Bed of Roses

Chapter 1: Heaven Forbid

"It's over here Bones." Booth said as he made his way from the police tape to the body. Bones followed just behind him. Her pace and overall attitude gave him the vibe that she was in a hurry, as if she didn't want to be there. As they approached Cam and Zack he tried to shake it off and attributed it to her jet lag, Bones never wanted to be anywhere else.

Bones couched next to the body and began looking it over, touching it gently and not saying anything aloud. Booth furrowed his brow, this wasn't like his Bones. He could hardly get her to stop talking about a body when at a crime scene. This silence concerned him as well as confused the hell out of him.

After a short time Bones stood and pulled off her gloves, "Okay. You two can handle the movement of the body right? He'll need an autopsy, and then Zack take all the regular tissue samples. Once that's done the bones will need to be cleaned so I can look at them. Call me when that's done alright?"

"Whoa whoa whoa. Bones!" Booth said aggravated. He looked at her quizzically. "What the hell?"

"What?" Bones said and looked at them, as all three were now giving her looks of quizzical concern. She furrowed her brow; she couldn't understand why they were so upset or concerned. She was only asking them to do what was normal procedure.

"What's going on? Usually you hover over the body like a mother hen; all because you think Cam is going to lose something. Not offense Cam." Booth covered as Cam shot him a distained look.

"Agent Booth is correct. Typically Dr Brennan is anxious about the recovery of the body, she is concerned that Dr. Saroyan has no overall understanding of the skeleton and that in Dr. Saroyan's effort to proceed with the autopsy something important will be missed." Zack added and the looks he received were typical for his responses; he ducked his head and returned to examining the body. Bones gave a frustrated huff for having to explain.

"The victim is male, early 30's. There's no obvious cause of death, he's been dead about 4 days. It's possible that this is a suicide as there are no broken bones and no obvious bullet holes or stab markings. Cam will need to do an autopsy and then the bones will need to be cleaned. They won't be ready for me until sometime tomorrow morning. I have complete confidence in Zack and Cam, and having me waiting around will no doubt impede the process, since I'm so impatient." She said in an exasperated way. Cam lifted her hands in defeat and she bent to continue to work on the body with Zack, she didn't want to even touch what had Brennan so upset. Bones turned and began the walk back to her car. Booth, who couldn't let it go so easily, followed her.

He didn't understand. Bones usually couldn't wait to get her hands on bones, she loved to work and boss people around; especially at crime scenes. Bones had always lived for crime scenes. He didn't understand this sudden dislike and rush to get away from them. He caught up to her as she opened the trunk of her car to put her kit away and confronted her.

"You alright Bones?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she glanced at him, giving him and look of annoyance and bewilderment.

"There is a body. A dead body 50 feet from right here and you cannot wait to get away from it. Did something happen on your little trip to Peru?" He put his arm on her trunk and leaned against it, leaning in he attempted to create an air of privacy at a very busy crime scene.

"No! Nothing happened and nothing is wrong… I just." She looked frustrated and flustered. She stuffed her overalls into her kit bag a little too violently and then looked at Booth. "I have a date tonight."

"What?!" Booth laughed his response, and several people glared at him for breaking the unspoken rule of laughing at a crime scene. "You literally landed 4 hours ago. How do you have a date?"

"If you really want to know." Bones glared at him. "He's a colleague. We have been at the site in Peru working together; of course he was there before I was. He's very nice and has written several articles for the American Anthropologist Journal."

"Oh." Booth said a little dejected. He felt deflated and somewhat sad. He had known that Bones was going to date again. That there would be more Sully's, and eventually one would completely sweep her off her feet and take her away. He just… wasn't prepared for her to move on so quickly. He felt her eyes on him and shook it off quickly. He spoke with a shaky voice, that she didn't notice, "That's good Bones."

"Yes, but it's also why I'm in a rush. We are meeting for dinner at 9 and I wasn't expecting to have a case. He's only in town for tonight." She closed her trunk and Booth smiled brightly, completely recovered from his minor falter a moment ago.

"That's so romantic of you Bones." Booth teased as he followed her around to the driver's side door. She looked back at him with a questioning glance and he nearly laughed in her face. "Oh man! You are oblivious!"

"What?" She said and looked at her clothes as if something was wrong. She continued her questioning gaze as he laughed at her some more.

"The 14th of February? Cherub's and candy hearts? Flowers and chocolate?" Booth said trying to give her a hint. When she continued to look at him with a question he sighed, disappointed in her lack of understanding. "It's Valentine's Day Bones."

"What?" she said in the same tone she used with people that were not as brilliant as her. He would have laughed at her again if he didn't love it when she did that with him.

"The most romantic day of the year? You don't know what Valentines' Day is?" Booth said with exasperation.

"Oh… I always disliked that day in school. Everyone was giving out cards and candies, I never received any. People still celebrate it?" She threw a hand up in a nonchalant way of dismissing the holiday.

"Yes! It's the big day for couples. I can't believe.. wait. Yes. Yes, I can believe that Temperance Brennan doesn't know when Valentines' Day is. Go Bones. Go have fun on your date." Booth said and shut the door to Bones's car. Her watched her pull away and growled at himself. Of course Bones would have a date on Valentines' Day and not get the significance of it. He sighed and shook his head.

He could picture the small box of chocolate hearts and the letter he had left of her desk. He wondered briefly if he'd be able to get it back before she returned to her office. He speculated that it wouldn't be that much trouble since he could just escort the body back and slip into Bones's office without her knowing. Especially since Bones's herself had said that she wouldn't be back until the next morning.

Turning he walked back to the body and went through his typical spiel with Cam. His heart wasn't there at the scene though, and neither was his brain. Cam had to keep call him back to reality and away from his thoughts of Temperance Brennan. His super suave Valentines' Day plan had been all screwed up and this opportunity was slipping away. He could kick himself for not doing what he'd wanted to do. Pick her up at the airport with a dozen roses, no he had wanted to do it the romantic secretive way. What a fool he was.

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A/N- Didn't keep you waiting for long did I? Hopefully you will like this story as much as the last one. This will not be as long, so sorry for that but I'm sure you will enjoy it.

I find it mildly fascinating that I'm writing a heavily romantic fan fiction for a holiday that I dislike. Not because this is the first time I will be single on the day in over 10 years, but because love should not be celebrated on just one day. P

I love all my readers and I'm so glad that everyone that has reviewed has had good things to say. Please feel free to review with things you don't like too. I am a writer, I learn from my faults and mistakes. But I do love the praise too… so please don't let my ego deflate! Review!