Chapter 9—Stranded

They were racing against the storm, trying to make it back to the small, country town in southwest Virginia where they were planning to stay for the night. About 20 miles outside of the town, the storm overtook them, the rain falling heavily, making it difficult to see the hood of the SUV and almost impossible to see anything in front of the car.

Booth slowed the vehicle to just above a crawl, straining to keep the SUV on the road as the rain continued to fall harder. By the time he saw the tree in the road, they were only a few feet away from it and didn't have time to stop. Hitting the breaks to slow their impact, the tires locked, sending them sliding off the side of the road and coming to rest in what Booth hoped was an open field.

Shaking slightly from the adrenaline running through his veins, he immediately looked over at his partner, letting out a sigh of relief when she looked back at him. "You okay there, Bones?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm okay. Are you okay?" she asked, breathing deeply, her fingers still clenching the arm rest.

Satisfied they were both okay, he placed his hand gently on hers, looking at her and noticing she was still shaken up. "I think we should just stay put, at least until the storm passes," he said, squinting hard to look out the windshield.

"That sounds like a good idea," she replied, calmed by his hand covering hers. "What do we do?" she asked, needing to stay busy while trying to ignore the warm feelings that were coursing through her body from where their hands met.

Pulling his hand away from hers, they were both disappointed at the loss of contact. To distract himself from the feelings, Booth turned off the ignition, and flipped on the interior lights before turning back to Brennan to answer her question. "I've got a deck of cards somewhere in the back, and we might as well get comfortable while we wait," he said, unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing into the back where he proceeded to dig out a deck of cards from a pocket and laid the middle seat flat. Finding some blankets from the far back of the SUV, he turned to see Brennan staring at him from the front seat.

Grinning, he couldn't help teasing her, "Are you going to join me back here, or are you just going to stare at me all day?"

Dropping her gaze from his, she carefully climbed over the seats, settling down cross-legged facing Booth, the cards sitting between them. "What do you want to play?" she wondered, not knowing too many card games.

"Do you know how to play speed?" he asked, shuffling the cards.

"I think I remember how to play…" she thought about it a moment, "Russ and I used to play all the time when we were younger."

He saw the frown cross her features when she thought about her brother. "Good, then get ready to lose," he said lightly, trying to distract her with competition. It worked.

"I don't think so, Booth. You're going down!" she countered, already engrossed in the competition between the two of them.

He dealt out the cards, quickly losing 17 games in a row. Pouting a little, he looked up from his most recent defeat. "How about Gin Rummy?" he asked, hoping she didn't know it, just so he could have a chance at beating her.

Smiling at him, she tried not to look too smug over her victories. "I don't think I know that one," she said, knowing he was trying to find some way to beat her.

He quickly explained the rules and dealt out the cards. They talked while they played, discussing ridiculous cases they had before they were partnered together, Parker's latest antics, Zach and Hodgins' latest antics (they were worse than children sometimes!), and Angela's art exhibit that was currently on display at a gallery in downtown, carefully avoiding anything with Sully, Cam, or anything serious.

As they played, Brennan was struck by how comfortable she was around Booth. She could play games and talk to him without thinking about it, not worried that he would judge her. Not once that evening did she even think about Sully, who was back in DC calling her every 5 minutes trying to make sure Booth was keeping his hands to himself.

Before they knew it, they were both yawning and too exhausted to play anymore. Looking out the windows, Booth saw the rain hadn't let up in the slightest. Sighing, he looked at his watch and put the cards away. "We should get some sleep. Hopefully by morning the storm will have passed and we can get back to town," he said, stretching as best he could in the cramped space.

Brennan nodded, exhaustion taking over her body. She removed her shoes and jacket, throwing them carelessly into the front seat, as she stretched out on the make-shift bed.

Booth followed suit, throwing his shoes into the front before taking off his tie and dress shirt and laying them carefully over the back of the seat. Looking at his pants, he shook his head, knowing he needed to keep them on if he was sleeping next to Brennan. He did pull off his belt, though, knowing how painful it would be to wake up with that belt-buckle against his stomach.

Draping a blanket over Brennan's already sleeping form, he settled down next to her, careful to leave as much space between their bodies as he could. As much as he wanted to, he didn't think she or Sully would appreciate him holding her while they slept.

Booth lay there, quickly falling asleep as the sound of rain continued to fall heavily onto the SUV.


He awoke the next morning, looking out the window to bright, sunny skies. Trying to move his arm to stretch, he realized there was a soft, warm mass draped across his body. Looking down at the sleeping face of Temperance Brennan, he shook he head, smiling about the fact that her body had found his during the night. He glanced at his watch, realizing he could go back to sleep for a few hours, content with Brennan using him as a pillow.