Just a warning – this chapter is more disjointed than the others, with more 'scene cuts' I suppose you could call them. Hope you enjoy regardless! Oh, and a story set in Australia isn't complete without vegemite :)
Chapter Seven: The Truth in the Bite
The light woke her up. Groggily opening her eyes, she saw on the bedside table's clock that it was almost seven – when she had planned to get up. She lay back a moment, before stretching and pulling back the covers of the bed. Her mouth was fuzzy and her head ached a little from last night's wine, but it was nothing a cup of coffee and a hot shower couldn't fix.
She glanced over at Booth, and grinned at the sight of him. As predicted, he slept spread out on the bed, his mouth slightly agape, gentle snores escaping. He seemed to have tossed and turned throughout the night, and the covers were a tangle around his body. She stood up, walking over to him. He looked peaceful, not a trace of sadness lined his face. She thought he looked better, better than she'd seen him in a long time.
I'm so glad he came with me.
She turned back to grab the clothes that she'd set out for herself the night before, before disappearing into the bathroom.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Booth woke up at the sound of running water and the gentle humming of his partner in the bathroom. He smiled, stretching. It was a nice way to be woken. He could think of better, but as wake ups go, he thought this was a pretty good one.
His mind drifted to other ways he'd like to be woken up, and he promptly got out of bed, grabbing a pair of track pants and a sloppy t-shirt out of his still unpacked bag. He'd have breakfast before his mind ran away with him, causing him to need another cold shower. He considered his appearance in the full length mirror that had been set against the wall, wondering if he should just wait for Brennan to finish in the shower. He wouldn't want to offend his hosts with his rather laid back appearance...
He shook the thought off. He doubted they'd mind.
Heading over to the stairs, he paused for a moment, listening to her sing. He knew this song – Hot Blooded. He couldn't help but smile.
.-.-.-.-.-.
He was surprised to find both girls up when he walked into the kitchen. Both were perched on bar stools, eating toast and watching cartoons in their pyjamas. They grinned when Booth walked in, waving him over.
'Come watch Ben10 with us, Seeley!' Ella called, waving around her piece of toast at him excitedly.
Booth was pretty surprised by just how much the kids had warmed up to him. Yesterday, they would barely look at him, and now they were talking to him like he was their favourite Uncle. Not that he minded – they were both sweet kids. He walked over to her, ruffling Ella's blonde hair. She dodged him quickly, giggling.
'What's that you're eating then?' He asked, looking at their toast.
'Vegemite, of course!' Ella answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
He looked at Josephine, wondering what that might be. She looked back at him, smiling, still a little bit shy.
He could see which child took after which parent; in personality at least. Josephine was like her mother, quiet, gentle. Ella was more like her father: gregarious and quite the go getter.
'Would you like me to get you some toast?' She'd just finished her last piece. 'I'm going to make some more, so you can try some, if you like.'
Booth was surprised by her thoughtfulness. Despite the fact that she was about Parker's age, she seemed a great deal more... mature.
He grinned at her, nodding. 'Sounds great.'
She smiled, hopping off the stool and heading over to the pantry. Booth kept an eye on her, one, so he would know where all the proper gear for breakfast was, and two, because he thought it would be kind of awkward if the little girl hurt herself while she was getting him some toast.
He turned to Ella, who was transfixed by the TV. Booth had seen the cartoon a couple of times when Parker was around, and hadn't minded the show; though he wasn't about to admit that to anyone.
'My son loves this show,' he said to Ella in the ad break. She looked up at him, wrinkling her nose.
'So do the boys in my class. But none of the girls do. They like the stupid shows.'
Booth smiled at her as she took a huge bite out of her toast.
'What else do you like watching?' He asked, getting out of the stool to head for the fridge for a glass of juice.
The little girl reeled off a bunch of names, most of which he'd never heard of. He headed back over to the bench, to find Josephine sitting back down, munching on her toast. Where Booth had been sitting sat a small plate with two slices of bread on it, a brown spread thinly covering the heavily buttered toast. It didn't look like any spread he'd ever seen, but he was willing to give it a try.
When in Rome!
He took a generous bite of the bread, and was surprised to see both of the girls eyeing him off interestedly.
'Do you like it?' Josephine asked, looking like she was trying not to smile.
He didn't reply for a moment, considering the taste. Definitely not what he was used too, but it wasn't... bad. He took another bite, trying to think about what it reminded him of. Sort of pungent, salty. He shrugged, not sure if he liked it or not. Certainly edible, he concluded, finishing off the slice.
Grinning at the girls, he nodded. 'It's interesting.'
The girls laughed, Ella's rather loud and honking.
'What's the joke?' He asked, sitting back and watching them amusedly.
'When Granny and Grandpa came to visit us from America we made them breakfast in bed and they really, really didn't like the vegemite. Daddy doesn't like it either.' Josephine explained.
'Mummy said that people from your country just don't under-stand vegemite.' Ella added, stumbling over the words.
He took another bite of toast, chewing carefully. 'You know what I think would be fun?' He asked, conspiratorially.
'What?' The girls whispered, leaning closer to him.
'We should see if Bones likes this... Veggie...thing.'
'Vegemite,' Josephine corrected, nodding. 'That could be fun.' She added.
He finished his toast and headed for the pantry, keen for some more. As he milled about the kitchen, the girls giggled to themselves, having whispered conversations.
'Seeley?' Josephine's quiet voice piped up, and he turned to look at her. She looked sort of curious, but also a bit sheepish. He turned to look at Ella, who was staring at him with unabashed curiosity.
'Why do you call Temp-rance Bones?' Ella butted in, leaning over the bench, bouncing up and down on her stool.
He set back to work on his toast, smiling. 'It's because she works with Bones all the time. She's like, the Queen of Bones.'
He turned back to see them both wrinkle their noses.
'Ew.' Josephine said quietly, hopping down off her stool and placing her plate in the sink.
Ella piped up again. 'Why aren't you married to Temp-rance?'
'Ella!' Josephine said, turning to face her little sister. 'Don't be rude!'
'I'm not being rude! I just want to know! I think they should be married.' She said matter of factly.
Booth bit his tongue, hiding his smile.
Me too, kid. Me too.
'Why do you think Bones and me should be married?' He asked, heading back over to the table. As soon as he sat down, Brennan appeared from the staircase, looking summery and fresh faced.
He turned to greet her, meeting her eyes. She smiled at him, walking over to the table where they sat.
'Good morning, everyone.' She said, taking a seat.
Ella grinned. 'Temp-rance, we're going to make breakfast for you!' Ella hopped off the bench, excitedly bounding over to the pantry.
Brennan laughed quietly, turning to Booth as he munched on his toast.
'They're pretty excited about making their Aunty Temp-rance breakfast, Bones. Better make sure you eat it all up,' he said, grinning mischievously.
She smiled at him, figuring there was something he wasn't telling her.
'Did you sleep well?' He asked, sipping his juice.
'Very. Despite the fact that you snore.'
He put his glass down. 'What? I don't snore! You snore.'
'I'm fairly sure we've had this conversation before, Booth. And you do snore. Only little baby snores though, so they aren't too disruptive.'
He pursed his lips. 'Little baby snores,' he said, shaking his head.
The girls bounded over with a plateful of vegemite on toast.
'Here you go, Temperance,' Josephine said, smiling innocently.
Brennan smiled, taking the plate. 'Thanks, Josephine, Ella. This looks delicious.'
She took a mouthful, and chewed slowly. Booth had seen that look on her face before. It was the look of careful contemplation, as if she was weighing up the positives and negatives of the toast in her mind.
He grinned as she wrinkled up her nose, in a rather adorable fashion. The girls giggled.
She swallowed slowly. 'That's... really... disgusting.'
She looked carefully at the children, hoping she hadn't offended them. On the contrary, she seemed to have delighted them with her distaste of the breakfast she'd made them.
Odd.
She looked at Booth, who helped himself to her toast, having finished his. The children looked up at them both, grinning ear to ear.
'Temp-rance? Why aren't you married to Seeley?' Ella asked, bouncing from foot to foot.
Booth and Brennan avoided each other's eyes, hiding their smiles.
.-.-.-.-.-.
There was a knock at the door, which Sarah went to answer. Booth stood up, chugging down the last of his coffee and grabbing the case file off the table. Al watched him stand up, slightly uncomfortable, before standing up also.
'Well, good luck with things, Tempe, Seeley,' he said, crossing his arms.
'What will you be doing today, Al?' Temperance asked, pulling her bag over her head.
'Oh, the usual. Stressing out about the case. Playing with the kids. Reading over research.' He grimaced slightly, before looking over Booths shoulder.
Sarah had just walked in with the man. He wore a white button down shirt and grey suit pants. Booth considered him – he looked friendly enough, but there was an air about him that suggested he was incredibly sensible. He wasn't overly attractive, but was very earnest looking – with light brown hair that was almost a dirty blonde, hazel eyes, and full lips. He was well built, almost as well as Booth.
Booth looked over at Brennan, wondering what her reaction to her new partner would be.
She smiled at him, before walking over to him and extending her hand.
'I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan. It's nice to meet you finally.'
He nodded, smiling back at her. 'Martin Fuller.'
He looked over at Booth, and Brennan followed his gaze. 'And this,' she said, smiling in earnest, 'is my partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth.'
Booth headed over to the man, shaking his hand. He could almost feel himself being sized up, and grinned cheekily at Martin, just to throw him off.
'And I'm Alexander Norris,' Al piped up over Booth's shoulder. The three turned to look at Al, who waved somewhat self consciously.
'I know who you are,' Martin said, not entirely friendly.
Al crossed his arms, looking upset. His wife headed over to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. Booth couldn't help but feel bad for the couple.
He clapped his hands together, turning back to Brennan and Martin. 'Too the lab?' He asked, grinning.
.-.-.-.-.-.
The lab was not what they were used too. Apparently there were better facilities in Sydney, but they were being used for more 'pertinent' cases – cases that weren't more than six months old and didn't have suspects quite as convincing as Al.
Brennan stood at the entrance to her lab with her hands on her hips and a distasteful look on her face. Booth could see her trying to come to terms with the fact that she was going to be working in a dimly lit, cramped, ill equipped place. He shuffled over to her, placing his hand gently in the crook of her arm, giving her a reassuring smile.
She turned to him, looking annoyed. 'I can't work like this. I can't believe they'd make me work here. This-'she said, gesturing around the room, 'is an insult.'
Booth looked around the room again. He couldn't exactly disagree.
'Come on, Bones. It's not that bad.' She gave him a withering look.
'Okay, it is that bad. But you've worked in plenty worse conditions. New Orleans wasn't as equipped. I can't imagine Rwanda would have been...'
She crossed her arms, and Booth dropped his hand from her elbow.
'I'll try.'
Martin had been watching the exchange out of the corner of his eye and seemed to be somewhat embarrassed by Brennan's reaction to the facilities she was going to have to use.
'I'm sorry if the lab is not up to your standard, Dr. Brennan.' He said, quietly.
She looked at him, somewhat thunderous. Booth quickly stepped in.
'She'll get used to it. Don't worry.'
Brennan glared at him, but didn't say anything. She walked forward, towards the two skeletons that lay before her. Booth followed, as did Martin.
Brennan peered over one of the tables, pulling on the latex gloves and picking up bones with knife wounds, considering them meticulously.
She then considered the report that she had been given by a forensic, and shook her head.
'There are fallacies in this report. Already I can see an error.'
Martin raised his eyes, surprised. 'What? You've only been looking at the bones for two minutes.'
Brennan smiled at him cockily. 'It need only have been one if the lights in here were brighter,' she said, with a small amount of malice.
Booth rolled his eyes.
'What's the error, then?'
'It's nothing huge, I suppose. But these stab wounds, here, on the bone?' She indicated with her finger. 'The fracturing around the marks indicate that the wounds were inflicted while on a bed. There was no mention of this in the report.'
Booth considered the evidence.
'The crime scene – where they were murdered – that was never found, was it, Fuller?' Booth asked, arms crossed.
Martin still looked surprised. 'No, no, it wasn't.'
'Well there's a clue.'
Brennan looked at Booth. 'That hardly narrows it down, Booth. There are a lot of beds in the world.'
She went back to considering the bones, and didn't speak up for about ten minutes, before she turned to look at the other skeleton. Entirely absorbed, Booth looked at Martin out of the corner of his eye.
'You'd better look after her, Fuller,' Booth said, quietly. He couldn't keep the menace out of his voice. 'Since I'm not allowed to carry around a gun, that job is up to you.'
Martin walked over to Booth, arms crossed. He didn't look worried.
'Mate, I hardly think she's going to be in danger during this case.'
Booth watched her for a moment.
He turned back to Martin. 'You'd be surprised how much trouble she gets into,'
Martin too, considered her.
'Right. Well I'll protect her, obviously. But I wouldn't worry, Booth.'
Booth turned back to look at her, shaking his head. He would always worry about her.
Brennan turned back to Booth, smiling hugely. Booth was taken aback by her happiness, and he wondered if she could have possibly solved the case in that short amount of time.
'What have you found out, Bones?' He asked her, walking over to stand by her side.
She had picked up the skull, indicating to the mouth.
'Look at the damage to the teeth, Booth,' she said, excitedly. Booth looked, but couldn't see any damage at all. They just looked like teeth.
He nodded knowingly, as if he could see something.
'Right. And what does that mean?' He asked, looking at her. Her eyes were shining.
'Before the male victim was killed, he bit his assailant. Hard. Hard enough to damage his own teeth – imagine the wound he would have given the murderer!' She placed the skull down carefully, before saying quietly –
'This is the sort of evidence that will save Al. We just have to check him for bite marks, and he should be free of accusation. I assure you, the murderer will have a very large, human-jaw shaped scar somewhere on their body.'
She looked almost overcome with happiness.
She turned to look at Martin. 'Did you hear that?' She asked.
He nodded. She considered the file again, shaking her head. Booth thought he heard her mutter, 'amateurs.'
She turned back to Martin. 'Tell me that the forensics took a sample of what would have been lodged in the male victim's mouth. Please,' she said, looking hopeful.
Martin looked almost worried. 'Is it in the report?' He asked hopefully.
'Would I have asked, if it were in the report?' She said, shaking her head at him.
'I suppose not.' He said, looking sheepish. 'Well, I guess then that they wouldn't have. I can't imagine why. I'll follow it up, if you like,'
She stared at him.
'Uhm. I'll see what information I can rustle up.' Martin turned and disappeared up the stairs.
Brennan turned to Booth, shaking her head. 'Not only am I working in sub-par conditions, I'm working with a sub-par partner. You have no idea how happy I am that you're here.'
He grinned, but felt bad for Martin. 'Go easy on him, Bones. He's not that bad.'
She considered him, hiding a smile.
'Though you felt the need to threaten him to make sure he would protect me?'
Booth felt a slight heat rising to his cheeks, but grinned at her.
'If he let anything happen to you, Bones, I'd have to kill him. I thought he should be warned.'
She shook her head, putting her hands on her hips and turning to face him. Their bodies were inches apart, and her mouth was just within reach of his. He could almost feel her breath tickle his neck.
'I can look after myself, Booth. You know I can.'
He bit his lip, trying not to look at hers.
'Unless there are snakes involved.' He said mischievously.
She rolled her eyes.
'I hear there are a lot of snakes in Australia, Bones. Deadly ones.'
She looked at him for a moment, right into his eyes.
'I suppose you'll just have to protect me then, won't you?'
She sounded sincere, and Booth thought he heard something else behind those words. They stared at each other for quite a while, and Booth wondered if this was his moment to kiss her.
Brennan too, was wondering if it were the right moment. He looked... eager. His eyes kept falling to her lips.
She mentally shook herself.
Think about where you are! Standing in front of two murder victims! In Australia! This is not about you!
She ignored her desire, and the desire that was clearly evidence on Booth's face.
Stop it, Temperance.
She laughed, and whacked his shoulder, trying to ease the tension that had just built between them. She turned back to the table.
Behind them, Martin cleared his throat.
'The bodies were too decomposed by the time they had been found. There was no indication that there was any sort of evidence in the mouth, or teeth,' he said, eyeing them both off.
Brennan shook her head angrily. 'It should have been seen! DNA of the murderer could have been found! This is ridiculous.'
Angrily, she took of her gloves, throwing them in the bin before looking at Martin.
'I suggest we look at Al for any sign of injury made by a human jaw. If there isn't any, the case should be dropped against him.'
Martin nodded, heading back up the stairs. Booth and Brennan followed.
Brennan turned to Booth as they walked up the stairs, grinning. 'This case is going to be easy.'
Booth groaned inwardly.
That's like saying "nothing could possibly go wrong."
There we go. A little more information for you... Looks like Al didn't do it, hey!