She smiles politely as the man sitting across the restaurant table from her talks to her of intellectual challenges and riddles. Here she was, her first date in God only knows how long, and she was more than pleasantly surprised to find herself enjoying the company of her dinner partner. Marcus Jones was intelligent, handsome and a role model to his peers within the research field. Naturally she had read many of his papers on African American culture and evolution, however she had never dreamed that she would meet that man nor that they would have had such instant 'chemistry'. There had been an instant attraction, he'd asked her out and she had readily accepted. They had spoken of her work and were in the midst of discussing his most recent research paper over dessert when her cell starts to ring. Embarrassed she had blushes and pulls the cell from her purse with every intention of switching it off, however the caller ID confirms that Booth was trying to reach her and she excuses herself to take the call quickly.

Standing in the lobby with the phone to her ear, he apologises for interrupting her date, a new case has come up and she is urgently needed at the scene. Glancing back to her dinner companion she closes her eyes and agrees that she'll be there as soon as she can. Hanging up, she prepares to ask her date's forgiveness.

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Red and blue flashes fill the darkness, a light show that she has become eerily accustomed to. The rain sounds amplified as it batters against the hood of police patrol vehicles and unmarked vans. She stops at the edge of the crime scene tape and lifts the rim of her umbrella to scan the scene for Booth. A hand on the small of her back alerts her of his presence and he ducks under her umbrella and smiles sheepishly.

"I was waiting in the SUV…." He takes in her appearance and frowns slightly. "Bones, I'm not one to complain usually about when you wanna get dressed up, but it's hardly crime scene attire."

"I didn't think that 'urgently' allowed me opportunity to change." She motions towards the crime scene. "Let's see what you've got for me."

He nods and lifts the tape high enough for them both to duck under and leads her to a small clearing, in the centre is a well. He points towards it and indicates that the body is inside. As they make their way over to the small structure she notes the building machinery.

"Construction workers discovered the bodies about an hour ago. They are preparing the land for what I can only assume will be apartment buildings. One of the workers decided to take an adventure down into the well and, let's just say he was in for a big surprise. We got the call from local PD about an hour ago."

She nods. "Did the worker disturb the scene?"

He shakes his head "No, says that he realised before he reached the bottom that there was some sort of body down there but he couldn't tell if it was animal or human….that's why they called the PD."

As they approach the well, Booth hands her a flashlight and she peers over the edge. Leaning against the stone wall structure she moves the beam from side to side. "How are the bureau involved?"

"A wallet was found in the bushes behind us last week by one of the workers. Driver's license was from Virginia. If the body is identified as the owner of the wallet, puts it into FBI jurisdiction." She nods.

"I'm gonna need Zack out here….tell him to bring a kit, and waterproofs… we're also gonna need some sort of winch mechanism to make this easier and reduce any potential risk to the bones."

Booth nods and calls over an officer. Relaying the information to him he turns back to her. "Maybe you want to go home and get changed?"

She shakes her head quickly and turns to face him. "I'm not going to jeopardise the state of the bones. The sooner we can get them out of the well the better. I'm gonna collect some of the surrounding materials for Jack, I'll need to see that wallet too."

"I'll make sure it goes to the lab. Anything else?"

She smiles at him sweetly. "A cup of coffee and one of those really warm FBI jackets?" He chuckles and shakes his head muttering something under his breath about doing anything for her. She smiles at his back as he disappears towards the vehicles.

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He watches her for a moment, her hair now swept back into a tight ponytail, leaning over the wall of the well. A pulley system is lowering Zack into its core and 2 men are controlling its movements. He watches as she side steps for a moment and then turns to frown at her feet. Following her irritated glare he can see that her heels have become engorged in the mud. She reaches down and removes them and tosses them to one side choosing instead to stand in the mud barefooted. The umbrella is long discarded and even in the darkness he can see streaks of mud up her calves, her dress has been long ruined. Any other woman, and he can imagine that she might be upset, but this woman… she would prefer to be out digging up a well in the middle of the night during torrential rain than be somewhere dry worrying about her appearance.

Walking over to her side he picks up the discarded stilettos and lets them dangle from his fingers. She glances at them from the corner of her eye and tells him to throw them out, they are ruined now anyway. He keeps them in his hand and peers over the edge with her.

"How much longer do you think he'll need to be down there?"

"Not long, this should be the last haul. He's taking samples from inside the well, the bones are all bagged and ready to go back to the Jeffersonian with us….. We should have an ID by the morning."

Booth puts a gentle hand on her arm and realises that she is freezing, she turns to look at him in question. "I think that tonight you should go home and rest, we can make the ID tomorrow…" She goes to protest but his expression stops her. "Zack needs rest just as much as you do Bones. No point in you both being ruined for work, you might both miss something that could give us a break on this case."

At first his insinuation that she couldn't do her job led her to formulate an argument, however thinking for a few seconds led her to believe that he was only looking out for her best interest. She nodded mutely and leaned over the well again.

"Zack, once we finish up here you can go home for a few hours rest… we'll start the identification in the morning."

Booth nods at her in approval and removes his coat. He drapes it over her shoulders lightly and she smiles in appreciation. Shaking his head he tries to rid his mind of thoughts of just how beautiful she looks in the rain.

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