Brennan pulled her hair into a ponytail as she and Booth walked into the lab.

She stopped abruptly and Booth nearly ran into her. Her eyes fell on Zack and for a moment she looked as if she was going to cry. She ran the last several feet and took Zack into her arms.

"Zack."

"Dr. Brennan, although it's a physical impossibility, it feels as though you're crushing me."

Brennan released her hug and smiling. "I've missed you."

"Perhaps you should visit more often."

The smile fell from Brennan's face. "It's hard to see you like that."

"The facility is quite nice, actually. It's not ideal, but I'm not unhappy."

She hugged him again.

Booth walked up beside Brennan and patted Zack on the shoulder--with an open hand.

Angela took that moment to walk up to the group. "Brennan! You have no idea how happy I am to see that you still have a pulse! Why didn't you at least text me? I was worried sick."

"I'm sorry, Ange. I had a few minor injuries that needed..." Her eyes jumped to Booth's momentarily, "attention."

"Well I'm just glad you're OK. There's only one Brennan in this world. You're not exactly replaceable." She hugged Brennan tightly.

And as she was hugging, something registered.

So, she sniffed her friend.

And smiled.

She released the hug. "Where, exactly, did you say you had to get checked out?"

"I didn't say." It was as simple as that.

"I'm happy to see that you're fine, too, Dr. Brennan," Cam chimed in.

"Did you decipher the code, Zack?" Brennan asked, leaning over Zack's shoulder at the desk.

Angela smiled at Booth. "You saved Brennan, didn't you?"

"All in a day's work." He shrugged.

"Well, let me hug the man who saved my best friend." She hugged Booth tightly. It took him by surprise, but after a little hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her.

And what did she do? She sniffed him, too.

And smiled.

"Did you just sniff me?" Booth asked.

"I'm a woman of odd enthusiasms."

Angela released the FBI Agent and walked over to where Brennan and Zack were standing.

"Caesar Cipher. The second cipher is less common, but I think I'm making headway," Zack was telling her.

"Sweetie, think I can talk to you?"

"Sure, Ange."

Brennan straightened and Angela took her aside to the edge of the platform.

Booth watched with mixed curiosity and suspicion as the women walked a few yards off. He knew how well Angela sniffed these things out--literally. As he stood over Zack's shoulder, somewhere between Cam and Hodgins, he kept an eye out for the women.

"Sweetie, did you have sex?"

Brennan's eyes widened. "What?"

"Sweetie, my sex-dar has a fine adjustment knob."

"No. Of course not." She was as bad a liar as that time she tried to tell Angela she didn't love Booth.

"Was it some sort of Bon Voyage Booty Call?"

That put Brennan on the defensive. "Booth isn't the type to make booty call...s." She knew before the sentence was over that she had not only dropped his name, but had spilled the beans.

Angela grinned.

The scanner beeped and Agent Perotta walked onto the platform.

Brennan took that outlet and walked away from the conversation with Angela.

"I have a list for you, Agent Booth."

Booth stood and took the papers from Perotta. "Awesome. Thanks."

"Any time." Perotta smiled and looked at Brennan. "I'm glad to see that you're alright."

"Thank you. I just have minor scratches. Nothing serious."

"I tried to call you and tell you that I had the list," Perotta said to Booth.

Booth looked up from the paperwork. "Uh... my phone's busted. Battery keeps falling off the back."

"I also called Dr. Brennan's phone."

Booth and Brennan exchanged glances. By then, Cam and Hodgins were watching this exchange as well. With quite a bit of amusement and curiosity.

"My phone was on silent."

"Well, then," Perotta's eyes widened and she tried desperately to change the direction of the conversation. Booth and Brennan might as well have written what they had done across their foreheads. Perotta looked at Zack. "Who is this?"

Brennan smiled. "This is my assistant, Dr. Zack Addy."

"Nice to meet you."

"I know what it says," Zack announced. He hadn't even noticed that he was being spoken to.

Everyone moved closer to where Zack was sitting.

"What made it so difficult to decipher is the fact that the second cipher is a derivative of Polyalphabetic Cryptography. PAC uses a key, which I do not have. It made the whole process much more arduous."

"Yeah, but what does it say, Zack?" Booth asked, looking at his watch.

"How much time is left?" Cam asked.

"Still have eighteen hours, but we've still gotta find the Accomplice."

Zack continued, "Since 'e' is the most common letter in the English language, that's always the first that should be deciphered. In this case, M is Z and Z is E."

"Can you decipher the first line?" Angela asked.

Zack leaned forward and concentrated on the first line for several seconds. "Do the words, 'O'Connell, Ten, Thursday' have any significance to you?"

The intensity of Booth's gaze softened as revelation set in. He looked at Brennan who stood akimbo. Unspoken communication drifted between them. They knew who it was.

"Of course!" And so did Hodgins.

"Oh, my God," Cam whispered.

"Does it?" Perotta asked.

"Yes," Brennan replied.

"Get your stuff, ladies," Booth said, jogging off the platform. "Time to catch us an Accomplice."

Perotta and Brennan ran after him.

Two chaps for now. Let me know what you all think.

-Mama