24 hours earlier…

The rain fell in sheets, to warm for snow, but cold enough to sink into your bones. Booth hated weather like this. Somehow the majority of all the cases shoved his were unpleasant in some sort of way. Not the fact that it was murder, that is an unpleasant thought to anyone, but more to the fact that the locations in which the bodies were left or the condition of the bodies when they were called in. For him it seemed the only thing that made it tolerable at times was her. He had done this job for a while before her, but it was different now. She made it different, better, not as dreaded as it were in the past

The only satisfaction was catching the depraved people who felt like they could take someone's life, for whatever reasons they felt were justified in their warped little brains. He had killed, all of it in the line of duty whether it be in the military or the FBI. Even then it weighed on his soul.

Nothing seemed to phase her most of the time. He was a bit jealous of this. There she was trudging through the mud focused on the remains they were heading for. Unknown number of skeletons found in a remote cave by some hikers who accidently stumbled on it trying to flee the storm. Why they didn't check the weather report before going out remained a mystery. Why anyone would want to go hiking in the dead of winter he couldn't quite comprehend either.

"In northern Thailand they found over 60 caves containing the remains from 2100 to 1200 years ago buried in limestone caves. This could be a crucial find of past civilizations in the area." Brennan stated.

She always managed to be fascinated by things normal people or maybe just him found mundane. A quality he found endearing and completely irritating at the same time. It's what made her bones.

"We will have to ship all the remains back to the Jefforsonian for further analysis." she went on.

"When don't we send everything back to the squints, Bones?" Booth answered with sarcasm dripping from his words. Brennan glanced at him but looked quickly away with the threat of a frown on her lips.

He wasn't feeling himself today. Christmas was in a few weeks and once again Parker would be away with his mom and her flavor of the week. He was supposed to have Parker for at least part of the day, but no marriage meant being at her mercy. Brennan as usual was planning a trip out of the country on some dig in Chile to date some find down there. Alone, Booth didn't like alone. He should be used to it by now but somehow he never could adjust. Brennan had said a few years back that her dad said being alone on Christmas meant that no one loved you. This ate at Booth, all he really wanted was to share his heart and life with those he cared for the most. He knew he shouldn't be taking his bitterness out on her but she was there.

"I'm sorry Bones, just not myself today." He said with his sincerity evident.

"That's ok. While no Native American tribes were inhabit in this area of Bath County before settlers many tribes would utilize the area for their hunting needs, it is probable that some of the indigenous people could have used it as a burial site."

Bones she could find a positive to anything. He was only here because National Parks were FBI jurisdiction. She seemed to believe this was some historic find, if it isn't a murderer's dump site then there is no reason for him to be here. Then she will be knee deep in bones and he has no one to spend time with leading up to the dreaded holiday. He knew squat about bones, history and just about anything that held her interest.

She is a beautiful, brilliant and talented scientist; he is just a streetwise over glorified cop. He couldn't help himself in being attracted to her. Partners… partners, he had to keep drilling that into his head. Other then sexually what interest could she possibly have in a big dumb cop? Why was he even thinking about this?

Lonely, he is just lonely that's it. Lonely and the main person that he occupied his time with was her, as his partner. He needed to date, that was all. Find another woman to occupy his time. His draw to her was just a manifestation of his lonely nights at home. Oh lord, he sounded like sweets. Ok. She is a beautiful woman and desire is just from chemicals in his brain secreted because humans and other mammals needed to procreate for survival. Great now he was sounding like her. Why does it have to be so difficult now? A few years ago he would just know it to just be that man sees woman, finds her beautiful and he approaches for a date, maybe more. Case… think about the case. Cop work, that was his thing.

There was the entrance of the cave just ahead. Focus, let Bones do her thing and they would be on their way back and out of this god forsaken rain. They crossed under the police tape and he followed her inside. At least it wasn't raining in there. He felt like an banana in the FBI rain slicker.

"We counted 12 skeletons so far, but we haven't covered the whole thing yet." Announced the ranger for the area. "I don't think anyone ever spotted this cave before the bushes in the area are usually pretty thick."

Brennan's face flashed various shades of red before she started her tirade. "This area has been tampered with hasn't it, someone moved the bones haven't they." Brennan seethed.

"uh… well… we figured with the weather being as nasty as it is and since they were all over the place that it would be easier…" the Ranger stammered.

" Do you know nothing about procedures to anything…" Brennan interrupted.

"Bones, calm down. Let me handle this." Booth soothed then turned to the ranger. "I am pretty sure during your training that you have been told when any type of scene whether crime, accident or anything else comes into your area you do not contaminate the scene or disturb evidence." Booth stated in his most authoritative tone. It felt good to be able to let some of his frustrations out.

The ranger shrunk down a bit. "Well we did map out where each set and numbered the sets with cones. We took photographs and some samples and correlated the numbers."

"What do you know about science? What do you know about our professions as scientists?" Silence from the ranger. "That's what I thought." She fumed.

Bones stormed to the group of moved bodies and knelt down at the first set of remains. "Female in her early teens, no signs of clothing evident." She moved on to the next set. "Male mid to late 20's no signs of clothing either." Again she moved. "Female looks like she was post menopausal. It's hard to say when they could have passed and been put here. They don't appear to be entirely of Native American descent. Cause of death is not clear as of yet. I need all the remains shipped back to the Lab. Also, get all these people out of here, I will finish searching myself."

"Bones its late, how 'bout if we just take more pictures, bag the bones and come back in the morning to finish up?" Boons asked slightly pleadingly.

She glared at him, but she had to agree she was a bit tired and there was a large amount of work. "Fine, but I want everyone out of here. No more contamination!"

Booth pulled the ranger aside they agreed to have someone stand guard over the site for the night, and that he and Bones would come back and relieve the officer. A few hours later Bones was satisfied and they headed for a hotel in the nearest town.