A/N: Hello - thank you for all the reviews and comments on the previous chapter, much appreciated.
"Pull your shorts down, please" The diminutive, blonde haired woman ordered.
Booth crossed his arms defensively as he sat on the edge of a temporary bed, making no move to do as instructed.
The doctor rolled her eyes, "Come on. I can assure you that I've seen it all before." She pointed at Temperance who was not succeeding in hiding her amusement, "And I'm sure that there aren't going to be any surprises for your girlfriend either."
Temperance's grin disappeared immediately and she shifted uncomfortably in the tiny camp chair in the corner of the first aid tent, but the doctor had already turned her attention back to Booth.
Booth rolled his eyes and started to tug at the ties around his waist. He glanced over at Bones who was gripping the armrests of the chair, looking as if she was about to spring towards the exit. He caught her eyes and smirked challengingly.
Temperance glared at him for a moment, then folded her arms and sat back in the chair raising a single eyebrow in response.
Booth swallowed. She wasn't leaving.
He pushed off the edge of the bed and stood up, still struggling with the knots. He worked the final one loose and hooked his hands in the waistband to push the shorts down.
Temperance wetted her dry lips, telling herself firmly that she should at least turn away and give Booth a bit of privacy, but finding herself unable to tear her gaze away.
After a moment's pause, Booth pulled his shorts off. He stood with arms folded once again, wearing a pair of figure hugging Calvin Klein's. His rugby shirt was doing a reasonable job of protecting his modesty.
Temperance managed about half a second of staring, before she felt her face getting warm and she had to look away. She peered intently at the floor, wondering if she had blushed more times today than in previous five years. After a few moments she found herself stealing a second glance and rapidly concluding that his leg muscles were even more impressive without the shorts. Her eyes flicked up to meet Booth's and he quirked his brows at her questioningly. What does he want, a score? No way I'm telling him on that evidence he's at least a nine, maybe nine and a half.
The Doctor tutted internally as she watched the interaction between her patient and his beautiful, dark-haired friend, "Lie on the bed, please, so I can get a good look at you."
Booth did as he was told, but protested as he did so, "Doc, all I wanted was some ice for my cheek."
The Doctor nodded condescendingly, "You'll get that when you leave. You were limping when you came in here, so I'm going to have a look at your hip. You do want to play in the rest of the tournament, don't you?"
"Yeah, yeah." Booth replied with a sigh and lying back on the bed, his hands linked together behind his head.
The Doctor tilted her head at him, "Play nice now, or it'll be ice in your shorts."
Booth screwed up his eyes in alarm and the doctor grinned at him, feeling slightly guilty about her bedside manner. She had learnt in previous years at this event that a slightly spiky approach was the best way to get through the weekend, without acquiring a list of phone numbers a foot long and seeing flashes of more parts of the male anatomy than she normally saw in a year. Not that she'd be complaining if this particular patient offered his number - she glanced acros the tent - not likely with his girlfriend in tow. Focusing back on the task in hand, she leant down to look more closely at the angry red mark on Booth's hip and pushed the waist band of his underwear down slightly. She prodded the injury lightly and was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath. She watched his expression as she continued to poke. After a few minutes, she stood up.
"No bones broken, but you're going to a have an impressive bruise." She paused as she picked up a spray can, "This'll reduce the pain and keep down the swelling for a while, but it's going to stiffen up over the next day or so." She sprayed the icy contents of the can over Booth's hip. "I'd tell you to stay off the leg and not play anymore today if I thought you'd listen..." She left the sentence hanging and Booth just grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
"Quite." She said gesturing for him to sit up, "At least try to take it easy." She instructed.
When Booth was sitting on the edge of the bed once again, she paused to peer at his cheek, turning his head to and fro slightly in the light.
"Fortunately that just looks superficial." She said after a few moments and then turned to Temperance, "The ice packs are in the box under your chair, if you'd like to grab one."
Temperance did as she was told and bent down to reach under the chair. By the time she had pulled the box out, lifted the lid and picked out an ice pack, Booth was back on his feet and back in his shorts. She stood up too, and pushed the box back with her foot.
"Thanks Doc." Booth said with a grin.
"You're welcome." The doctor's smile took in both of them, "Have a good day and be careful."
Booth laughed and walked over to Bones. He put his arm around her and they walked out of the tent with a wave.
Standing out in the sunlight they both blinked a couple of times.
Temperance offered Booth the ice pack. He shook his head slightly, "Let's find Huw's game and I can sit with it then."
Temperance thought about protesting and then shrugged, the doctor had said that it was just a superficial injury. She put the pack in her bag and after a moment of looking around, they worked out which way they needed to go to find pitch two.
TBC