A/N: Thank you for your reviews. If you originally read this before November 28th, please give this and the first chapter another read as I've changed a few significant details. Sorry, but it was necessary for the big things I have planned... You'll just have to wait and see what that entails! Thanks for reading.

Booth wandered through the Jeffersonian in search of his partner, rubbing his tired eyes. She wasn't in her office or answering her phone. No one he'd asked had even seen her yet that morning.

He frowned as he glanced at his watch. It wasn't like her to be late.

Mind you, we did have a late night with all that paperwork. God, did Cam chew me out when I got back… Serves me right for forgetting our dinner plans. No wonder I got the couch. Even so, Bones is never late.

His mind dwelling on the night before, Booth couldn't help but think about what the taxi driver had said to him.

He said it was obvious that me and Bones were in love. Which is completely ridiculous because that's not true. Sure, I like her and I respect her. We're friends and we're partners. But that's it. Nothing more. I mean, I'm with Cam. And Bones… Well, I'm sure she's doing just fine on that front too.

As if on cue, Brennan practically sprinted through the automatic doors of the lab. Booth couldn't keep the amused grin off his face as he watched her stumble along, dropping her things and getting more and more flustered.

He strolled over to help her pick up the contents of her handbag, following her in to her office with an armful of files and crime scene photos she had scattered across the floor. Dumping the pile on to the sofa, he perched on the edge of her desk and grinned at his partner.

"You alright there, Bones?"

She glanced up from the files she was rearranging on her desk, her eyes red and puffy from tiredness.

"Yes, I'm fine, really. There was a power cut in my building last night so I assume that's why my alarm clock didn't go off."

She sighed heavily, running a hand across her face to try and wake herself up as she shook her head.

"I hate being late, especially when I've not had enough sleep. It throws everything off."

Booth nodded sagely as he folded his arms across his chest.

"So, are you so 'thrown off' that you're considering a personal day?"

Brennan straightened up, hands firmly on hips as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I hope you are not trying to imply that I'm unable to do my job when I'm tired. I am perfectly capable of doing my duties, thank you very much."

Booth grinned as he pulled a pen drive from his pocket and threw it in her direction.

"Good, because we've got another case."

Brennan arched an eyebrow as she caught it, booting up her computer and uploading the files. She glanced at her partner who was leaning over her shoulder to look at the photos.

"What's the context of the find?"

Booth leaned back a little, his charm smile gone as he switched to work mode.

"A large park in the suburbs was undergoing some routine landscaping while the children's playground area was being extending. During the excavation of a small section on the edge of the trees, workmen uncovered skeletal remains."

"So why is the FBI involved?"

"It turns out that the wooded area on the edge of the park backs on to public works which, as you know, are Federal property here in DC so the local cowboys kicked it up to us."

Brennan nodded as she scrolled through the photographs, examining the partially revealed remains.

A skull protruded from the dirt with sections of the rest of the body revealed in other places. A hand sticking up through the ground, a knee, part of a leg… Brennan narrowed her eyes at the screen as her gaze patrolled the findings.

"Well, these remains aren't fully skeletal yet. I'd have to check with Hodgins about the insect activity but by the level of decomposition, I'd say that this person has been dead around eighteen months."

She double clicked on the photograph of the skull, zooming in to get a better look. Suddenly her computer screen was filled by the image of discoloured bone covered in a thin layer of dirt and what was left of the victim's skin and musculature. A small beetle seemed to have taken up residence in one of the eye sockets.

Beside her, Booth's lip curled with slight disgust at what he was seeing.

"Uh, thanks for that Bones, but did you really need to zoom in that much? I mean, I had a good enough view of all that before and I've only just eaten breakfast."

Brennan glanced briefly at him, a tight smile on her face.

"Getting squeamish, Booth?"

She could see him straighten up out of the corner of eye, his face a little indignant.

"Hey, just because I don't consider bones and goo to be God's gift to the workplace like you squints, it doesn't mean I'm squeamish."

Brennan just smiled as she returned her attention to the screen. Booth suddenly realised he was watching her intently and not the photographs.

She really is beautiful, especially when she's concentrating like that… Stop it! That's your partner you're thinking about. You damned idiot…It's all because of that stupid taxi driver. He put all these crazy ideas in my head about her…

His partner's voice brought him crashing back to reality and the case at hand.

"From these images, I can tell you that the victim was between 25 and 29, male, was in a car accident about five years ago and has played a lot of sport, most likely baseball. I need to get a better look at the bones to come up with a definitive identification and a cause of death."

Booth took back the pen drive that Brennan handed to him and jumped to his feet.

"Well, what are we still doing here then?"

Brennan pursed her lips but dutifully marched off, throwing a half-hearted glare at her partner as he held the door open for her. Booth grinned, his hand gently resting on the small of her back as he led her towards the automatic doors.

"And seeing as you're so tired, Bones, I guess we'd better forget the usual arguments and skip straight ahead to you letting me drive."

Brennan just sighed as he chuckled, tossing his keys in the air with a wink and a smile.

oo00oo

The air was bitterly cold outside, the few remaining leaves hanging precariously on the autumnal branches as Brennan marched across the frosty ground below. Booth marched along beside her, matching her step for step as he always did, rubbing his hands together to try and keep them warm.

He seems different today. The way he looked at me in my office earlier… Temperance, stop it. You're tired and it's causing you to overanalyse everything. Save your overly-attuned critical eye for the work, not your colleagues.

They soon reached the yellow crime scene tape attached to the tree trunks and stretching off in to the open area, police and forensic officers milling about within its borders. Booth flashed his badge at a group of officers and held up the tape for Brennan to pass.

Rounding a group of coffee-drinking detectives, Brennan got her first good look at the crime scene.

A small bulldozer had been left mid-operation beside a pile of earth, a large trench reaching up to her feet. In the hole below, a good four feet down, were the remains she had previously seen in the photographs. In context though, something wasn't quite right.

Frowning, she carefully lowered herself down under Booth's watchful eye. A detective wandered over.

"Agent Booth?"

He turned, offering his hand which the officer shook warmly.

"Yes. And you are?"

"Detective MacKinnon. I'm guessing the lady in the hole is our resident crime-fighting author?"

Below them, she straightened up and nodded at the detective, her brows knitted together in concentration.

"Detective, have you or anyone of your men attempted to remove these remains?"

Looking more than a little indignant, MacKinnon arched an eyebrow at Booth who simply shrugged.

"That's just how Doctor Brennan says hello. She's very work orientated. But did anyone, you know, touch anything?"

The Detective looked mildly placated as he shook his head.

"No m'am. None of my boys touched a thing. The workmen though, they said that they climbed down in that hole to get a better look. At first, they just thought they'd hit a pipeline that wasn't on the city plans or something."

Brennan shook her head as she crouched down in the dirt, snapping on a pair of latex gloves. Booth sighed heavily before hitching up his trouser legs slightly and following his partner down, carrying her bag.

"See, now this is just one of the many reasons I have for not wearing a suit. Do you have any idea how much this cost?"

Brennan wasn't listening as she held out her hand.

"Pass me the medium sized brush in my kit please."

He did as she asked, leaning over her shoulder to get a better look.

"What are you doing?"

She didn't answer as she began to carefully remove the dirt to uncover the currently buried right hand of the remains. Booth glanced at his partner.

"Uh, hello Bones? I'm talking to you here."

Brennan was engrossed in her work, all tiredness and frustration forgotten as she delicately uncovered the victim. Something glinted in the dirt and she began to concentrate on the area. Beside her, Booth squinted to get a better look.

"Is that a wedding ring?"

"It looks like it, yes."

Booth just frowned at her.

"So what's it doing on this guy's right hand?"

Brennan moved back a little, giving him a better view. Seeing what she had uncovered, Booth felt his stomach drop as his partner voiced what he now already knew.

"That's not his hand. There's another body here."