G is for talking to Giraffes

Thank you to dawnmei for suggesting 'giraffe'.

G is also for: Good, grape, grad, graduation, green, grope, grovel, grant, grip, griddle, girl, God, gore, garden gnomes, guest, gentleman, galloping, grand, grapple, gorgeous, grieve, 'Girl On The Moon' by Foreigner, gifts, grins, Gotcha, and guts.

BTW, ick on the ending to this one. I couldn't think of anything... so tell me what you think of it. I decided to toss my half written shot on guitar, because this just seemed so much more fun.

Wow! Two in a row! Now i REALLY need H. I have no idea for it.

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Temperance Brennan pressed herself flat against the wall. Poking her head around the corner, she pulled it back when she saw that he was in Angela's office, talking to Angela herself. Before either of them looked up she scurried past the door, took a right, and ran through a maintenance door. Taking the back way and creeping through the various janitor hallways, she managed to get to the other side of the building without being followed. Breathing a sigh of relief, she went out a back door and headed down the alleyway.

It started to rain. Winding her way through the maze of alleys and streets, she came up to the back door of a restaurant. Knocking, she waited for someone to come out. She looked up when the door opened.

"Hey Smoke. Want that seat in the back?"

Smiling, she answered, shaking the rain off and stepping through the doorway. "That would be great, Sid." He followed her to her seat, and watched as she sat down.

"Did you run from him again?" Sid asked. Brennan looked up at him sheepishly.

"Not exactly run. More like avoid. . ." She paused, thinking. "Ok, maybe I ran a bit. But come on! I haven't seen him in a year. I just can't face him yet." She finished with a sigh, burying her head in her arms. "What am I supposed to do, Sid?"

Sid studied her for a minute before snapping his fingers in an 'Aha!' gesture. "I know just what you need." He walked away to get her food as Brennan sat deep in thought.

A year. I know that he had no choice – it was undercover work. But how can I face him now? I'm still here. I didn't do anything in the last year. He's going to take one look at me and think 'Wow, she's still a dam workaholic. She has no life.'

Sighing, Brennan propped her chin in her hand and closed her eyes.

"Here's your food, Smoke." Brennan opened her eyes as Sid placed a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich in front of her. Smiling, she picked up her spoon.

"Why do you call me Smoke? At least 'Bones' makes sense." She asked, starting in on her food.

"Because you're like smoke. If you don't want to be found, no one's going to find you." Sid teased, chuckling.

"But Smoke-" He paused, voice now serious as he waited for her to look him in the eye. "He's not going to give up until he catches this smoke" He pointed at her dramatically. "With his bare hands." Winking, he walked away to attend to some new customers. Shaking her head at the innuendo Brennan went back to her meal. Is the whole world trying to get me and Booth together?

She had just finished her soup when she heard the sound of the restaurant door opening. Looking up she froze, like a deer in the headlights, when she saw who it was. Their eyes connected, his lighting up and hers clouding. He called out to her.

"Bones!"

But she was already out the door.

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"Hey Ange." He said quietly, knocking lightly on her door. When she looked up and saw who it was, her jaw dropped and she let out a laugh of disbelief.

"Well if it isn't Seeley Booth. Where the hell have you been?" Angela asked, getting up to hug him.

"Undercover, but you knew that. We got the guy so I'm back for good." He said with a smile. "Where's Bones? I didn't see her up on the platform."

Angela's smile faded. "I don't think you're going to find her."

"Why?" He asked, confused.

"She shut down when we found out you were undercover. She still gets her work done, but I know from the security tapes that she spends most of her time wandering. She probably knows every nook and cranny of this place now, and when she got bored with that, she started wandering the streets." Angela looked up at his shocked face and chuckled. "I know, it sounds crazy. But she'll give you the slip anywhere now. I tried to find her about a month after you left. She was right in front of me one second, and then I blinked and she was gone."

They sat in silence, thinking, until Booth's head snapped up. He whipped around and stared at the door.

I could have sworn I saw. . . He thought, but shrugged it off. "Wanna go grab some lunch? I'm starving."

"Sure, let me get the guys. Wong Foo's sound good?"

Ten minutes later they pushed open the door to Wong Foo's. Booth walked in first, his hands in his pockets and his head low. The hair on the back of his neck prickled familiarly. Looking around, he spotted her. Their eyes locked.

"Bones!" He called, starting towards her.

"G-man!" Sid called at the same time. The two seconds it took for him to glance at Sid was all the time it took for her to get away.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB Later that night, about 10:00 at Wong Foo's

"You didn't need to distract him. I would have gotten away." Brennan said, sipping her beer. Sid leaned his arms on the bar.

"I know that, Smoke. But I could also see how jumpy you were today. I was just helping out."

Brennan absentmindedly swirled her drink, chewing on her lip. "I know I can't run from him forever. We work together."

"Take the day off tomorrow and think about what you're going to do. If you get hungry you can always stop in here." Sid suggested.

Brennan chuckled. "Isn't that what I did today? Cam will fire me if I keep sneaking off like this."

"I heard from a little bird that you sneak off often." He said.

"Is that little bird's name Angela?"

"You got me ther-" Sid stopped, looking up at the door which had just opened. A very depressed and tired looking Booth trudged through the door. Looking up he saw Brennan, once again frozen in place.

"Bones..." Booth started cautiously, not wanting to scare her into bolting again. When she rose from her seat and started backing away, he put his hands in front of him to try to show her that he wasn't going to hurt her. "Bones, I just want to talk, ok?" He said calmly, like he was trying to talk a vicious dog out of biting him. He could almost hear himself saying 'Nice doggie. That's a good doggie'.

She shook her head, eyes wide before turning and sprinting out the back door.

"Bones!" Booth yelled, tearing after her. The back door banged shut behind him as he found himself in a small alleyway. "Temperance!" But it was no use. She was gone.

Booth stomped back into the empty restaurant in a huff, sat down on her abandoned bar stool and drank the rest of her beer. Motioning to Sid, he only started to talk after he had another in his hand.

"Why is she avoiding me? I thought she'd be happy to see me." He asked, swirling his beer just as Brennan had minutes ago. Sid smiled, shaking his head at the agent. This what they call dumb love.

"She's scared, Booth." Sid said.

Something struck Booth as odd, and his protective streak flared up. "How come she talks to you and not me? That's the second time today that I've seen her in here." He asked huffily.

"When you left, she came here. I brought comfort food, and she just curled up in that back booth and cried. I've never seen her break down like that." He said with a sad smile. "There was no one else in here- it was kind of late at night. I went over and started talking to her, now when she needs a place to hide she comes here. It's not like she can hide in her office." Sid finished explaining.

"If you see her in here again, will you call me? I really need to talk to her. I need to figure out what's wrong." Booth asked.

"Of course I'll call you, but I think the only way that you're going to catch Smoke is to grab her and never let her go." Booth frowned in confusion.

"Literally or figuratively?" He asked.

Sid laughed. "That my friend, is up to you."

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB The next day. The great Brennan hunt.

"Ok Ange, I've checked her place, Wong Foo's, her office. Do you have ANY idea where she might run?" Booth asked, getting desperate. The artist looked up from the TV.

"I already told you, you're not going to catch her." Angela said, turning back to the TV, which was showing the news, and the opening of a new giraffe exhibit at the National Zoo. Booth turned to watch with her, thinking hard to try to figure out where his partner might go. All of a sudden a familiar figure appeared on the screen.

"That's her!" He said excitedly. Angela looked to where his finger was pointing to the TV. Sure enough, Brennan was there, leaning causally against a wall outside the crowd in front of the giraffe exhibit. "I have to go Ange." He said quickly, and then he was out the door.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB Giraffe exhibit, National Zoo

Temperance leaned against the railing, watching the giraffes. She didn't know why she had come to the zoo. . . it seemed so silly now.

"What am I going to do now?" She asked the giraffe. It tilted it's head to the side and continued chewing on it's chunk of grass. It let out a snort and shook it's head. "Yeah, that's what I thought too."

She suddenly froze when she felt someone behind her. Spinning around she came face to face with Seeley Booth. He put his hands on either side of the railing, effectively trapping her in.

"Hello, Bones. So nice of you to avoid me." He said calmly as she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I don't want to talk to you, Booth." She said stubbornly, her voice cold.

"Why? What did I ever do to you?"

Brennan rolled her eyes before ducking out from under his arms. "Figure it out, genius."

"Seriously, Bones. I don't know what I did!" He called at her retreating back. Jogging to keep up with her, he added. "And don't try to run because I'll just catch you again." Brennan laughed.

"I highly doubt that."

"Oh yeah? You don't want me to go Ranger on your ass." He said, dead serious as he fell into stride beside her. They were out of the zoo now, strolling down the street.

"And you don't want me to disappear off the face of the earth, so can we come to an agreement here? Just leave me alone." She said, taking a turn down an alleyway. He followed.

"Disappear? Even you couldn't hide from me, Bones." Booth said wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Surprisingly, she let him.

"Yes I can, Booth. I know the city pretty well now." She replied.

"So I've heard. Angela told me that you wander the streets. Do you bring your gun with you when you go off on your little adventures?" He asked.

"No I don't, Mr. Alpha Male. I can defend myself."

"Bones! You can't just go wandering D.C without protection. You know better than anyone what happens to people out there." Booth said angrily.

"I can easily lose someone. You've seen me fight, I'm no pushover."

"I know that Bones. It doesn't mean someone can't jump you from behind or-"

"You just walk out of my life, and then come back and expect to run it? I don't think so." Brennan said angrily, shoving his arm off her shoulder and stalking ahead of him. Making a turn, she ducked inside a small alley where she knew she could lose him.

"Bones!" Booth yelled as soon as she gave him the slip. "I know you can hear me, dammit! What did I do?" Turning in circles to try to find out where she went, he continued. "Please, Temperance. Talk to me." He was begging now, and it was breaking her heart. "Bones!. . . Bones, please. . . please."Sighing quietly to herself, she stepped out of the alley and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and spun to face her.

"Does this at least prove that I can get away from you if I really want to?"

He sighed in relief and surprised her by grabbing her in a crushing hug. "Don't EVER do that again. You scared me." He mumbled into her hair.

"You scared me more. I had to find out from Cullen that you were undercover." Now blinking back tears, Tempe buried her face in his neck and yelled angrily at him, the hurt clear in her voice. "I didn't even get to say goodbye. I thought you were dead! No call, no note, no nothing. A whole year, Booth. I missed you so-" She tightened her arms around him, now gripping his shirt desperately. "Dam much. So dam much." A tear escaped down her cheek.

"Shhh. It's ok Bones." He soothed. "Just next time, please come talk to me, and not to the giraffe, ok?" Brennan raised her head and her eyebrows.

"I was not talking to the giraffe! I was observing!" She said indignantly.

"Mmm hmmm. Sure. I saw you." Booth teased, adopting a high pitched voice. "What am I going to do, Mr. Giraffe? Please solve all my problems, Mr.-"

"I did NOT!" Brennan repeated, slapping him in the chest as she blushed.

"Oh yes you did. Now will you please come back to the lab with me? Or do I have to black mail you?" Booth asked.

Brennan raised herself to her full hight so that they were nose to nose. "What have you got?"

"You talk to giraffes."

"Well you talk in your sleep." She retorted. Booth's eyes went wide.

"What did I say?!" He asked quickly.

"Nothing, nothing." She said, smiling triumphantly.

"Yeah, well you do the cutest thing when you're thinking. Your face gets all concentrated and you bite your lip and you tap your fingers on the table. Oh! And if you're holding a pencil or something you'll click it against your teeth until you come up with the answer you're looking for." Brennan blinked.

"Aren't you supposed to be working, Seeley Booth? Not watching me?" She asked teasingly. "And I am NOT cute."

"Of course you aren't, Bones." He said, chuckling. Slinging his arm around her waist, he started walking again. Brennan rolled her eyes and went willingly, silently thanking the giraffe for helping him to find her.