"Angela should be here any minute now."
Careful to take slow, deep breaths, Booth turned his head and glared at his partner.
"You said that twenty minutes ago."
She gave him a glare of her own, one so full of disdain it caused his glare to back down a notch.
"That's because she was due to arrive twenty minutes ago."
"Fine."
"Fine."
A few minutes passed before they heard a knock at the door and Angela's singsong voice calling out "Brennan? Sweetie? You there?"
Taking a deep breath, bracing herself for what was to come, Brennan let out a shout of her own.
"The door's open, Ange. Come on in."
"Thank God you didn't lock it." Booth muttered to his partner. Brennan grunted in reply.
They heard the swishing movement of the door over the floor's surface and the click of Angela's heels. Moments later, they heard the door swing shut.
"Brennan?"
Booth poked Brennan in the ribs. She looked at him, the embarrassment of their situation evident on her face. She shook her head.
Booth sighed. Angela knew Brennan was here. If she wasn't alerted as to their whereabouts, she was going to find them anyway. The constant movement of her heels told him that. It's not as though it would be difficult.
Giving himself a quick shake to psyche himself up, Booth added his voice to the proceedings.
"Angela?"
"Booth?! What are you doing here?"
"Em…well, I…that's to say, we…ah…could you come into Bones' bedroom?"
Angela's footsteps made an abrupt stop; so abrupt, Booth was afraid she might have walked into a wall.
He could nearly hear the smile in her reply.
"Why, Booth? What are you doing in her room?"
Exhaling quickly, Brennan gave Booth a "brace yourself" look. There was nothing they could do to avoid discovery. In fact, they really needed to be discovered.
"Angela, could you just come into my room please?"
Angela's steps started again. "Ok, but you know, if you guys are naked…" After a moment of processing this, her steps were audibly heard to quicken.
She arrived at the doorframe and peered in. As soon as she laid eyes on them, she broke out into hysterics.
The two partners glanced at each other. They knew they had to look ridiculous…but were they really THAT ridiculous looking?
Gasping for breath at their deadpan expressions, Angela made an attempt at getting an explanation. "So, what…how did this even happen? You just decided, let's handcuff each other?"
Booth settled himself back, preparing to launch into his story.
"Well, see, Bones told me she had this pair of handcuffs that were as strong, if not stronger, than the ones I have for work…"
Unable to stop her laughter, Angela giggled, "It seems kinda obvious that they're not "work" handcuffs."
Booth looked up at the fluffy pink ring encircling his wrist.
"No, definitely not for work. Anyway, she told me about these handcuffs…"
Brennan interrupted, desperate to get her side heard.
"Yes, but you'd already seen them and anyway, it wouldn't have been such a big deal if you hadn't been so determined to prove me wrong…"
Angela's eyebrows shot up.
"You'd seen them before, Booth? Do tell!"
Blushing deeply, remembering the circumstances leading up to that discovery, Booth shook his head.
"Nothing. Not an interesting story. Anyway, she told me about these cuffs and insisted…"
Brennan cut him off again.
"Stop trying to make this all my fault! YOU were the one who suggested we try them out. You were so positive they'd be incredibly flimsy. Why would I buy useless handcuffs, Booth? They need to be able to hold the guy down. No good otherwise. And YOU were the one who decided we should each attach a hand to my wardrobe." She gave him a very superior look.
Angela stood in front of them, shaking with uncontrollable laughter. She really didn't need it explained to her how they were imprisoned. Each sat with the hand nearest to the wardrobe's centre raised above their head, firmly enclosed within the handcuffs. For Booth, this was his left hand, for Brennan, her right.
"So…so you guys are really stuck?"
Both decided to emphasise the extent of their predicament at the same time and using the same action. They both jerked their enclosed hands forward. Unfortunately, the two forgot about the inevitable repercussions of this movement. The two wardrobe doors flew open and whacked the partners on the back of the head. They let out a yell, followed by numerous expletives. They both began furiously rubbing the injured spots with their free hands and glaring at each other.
Struggling to remain standing, Angela managed to choke out "But, what about the keys?"
This time Booth shot Brennan a superior look. Confident in the knowledge that there was nothing she could say to incriminate him, he answered, "Well, it was only after a while, once we were in the stupid things, that genius here remembered…"
"I AM a genius."
Booth glowered and raised his voice.
"Genius here remembered that she lost the keys."
Angela shook her head in disbelief.
"Oh, Brennan… So, you guys were kinda enjoying yourself until you realised you were stuck?" She smirked widely at the pair.
"What? No!"
The force of Booth's protest startled and annoyed Brennan.
"Excuse me? You don't like being handcuffed to me?"
"I…well, what I meant was…I do…maybe in a different context, but…hmm."
Angela raised an eyebrow. "Different context, huh?"
Realising he had made a mistake, Booth quickly tried to change the subject.
"Yeah, well…you should have seen her trying to escape. Decided the best way would be to climb on top of me and evaluate the situation from there. Nearly killed me."
Angela's curious, smiling gaze was shifted from Booth to his partner, who was huffing at his last comment.
"I did NOT nearly kill you…"
"You have thighs of steel!"
He looked to Angela for support and repeated "Of STEEL. I'm telling you."
Brennan dropped her head and muttered darkly to herself.
"And hips like knives, for that matter." Booth hastily shut up at the squinty-eyed scowl Brennan threw him.
Deciding that, as much fun as this was, it was really time to free them, Angela moved out of the room and rang Hodgins to ask his advice. In between giggles, she explained the situation to him, popping her head briefly back into the room, at his insistence, to ask where Brennan had bought such sturdy handcuffs (theirs were useless). She gave him a running commentary of the implements in Brennan's cutlery drawer. Within minutes she was back in the bedroom, the appropriate tool clasped in her hand.
It took longer than it possibly should have for them to be freed as Angela kept laughing and bouncing around. Eventually, the two were released. Upon standing, Booth kicked the offending handcuffs across the room.
Still chuckling to herself, Angela exited the room, shaking her head. Brennan followed closely behind, frantically rubbing her poor wrist.
At the doorway, Brennan turned and looked sympathetically at Booth.
"Don't worry. Next time we'll use ones with keys."
With that she flounced out the door, leaving Booth frozen, confounded, behind her.
"NEXT TIME??!!"