Disclaimer: I do not own the characters seen here. If I did... well... heh, I don't want to tell you...You'd definitely look at me strangely...lol

In this chapter, I mention the small town of Rockton, New Jersey. I have no idea if this town exists and if it does and I have offended someone then I formally apologize here. I truly meant no harm. One daythe spell check at home gave me that as an option to correct one of the words I had wrong... so I used it here. Although strangely enough, THIS spell check sees it as wrong.

Chapter 2: The Tie In the SUV

As it turned out, Booth's day could not, in fact, get any better. Almost getting them killed was one of the more pleasant parts of his day. After all when that happened, he had been thinking about her.

Thinking about her was never bad.

They had stopped quickly at one o'clock for food before continuing driving. He had a double cheeseburger, while Brennan had a salad.

Booth winced slightly and shifted in his seat. Eating that burger and then sitting for about an hour afterwards probably wasn't one of his best ideas.

He looked over at his partner who was looking out the window watching the scenery go by.

Good, then maybe she wouldn't notice how… uncomfortable he was.

Man, the salad seemed like a good idea right now.

She looked like she wasn't uncomfortable at all. She looked fine.

Boy, did she ever-

No, Seeley! He cut himself off and focused on the road once more.

He needed to stop thinking like this; otherwise Sweets would definitely have some weight against that threat of breaking them up.

Way to go, Seel. Way to make it sound as though you are actually in a relationship with the woman.

You aren't, by the way. Just a little reminder there.

Okay, he was going to have to set a goal or a limit of some kind.

He was not allowed to think about her in that way more than… ten times per day.

He looked over at his partner. The sunlight was causing the red highlights in her hair to stand out. It made a beautiful contrast with her ivory skin.

He turned his attention to the road.

Okay… no more than ten times an hour.

Yes, that was a good compromise. He could fantasize about his partner with less of a chance of killing anybody in the process.

Everybody wins.

His stomach growled. It was scolding him for his choice of lunch. He really should have gone with the salad.

They then passed the sign, telling them that they were approaching the turnoff to the small town where the body had been found.

Good, maybe he could find a bathroom.

He got onto the main road that led to the town. There was no traffic that he could see going into the town. Or out.

Okay, that's weird. It's two o'clock in the afternoon and not particularly hot out. You would think that they would at least an elderly couple out for a drive. Something.

They passed the sign claiming that they were in the small town of 'Rockton- Home of the Cougars!'

Well, at least they had pride in their high school sporting teams. Hopefully there were more people at the games than there were on the streets.

"Booth, this is very odd," Brennan echoed his thoughts. "It seems as though there is no one actually living in this town. Even though there are only over nine hundred people living here, you would think we would see more than one person drive past us. It's almost as though it is a-"

"Ghost town," Booth finished her sentence.

"I wouldn't have quite phrased it that way, but yes. The term 'ghost town' seems to quite aptly describe the situation we are currently observing."

"Hey, look! That must be the local police station." They had just turned onto Main Street where they could see a brown building up ahead on their right. Booth noticed a couple of cars outside the building. "I can see a couple of cruisers in the parking lot."

"Also, we just passed the sign telling us that this is the police station up ahead."

"Right, I knew that… I mean, I meant to say that."

They pulled into the lot and parked.

Brennan got out of the vehicle and closed the door behind her. Booth followed suit and stepped out of the SUV.

He was just about to close the door, when a flash of blue caught his eye from the other side of the parking lot.

No, it couldn't be.

It…it was…

Brennan followed his gaze. "Booth? Isn't that the car with the angry driver we met on the way here?"

Sure enough, it was the blue Mini-Cooper they had just about ran into on the way there. Correction, the one he had just about ran into.

"No. Nope. I really don't think so, Bones. That would be a really big coincidence if it were."

"But I thought you didn't believe in coincidences."

"Did I say that? Maybe I did. Well, you'd know! You're the one with the photographic memory." Booth shut the car door and locked it with the press of a button on his keys.

He walked towards her. "Can we go inside, now? I'd kinda like to hear from the sheriff about what happened to our victim instead of standing out here talking with you in a parking lot, debating whether or not we have seen one tiny little car once already today."

Afraid she would take it the wrong way, he added, "Not that I don't mind talking to you, Bones."

"I was going to say that although the car does in fact look like the one we saw earlier today. The license plate seems to have the same- wait." She stopped walking. "You like talking to me?"

"Yes, of course Bones." Good, he got her off track of the whole Mini-Cooper thing. Now where was his phone?

"Even when we argue?"

"Yes, of course- why is this so important right now?" He began searching his pockets for his phone. "You know as much as I'd like to discuss this, I just realized that I left my phone in the SUV. Can you go inside and ask for the sheriff already? I'll be right there."

As Brennan went inside, Booth walked back to the vehicle. He looked inside and saw that his phone was sitting on the dashboard.

He sighed in relief. He was afraid that he had left it at the restaurant they had eaten at.

The way things were going he wouldn't have been surprised. He unlocked the door with the button and grabbed his phone from inside. He got back out and was about to close the door to the vehicle, when the Cooper caught his eye again.

Nah, that couldn't be it. Could it? He shook his head.

He locked the door again and was about to walk away when he dropped his keys.

He sighed. Now he was being clumsy, was he?

He bent down to get them.

"Gak!"

Pressure tightened around his throat. What the hell?

He looked up.

Oh no.

His tie was caught halfway in the door of the SUV.

He tried tugging at his tie. No good. The tie wasn't budging and… it was making the tie even tighter around his neck. He managed to loosen it a bit.

He looked back down at his keys. They were just slightly out of his reach.

Okay then Seeley, let's just think this through. Why don't you just use your foot to drag them within reach?

Okay, here we go…easy…easy there…

His foot was slowly pulling the keys toward him.

Almost there.

Suddenly, he lost his balance and ended up kicking the keys underneath the vehicle. When he leaned back to catch his balance he had almost strangled himself once more.

He groaned and rubbed his throat. This could not be happening.

All right, then. Maybe if he could just loosen his tie enough, he would be able to pull it over his head, retrieve his keys, and get his tie back.

He loosened the tie as far as it would go.

So far so good. As long as it didn't get stuck when he attempted to pull the damn thing over his head, he would be fine.

He knew he should have put the red one on today. He had gotten the blue one he was currently wearing from Sweets for Christmas. That boy is in so much trouble when I get back.

He stopped.

It was stuck.

Sweets was so going to get it.

He had gotten it as far as his chin when it had started getting tight. He had tried to pull it up a bit further and it had stopped in his mouth. The tie refused to go past his nose.

He sighed.

There was only one other option.

Inside the police station, Brennan was getting information out of the sheriff while waiting for Booth to come inside. She swelled a little with pride.

Her lessons with Sweets must have been working. The sheriff was telling her everything she wanted to know. Booth would be very interested to know about this.

What she didn't know was that the sheriff was planning to ask her out that evening. He would tell her anything she wanted to know. Especially if she wanted his phone number.

She checked her watch. Booth had been out there almost ten minutes now.

She began to get worried. What if someone had gotten to him? Brennan knew Booth could handle himself, but she just wanted to make sure.

She was just about to excuse herself when her phone began to ring.

Good, this would serve as a perfect excuse for her to be able to see if Booth was all right.

"Brennan," she picked up without checking the caller ID.

"Mmph," was the reply. Funny, it almost sounded like…

"Booth?" She asked, placing the familiar voice. "Where are you? Why aren't you inside?" She began to walk to the doors that lead to the parking lot.

"Nine eed ou to comph outhide."

"What did you say? Just hang on, the service in here is horrible, I'm going outside." She opened the doors and stepped outside into the parking lot.

"Okay, I'm outside, Booth. Repeat what you said."

Booth became completely incomprehensible due to the noise that was in the parking lot.

"Sorry, Booth. Some man is standing by our SUV, yelling and waving his arms at me. I can't quite hear you."

The man was wearing a dark suit that was quite similar to-

"Wait… Booth? Is that you?"

Brennan snorted.

He looked at her half surprised and half annoyed.

He was surprised because Temperance Brennan did not snort. He was annoyed that she was laughing at him.

His expression softened.

It was good to see her laugh. She never did that enough. He loved it when she laughed.

They were still standing outside and he had just finished telling her how he had exactly come into that predicament.

She was still laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it's funny. Can we go inside now? I'd like to ask the sheriff a few questions."

"Actually, he is going to the hospital to show us the body. He said that we could follow him there. He's leaving in about five minutes. I'll go let him know that we'll follow him."

She began laughing at him again. "It's just that, the possibility of that ever happening…" She trailed off trying to catch her breath while walking back toward the police station.

"Wait up, Bones!"

She stopped, a trace of her smile still present on her face. "What is it, Booth? You can easily ask your questions to the sheriff at the hospital. And you don't have to worry about me telling anyone about what happened. I promise not to."

"Okay, sure. That would be great."

She turned around and started walking again. Booth followed.

She stopped.

"Booth what is it?"

"Uh, it's just that…Bones?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind pointing me in the direction of the bathroom?"

I would just like to thank EVERYONE who reviewed!! It so helped me write this chapter... I would also like to thank anteffy1 for their suggestion that I will be using next chapter!! :D Thank you so much!!

Now as for the rest of you...

Please review!! I live on them!! Please don't leave me undernourished!! :)