Disclaimer: I don't own the items mentioned in this story, some big company does
Lunch came too slowly for Booth. All morning he had been sorting with Cam and Angela, listening to their never ending girl gossip. So and so did this, and so and so did that. It was infuriating, but at least he wasn't forced to contribute. All he wanted now was for Bones to come back, and for a juicy murder to come in.
Cam and Angela had changed topics now to shoes as they ate their sandwiches and salads on the platform. Booth kept picking up the same crisp, inspecting it, and then placing it back into the packet. He had no Bones to go to the diner with him, and Cam and Angela wouldn't be much better company there either. His prayers were answered as his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He flipped it open and smiled. "Thank God someone has been killed", he said, shooting upwards, "C'mon Cam, grab your stuff".
The two girls just sat there for a moment. Booth bounded down the stairs, and turned to face them. Cam saw his expression and began jogging down to her office. She grabbed her jumpsuit and gear, and flicked the switch for the lights off. Her room was a mess from the morning's work, but a body was a body.
"Ange, call Hodgins in. His butterflies will have to wait for another day", she said to the artist and she fumbled about with her stuff through the door.
"You can't leave me in the lab on my own", she shouted after Cam, who had already left, "Okay Angela, one of us will stay with you. Thanks guys".
Hodgins was soon in, and carried a disappointed face of a six year old to go with him. He and Angela were just putting on their coats as Booth and Cam came through the door after their small field trip. "What time is it in Britain?", Cam asked as the techs walked in pushing a trolley.
"Well, it is four now, so it is nineish there", Hodgins said looking at his watch, "Why?".
The techs rolled the trolley to the base of the platform and left, just like they always did in their dopey manner. "Because of this", Cam said, as she began unzipping the body bag.
Hodgins jumped down off the platform, whilst Angela stood back. Past experience taught her well that these bodies could be very gruesome. Hodgins and Booth glanced over, even though the FBI agent had seen the body already, he wanted murder to be declared already so he could get out of the lab and start interrogating.
The body was more of a skeleton than gooey unrecognisable human body parts and fluid. This was Bones' territory. It had been found after a tree had been uprooted in a park in the suburbs along with a rats nest. "We are going to have to call Dr. B for this", Hodgins said.
"That's what I said", Cam told him, "But Booth was adamant that we shouldn't".
"It is late, and if she has any sense she would be asleep. Can't you call in one of your 'wonderful' interns to help out?", Booth asked them, it seemed the most logical thing to do, ha he was being Bones now.
"Can't, they are all on study leave for an exam next week", Cam told him as she and Hodgins lifted up the remains.
"Well, what if we just call Bren, get some first pointers and get her to set up a web cam for tomorrow morning?", Angela suggested, as she watched Cam and Hodgins do the best they could with the bones.
"We just need some advice on... this", Cam pleaded to him, gesturing to the whole skeleton.
"Fine", Booth said taking out his phone, "But you have just volunteered yourselves to come in tomorrow on a Sunday".
"Drat", Angela muttered, as she opened up her sketch pad for a first sketch of the skull.
"Seems fair, I miss my bugs, you don't get to have a lie in, Cam can't clean out her room, and Booth has no partner", Hodgins said as he scraped some particulates of the right radius.
The feast mainly comprised of meat, so all Temperance had to eat was the vegetables. Not that she was complaining, they were succulent and cooked just right, it was just that she was annoyed that they didn't bother to offer a vegetarian menu. She sat at the chief's table, to her utmost displeasure, just listening to the conversations. Being the centre of the attention when it wasn't about her book felt odd, and this was a completely new experience.
With every passing minute, she felt even more tired. Lack of sleep the previous night was getting to her. The only thing keeping her awake was the traditional music and McCullough's loud laughter. She looked around, and saw Bart drinking some sort of beer with his friends. They were laughing at something. That is when she realised that she was missing her friends. For the past few times she had been away from the lab for any great deal of time, Booth had been there, and she had a continual web cam link to them back at home. It was an irrational feeling to have here, but rationality seemed to have gone out of the window as soon as she arrived. Dragons being able to respond more than any dog or other animal could threw her off the logic that animals had no idea what they were saying.
She heard movement above her, and looked up at the dragons. Fredo and her dragon has lay down together, grooming each other and taking it in turns to watch them humans below. Her leg began to vibrate, Washington DC was calling. "Excuse me", she said to everyone at the table as they watched her stand and head for the door.
It was heavy, but Tempe managed to push it open. The night air was pleasantly cool, and the sun was just setting, painting the sky with oranges and reds. She sat up against the rock and as she looked at the vibrating object in her hand, it was discovered that it was Booth contacting her. Brennan sighed and flipped it open.
"Brennan", she answered.
"Hey Bones, it's us", Booth said on the other end.
"Us?", she questioned him.
"We are on speaker Sweetie", Angela told her.
"Oh, Booth you should have said that then I wouldn't have been so confused", she told her partner.
"Whatever Bones, but we have a body", he jumped to the point.
"And it is all bone, so we need some advice", Cam added.
"We should set up a web link", Brennan sated.
"Tomorrow honey. When you are fully awake and when Glasgow can let you go for a few moments", Angela jumped in.
"Yes, Glasgow University, where I am right now. When I have time", she repeated, lying was not her best quality by far, but her friends were buying it.
"Yeah, so for now, can you just give us a few pointers?", Cam asked.
"Okay. What is the state of the skull", she asked, as she put the phone onto loud speaker and took out the note pad and pen out of her back pocket which she now carried everywhere in case of a good plot idea.
"There is a crack through the mandible", Cam told her.
Tempe suddenly got nudged in the back. Her dragon had followed her out, and was looking at her playfully. Brennan glared at the creature, and she sat back. It looked at Tempe intently as she continued. "Longitudinal or Latitudinal?", she asked as she sketched down a human jaw bone.
"Longitudinal at the chin up to between the two central incisors, looks as though it could snap", Cam answered.
"Hodgins check for particulates at the base. What about pelvic angle?".
"I know enough to say female".
"Is there any other sign of trauma?".
"Except for the mandible, no", Brennan got nudged in the back again.
"Check the teeth for DNA and cross check the dentals with the database", she told them, glaring at her dragon.
"We know that much Dr. B", Cam laughed.
"Just checking", Brennan said as her dragon flipped over onto her back.
"Okay Sweetie, see you tomorrow", Angela squeaked.
"Yeah Bones, get some sleep now", Booth added.
"Alright, speak to you all tomorrow", she said before hanging up.
Bren turned around to glare at the dragon, now rolling around on the floor. It looked at her like she had done nothing wrong. Her deep sea blue eyes all innocent looking and ready for play. "Well, if you are interested in forensic anthropology, the victim's mandible...", Brennan was cut off there as the dragon stood to attention.
Curious, Brennan said the word again, "Mandible".
This time, the dragon came bounding over to in front of her and looked down, keeping eye contact. Tempe smiled, one more test for confirmation, "Mandible".
This time though, the dragon bowed down her head and flicked it back up, catching Tempe, flipping her over onto the dragon's shoulders. Before Brennan's brain could register what had happened, she was flying, the air rushing past her ears. The feeling was amazing as the dragon plunged downwards to fly feet above the sea and out into the sunset. "I think we have found your name", the irrationality of speaking to animals had completely gone now, "Mandible".
She felt warm. Pleasantly warm like she did when a man was in bed with her, sharing his body heat. But it wasn't her bed she was sleeping on, and it wasn't the smooth texture of male skin that her head was rested upon. Temperance slowly opened her eyes, the light from the sun blinding her. Above her was trees, lots of them, and she could hear birds singing.
Brennan slowly sat up and discovered she had been sleeping under a dragon wing, and resting her head on a highly dangerous looking foot. Mandible was fast asleep, snoring slightly, so Brennan slowly pushed the wing off and stood. She was still dressed in the outfit from last night. Whatever she had drunk last night had to have been strong stuff as the last thing she could remember was talking to Booth and the others.
There was a small fire still glowing by them, and as Brennan looked around, she found a small blue lake. They were in some sort of crater; tall walls of stone surrounded them. She walked over to the water and looked at her reflection. Her hair was rather tidy, but her makeup looked old.
Brennan took off her black jacket and placed it on a rock beside her, and bent down to the water. She splashed some in her face. The powdery makeup came off, and she immediately felt refreshed. She then cupped her hands for a drink. The cold water ran down her throat, it wasn't treated or anything, but it wasn't the worst she had ever had to drink.
As she stood up, she removed her phone from her back pocket from in-between her notepad. There were no messages or missed phone calls, but it was eleven am. "Shoot", she said, fumbling the phone back into her pocket.
Brennan strode over to Mandible. She might have been in deep sleep, but people would be wondering where they were. "Oh God, how do I do this", Brennan said to herself, looking at the sleeping dragon, "Mandible".
The dragon groaned and rolled over. She tucked herself under her wing, long tail and all, and snorted as her head went under too. "Mandible, c'mon we have to go", Brennan said as she went round to the other side of the dragon, "Please, it is eleven and I don't think even you could sleep all day".
The dragon lifted her wing, and with one eye looked at her rider. She sighed and unfolded herself. Mandible stretched and let out a toothless yawn. She shook, before bending down for Brennan to mount. "Thank you", Tempe said before climbing up onto Mandible's shoulders, "Now, take us back to the village".
Mandible shot up into the air, flying at an almighty speed. Brennan looked down as they left the forest behind and headed out to sea for a swoop round to the village.
Fredo landed in the square where my father was waiting. Both Dr. Brennan and her dragon had been missing since last night, and not even Fredo and I could find them. We were starting to worry that the dragon may have taken her too high and had got themselves shot down as they entered plane air space. My dad was stroking his beard, eyes on the skies looking for the scientist.
"Anything?", he asked me as Fredo walked us to his side.
"No", I told him, looking up also.
"Keep trying Bart. I don't want to be telling her family that she was killed whilst riding a dragon. It would bring up too many awkward situations", he told me, stopping his beard stroking.
"Sir!", someone shouted.
We both faced right to see my friend Alex running out of the meteorology hut. They had found something on the radar. He was taller than me, a good six foot tall, and he had a very high muscle density in his upper half. He also had spiked up black hair and grey eyes, plus to add to all of that he rides a Monstrous Nightmare. You know what, we need to change the names of the dragon species, but tradition sticks in some places. Like the one that I have to stay on Berk for the rest of my life after the age of twenty five because I will be chief then. Damn it.
"What is it Alex?", my father shouted at him as he ran up the hill.
"Unsaddled Night Fury", he panted, "ETA in less than two minutes".
"Sound the alarm", my father shouted, as he sprang over to the side of the square under the shelter of one of the buildings.
Hand gestures and various commands went throughout the village. The loud horn from the days of dragon attacks sounded and we all covered our ears. Some things came in handy after the dragon war. The big horn being one of them as Night Furies travel at close to the speed of sound, and when they arrive, you know all about it. Fredo perked up as the whistle of a dragon hurtling towards the village at nearly 768mph got louder and louder. It was odd for him not to be the cause of the noise, and it sounds completely different when you are the one hurtling towards the ground.
BANG, it hit the side of the cliff as a break; all of them did, and jumped. A flash of black landed in the square with a thud, and dust radiated out. I, still being attached to Fredo, not the wisest of moves I know, found myself being taken through the dust to the centre. And my God was I glad when I saw what sat upon the Night Fury's shoulders. I jumped down off Fredo and ran to his sister's side. "Dr. Brennan", I shouted as I reached for her hand.
She was gripped on so tight, it was unbelievable. Well, not quite as she had a perfectly good excuse as she had just travelled at nearly close to the speed of sound, unsaddled. She opened her eyes and smiled at me, and I smiled back, what a gentleman I am. I helped her down off her dragon as the dust settled, and my father became aware of the situation. "Miss Brennan", he said in a tone I have heard all too often, "Do you know how much stress you have caused me?".
"It is Dr. Brennan actually. I couldn't possibly know how much stress you experienced without you telling me", she told him.
She wasn't joking about that, she was being serious. All I wanted to do was laugh at my dad's face, because he knew she was being serious, it is just her timing was so witty, it confused him. He had to think for a while for a good comeback. "I have never been so worried since he-", the finger was pointed in my direction, "first flew".
"You don't have to worry about me; I can't take plenty good care of myself, something that I tell my partner all too often. And now to add to that, I have Mandible who wouldn't let anything happen to me", she said, placing a hand upon her dragon.
"Mandible?", I questioned her.
"Yes, her name is Mandible. I named her like you asked", she replied back to me.
I looked at 'Mandible'. She had changed since yesterday. She was now more focused, taking in everything around her, like she did ten years ago. Her ears listening to every little noise whilst her eyes stayed fixed on the doctor, making sure no harm came to her. Mandible had grace of a mature Night Fury, one twice her age. Night Furies live to an excess of about fifty years. Did I mention that? Well, I have now. Also, from just watching Fredo and the other dragons, I knew that they knew she was boss. Great, that would make things a lot harder when it came to training.
"You named her Mandible?", my dad asked, confused as the rest of us were.
"Yes, after a conversation about a possible murder victim", she told him, when something clicked in her head, "Oh God. I have to go and make a phone call, now, so pleases excuse me".
She started to sprint up the hill towards the hut, while her dragon, Mandible just sat in the middle of the square. We glared at this dragon, wondering what to do with such a beast. "Can I have that saddle measured up please", the doc shouted at us, "I'll be back soon".
We watched as the door to my cabin shut. Mandible sat there looking at us as if to say, 'C'mon then. What are you waiting for?'. My dad gave a slight nod, and the village got back to business, if not just a bit cautious about the Night Fury sitting patiently in the centre of the square. I turned to face my dad, who had the village's blacksmith standing by him. The man was big and round, with dyed green hair spiked up into a Mohawk. He took in a large breath, before walking towards Mandible behind me, wielding a measuring tape.
Brennan rushed into her room, ripping off her clothes; first a shower, then the Jeffersonian. It was like a typical evening sometimes with Booth. He would come and pick her up in the late evening, and then come about six the next morning, on the way to the Jeffersonian after investigating the crime scene, they would stop at her apartment for her to change quickly for the rest of the day. After coming out of the en-suit clean and changed, she went over to her bed and took her laptop out from her bag.
She switched it on and automatically connected to the islands new Wi-Fi. She must have been one of the only few to ever use it, as she doubted that many of them owned a home computer. She opened up her home page on the internet, and before immediately, before she could even read her emails, the window popped up for confirmation to connect with Angela. She clicked the mouse on yes, and Angela's face filled the screen.
"Hey Sweetie, you sleep well?", she asked.
"Um, yeah, I think so", she couldn't remember falling asleep.
"Good, well, it is seven here, and Booth got us all to come in early, on a Sunday as well".
"Well, it is midday here, and I haven't had breakfast yet".
"Jet lag, it gets to the best of us", Angela smiled.
"Is that Bones?", Brennan heard Booth shout from off camera.
"Yeah Booth, I'll switch screens now to the main lab okay?", she told him, looking in the direction of the door to her office, "So Sweetie, see you in a moment okay?".
"Um, okay", and the screen switched to the lab platform where Hodgins, Cam, Booth, and for some reason Sweets were waiting.
"Hey Bones, how is the weather?", Booth said as they all perked up.
"Sunny actually", she told him, glancing out of the window.
"Good, so we need your help", Cam said, pointing to the examining table.
A skeleton was laid out on the examining table. There was a layer of soil covering the bone, but had dried out most likely as if was falling off like dust. "Cam, can you zoom in on the mandible fracture?", Brennan asked, something was upsetting her about this body.
"Yeah sure", Cam answered as the camera zoomed in on the said fracture, "Is Glasgow nice?".
"I haven't seen much of it yet", Brennan told Cam as she stared at the bone.
"Is that all you have to say?", Sweets queried.
"No, the local population is very friendly", she told him as she came to a conclusion about the bone, "I don't think this is a murder victim".
"What the... why?", Booth squeaked, shocked by his partners decree, "Look at the bone, it must be a murder victim".
"Where was it found", Brennan asked as the camera zoomed out.
"Under an uprooted oak tree", Hodgins told her, as he showed her the crime scene photos.
"I think you will find that the skeleton is older than the tree", she told them all, sitting back on her bed.
"Well that would explain why neither my sketch nor dentals matched up with anyone", Angela said, showing everyone a drawing of a young girl.
"So definitely not murder?", Booth checked.
"Not murder. The crack in the mandible was most likely caused by the roots of the trees, trying to grow through the bone", Brennan told them.
"Well, that was a waste of an early Sunday morning", Hodgins moaned, removing his plastic gloves.
"Not necessarily", Cam stopped him, "You can help me finish up with my room".
"Oh joy", Booth muttered sarcastically.
"What all of us?", Sweets squeaked, he had only come in to do a profile on the murderer.
"Yes, all of you", Cam told them, hands on hips.
"Not me, I'm in Glasgow remember", Brennan jumped in.
"Don't remind us", Booth glared at her.
There was a knock at Brennan's door. The whole team watched as she sat up, on her bed, repositioning herself. The door creaked open, and Bart pooped his head through. "Uh, Dr. Brennan", he started; a little nervous, afraid that he was interrupting.
"Come in Bart", Brennan told him.
"What are doing with one of the Simpsons Bren?", Angela asked over the webcam.
"Who is that?", Bart asked as he creeped in.
"It's my team", she told him, lifting the laptop to show him, "Say hi".
Five faces waved at him, and he waved back, smiling as he always did. "Wow, you are cute. How old are you?", Angela asked, stepping forward.
Brennan lifted the laptop back up, and turned it around so her team couldn't see him. "leave him alone Ange", Brennan told her best friend off, "What is it that you want Bart?".
Bart thought hard at how he was going to ask his question without letting her friends onto anything, especially that Ange person. "McCullough was wondering would you like black or red?", he asked.
"Black or red what?", Brennan asked him, she wasn't making this cover up easy for either of them.
Bart sighed, he could have screamed at her. How much of an idiot was he going to look now? He gestured his best a saddle, and he must have been good at charades as she got the point quickly. "Whatever is quickest. Tell him I'll come finish up with the skull in a few minutes", she told him, her friends still watching.
He nodded and left. Brennan then turned her attention back to her friends. They all looked at her in amazement. They thought her personality had changed, it would of helped if they knew the situation, but things had to be covered up. "Whatever is quickest?!", Hodgins parroted.
"What has happened to you Bones?", Booth asked his partner, "You would never say that about a body or anything for that matter".
"Well, we are short on time her", she said standing up for herself, "It seemed the most logical thing to tell him".
"What was that about anyway?", Sweets asked, doing his psychology analysis thing.
"Uh, I have to go, speak to you all later", she said to them standing up off her bed.
Booth saw she was avoiding him, so he joined in. It was the best thing in the world annoying Sweets, especially when he is on to something. That something Booth would have to find out from his partner later. "Okay Bones, speak to you soon", he said smiling before switching the camera off.
Brennan shut the laptop, and grabbed a jacket with zips off a chair. She would need a secure place to hold all her belongings when flying. She was now wearing a pair of jeans, a yellow T-shirt, and the black jacket. Her hair looked better than it did earlier that morning, maybe because a brush had been through it now, and makeup was not worth the effort.
She went over to the door hastily, only to discover Bart sitting on the floor outside. He had a box with him; an ominous sign. He jumped up as she exited her room. "Can I help you Bart?", she asked him, thinking she had rid of the boy.
He thrust the box forward at her, "Mandible helped us out with size. She already knows you very well".
Brennan nervously opened the box. Wrapped up with some tissue paper were black high top converse trainers. Every girl's worst nightmare, she had to change her shoes. She pulled one out and examined it. It was the right size, and the fabric smelt new. "We all wear them. They are the only shoe proven to stay on your feet no matter what", Bart told her, "You don't have to put them on, but we thought it would be a nice gift for you".
"Thanks. I'll consider wearing them", she asked as they began down the hallway to the living room, "How is the saddle coming?".
"The blacksmith says he will be done after lunch", he told Brennan as they walked through over to the door, "Good thing you didn't mind what colour 'cause you can have my spare black one. Very comfy, never been used. But for now, there is a very hungry Night Fury outside which I suggest you feed soon".
AN: Thanks for all of the reviews, favourites and alerts so far. I wouldn't mind if you kept them coming. Don't think there will be anymore updates for a good week as I have a Spanish GCSE oral next Friday, and revision has taken over my brain. So thanks again, and if you haven't reviewed, please do, it makes me feel so much better. Stitch