Chapter Two
Brennan quickly showered and changed into a new set of clothes. She winced in pain while throwing on a shirt. She must have slept funny on the plane. She opened the bathroom door slowly and let the steam out of the room. She had heard Booth on the phone with Rebecca. She could tell that it hadn't gone over well. Looking over at him, he was staring down at his phone, not really seeing it.
"Hey." Brennan's voice broke him out of his reverie. "Are you okay?"
"You heard us?" Booth asked.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. The walls are paper thin." She defended herself.
"No Bones, it's okay. Becca is just mad because I got called out of town last minute and it is taking longer than what we thought. She made plans this weekend."
"I'm sorry that you are missing your weekend with Parker." Brennan consoled him. Even though he saw her more, it didn't mean that he saw him as much as he would like.
"It's fine Bones. Did you leave me any warm water?" He asked, changing the subject.
"You might want to wait a minute or two." She smiles at him, making his bad mood dissipate for the time being.
After taking a warm shower, they strolled into the busy café and found a booth in the corner. Booth's eyes roved the menu finding an item that would make his day.
"They have apple pie here for you." Brennan informed him as a tall think waitress approached the table.
"Hi welcome to Lily's. I'm Kendall. Do you guys know what you would like to start with?"
Booth looks up, "I would like a cup of coffee."
"I want a diet Coke." Brennan replied. "Do you have anything that doesn't involve meat on the menu?" She asked trying not to sound sarcastic.
"I'm sure Lily can whip up a salad for you. You should try the chicken though, it is to die for."
"If the chef can whip of a salad, I would like that with no dressing." Brennan replied. "Thank you."
Brennan stared at her name tag. Lou Ann Summers. "She's a vegetarian." Booth supplied, laughing a Lou Ann's face. "I'll have the fried chicken with gravy covered fries and a piece of pie for desert." Booth ordered. Lou Ann beamed at him.
"You must be Agent Booth," a middle aged man wearing a sheriff's uniform with a well nourished belly came up to their table. "I'm Sheriff Wayne Hampton." He reached out and shook their hands. "We are might grateful for your assistance on this. As you can see, we are woefully understaffed and wouldn't know how to deal with remains like this. I'm sorry I wasn't here to great you earlier. Norma Jean said you were looking for me."
"My partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan, and I are here to be of assistance in whatever way we can be. Has there been anyone reported missing?" Booth asks.
Brennan looked around and noticed glances being sent their way, people were craning over to get a better listen to the conversation.
"Nope no one. As you can tell, in this town, if you were to go missing, you wouldn't have to be reported, it would be noticed. My deputy is up there guarding the remains, per the request of the FBI. I'll take you guys up there tomorrow."
"Thank you. I don't want the remains to stay out there anymore. They could be greatly compromised." Brennan speaks up. "Can we do it in the morning?"
"I can't go up there with you and Bobby, my third guy on the team, won't be back until the afternoon. I'll be driving by there on my way to Jasper, meet me at my office at 10:00. You can follow me. The road won't show up on any GPS." He relented.
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Booth turned over in the bed, peering at his sleeping partner. They had gravitated toward each other in the middle of the night after arguing over who got the right side of the bed. He stood shaking the soreness out of his muscles.
"Five more minutes." Brennan mumbled grabbing the pillow and bringing it even closer to her. He didn't reply, he just sat on the side of the bed, pulling on his shoes to go on his morning run. He went to stand, and Brennan felt the shift in the pressure. "Where are you going?"
"On a run." He replied.
"If you give me a minute we can grab breakfast together and then go on the run." Brennan sat a little straighter up in the bed. She hadn't picked up any pajamas so she was forced to wear his t-shirt to bed.
"Fine." He answered.
She stretched getting out of the bed. He watched as she bent over to grab her newly purchased work out clothing, his shirt was gliding dangerously high on her thigh.
"You know Bones, I'll be out front stretching while you are getting ready."
She turned and faced him, "Alright."
Booth opened the front door and was blasted by the cold air of the morning in the mountains. He took a deep breath and inhaled the smells that were uniquely country and fresh all at the same time. Moments like this never happened in the hustle and bustle of DC.
Brennan stepped out a little bit later, dressed and ready to run. He smiled taking in her appearance. "I didn't know you like to run."
"Well since I started working with you, I have varied my workout routine to ad running to it." She answered him. "Why don't we run to Lily's to eat some breakfast and then run back."
"It sounds like a plan." Booth replied. Brennan started to stretch as well, each of them helping each other with the various stretches. When they were ready, they took off running through the Smokies.
A mile later, they had reached their destination, Lily's. They took up the booth they sat in the night before and easily fell into conversation. Little was known about the case and he could tell that his partner was chomping at the bit to get started.
Running back to the motel, they showered and got ready to meet the sheriff to get back to their normal lives.
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Booth followed the sheriff to the west of town, delving deeper into the mountains. The Wayne Hampton pulled off the side of the road, signaling for Booth to pull over as well.
"The body is approximately three miles up this dirt path, also known as Route 140. Be careful, the rain probably turned most of the road into mud. I will send whoever else you need to help with the process."
"Thanks." Booth shook the sheriff's hand, and made his way up the steep incline to where the remains rested.
The road was bumpy, but not so terrible. Booth was very skilled and able to maneuver the SUV to where he needed it to be.
"Booth be careful not to go past the markers he left up for the remains."
"I know Bones." He grumbled, maneuvering a little more. Right where the Sheriff Hampton said it would be, they stopped, meeting the deputy who had been up there all night.
Booth climbed out and met the man. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth and this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan." He shook the man's hand.
"Deputy Leads. The sooner we get these remains out of here, the sooner I can get home and get a shower." He sighed.
"We appreciate you being up here all night." Brennan thanked him, while pulling back her hair and stooping over the remains. "Female, middle to late twenties. From the skeletal structure I can tell that she was Caucasian."
Booth stood over her. "Any apparent cause of death?"
"Looks like she sustained blunt-force trauma to the frontal lobe. I'm not certain this is the cause of death, but we can send it to the Jeffersonian. Cam called in Clark. It looks like there is a radius and ulna that are missing." She observed. She looked over at Deputy Leads, "After I pack these remains, I need you to send it to my team."
Deputy Leads nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem."
About an hour later, they were letting the poor, sleep-deprived deputy make his way back to town. "Come on Booth, we have to look around a little for the missing bones."
"Bones, it could be miles away, you know that."
"I know, but I still want to at least attempt to look."
Booth nodded, following her down a path, marking their way as they got deeper into the forest, time just slipping by. Several hours later, Booth looked up, "Bones, I think we need to turn back now, it looks like it is going to storm."
She nodded, not realizing how overcast it was quickly becoming. They had about made it back right before it started to pour. Booth started the vehicle and began navigate down the dirt road.
"An animal must have run off with the radius and ulna. I hope it didn't contain any vital information that we need to solve this murder . . ."
"Bones I need to concentrate on the road before we get stuck." Booth felt the wheel dig deep into the mud, but it just kept on spinning. He got out of the vehicle and assessed the situation while the rain was still pouring down. "Bones, hit the gas while I try to push it out."
She nodded, clambering into the driver's side. He pushed and she hit the gas, but it just wouldn't budge. She tried their cells, but they were out of tower range.
"What do we do now?" Brennan asked.
"We can't stay out here, no one is expecting us back. The temperature is going to drop, let's hike up to the hunting cabin a few miles up from here. I saw it when we were looking for the radius and ulna. We better get going Bones."
They made it to the hunting cabin with a few bumps and falls, but otherwise mostly intact, freezing, and looking like drowned rats. Booth thrust his shoulder against the door, the flimsy lock gave away, revealing a small rustic cabin with a couple of quilts and firewood strewn about on the floor.
"It's not much, but it is going to have to make do until we can get out of here." Booth mumbled. "I don't think anyone will mind if we borrow it for awhile." He grabbed some wood and threw it into the fireplace and started a fire with some matches and paper that were laying around the cabin. "You are completely soaked, why don't you take off your wet clothes and wrap up in one of the quilts while I go find more wood."
Brennan shivered and sneezed, realizing that he was of course right. "Ok."
Booth hurdled outdoors into the rain. He saw an ax and made quick work of chopping several more armloads of wood. He walked back in dropping the wood to the floor, shivering. The temperature had dropped fast, causing the rain to turn the sleet. "It should take some time for the wood to dry, but it should dry faster being in doors."
"Booth you need to get those clothes off too." Brennan told him as she saw puddles of water dripping off of him.
He quickly stripped down and spread his clothes like her so it would dry quicker and he wrapped himself into a quilt sitting next to his partner. He stared off into the orange blaze that was quickly warming up the room, but it didn't do anything for their chilled bodies.
"I guess we are going to have to stay here tonight. The storm looks like it isn't letting up, and with the car stuck and no phones, we are just going to have to wait until we are missed." Brennan reasoned with him.
"Sure looks like it." He pulled the quilt tighter around him and attempted to settle in for the night.
"Booth . . ."
"Yeah Bones." He stared right at the fire. She started sneezing and she looked miserable. "Hey come here and get under the blanket with me."
"I don't know if that is a good idea, we aren't exactly decent."
"And we are partners Bones. I'm not doing this to cop a feel, you are freezing and you aren't getting warm. Come here." He wrapped her tighter in the smaller quilt and pulled her closer to him, wrapping them both in the larger quilt. "This should get you feeling better."
She shifted a little closer to him. "Thanks Booth."
"Any time Bones." He hugged her closer to him as they fell asleep listening to the roar of the fire and lull of the rain.
AN: Hope you guys like it so far. The inspiration for the setting for the town came from Boone, NC where I lived for a couple of years . . . Go Mountaineers! Please review. It rocks my socks.