Disclaimer: I own neither Angel or anything associated with him, and "Bones" is equally out of my reach control-wise

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Angel of the Bones

"So," Booth said, as they walked through the marina to their latest body, boats all around them, "is it just me or is this, ya know, kinda weird?"

"What?" Bones asked.

"Well," Booth continued, "in your new book, they found a body at the marina, right?"

"You read my book?" Bones said.

"Of course," Booth said, before he focused on the relevant part of the current situation, indicating the boat just ahead of them. "Anyhow, a guy docking the boat saw something floating in the water, thought it was a dead fish, it ended up being a decomposed hand. The dive crew just located the rest of the body."

"I didn't think you'd have time to read my book," Bones said, apparently still stuck on that revelation.

"You have time to write it, I have time to read it," Booth said (He'd even given Fred's article a shot when she'd told them about it, even if he hadn't understood it, and that was before he remembered some of Cordelia's shows and auditions he'd been to back in the day). "Besides, you can't avoid the damned thing. Your book is everywhere."

"OK, bring it up," a diver said as they approached, resulting in a chain being pulled out of the water as the two investigators stood on the edge of the pier.

"Booth," Bones said.

"Yeah?" Booth said, looking over at her.

"Look," she said, indicating the moving chain in front of them.

"Wait," Booth said, looking over at one of the nearby FBI forensic agents as the reason for his partner's disquiet came to him. "Body on the anchor?"

"Yeah, tied to the chain," the forensic tech said. "Body's not tied with rope. The diver said they used-"

"Red tape," Bones said, looking at the body as it was raised from the marina, wrapped in red tape and badly decomposed, reduced to little more than skin tightly wrapped around the bone.

"How did you know?" the forensic tech asked.

"Because that's how I wrote it," Bones said, staring in silent horror at the body before them.

The nice thing about dealing with this situation was that at least Booth could be reasonably sure that he was only dealing with a human threat rather than a demonic one; there might be various demons and spells capable of making his partner experience these kind of fears, but at least on this occasion he was probably just dealing with an obsessive fan rather than a demon.

It might be dangerous, but it was still a human level of danger…

"This is a sketch based on tissue markers on the skull," Angela said, focusing her attention on the reconstruction currently displayed on her computer as various pieces of flesh were laid out over the skull.

"TCB's and lead we found in the collegian means the victims from the North end of the Chesapeake," Hodgins said, his voice low as he looked at Angela. "Probably outside Anapolis."

"Did you have to whisper that in my ear?" Angela asked, even if the smile on her face suggested that she didn't mind it.

"Just seemed right," Hodgins said, a grin on his own face as he spoke.

"OK," Booth said, leaning over to whisper in Angela's ear himself to try and get the artist back on track, "check the image against the DMV photos from Maryland."

As Angela began to search through the photos, he placed an arm around his partner's shoulder and took her off to the side, giving them a better sense of privacy for what he was about to ask.

"Bones…" he said, looking anxiously at her. "How ya holding up?"

"What do you mean?" Bones asked. "Fine."

"Ya know," Booth said, "something like this, it's understandable if you're upset."

"It's probably a coincidence," Bones.

"Hey," another voice said, Booth turning around to see Sully walking into the office. "How's it going?"

"What?" Bones said, her initial smile at Sully's presence quickly replaced with confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, yeah," Booth said; he didn't recall telling Sully about the case.

"Well," Sully said, "I heard we had a copy cat killer using your book as-"

"That hasn't been established," Bones corrected.

"Yeah, I got it covered here, Sully," Booth said; he could tolerate the guy's relationship with Bones- and why was it only tolerate?-, but if the guy started poking his head in to get involved with Booth's working relationship as well, he was really going to start getting annoyed…

"Well, two hands are better than one, Booth," Sully said as the other agent turned to look at him.

"Well, last time I looked, I have two hands, see?" Booth said, holding up his hands; he'd already had to deal with Spike trying to be him, the last thing he needed was Sully trying the same thing (And how did he end up with that analogy?). "Thanks."

"Testosterone spill on aisle 4," Angela said, even as her fingers continued working at the keyboard.

"We don't' know that my book is the cause," Bones pointed out. "So far what we do know is-"

"Someone died exactly the way described in your book," Sully interjected (Booth hated to admit it, but he partly resented the way Sully was automatically acting as though it was obvious this tied in to Bones's book; someone could have just read the book and used it as a convenient way to dispose of a body). "Do you keep any of your old fan mail?"

"No," Bones said. "I don't read it. The publicist deals with all that."

"Yeah, I mean, why are you asking, Sully?" Booth said. "I'm in charge of this investigation."

"Well, Booth, I was a profiler for two years; I have a lot of experience with these cases," Sully said (And I don't? Booth thought to himself in frustration, made all the worse because he couldn't voice that thought without sounding petty). "This could be someone showing what a big fan he is or someone trying to get close to her. Too close."

"I don't need to be protected…" Bones began.

"Yes, you do," Booth said, trying not to be too annoyed that Sully had said the same thing; at least they were in agreement on one point, even if he disliked the other agent's approach.

"Look," Sully said as he turned to look at Booth, "you still call the shots; I just think I'd be an asset to the team."

"OK, fine," Booth said, stuck for anything that he could say as a rejection that wouldn't come across as some degree of pathetic resentment at the other guy intruding on his 'territory'. "We send all the fan mail to Sully- in his office."

"Fine," Bones agreed. "I'll call Ellen."

"We could be dealing with a real sicko here," Sully said reflectively.

"Jim Lopata," Angela said, looking back at them. "Not the sicko, the sicko's victim."

Booth was just grateful when Angela announced the identity of the victim; at least that gave them something else to work on rather than forcing him to over-analyse what he was talking about with Sully when even he wasn't sure where he was going with this…

"She was supposed to be visiting a friend," Ashton Keller said as he sat in the FBI conference room, Booth looking contemplatively at the husband of their second victim as he looked at her photograph in the case file.

"And when she didn't return your phone call?" Booth asked, standing behind the other man; right now, this guy struck him as the kind of suspect more likely to confess if he felt less pressured to do so, which meant not making himself a physical presence.

"I just assumed…" Ashton said, pausing for a moment as though lost for words before he continued. "She was very independent. Still kinda wild. I mean, she was used to getting whatever she wanted."

"Like what?" Booth asked, looking curiously at him.

"Let's just say she wasn't the wifely type," Ashton said, still looking ahead of himself without turning to look at Booth. "And since she had all the money, she… she thought she could, uh, you know…"

"Do you know any of the men she might have been seeing?" Booth asked, trying to simultaneously spare Ashton saying what she had done in the past and asking him to get to the point.

"I didn't want to know," Ashton said. "I just wanted it to blow over. I loved her, and I know it sounds pathetic… but I just loved her."

"Forgive me, Mr. Keller," Booth said, wanting to get him on to another topic as he walked around the table to stand opposite where the other man was sitting, "but uh, you stand to inherit quite a lot of money, from your wife, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," Ashton said. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you suspect me, but I was out of town the night that Sadie disappeared, at a golf tournament."

"I'm gonna need the details," Booth said, as he pulled out a chair.

"Of course," Ashton said.

"Yeah," Booth said, as he sat down opposite the other man.

"Sadie meant everything to me, Agent Booth," Ashton said. "And I know she loved me. Whatever happened, she did. I know that."

It might have seemed slightly pathetic, but Booth could understand that well enough; his relationship with Buffy and Cordelia might have been slightly healthier in that he knew they wouldn't cheat on him, but he would have still done anything to be with them if it was possible for him to be with them…

"Wow," Oliver said as Bones sat down opposite him in the interrogation room, Booth and Sully silently watching from the observation room out of a lack of anything else to do. "It's like you dressed up just to see me again."

"I can assure you, Oliver, that- that's not the case," Bones said, looking back at him with a slightly apprehensive expression (Not that Booth could blame her; his own deranged 'fan' might have only really been dangerous to the people who relied on him to handle stuff that was out of his league, but this guy could have actually killed someone).

"But that's not what it feels like to me," Oliver said, smiling slightly at his partner in a manner that left Booth uncomfortably reminded of a non-homicidal Drusilla; that kind of pathetic devotion could be dangerous.

"Did you kill those people, Oliver?" Bones asked.

"I-I can't answer that yet; I wanna talk a while first," Oliver said, leaning forward over the table to continue talking to her. "The dead bodies, is it true? Did they really get eaten, like in the book?"

"Yes," Bones replied. "They did."

"I knew it!" Oliver said, grinning in a manner that nobody should grin when discussing a real death; Booth was reminded of the vampire 'fans' with no real idea what they were really like. "Some of the Brennanites were sceptical that the deaths were realistic, but I told them-"

"Did he say 'Brennanites'?" Booth asked, Bones making the same comment on the other side of the mirror.

"Murder mystery chat room members," Oliver said (Booth wondered what people who had talked about Angel on chatrooms had called themselves, but he wasn't going to bother looking). "See, all chat room members have to identify themselves with their favourite author. I'm a Brennanite- of course-, but there are also, uh, Patterstonians and Graftonadas."

"OK, Oliver, I understand," Bones said, evidently wanting to get the conversation back on track. "What did you tell them?"

"That you couldn't make those things up," Oliver said. "That everything you write is based in fact. It could really happen."

"Oliver, I want to talk about the murders," Bones said.

"You look… so beautiful," Oliver said, his tone becoming a lower, eager tone that would have been unnerving even if it wasn't coming from a murder suspect. "Maybe I could get a picture of us together…"

"The murders, Oliver," Bones interjected.

"I know you just dismiss me as another fan, but once you get to know me, you realize I'm an interesting man," Oliver said, reaching out to touch her cheek before the anthropologist pulled away.

"No touching, Oliver," she said, looking at his hand with obvious discomfort.

"OK, end of interview," Booth said.

"Seems like a good call," Sully said, joining Booth as they walked out of the observation area and into the main interrogation room, each of them clear on their current target.

"Let's go," Booth said, walking over to Oliver while Sully moved to stand beside Bones.

"No," Oliver said firmly, as though he was the only person who understood the current situation (Fanatics were always like that, Booth reflected; once you got that kind of fixated world-view, it took a lot to get rid of it). "We want to be alone."

"No, you blew your chance for that," Booth said, grabbing the warped fan's arm and hauling him out of the chair. "OK, you can sit in the cell 'til you're ready to talk."

"Wait, don't leave yet," Oliver said, reaching out towards Bones. "Not yet-"

His attempt to reach for the anthropologist were brought to a halt when she punched him sharply in the nose, sending him reeling back and falling to his knees, only stopping himself from hitting the ground as his elbows caught the table.

"OK," Booth said, wincing in automatic sympathy as Oliver clutched at his nose and moaned in pain.

"See?" Bones said, looking between the two agents. "I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, you better watch it, dude," Booth said to Sully under his breath.

"Oh my God," Oliver said, staring at his bloodstained hands as his nose continued to leak. "There's so much…"

As the fan collapsed at the sight of the blood, Booth wasn't sure if he should laugh or sigh; judging by his reaction to the blood produced by a broken nose, the guy was clearly too pathetic to have killed someone, but that took their best pre-existing suspect off the board with no ideas about where they might find a replacement.

"Tell ya something, all right?" Booth said as he sat with Bones in her office, reflecting on their latest case (In a warped way, he had to admire the originality of the method; three people with obvious motives to kill taking one of the other's intended victims so that the obvious suspects had an apparently perfect alibi). "Sales of your book are gonna sky rocket after this."

"The only problem is our ending is a lot better than the one I wrote in the book," Bones said.

"What, are you kidding me?" Booth said, glad for the opening for a more relaxed topic. "Kathy Reichs and the FBI guy in the back of the AMG?"

"The arrest," Bones corrected, after sharing a laugh with him at that memory.

"Oh yeah, there's that," Booth said, grinning at the memory of the relevant part in the book; the novel arrest had been a lot less dramatic…

"Sully," Bones said suddenly.

"Yeah, you know you really should apologize," Booth said. "I mean, you were really ragging on the guy. He seemed a little frail."

"Eh, I'm a lot stronger than I look," someone said from behind him, prompting Booth to glance around and realise that the other agent was standing in the door of Bones's office.

"Oh, you were-" Booth began, before he decided to just move on from that and stand up to greet his colleague. "Hey, Sul."

"Hey," Sully said, shrugging slightly as he looked at them. "So, congratulations. You guys make a great team."

"It's true," Booth said, looking contemplatively back at Bones as she returned his look. "So true."

"Thanks for your help," Bones added as she looked at Sully, leaving Booth suddenly feeling like he was the intruder despite having been here first.

"You know, I should run," he said, looking awkwardly at his partner, even as her attention remained focused on Sully. "Bones, ya know, I-I got stuff… see ya at work, Sul?"

"Yeah, I'll see you, man," Sully replied, leaving Booth to get up and walk out of the office, looking back to see Sully walking up to his partner with a vulnerable, uncertain expression on her face that a part of Booth had always thought only he would ever get to see…

"I have someone in my life now. That I love. It's not what you and I had… It's very new. You know what makes it new? I trust him. I know him."

This might not be the same situation- for one thing, he was still in his partner's life, he just wasn't as important to it now-, but the end result was the same; he just didn't feel needed any more.

He barely even registered Hodgins talking to him about something as he looked at his partner and his friend kissing in her office; all he could think about was how, once again, the woman he… cared about… had chosen someone else over him…

Goddamnit, he'd achieved his Shanshu, was it asking too much for him to get the girl as well?

And when did he start thinking of Bones as 'the girl'?

AN: To anyone wondering, Booth's thoughts on his own 'fan' refers to a storyline in the novel 'Impressions', where Angel encountered a former photography student who witnessed him in action and subsequently started posing as Angel, dressing in a similar manner and taking in clients, only to prove woefully inadequate at dealing with larger-scale threats (As an example, he used a rifle to kill a demon living in a client's garden without really researching how to kill it so it wouldn't come back later) and doing it all just for the power trip rather than recognising what it really meant to be Angel.