Hey all, just wanted to thank everyone for the great comments and insight, I'm really having a great time writing this –it's like a Bonesy summer in my head, all the time!

Day Two: Cam

Cam loved the city. The smell of rain on the pavement, the lights, the hustle, the horns – the whole package. And it wasn't just in New York or D.C., either; you could pretty much pick a city, and she could give you something that made it magic. Boston, Phoenix, San Fran, Paris, Rome, London, Tokyo, Berlin… Hell, she'd even been to Detroit and managed to find something charming about the snow and the dirty streets and the old, abandoned factories – like she'd stepped into a scene from the Depression or something. Except, you know, with graffiti and gangs and tripped out Lincoln Navigators.

What Cam didn't love? The woods. For her eighth birthday, her father had decided that a weekend of camping would be the perfect gift; she could remember dreading it for weeks. The night before they were supposed to go, she'd overheard an argument between her parents.

"You take that child into the woods and I'm telling you, she'll be miserable," she heard her mother say. "Cami wasn't born for roughing it – the girl's got better sense than that."

About three hours into their drive deep into the wilds of upstate New York, both of them silent and Cam sitting tensely in the front of their old Plymouth, her father pulled a u-turn and switched direction. Instead of camping, they got a hotel in the city; they caught a show, hit the museums, and even managed to get some quality outdoor time – in Central Park. It was one of her favorite memories of her father.

Something that would not go down as a favorite memory? Being woken by a freakishly good looking Norse god ringing a cowbell at five-thirty in the morning. She didn't give a rat's ass how good a man looked in shorts or how mind-blowing he might be in bed, a cowbell before dawn just wasn't worth it.

Still, she was supposed to be in charge and this had, after all, been her idea. Well – technically it was Sweets' idea, but she was the one who pushed the paperwork through and ordered everyone to get their asses into the van. So, she bit her lip to keep from complaining and stumbled out of the tent she was sharing with Angela and Brennan, pausing just long enough to wrestle her hair into a ponytail. It was the woods, and it was five-thirty in the morning, but it was no excuse to let herself go to hell.

The sun hadn't quite passed the horizon yet, but the men – and that chipper little blonde demon, Belle – looked like they'd been up for hours. Cam knew from experience that Seeley was a morning person – just one of about a dozen reasons why they never would have worked out. He wore running shorts that, despite everything, reminded her quite effectively of a few of his assets. Hodgins was a surprise, though – she'd just assumed he wasn't the kind of guy who liked this sort of thing: early mornings, no civilization, an alarming lack of mental stimulation. She'd also assumed he wasn't the kind of guy who looked good out of his coveralls, but apparently she was wrong about that, too - he wore cargo shorts and a form fitting blue t-shirt, and there was no way in hell she was prepared for Jack Hodgins to have gorgeous calves and a ripped upper body.

She decided she'd stepped into an alternate universe. A very cold, drizzly, gray alternate universe. Jack, Seeley, Sweets, Tripp, and Belle were all running in place like hyperactive chimpanzees. With great restraint, Cam swallowed about half a dozen biting comments and managed a smile.

"Okay. So – running. Before dawn." She took a breath. "How fun."

Angela followed her outside the tent looking murderous. "Where's the coffee?" she managed.

Jack had a cup ready, which he thrust into her waiting hand without a word. Cam had the sense the same scene had played out between the two of them before.

Dr. Brennan emerged next. One side of her hair was standing on end, but she still managed to look annoyingly good. Her attitude was better than Angela's, but it definitely didn't match the men's level of enthusiasm.

"We're running again?" she asked Cam. "But we did that yesterday."

Cam shrugged. "Apparently, running is a daily form of torture here."

Of course, Seeley was oblivious to everyone else as soon as he caught sight of his partner. Which was fine, of course. Okay, once upon a time Cam had been a little annoyed about the whole "Bones/Booth" phenomenon, basically dismissing Brennan as an overachieving, socially inept lab rat with the emotional depth of a wet towel. But all that changed about the time Brennan laid her partner out at his alleged funeral. If a woman could generate that kind of passion, there was clearly some potential.

Seeley jogged up to his partner with a grin and a cup of coffee, which she accepted without acknowledging.

"How long have you been awake?" Cam heard her ask him.

He shrugged. "I don't know – about half an hour, I guess. We heard the granola squad rustlin' around out here, figured we'd come check it out."

She stared at him blankly. "Granola squad – I don't know what that means."

Cam rolled her eyes and decided it was probably best to focus on something else. Like getting herself some coffee, since it seemed that no one was gonna be laying any at her feet anytime soon. Before she'd gotten more than a mouthful of the strongest, most wretched stuff she'd ever tasted, however, Tripp was up and at 'em again.

"Okay, gang – this is the way our mornings will be starting for the next week. You guys ready to run?"

The men (and Belle) responded with a raucous, "Yeah!" Angela was curled up in the fetal position hiding her head in her arms, while Brennan was off to the side of the campsite, crouched over something Cam couldn't quite make out, poking at it with a stick. Cam sighed. So, clearly it was up to her. She took a deep breath, forced her eyes wide open, and took in the world around them.

Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was gray, and disturbingly quiet and completely devoid of ethnic diversity. But, the way the fog came up off the water was definitely pretty, and the smell of salt and pine needles in the air was undeniably appealing. It was time to rally.

"All right, ladies," she shouted to Angela and Brennan. "We're runnin'."

They ran the same mile-long circuit they'd done the day before. Booth and Hodgins were obviously racing – which was pathetic – while Sweets was clearly holding back so that Belle could keep pace with him. Angela and Brennan brought up the rear, talking more than they ran, and Cam was pleasantly surprised to find herself keeping company alongside Tripp.

"So, Cam," he said, loud enough that everyone could hear. "We didn't get to hear about that one thing no one knows about you, last night."

She'd actually been thinking about that one for a while – ever since the question came up. There was a line here that she definitely didn't want to cross; trust among colleagues was all well and good, but the last thing she wanted was to compromise her position of authority. The problem, as she saw it, was that most of the quasi-personal things she would tell anyone here, were things Seeley already knew. So, she'd finally come up with something that was personal, but not so personal that no one would ever look at her the same way.

"Well…" she said, barely winded from the light pace they were keeping (thank god for spinning class, she thought to herself). "I paid most of my undergrad tuition with money I made in a band."

Seeley turned around and ran backward for a few seconds, his eyebrows up just a hair when he looked at her. "Really? You never told me that."

She shrugged, pleased with his response.

"What'd you play?" Sweets asked immediately.

"Bass," she said, slightly uncomfortable now that it seemed everyone was watching her. "So, Jack," she raised her voice to get his attention, now that he was leading the pack. "What about you? We never got to hear about your little secret history."

Before he could respond, however, they reached the end of the run – which meant it was time for the dip. Cam had been a lifeguard once upon a time, so it's not like she had a problem with the water. But this wasn't exactly the swimming pool at the Y. It was high tide, the sea water now deep and dark and cold, lapping menacingly at the edges of the dock. Apparently, Outward Bound didn't believe in easing into anything – it was all about the shock factor; no dipping a toe in first or getting acclimated to the temperature.

Hodgins and Booth both stripped down to their shorts and raced off the dock, doing cannonballs to see who could make the bigger splash. Belle just kind of hopped in, and then Sweets – stripped down now to pink shorts that made him look strikingly similar to a flamingo with those long, skinny legs of his – was showing off, pretending to lean up against a railing that wasn't there. He went in with a splash and a holler, and then it was up to the women (and Tripp, who looked like he was prepared for some kind of meltdown).

Definitely not gonna happen. Without ceremony, Cam stripped down to her bathing suit, took a deep breath, and jumped in.

To the coldest water in the history of the world. No joke. There'd never been colder water than this. Finland? Iceland? Those weird polar bear clubs where people went swimming in the middle of winter? This was their gig, not Cam's. Gasping, she treaded water and waited to see if anyone was getting out yet. But apparently, it was bad protocol to get out before everyone was in.

And Angela and Brennan weren't in yet.

Angela was freaking out. Not a lot, but she was doing that stubborn thing with her eyebrows up and her jaw set, her arms crossed over her chest – that kind of bitchy look the artist almost never got, but Cam recognized it because she got it herself sometimes. The look that said, "Don't fuck with me, because I will eat you alive. And then pick my teeth with your bones."

Tripp was about to say something, but to Cam's surprise, Brennan intervened. She was dying to hear what the women were saying, but couldn't make out a word over her own chattering teeth. A minute or two later, though, Angela looked more relaxed. The women stood together at the edge of the dock, looked at each other, and held hands. Brennan was grinning, not a trace of fear in her eyes, but Angela didn't look happy – she closed her eyes tightly, the entire group counted to three, and they were in. It wasn't a big thing, but the intimacy of it just kind of hit Cam wrong – she got this weight in her chest, and she didn't know why but in that second all she could think of was Zack.

It was just a flash, but it was enough to bring tears to her eyes and make her dunk her head underwater, just to get herself back in the game. Everyone here had their own language, their own history – they got each other, belonged together. Hell, between her and Seeley, and Seeley and Brennan, and Hodgins and Angela, it was definitely the most incestuous office she'd ever worked in. But Zack was hers. He and Brennan had their moments, he and Jack had their experiments, but Cam just felt like she'd had a connection with Zack – like he was the wildly out-of-touch little brother she'd never had.

She climbed back up on the dock ringing wet and freezing to death, goosebumps forming on her dark skin, her nipples so tight it felt like they were trying to climb inside her body for warmth, cold ocean water pooling at her feet. Seeley was hopping in place beside Brennan, and he took his towel and started drying her hair with it until she was laughing and grumbling and trying to push him away all at once. Jack took his own towel and wrapped it around Angela without a word, but Cam didn't miss the look of understanding that passed between them. Sweets and Belle were already headed back to the tents, deep in conversation, so Cam dried herself off, gathered her things, and followed them. Alone.

Before long, everyone was dried off and re-dressed and had eaten some kind of horrible granola gruel thing that reassured Cam that, at the very least, she wouldn't have to worry about packing on the pounds this week… After that, it was time to set out on expedition. They carried the kayaks to the boat launch, then Belle took center stage to explain how it would all work.

"So, like we all learned yesterday, these are tandem kayaks – which means you'll be partnered up and you and your partner will work as a team over the course of each day's expedition."

Booth took a step toward Brennan, making it pretty clear that he wanted them to be partners. Brennan looked hesitantly at Angela, who Cam guessed had probably already foreseen this. Luckily, though, so had the instructors.

"Rather than having you guys kind of stick with the people you're most comfortable with, we're gonna mix things up a little."

Tripp took off his Outward Bound hat, and handed everyone a scrap of paper and a pencil.

"Just write your name on the paper, and we'll choose this way each morning," Tripp said, interrupting before Booth could protest. "This way, everyone should get a chance to work with everyone else and you have an opportunity to really get to know everyone on the team."

Cam groaned inwardly when it was her time to choose. She actually liked everyone here, so it wasn't like it would be a big deal working with anyone, as long as she didn't get –

"Dr. Brennan," she said, forcing enthusiasm into her voice as she read the scrap of paper in her hand.

Seeley and Jack were also paired together, which left Sweets and Angela. Cam consoled herself with the knowledge that no one else was happy with the pairings for the day, either. Brennan started to object, but wisely stopped at a look Cam didn't miss from Seeley.

Once everyone was standing beside the right kayak, suited up and ready to hit the water, Tripp resumed the instruction.

"Now, we learned yesterday that when you're in a tandem kayak, both members of the team are crucial."

"That isn't correct," Brennan said immediately, missing the point entirely. "The person in the back is the one responsible for steering as well as the one with the most control in terms of moving the kayak forward. Technically speaking, a tandem kayak would function just fine with only one person seated at the stern, but navigating with a single kayaker in the bow would be almost impossible."

Tripp nodded patiently. Gorgeous, and a saint to boot. "Well, yes – you're correct to an extent, Temperance. But the person in the front is the one who guides the team through whatever's up ahead, whether its shallows or seaweed or a rocky shoreline. And believe me, having a second body to help with the physical act of paddling is huge once you start racking up the miles the way we're gonna this week."

"Yes, but you said – "

Booth cut her off. "You're right, okay Bones? The person in the back's got all the control. Doesn't change the fact that you still need to go somewhere and it would suck paddling alone. It's called teamwork."

She seemed to accept this, and Cam had to restrain herself from sighing out loud in relief. Thank god for Seeley Booth.

Once that had been resolved, Cam turned to Brennan and the two women said at exactly the same time,

"I'll take the back."

Hodgins and Booth were having the same argument the next kayak over. In fact, it seemed like Angela was the only person who didn't want to steer. She and Sweets figured things out immediately, and were happily chatting away while the remaining four argued.

Finally, Tripp intervened between Cam and Brennan while Belle talked to Hodgins and Booth.

"So," Tripp said. "Why don't we just flip a coin to see who goes where?"

Brennan looked like she might have a problem with this plan as well, but after a second or two shrugged.

"Fine."

Tripp smiled. "Okay – Cam, why don't you call it?"

"Wait, why does she get to – " Brennan objected. Before the nightmare could continue, Cam held up her hand.

"You call it then, I really don't care."

Brennan nodded, appearing honestly pleased at the concession.

"Heads," she said promptly.

The coin went into the air, flipping gracefully before Tripp caught it and slapped it onto his tanned, muscular forearm.

"Tails it is," he announced after a second.

Brennan looked mortified. "Wait – I meant to say tails."

"It's not a big deal, Brennan," Cam assured her. "We're a team – "

"Well, then, why don't you sit in front and let me steer?"

Tripp shook his head, before the argument could start all over again. "Sorry, Temperance – that's just the way it goes sometimes."

"There are rocks up ahead – paddle left, paddle left!" Brennan was shouting over her shoulder, intense as ever.

"How far up ahead?" Cam asked calmly, because she'd learned after two hours steering with Brennan that it was best not to panic about these kinds of things.

"About fifty yards," the anthropologist told her.

Cam nodded. "Okay. Then in about forty yards, I'll start paddling left. For now, we're probably all right."

Hodgins and Booth weren't faring any better. Even though Booth was in charge, every so often Cam would hear Hodgins say,

"Rocky shoals aft, rocky shoals aft!" to which Seeley would shout,

"I told you – right or left? Right or left! You're just doin' that to piss me off."

They started the day out by paddling along the coastline, but by early afternoon – with the fog cleared and the sun high in the sky – they hit the open ocean. Their goal was Hurricane Island, apparently a good ten miles from Wheeler Bay. Luckily, there was no wind and the seas were calm, so they had that going for them. And again, it was definitely pretty. Not as pretty as, say, Fifth Avenue around Christmas or Paris just after a spring rain… But it was pretty.

Once they'd settled into a rhythm, she shouted up to Brennan in the bow in an attempt to start a conversation.

"So, Temp – uh, Brennan. How did you get Angela to jump this morning?"

She turned her head slightly, and Cam was relieved to find a smile there instead of that perplexed look she usually got when she was asked a question.

"I said I'd tell her which musician I dated," she shouted.

That got Booth's attention – a minute later, he and Jack pulled their kayak up alongside Cam and Brennan's, paddling slightly ahead so that Booth and Brennan were side by side.

"You can't tell her something like that before you tell your partner."

The perplexed look returned. "Why not?"

"Because it's not what partners do, Bones. I tell you stuff, you tell me stuff. That's the way it works."

"You didn't tell me about playing professional hockey," Brennan pointed out.

"C'mon, Bren," Jack piped up. "Maybe Cam knows the guy, since she was a big time rock star herself back in the day."

"I never said I was a big time rock star," Cam said loudly. "I said I put myself through college playing bass."

Angela and Sweets pulled up on the other side of them.

"Yeah, but I've dated musicians, honey," Angela said. "And I'm sorry – not one of them could pay for dinner with the money they made playing out, forget putting themselves through school."

Sweets nodded. "It's true – there's just not a lot of money in it, unless you're fairly well known. What was the name of the band?"

Why, oh why, had she brought this up? "Phallic Friction," she said quietly. Booth stuck his paddle in the water to stop the kayak so he could be even with her, but since he didn't tell Jack that was what he was doing, it just ended up making their kayak veer violently toward Brennan and Cam's.

Jack turned around. "Booth – what the hell?" he shouted as he quickly straightened them once more, barely avoiding a collision.

"Just hang on a second, all right? God, this isn't a race," Booth shouted. He turned his attention to Cam, suddenly the picture of cool.

"What was the name of the band again?" he asked, getting a very familiar smirk on his face.

She rolled her eyes, but spoke louder this time. "Phallic Friction."

That got Sweets' attention. "Wait a second – that's a punk band from the eighties. A really good punk band from the eighties."

Booth was loving this. "You played bass in a punk band called Phallic Friction?"

Angela got into the action now. "Wait, I know that band – what was that song they did?"

Sweets and Angela said it at the same time, and Cam wouldn't actually have minded if the ocean had just opened up and swallowed her, right then and there.

"Fuck Your Dad, He Fucked My Mom!"

Seeley and Jack burst out laughing, while Sweets and Angela sang the long-forgotten lyrics. When one of them started to fade, the other would hum a couple of bars until they both were going strong again – by the time they got to the chorus, the entire group was singing along, and Cam was laughing so hard she was crying.

That night, Cam was sure she'd never been so exhausted in her life. She was sore, she was dirty, she was hungry, and the last thing she wanted to do was share her innermost thoughts with the group around a campfire. But, because she was in charge and it was all about making the team work better, she was prepared to do exactly that. How was that for dedication to the job?

They had pasta that, she was shocked to find, actually didn't taste that bad. Booth and Hodgins had been given the cooking and clean-up for the night, and it turned out that both men knew their way around camp food, adding liberal spices and what few vegetables they had. They sat around the campfire, everyone almost too tired to talk, until Tripp and Belle – both of whom were still annoyingly enthusiastic – pulled out the stuff sack of questions.

"All right – so, we'll tackle one question for tonight, then we'll hit the hay."

"Wait a second," Cam said. "We never got Jack's answer from last night." He was sitting beside her, his hair a tangle of curls and his beard growing at a truly alarming rate. "So, what about it, Hodgins? Let's hear your deepest darkest."

He shrugged. "No secrets here, baby – what you see is what you get."

"Oh please," Angela responded, seated on the opposite side of the fire. "I know at least five things off the top of my head that would blow these guys' minds."

A second of silence passed between them before he shrugged again, a little smile tugging at one corner of his mouth.

"All right, fine. In high school, during my younger and more vulnerable days," Cam smiled, recognizing the Gatsby reference immediately. "I was a card-carrying member of the Young Republicans."

Angela eyed him skeptically. "You were not."

He nodded, taking a gulp of tea before he stood to start clean up. "Was too. For six months, my sophomore year."

"Who was the girl?" Booth asked knowingly.

Jack grinned. "Suzie Darlington."

Booth chuckled, and Angela just shook her head. "You think you know someone," she said, but she was smiling when she said it – and maybe it was the fire, but Cam could swear there was a twinkle in her eye when she looked at Jack again.

Brennan and Booth were sitting together again, and Cam was watching when Brennan's head slowly sank onto his shoulder and she closed her eyes.

"Hey Tripp," Booth said, speaking softly so he wouldn't wake her. "Can we skip the questions tonight? It was a helluva long day, I'm pooped."

Cam noted that the agent didn't actually look that tired at all, but was definitely watching his partner with some concern. She'd known Seeley for a lot of years – she knew that he was chivalrous and old-fashioned and stubborn and occasionally a jackass, but she'd never known him to look at anyone the way he was looking at Brennan. After a brief consult between the instructors and the rest of the group, it was decided that they definitely didn't mind skipping the questions and going straight to bed. Everyone got up except Booth and Brennan, and Cam hung back for a minute – just to see what would happen next.

"Hey Bones," Booth said quietly, tapping her on the knee. Brennan opened her eyes, rubbing them sleepily.

"I'm awake."

He grinned. "Yeah – you look it. Come on, time for bed."

He stood and pulled her with him, putting his arm easily over her shoulders as he walked her to her tent.

Cam stretched her aching muscles and breathed in the campfire smoke and the sea air. She never thought she'd see the day when a sleeping bag on the hard ground was a welcome thought, but right now it sounded like heaven. She washed out her dishes, brushed her teeth, and headed for bed. Just before she left the fireside, she glanced at her watch and shook her head in disbelief.

It wasn't even nine o'clock yet.

TBC

THANKS AGAIN FOR READING! WRITING CAM WAS A WHOLE NEW CHALLENGE – DID IT HOLD UP TO HER VOICE IN YOUR HEAD? I'D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS!