Brennan smirked slightly as she walked into the saloon and saw Booth look her up and down with wide eyes. Besides a tip of her hat, she ignored him and instead headed to the opposite wall to observe the appropriately themed paintings.
"Allow me to introduce myself, ma'am. Marshal Glen Gold Dust," a man, slightly shorter than she, approached from her right.
"Hello, I'm Wild Card Wanda. Quickest draw in all of Bony Ridge," she introduced herself, shaking Glen's hand. She heard Booth laugh behind her, and she turned to look at him. While it would be beneficial to the case to be able to work together publicly, something about acting as strangers felt good.
"Something funny over there, stranger?" Glen asked. Brennan swallowed as Booth looked up and met her eyes before standing up from where he was leaning against the bar. She had to admit that the whole...cowboy getup definitely worked for her husband. She especially liked the hat - perhaps she could convince him to wear it even after they solved the case.
"Nope," Booth answered Glen, stepping forward, not taking his eyes off Brennan.
"And you are?" Brennan asked, making sure to inflect her tone to sound curious.
"Big River Buck. Notorious highwayman," Brennan was thankful that Glen couldn't see her face at the moment or their cover might be blown - Booth's accent made her wish she could pull him out back behind the saloon right then and there so he could keep using it while he was inside her.
"Highwayman, huh? Guess that makes you and me natural enemies," Glen said and Brennan forced herself to look away from Booth. "But seriously, it's-it's both your first times here, right? I mean, I've been coming here for years, so if y'all need anything, just ask me. Especially you, Wanda."
"I could use a root beer," Brennan said, swaying her hips just so and smiling at Glen.
"Well that is coming right up," Glen tipped his hat and took off toward the bar.
"Much obliged," Brennan returned the gesture just as Booth leaned in to whisper in her ear, voice back to normal.
"What are you doing here?"
"Being unexpected and exciting!" Brennan replied, looking at him again. "And solving a murder, of course."
"That's great and all, but you do realize that you just introduced us as strangers. What are we gonna do now?" Booth's teeth were clenched - much like they did when he was on the verge of an orgasm, and that really was not a train of thought Brennan had the time to go down right then.
"We'll figure it out," Brennan shrugged. "There's not much that's routine about this situation, is there?" Booth raised his eyebrows.
"Wild Card Wanda?" Brennan hummed as Glen rejoined them and called over a few other participants. Fortunately, it was a revealing conversation and gave them a potential suspect - Kentucky Loco Beau.
Brennan didn't see Booth again until later in the afternoon, during the first event - the Great Bank Robbery. She watched from the sidelines as he competed, though she became extremely confused and frowned as he took his shots. With his expertise, he should have had no problem hitting all five targets with ease but he only managed two. The only reasonable conclusion is that Booth was unfamiliar with the historically accurate weapons.
Luke reported Booth's score but she could tell he wasn't paying much attention as he walked past all the spectators and began speaking on the phone. She kept her eye on him as the next few contestants took their turn and assumed he was speaking with Aubrey as he was staring at Beau. She saw Glen reprimand him for using his phone just as Luke announced her. She took one last look at Booth before stepping up to her mark.
"You're surrounded by rangers, you yellow-bellied coward!" she shouted and easily took down the five targets in less than the same amount of time. She holstered her pistol and grinned slyly at all the applause, turning on her heel to see Booth gaping at her. She tipped her hat as she walked back to join the crowd.
After Brennan finished her turn in the Great Bank Robbery, she wandered around the grounds, observing different people and memorizing the layout of the town. She even spoke with a few participants and ended up back in the saloon for a drink. Just as she was handed the bottle by the bartender, Franny approached her.
"That was nice shooting out there, Wanda. Even made the board," Brennan turned to look at the rank board to see her own pseudonym at number fourteen.
"Oh, thank you," she said and turned back to face Franny. "I noticed your limp, are you hurt?"
"Oh that. No, I fell off my horse about a month ago. Guess it just didn't heal right," Franny explained easily.
"You should consider an anterior hip replacement," Brennan said, forgetting that she was supposed to just be Wild Card Wanda and not the world's foremost forensic anthropologist.
"I knew it," Franny said with a smug grin. "You're a doctor or something, right?"
"Me?" Brennan said, remembering where she was and more importantly who she was. "No, I-I'm, I'm-" Franny held her hands up to stop Brennan in her tracks.
"Oh, you- I get it. Here, you are Wild Card Wanda, that's it," Franny grabbed her own Root Beer, clinking it with Brennan's bottle, and left before she could say another word. Just as Franny walked away, Booth came and took the seat next to her, swiping the jar of pretzels off the counter.
"Aubrey says they got a lead on an abandoned car at a bus station right around here. Could be our victim," he spoke quietly, making sure that she would be the only one to hear him over the music and chatter of the saloon.
"Hodgins is working on particulate evidence from the dumpsite," Brennan made sure to match his tone but when she caught sight of the rank board, and how her husband wasn't even on it, her curiosity flared. "You're not doing very well, Booth. You didn't even make the board."
"I'm not even trying," he scoffed. Brennan wasn't convinced.
"Right," she raised her eyebrows to make sure he knew she didn't believe him.
"Miss Wanda," Marshal Glen Gold Dust approached them, capturing both their attention. " Would you care to accompany me to the barbeque?" Brennan bit back a smirk as she stood.
"Why yes, that sounds lovely," she said and linked her arm through Glen's, much like she frequently did with Booth. She glanced over her shoulder at him as she and Glen left the saloon, feeling victorious - though she wasn't sure why - at the tempered jealousy that Booth was hiding.
"Hey, I got your text," Brennan said as she made her way through a few sparse bushes and trees to where Booth was waiting. "You found something?"
"Extra flats, painted plywood," Booth gestured to all the pieces of wood surrounding them.
"Surrounded by bearberry plants," Brennan realized. "One of the victim's wounds was a through and through, meaning if he was shot against these flats, the bullet would still be here." She reached behind her into one of her small waist bags and pulled out her blacklight flashlight to inspect the wood.
"Yeah, but they're riddled with bullet holes, so use that uh, there magic light of yours to see if we can find anything," Booth followed closely behind her as she began focusing on each bullet hole.
"Hopefully we'll be able to find one with human tissue on it," Brennan examined a few of the boards before she found the correct one, blood splatter lighting up. "Found the murder site!"
"Got it?" Booth said, exclaiming happily with her once she confirmed. Rather than continue discussing the crime, Booth quickly changed the subject now that their objective was completed. "Hey, uh... hey, I saw you at the barbeque earlier with Glen. I mean...I'm sorry, but what are you trying to do, you trying to make me jealous or something?"
"No, I'm just- I'm behaving in a non-routine manner," Brennan said with a grin as she tucked her flashlight away. "I'm Wild Card Wanda, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," Booth said, returning her grin. Brennan glanced around quickly and then reached forward, grabbing the lapels of Booth's jacket and tugging him close, planting a sloppy kiss on his lips. Booth happily leaned into her touch, returning her affection with no argument.
"What was that?" he asked once they finally had no choice but to pull away.
"Wild card, remember?" Brennan huffed a laugh. "Now, we don't have anywhere to be for another hour, and I don't think I can last watching you in these clothes any longer."
"The clothes are doing it for you?" Booth asked incredulously. "Seriously? The clothes?"
"And the voice. And the attitude. It's everything, really. And Wild Card Wanda has no qualms about taking what she wants when and where she wants it. And she wants you. Here and now," Brennan licked her lips as she watched Booth, his eyes dilating with arousal and his breathing speeding up.
"This is a murder scene," Booth hissed. "We cannot do anything here."
"So take me somewhere else, but you've only got thirty seconds," Brennan threatened, smirking when Booth gulped.
"And what happens when those thirty seconds are up?"
"I lift up my dress and take care of myself - wherever I happen to be at that exact moment." WIth that, Brennan turned and began walking further into the stacks of wood and away from the town. She smirked as she heard Booth stumble after her, wrapping his arms around her waist to push her along faster until they reached an even more secluded spot against a shed.
"You think that anything you do to yourself could ever compare to how I can make you feel?" Booth muttered against her ear, reaching down to gather her voluminous skirts up around her hips.
"No," Brennan admitted, eyes fluttering shut as Booth worked his lips down her neck and toward her clavicle. She gasped a little when Booth's mouth disappeared from her skin. She opened her eyes to look at him, only to find him on his knees in front of her. "What-"
"You're going to have to hold your dress up," he instructed, tugging her hands down to hold up all the layers of her skirt. She grabbed it in her shaking hands, clenching the fabric hard enough her knuckles turned white.
"Booth!" she yelped when she felt him grab her tights and rip them to reveal her underwear - a not at all historically accurate lace and silk pair that she wore when she wanted to feel more confident.
"Look at that, Wanda, you're already soaking for me," Booth said, smirking a little. "Right through your panties." Brennan whimpered as Booth leaned forward and licked over her, and even though he was only touching her through the fabric, she still felt like she was on fire.
"Please, Booth," Brennan begged, knees trembling as Booth hooked two fingers in the crotch of her underwear and pulled it aside. He surged forward and laved his tongue over her clit, his hat finally falling off his head and into the dirt by his knee. Brennan's legs shook as Booth licked over the length of her, his swiping everywhere she was more sensitive. Even though they were somewhat roleplaying as strangers, Booth knew every nook and cranny of her body, and how to make her orgasm in the shortest amount of time.
Brennan let her head fall back as Booth sucked her clit between his lips for a long moment, bringing two fingers up to tease her entrance, rubbing over her slick folds. She spread her legs just a little further apart, hands squeezing her dress between her fingers and palms. She wasn't sure if it was because of his past as a sniper, or if he was simply that good, but Booth had no problem fucking his fingers inside her and finding her gräfenberg spot with the first thrust.
"Booth!" Brennan gasped as her husband began using the heel of his hand to grind into her clit as he stood, pressing the length of his body to hers.
"Want my cock inside you, Wanda?" Booth asked, letting that southern drawl pervade every word he spoke. Brennan shivered and nodded quickly. Her plan to control this entire encounter had dissolved as soon as Booth dropped to his knees to eat her out - not that she had any complaints. She was Wild Card Wanda, after all, open to any- and everything.
"Yes, Booth, fuck me!" Booth groaned, his fingers sliding out of her easily as he grabbed her behind her thighs to lift her and press her against the side of the shed. The angle allowed her to easily wrap her legs over Booth's hips, securing her position more safely. She looked down at Booth, whimpering at the pure arousal that had taken over his features: his dilated pupils, the sweat around his hairline and temples, his flushed skin, and swollen lips still shiny with her slick. "Fuck me," she whispered, and that shattered the last bit of control Booth seemed to be holding on to.
Booth held her up with one arm - which only made Brennan's heart beat faster, knowing he was still capable of that level of strength - and reached between them to tug himself out of his pants and line his cock up with her entrance, pushing up as he let her fall down onto him, meeting in the middle in a chorus of moans. "So fucking wet for me," Booth muttered as they settled into their new positions. "Just slid right in. You like doing this in public, huh? Knowing someone could walk around the corner and see us, know exactly what we're doing."
"Yes," Brennan panted, grabbing onto Booth's shoulders, over the heavy suede jacket he wore. "Please, Booth!" with that, Booth thrust into her, jolting her back against the shed. She gasped and moaned as he began to truly fuck her, slamming into her and biting at her neck to keep himself quiet. Unfortunately, she did not have anything to muffle her own sounds, so she had to do her best by simply biting her lip - something she was not very successful at. Booth knew exactly what angle to fuck her at to make sure his cock constantly stimulated her most sensitive points.
Brennan whined as Booth dropped a hand between them to rub at her clit - once again proving he could support her with just one arm. "Gonna come for me?" Booth grunted in her ear. "Around my cock?"
"Yes, I'm close! Booth," Brennan begged, digging her nails into the fabric of his jacket. She felt her lower stomach tighten, a sure sign that her orgasm was close.
"Gonna come in you, Wanda, spill inside you and hope we don't make a baby," Booth bit at the shell of her ear, and that combined with his words - the idea of this being a clandestine tryst between strangers without any kind of protection - made her peak with a loud moan, only silenced by Booth's mouth on hers.
Booth followed only moments later, fulfilling his promise to stay inside her and fill her as he came. Though it wasn't something they did often - they did not want to have another child currently - it was something she loved and cherished when she was presented the opportunity.
They were both quiet for a long moment, not moving from their place against the shed until Brennan patted Booth's shoulder - her leg was starting to cramp. He carefully let her down, tucking himself back into pants and zipping up before helping her fix her dress. "You know," he whispered while she made sure her shirt was tucked in properly. "You have to spend the rest of the day with my come inside you, spilling in your panties, sliding down your thighs…" he trailed off, smirking a bit as Brennan's breath hitched at the idea.
"Well then," she licked her lips and turned to look at him. "You'll just have to clean me up tonight."
After splitting up with Booth - not wanting to get suspicious - Brennan found herself on a video call with Daisy, discussing the victim's bones. "Is this the victim's left mandible?"
"Upon reexamination, I found perimortem interosseous bruising and subchondral lesions," Daisy explained.
"Which were obscured by his antemortem remodeling," Brennan said, proud that Daisy had caught the injury. "He was punched. Astute observation, Ms. Wick."
"Thank you."
"Ask Dr. Hodgins to review his initial particulate samples," Brennan requested, thinking over who could have punched their victim.
"Consider it done," Daisy said, and Brennan could tell that was happy with herself, and with the praise from her mentor.
"Thank you," Brennan ended the call, turning quickly as Booth whistled to get her attention.
"Okay, look, I was right, okay? Aubrey says that Franny's the one that's been giving Beau all the money," Booth updated her, settling his hands on the belt of his holster.
"And Daisy said the victim was punched before he was shot," Brennan sighed as she wrapped the cord of her headphones up. "Booth...I feel so foolish."
"Why do you feel so foolish?" Booth asked, brows furrowed.
"All of this, all of it! It's so irrational. I mean, how could I think that flirting with another, and besting you at a game of skill, and having intercourse in public would have a positive effect on our relationship?" Brennan asked, tucking her phone into one of her many pockets to avoid looking Booth in the eye.
"Wait a second," Booth laughed, lips curling into a smile. "First of all, if you think I'm worried about you running off with some doughy guy who's dressed in some U.S Marshal's outfit that's way too tight, you're wrong. Secondly, that sex? Was phenomenal. And I could be persuaded to adding semi-public sex into our routine. Thirdly, besting me? I'm a trained sniper. I could win this competition blindfolded. The only reason I'm not doing it is 'cause I don't want to raise any eyebrows."
Brennan raised her own eyebrows at that. "Would you really consider having semi-public intercourse again? You'll barely say the word sex to me in public."
"Well, I got a hands on demonstration of how good it could be," Booth smirked and stepped forward, leaning in to kiss her. Brennan let him, holding onto her hat as she returned the kiss, giggling a little.
"As for the competition, I'm not so sure about that Booth," she said once they pulled away from each other. Booth scoffed and leaned up against the side of the building with one hand. "You're used to cutting-edge weapons. Cowboy shooting requires a different sort of finesse."
"You really think you can beat me in this competition?"
"Oh, I am beating you Booth," Brennan bragged with a smirk. Before Booth could really reply, Brennan saw something that caught her eye, and grabbed Booth's arm to turn him. "Look," she pointed to the two people - Franny and Beau - walking together.
"Yeah, that'll be good," they could hear Franny say as they walked past, glancing around quickly.
"You should follow them," Brennan said decisively.
"Aren't you gonna come with me?" Booth asked, sounding a little disappointed.
"No, no! We're together too much. It's, uh, getting suspicious," Brennan explained. "Not to mention we both disappeared for an hour earlier and came back looking-"
"Like we just fucked?" Booth finished with a cocky grin. "But fine, I see it, I get it. You wanna stay here and work on your lasso for the cattle rustling event. All right, I get it, I get it. Well, guess what, Wild Card Wanda? You're going down." With that, Booth turned and hurried after Franny and Beau, leaving Brennan to take a deep breath. Seeing Booth so competitive, especially when he was in competition with her, was secretly a kink of hers. Not that she would ever let Booth in on that. He already had a big enough ego.
Just as she was getting ready for the lasso event, Booth approached her from behind. "Bones," he whispered aggressively. "Wanda. All right, Franny wasn't following us."
"How do you know?" Brennan asked, squinting as she turned to look at him. "Have you been smoking?"
"Investigating. Oh, look, I didn't inhale, okay? Look, my gut is telling me that Franny and Beau are clean," Booth explained quietly.
"Based on evidence, or some nicotine-fueled flash of insight?" Brennan questioned, not able to keep the disapproval from her tone.
"They're friends. They hang out together, they're smoking buddies," Booth shrugged a little.
"What about the rival business?"
"It wasn't a rival, okay? She was looking to expand, but I did find out something else," Booth nudged her arm.
"What?"
"Well, they said that Stan was smoking like a chimney last month. You know, like he had something on his mind," Booth said, and behind them a siren started wailing.
"Did he say what it was?" Brennan asked, getting frustrated as the case seemed to get more confusing the more they found out.
"Well, they said that it was work-related," before Brennan had a chance to reply, Luke called that it was Big-River Buck's turn at the lasso. "Watch and learn, Wanda." Brennan rolled her eyes as Booth stepped forward to stand in front of the set-up. Luke made sure he was ready and then asked for his cue. "You think you can take my family's cattle, Shorty? Go ahead and try." At the buzzer, Booth yanked his gun from the holster and had all five targets shot within seconds. Brennan felt her mouth go dry at the sight, and it only intensified when he picked up the shotgun. Her breath wavered as she watched him take perfect shot after perfect shot, and it all came to a head when she watched him swing the rope over his head and she thought about all the different ways he could use that on her - or she could use it on him.
Brennan clapped along with everything else, and in addition to her arousal she also felt pride - that was her husband, after all. "Twelve out of twelve, twenty-point-nine seconds," the announcer called over the speakers.
"Well, I'll be, Buck, you finally kicked it into gear!" Luke congratulated him and Booth smiled.
"Yup," he turned to face her. "You see that, Wanda?" Brennan eyed him as he walked back into the crowd, doing her best to steady her breathing.
Brennan walked through the crowd toward the final event - High Noon. She made her through the bodies until she was at the front of the spectators, Booth walking in across the clearing and catching her eye.
"Seen the scoreboard?" Glen asked, approaching her with a friendly smile. "You're tied all the way up in tenth place."
"Tied with whom?" Brennan asked, though she feared she already knew the answer.
"That Buck fella, believe it or not. He came out of nowhere with his last couple of rounds," Brennan nodded, glancing back over at Booth as leaned against a nearby post and sent her one of his signature cocky smirks, accompanied with a tilt of his head.
"Alright, Wild Card Wanda, come on up here, girl, you're next," Luke pulled her attention from her husband and she stepped up toward the starting point. Franny gave her the order, and Brennan shouted off her queue, the buzzer sounding off as she took her first shot. She moved through the targets quickly, ending with a very nice time of less than twenty seconds. She turned to face the masses, easily catching Booth's gaze. Franny said something to him before he took his place at the starting position.
Brennan walked off the course, holding Booth's stare until she was out of his eyeline. He gave his queue, and once the buzzer sounded, he was pulling the trigger with flea-like speed. He held the guns so casually, but every shot he made was deadly accurate. Once he finished - more than two seconds faster than her own time - she heard Luke exclaim that Booth was the best they had seen at the Frontier Games. That was no surprise to Brennan, she knew exactly how well-trained her husband was.
"That's impossible," Glen said, still standing next to her. "He's cheating."
"He's not," Brennan said confidently, glancing over at Glen quickly before turning her attention back to Booth, who was still staring directly at her. She recognized the look on his face, she had seen it earlier that day before he picked her up and fucked her against the shed, and a thousand times before that - always directly preceding an extremely satisfying bout of intercourse.
Brennan walked into the saloon - changed into a more casual dress and without her holster - for the end-of-games celebration. Glen immediately approached her after setting his bottle of root beer down on a table. "Congratulations Wanda. Third place." She glanced up at the board to see Booth in first and Glen in second.
"Thank you," she said sincerely. She felt a little bad for leading Glen on just to make Booth jealous, but he was a genuinely nice man.
"Yeah, hey, I got you a little something to remember this weekend by," Glen reached down and picked up something that was wrapped in cloth. "Some of the Old West. I saw how you were admiring these when you first arrived. Painted by High Card Luke himself." Brennan untied the string that held the cloth in place and let it fall aside to reveal a painting of a cowboy riding a bucking horse.
"Oh, that is so thoughtful of you. Thank you." She really did admire these paintings and was glad to have a reminder of the time she spent with Booth this weekend and how...spontaneous they had been.
"You know, I was thinking, um, maybe I could call you sometime. Before you answer, I'm gonna get us some drinks. I'll be right back," Brennan sighed as he hurried away with a smile. She had never meant for him to get attached. She looked over the painting for a moment before Franny and Luke took the small stage.
"Hey, everyone, Franny and I wanna thank y'all for joining us this weekend," Luke smiled at everyone.
"And now, I'd like y'all to pick a partner for this very special song. It's my husband's favorite. And just because I can't dance so good these days doesn't mean you shouldn't. All right?" Franny leaned into her husband's side as she spoke, but as the band began playing My Darling, Clementine, they exited to give them the space. Brennan sat the painting down just as someone came up behind her and gently touched her waist. She jumped slightly, but when she turned, it was Booth, offering his hand to dance. They bowed to each other politely, and Brennan happily let Booth sweep her up in his arms, moving them around the room to the beat.
"All these paintings, Luke did them," Brennan realized as she looked around, seeing just how many there were, all in the same style.
"Well that's great," Booth said, obviously not understanding the significance.
"Well, whoever punched the victim had turpentine on his hands," Brennan explained. "Turpentine can be used as a glazing medium for oil paint."
"Wait a second, this song…" Booth trailed off.
"It's...My Darling, Clementine," Brennan said, recalling Franny's words from before.
"That's it, Clementine Construction is Luke, you understand?" They didn't stop dancing as they spoke, Booth swinging her away from him and back against his chest easily as he spoke. "He was embezzling money from his wife."
"Stanley must have figured it out, threatened to expose him, Luke killed him. Let's go," Brennan made the move to step around Booth to go arrest Luke, but he grabbed her hand before she could make it very far.
"We make a great team, don't we? Still think you could take me at target shooting?" Booth asked, his charming grin that she loved so much lighting up his face.
"Well. with practice," Brennan took a deep breath. "Booth, do you still think our life together is routine?"
"Come on, why would you think that? I would never think that," Booth asked indignantly.
"Why else would you want a motorcycle?"
"Why do birds fly, Bones? Because it's cool," Booth said, already moving closer to her.
"That's not why birds fly," Brennan corrected as Booth stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her soundly. She was just getting into it as Booth was yanked away from and turned, only to be punched square in the jaw by Glen.
"There is a code among cowboys, Buck! Now I told you from the start, dang it, I-I had my eyes set on Wanda," Glen was upset, but Brennan hung onto his words.
"Calm down, it's not what you think," Booth said, trying to placate him.
"I don't need to think, I have eyes!" Glen stepped closer to Booth, obviously trying to intimidate him.
"And I have free will, which means you can't actually fight over me," Brennan stepped in, not liking that Glen thought he could call "dibs" on her, as Booth would say.
"That's right, So just take a step back there, Marshal," Booth used both hands to physically move Glen back, which only provoked the man.
"Oh you just made a mistake," Glen brought his fist back to punch Booth once more, but he was much too fast and ducked the hit, swinging Glen around and dragging him over the bar like they were an actual Old West movie. This only got everyone sitting at the bar involved, one large man dragged Booth over the bar to join the fight. Brennan set her jaw and grabbed one of the bottles that had not been broken by the fiasco and stepped over as the man threw a punch at Booth, only to miss. She smashed the glass across his back, stunning him and knocking him to the ground.
"Hey, thanks, Bones," Booth said, just as the saloon doors swung open and Aubrey came rushing in, dressed in a poncho. "Aubry, what are you doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm your posse!" Brennan moved out of the way as the fight continued, knowing both Booth and Aubrey could easily hold their own even if it was the two of them against the rest of the patrons. Everyone froze when a gunshot went off in the middle of the saloon, Luke lowering his gun.
"That's it!" he shouted, holstering his weapon. "We got a zero-tolerance policy here on fighting. I'm sorry but Glen, Buck, you're both disqualified."
"I don't think so. There's a new sheriff in town and his name is Special Agent Seeley Booth," Booth pulled out his badge and held it up for Luke to see, "And you're under arrest for the murder of Stanley Belridge." Brennan hated to admit it but the display of dominance from her husband was quite the turn on.
"And I'm not Wanda, I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan," she spoke loudly, to be heard over the murmuring from the crowd. "I'm also the mother of his children. Sorry." That was specifically for Glen. She then turned to Franny. "Does this mean that I won?" Looking at the scoreboard, in first and second place were Booth and Glen - both now disqualified and leaving her in first place.
After wrapping the case - with the unforeseen conclusion that Sadie was actually the murderer, Brennan and Booth headed to his office. "How does it feel knowing that I won?" she asked, walking around the desk to fall into Booth's chair.
"You won on a technicality," Booth argued, shutting the door behind him. Though it didn't block anyone looking in, they at least wouldn't be able to hear. "Just because I was disqualified doesn't mean I didn't get a better score."
"Yes but you were disqualified. Meaning I won," Brennan smirked up at him and leaned forward, letting her weight rest against the desk. "Not only did I win the competition, but I got to see you wearing that hat all weekend, and we had semi-public sex. I think I could even be considered a champion?" Booth laughed and fingered the brim of the hat he was wearing.
"You like the hat?" he asked, looking down at her. Brennan simply nodded, biting her lip. "Then maybe I'll just keep it. Tell the FBI it got lost in the bar fight."
"I think that sounds like an outstanding idea. And tonight, after the kids are asleep, you could put it on again for me? Without anything else?" Brennan suggested. Booth's eyes widened slightly as he stepped around the desk to stand in front of her, using one finger to tilt her head up until their eyes met.
"Only if you keep yours," Brennan's smile widened and she nodded minutely, standing from the chair so she and Booth were pressed completely against one another.
"Maybe we don't have to wait for the kids to go to sleep? Max will have them for at least another two hours…" Brennan trailed off. "Unless you want to stay and do the paperwork?" Booth reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling her from his office.
"Paperwork can wait until tomorrow," he said as he stabbed the elevator button repeatedly, willing it to arrive faster. "I can't."
"Then you better get me home," Brennan bit her lip as the elevator doors slid open and she stepped inside, smirking at him. Booth followed her in, tugging her into his arms, ignoring the looks they were getting from the agents watching them from the open office. He pressed their lips together just as the doors closed, blocking them from view as they descended to the parking garage.
"Bones," Booth muttered as the elevator jolted to a stop. "Have to get to the car to get home."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Brennan asked, shrieking out a laugh as Booth picked her up bridal style and carried her to the SUV. "Booth!"
"Don't worry, Bones, I got you," Booth said, tipping his hat just a little toward her. "Just trying to be a little spontaneous." Brennan laughed even louder at that, happily clinging to Booth as they started their journey home.