Thanks for your patience waiting for this next chapter. Hopefully it'll explain the previous chapter a smidge. More to come soon. Reviews are very much appreciated, and if anyone wants to beta for me, please let me know. Thanks!
Disclaimer: If I made money writing this stuff, I'd have a much nicer house, wardrobe, car, etc.
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Temperance Brennan sat at her desk, feeling slightly overwhelmed. Five sets of skeletal remains had been delivered to her lab that morning, and two more bodies would be en route from the medical examiner's within a few days. Normally she would be able to take this all in stride, but this was not a case for the FBI. She had been called in to help the Springfield Police Department, and she hated working directly with local police.
It had been a rough start to a Monday morning.
And now Angela was harassing her, trying to convince her to go see some movie. She had been to see it with Jack and for some strange reason, Angela thought that she and Booth should go see it. Aside from the fact that it sounded too much like a date, movies weren't really something she did with Booth. They were more likely to spend a late night eating takeout and talking.
"Come on, Bren. It's based on a true story so it's almost, you know, educational. And no matter what you say, I know you'd love to see some sweaty, nearly naked men."
To be honest, the idea of half-naked, muscular men was rather appealing. While she knew that neither she nor Booth were ready to act on their attraction to each other, she had been thinking of him a lot lately, and the tension was getting to her. But all that was beside the point, she had to finish the preliminary reports in front of her so she could start processing the remains in depth. The paperwork that came with her job always irritated her, and to have to do five sets at once was even more aggravating.
"Angela, I'm sure the movie was fascinating, but I really have to finish these reports. And isn't there something that you should be doing?" she questioned.
Angela shrugged. "Until you and Zack finish the tissue markers or give me something else to work on, nope." She paused. "I bet Booth would really like it, too."
Glancing up at her friend, Brennan frowned. "Why would Booth care what you're working on? This isn't even his case."
"No, Bren, the movie. He'd like it, ask him to take you to see it," Angela explained.
"What would I like?" Booth's voice from the entrance to her office startled both women. Her partner stood leaning against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets. Angela looked at him appraisingly, a scheming look forming on her face.
"Ange..." warned Brennan.
Sighing, Angela stood, straightening out her skirt as she moved towards the door. "Oh, nothing," she said. "Just this movie Jack and I saw. It was so hot, when we got home, the sex was even--"
"Angela!" Brennan exclaimed, as Booth's face flushed and he cleared his throat.
"That's great, Angela, thanks," he said. He stepped inside the office to make room for Angela to pass, and after she was gone, he turned to his partner.
"What's with all the bodies out there?" he queried.
"Oh, just a case we got today."
When he didn't respond immediately, she looked up to see him frowning in puzzlement. Brennan raised her eyebrows at him.
"Did I miss something? I didn't realize we had a case."
She stared at him, almost incredulous. "You do know that I occasionally help other law enforcement agencies with cases, right?" Not that she liked it, but it had been made clear to her that this particular case had drummed up enough media attention to require her assistance, whether she wanted to help or not.
Booth's shoulders slumped slightly. Stifling a smile at her partner's obvious disappointment, Brennan put down her pen and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair. Maybe there was a way to get him involved.
"You know, it's actually a very interesting case, from what I hear. Although I haven't been allowed to the crime scene, which is rather frustrating," she began, her eyes on him, trying to gauge his interest.
She decided to continue. "Seven bodies were found in a public storage facility in Springfield, Virginia. I think there was some damage done to the space by a car somehow, and that's how they found the bodies. I heard that, aside from the bodies, the walls were painted strangely and I think they might have found some unusual paraphernalia."
"So they're not letting you see anything other than the remains? You must be pretty mad," he chuckled.
Shrugging, she contemplated his assumption. She was definitely irritated that she was being confined to the lab, but she was more frustrated with having to deal with the detectives involved in the case. They were condescending, arrogant, and rude. Actually, it was sort of like how Booth had been when they had first started working together. Thankfully, most of that had changed. He could still be an arrogant bastard sometimes, but she supposed that was part of his personality and not a sign of how he viewed her.
"Not that I don't appreciate the visit, Booth, but did you need something? I have a lot of work to do," she asked him, hoping she didn't sound too impolite.
"Oh! Right. Yes, I brought you some lunch. I thought maybe that we could, uh…" he paused, almost nervously. "But, you know, you've got work to do, why don't I just leave it with you?"
Brennan smiled, pleased that he had thought of her. It had taken some time, but lately she had started enjoying the little ways that Booth took care of her.
"No, I can spare 15 minutes to have lunch with you, it's alright," she told him, feeling her cheeks warm slightly. She closed the files on her desk and rose. "How about we sit on the mezzanine?"
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Lunch with Booth had left Brennan in a much better mood. She wondered momentarily at the significance of the effect he had on her, but had quickly dove back into her work. The afternoon had passed quickly, with the team working efficiently to process the remains. They hadn't heard anything from the medical examiner's office, though Brennan had already left them a message requesting their preliminary reports as soon as possible. She wanted to compare the injuries of the more recent murder victims with the ones already at the Jeffersonian.
Brennan was bent over one of the tables, examining the third victim. She didn't hear Zack approach and nearly jumped when he spoke.
"Dr. Brennan, I found an anomaly on the first victim's C4," he told her.
She nodded at him and followed him back to the first set of remains. "Let's see it."
Zack pointed to the image on the monitor next to the exam table and she immediately noticed the pronounced dimple on the bone.
"It could just be a congenital anomaly, or it could be indicative of a puncture wound to the neck," he theorized.
Brennan looked thoughtfully at the monitor, then leaned over to take a closer look at the cervical vertebra itself. After a moment, she straightened and faced her colleague.
"Good job. We'll check the other victims to see if they have a similar mark," she directed.
They both moved on to different tables, checking the cervical vertebrae on their respective sets of remains. She peered at the bones closely, searching. There, along the anterior surface.
"Zack, this one does have the same marking on C4 as the first. Does yours?"
"Yes, Dr. Brennan," he answered.
After inspecting the last two sets of remains and finding similar marks, she instructed Zack to start coming up with possible weapons, offering him a few suggestions to start with. She tossed her gloves in the biohazard bin and strode off towards her office. The medical examiner should know whether the two more recent victims had similar injuries, and she was sick of waiting around for them.
As she walked, she began to get angrier about the whole situation. It was bad enough that she had to work with some random cops and that she was being kept out of the field. She had protested the fact that the other two bodies had been sent to the medical examiner's—Cam was perfectly capable of handling fresher corpses. It wasn't her call, fine. But her ability to do her job depended on her having all of the information possible, and having the victims at two different facilities was complicating things beyond all reason.
A familiar voice echoed throughout the lab.
"Hey, Bones! Where are ya?"
Sighing inwardly, she picked up her pace. "Not right now, Booth," she called over her shoulder.
"Hey, slow down!" he shouted. She heard his footsteps quicken behind her.
"I don't have time for this. Come back later," she muttered, as he caught up to her.
"No, wait, Bones. Listen. I have good news."
Why couldn't he take the hint? If she didn't call the ME now while she was angry, she wouldn't be nearly as effective at intimidating them. She reached her office and contemplated closing the door behind her, but decided that would be too rude.
"Booth, I really don't care that the Sabres beat the Phillies or whatever it is you're all excited about," she complained.
From Booth, a groan. "First of all, the Sabres are a hockey team and the Phillies...you know what, nevermind. Will you just listen to me for a second?"
Brennan pivoted in front of her desk and folded her arms across her chest. She glared at him, waiting for him to share his news and get it over with.
"Will you stop pouting already? You're worse than Parker," he groused. "You'll like my news, I promise."
Puffing her cheeks slightly with a huff, she moved behind her desk and sat in her chair. She schooled her features into a semblance of calm.
"Okay, let's have it."
"Well, I just heard some interesting news about the case you're working on," he paused, waiting for her nod to continue. "The medical examiner has ID'ed the victims. Bryan Lessard, 24, of Falls Church, Virginia, last seen three weeks ago hiking towards Fox's Gap, in Maryland. And Amy Chouinard, 32, of Norwood, Massachusetts. Last seen two months ago hiking near Mount Greylock, also in Massachusetts."
She could hardly believe her luck. "So this means..." she trailed off.
"Yeah, I'm on the case," he grinned.