Chapter 16—Crawl

"God, Bones," he let out an exasperated sigh, stopping for the third time in ten minutes.

"Keep moving, Booth. We should be almost there," she replied, stopping a few feet in front of him and waiting for him to start moving again.

"I'm just a little bigger than you, Bones. It's a tighter squeeze to get through," he sighed again, ducking his head as he resumed his slow crawl through the tunnel.

She started moving when she heard his scuffling, unable to look back at him because the tunnel was getting smaller the further they went. "Hey Booth, the tunnel gets a little tighter right before it opens up, but you should be able to get through."

"Should? If I get stuck down here I'm never speaking to you again," he muttered, seeing what she meant by the tunnel getting smaller as he tried to squeeze through. A few feet into the smaller tunnel, he felt himself get stuck.

Looking up ahead of him, his voice caught in his throat. Damn, she's got a nice ass, he thought, amazed he had never noticed before. Well, hadn't noticed to the extent he was noticing now.

She was crawling on her hands and knees, her butt at perfect eye level for him to stare. Even with her coveralls he could see that it was perfectly rounded and wonderful to look at. He'd never been much of an ass guy, but he was amazed by her entire body, ass included. He watched her move, the way her legs met her butt as she crawled. I'm not supposed to be having these thoughts, but damn! We crossed that line a long time ago, and I'm not going back. He was so comfortable watching her he had almost forgotten he was stuck in a tunnel. And he definitely hadn't realized she had stopped to wait for him.

She had stopped when she heard his scuffling come to a sudden halt. Still unable to look back at him, she wondered why he hadn't said anything since he stopped. "Hey Booth, you alive back there?" she teased, hoping he was able to get through.

"Um, yeah," he said hesitantly, trying to shake the thoughts and images from his mind. "I'm a little stuck back here."

"Ok, um, hold on," she said, trying to think of how she was going to help him get through. "I can see the end of the tunnel, so I'm going to go turn around. I'll be right back," she said, moving quickly down the remainder of the tunnel.

Within minutes she was back, facing him this time. "You need to drop your shoulders, Booth," she said, seeing that he was stuck because of his broad shoulders. "It's going to hurt for a few minutes, but you've only got about 15 feet to go."

"Uh huh," he said, trying to drop his shoulders, but realizing he was still stuck.

"Like this," she said, reaching out and pushing down on the top of his arm, helping him get loose.

Slowly he moved toward her as she kept her hand on his shoulder to keep his arms down. Crawling backwards with one hand, she eventually helped him out of the tunnel and into an area where they could stand up again.

Without looking at how dirty his coveralls were, he stretched out his back and shoulders, wincing slightly and knowing he was going to be sore later that night. He followed her down the wider tunnel, glad that he was able to walk rather than crawl; even if he did lose his prime vantage point of her body.

They found the body within minutes, and Brennan set to work collecting the remains and samples into a bag. Booth hovered as she worked, taking notes as she made her initial observations. She collected everything quickly, placing it into the bag and packing up her kit.

She gestured to the bag, each of them picking up an end, with Booth also grabbing her kit, and made their way back to the tunnel they had come from. Setting down the bag, they both looked down the tunnel, debating the easiest way to get everything back in one piece, especially the remains.

"I guess one of us with go first with the kit, and the other will go through backwards, pulling the bag," she finally said, silently deciding this was the most inaccessible crime scene yet.

"Do you want me to go first?" he asked, not sure if he would be able to get through going backwards.

"Yeah, that is probably best," she said, kneeling down and pulling the bag closer to the tunnel entrance.

Booth looked down the tunnel again, pausing before he went in and looked up at Brennan. "You're sure there's no other way to get out of here?" he asked, not very happy about having to go back into the tiny tunnel.

"This is the only way out, Booth, so get going. I'd like to get out of her sometime today," she said, pushing down his shoulders and urging him toward the entrance. "And remember to keep your shoulders down. I won't be able to help you if you get stuck this time."

"Uh huh," he muttered as he started down the tunnel, trying to keep his shoulders down.

She watched him go, enjoying the view of his body as he crawled. "Screw this," she heard him curse, and she knew he got caught again.

He backed up a few inches then dropped to his belly, pulling himself along through the tunnel with his elbows while pushing the kit ahead of him. "You coming?" he asked over his shoulder to Brennan, turning partially around to see her.

"Yep, I'm coming," she said, dropping to her knees and crawling backwards into the tunnel dragging along the body bag behind her.

"I officially hate my job sometimes," Booth grumbled, his elbows starting to hurt from the metal tunnel. Stopping to move back to his hands and knees, he continued on his way.

"I don't necessarily love it right now either, Booth," she responded, moving backwards, hoping they were almost out. She was starting to get a little claustrophobic in the tight tunnel.

"I can see the end, Bones," he said, his excitement evident in his voice.

"Oh thank god," she said softly, letting out a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stay in the tunnel. She felt it open up as Booth climbed out of the tunnel and into the main room where there were still agents and the forensic team milling about.

He turned back to the tunnel, helping her climb out and leaving the body bag for the forensics crew to take back to the lab. Thankful he had gotten statements before crawling through the tunnel to retrieve the remains, they left, wanting to get back to clean air of the lab. Climbing out of the sewer and onto the street, they both quickly shed their coveralls and boots, breathing the fresh air.

Twenty minutes later they were back at the Jeffersonian waiting for the body to arrive. Stretching his shoulder, Booth winced in pain.

Brennan, having noticed his pain, watched him stretch gingerly, trying not to move his shoulder too much. "Sit on the couch," she told him, sitting down behind him and turning him away from her.

"Why, Bones? We have work to do as soon as the body gets here," he protested lightly.

"You're in pain, so stop moving, would you?" she demanded, pulling his jacket off. Placing her hands back on his shoulders, she carefully massaged the sore muscles, working out the knots and tightness that had built up in the tunnels.

"God, Bones, that's amazing," he almost moaned, dropping his head forward as she worked along his lower neck. "Where'd you learn how to do that?" he asked when she had removed her hands and stood up.

"I took a class in college," she responded off-handedly, spying the remains arriving. "The body is here," she told him, leaving her office quickly for the platform.

Standing up, he rolled his shoulders a few times, much happier to have the pain gone. "Thanks, Bones," he said to the empty room, heading out to see what she could tell him in better lighting.