get them to the lab," Hodgins said as he put the maggot into a plastic jar.

"The head was removed after the victim was killed," Brennan said.

"I guess we can rule out decapitation as cause of death then," Booth responded. He hung back, letting the experts do their jobs. "Can you tell how the head was…severed?"

"It was a clean cut," Brennan explained. "My guess would be a blade of some kind. I'll know more when we can get the body back to the lab."

"There should be enough flesh for me to do a tox screen and get DNA," Cam said.

"Can I see the head?" Brennan asked.

Booth nodded. "Follow me."

Brennan stood up. Leaving Cam and Hodgins behind to continue investigating the body, Brennan followed Booth through the woods. They came to another area sectioned off with yellow tape. In the middle was a skull, completely devoid of skin. As she did before, Brennan stooped down by the head. She picked it up carefully and looked at it. Booth watched her for several minutes. He couldn't help but admire her.

"This head doesn't belong to that body," Brennan stated.

"What?"

"The vertebrate doesn't match, the head isn't the right size. This head was gnawed off . It wasn't a clean cut."

"Wait…did you say gnawed?"

"Yes. Sharp teeth. Looks like an animal of some kind. Hodgins should be able to tell us more."

"So…"

"It's not the same person."

"Then, we've got two dead bodies?"

"Looks that way."

"Ok, I'll have the dogs keep looking."

Booth went to talk to one of the officers.

"Booth!" Brennan shouted after him.

"I know, don't let them compromise the remains. Got it, Bones."

She smiled as he walked off. Brennan went back to the body where Cam and Hodgins were finishing collecting evidence.

"We're looking for a second body," Brennan announced. "The head didn't belong to the body."

"Are you sure?" Cam asked. Brennan gave her a look. "Right, of course you're sure." Cam stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Alright, well we'll bring this all back to the Jeffersonian."

"Make sure nobody…" Brennan began to say.

"Compromises the remains. We know, Dr. B," Hodgins finished.

Content that everything was under control, Brennan walked out of the forest in search of Booth. She found him standing by his car, on his cell phone.

"Yeah, thanks," Booth said. "I'll be in touch."

Booth hung up the phone.

"What was that all about?" Brennan asked.

"I've got an agent running missing persons reports for men in their late thirties who have been reported missing in the last three to six months."

"Cam should be able to get DNA."

"Yeah, but if he's not in our database, maybe we'll get a hit off of missing persons. I've got the dogs combing the rest of the forest to try to find a second body."

"And a second head," Brennan reminded him.

"Right."

Brennan took off her gloves and threw them into a garbage nearby. She reached for some hand sanitizer out of her bag and rubbed it into her hands.

"So…lunch?"

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Only you could think about food after seeing that."

"Hey, at least I'm not the one who had my hands on the dead body." Booth reached for her hand to kiss it when he noticed something missing from her ring finger. "Where's your ring?" He asked.

"What?"

"Your engagement ring. Where is it?"

"At home," Brennan answered.

"What's it doing at home?"

"I don't understand your question."

"Why aren't you wearing your ring, Bones?"

"I left it at home this morning. As you pointed out, I do spend a fair amount of time with my hands in dead bodies. I thought it only logical to leave the ring at home. That, and I've found that rings tend to rip latex gloves, which could compromise the remains. Not to mention…"

"Bones, people don't just leave their engagement rings at home."

"Why not?"

"Because they just don't! When someone gives you an engagement ring, you wear it so that everybody else knows that you're engaged."

"I don't see why everyone needs to know we're engaged. We can certainly tell the people we would like to tell that we're engaged, but…"

"You just don't get it!" Booth yelled.

"What I don't understand is why you're angry."

He clenched his jaw. "I'm angry because you're not wearing your ring."

"Why is this is so important to you?"

"Because it is, Bones! Because it is! I gave you that ring as a symbol of our love…and you just take it off and leave it at home as if it means nothing!"

"I don't need a symbol of my feelings for you, Booth. I don't know why you're so upset."

"Of course you don't! You never do!"

Cam and Hodgins emerged from the woods.

"Uh-oh," Hodgins said as he saw Booth and Brennan both arguing.

"Work or personal stuff?" Cam asked.

Hodgins took a moment to look at them. He couldn't hear what they were arguing about, but he was trying to read their body language.

"Ten bucks says it's work," Hodgins answered.

"You're on."

They both walked over to Brennan and Booth. They immediately stopped arguing. The look on Booth's face was not a happy one.

"Any word on a second body?" Hodgins asked.

"Not yet," Booth replied.

"It's possible that the second body isn't here at all," Cam said. "What do you think, Booth?" He didn't answer. "Booth?"

"What?"

"Do you think they'll find the second body in the woods?" Cam asked again.

"I think women who are engaged should wear their engagement rings." He walked over to his SUV. "Call me if you find anything." He got in and drove off.

"Well, that was insightful," Cam remarked.

"Booth apparently is upset that I'm not wearing my engagement ring, which I don't understand. It's just a ring."

"Wait…what?" Cam said. Hodgins stifled a laugh. Angela had told him Booth's entire proposal plan. He wasn't shocked at all to discover that they were engaged. "You're getting married?"

Brennan nodded. "Are we ready to go?"

Cam was speechless. Brennan got into the car.

"Did you know about this?" Cam asked Hodgins.

"Angela told me he was going to ask her."

"And she accepted?"

Hodgins shrugged. "She's a changed woman."

Brennan unrolled the car window. "What are we waiting for?"

Hodgins gave Cam a knowing smile and was about to get into the car when Cam spoke.

"You owe me ten dollars, Dr. Hodgins." She put her hand out, expecting him to pay her.

"Come on, Dr. S. We were just joking around."

"A deal's a deal."

Hodgins shook his head and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his wallet and handed Cam a ten dollar bill. She accepted it with a smile on her face. They both got into the car and headed for the Jeffersonian.

Author's Note: Thank you all for your patience while I was on vacation (which was amazing). As much as I love writing Booth and Brennan when they're happy, I also love writing them when they're arguing. I hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for reading.