Wow. That's basically all I have to say. Went away for a long weekend here in wet New Zealand and I arrived home to a gazillion reviews, so I'm feeling loved at the moment. And now I motivated to write more so that's good for you guys, although not necessarily good for my exam results! This chapter was hard to write as I wanted to move the whole betting pool story along as well as include some BB action for you all! The next chapter should be more exciting. Hope you enjoy, please review and have an awesome day wherever you are (hope it's not raining there) – kate

7.38am was a little earlier than Hodgins normal arrival time at the lab. But, this morning he had a serious task to attend to that required his special attention. It was his baby, and he was hoping that all his hard work was going to reap him big rewards. Seating himself comfortably before his computer, Hodgins pulled up the online spreadsheet. He sighed, contemplating the situation. Booth and Brennan had progressed a little further than he would have preferred by this stage, but his bet still looked good. At least those FBI pussies were way off the money. Hodgins shock his head. He could plot his winning strategy later – the odds needed revising. Pulling out a clean sheet of paper and his trusty Casio calculator, he set to work.

Half an hour later it was covered with scrawled calculations. His hair was standing on end due to the number of times he had run his hand through it. The other hand was covered in blue ink from where his pen had leaked. Hodgins was frustrated. If only I hadn't given Angela those odds last night. He had been was too generous, and now it was making everything else difficult. Groaning, he rested his forehead against the palms of his hands. He was always way too nice to Angela. If he wasn't careful, he was going to lose his carefully cultivated reputation as a ladies man because of her. Still, he would rather she won than one of those FBI clones. With that in mind he continued with renewed energy.

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Zach had also arrived at the Jeffersonian early, although for a different purpose. He had planed to do some work on his thesis, but that hadn't eventuated. Just like every other morning this week.

Zach leaned by in his chair and daringly rested his feet, clad only in socks, on his desk. Where has my motivation gone? He wondered. But Zach already knew the answer to that. Firstly he was harbouring doubts about whether he would ever get a job that could compare with the one that he currently had, and secondly, he was addicted to that juvenile online betting set up that the bug man managed.

Still, Zach reflected, at least I managed to achieve something this morning. On the sheet in front of him was his strategy for earning big bucks in the betting pool. It was elaborate, but then Zach didn't believe in doing things by halves. With a satisfied smile on his face, Zach eased himself out of his chair and went to brew himself a herbal tea.

Zach and Hodgins had two things in common that morning. They were both plotting ways to line their back pockets and by 8.30am both were wondering where Dr. Brennan was.

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Booth was more than slightly surprised when Brennan turned up at the door of his office at 8.45am. This was definitely a change in routine, and his first thought was whether it had anything to do with the previous night's new developments. He was the one who made office visits, not Bones. Then he noticed the case file in her hands and sighed softly. This visit was obviously work related.

"Hey Booth," she called as she entered his office, shutting the door behind her.

"What about knocking? I could have been working on something confidential, you know."

Brennan just looked disinterested as she replied. "You never knock when you visit me". And Booth had to admit that she had made a fair point.

Brennan sat down and began to go over her findings from the remains that they had brought in the previous day. She listed the damage to the remains that her team had found, the analysis that Hodgins was undertaking and handed the face that Angela had created to him. It was all the standard stuff they always talked about when there were remains to be dealt with. Yet both could feel an almost palpable tension between them that heightened as Bones got up to stand behind Booth and point things out in the photos she had taken throughout her analysis.

She stood close behind him, and Booth could feel the heat radiating off her body. As Brennan leaned over his shoulder to point out some of the important features in the photograph of the remains, her hair brushed against Booth's neck. He felt his concentration go out the window as her mellow voice and unique scent captivated his senses. He focused on breathing. In, out, in, out.

Brennan wanted to giggle. Brennan knew that his focus was shot, and she silently congratulated herself. More points for me, she thought gleefully. But Brennan was also feeling slightly spaced out. Booth's proximity was doing strange things to her as well, and she found herself spouting anthropological jargon that had no relevance to the remains she had examined. Then there was the fact that she couldn't stop looking at his ear lobe. She shook her head, trying to clear it but she all could hear Booth's shallow breathing as he sought to keep himself under control.

That settled it. He was asking for it, but she couldn't deny that she wanted to do it. Brennan moved her face closer to the back of Booth's head, her breath grazing his neck. Then she flicked her tongue out and brushed it against his ear lobe. Booth jumped and then groaned. Her tongue left a trail of fire behind it. Brennan smiled as she took the soft skin into her mouth, still running her tongue along it. Oh my god, she thought, his skin is so smooth. As Booth wriggled slightly, Brennan felt an overwhelming cascade of desire course through her and pulled back as though burnt.

She frowned. What the hell is wrong with me? This is Booth!

Booth felt slightly put out when Brennan pulled away. Then as he became conscious of his body again, he realised that it may have been a good thing that she stopped when she did. He winced as he thought about how far ahead Brennan was going to be now and cursed the hormones that were racing around his bloodstream. He could only hope that they were responsible for making him feel weak and shaky from the sensation of Brennan's mouth.

Brennan returned to the other side of the desk, face flushed. Biting her lip, she offered a mumbled "Goodbye" and then picking up the file, she darted out of the office. It was only once she had reversed out of the parking lot that Bones realised that she had forgotten to register her score.