Chaper three: Why Do I Always Feel Like You're Abducting Me?
"Knock, knock." Booth was standing in the hall in front of Brennan's door. He had taken a shower and gotten dressed, thus followed Brennan's orders.
She opened the door and looked at him strangely.
"Why were you saying 'knock, knock' instead of actually knocking on my door?"
The fresh scent emitted by her hair and body told Booth she'd been doing the same thing in her room. Booth didn't like to think of himself as a shallow guy so it was hard for him to admit that he felt slightly disappointed that Brennan had changed out of his t-shirt and into a less skin-revealing outfit. And it was a shame that he hadn't been able to stop himself from stealing glances at her bare legs the previous night. However, it would be silly to worry much about this since Brennan herself would surely give him some anthropological explanation. Probably something about the male instincts regarding the fertility of a woman.
"It's a game, Bones, everybody knows it."
"I don't," Brennan replied as she took a step backwards to let him in. Here we go again, Booth thought.
"Someone says 'knock, knock', you say, 'who's there' and the other person replies saying something funny. It's very simple and most children learn it when they're still young," he quickly explained.
"But I'm not a child."
Obviously she once again didn't get his point.
"I know that."
"Then why are we playing that game?"
Sometimes Booth wondered whether she really didn't get what he was saying or if she did and secretly laughed at him behind his back for making a serious attempt at explaining.
"It was a joke, Bones, okay? I was kidding," he said in an exasperated voice.
Brennan shrugged.
"Okay. Shall we go get breakfast?"
"That would be nice," Booth answered and sighed with relief for their seemingly pointless discussion had come to an end and made place for something nice, for something good. Breakfast.
They walked out of the elevator and Booth told Brennan he'd make a quick stop by the desk lady. Brennan agreed to come with him. After all, they were partners and they did everything together.
"Good morning, how can I help you?" It was the same desk lady from the previous day and she was smiling friendly as ever.
"We have a question about your security policy," Booth started to say.
"Yes, last night the power went down and we got locked up in my room," Brennan interrupted.
"I would like to know why in a situation like this all doors automatically lock up instead of open. It's dangerous. There could be a fire and nobody gets out," Booth continued.
The desk lady looked confused.
"Well, I'm sorry, but the power never was down yesterday. It must have been your room only. Although I wouldn't know how that would be possible... On behalf of the hotel I apologize sincerely. I hope it didn't cause too much problems for you."
"It did, we had to sleep in the same bed," Brennan pointed out.
"Bones!" Booth warned her through clinched teeth.
"And we had to eat dinner from the minibar," she added, ignoring him.
Booth smiled at the desk lady apologetically and leaned forward over the desk, blocking Brennan out with his arm.
"It wasn't too much of a problem and we accept your apology. Only next time the power goes down somewhere make sure the door opens." He smiled friendly at her and then turned to grab Brennan's arm gently but firmly.
"Again: why do I always feel like you're abducting me?" she asked annoyed as he led her towards the restaurant. Grabbing her arm and guiding her away was Booth's unpleasant habit when he wanted her to get away from someone quickly or when he had to take her somewhere and they were late and she didn't want to leave her lab.
"Miss Brennan! By the way, how's your brother?" the desk lady called after them.
Brennan sharply turned and stared at her.
"My brother?" she said with disbelief.
"Yes, he checked in here yesterday. Said he came to see you. Did you get a nice surprise?"
Brennan wrenched her arm from Booth's grip and approached the desk lady.
"Russ? Is Russ here? Did he tell you his name?" she fired questions eager for the answers.
"No, dear, he didn't tell me his name, but it should be right here on this form. Look-"
Brennan quickly took the piece of paper from the desk lady's hands and studied it briefly.
In the blank where one was supposed to fill in a name it said: J.K. Brennan.
Brennan gasped in shock and looked up at Booth, who was still waiting on the spot where she'd left him standing but now came striding towards her when he noticed her expression.
"It says here someone filled in 'J.K. Brennan'," she said as she handed him the form.
"And this person's filled in your address, too," Booth spoke in an angry voice.
"Do you remember what this man looked like?" Brennan turned back to the desk lady who had been following their exchange of findings. The desk lady's eyes turned big as she came to realize her apparent mistake of giving the man Brennan's room number.
"He... he had dark blond hair, brown eyes, lean and tall... Dark shirt, jeans...," she started to sum up from her memory.
"Did you notice anything unusual?" Booth interrupted, "Like a scar or a tattoo, jewelry maybe?"
The desk lady dug deep in her memory for a moment before she answered, "He had a birthmark under one of his eyes. I remember that because at first sight it looks like a black."
Their gazes met and Booth and Brennan exchanged several meaningful looks before being interrupted by the desk lady.
"I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. Should I call the police?" she offered nervously.
"No, that's okay. I'm FBI," Booth replied calmly.
"I'm his partner," Brennan added as her mind started to get going, gathering facts and making comparisons. Booth thanked the desk lady for her help and Brennan and he finally resumed their walk to the restaurant.
"J.K.. Joy Keenan. It has to be someone who knows about my past. He might have something to do with my father," Brennan concluded.
Booth leaned forward over his plate and was just about to reply to her statement as one of the staff asked for everyone's attention. Booth turned his head towards her.
"Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen," she started.
"As you might have noticed tonight we got snowed in by the blizzards. Now, we have not suffered any severe damage but it is impossible to dig through the snow from the inside of the hotel. Of course, we tried to contact Rescue but the telephones are out of use. There is no need to panic," she spoke slowly and clearly.
"In situations like this help will be sent to all hotels so it will be only a matter of time before we get dug out. I repeat: There is no need to panic. You can still use all the facilities this hotel offers and if you have any questions you can ask one of our staff. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a pleasant stay."
"Yeah, I expected that," Booth said sarcastically as he turned back to Brennan. Her focused expression hadn't changed since the lady started making her speech and she continued as if there had been no interruption at all.
"Whoever this man is, he's still in the hotel," she told him.
Booth nodded and took in all of her findings.
"Perhaps he's here, having breakfast," he suggested. Brennan's head shot up and she scanned all the people in the restaurant.
"Bones, please try not to be so obvious when you're scrutinizing everyone's face while they're eating!"
"Why, I have to take a good look," Brennan answered without interrupting her 'investigation' as her eyes shifted from one person to another. "If he's working for my father I have nothing to be scared about, do I?"
Booth sighed. Making her stop was pointless. Why did everything she said always sounded so freaking logical?
"Just... do what you have to and eat your breakfast," he relented as he resumed eating his.
Slectovencto sat on the edge of his bed and cleaned the gun he'd stolen off the man he had killed. Now that one obstacle had been overcome, there were two more left. Number one: getting rid of the FBI-agent. Number two: taking the scientist to his boss.
This baby was going to come in handy, he thought and smirked as he took the bullets out and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
"Ha! I won again!" Brennan exclaimed triumphantly.
"There must be some kind of strategy you figured out," Booth assumed.
"You can't stand it that I beat you again, can you?"
Booth groaned and got up from his lying position on the bed. Brennan was sitting on the edge and sat the laptop in her lap.
"You want to try again?"
"Naw. I'm sick of playing Mine Sweeper with you. I want to do something fun!"
"Okay," Brennan said as she shut down her laptop, "What do you suggest we do?"
"Let's check out the sports centre. See if there's anything fun to do there," Booth clasped his hands and waited for Brennan to catch up with him on his way to the door, which he held open for her courteously.