Author's note: Wow! I should threaten readers with my flying monkeys more often. Thanks for all the reviews! This one's a little shorter than the others, but at least it's posted quickly! Don't get used to it. Finals are just around the corner.

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to…someone who's not me. Also, the lyrics at the end are from the song "Popular" off the Wicked soundtrack.

"Animals teach?" Tempe asked as she flipped through the insert from the Wicked CD case they had borrowed from Uncle Henry.

"Really?" Booth replied interestedly, looking over at her.

"Eyes on the road," she admonished without looking up.

They were headed to the office of Crowe, Ruby, and Gale. Booth had contacted Dr. Crowe to inform him that they would be dropping by. He agreed to meet them there.

A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of the office. Brennan turned off the car's CD player. Booth parked the car next to a silver Jaguar convertible. He cut the engine, and a man with peppered hair and beard stepped out of the Jag.

Booth flashed his badge and introduced them. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan. You must be Dr. Crowe."

"Yes. You uh…said you got a lead on a crime that brought you to my clinic?" he asked, concerned.

"Yes, sir. We just need to check it out."

"Well, I'll let you in, then." He pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the front door, pushing it open for the federal agent and the anthropologist.

When he started to follow them inside, Booth turned and said, "Uh, actually, Dr. Crowe, I'm gonna have to have you wait out here. We should have backup here shortly."

"Oh, okay. I'll just wait in my car."

"Great idea," Booth answered with a hint of sarcasm.

When the doctor had gone back out, Tempe addressed Booth, "Okay, I know I'm not great at human interaction, but I got the distinct feeling that you don't like this guy. You think he did it?"

"Nope," he answered simply, flicking on the light switch in the waiting room and performing a visual scan.

"Then, why were you so snippy with him?"

"I just have a problem with people like that."

"People like what? I thought you were okay with psychology."

"I am okay with psychology. It's shrinks I'm not too fond of. Did you see what that guy was driving? That car probably costs more than my house."

"You live in an apartment."

"You know what, Bones? It's a figure of speech."

"Well, it's a weak argument."

Booth rolled his eyes but said nothing.

"So the clue we're looking for…what do you think it'll be?" Brennan asked after they had thoroughly searched the waiting room and found nothing.

"Well, assuming we're Dorothy," Booth started, "we'll be looking for a clue about the Tin Man." She gave him a blank look. "He's a man…made of tin." Booth shrugged unapologetically for the answer.

"Okay, so…what about the Tin Man? The Scarecrow had something to do with the head, right?" Bren reasoned.

"Yeah. And the Tin Man wanted…" he trailed off.

"What? He wanted what?" Brennan prodded before looking at him and noticing the direction his gaze was pointed.

Perched on the chair where the psychologist would normally sit as he listened to a patient was another picnic basket, identical to the one that had been sent to Temperance's office earlier. They walked towards it and they each snapped on a pair of gloves.

Booth lifted the lid a little as Temperance peered inside, then slightly recoiled. Sitting neatly on a blood-soaked cushion was a heart. Tempe pulled out her camera and began to take pictures.

"Open the lid a bit more," Tempe instructed. For the first time, they noticed a note taped to the top that read:

I HEAR A BEAT…HOW SWEET

"That's weird," Bren said.

"It's another quote from the movie," Booth explained.

"No, I mean…I really do hear a beat," she said, moving closer to the basket, where she thought the sound was coming from.

Booth's eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed as he heard the sound too. A split second later, he was pulling Brennan back. He pushed her towards the door as the basket exploded, sending pieces of wicker and chunks of heart, as well as other unknown items flying in all directions. He pushed her to the floor and landed on top of her, throwing his hands up to cover his head.

It was a small explosion, but as they sat up, Brennan immediately noticed a cut across Booth's forehead. She touched the area and he pulled back from her. "Um, ow!" he exclaimed irritably.

Her shoulders slumped in annoyance and she turned her attention to what was left of the basket.

"There goes our evidence," she said dejectedly.

"Not necessarily," Booth said. "Maybe the components of the bomb will give us a clue. Plus, there was the clue itself."

"I assumed that was there to mock us. We really did hear a beat."

Booth merely shook his head in confusion. "Well, as soon as backup gets here, we should head back to your lab, see if your guys got anything from the other clues." He stood up and offered her a hand.

"Agreed." She took his proffered hand and winced as he pulled her up.

"You okay?" he asked, directing his eyes to where she clutched her ribs.

"Yeah, I just…landed on something." She scanned the floor and discovered a plastic apple where she had been pushed to the ground.

Booth winced sympathetically, then lead her out of the room and out of the building.

When they stepped outside, Dr. Crowe was pacing frantically. When he saw them, he rushed up to them and said, "Oh, my goodness! I heard the explosion, and I didn't want to go inside, because I didn't know if it was safe, so I called 911, and—"

"Whoa, whoa! You said you called 911?" Booth asked.

"Yes! I heard an explosion, and I feared the worst, and…"

"Dammit," Booth said, ignoring Crowe's rambling.

"What?" Brennan asked, also turning away from the doctor, who seemed unaware of the fact that he was not being paid any attention whatsoever.

"We're gonna have news crews here in a matter of minutes. I had hoped to keep this thing quiet for at least a couple days."

"…what will my patients do? They can't well come to a clinic that's been—"

"Shut up!" Booth snapped. Dr. Crowe immediately stopped talking. Even as they stood there, they heard sirens.

Before the fire trucks arrived, and just as Booth had predicted, News Channel 10 was on the scene. By the time Booth's own backup had arrived, there were two other news stations, and all of them had their cameras out, anchors preened, and film rolling.

Brennan had ordered all recovered pieces from the bomb and its surrounding objects be sent to her lab. By the time Booth and Brennan rolled out of the parking lot, there were more news crews than emergency vehicles.

"Hey, call your guys and tell them about the uh...the apple on the floor," Booth said suddenly.

"What? Why?" she asked even as she punched in the number.

"I think it may be another clue," he said, turning the CD player on as she communicated with her team.

"…everything that really counts

To be popular…you're gonna be popular.

You'll hang with the right cohorts…"

"Great," Booth muttered, thinking that this was going to be a very trying case.

"…so let's start,

'Cause you've got an awfully long way to go."

To be continued…

The last thing I wanna do is threaten you with monkeys again…but it's on the list. Review, please!