Chapter 4

Temperance Brennan sighed and frowned in her sleep. She was just at that point between sleeping and waking, sort of a twilight sleep. Something didn't seem right; she was so groggy she couldn't put her finger on what it was. Sighing and nestling deeper into the comforter, she suddenly became aware of what was different. She could feel a warm muscular arm wound around her waist. Slowly opening her eyes, she glanced over to find Seeley Booth, lying on his stomach, she could make out his profile, turned in her direction, deep even breaths coming from his direction, and he was sound asleep.

How the hell did he get in here? She wondered to herself. She tried to carefully pry his arm away, and realized quickly that wasn't such a bright idea as his eyes snapped open, and looked right into her eyes. He smiled and greeted her "Morning Bones".

"Bet you're wondering what I am doing here huh?" he said, his tone changing slightly, to a not so cheery bright morning hello, to a very grumpy Booth, with a deep scowl on his face, maybe he needs coffee she wondered silently to herself.

"Yeah, the thought crossed my mind, since I just had new locks installed last night, or early this morning depending on how you look at it" she snapped back, He was making her feel strange, those intense eyes, he smelled so good, and the close proximity, must be I am still tired she thought hastily. That and I am not use to having my partner in bed with me, she amended to herself.

Starting to sit up, she had to get out of bed, and away from him. Before she could get any further, he quickly grabbed her, and dragged her back down into bed, pinning both of her arms beside her, his form looming over her, eyes boring down into hers. She found she couldn't move at all, and strangely, she didn't want to. She was mesmerized looking up into his eyes, and his strong form looming over her. For a moment, she felt she couldn't breathe.

"New locks work great when you actually engage the deadbolt Bones" he stated to her very matter of factly, eyes unwavering from her own.

"Of course I engaged the lock, my home was just broken into" she shot back to him "why wouldn't I lock it after something like that?" she snapped, trying to wiggle out from beneath him. This was getting to weird she thought to herself. I'm obviously not thinking clearly "And how the hell did you find out about that anyway?" she demanded, she didn't see anyone from the press lurking about after the police left. What, did he suddenly have surveillance on her now?

Without answering her, he went on "Bet you worked late last night, huh? You came home, found the mess, cops swooped in, left and you cleaned. You musta been pretty tired. Tired enough to forget a detail like that and another small detail of calling lets see, hello ME?" he said between clenched teeth. Going on, he said "I ran into a buddy of mine late last night a diner; turns out he was the officer on the scene. Imagine my surprise, finding out about this from him, and not YOU." He nearly shouted

He was so angry he couldn't see straight, but was slightly aroused at her beneath him, wiggling and making him think things he knew he shouldn't be thinking of, but somehow he didn't care.

"Why didn't you call me last night when you got home?" he asked her, lowering his voice a notch, and releasing her from beneath him. That didn't seem like a good spot for her right now given his current state of mind he realized guiltily. Come on, get a grip. She is your partner, a SQUINT; you must be desperate to be thinking these things!

"Booth, breaking and entering hardly seems like a FBI problem" she said, rolling away from him, snatching a sheet and enveloping herself in it as she scrambled out of bed, suddenly realizing her attire, and the way he was appraising her, it seemed like a good idea to cover herself.

"You could have gotten hurt. What if they were still in here? Did you even think of that? And what's going on with the brakes of your car? Did you know the lines were CUT Bones?" he demanded, getting up out of bed staring at her across the room.

"Cut?" she replied, brows furrowed; as she chewed on her lower lip "How would they be cut?" she asked aloud, more to herself than anyone else. "How do you know they were cut anyway?"

"Yes cut. I noticed the brake fluid around your rear tires, so I checked it out. Now get dressed, we are taking you car in for repair and we are going to talk about this" he demanded, pacing around the room, running his fingers through his hair.

"No, Booth, there is nothing to talk about. And I can get my car fixed on my own thanks. It was probably a harmless prank, you know? Brakes fail all the time. Maybe they got caught up on something…" she trailed off, shrugging.

"Oh, a prank huh? And the break in?" he questioned, eyebrows raised, hands on hips.

"The possibility of the two being related is highly unlikely" she said, voice strong, arms crossed. "Probably an obsessed fan or something, I mean, just last night alone, I got 2 prank calls" she advised him, looking smug at her retaliation.

"What do you mean prank calls? What kind of prank calls? What did they say? Was it here or at work?" he shot the questions out one after another, leaving her no time to answer any of them, striding across the room, he stood before her, where he now was less than a foot away from her, looking even more upset than he was before.

"You know, prank calls, generally someone unknown to the person answering, saying threatening or menacing words, before hanging up" she described a dictionary's description of the happening.

"Bones. Don't start with the intellectual crap. Answer the questions". He held her by the shoulders and looked down into her blue eyes.

With a sigh, she replied "Fine. I will tell you, but I need to shower, think I can handle that on my own, or would you like to see if you can help me out there too?" she said in a huff as she wrestled her way out of his grip and stormed off to the bathroom, slamming the door.

Booth just stood there, staring after her. What the hell just happened? How did he manage to fall asleep next to her? He had only intended on sitting there until she woke up, and he sure as hell didn't mean to wind his arm around her and pull her so close as they slept….did he? Shaking his head he wandered out to the kitchen to see about getting some coffee ready for his grumpy partner. She was going to drive him crazy. Seriously crazy.

After about 10 minutes, she re emerged, clad in a pair of jeans and a white tee shirt, obviously having showered, her hair was a mass of wet auburn strands surrounding her face. Booth just stood there a moment; coffee cup halfway raised to his lips, and stared at her, his mouth suddenly dry.

"What?" she asked him, eyes wide, eyebrows raised

"Oh, nothing. Nothing. Coffee is ready – cup on the table here" he gestured, watching her as she sat down and grasped the coffee cup.

"So tell me about these calls Bones" he said, trying to concentrate on the cup of coffee, not trusting himself to look up at her. Business as usual business as usual he chanted to himself. He must be more tired than he thought he surmised, why he was having such a problem with her this morning he wondered. Partner partner partner, just my partner he reminded himself.

Letting out a deep sigh, taking a sip of coffee, she put the cup down, and leaned back in her chair, and looked at him a moment before beginning. "Well there isn't much to tell. I was working late, got a call about me having been warned, and they hung up. Same general idea for the one I got here at home"

"Did you delete the messages?" he asked quickly, hoping he could have the techs at the FBI office could trace the calls, so he could get to the bottom of this, find out who was doing this to her.

"Of course I did, why would I keep them?" she answered, looking at him with a confused frown on her face

Scrubbing a hand over his face and groaning aloud he answered "Bones Bones Bones". Silent a moment, he knew he had to get out of there. She was having some strange effect on him, and he didn't trust himself to be around her. He could talk to her later about this, after a cold shower, more coffee and time to think.

"Alright you know what? I gotta go. I will call and check in with you later to get this straightened out. DO NOT erase any more messages if you get them, got that?" He stood quickly, grabbed his jacket he'd left in her room and left without so much as a backward glance.

'Well that was weird' she thought to herself. Shrugging, she glanced around her apartment, and decided she was going to call her mechanic, get a rental car, and go pick out some new furniture. Booth was acting strange this morning, she didn't have time to deal with him, she had too much going on. Hopefully he'd be back to normal when he checked with her later.

3 hours later

She finally got the car situation taken care of, she was not going to have the front end damage repaired right now, turns out she didn't even need to rent a car, the repair took only an hour and a half, and the mechanic was nice enough to tow her car for free, so long as she autographed a few books for his wife. That was something that she'd never get use to. Someone wanting her autograph. Shaking her head and smiling at the thought.

She also chose some new furniture for her home, which was going to be delivered later that day, as well as a new Pioneer stereo she was going to install also. The art however was going to be harder to replace. A lot of that came from Africa, and other locations she'd been on she thought sadly. Perhaps she'd take some home from her office at the Jeffersonian she thought.

She'd called and left a message for her building superintendent of her building letting him know she has some furniture that needs removal, and a good time to come and get it, and that she has a new key for her home also she needs to give him.

Happy she had everything taken care of, she decided she was going to head back home and work on her book for a while. Turning onto the freeway, it was nice for a change that the mid-morning traffic was very light. Paying little attention to the dark sedan following close behind her, she fiddled with the radio, seeking something to listen to. Signaling to move into the right lane, she was suddenly hit from behind. Shocked, she looked over her shoulder, spotting the dark car, following her very close behind. The car sped up as though it were going to pass her, and proceeded to hit her car hard from the side. Metal on the passenger side crumpled and the side window shattered at the impact, she tried desperately to control the car, which was difficult to handle while trying to avoid the other driver. Suddenly recalling it was a SPORTS car, she sped up, engine loud, driving faster than she'd ever driven, and made a sudden exit onto the front edge road. Pulling into a Motel parking lot, she sat, and shakily turned her car off. Why would someone do this? Looks like I will need a rental car at some point after all. Maybe this might be a good time to call Booth she thought. I'll call him when I get home she decided, restarting her car, and heading home.

End ch. 4