As promised, a nice long chapter. Enjoy. And please don't forget to review.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Several hours later, Booth was finally finished with everything he could possibly accomplish on site today. He was unbelievably exhausted, mentally and physically, but he couldn't leave until Van Buren returned because someone needed to be there to oversee while there were so many non-agency people running around. Plus, the site had to be guarded against whoever was sabotaging the equipment and the only people he trusted at present to do that was himself, Van Buren, Jenkins and Hamilton. Admittedly, there was no way anyone could get near the grave tonight without being noticed but remains had been moved to the mobile lab and it could conceivably be a target, especially with all the activity around the grave drawing attention away from the lab. Although it didn't make sense to him to make a move on the lab until all the evidence was on board, he still had Hamilton on guard duty just to be on the safe side, especially since Brennan was inside.
Tomorrow, he would work out a schedule, alternating guard duty but for tonight, he was winging it. He had sent Van Buren to base camp in early afternoon to grab some food and sleep so he could relieve him at 2am which was in 20 minutes, Booth noted checking his watch. He wanted to check on the progress of Hodgins' crew then he knew he would have to drag Brennan out of the lab because he hadn't seen her around the dig site handing out orders to be careful and not disturb her site since she had disappeared into the lab. That could only mean that she was completely immersed in whatever she was doing and would probably be resistant to leaving it. Walking back into the clearing that had been made to erect the shelter, Booth's eyes widened at the progress that had been made.
"Wow, that thing is really going up fast," he said in surprise, stopping beside Hodgins, his eyes roaming the growing structure.
"Yep," acknowledged Hodgins, rocking back on his heels in satisfaction, his arms crossed over his chest, critically eying the workers. "They should be finished in another couple of hours," he said, turning his head toward Booth.
Booth's eyes remained on the structure. It actually did look like an igloo, approximately 30 feet in diameter, necessitating the sacrifice of several trees to make room for it to be erected. It was already at least 6 feet tall but he could tell it would be getting significantly taller before it finished in the typical dome. The panels busily being fitted in place looked like slightly cloudy glass but Booth realized they weren't when one of the workers dropped one and it didn't shatter. Noticing Booth's wince, Hodgins glanced back at the workers and laughed.
"Don't sweat it, Gman. Those panels are practically indestructible," he assured Booth. "They ought to be with what it cost to develop them," he grumbled under his breath and Booth's interest was caught.
"How much are we talking about here, bug man?" asked Booth curiously.
"Overall, almost 30 million went into developing the formula for the panels," Hodgins' shrugged unconcernedly and Booth blinked at the reminder of just how rich the bug man was. Yeah, Booth knew Hodgins was loaded but he never, ever flaunted it and it was a bit disconcerting to hear him throw out numbers like that as if he was talking about pocket change. Then again, when you were as wealthy as Hodgins was, it just might be.
"Exactly how much are you going to be billing the government for the use of this igloo, Hodgins?" Booth queried half jokingly, sure he already knew the answer.
"Not a cent," Hodgins assured him, sounding insulted by the question. "Trust me, they couldn't afford it," he continued cheerfully, "and it wouldn't really be right to bill them for something they kind of already own." Booth's head slowly turned and he met Hodgins' laughing eyes, beginning to get a really bad feeling about this.
"What do you mean, the government already owns this? I thought you got this thing from one of your companies," he growled, his eyes narrowing at Hodgins' guilty expression.
"I know," sighed Hodgins. "But it just so happens that this particular one technically belongs to NASA," he added sheepishly, scratching his head and bracing himself for the explosion undoubtedly coming his way.
"NASA? You stole something from NASA?" gaped Booth incredulously rubbing an agitated hand across his face, feeling his blood pressure shoot through the roof. Dammit, he was grateful for Hodgins' contribution but he so didn't need another problem, especially a doozy the size of being in possession of stolen goods from freaking NASA.
"Not exactly," Hodgins blinked and held up his hands in a settle down motion, a little surprised at how upset Booth seemed to be getting. "It was paid for by NASA but it was technically in the physical custody of my company so I consider it more like borrowing," he explained. Booth pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, biting back words of anger and frustration, telling himself to stay calm and discuss this rationally, to not lash out at Hodgins' entitled behavior. "Come on, Booth. It was the only prototype that we could make work and it was sitting in a warehouse gathering dust. They weren't using it and we needed it so I didn't see the problem," Hodgins shrugged imperturbably and Booth's temper snapped, the stress and frustration of dealing with problem after never ending problem pouring out in anger whether Hodgins deserved to be the brunt of it or not.
"Well, gee, Hodgins, if you didn't see a problem then how could there possibly be one?" he snapped, heavy on the sarcasm. "Dammit, Hodgins, what the hell were you thinking?" Booth knew he was being a little unfair. Hodgins was only trying to help, but, crap, as the Agent In Charge and the person ultimately responsible for whatever happened here, it would have been nice to have had some warning that their asses were going to be on the line for something so major instead of being handed a fait accompli, helpless to do any real damage control.
"I was thinking that with the current level of technology, NASA wouldn't need their greenhouse for Mars in our lifetime," Hodgins snapped right back, drawing himself up to his full height, stiff with outrage, feeling like his gift was being thrown back in his face. "I was thinking that this "igloo" was our best chance to protect this site and ultimately catch the kind of scum who kill children and throw them in a mass grave. I was thinking that we can build them a brand spanking new one and they'll never know the difference," he finished, deflating completely and Booth found his anger ebbing, as well.
"Well, hell, Hodgins, why couldn't you have just said that first?" Booth growled, a glint of humor entering his eyes.
"Yeah, that probably would have been good," Hodgins agreed with a wry grin, eying Booth a little warily. He had known Booth would be pissed when he found out but, man, the FBI agent was a little scary when he got really riled up and he obviously had a serious problem with people taking things that technically didn't belong to them.
"A greenhouse for Mars? As in the planet? Seriously?" Booth reverted back to something Hodgins had said that had definitely caught his interest.
"I'm serious as a heart attack. That structure was earmarked to go to Mars," Hodgins confirmed, pointing at the greenhouse. "Are you still mad?" he asked cautiously, wanting to confirm that the crisis was over so he would know how much to filter any further information to avoid a repeat. Oh, who was he kidding? He wasn't going to lie about it no matter how much it pissed off the other man. He had done what he had seen as necessary and if it came back to bite them in the ass, he would handle it.
"Not so much," sighed Booth, unable to argue with Hodgins' reasons for getting them in this mess. The bug man's heart was definitely in the right place. "You could have just told me what was going on from the beginning, you know."
"Yeah, right," snorted Hodgins. "I'm sure that you, Mr. Law and Order himself, would have been perfectly fine with me taking something that NASA had already paid 8 million dollars for."
Booth winced at the words, now knowing they were in deep crap if they got busted because of the cost alone. He also knew that Hodgins was right. He was fairly certain that if Hodgins had used his impassioned "It will help us catch child killers" speech, he would have eventually agreed to the plan but he knew himself well enough to know he would have objected to anything illegal and insisted on looking for alternatives, costing them time they could ill afford. He also knew that it would be pointless to offer further objections. What was done was done.
"Besides, if none of you knew, you all have plausible deniability if it does come back to bite me in the ass," Hodgins shrugged good naturedly.
Damn, now Booth felt like a jerk. Here he was yelling at the guy and Hodgins was just trying to do what he could to help and protect his friends at the same time. "Yeah, yeah, Hodgins, I get it, you're a good guy," Booth acknowledged and Hodgins grinned at the note of sincerity in his voice, unaccountably touched that Booth thought he was a good guy. "Just do me a favor and run it by me first if you decide to steal anything else. Okay?"
"I can do that," Hodgins grinned, nodding so eagerly that it made Booth a little nervous.
"On second thought, how about you just not steal anything else and then we won't have a problem?" Booth suggested as an alternative.
"Fine," sighed Hodgins as if giving up a life of thievery was the hardest thing he had ever done and Booth bit back a laugh. As much as Hodgins sometimes irritated him, Booth genuinely liked and respected the other man and he really did think he was a good guy, not the entitled asshole he had once assumed him to be, despite his recent bonehead stunts.
"Look, Hodgins, I know you were trying to do a good thing and I can appreciate that but I, we, don't need any more problems with this case so just try to tone it down from here on out. Okay?" Booth asked tiredly and Hodgins winced, suddenly beginning to see the kind of trouble he had potentially stirred up for Booth.
In his own defense, he had meant well but he hadn't really given the whole getting in trouble thing a second thought. After all, NASA had no real power over him or the Jeffersonian and the worst they could really do was pontificate and he had lawyers to handle that kind of stuff. In his arrogance, he hadn't really considered that they could bring all kinds of pressure to bear on Booth whom he considered a friend and Booth would be the one to bear the brunt of whatever angst NASA threw at them.
"I'm really sorry, man," Hogins sighed, his hands pushing deeply into his pockets, his eyes meeting Booth's determinedly. "The truth is that I never really gave NASA finding out a second thought. I knew we could replace it long before they would ever need it and the cost was negligible in comparison with the need we had for it. But you're right, I should have told you what was going on and I never, ever meant to cause problems for you. It won't happen again. Plus, if NASA does find out, I have a hell of a team of lawyers we can throw at them. They'll never know what hit them." By the time Hodgins finished speaking, he was talking almost as fast as Daisy and waving his arms around and Booth was having trouble keeping up with his words and dodging his flailing arms at the same time.
Finally making sense of the words, Booth couldn't keep his lips from twitching. It was kind of touching that Hodgins was worried about causing trouble for him but it was amusing as hell that the bug man seemed to think this was the very first time the squints had ever brought the wrath of some other department or branch of the government down on his head. The sad truth was they rarely worked a case where someone on the squint squad didn't manage to royally piss off or offend someone and he had to make nice. By now, he was a freaking good will ambassador for the squints. Granted, he wasn't especially looking forward to fighting with NASA but if they did find out and make an issue of it, it wasn't something he couldn't handle either. "I appreciate the offer Hodgins, but why don't we wait and see what happens before we sic the lawyers on NASA, huh?" he managed with a straight face.
"If you're sure," Hodgins agreed after a moment of thought, watching Booth intently, finally relaxing when he received a nod of confirmation. "So are we good now?" he asked cautiously a long second later. Hodgins' attention was suddenly drawn by a worker yelling for him from inside the greenhouse. He looked at Booth, clearly torn between answering the call and continuing this conversation.
"Yeah, Hodgins, we're good but I'm trusting you to not let me down," Booth assured him dipping his head to hide his grin.
"You can count on me," Hodgins promised, drawing himself up to his full height and puffing out his chest, immediately hurrying off to find out what he was needed for and, therefore, not let Booth down.
"Coffee, Boss?" asked an amused voice from beside Booth, a styrofoam cup appearing in his line of vision.
"Thanks," Booth said, taking the coffee from Van Buren gratefully and taking a big sip.
"You look like you could use it," mused Van Buren, wincing at how tired and stressed Booth looked. He had overheard enough of Booth's conversation with the science guy to know there was potentially big trouble on the horizon and be glad he wasn't in charge here.
In fact, he was extremely glad he wasn't the one riding herd on the squint squad as he had heard Booth refer to them several times today and after his admittedly limited contact with them today, he couldn't imagine why anyone would want to. No matter how attractive he found Dr. Saroyan or how upbeat and charming he found Angela, he wasn't blind and they both had high maintenance written all over them. Add to that the fact that they had both proven to be demanding, slightly patronizing and extremely tenacious whenever anyone had challenged them as if they were both used to getting their way and he had found them both utterly exhausting to deal with.
He hadn't had much contact with the younger four but that little contact had told him they weren't your average Joes, either. Plus, you couldn't be an FBI agent and not be aware of the crime fighting duo of Special Agent Seeley Booth and Dr. Temperence Brennan. They had the highest crime solve rate in the history of the bureau but the horror stories about the difficult doctor abounded. Granted, Van Buren hadn't officially met her today but what he had seen had told him that those stories, while probably grossly exaggerated, most likely contained a grain of truth. She just didn't strike him as an easy woman to deal with. He couldn't imagine how stressful it was for Booth to deal with these brilliant, driven people in a group setting on a daily basis but he doubted Booth would appreciate him expressing his sympathies for his choice of career paths so he stepped up beside Booth and looked around with interest at the changes that had taken place on site since his departure.
"Yeah," agreed Booth. "Everything under control at base camp?"
"Everything's fine," Van Buren assured Booth easily, taking a sip of his own coffee, feeling much more comfortable in this environment than he had back at base camp. He much preferred the relative quiet and the sense of purpose of the working men to the uncontrolled chaos of all those people wandering around base camp with nothing in particular to do except get in his way and annoy him and each other. Hopefully, tomorrow, Booth could send the majority of them on their way and things would settle down. "There was an incident with a couple of the techs and Dr. Brennan's team," Van Buren stated flatly, unsure how Booth would take the news. He hadn't seen Booth and Dr. Brennan together that much today but from what he had seen, his gut told him that the two were a lot more than partners and he was certain Booth wasn't going to like the circumstances of the incident.
"What kind of incident?" Booth demanded, turning his head and pinning Van Buren with a look that told him to spill and to do it quickly.
"From what I was told, the techs made some rude comments about Dr. Brennan within her team's hearing and they responded in kind. But," Van Buren hurried to continue his explanation when he saw the anger blooming in Booth's eyes, "the supervisor was there and put a stop to it. He immediately sent the two techs back to the city."
"Damn," cursed Booth roundly, running a hand through his hair. The FBI crime scene team they were using was from the closest office, not one from DC that was used to working with Brennan and her team. Over the years, those techs had become inured to insult and, surprisingly enough, busted their asses to do an exemplary job, hoping to gain Brennan's approval. Unfortunately, she had been in fine form this morning when she had very vocally informed him that her team's skills were much too valuable to waste on picking up trash and that she would be more than happy to turn that part of the crime scene over to the FBI. Booth knew she had simply been telling the truth but several of the techs had overheard her and it wasn't all that surprising they had found it insulting. It was surprising that they would retaliate in such a juvenile, unprofessional manner but he guessed they had been afraid to take on Brennan so they had picked on her interns instead. Completely unacceptable. He was beginning to feel like a kindergarten teacher and it wasn't a reassuring feeling when you thought of the situation they were facing. "The crime scene techs shouldn't need more than a couple of hours in the morning, then they can all head back." And good riddance, he added silently, making a mental note to get the names of the two techs in question and have a little chat with someone in authority over their behavior. "Anything else?" Booth queried, not really sure he wanted to know.
"Charlie finished faxing all of the background checks on the road crew. I looked them over but nothing jumped out at me." Booth's eyebrow arched when Van Buren paused and grinned into his coffee before continuing. "The sleeping arrangements were getting a little tight. Angela has taken over room assignments and was in the process of playing musical rooms when I went to bed. She was already asleep when I woke up and I had no idea where it would be safe to leave them so I locked them in the SUV for you to take a look at." Van Buren couldn't help but laugh at the God, help us all look on Booth's face. "Don't worry," he grinned, repeating Angela's own words to Booth, "she's got it all under control."
Booth rolled his eyes and snorted into his coffee knowing that Angela thinking she had things under control was no real guarantee that they were actually under control. "Let's just hope she's right this time," Booth mumbled, taking comfort in knowing that him and Brennan being roomies with Angela in charge was pretty much a given. And he was more than ready to round up his roomy and get some sleep. Enough of this chitchatting. "Anything else?" Van Buren simply shook his head and Booth nodded.
"Okay, then," Booth said. "When they finish with the greenhouse, I want two people inside at all times. After the construction team clears out, I want no one and I mean no one in there until Bones and her team gets back," he barked out.
"What about the bus?" Van Buren asked, slipping into work mode.
"Keep someone on it," Booth ordered. He knew it was stretching them thin but the grave was the only real potential for evidence they had and the bus was housing that evidence as it was being removed meaning both had to be protected. Luckily, they had five more agents scheduled to arrive later this morning which would give them a little relief.
"Done," Van Buren replied easily. "Anything else, Boss?"
"No. I should be back here around 0800." Booth winced as he looked at his watch and noted it was 2:20 am. He wasn't going to get as much sleep as he would have liked but he had too much to do to allow himself any longer for such a luxury. "The satellite phone is in the lab if you need me."
"Understood," Van Buren assured him, hoping like hell that nothing came up requiring him to disturb the other man. "Goodnight."
"Night," Booth called over his shoulder, already striding toward the lab to collect Brennan and leave the multiplying problems of this assignment behind for a few hours.
Brennan pushed back from the examination table in the mobile lab with a muttered curse and looked around, knowing she wouldn't find the equipment that she needed. "Damn," she muttered again, finally locating the only alternative available and turning back to the body. She knew the mobile lab was set up mainly to aid in the collection of remains and evidence, not the in depth examination of either one but she had found something interesting and she needed a closer look. She needed to be in the lab where these bones could be properly cleaned and x-rayed but she didn't have those capabilities on hand so, for now, she would simply have to work with what she had. Within seconds, she was, once again, lost in her examination of the remains.
Booth quietly entered the lab, his eyes instantly going to Brennan who was highlighted in the only lights that had been turned on in the entire lab, his mouth unconsciously curving into a smile at the sight he had seen countless times before. She was bent over a table that pulled out from the wall peering at the remains they had removed from the grave earlier through a lighted, magnifying glass. Granted, the pull out table wasn't nearly as impressive as the one sitting atop the platform in the middle of the lab but Brennan, his Bones, was always magnificent. And not entirely happy at the moment, he noted as he walked closer and heard her muttering under her breath.
"Crap," she muttered loudly, slapping something down on the table set up beside her hard enough to rattle the rest of the equipment resting there while very gently lowering the bone in her hand back to the table.
"Problem?" he asked softly, stepping up behind her, his hands going to her shoulders and gently kneading the tense muscles there.
"I need to be in the lab to properly examine these remains," she admitted, leaning back against him with a tired sigh.
"And you will be back in the lab just as soon as we finish here," he soothed, dropping a kiss on the top of her head, not even trying to hide his grin at her prolonged sigh which told him that she knew he was right but she didn't like it. "Have you got an ID for me?"
"Yes, I found a childhood fracture of the ulna," Booth's eyes followed Brennan's hand as she pointed to a forearm but he didn't see whatever she was trying to show him. That was okay, he trusted her implicitly. "I also found rib fractures consistent with those Mr. Harris suffered in a fall two years before his disappearance. These are definitely the remains of Charles Harris," she nodded.
"Anything else?" he teased, knowing there was no way that was all she had after hours of examining the bones. Her head turned slowly and she pinned him with narrowed, blue eyes that told him she didn't find his joke funny. He laughed anyway, dropping a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.
"Of course," she stepped away from him, hiding her own grin at Booth's good mood. It always made her smile to hear him laugh but this wasn't play time, it was work time. "He received a gunshot wound to the chest," she supplied, pointing to the area in question and Booth's eyebrows rose. He had been under the impression a gunshot to the head had been the cause of death. "I doubt this was the cause of death because the angle of entry indicates the bullet would have missed all the vital organs before exiting his back," she pointed to another spot on the skeleton but Booth still didn't see anything but dirt encrusted bones. "To be certain, I need to clean the bones and take a closer look. An examination of the skull would also be beneficial," Brennan went on as if she could read his mind but Booth was no longer surprised by that developing phenomenon.
"Um, yeah, about that. I had the skull sent directly to the lab from the coroner's office," he admitted, readying himself for the coming explosion. Being in a relationship with Brennan didn't save him from getting his ass chewed when he did something she didn't like regarding work. Much to his surprise, she only blinked at him, tilted her head to the side to indicate she was considering this then slowly nodded.
"That makes sense," she allowed with a sigh.
"Okay, who are you and what have you done with my Bones?" Booth teased, pleased with her startled laughter. Not that long ago, she wouldn't have known what that meant. "Are you finished here?" he asked, brushing a lock of hair from her cheek.
"Not really," she said, her voice full of frustration, "I've found a couple of interesting abnormalities but I can't get a better look at them without the proper equipment and facilities," she acknowledged.
"So, you're finished with the remains?" Booth queried and Brennan's eyes narrowed at his rather dogmatic questioning. On top of her physical and emotional fatigue, she was finding it just a tad irritating.
"I just said I was, Booth," she returned a little impatiently, immediately regretting her tone. "I'm sorry," she sighed apologetically, giving him a tired smile.
"I understand," he allowed softly, his thumb sweeping across her cheek. "It's been a hard day for everyone but I had an idea I wanted to run by you." She nodded to indicate he had her undivided attention. "What kind of problems would it cause you if we shipped the remains back to the Jeffersonian individually? As soon as they're disinterred?" he asked and Brennan frowned, unsure of why he would want to do such a thing.
"I don't understand," she answered cautiously.
"Okay," Booth sighed, sinking down onto the stool beside the metal table she had been previously occupying and pulling her between his legs, his hands settling on her hips. "We know that someone deliberately sabotaged the heavy equipment," he began and she nodded. He had kept her updated throughout the day on anything relevant and had continuously expressed concern for her and her team's safety based on assumptions he had made from that fact. Logical and highly probable assumptions, Brennan had to admit but she still didn't understand and Booth could clearly see that in her eyes. "We have to assume that whoever did the sabotaging doesn't want us here." Brennan nodded, agreeing with that assessment. "As much as I hate to admit it, there's just no way we can completely secure the scene." Booth admitted with a sigh and Brennan blinked at the seeming change in subject but seconds later her eyes widened as her whirling brain made the connection.
"You think it's probable that someone will try to destroy our evidence," she mused aloud, the hands that had been resting on his chest moving to his shoulders.
"Destroy, contaminate, steal, but yeah, I do think they'll give it a shot," Booth acknowledged.
"And they can't do that if the evidence has already been transferred to the Jeffersonian," Brennan continued softly to herself, examining the plan for flaws and finding none. "Sneaky," she grinned down at Booth approvingly, her hands framing his grinning face.
"I'm glad you approve." Laughing, he linked his hands behind her back and tilted his head back so he could see her smiling face more clearly, the sight making the irritation and aggravation of this entire frustrating day and every one like it fade into insignificance.
"I will, of course, need a little time for the superficial exam that is all that's possible in these circumstances but as soon as identification is made and sufficient samples are collected, I don't see a problem with your plan." She was off and running, her body relaxing against his, her hands running up and down his arms. "It also has the added benefit of Clark being able to process the remains and start a more detailed examination," she mused further, her enthusiasm for the plan growing by leaps and bounds as she considered all the benefits.
"Umm hmm, we'll send Mr. Harris down to get acquainted with Clark first thing in the morning. Now are you ready to get out of here?" he asked softly, standing and holding out a hand.
"Are you sure Mr. Harris' remains will be safe until morning?" she asked, chewing on her bottom lip. Booth blinked, his eyes narrowing at the question. In his estimation, Mr. Harris was as safe it was possible to make him for the moment.
"Yeah, Bones, I think Mr. Harris will be fine until morning," he finally supplied honestly. He could go over how many agents he had on site and that one was specifically guarding the lab but she already knew all that.
"Maybe we should stay just to be sure," she suggested, avoiding eye contact. As valid as Brennan's concern was, Booth knew stalling when he saw it and he was starting to get a little concerned. His Bones didn't stall, she just flat out told you what was on her mind.
"Hey, what's going on?" he asked, tilting her chin up, his face full of concern and Brennan's heart melted at the sight of all that concern specifically for her.
"Wendell was right," she said softly, "it just doesn't seem right to leave them here like this," she explained at Booth's raised brow, not really wanting to get into the fact that she had spent the past few hours debating the feasibility of remaining onsite and resuming the excavation as soon as the shelter was in place which Hodgins had assured her would be within a couple of hours. If she did that, she could sleep in one of the cots whenever time allowed and she wouldn't have to feel like she was abandoning those poor children.
"Oh, baby," Booth sighed, reading the emotion in her eyes, "you have to know you can't stay here every minute." His hands cupped her face, his thumbs smoothing over her cheeks. "You need some sleep to keep the junior squints on the straight and narrow and you can't really expect the kiddies to follow orders if you don't set a good example," he chided lightly and she nodded, already having decided that no one possessed the physical stamina to continuously dig and competently supervise the interns at the same time. Just as she had told the interns about themselves, without adequate amounts of sleep, she would be useless or, worse, a detriment to the team. But as compellingly logical as that epiphany was, it was proving more difficult to put into action than she had ever thought possible.
She had seen much worse things in her years as a forensic anthropologist but she had always been able to distance herself from the sadness and horror in order to do her job. Yes, she had felt those things but she had been able to compartmentalize them until a more appropriate time. She had no idea why but that distancing ability seemed to have deserted her on this case. She was feeling every single, seething emotion and she didn't like it at all. She also had no idea what to do about it and Booth already had enough problems to deal with without dumping this in his lap. It was sweet of him to try to make her feel better but she needed to figure this one out for herself.
"I know," she sighed, her arms lifting and encircling his neck. "Thank you for trying to make me feel better," she whispered, tilting her head and brushing her lips against his.
"You're welcome," he whispered back, his lips nudging hers further apart and deepening the kiss, his hands sliding from her face to her back and pulling her against him. Moaning, Brennan wrapped herself around him and lost herself in just letting the love and desire, the feeling of absolute peace and belonging she always felt wrapped in his arms wash over her. When they pulled apart, panting, several minutes later, she found she did, indeed, feel much, much better.
"I'm ready now," she said with a soft smile.
"Me, too," growled Booth, his face nuzzling into her neck, his lips leisurely trailing over the soft skin of her throat, his hands smoothing down her back to her bottom and pulling her against him to demonstrate that he was, indeed, ready.
"I meant I was ready to go," Brennan clarified, her voice full of laughter which was abruptly cut off with a gasp when Booth's teeth nipped the sensitive cord in the side of her neck.
"Umm hmm," Booth murmured, delighting in the way her head tilted to give him better access, the sexy little noises emerging from her throat sending shivers down his spine. His tongue flicked out to soothe the spot he had just used his teeth on and his hands tightened on her hips, pulling her closer, her moan of pleasure vibrating against his lips and shooting straight to his already hard groin. Her hands moved restlessly on his back, finally slipping just inside the back of his jeans, her nails digging into the upper curves of his buttocks. Shuddering, Booth knew they needed to stop this and get out of here before things got completely out of hand. Which was going to be any second now, he silently acknowledged as one slender hand slid further into his jeans, tunneled under his boxers and landed on his naked skin. Hissing at the feel of her nails lightly scraping his butt before her fingers spread out and began to stroke his skin, moving ever lower, one of Booth's hands cupped her jaw, tilting her face toward his seeking lips. Even knowing he was really, really pushing it, he couldn't deny himself just one more kiss.
Brennan groaned, her hand tightening on Booth's butt cheek as his lips found hers and he kissed her like he wanted to devour her. His mouth was hungry and hotly demanding, every rhythmic stroke of his tongue into her mouth sending darts of desire throughout her body to settle into a tightening, aching knot in her lower belly.
A loud knocking on the door of the lab jerked them apart only seconds before the door was opened and Van Buren stuck his head in. "I'm really sorry to bother you, Booth, but one of the workers spotted someone sneaking around in the woods. He got away but I've got the guys searching the surrounding area and I thought you would want to know," Van Buren rushed out, his eyes skipping over the obviously mussed pair, not having to take a second guess as to what he had just interrupted.
"Damn," muttered Booth under his breath. He had expected something like this just not quite so soon. "Yeah, Van Buren, keep them searching and I'll be right there," he called over his shoulder, his eyes searching Brennan's tired face.
"You got it, Boss," Van Buren agreed, quickly closing the door and heading back to help search.
"Looks like I'm going to be here for a while, baby," Booth sighed, running a finger down her soft cheek, "but I'll have someone take you to base camp so you can get some sleep." She was shaking her head before he even finished making the offer.
"I'll just wait here, Booth. I'll be fine," she assured him.
"You need to get some sleep," he argued, cupping her face in his big hands, his thumbs tracing over the very faint circles under her eyes.
"And I will. I'll take a nap in one of the cots and you can join me when you get done," she bargained, fluttering her lashes at him.
"Fine," he sighed trying to hide his amusement, knowing that when she resorted to flirting, it was pointless to argue with her. "But you stay in the lab," he said sternly and she nodded, giving him the big, innocent eyes. "I mean it, Bones," he warned, "you DO NOT leave this lab until you get the okay from me. Are we clear?" His eyes bored into hers.
"I understand," she said softly, not at all upset with the attitude, knowing he was only concerned with her safety. And the simple truth of the matter was that she very much liked his take charge attitude, she only wished they had enough time for her to show him just how much she liked it. "I won't leave the lab until you say its okay," she repeated and he nodded.
"I have to go," he said with flattering reluctance.
"I know," she acknowledged, her reluctance just as obvious as his.
Dropping a light kiss on her tempting lips, he forced himself to let her go and turn toward the door, simply raising a hand in acknowledgement of her order to "Be careful out there". His mind was already whirling with the possibilities of who would be lurking around in the woods at night and none of them were good. A reporter would be the best case scenario and that would be very, very bad. Running a hand through his hair, he stepped off of the bus and headed toward Van Buren who appeared to be deep in conversation with one of the other agents, wondering if it was too much to ask that something, anything, start to go right with this case some time soon.