I'm not sure if I like this chapter or not, and I debated about trashing it altogether. Make sure you let me know what you think, whether you hated it or thought it was okay. Thanks to everyone who has been reading this fic, you guys are awesome!
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Chapter 8—Dedicated
"Tempe!" Sully called, walking into her office, stopping short when he only saw Booth. "Where's Tempe?" he asked, confused. She had told him she couldn't make their date because she was staying late at work, but apparently she wasn't there.
"Hey Sully," Booth said, not lifting his gaze from the computer monitor. "She's down in storage digging out some bones from a case she had a few years ago. She thinks they may be related to the case we're working on."
"Oh, well, what are you doing?" he asked, still a little peeved that she had cancelled their date to work late with Booth.
"I'm running the M.O. through the database to find any other cases that could potentially be connected to the current one. She should be back any minute, providing she was actually able to find the file in that hell pit," spinning in her desk chair, Booth rolled over to the printer to grab the report before returning to the computer.
"Okay," Sully said, trying to calm himself down. It was just Booth, after all, even if he did have the hots for his partner. "I guess I'll just wait," he said, taking a seat on her couch.
15 minutes later, when she still hadn't come back, Booth grabbed his phone to call her. He was surprised to hear "Hot Blooded" playing out on the platform, and stood up quickly to leave her office.
"Bones! You were supposed to come get me when you came back up here! I've got 3 more potentially related cases," he yelled as he made his way down to the platform, smiling to see she already had the bones laid out on the table and was bent over examining them. Her dedication to her work was just one of the things he loved about her. Aware that Sully was following closely on his heels, Booth bounded up the stairs to the platform.
"Sorry Booth, I just got distracted by the bones…" she trailed off, still pouring over the remains, not noticing Sully was there.
"Tempe," Sully started, trying to contain his annoyance, "We need to talk. Now."
Startled by his voice, she looked up, "Sully! When did you get here? What are you doing here?"
"Tempe, let's go to your office," he said sternly, turning away from her and walking toward the stairs, expecting her to follow.
"I don't have time for this right now, Sully," she said, letting out an exasperated sigh. "We've got a serial killer on our hands, and I need to determine exactly how many of his victims we know about."
"Goddamn it, Tempe!" he cried, spinning on his heel and stalking towards her. "You've got time for your work. You've got time for Booth. You had time to take a book tour. You've even made time to see Parker! But you can't find even one evening for me? I'm your boyfriend!" his anger was spilling over as he glared at her, shooting dirty looks Booth's direction every few moments.
She just looked at him, not saying anything. Finally, she turned back to the remains, refusing to look at him any longer. She knew she wasn't giving him the time he wanted, but she gave him what she could. She refused to give up her work, or her time with Booth, for someone she wasn't sure was going to stick around. "I think you need to go, Sully," she said, her tone telling him he was dismissed.
Booth was stunned. He'd never seen Sully so angry before, but Sully's accusations were making his blood boil. When she had just turned back to her work, Booth prayed Sully would just leave. The last thing he needed tonight was an irate Bones. As it was, he was clenching his fists at his sides to keep himself from hitting Sully.
Shooting one last dirty glance at the pair, Sully turned and walked angrily off the platform, setting off the alarms as he went.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Booth leaned over to swipe his card to quiet the alarms. Settling himself at a computer, Booth continued his search for similar cases, this time searching the Jeffersonian's database. Pulling up three more potential victims, Booth looked over at Brennan, who was still working intently. "Hey, Bones, do you want me to go down to the storage room to get these three files?"
Looking up from her work for the first time, she was almost surprised to see Booth still there. "I'm going to have to come with you because you're card won't give you clearance, and you'll need help trying to carry three boxes back up here," she said, standing up and pulling off her gloves, stretching to get rid of the stiffness in her back.
Booth felt as if he had swallowed a ball of cotton as she stretched, her t-shirt riding up to show a creamy patch of her taut abdomen. Shaking the image from his mind, he led the way off the platform, Brennan following close on his heels.
Downstairs in the storage room, the searched for the files in silence. Brennan broke the comfortable silence, needing to address what had happened with Sully. "He's feeling neglected because I still put my work before him."
Booth looked up from the box he was moving, not saying anything, knowing she needed to talk without interruption.
"I mean, we've only been dating for four weeks, and he seems to think he needs to be first in my life, that I need to drop everything I'm doing to go off with him and his spontaneous decisions. I just like structure and schedule, you know that, Booth. But Sully, structure and schedule are not part of his life. Sometimes I wonder why we're even together…" she trailed off, her voice and body tense.
"Hey, Bones," Booth said softly, moving behind her, "he'll come around, he's just upset." Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gave her a gentle squeeze before beginning a slow massage. Her head fell forward, giving him access to the base of her neck, where he worked out the knots as gently as possible, although he knew it probably hurt.
She moaned softly as his fingers continued to knead and work her muscles until she was completely relaxed. Eventually he removed his hands from her shoulders and neck, and she felt the loss of contact almost immediately.
"Thanks, Booth," she whispered softly, stepping away from him and bending down to continue her search for the case file. She could deal with Sully in the morning, but for right now, she and Booth had a serial killer to catch.
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AN: I wanted to ask your guys' opinion for a chapter, which I had originally planned to have here, but wound up moving when I woke up in the middle of the night and realized it could work somewhere else just as well. The prompt is "Cheese," and although I was originally planning to for them to go to a fondue party (hehe, random, I know), I realized it could also be a Mac N' Cheese chapter to follow up "Glowing Bones" and it would work well in the timeline of the story. I'm leaving this choice up to you guys, so tell me what you want to see!
