A/N: I don't own anything. Well maybe the writing but the characters or songs. Nope not a one.
She nodded her consent and he let her unfold and drop gracefully to the ground. She was grateful that she would get a second chance to prove her mettle. Now she just needed a way to prove it.
"Booth," she said, "I'm not sure why you offered the draw, but thank you."
He looked over at his partner. "Well realistically, I knew I couldn't hold you forever even though you'd never give up. So once you finally escaped, you'd get right up and start fighting again. I knew I'd be tired from holding you for that much time so you'd have the upper hand. Really, it was more about self preservation than anything else."
She smiled. "So you preemptively decided to call it a draw because you knew I'd kick your ass once I was free again," she said playfully.
"Not to reign on your little victory parade," he said with smirk, "but I didn't have to stand up and carry you around. I could've just leaned on you while I had you pinned to the ground. How long do you think you would've lasted if all of my weight was on you?"
She quickly looked away from his stare while she felt the blush rising to her cheeks. To be honest, she'd never considered that he could've done just that and possibly hurt her in the process. But somehow the thought of him leaning on her with his entire weight, and not in the sparring sense, seemed to be building up speed causing her inner organs to fail while her brain performed a gold medal caliber gymnastics floor routine. Even in her wildest fantasies, she was always on top, always in control. But this realization that it might be pleasurable to submit occasionally was thrilling to say the least.
"I probably wouldn't have lasted long," she said as her breath hitched.
He did his best to recall the names of every Steeler to ever make the Probowl desperately trying to reduce the discomfort that he was experiencing south of the border.
"I could've held you a long time too," he said with a grin. "I have tremendous stamina."
Their eyes locked briefly but they both pulled away as Angela walked up to them.
"So guys," Angela said, "so what's the next round going to be?"
The partners both exhaled from the grateful interruption. Neither was sure what could have happened if they escalated their not so partner like innuendos.
"Surely the FBI has some sort of real life training simulator," Angela offered. "You know, like you walk around and targets pop up and stuff. Like in the movies?"
Brennan's eyes lit up. "That's a great idea. It'll show I can handle myself in real world situations."
"I've already completed that course," Booth said. "Do you want to go up against my existing score or do you want me to compete again?"
"FYI Dr. Brennan," Cullen said, "Booth here actually holds the course record."
"Is that true?" Brennan asked a blushing Booth.
"He actually has nine of the top ten all time scores," Cullen continued. "The one time he didn't set a new record he had his shooting arm tied against his body and that score is number twelve all time."
"I always hit what I'm aiming for," Booth said with a cocky smile.
"So who holds the other top ten score?" Angela asked.
"Agent Sullivan holds the eight of the next ten records," Cullen said.
"So Booth's the alpha and Sully's the beta," Angela whispered into Brennan's ear.
Brennan shot her friend a look that could literally curdle blood. "So given that Booth holds so many of the records; it's highly unlikely that I will beat him."
"I think that if you get within ten points of my score," Booth said, "I'd consider that a tie."
"What score would I have to get to beat you?"
"A perfect score is 300 and I've scored that three times, three others at 299, two at 298, one at 297 and one at 294."
"If you scored a 290," Cullen said, "you would be in the 99th percentile."
"That sounds acceptable to me," Brennan said. "So when can we go?"
"Let's go now and I can explain how it'll work on the way," Booth said.
Moments later, they were in his SUV on the way to Quantico. Booth explained the course was series of rooms that had numerous obstacles to climb over and targets that popped up that she would have to shoot. The guns were essentially flashlights and the bullseyes were photo sensitive to record her shots. He also explained that there were live people that would be jumping in trying to disarm her but that they were wearing padding so she could hit them as hard as she wanted. The others would watch everything through closed circuit cameras to ensure everyone's safety.
Once equipped with her safety glasses and gun and some last minute instructions, she stepped into the first of the series of rooms. It was a poorly lit room that looked like a warehouse with an abundance of debris and plenty of places for bad guys to hide.
She proceeded quickly but cautiously, hitting all ten targets as they popped up. She knew there were also three people waiting in each room that she would have to handcuff. She heard a noise and started stealthily walking towards the sound.
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind and lifted her up in a bear hug. She instinctively swung her heel at the man's knee and dropped to her freedom. She spun around and kicked him in the chest. She then handcuffed one wrist to the other ensuring that he had one leg between his arms so he looked like a pretzel.
She went off in search of the other two people she'd have to subdue. The second person didn't put up much of a fight at all but that was only because she came up from behind and swept his legs out from under him and then cuffed him while he was struggling to get to his feet again. She knocked him over and jumped on his chest knocking the wind out of him. She then quickly tied his shoelaces together to keep him immobile.
Just then she was knocked over from behind as the third person got the drop on her. She quickly reached up and pulled his arm as she fell over and used her momentum to cause him to fall near her. She spun up and put her knee on the back of his neck and cuffed one wrist and the looped the cuffs through the other man's cuffs linking them before closing the cuffs on the third man.
With that room complete, she started heading towards the door leading into the next room. As she entered the next room, she grabbed the next set of handcuffs that were waiting for her. She cleared the next three rooms in pretty much the same manner. The only eventful thing was that happened was in one room all three people were waiting for her as soon as she opened the door.
Two of them each grabbed an arm and the third one started to dive shoulder first into her stomach. That poor guy never had a chance as she quickly kicked him in the face. The momentum of the impact knocked her backwards so that the other two men lost their grips. As she landed on her back, she kicked the man on her left in the knee and then grabbed his arm and pulled him down to shield herself from the man on her right. As she stood up she kicked the man on the ground to ensure that he'd stay there and pointed her gun at the third man. She ordered him to handcuff the other two men and then cuff himself. Feeling satisfied that they weren't going to give her any more trouble, she went off in search of her targets.
"So how did I do?" she asked Booth.
"You did great," he said with a smile. "They're tabulating your score. I know you aced the hand to hand part. I'm sure that guy you kicked in the face was glad he was wearing a protective helmet."
"Well I was supposed to treat it like it was real," she said with a grin. "And I'm glad that last guy pretended my gun was real and didn't just shoot a light beam."
"Here comes Cullen with the score."
"Dr. Brennan," he said. "You scored a 288 which is two shy of the agreed number. But on the bright side, you scored better than 98.5 than everyone else who's ever taken the test. You'd be one of our best agents if you joined."
"I'm sorry Bones," Booth said while reaching over to give her a guy hug. She turned away and started walking towards the door. He ran after her but she was already sitting in the passenger seat of his SUV.
"Take me home, please," she said.
"Sure Bones," he replied. He spent the drive looking at her occasionally trying to decipher her expression. Once he parked in front of her building he said, "I know you're very competitive but I had no idea you were this much of a sore loser."
"I'm not a sore loser," she retorted. "I'm a bad loser. I don't like losing."
"I know," he said as he flashed his charm smile. "But I'm a gracious winner and I've got something in mind to make you feel better. Let's go in and I'll tell you what I'm going to do."
They entered her apartment and she stood in front of him with a curious look on her face.
"Since you got a 288, I'll just round that up to 290," he said, "I am more than satisfied that you can handle yourself when we're out in the field. I have a proposition for you. I will issue you a gun on one condition."
"What's that?" she asked as she inched closer to him.
"That you kiss me."
"Why do you want me to kiss you?"
"Well to be honest," he said, "watching you kick some ass so shortly after we were tangled up together was a major turn on."
"For how many steamboats?" she asked as her grin widened and she still inched closer.
"There won't be any steamboats," he said.
"So how will we know when to stop?"
"We can stop when our lips are tired," he said as he waggled his eyebrows.
"I haven't come down from my adrenaline high yet so that might be awhile," she said as she grabbed his lapels.
"I told you earlier," he said as he leaned his head forward, "I have tremendous stamina."