So sorry for the wait to all of my loyal readers. I feel very, no extremely, bad for this HUGE wait. Real life sucks you know. Math especially. Plus, my computer was being retarded and I almost lost the document. I need a laptop, something that my parents can't kick me off of, and is younger than ten years old.

Anyway, here is the third chapter. I'm sorry to say there nothing too extreme in this chapter which leads me to say that I suppose you could consider it to be a filler. Sorry for any disappointment that may arise as a result. PLEASE don't let this discourage you! I still encourage you to read & review of course! :

(To: anteffy1: I'm sorry that I didn't add your suggestion in this chapter. I PROMISE, I am using it next chapter. That's right there is a next chapter! lol :D)

Disclaimer: No. Still not mine. I'm still waiting for the papers to go through to change this situation, however.

Chapter Three: Discomfort

Booth came out of the bathroom feeling slightly relieved. The feeling soon passed and turned into one that he had been feeling ever since lunch.

Nausea.

This time it wasn't because of the burger.

Standing in the middle of the Rockton police department's main waiting room, was the sheriff chatting up his partner. Booth could see the giant badge from across the room. The sun was reflecting off of it.

You couldn't have missed it. In fact, it had just about blinded him a little.

Booth had a hunch that the sheriff wanted to find out more than just how Bones came into the field of forensic anthropology.

As he made his way across the room to the spot where they were standing, Booth wondered why that whenever they had a small town case, the men in the town seemed to swarm Brennan like a school of piranhas. It was like they could sense that a woman who was showing signs of being mildly attractive had placed a toe inside the town limits. It was exactly like the time they worked that cannibal case the first year that they were together.

Granted, Bones was more than just mildly attractive. She was stunning, really. He supposed he could understand where these guys were coming from.

But there were perfectly fine looking women here. Ones that weren't his Bones.

He knew that he had gone into protective mode. Or that male-alpha-thing that she always claimed he was. He saw the sheriff lean into her a little. Okay, that was it. That conversation needed to end, now.

"Hey Bones, ready to go?" He interrupted, with an innocent expression on his face. "Uh yes, Sheriff Dunning, is it?" He said peering at his badge. "We can go to the hospital now."

The sheriff glared at him, as if to say, I was in the middle of something here. I wasn't done yet.

Booth put his hand on the small of Brennan's back and escorted her to the doors leading to the parking lot. He looked back at the officer and gave him a look of his own that said; I knew that, so what are you going to do about it?

That moment of intimidation was shot to pieces when an oblivious Brennan asked Booth, "Are you sure you don't need to use the washroom before you leave, Booth?" I also have Imodium in my bag in case you have-," she glanced back at the sheriff. She leaned toward Booth and whispered, "-diarrhea."

Only she wasn't as quiet as she thought she was. The sheriff grinned and his expression lightened considerably when he heard Brennan's remark.

Booth winced. Ah, yes. Even without a gun, Bones sure knew how to hurt a guy.

"You don't whisper as quietly as you think you do, Bones" Booth said as they stepped out into the parking lot. "Next time just say whatever it is you need to say…normally."

Brennan looked confused. "I was only trying to be considerate towards your feelings Booth. You tend to become overly-sensitive whenever we discuss subjects such as bodily functions or sex."

"Sex! What does sex have to do with anything?" Booth exclaimed, taken aback. He looked behind them. Dunning was grinning away at the sight of Booth's discomfort.

"Nothing. It's just that whenever we talk about sex, you seem to get very uncomfortable at just the mention of the word. You know, Booth sex is very natural. Our bodies are designed for it-"

"Okay, Bones maybe can we not talk about this right now? We can deal with my insecurities later. Next time if you want to talk about something like this," Booth leaned into Brennan. "Make sure Sir-Grin-A-Lot back there doesn't overhear us," he whispered into her ear.

For once she said nothing.

Booth realized that he had made it sound like that he actually liked talking to Bones about sex. Which he did, mind you, but he wasn't totally sure if he was ready for her to know that.

Booth glanced back at the sheriff once more. Man, he wished that he could just shoot that smug expression right off his face. Booth removed his hand from Brennan's back and headed toward the SUV.

He was about to open the drivers' side door, when he noticed that Bones wasn't on the other side. Bewildered, he quickly scanned the parking lot.

There she was, walking away from him, with Dunning. Booth growled slightly and jogged to catch up with them.

"Hey Bones, whatcha doing?" He asked how, he hoped, was nonchalant. Though it probably revealed what he was truly feeling, anxiety. Booth hoped Dunning wouldn't pick up on it.

Dunning looked at him and smirked. He knew and he was enjoying every second of Booth's anxiety filled confusion as to what was going on. The bastard.

They all stopped walking.

"Well," Brennan answered. "While you were in the bathroom-" Dunning snickered. Booth shot him a look over Brennan's head. Confusion flashed across Brennan's face before she continued, "Dunning and I decided that we should carpool to the hospital."

Booth pushed his suit jacket back and placed his hands on his hips. "Okay, so? That's fine. Saving the environment. Carpooling. Great."

Brennan started walking again. Dunning followed. Booth stayed put.

"Wait just a second, Bones. The SUV's back there." He called after her.

"We're using Sheriff Dunning's vehicle," Brennan threw over her shoulder as they kept walking.

Booth caught up to them. "Seriously, Bones. We can't use a police cruiser. They definitely have worse gas mileage than the SUV. They also tend to be so old that we won't even get two blocks before the thing breaks down."

"Actually, Agent Booth." Dunning spoke up. "We'll be using my own personal vehicle." He said while shooting Booth a look.

Just then, Booth realized which direction they were headed in the parking lot.

Aw, come on. Booth let out a groan. Give me a break here.

There it was. The shiny blue Mini-Cooper.

Dunning spoke again. "It's good on fuel and has about a thousand miles on it. I assure you, Agent Booth, my car will get us safely to our destination and back."

"Besides Booth," Bones turned to him and looked at him with those stunning blue eyes of hers. "It was Sheriff Dunning's idea."

Of course it was. The amazing Dunning to the rescue. He's environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient.

Booth clenched his jaw and glanced back down at Brennan. Surprisingly, she was still looking at him. He thought she would have been staring at Dunning, eyes full of adoration instead.

She looked concerned for him. Like she knew something was bothering him.

Man, sometimes Bones could really see through a person. Who said that she had bad social skills?

His heart started hammering in his chest. She opened her mouth to say something.

Thoughts started rushing through his mind. Did she know? Could she really see that the reason why he was acting so… idiotic and dense was because he was… jealous? He was jealous and worried that she would fall for this… this whatever guy and his fuel-efficiency-

"If you let Dunning drive, you won't have to worry about the gravel roads putting dents and scratches into the SUV." Brennan said, raising her eyebrow.

He let the breath he was holding, out.

No, of course she wouldn't know that… that he was jealous. Besides, he wasn't really jealous. He was just… uh, overly protective. Yeah, that whole alpha-male thing was kicking in again. He should really get that thing fixed. It seemed to be acting up a lot lately.

No, Bones was just trying to get him to let go of his vehicle for a little bit by appealing to the fact that the SUV would be safe and sound in the parking lot, while Dunning's tiny little thing would have to endure all of the bumps and scratches of small town gravel roads.

Booth sighed in defeat. "I still think we should take the SUV. At least then I could drive," He muttered the last part under his breath.

Dunning frowned. "Wait, did you say SUV?"

"Yes, why?" Brennan answered.

Booth had a bad feeling about where the direction of this conversation was going. Chances were, it would lead straight to him. He definitely didn't like the thought of that.

"That's funny, cause this afternoon-" Booth cut Dunning off.

"Fine, I've decided that your car is… great, Dunning," Booth forced the words out through his clenched teeth. "Now, we should get to the hospital before it closes."

Brennan and Dunning looked at him.

"What? Come on, let's go! Time's a wastin'!" Booth tried the passenger side door. "Come on, unlock the doors, Sheriff."

Dunning hastily began searching for his keys. He glanced up and gave Booth a strange look in the process.

He's probably wondering if I've gone completely crazy. Booth considered what he had just said to them seconds before. Hell, sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy myself!

Brennan was looking at him cautiously. "Booth, you do realize that hospitals don't close?"

"Of course, Bones. That was just a momentary lapse in judgment, which is probably a good thing that I'm not driving. Now let's get this show on the road before our dead friend becomes more decomposed than he already is."

Dunning then triumphantly ended his search for the keys by fishing them out of his jacket pocket. He trotted over to the driver's side and let himself in with the key. He then unlocked the doors from the inside.

Brennan got in the front passenger seat while Booth was forced to get in the backseat behind her.

Booth saw Dunning sitting beside his partner and he clenched is jaw again.

That… that… law enforcement officer-Booth stopped himself from using a stronger word- got to drive and sit beside his partner. While he was cramped in the back. Well, this was just great.

This whole situation was not sitting well with him at all. Or maybe that was the burger.

Booth stuck his head between the front seats. "Hey, Bones. Think you could switch seats with me? It's kinda cramped back here."

"Sorry, Booth," Dunning cut in. "She called 'shot-gun' or should I say 'shot-put' while you were in the bathroom."

Man, how long had he been in the damn thing? Okay, he wasn't going to leave her with him to go to the bathroom ever again. He mulled the concept over.

This was going to be a problem.

"Booth, I know from experience that there is plenty of room in the backseats of these types of vehicles. If you wish, I can switch with you on the way back." Brennan said with finality.

Case closed.

Booth slumped back in his seat.

He wondered how, exactly, Brennan knew from experience about the backseat of a Mini-Cooper-type vehicle.

The thought made him uncomfortable and aroused at the same time.

Dunning leaned over and helped Brennan with her seatbelt.

Booth growled silently in the backseat.

This was going to be a long ride.

There's the button. Do what you have to do after the beep: BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPP