The Rings in the Heart
Chapter 9 - Cordon bleu lurve (French and steamy)
Disclaimer: I do not own BONES. But I do own Cordon bleu lurve!
A/N: Abject apologies for not updating this sooner – the finale sent things into a bit of a tailspin, resulting in the 'Sildenafil' and 'Progeny' stories bubbling to the surface of my creative pool.
Pittsylvania County Morgue
It was already mid-morning and Dr Camille Saroyan was experiencing a 'fish out of water' moment as she navigated her way around the Pittsylvania county morgue facilities. She mused that her time at the Jeffersonian had made her soft, with almost unlimited access to everything that a Medical Examiner could possibly desire at her fingertips. However, the rudimentary facilities here were more than adequate when she compared them to those of her previous workplace in New York City. Cam was in a self-flagellatory frame of mind, wondering when the hell a tough broad from the Bronx like her had allowed herself to get so soft, and so well dressed.
.
Cam had arrived with Dr. Hodgins on the previous afternoon, following news of the accident, and they had taken up where Dr. Brennan had left off, which was to say at the beginning, because she had been injured at the crime scene before being able to make a single observation. Jack Hodgins had joined the FBI techs at the scene with enthusiastic gusto, so enamored with the entomological microcosms contained within the tobacco shed that he even forgot to be snarky with the FBI team. Cam had visited the scene with Hodgins yesterday, casting her supervisory eye over the processing of the scene with Dr. Brennans' exacting standards in mind, making a couple of additional requests to the FBI agent supervising in order to prevent issues arising which would surely incur the ire of the Forensic Anthropologist. Admittedly, there was an element of self-preservation for Cam too, as she was invariably the administrative firefighter called in to smother the flames of a Dr. Brennan rant toward another agency that would not, or could not, comply with her sky-high expectations.
.
Speaking of the devil, Cam heard voices in the anteroom outside what passed as the autopsy room in this facility. Even the fire doors could not disguise the familiar sounds of verbal conflict between Seeley Booth and his long-time partner, and lately paramour. Cam gave a wry smile, knowing that Brennan would have discharged herself from hospital against advice this morning, and that Seeley would be fighting a losing battle to keep her away from the action. It was going to be a day of fun and games. Cam prepared herself to step in and adjudicate at the appropriate time and wagered that this was going to be a three Mohito day – the number that she would be required to consume at the bar that evening to wind down.
The double doors of the autopsy room swung inward with a bang and a jump in the volume of the altercation, as Booth and Brennan entered. Booth had a disposable paper gown and apron flapping in his hand and looked as mad as hell. Brennan, wearing a sling on her left arm, sporting a waterproof dressing on her forehead and bruising that had collected around her eye, was mid-rant, and stopping it simply to greet her colleague, or even check who was in the room, was not a consideration.
.
"…the man is a trained professional Booth. Your objections to his seeing me naked are misplaced, and your threatening demeanour toward him was simply an alpha male display demonstrating your desire to exert dominance over a perceived threat to your masculinity."
Booth was not going to let it slide. "There is nothing threatening my masculinity, Bones. I am all man, okay?" he blustered. "All, I'm saying is that I would have been able to help you in the shower myself if you hadn't been in such a goddamned hurry to discharge yourself, and maybe waited for me to get in to the hospital."
"Toby was simply doing his job Booth. When his shift started this morning, he asked me what assistance I would require and I stated my intent to discharge myself. He simply took steps ensure that I would be able to leave the hospital in a clean and relatively comfortable state. In order to achieve this, I had to shower and have the blood washed out of my hair prior to my dressing being changed" Brennan reasoned.
"Nurse Toby should have persuaded you to wait for me. Visiting hours only started at eight," sniped Booth.
"Your derisive use of his job title suggests that you disapprove of males in the nursing profession Booth, which is an antiquated prejudice. Toby accepted that I had made a rational decision to leave the hospital, he was not going to hold a pistol to my head in a futile attempt to coerce me to comply with the overly cautious orders of my attending doctor" she retorted.
"Bones, the expression is to hold a gun to your head. Sheesh! I'm just worried about you, okay? Less than twenty-four hours ago you were knocked out cold, and then you passed out in my arms. It scared the crap outta me! If the situation had been reversed, try telling me that you wouldn't have been concerned, huh? " Booth challenged, wearing his heart on his sleeve in an endearing fashion. Surprisingly, Brennan appeared to be considering his perspective and paused for a couple of seconds to compose her response.
.
Brennan stepped into his personal space and modulated her tone to non-rant mode. Placing her remaining functional hand upon Booths' upper arm in a conciliatory gesture, she appeared prepared to make peace. Cam, observing the exchange from the safe zone on the other side of the autopsy table, rolled her eyes. There was very little distinction between peace-making and love-making for this intrepid pair at the moment. Cam eyed the fire hose on the wall next the door and considered it as a contingency.
"Based upon my experiences of you being injured in the field, I accept your assertion that I would indeed be concerned in that scenario Booth. Although, I believe that you would have tolerated the pain of a dislocated shoulder, avoiding the embarrassment of vomiting and syncope."
Booth visibly relaxed and assumed a grin that was equal parts charm and sappiness. Cam wished that she had taken the time to connect to the Jeffersonian. Angela would be in raptures at the dissolution of their bickering into a Public Display of Affection.
"Hey," Booth said, lowering his voice and brushing a lock of hair away from Brennans' face – on her injured side, so she wouldn't be able to intercept his hand and apply a ninja nerve block. "You were incredibly brave Temperance; the FBI medic at the scene told me that you were tougher than some of the seasoned FBI veteran agents that he had treated. Just humour me and let me care about you, regardless of whether you think you deserve it or not."
.
Booth locked eyes with her and leaned in slightly in a non-verbal request for a make-up kiss. Brennan, who was admittedly still under the influence of some fairly strong painkillers, was momentarily hesitant, her mouth forming a straight line, which proceeded to twitch into a small smile at the corners as they engaged in a little 'foreplay aux eye sex'. She tilted her head slightly in an almost subliminal 'come hither' gesture, as she moved a few centimeters toward his face, enjoying the scent of him that she realized she had missed during their first night apart since the tequila experiment. Entropy failed and their lips were pulled together for a small flotilla of steamboats.
.
As Cam considered giving into the itch in her fingers that was the manifestation of her desire to grab the fire hose, and then realised that these two thought that they were alone. Cam quickly reconsidered how to break things up without goosing the two of them.
.
Fortunately, another party chose that moment to intervene, as the disembodied sound of Angela Montenegro giving a low, raunchy whistle interrupted the kiss that was turning French and steamy, in a decidedly non-culinary context.
"Sweetie, you just have to write that scene into your next book…because that moment right there was seriously hot. Apart from the mummified corpse and your Boss being in the room of course."
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"Oh!" said Brennan in surprise, still catching her breath as Booth rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously; waiting for a hole in the ground to swallow him up. He hadn't even noticed Cam, and he was the trained observer in the room. Brennan recovered her equilibrium first, failing to see why she should be embarrassed.
.
"Good morning, Ange. Good morning, Dr. Saroyan" offered Brennan formally.
"Good for some of us it seems…" quipped Cam, mentally upgrading her earlier assessment. It was going to be a five Mohito day.