(The Yanks in the U.K.)

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I don't own Bones.

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Their first lectures were scheduled on the same day at almost the same time, so neither could attend the other's presentation which was fine with Booth since he knew he'd be a fish out of water at Brennan's lecture. "How'd it go? I bet you kept them on their toes."

Spooning up some of her soup, Brennan paused to answer the question. "My audience was very attentive and Dr. Wexler was quite amusing." The vegetable broth was quite good and Brennan continued to eat it while it was still hot.

Booth's lecture had gone well too and he'd received a lot of offers for drinks at the nearest pub from the policemen who had attended his lecture. "I think mine went pretty good too. Some of the guys wanted me to go out and get a drink with them, but I told them I had a date. I don't think they believed me, but I don't care. Drinks with them wasn't going to better than being with you." The beef on his plate was a little rarer than he was used to, so he hoped the blood on his plate didn't gross out his girlfriend. "So, Dr. Wexler . . . isn't he the professor that invited you over here?"

"Yes. He is very flirtatious." Brennan had found Wexler's advances toward her to be interesting, but his persistence had caused her to finally explain to him that she was in a relationship with someone else. "And he is quite handsome and very charming."

Carefully placing his knife and fork down, Booth looked at Brennan and tried to figure out if he had anything to worry about. "Since I'm going to be free tomorrow, I think I'd like to attend your second lecture. I've never been to Oxford and I think I'd like to see it."

"The architecture is quite interesting. Oxford is the oldest surviving university in the English speaking world. It has been in existence since at least 1096." Brennan noticed that Booth had stopped eating. "Aren't you hungry? You said you were earlier."

"Oh yeah, it's just a little rarer than I like that's all." Booth picked up his fork and speared a piece of the cut meat. "I hope it's not grossing you out. I could order something else."

The sight of the blood pooling round the piece of meat on the plate was a little off putting, but Brennan kept her eyes away from her partner's plate of food. "No, I'm fine." So far, she had managed to get Booth to each two vegetarian meals a week, but she knew he would never give up eating meat entirely. "My soup is quite good."

They continued their meal, talking about what they planned to do after Brennan's lecture the next day. Booth still had hopes of seeing at least one castle before they left England and Brennan was determined to help him fulfill his wish.

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He didn't like Ian Wexler the minute Booth met him. The professor was very charming and the man knew it which made him almost unbearable to be around as far as Booth was concerned. Wexler's constant flirting with Brennan was starting to irritate Booth to the point of distraction and Brennan had finally picked up on that fact. "Dr. Wexler, Booth and I have enjoyed our visit, but we must be on our way now. We plan to take a trip into the country to see Hever Castle this afternoon."

Disappointed that such a beautiful woman was immune to his charms, Ian sighed and bowed his head slightly. "Well, it was indeed a pleasure to meet you Dr. Brennan . . . oh and Agent Booth of course. Perhaps we can get together before you return back to America."

Not if I can help it, Sport. "Maybe, we'll see." Booth knew that Brennan hated for him to talk for her, but he wanted nothing to do with the smarmy professor after they left Oxford. "Come on Bones, we have a train to catch." Capturing her hand in his hand, Booth gave her his brightest smile. "Didn't you say that Hever Castle has a moat around it? That sounds so cool."

A quick good-bye to her host and Brennan followed Booth to the car he had rented. "Yes, it does. In fact, it has two moats."

"Cool." They had debated going to the Hever Castle and the Leeds Castel and Brennan had thought Booth would like the Hever Castle the best. "Riding an English train will be pretty interesting too. I've never been on anything other than Amtrak."

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The tour of Hever Castle had been fascinating to the couple and after eating a late leisurely lunch, they had returned to London to find they had several messages waiting for them at the front desk of their hotel. "Shit Bones, Scotland Yard wants our help with a case. Some American has got herself murdered and I guess her father is raising hell . . . Damn it, I didn't come over here to work."

After she read her messages, Brennan handed them to Booth to read. "Apparently, Dr. Wexler consults with Scotland Yard in a similar capacity like I do with the FBI and he is asking me to help with the case, the one that Scotland Yard would like your help with . . . Do you wish to do it? I think it would be an excellent opportunity to show Scotland Yard how we work a case together."

Resigned to the fact that Brennan was interested in the case and she was just waiting for him to give in, Booth sighed and nodded his head. "Okay, but I'm doing this under protest. Scotland Yard doesn't need our help. This is just some political bullshit and you know it."

Brennan didn't know that at all. "Or they just want to use our expertise. We do have an exemplary solve rate and they may just wish to take advantage of our experience."

He didn't believe that for a minute, but Booth decided to let Brennan's statement stand. He just hoped they solved the murder quickly, so they could go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace before it was time to go home.

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Booth had been right, the only reason why he had been invited on the case was because the father of the murdered woman was a rich American businessman and the man had thrown his weight around to get the FBI involved in the case. Since Booth didn't have any jurisdiction in England, he found the whole thing to be exasperating. He had had to beg for a gun from Scotland Yard Inspector Cate Prichard and it seemed to him that Prichard was trying to keep a tight rein on him which interfered with his investigative style. He also found that he loathed driving in England and he wanted to go back home as soon as possible. Why the English insisted on driving on the wrong side of the road was beyond him and he wasn't about to ask Brennan. He knew that would invite a long history lesson about transportation and he wasn't in the mood.

The case ended up being an odd one, with the butler of a Duke claiming that he had committed the murder. Booth didn't believe him, but if the man wanted to take the fall for murder he couldn't do anything to stop it. "I'll be damned if I went down for a murder I didn't commit."

Since Brennan wasn't really sure if the butler had done it or not, she just shrugged her shoulders. "Family loyalties can run deep I suppose. It is how the aristocracy in many countries have kept their power over the centuries." As they drove back to London, Brennan watched the road ahead to make sure that Booth remembered to drive on the left side of the road. He had had a few near misses while driving in England and she wanted to make sure they survived the trip back to London. "It was an interesting case and you did get to see a manor house as well as a castle."

"Yeah, I guess so." As he concentrated on the road, Booth had to admit to himself that the case had been fun if not a bit weird. "Still, I want to go home before something else happens and they try to keep us here. I don't plan on us being here any longer than we have to be. I don't like working vacations and I don't trust them not to find something else for us to do."

It had been fun to work a case with Scotland Yard, but Inspector Prichard's seeming interest in Booth had become a source of irritation to Brennan and she was ready to go home. "We can pack when we get back to our hotel room and I can make a few calls to see if there are any vacant seats available for a trip back to the United States tonight."

"Sounds good to me."

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Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.

Guest: I have a lot of law enforcement officers and military in my family and they curse a lot. In this case, I'm trying to write Booth more realistically, but I've actually toned down his language. If he talked like real leo and military talked his conversations would be laced with a lot more blue words than I use in my stories. Keep in mind network television doesn't like curse words on their shows as they have to answer to the FCC.