As the sun sets, sending out a warm orange glow, Booth and Brennan drive back to town along the highway. Traffic is light but as they round a large bend, Booth spots a queue ahead.

"What the…" he trails off as he scans the road ahead and slows the SUV.

"Look." Brennan pats his arm to direct his attention to a large tanker strewn on its side across both sides of the highway.

"Damn." Booth pulls the SUV to a stop behind another car. He quickly takes off his seatbelt and steps out.

"Where are you going?" Brennan asks before he closes the door.

"To find out how long this is going to take." Booth tells her. He then shuts the door and strides off ahead through the traffic. Brennan looses sight of him and chooses to rest her eyes in his absence.

A knock at her window a minute later wakes her and she sits up in her seat, surprised to see a man grinning at her through the window. He knocks again and she reluctantly lowers the window.

"Dr Temperance Brennan?" he asks. Brennan nods numbly. "Dr Joshua Weston." He sticks his hand through the window for Brennan to shake. She obliges but regrets it immediately as the man takes it as a sign she is happy to talk to him.

As Booth makes his way back to the SUV through the still traffic about fifteen minutes after leaving his SUV, his eyes narrow and his brow furrows when he spots Brennan standing very close to a tall good looking man at the side of the SUV. Booth's strides become longer and faster as he closes the distance between them with a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach he doesn't want to acknowledge as jealousy.

Brennan is unenthusiastically engaged in conversation and notices Booth approaching her out of the corner of her eye. Thank God she sighs to herself.

"Hey Bones, what's going on?" he asks, eyeing up the man talking to her.

"Booth, this is Dr Joshua Weston, he's an archaeologist." Brennan explains.

"Dr Weston, this is my partner, Special Agent Seely Booth." Brennan introduces the two men.

"It's nice to meet you." Dr Weston extends his hand and Booth shakes it tightly, asserting himself as the alpha male. Dr Weston winces a little and Booth draws his hand back, smiling inside at winning this exchange.

"So, you two work together?" Dr Weston asks.

"Yes." Brennan replies curtly.

"What about your writing, how do you fit that in?" Dr Weston asks. "Your books are so well written you must spend a lot of time on them."

"I manage." Brennan replies. "Booth, did you find out how long we're going to be here for?" Brennan asks, turning to Booth and resting her hand lightly on his arm. He is surprised at her physical gesture until he sees the look on Dr Weston's face and realises she is trying to make him back off. She isn't interested in him, thank god Booth realises he is relieved.

"Several hours." Booth says. "Equipment is being brought in to move the tanker but it'll take at least two hours to get here, then they have to actually shift the thing and clean up the mess on the road."

"That gives us time to work on the case." Brennan says as she reaches for the handle of the door.

"Yeah." Booth follows her lead. "If you'll excuse us, Dr Weston." Booth opens the passenger door for Brennan and she slides inside. Shutting the door, Booth steps around the vehicle, keeping his eyes on Dr Weston the whole time. The man finally seems to get the picture and he backs off towards his own car, dejected.

Once inside, Booth can see Brennan is more relaxed.

"So, is that your biggest fan?" Booth smiles.

"Hardly." She replies.

"Well he seemed very interested in…" Brennan cuts Booth off quickly.

"Don't say it." She warns him.

"I wasn't…"

"You were so don't." Brennan states.

"Come on I was just..." Booth is silenced again by Brennan's glare. He shrugs and smiles, stretching around to lift a file from the back seat of the car.

"So you want to go over this stuff?" he asks.

"I can't believe we're stuck here for hours." Brennan sighs heavily, ignoring Booth's question.

"Relax. It's not like we had anywhere else to be." Booth drops the file onto his lap

"Speak for yourself, I was planning on getting some sleep tonight." Brennan huffs.

"You can sleep in the car." Booth points out.

"Not comfortably." Brennan shifts her weight, emphasising her point.

"You need to chill out a little Bones." Booth sighs and leans back in his seat. The file lies on his lap unopened. "These things happen." He adds.

An hour later, when the night sky is dark and the stars shining brightly, Booth suddenly opens his door and gets out the car. Brennan wakes from a light slumber and opens her eyes to see him shut his door, climb onto the bonnet of the SUV and lean back against the windscreen. Curious she steps out and stands at the side of the car watching him.

"Booth, what are you doing?" she asks for the second time that day.

"Just looking at the stars. I thought you were asleep." He turns his head towards her and pats the bonnet next to him. Brennan looks dubious for a moment then pulls herself up, settling back close to Booth with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Don't you love looking at the stars." Booth says.

"Not really." Brennan shrugs.

"I do." Booth sighs

"Why?" Brennan asks.

"No matter what's going on, how stressed I get, how worked up about anything I am, when I look at the stars, I'm reminded how big the universe is and how tiny a part in that universe I play. It puts things in perspective." He turns to Brennan and she turns her head to meet his gaze, their faces only inches apart and their eyes locked. "Plus, it can be pretty romantic when you get a girl out with you." He winks making Brennan's stomach flip. She quickly turns her head away and looks up at the sky. Her eyes light up when a few minutes later she sees a shooting star streaking across the sky.

"Did you see that?" she asks, her voice a little breathy.

"See what?" Booth asks. He'd been too busy watching her to see what was happening in the sky.

"The shooting star." Brennan replies. She consciously decided not to use the scientific term because she knows Booth would just pester her about it.

"No, I guess I missed it." Booth smiles. "Did you make a wish?" he asks. Brennan pauses a moment then turns to him.

"Why would I make a wish?" she asks.

"It's what you do, when you see a shooting star." Booth tells her.

"Why? It's not magical." She shrugs.

"Because it's fun Bones." Booth sits up and braces his weight on his arm, leaning over Brennan slightly. "Just make a wish." He says. Brennan looks at him for a moment then closes her eyes. When she opens them seconds later Booth is still staring at her.

"What'd you wish for?" he asks.

"I'm not telling you." Brennan replies with a smile curling at her lips. Wrapping her arms across her chest Brennan shivers a little as a cool breeze passes over her. "Hey Booth." She says.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a spare jacket in the car?" she asks.

"You cold?"

"A little." Brennan replies. Booth shrugs off his own jean jacket and passes it to her.

"Here."

"Don't you need it?" she asks. Booth merely shakes his head and pushes the jacket closer to her. Brennan pauses a moment but then accepts the jacket and slips it on, hugging it close to her.

"You know Bones, wearing my clothes is getting to be a bit of a habit." Booth jokes and lies back against the window, looking up at the sky.