Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally on the show…
Previously: The plane flights have been eventful, some events good and some not so good, but now Booth and the Squints have finally arrived in Honolulu and met Officer Richie Hawthorne who has taken them to their hotel.
A/N: The hotel described in this story is real. It's the Halekulani Hotel on Oahu. I've never been but apparently it's amazing. I have taken some liberties on the whole rooming situation but not a whole lot. R&R!
(---)
"Welcome to the Diamond Head Suite, Dr. Brennan," the young bell boy said as he opened the door to the room. This time even Brennan's mouth dropped. The suite was incredible and it was huge.
Brennan dropped her bag on the floor in the center of the room. The rest of the gang crowded in beside her. The bell boy stepped forward with his hand out, to which Booth replied with a five.
"This suite has an adjoining room. The other, the luxury suite also has an adjoining room but with a pull-put couch. I can take the other three there now, if you wish," the bell boy offered politely.
The group stopped to look at each other. They had to split up. The guys looked at each other miserably. They knew that they'd be the ones sleeping together.
"So, Angela and I will sleep in here and you three can take the other suite," Brennan suggested. She looked up expecting the boys to leave. Her eyes locked with Booth's. Brennan felt her skin tingle. He was looking at her like he…but no, he couldn't be thinking the same thing she had a moment ago--about the two of them sharing a room on an exotic island…alone…
"Actually, Jack and I have some work to do--plus, I kind of want to sleep these next few days--so I think maybe you and Booth should stay here together. That way you two can talk about the case until all hours of the night, when normal people are lights out." Angela said picking up her bag and replacing Booth's position under Zack's arm, "I'll take bug buy and sleeping beauty over to the other room and we'll meet you in the lobby at five, k? Bye!" Without another word, Angela took the boys out of the room leaving Booth and Brennan to watch each other from across the room.
"I really have to stop letting her do that," Brennan stated after a minute or two. Booth grinned as he let his bag slide to the floor.
"So, I assume you'll take the king-size and I'll get the adjoining room," Booth said going to explore his new room. He tossed his bag onto the bed and sat down. He rested his head in his hands and sighed deeply. This was not going to be as easy as he'd hoped. Now he was rooming with Bones, and if she kept looking at him the way she had a few minutes before, he was going to lose his self-control completely.
"Booth!"
Booth sprang from the bed. In half a second he was sliding out of his bedroom and into the lounge of the suite, his gun in hand. Brennan was standing alone with her back to him. When she turned around she jumped, surprised to find a gun pointed in her face.
"Holy crap! Booth, what're you doing?"
"You yelled, I thought something was wrong," Booth replied holstering his gun. He crossed the room quickly and stood by her side as she examined the huge selection of DVDs that the hotel offered.
"See, if you let me have a gun of my own you wouldn't have to worry about me," Brennan replied happily adding to her ongoing point.
"No, I'd just have to worry about everyone else in the world," Booth retorted. Brennan shot him a glare, but he had already walked toward the balcony. There was a small table with two chairs, a floral arrangement and candles.
"Wow, look at the view. Hey, Bones, come 'ere and see the view," Booth motioned for Brennan to join him on the balcony. From their room they could see the ocean, and across the bay there was the city and the Diamond Head Volcanic Crater. The sky looked so beautiful, and the ocean was the bluest either of them had ever seen. It would've been romantic if the two people standing there would've admitted it.
"We should unpack," Brennan said breathlessly. Booth looked at her and smiled.
"Always the practical one," Booth replied, he headed back inside the suite, "what say we get some room service for lunch and chill out here until five?"
"Sounds good. Do you think they have Wong Foo's here?" Brennan replied following Booth's path inside. Booth looked up at her from the bedside table, the telephone pressed to his ear.
"Bones, did you just make a joke?" Booth asked surprised. Suddenly, the phone rang, making him jump away from it. Brennan laughed and moved to the phone.
"Serves you right," she said picking up the phone and pressing the Line 2 button. Brennan had to hold the phone away from her ear to hear Angela properly through her screaming.
"OH MY GOD! THEY HAVE A SPA! BRENNAN I LOVE YOUR JOB! TELL BOOTH HE IS THE SEXIEST FBI AGENT IN THE WORLD AND I LOVE HIS JOB!" With that she hung up, leaving Brennan's ear drum vibrating. Slowly, still suffering from partial deafness, Brennan replaced the phone on the hook.
"You heard that?" Brennan asked.
"Yup," Booth replied in confirmation.
"Good," Brennan answered, "how about that room service now?"
Booth moved back to the telephone cautiously. He lifted it up and dialed down to the kitchens. He waited for a moment before someone picked up the other line.
"Hello, I'd like to order some room service. Yes, I'd like three orders of pork fried rice, an order of Kung pow chicken and two orders of pork lo mein. Thank you, just put it on the tab, thanks." Booth hung up the phone. He turned to Brennan, "it should be here in about fifteen minutes."
(--)
"Okay, so we fly halfway across the world, we're on an exotic island, in a five-star hotel, and we're eating Chinese food on the floor of our hotel room," Brennan shook her head as she dug into the half-eaten container of lo mein with her chop sticks.
"Yeah, Bones, we're high class, didn't you know that?" Booth joked shoving his chop sticks full of rice into his mouth.
"I swear we keep eating Chinese food like we do and we're gonna get fat," Brennan replied.
"Guess we'll just have to find some way to work it off," Booth said absently. Only after a moment did he realize the unintentional innuendo.
"Agent Booth, are you suggesting something inappropriate to serve as exercise?" Brennan asked falsely.
"No, but if you would like to, we can always try that method," Booth responded. Brennan suddenly felt the room get hot, or otherwise, her face get hot. God, she hated being a red-head, they blush so easily. What had started as harmless teasing had escalated into an invitation. The worst thing was, Brennan wasn't immediately tempted to deny Booth his request.
A knock at the door broke the tension. Brennan got to her feet and walked to the door. She looked through the peep-hole and found an excited looking Angela staring back at her. Brennan glanced at her watch, it was only four-thirty, they weren't supposed to meet until five. Confused, Brennan opened the door. She opened her mouth to speak but Angela cut her off.
"Oh, my, god, there is this gorgeous bartender downstairs. He's the most beautiful man I've ever seen, no offence Booth, but he's just like, mouth watering, and I really want you to come and see him with me. Oh, did I interrupt something?" Angela asked as she noticed Booth still sitting on the floor, his carton of pork fried rice still in his hand.
"No, Booth and I were just finishing lunch," Brennan answered walking from behind Angela to Booth's side, who handed her the carton of lo mein from the floor. She took it and continued to pick through the food.
"Don't you two look like a Hallmark card," Angela commented.
"I don't know what that means," Brennan replied.
"Well, Hawthorne requested we get down there a little early so that he can show us all the entry points and stuff to the FBI Headquarters, or whatever," Angela said.
"Okay, Booth grab the fortune cookies, we'll eat them on the way," Brennan said as she followed Angela to the door. Booth did as he was told and jumped up after Temperance. Just like a puppy, Angela thought, albeit a sexy, hunky, FBI puppy, but a puppy nonetheless. Shaking her head, Angela followed her two friends downstairs.
(--)
"So what you're telling me is you've got nothing?" Brennan asked, staring at Agents Orville and Wilbur in the Honolulu FBI Headquarters. They were all seated around the conference room table--even Zack who held a very strong cup of coffee in his hands--each had a file folder with photos and information about the case.
"Excuse me? No, Dr. Brennan, we--."
"Have nothing," Brennan interrupted, "I see no profile of the killer in here. There isn't even an attempt to investigate a connection between the victims. There hasn't even been a full autopsy done on the third girl."
"Dr. Brennan, I don't appreciate you tone--."
"I don't care. I am employed by the Jeffersonian Institute, not the FBI, and the only reason my team and I are down here is because you two have screwed this case up so badly that your boss asked me to help salvage whatever investigation is left." Brennan stood, followed by Angela and Hodgins, Zack only raised his hand sleepily. Booth leaned back in his chair, grinning widely. He loved it when Brennan went off on one of her rants, especially when she ripped apart assholes like Orville and Wilbur. They were the kind of agents that nobody wanted to work with because they were just too full of themselves. It was nice to see them knocked down a notch or two.
"If we're done here, I'll take our guests back to their hotel," Officer Hawthorne suggested, stepping forward, attempting to hide his amusement. Brennan gathered her notes into the folder and walked toward the door, followed by Booth and then the rest of her team. She paused at the door and turned to the agents.
"Tomorrow morning, I'll need to see the three victims. I also need to see the complete crime scene reports, not these half-ass things you two typed up five minutes before we got here. I expect that there will be a car waiting at eight o'clock outside the hotel," Brennan walked through the door and then paused and popped her head back in, "Thank you."
Booth offered them a smile, "I told you not to piss her off." He raised an eyebrow and followed her out.
(--)
"Okay, three cheers for Dr. Brennan!" Hawthorne said on the drive back to the hotel. Booth smiled back at Brennan who was still frowning in the back seat.
"I didn't mean to, but they were acting like they'd solved the entire case, and they don't even know how those girls died!" Brennan exclaimed.
"Hey, Bones, you don't need to give excuses to me, those two idiots deserve it."
Booth replied relaxing back in his seat a little.
When they arrived at the hotel, Brennan just wanted to go up to her room and sleep for days. Jet lag was finally catching up to her and the little bit of caffeine she consumed in the past six hours was fading quickly. All she wanted was to curl up on the enormous bed--possibly with a certain someone curled up right beside her--and dream away the rest of this case.
Angela, however, had other plans. As soon as they stepped in the door of the Halekulani, she grabbed Brennan's elbow and pulled her off in the direction of the hotel's store.
"We're going shopping," she said, "we'll meet you three at the luau." She dragged Brennan away without another word.
Booth watched as Brennan was pulled away, looking completely miffed about it. He felt bad, but he was kind of glad he'd be able to go take a nap without worry that Bones was in the next room and could hear him if he accidentally talked in his sleep--which he tended to do when he hadn't gotten a lot of rest.
With a sigh, Booth stepped into the elevator. He pressed the button for his floor; as the door closed a hand stopped it and a small man with short hair stepped in beside him. Booth glanced at the man and aged at about thirty, despite having some early gray hairs. The man was thin and gave Booth a creepy vibe. He was just thankful that the man didn't get off on the same floor as him.
When he got into the room, he made special attention to put the chain on the door and turn the lock. You could never be too careful when you're rooming with a beautiful woman with a serial killer on the loose. Booth's mind flashed to Kenton in the warehouse. He couldn't let that happen again. It had occurred to Booth that morning, way back in D.C. as they stood in the airport that Brennan and Angela could be in serious danger down here. They were both young, attractive women, prime pickings for a psycho stalker.
As he lay down on his bed, he made a mental note to keep an extra eye on the girls from now on. His last thought as he drifted into sleep was that Brennan would be safe with him, no matter what, he would keep that promise if it was the only one he did.
(--)
"You look amazing!" Angela said as Brennan stood before her in a bathing suit and sarong. Brennan looked into the mirrors in front of her. She felt exposed and uncomfortable in the bathing suit.
"Angela, I don't like this. I don't feel like me. It's too…open…too showy," Brennan complained. She turned away from the mirrors to face her friend. Very Brennan-like, she crossed her arms over her bare stomach to prove her point.
"Sweetie, you're never going to get Booth if you don't show off your assets," Angela replied.
"Okay, first of all, I don't want Booth, and second I don't like showing off my assets. Angela, I feel ridiculous in this get-up. People might think I'm Paris Sheridan or something."
"I think you mean Paris Hilton, and trust me you're too Brennan to be Paris," Angela replied laughing lightly, "okay, okay," she pulled a spaghetti strap tank top off a nearby rack and tossed it at Brennan, "wear this over the bathing suit."
"Thank you," Brennan answered pulling the top over her head.
(--)
Seven o'clock rolled around sooner than anyone expected. When Booth, Hodgins and Zack arrived outside on the beach a crowd of people had already gathered along a table that was nearly forty feet down the beach. There were plates of food and drinks with bright colors and tiny umbrellas everywhere. The scene was so bright Booth thought he might hurl.
There was a group of people, already crowding around a small stage set up facing the water with its back to the hotel. From here, Booth could see the massive gardens and the pools of the hotel. The hotel looked spectacular at night, even more than it did during the day.
"Hey, either of you see Brennan or Angela?" Hodgins asked scanning the crowds in hope of finding their companions. He stood on his tiptoes, trying to see over the tallest people but he caught no sign of the girls.
Damn it, Booth thought, where the hell is she? How long does it take to buy clothes, anyway? He shrugged on the light jacket he'd brought just in case it cooled down, which it had considerably. He looked skyward; there was no moon and only some of the stars could be seen through the misty clouds.
"It looks like rain," a pudgy man standing near Booth said to his too-thin wife and their miserable-looking children.
"Oh, won't that be a shame!" his wife stated forcing a plate into her son's hand, which was currently occupied by a Gameboy.
"Damn it, Mom! You made me loose! I've been working on this level for like two days!" the boy said.
"Now, Georgie, watch your language," the woman said without an ounce of conviction in her voice.
"God, why'd we even have to come here! This was your stupid idea!" the bratty child threw the plate his mother had given him to the ground and stalked off in a huff, his teenage sister following him, matching his disdain step for step.
I think I'd KILL Parker if he acted like that, Booth thought. He smiled, thinking of his son. He couldn't wait to get back to D.C. to see him. Booth just hoped Bones was right about bringing people together--which was incredibly insightful for her. Speaking of Bones, Booth was getting pretty pissed about her on and off mood today. She snapped at Hawthorne when they'd arrived and--while it was quite funny--she'd been pretty rude to Orville and Wilbur at the briefing--it wasn't like her.
Booth looked up as a beautiful girl in a tank top and sarong walked toward him. Her red-hair was pulled half up, with the bottom curl ever so slightly. Her blue eyes--holy shit!--he recognized those eyes. He recognized that woman.
"Bones!" Booth exclaimed as she stopped in front of him.
"What?" Brennan leaped into self-conscious mode, "Angela did it." She crossed her arms protectively over her chest. Booth stepped back to admire Brennan but caught the edge of the table. He called out as he crashed to the ground, taking down a section of the massive table with him.
"Booth!" Brennan rushed to his side, helping him to his feet, "that was smooth."
"You know what Bones, some of us aren't blessed with your natural grace. Forgive us," Booth snapped. Brennan was surprised less by his tone than his unintentional compliment to her. Several men had already hurried over to clean up the mess Booth caused by his fall.
"Hey, guys," Hodgins, Zack and Angela walked up holding giant pink drinks, each with a cherry, a plastic sword and a mini umbrella, "Hey, Booth was that you?" Hodgins pointed to the table that was being swiftly repaired.
"Shut up," Booth said as Brennan chuckled to herself.
"Here, we got you guys drinks," Angela said passing a pink drink to Brennan and one to Booth.
"Thanks Ange, but you know I don't like to drink this stuff," Brennan commented trying to hand it back.
"Bren, you're off the clock! Try and relax a little!" Angela answered refusing to take Brennan's drink.
"Yeah, to hell with it!" Hodgins said tossing back his head and taking a long drink from the pink alcoholic icy. The others watched him as he swallowed and shook his head.
"To hell with it," Brennan said, slightly hesitant, as she too took a long swig. Booth watched her in amusement--he could see her nearly stumble already. He placed a steadying hand on the small of her back as she swallowed.
"Ah! Brain freeze!" Zack exclaimed dropping his drink into the sand and grabbing his head with both hands.
(---)
TBC in Chapter 4: "Three Bodies in the Lab…"
A/N: Another set of amazing reviews! You guys keep me going! Thanks a lot for all of your support. I know I said that this chapter might take longer to post, well, I just kind of got into it and I couldn't stop, unfortunately, the next couple of updates might be slower, so don't expect another chapter tomorrow, sorry, I'll do the best I can. Of course, I'll say that and I'll end up with a new post tomorrow--so maybe I shouldn't say anything--I just thought I'd warn you. Luv Ya All!
-SpikesSweetie