Disclaimer- I don't own Bones.
Seeley Booth woke up on his back; his head turned facing an empty, mussed up bed. It took a minute or two for him to adjust to his surroundings. There was an issue: he didn't remember really where he was. Soon, the fog began to lift and he remembered that he was in a hospital, because Temperance had stabbed him while being brainwashed by a wire attached to her brain. It's like something from a science fiction movie! He snorted.
"Oh! You're awake!" A redheaded, plain looking nurse in pink scrubs turned around. "Are you feeling well? Do you need me to get you anything?" she asked in a high-pitched girlish voice.
"I'm just feeling a little… woowoowhoo!" He cleared his throat. "And a little dry mouthed."
The nurse crossed the room, filled a glass of water and handed it to Booth after helping him sit up. She picked up a clipboard that obviously contained Booth's medical files. "They've got you on a ton of vicodin and you can only drink fluids. Do you remember this?"
"Yeah…" Booth looked around, recalling that Temperance was not in the room. "Where's…?"
"Your companion left close to an hour ago to get breakfast from the café. She should be back any minute now." She set the clipboard back into the slot at the foot of his bed. "I'm going to inform the doctor that you're awake."
Five minutes later, Dr. 'Head' walked in with Temperance solemnly. She sat down next to Booth on the visitor's chair and resisted the urge to grab his hand in comfort. "The doctor has some bad news, Booth."
Dr. 'Head' picked up Booth's clipboard files from the slot and began flipping through them. "Agent Booth, I know you are aware already that for three weeks, you mustn't consume any solid foods. You're girlfriend has the vitamin instructions for you and your vicodin prescription. There are just a few more things that you need to do to help the small intestine heal. The first thing is bad news: you won't be walking for a month. The good news is: you'll be walking in only four weeks!"
"Damn it! At least this doesn't cut into my vacation time, since I technically got injured on the job." Booth looked at Temperance. "Well… if the jury thinks so. Maybe you… when you testify, you should take your shirt off! Wheelchairs… that'll be bad for my job, money."
Temperance looked at the doctor, who mouthed in reply 'painkillers…'. Temperance affirmed.
The nurse came back in. "There are some gentlemen waiting for you both in the lobby. One of the men called himself Deputy Director Cullen. Do you know him?"
Temperance rose from her seat. "Yes we know him. He's Agent Booth's boss. I'll go down to meet him." She left the room.
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Downstairs, Tempe saw Cullen sitting in a chair between two other important looking men. She hesitated for a moment, feeling the guilt washing over her again. Shaking it off, she purposely walked to the men.
Cullen looked up calmly. "Leave us, Dr. Brennan. We're not in the mood to get stabbed." One of the men chuckled. The other man stood up and held out a hand in greeting.
"Hello, Dr. Brennan. Special Agent Akamu Kanoa, here."
Temperance took his hand and shook it. It was warm, but calloused, like he worked outside all the time. His skin was a golden brown and his hair was like black coffee curling around his ears and ending at the neck. His beady black eyes pored into her watery orbs. They seemed oddly familiar, like something she saw once in a dream.
"Good morning, Agent Kanoa. Are you all here to take Booth and I to the airport?" Tempe asked.
Cullen stood up. "No, Dr. Brennan. We're escorting you to our jet. It's safer and quicker than public air travel. Is that ok with you, Dr. Brennan?" Cullen raised an eyebrow, questioningly. "We're just afraid you might try to kill all the passengers."
The seated man, who Tempe still didn't recognize, began to laugh again. He stood up and introduced himself as Assistant to Deputy Director, William Brown. "You're the Bone Lady!"
Temperance rolled her eyes. "My name is Dr. Temperance Brennan. You will refer to me as Dr. Brennan, thank you," she said, irritation edged her voice.
"I apologize, Dr. Brennan." Mr. Brown's face still held traces of a smirk. He was handsome in a sinister kind of way. His eyes were ice blue; his skin was pale as snow. His hair was so blond it looked white and sprouting out in random places on his head. He was the polar opposite of Agent Kanoa. He didn't even offer his hand. Mr. Brown seemed to think of Temperance as a joke. He couldn't keep himself from chuckling every so often.
She found out from Cullen that Agent Kanoa wouldn't come with them back to Washington D.C. He also informed her that her trial would be held in a week and the jury was already not in her favor.
They soon saw Booth being pushed over by the nurse. Cullen thanked her as Temperance took over, pushing him in the same direction that Mr. Brown was going. Mr. Brown led them to a black SUV. He helped Booth get in the back seat. Temperance sat next to him and buckled up. Mr. Brown rounded the car and sat in the front seat. A few minutes later, Cullen came out of the hospital and soon took his seat on the passenger side. Mr. Brown pulled out of the parking lot and drove off.
The car ride was generally silent except for Booth, who was incessantly humming the tune to It's A Small World.
They arrived at the Hawaiian FBI headquarters near a landing strip. Half an hour later, Mr. Brown, Cullen, Temperance, and Booth were in the private jet taking off. It didn't take long for both Cullen and Mr. Brown to pull out their cell phones and start making "important business calls".
"This sucks!" Booth exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air. "We didn't even go to the beach."
Tempe turned to him and smiled. "I did."
"What? That's not fair." The drugs were making him act like a child.
"Well, when I woke up after I was ABDUCTED," she raised her voice to get Cullen's attention. "I was on the cliff above the beach where the shark girl's body was found."
"You never told me that," Booth pouted.
"I guess there was a lot going on…" Her voice faded as she fell into deep thought.
"It's obvious, then!" Booth's voice jerked her from her reflections. "The guy that wired you is the same guy that killed the shark girl. He wired her up to kill herself. Why didn't we think of this before?" Booth pretended to think. "Oh yeah! Because you left out valuable evidence."
"Booth! You were in the hospital, because I stabbed you! You had more relevant things to worry about other than where I was."
"On the contrary, Bones, I think it's very, very, very relevant. It's crucial that I know why you stabbed me!"
Both Director Cullen and Mr. Brown had ended their calls and were listening in on Booth and Brennan.
"Booth, you know I couldn't help it!"
"Exactly. You were 'brainwashed'." He held up air quotes. "It's important that we know where you were… 'Brainwashed', is it not? If we know where, we might find out, how, then who. Then that son of a bitch who messed with your mind will get thrown into jail and we'd be saving a ton of girls!"
Temperance rubbed her temples. "Whatever, Booth. Can we talk about this later?"
"No, Temperance." Booth was unblinking. "I want to talk about it now."
"Fine! I'll answer whatever you want answered."
"I know we both have theories. I told you mine, now I want to hear yours. First of all, what's his M.O.?"
She sighed. "He can't have an M.O. yet, Booth. As far as we know, he's only killed one girl and captured me."
"But the M.O. is still the same. He brainwashed both of you."
"I should have looked at the girl's remains, more thoroughly. I might've found a wire like mine, in her skull."
"We can get some more anthropologists on it, Dr. Brennan. They'll send you the information they get." It was Cullen entering the conversation.
"Thank you, Director," said Tempe.
"Ok, Bones. What are the similarities between you and the girl?"
"I don't know, Booth. All we know about her is that she was a teenager, which I'm not, and that she was Caucasian."
"Do you think she might've been a tourist?" Booth asked.
"We don't have enough evidence to support that. Just because she wasn't Hawaiian, doesn't mean she didn't live there."
"Well you were a tourist," he pointed out.
"Not really. I was there for business, not pleasure."
"Aw come on, Bones! You know I'm pleasurable to you!" They both knew how wrong that sounded, but decided not to make a comment. "And the murderer could have thought you were a tourist."
"I doubt it. He knew I was working with you. That's why he wanted me to kill you."
Booth groaned. "Fine, then… Just shoot down my ideas!"
"They aren't stupid. You asked me to answer so they're honest, logical answers."
"God this sucks!" Booth smacked his forehead. "There's nothing more we can do until we get the info on the shark girl."
"Actually, Booth. There is one body we haven't taken into consideration, yet."
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"You're right, Bones! Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because you're on a considerable amount of vicodin."
"I have one last question for you, Bones…" A grin slowly began to spread on Booths' features.
"Go for it." Temperance looked at him in expectation.
"Why did you kiss me before you stabbed me?" His was a full-on grin as he noticed Tempe's cheeks burn a bright pink. Soon, he was under a strong laughing spell, joined soon by Mr. Browns infuriating chuckling. Temperance silently glared at the both of them.
"Was it good?" Mr. Brown asked in between laughs.
"Oh yeah! I could barely feel the knife afterwards!"
Temperance huffed and turned to look out the window. The men continued to express amusement.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you!" she exclaimed.
Booth stopped laughing but still had a grin on his face. "Why not, Bones?"
"Because you don't deserve to know, Seeley!" she scorned him, saying his name in a high-pitched voice.
The trip was hushed the rest of the way. They arrived in Washington D.C. many hours later, the tension between each of them could be cut with a knife. Each traveler was taken to his or her house. The next morning would be hell.
