2

Booth handed Michael off to Brennan before picking up the offensive device vibrating in his pocket. He flipped the small piece of plastic open with a shake of his head and the bark of his last name into the receiver. His expression went blank as he continued to listen to the voice on the other end.

" This must be Perotta, he always looks annoyed when she interrupts us." Brennan said for Angela's benefit. The other woman just nodded her head, waiting.

Booth shook his head in an affirmative manner a little, said "yes" and " I understand" a few more times, then hung up. He turned he eyes to meet Brennan's, knowing that she already knew what he was about to say.

" Where is the body?" She asked, her eyes glancing at the door in the kitchen, the one that led to their three-car garage. He could see the look on her face; the one of longing that was always there when he was called away. He knew that she missed their partnership; she missed careful chemistry it used to give them. It was the reason that they had their life now, having laid the groundwork on which they built their marriage. You could take the woman out of the lab, but you could not take the lab out of the woman.

"Parker County, just about twenty minutes from here. I am going to head over there and meet Perotta at the scene." He said standing up, leaning over to drop a kiss in her lilac scented hair. "I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear before straightening him self-back up.

"There is no need, go solve a murder." She said, that longing was back making Booth smile. It was so awkward for him, not being able to tell her things about the case, they way he used to. On more than one occasion he would find himself slipping, saying far too much out of a habit that several years had not broken for him. After finishing his good byes he grabbed his coat and the car keys, then made his way out the door, to meet Perotta.

"My god Brennan, there are times when that man can be so… ooo." Angela said with a careful smile and a little shake of her shoulders.

"He is a great father, and does a wonderful job in his role as a provider and mate." She said setting her son down and letting him pick up a plastic fire truck.

"Part of that man still screams, 'take me to bed or lose me forever.' I am actually fighting jealousy right now. What I would not give to know what your sex life is like." Angela said, laughing.

" It is very fulfilling, far much more than adequate I would say. For having a lot of shyness in talking about sexual situations and intimate parts, I would say that Booth is very well skilled."

"Sweetie, you are managing to make it sound boring."

" Not at all, quite the opposite. In fact sometimes when Michael goes to bed early we –"

"Alright enough sharing," Angela said holding her hands up in an effort to silence the comment she was about to hear.

" You asked me, I was just answering you question." Brennan said with a confused and frustrated expression.

"Yes, but one of us does not have such a fulfilling sex life right now, and they would like to not wish harm on you out of pure jealousy." Angela said with a laugh. Some things, no matter what the location, never changed.

*****

Booth step out of his large SUV and into a giant pile of mud. He groaned loudly, looking at his newly ruined work boots and the faded jeans that covered them. These were the cases where he really missed Brennan. She never had issues with getting down and dirty, always ready to traipse through whatever mess someone had left a mangled body in. No wonder Perotta had told him not to dress nicely, he would have been far angrier if one of his twelve hundred dollar suits had been the victim.

" It took you long enough, Booth." Perotta looked at him with annoyance all over her pretty features. Her long blonde hair was pulled away from her heart shaped face in a messy ponytail, much like the ones Brennan used to wear at crime scene. Usually she would pull her hair up as they were walking from the car to investigate the body. It was one of her adorable habits that Booth missed.

"I can only go so fast, they do have such a thing as speed limits." He said, his own mood darkening. This was the last place he wanted to be and her attitude was not helping.

"Well, these people," she said, pointing to the team sifting through the mud from the Jeffersonian, " will not tell me anything. As usual they are waiting for you."

Her annoyance was clear now; she had been on the brunt end of the squints anger ever since Brennan left. It had been hard on them them, losing their team mate that abruptly, and they needed an outlet. They chose to blame Perotta, deciding that if she were not around, Brennan would be. Booth had needed to be the go between for them ever since. He was the only one they would work with, and they were not shy about sharing that little fact.

" I'll go talk to them." He said with a shake of the head. He was not in the mood to be the middleman today. Right now he was supposed to be in the park with his son. Instead he was drudging in the cold through a muddy field to act as the peacemaker between the two organizations.

" Hey Wendell," He called to the intern that had ended up taking Brennan's place. He had always liked him; they even played on the same recreational hockey team, and caught a beer after work on occasion. Of course that happened fewer and farther in between since he had moved out of the city.

"Hey Boss, How's it going." Finally someone was pleasant today. Booth was fairly sure that he was not going to get that welcoming from anyone else around here at the moment. It made his job a little easier.

"What have we got?"

" A man, late sixties I imagine. There are three parts of him, the first is over there by that pole, and the other two are here. I found the skull and it's in pretty good shape. I am confidant that Angela can get an accurate facial reconstruction from it." He said with a sigh.

"Good, why did you not share that with Perotta?" Booth struggled to hide the irritation from his voice.

"To be honest sir, we just do not like her. She is short with us and just to pushy. I do it mostly to irritate her." Wendell said, looking at Booth like a brother in arms.

"Yeah, well due to the chain of command, if you irritate her, she irritates me, and I'm not alright with that. So try to make an effort." He said with a nod.

" Sure, yeah, I will."

" Great. Alright let's get this mess back to the Jeffersonian." Booth said making a wrap it up motion with his hands as he crawled out of the muddy hole and back towards his partner.