Rated: T With strong language
Pairings: Booth/Cam (for a short time) Brennan/other Angela/Hodgins Booth/Brennan
Dr. Sayoran forces Brennan to make a decision that has repercussions for everyone. Now, Booth has a choice to make. Will he be too late?
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AN: Three things: I've been w/o the internet or a notebook to write for three
days. I'm a bit insane.
After Wednesday's ep I no longer dislike Cam. I can still bitch and rave
about some of her actions and attitudes but she's growing on me. Still
don't think she's right for Booth I don't think they would
last together very long.
Lastly, I'm changing the rating. Several people have stated that they
would have to stop reading when it became M rated and I have young girls
who have been reading my notebooks as I write. I've been assured by
several people that the sex would be gratuitous anyway, soooooo. I'll
take it all down, change the rating, and it will probably reappear on
the main page shortly.
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Angela nearly caught Booth listening at her door when she opened it to meet Jack in the parking lot.
He jumped back pretending he had returned to ask her something else. He thougth quickly. "What if I find out something on Bones' father? How am I supposed to get in touch with her? I swore to her I wouldn't stop looking."
The acid look Angela was giving him was joined by a look from Hodgins he was almost afraid to interpret.
"What's wrong with her cell phone? Besides, you haven't found him in the past few months why do
you think you'll find him now?"
"He'll have more time. He's not working with the Jeffersonian any more."
"Oh, I thought he'd be spending that extra time with Cam." Jack tried to close the door as Booth was walking through it. He barely got a hand up before it hit his nose.
"I'm not seeing Cam any more. You know that."
"Why would I know that?"
"Angela told...She knows and I'm sure she's told you. She's probably told everyone by now."
He almost let slip that he had heard the artist tell him so earlier.
"So, anything? Mass murder or natural progression?"
Booth started at the out of place question from Hodgins.
"I haven't talked to Bren. She either goes straight to bed or straight to work when she gets there.
She'll call when she feels like it."
"Well, I have my stuff up and running if she needs analysis but,"
"But?" Angela smiled at the little boy sparkle in the blue eyes.
"The board wants us all back. They've even offered Zack a permanent position as assistant to Brennan.
Meaning when she goes off on these assignments he'll carry on with the bodies in limbo and whatever
new ones come in."
"Wow. Hope he gets along with the new agent the FBI is sending in."
"The FBI is not sending in anybody new! I work with Bones! That's the way it goes!"
"That's funny cause Goodman said something about a Belushi or Beltouchy something like that." Jack smirked.
"Bartucci." Booth growled."That idiot isn't getting any where near Bones." He knew he was being unfair.
Marc Bartucci was a good agent. He had several years seniority on Booth and was known to be a loyal
husband and father. Booth just didn't trust any one else to protect Temperance Brennan. The one time he
had made that mistake the bastard tried to murder her. He wasn't going to touch upon his own failings
again.
"Booth, why are you still here? Jack didn't bring enough lunch for three. In other words, you are not invited. Good bye." She walked him to the door and firmly closed it behind him.
As she turned around Jack's arms slipped around her waist and she lay her head on his shoulder. "I think I've lost my appetite."
"For food or..."
Booth was pretty sure he didn't want to hear any more as he finally walked away.
Brennan put her fists on her back at her hip bones, her thumbs digging into her spine, and leaned back slightly, stretching her muscles. She looked up to see that the sun which had been bright and high when she began her work was now low in the west and nearly covered by the horizon. She noticed the people around her moving efficiently to bag and tag the bones she had dug out that day. She could then classify them at the make shift lab the University had set up. Two dark heads towered over the others as they worked.
"Eric, Jaime?" She asked her two companions.
They gave almost identical smiles. "We felt kind of useless just sitting there so we offered to help when they started moving things. There's something us muscle bound types are good for."
Brennan smiled at the two men. "Well, did you two muscle men eat anything? I'm starved!"
Jamie laughed. "You don't remember? I tried to get you to come with us for ten minutes. Then I brought you back a sandwich. You ate with one hand and dug with the other."
"Then why am I so hungry?"
"Could be cause that was six hours ago." Eric replied. "You do get single minded about things, don't you?"
"You have no idea." Jaime said. Tempe turned an incredulous look on him.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. Nothing. You're just very focused when you're working."
Eric shot him an odd look over Brennan's head. He had put an emphasis on 'working' that meant anything but. He'd wait until he got the other man back to their rooms. He'd find out Temperance Brennan's secrets even if they have to come from his prisoner.
"So, what do feel up to eating? We could go back to the diner or do you prefer one of the more upscale restaurants?"
"Right now, as long as it's hot, filling and semi tasteful I don't care. What ever is closest."
"The diner it is then. Lead on, McDuff." Jamie raised a brow at Eric. "Not McDuff."
He opened the door to allow his companions to enter then followed them to a booth where he slid in and motioned for Tempe to sit beside him. This brought a questioning look from the FBI agent. "She likes to sit on the outside. Booth doesn't usually let her, though."
The look he received from the woman seated beside him should have scorched him where he sat but he smiled at her and patted her hand. She focused her look across the table.
"Does the FBI give a class in that?"
"Excuse me?"
"The charm smile. Is there a class in how to get women to do what you want by giving them the charm smile?"
Eric was taken aback while Jamie laughed. "Not to my knowledge. Nor have I ever been accused of using a 'charm smile' for any reason."
"I find that hard to believe. You have a very charming smile." Brennan flashed her own charm smile as she flirted.
The waitress interrupted before the flirting could get embarrassing to the third person in their party.
The two men sat amazed as Temperance finished off several thick slabs of roast beef, a mountain of potatoes, fresh beans and a lemon tart. Jamie shook his head.
"If I didn't know how you work all of that off I'd have to wonder if you used some other means to get rid of all that."
She looked at him. "You mean like bulimia. I never understood that. The body is a machine. It needs a certain amount of fuel to function. The stomach can only hold so much food at any one time. If you eat until you are only just full the body should naturally burn it off. If you overeat it holds fuel in reserve but to intentionally purge fuel I don't get. It would be like fillng a tank on a plane and then dumping it minutes after takeoff when you have a three hour flight ahead of you. It doesn't work. You should give your body what it needs to complete your day's task without running out of fuel or having too much left over. It's so simple."
Jamie looked at Eric his lips drawn up in a smirk. "Like I said, focussed."
The next several days passed in much the same way. It was a huge burial site and it would all have to be excavated. The find was actually made when the local university was preparing to lay fooundations for its new branch. They would have to have proof positive before the government would let them proceed.
Eric and Jamie would make sure that Brennan would take appropriate breaks to eat or stretch her muscles.
Sometimes just to get out of the sun or put on a jacket when the rapidly cooling air had her shivering.
Of course, she'd shed it a short time later as it seemed to get in her way as she was working. Their
fellow workers, along with the locals who often came out to watch their progress, were often amused by the
power play between the two men and the beautiful woman. Who was in charge was an often debated question.
By the eighth day Bones could barely move. She kept repeating the mantra of mind over matter as she moved about her duties. Eric noticed her wince every time she moved too quickly or in the wrong manner. After seeing her bite her lip one too many times he put a hand on her lower back and replaced the one she had there. He gave a quick finger pulsing massage.
"Maybe you could take the afternoon off. Give your back a rest."
"I really need to finish the excavation. If weather predictions are correct, storm fronts will be moving
in within the week and will stick around for a while. I can do lab work then so this needs to be finished"
She let out an appreciative sound as the tension left her body and her shoulders lowered from where they
had been hunched up around her ears. "You have a talent for massage."
"My mother had multiple sclerosis. My brother, sister and I used to take turns giving her massages when it would act up." He moved his hand up around her neck and rubbed away the stiffness there. "Better?"
"Mmm. Yes. Thank you." She rolled her head around, her hair rubbing softly against the hand he still had on her neck.
He swallowed. "Well, why don't you finish up here, we'll eat and get cleaned up. I'll give you a rub down and we can get rid of all this tension."
Tempe's eyes flew open to see the mortified face of Agent Stevens. Aah! She suspected he had not meant the double entendre but... "Yes, I think a release of tension would be an excellent idea." She gave him a half smile then took a couple of steps away and bent down to get back to her digging.
Booth was waiting impatiently for Chuck to finish a meeting. He needed information and no one was giving it to him. He couldn't find Bones. Zack was at school, deep into his dissertations and supposedly not in contact with anyone. Dr. Goodman would no longer take his calls, Angela wouldn't answer her phone or her door and Hodgins laughed at him. He was really beginning to hate Hodgins.
So, he was here waiting for Chuck. Chuck was an electronic genius. Chuck had everyone's phones tapped.
Chuck could track cell phone locations. Chuck could find Bones. Chuck would find Bones. If Chuck would
ever get out of this damn meeting! Okay, Chuck was doing this as a favor to him, the meeting he was in
was probably a paying client. It still didn't stop Booth from wanting to stalk in there and throw out the
idiot who was holding up his answers. Booth walked around Chuck's workroom. Maybe he could find some
answers on his own. He picked up different objects around the room. He looked through eye pieces, listened
to old tape players, he had just sat down at an ancient Apple desk top when he saw the usurper wander out of
Chuck's office. Amen! He was across the room before Chuck could speak.
"Tell me something. Tell me anything. No. Tell me you've found Bones."
Chuck just looked at his old friend and shook his head. "Dr. Brennan has gotten three calls to her cell
number this week. One from a Los Angeles based land line. That was confirmed to be a publishing agent.
The other two came from the same number. A number based in Scheveningen, The Hague."
"Hah! I knew she told Cullen she was going to Europe. Angela tried to tell me she was in Canada."
Chuck raised an eyebrow. "Ms. Montenegro has placed two phone calls and recieved one call from that same number. We were able to get sporatic recordings."
"What did they say? Can I listen?" Booth was almost afraid to hear.
"Sure. Have a seat." Chuck pulled up an audio file on his computer opened it and left the room.
"H'lo"
"Ang?"
"Bren? Hey! What's up?"
"Did I wake you? I thought I figured the time difference right."
"No. Well, yeah, sorta I was kind of taking a nap." There was a background noise.
Brennan gasped. "Oh! Is Jack there? Am I interrupting?"
"No, honey. We were napping, really. We'd, you know, for a while and we were resting."
"Oh, okay. Well, I was just checking in. Letting you know I was okay."
"How's the dig going?"
"It's big. Alot bigger than I thought. It may take awhile."
"Well, if you need help let us know. We'll be there in no time."
"Between Homeland Security and Airport Security and everything else you have to go through to leave the country right now it would take alot more than no time. But it's a nice idea. I'll keep it in mind. I miss you guys."
"We miss you too, sweetie."
"Okay, I'm going to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay, bye, sweetie."
"Bye, Ang."
Booth rolled his eyes. A few seconds later there was another click.
"Hey, Ang."
"So, tell me all about it."
Sigh. "So far we've removed about thirty four complete skeletons of all ages. I'd say some of them have been buried at least 600 years, others not more than 300. Nothing fresher than that so far."
"So that's all under control. What ab----" There was 3.26 minutes of static followed by
"and they've been amazingly helpful. You wouldn't believe it. These two 6'4" men treating me like a china doll. I've taken turns calling each of them 'Mother'."
Angela giggled. "I'm glad you can do that, sweetie. I'm glad someone can make you feel that way again."
"What way?"
"Protected. Like you've always got someone on your side."
"Yeah. It feels really good. Speaking of that. I spoke with Russ yesterday. I told him almost everything."
"Almost?"
"Yeah. I didn't think he needed to know the identity of one of my 'Mothers'."
"Ah. That might have been wise."
"Yeah. Damn, it's starting to rain. I've got to go cover my dig. Bye, Ang."
"Bye, sweetie."
Booth's hand hitting the top of the desk made the laptop jump. Why would she not want her brother to know who was with her. It could only mean it was someone who was trouble.
The next click brought only static before it was disconnected three minutes later.
Another click caught his attention.
"Hey. Where are you?"
"We're at the miniature city. There's a celebration today, so no work."
"Ah. So who's 'we'?"
"Most of the dig crew."
"Mm hm. Is it nice? I've always wanted to see the Madurodam."
"It's charming, Ang. You should see it."
"I'm working on that. Dr. Goodman and the Board of Directors have formally offered all of us our jobs back."
"That's great! I'm happy for you."
"No, honey. ALL of us. It's not happening without you. Cam is no longer the head of forensics. They know they made a mistake there. She'll still work but it will be on an even keel. And, she has to walk a narrow line to stay on."
"Oh."
"Bren, you are coming back, right?"
"I, I don't know. What about Zack?"
"He'll have a permanent place as your second as soon as he gets his doctorate. He'll also be allowed to go
on expeditions when he wants. He's thrilled with the set up. But, it all depends on you. What do you say,
Bren?"
"Let me think about, Ang. I'll let you know, okay. Look I have to go. I'll talk to you later."
"Bren? Bren? She hung up on me!"
The line disconnected.
Booth groaned. This was not what he expected at all. Voices caught his attention.
"Jack?"
"Brennan! Hey. How are things going over there? Find anything interesting?"
"Well, not as far as bugs are concerned but thee are some plant remains that might help us pin point our time line more accurately."
"Are you saying you may need my help?"
"Are you and Ang still thinking of coming for a few days?"
"You bet. Hey, Ang! Brennan's on the phone. Get your sexy butt out here." Laughter from all three.
"Hey. What's up?"
"Well, it seems your boyfriend is excited about some plant life we found and he and your sexy butt will be visiting after all."
"woohoo, when?"
"We have at least another week to ten days in the field. So, you can wait until then if he wants to be busy when he gets here or you know plan your own itenerary."
"Okay, we'll talk to a travel agent and let you know."
"Alright. It's time for me to go to bed. I'm exhausted. Bye, Ang."
"Night, Bren."
The file closed. Booth rose and went to find Chuck.
"I need to find a travel agent who can get me to The Netherlands as soon as possible. What was the name of that city?"
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