Hey hey people. Sorry for such a long delay but I started this story right in the middle of my exams coz I was so excited about it, and I haven't had time to update it since because I had a pile of study to do. Exams are finished and I'm on holidays so hopefully I'll be able to update a whole lot more often from now on. Hope you enjoy, and please review your reviews are such good motivation for me to update (lol they make me feel guilty for neglecting you guys!). Have a great day, luv kate
Bones woke up feeling contented. Strangely contented considering that fact that she had was in Alaska, having been dragged here by Booth. Booth… she realised then that she was cradled in his arms, head on his chest. She wriggled away automatically. As Bones did so she remembered why she had curled up to him in the first place. It was freezing! Looking at the clock, she saw it was only 6.30am. The shower could wait. Bones curled back up against Booth and promptly went back to sleep.
An hour later, the pair woke with a start. Booth absentmindedly kissed Brennan's head, as he rasped out a good morning. She jumped, skittish from the intimate yet natural feel of the contact. Brennan replied to his greeting, but not until she was safely out of bed and heading for the shower.
By 9am they were heading outside to brave the cold. Brennan shivered. Cold didn't cover it she thought. They huddled close together as they scurried down the road towards the sheriff's headquarters. They entered, and removed their outerwear, then headed over to the receptionist.
"Good morning. I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth, and this is my partner Temperance Brennan. We're here to see Sheriff Halcort."
The receptionist directed them towards an open office door where they found the sheriff on the phone. He motioned for them to take a seat and wound up his call.
"Well folks, what can I do for you?" he asked.
Booth let Bones take the lead. "We're from the FBI, and we're here about the remains you found."
"Wow, you people sure are efficient; I wasn't expecting anyone for the next couple of days."
Bones rolled her eyes at Booth, willing him to hurry the guy up so they could get back to DC.
"Do you mind if we take a look at them, and your case file regarding them?" Booth asked.
"No problem. They're downstairs – we have a makeshift morgue down there. Don't get many murders round here so we don't have a need for anything fancy."
Booth and Brennan headed in the direction he indicated. They found the remains resting on a gurney, and Bones had just snapped on a pair of gloves when the sheriff came into the room, bringing the case file with him.
"Here you go folks. If that's all you require, I'll be leaving you to get on with your jobs."
With that he exited the room, closing the heavy metal door behind him. It banged ominously, and Bones shivered involuntarily. Booth caught her shiver.
"Cold Bones?" he asked her with a smirk.
Bones grinned. Booth could always make her feel better. "You wish" she shot back as she returned to the job at hand.
Booth sighed. He rather did wish she was cold…but enough of those thoughts. He returned his mind to the job and settled down to look over the case file.
After a while, Booth came over to show the file to Bones.
"Look at this," he said angrily. "This file is an absolute waste of time. There are no photos of the scene; he hasn't done any investigation as to the identity of the remains..."
"If you think that's bad, then look at the way they've handled the bones. It's clear that whoever brought them in exerted no care in the way that the excavation was carried out. You can clearly see that the damage to the remains occurred at two different occasions."
She stopped, seeing that he really was upset about the lack of care that had been taken in the case so far. Snapping off the gloves, she tossed them in a nearby trash can and wrapped her arms around him.
"Booth, it's okay." She looked him in the eyes. "We will find out what happened to this person."
She rested her head on his chest (which confirmed her earlier suspicions that he did have a nice chest), while he rested his chin on her head. After a moment they drew away from each other. Bones just smiled slightly and returned to the gurney to continue her examination.
"The victim is female, aged between 20 and 25. Caucasian. The remains appear to date from between one and a half to two years ago. No flesh remaining on the bones. Umm…that's all I can do here, but Angela can do a facial reconstruction and get us an id. I'll get Hodgins to check out the microbial life that should be present in the damage caused when this guy was brought in. That should give us an idea of the time period between time of death and time of discovery."
Booth listened to her analysis patiently. "Any sign of foul play?"
"Huh?"
Booth laughed. "Sometimes I don't know why I even bother to try." When she glared at him, Booth modified his previous question. "Any evidence that doesn't indicate death from natural causes?"
Bones smiled. That was better. "There is some cranial damage that could suggest that our guy was hit with an object, and some indentations on the bones that correlated with marks from animal teeth."
Booth pondered that. "Hmm…our guy could have been murdered and left for the polar bears."
He smirked as Bones rolled her eyes. "Trust you to come up with the most unrealistic scenario."
"Don't you know there are polar bears in Alaska Dr Brennan?"
She punched him and walked towards the door. "We really need to give that sheriff a roasting about his procedures."
Booth reached the door, and was met by a look of panicked surprise on the face of his partner.
"The door won't move."