BOAB CH31

After Booth dropped himself off at the motel, Brennan continued on to work. When she pulled into the parking lot, she grabbed her light jacket and hopped out of the truck; the sky was still slightly overcast. She looked up at the sky and thought about how vast it was, how it seemed that it was so much more important out here than back in DC. Smiling at how relaxed her thinking had been since both coming here and getting in touch with her inner Booth she made her way to the barn. Mal was in playing with Zoe and the puppies and looked up and smiled when she came in. "Good Morning Tempe, I mean Roxie." He grinned guiltily as he looked to see if the adjoining door to the office was still closed. She winked and smiled back, "Hi Mal, what's on the agenda for today?"

He stood and wiped his hands off on his jeans and stretched tall over his shoulders, her eyes following every movement. "Today we're going to the Burley farm. Roscoe Burley raises hogs and he has a sow named Hannah that thinks she is meant to roam free and be one with nature and has this nasty habit of going under the fence in the sty. This time she cut up her back pretty bad and he's worried about her. So, we're going to take a trip out to the boonies and fix her up. Then a stop at the Chase ranch so I can pick up Connor and then Travis at his house and then we're coming back." He told her as they walked into the office.

"The sow I can handle, why are you picking up the boys and why not Clay?" She asked over her shoulder as she made her way to the office coffee pot. The other three girls were already in the office, albeit not happily. They all looked like they felt, rode hard and put away wet. At the mention of Clay's name Stefanie looked up and said, "Picked up Clay for what?"

Mal said, "I'm taking Travis and Conner to the arena to work on the parade for next weekend. Stefanie, as far as I know Clay isn't in it is he?"

Stefanie relaxed and said, "Oh no, he isn't."

"Would he like to help?" Brennan asked.

Stefanie thought about it for a moment and then said, "He would most likely love it, but I don't think my mom would be thrilled having to go get him and I've got plans tonight. Besides, he's a little younger than Conner and Travis and would need someone to watch him."

Roxie shook her head slightly, "Tony will be there, he's been hanging out with him at the hotel, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Carrie took that statement as an opportunity to ask the questions that were on everybody's mind, "Speaking of Tony," she said, pulling her sunglasses down, "What happened to you two last night?"

"Yeah," Danni piped up, "We saw that Tony's truck was in the parking lot for a little while after he dragged you outside, but was gone, along with yours when we all left."

Roxie hesitated for a moment before she said, "We went outside and argued a bit and then I left. I don't know anything about how long his truck was out there." She hated lying, especially to people she was really starting to like, but she also knew that she could blow the whole thing by saying something wrong, Mal and Cordelia already knew who she was and it wouldn't take much for everyone else to find out too. "What about Jesse?" She asked nonchalantly looking under her lashes at the other girls.

"Jesse bounced back quite quickly." Stefanie said.

"He bitched about how he could take Tony and then Lilah's friend, what's her name? Oh, yeah, Catherine she turned on her 'charm' and Jesse followed her like a little lamb. Sorry Roxie, Jesse isn't really the one woman kind of man."

Roxie swallowed a sip of coffee and smiled behind the brim, secretly glad that he was interested in Catherine now and not her, it would make it easier to observe him, "No worries, Tony and I aren't really 'together', I mean he's hot and all and I like him, but I had to tell him that I don't need to be tied down to one cowboy right now. He got a little ticked off and stalked off, I don't know what happened after that." She put the styrofoam cup into the trash and clapped her hands together, "Ready Mal?"

He had been gathering up supplies and putting them into his travel bag while the girls talked, and looked up and smiled, "Ready Roxie, let's go."

He started through the door and then said, "Make sure if we get any walk ins you girls take care of them, any emergencies call me and I'll be back by two for my afternoon appointments, Danni-give Giles a call about the puppies for me would you? I want the ad in tomorrow's paper." he turned to go and heard Danni say from behind him, "What are we calling these ones again? Rottstiffs? Half Rott and half Mastiff? Still free?"

He grinned and said loudly as he entered the barn, "Yes, still free and Rottstiffs is much better than Masttweilers!" Snickering he and Roxie headed to the office truck and climbed in.

Carrie, Danni and Stefanie spent a couple of minutes laughing at Mals' expense over his continuing puppy mishap and then Danni made the call to the editor of the paper for him. Giles also laughed and said he'd make sure it was the number one ad in the paper the next day.

"What do you think really happened between those two?" Carrie mused as she poured another cup of coffee and blew the steam off to try and cool it off somewhat.

"Who two?" Danni asked absently.

"Roxie and Tony dummy," Carrie said sharply, "He was hot enough to light a fire with and there is no way they just 'argued a bit' and then he happily walked away. I bet there was more to it than that, I bet he took her home and that's why he wasn't there when we went out there to check on them, that's what I think." She nodded sagely at the other two.

"Well, if he took her home, why was his truck gone when we left? It was only about an hour later and it takes at least half an hour to even drive to her house, so how did he get back?" Stefanie countered.

Thinking it over as she stepped back behind the counter, Carrie said, "Well, maybe she brought him back to get it?"

Danni snorted and raised her sunglasses and looked at Carrie and said, "If you were bangin' Tony would you stop in the middle of it to go back and get his truck? I wouldn't stop if you dangled chocolate covered money in front of me if I was the one in his sights."

Laughing at that image, they all agreed that it was improbable that they stopped to come back and get his truck, so maybe it did go down the way that Roxie said it had. The girls all drifted away to various parts of the office and began their day, each one still feeling the effects of their night in one way or another.

Roxie and Mal drove for an hour passing small farms, and large stretches of woods before they came to a mostly overgrown driveway and Mal slowed to turn down it. He handed her a mask and said, "Here, you'll want to wear this. Old Man Burley has been smelling hogs for over 30 years so he doesn't smell them anymore, but in about a mile or so the smell is going to hit you hard and fast. Let me know if you want me to stop and pull over."

Brennan took the mask cautiously and thought about the last time she was on a pig farm, although the odor was strong it wasn't too unpleasant, the farm was clean and open. She wasn't sure what to expect, but Mal was right, at almost one mile from when he handed her the mask the smell hit the truck like an actual curtain of odor. She gagged and put the mask on, "That's horrible." She said her voice muffled by the mask.

He nodded and slowed down enough to pull on his own mask, "I told you. We won't be here long, Roscoe is a nice man, but I can't be here that long without wanting to take an acid bath."

Roxie nodded and swallowed, trying to keep the smell from invading her senses, she could almost see it on the air and felt it settling into her clothes and hair and just knew an acid bath was next on the agenda.