Okay, if I was to be perfectly honest with you, I am so jealous right now. How can someone who has never really had a proper experience with dragons pull off a dive like that? I have lived with dragons my whole life, and been flying longer than she has, so why can't I do that. Every time Fredo and I have tried that, we have ended up in the sea. And now, Aidan has decided that we can move onto the advanced stuff as long as she practises after and before lessons. What is up with that, Aidan would have not let anyone else join our class at her level. She would have made the doc go away and come back in September with the rookies next year.
I'm brought out of my long glare at the woman I have to be nice to by Caley. It is so nice to have a friend like him. "Dude, just leave it will ya?", he says to me just as the biggest bite of a chicken sandwich you would have ever seen in life entered his mouth.
"It's not healthy Bart to be jealous of someone you are sharing a house with", Betha commented.
"Well", I started as I threw Fredo a fish, "It's okay for a little bit of healthy competition".
"Bart, just don't go over the top man. Remember you and Alex", Caley told me before another bite.
"Yeah, I know. We both ended up in the sea. But she doesn't have to know", I told him as I glanced over at the two women.
"I bet she will win", Caley mumbled.
"Yeah, well... let's make this a money bet then. I bet twenty quid that I can beat her with another stunt", I said as I slapped down the purple paper in the centre of our small circle.
"You're on!", Caley shouted as he slapped down two tens, "For the title of King of the Island".
Betha reached in for the money, she knew that she was bank lady just from our looks, "Or queen don't forget".
I smiled and looked over at the doc. Unless she did something so much better than that dive, I have already won. With a smirk on my face, I continued with my lunch.
"So, you train dragons?", Brennan questioned the trainer over her salad.
"Yeah. I can ride any dragon as I'm never close enough to one for them to imprint on me", Aidan replied as she mixed about her tuna and sweet corn into mayonnaise for her sandwich, "The only dragon I can't ride is the Night Fury. I'd get my head bitten off if I did".
She looked at Mandible, who was giving her an evil looking glare. Brennan had started to realise that these dragons actually understood English, sometimes better than some humans. So, her dragon knew what they were talking about, and she wasn't happy about it. The two women laughed at the dragon, which gave her best sort of smile, and went back to eating her fish.
"And you solve murders for a living?", Aidan's turn to ask.
"My team and I, I'm the bone specialist there, and so my partner has given me a nickname. He calls me Bones, which I found strange when Bart thought up 'Bone Team'. I also write books" she said as she rummaged through her salad for a tomato.
"Bred in the Bone was excellent may I add", Aidan smiled, "What I would like to know, how have you been paired with a Night Fury then?".
"I came here ten years ago by accident, and according to Bart, it took Mandible a few days to realise it. By that time, I had left", she answered, as she found the pesky tomato.
There was silence for a few moments whilst the two women thought about the small conversation they had just shared. Aidan looked up from her tuna/sweet corn mixture, and felt very nervous when she noticed the boys making some sort of bet, even more so when she saw money was now involved.
"That doesn't look good", she said making Brennan turn.
"What are they doing?", Brennan asked, not all too familiar with teenage antics.
"Making a bet", Aidan said in a monochrome tone, "And if I know Bart, it is about you".
"Why? I haven't done anything".
"Oh yes you have B. You performed that dive. Bart hasn't even reached those speeds yet, but to my count, you have reached the speed of sound once before. Unsaddled".
"Oh. So what do I do?".
"Beat the little devil", Aidan smiled, "After lunch, I'll find out from Betha what it is all about, but my first guess it is about stunts".
"So I have to do something more stupid than him?".
"No, you are a better person than to go and throw yourself off a cliff. You need to do something that he could never do", Aidan said looking over at the boy, she spent way too much time around teenagers.
Brennan thought for a moment. Normally, she wouldn't even attempt to do anything like this, but Aidan had the Angela affect. Something which sounds stupid from anyone else's mouth sounds perfect from hers. And Brennan was getting talked into this more and more every second as she started to think about the situation. "Aidan, is there any chance you could stay behind with me after the lesson?".
"Yeah", she said slowly, "Your brain can't have seriously thought of something already?".
"Well I do have an IQ of...".
"Don't tell me, it will only make me feel worse. It's one now, and we are due to finish at three after our next bit of fun, so yeah. Suppose we can sort something out".
Brennan smiled and looked over at Bart. Unless he did something life threatening she had already won. With a smirk on her face, she continued with her lunch.
Having a week off is the best thing in the world, if you have someone to share it with. You are just lonely if you can't do anything because all the people you know are in work. So Booth was stumped as to what to do. Rebecca had phoned him, which happened to wake him up at um... cough... ten... to ask him if he could pick Parker up from school for the rest of the week.
That for Booth was the best thing to happen to him this week so far, next to the lie in. He would have his boy for least two hours a day this week, and now he had all the Lego from the squints, they could have some serious fun. But Booth groaned as he left his room and saw all the boxes in his apartment. In one corner it reached the ceiling, and Sweets and Hodgins had been so kind last night to bring it all home. And his dragon sat proudly on his windowsill, guarding his cramped front room.
He threw himself onto the sofa with a cup of coffee in his hands and turned on the news. There was the usual, Volcanic Ash cloud, court cases, TV show finales, the recession, but the last item caught his eye. There had been an explosion on the top floor of one of the many skyscrapers in New York. No, actually not on the top floor, the roof where there was no access at all. A map popped open, and like normal, the media tried to interoperate the explosions as it seemed they were heading south. Also, another thing about them, once fire crews had put out the flames, a symbol appeared burnt into the concrete. Booth couldn't call it cement otherwise the Bones in his brain would tell him off.
He sighed as he leaned back into the horrible sofa that he owned. Maybe he could convince Bones to by him a new one, or at least put in a small donation to it. He could convince her with the story that the doctor recommended he have a new one because of his back. Yeah, that way he could get a top of the range one.
Something flashed across the screen. A big flash of blue ripped from the darkness above the New York skyline, and erupted into flame on top of one of the skyscrapers. The newswoman whose top was way too low, began to explain very enthusiastically that this was footage of the explosion, and they now had some randoms they had probably picked off from the street thinking that it was aliens. Booth laughed and turned off the TV.
One last gulp of coffee was ruined by the fact the phone rang. The home phone. And only six people knew where he was, that is why Rebecca had phoned him on his cell. "What do the squints want now?", he asked himself as he stood.
Not looking at the caller ID, he answered the phone, "Bones, I'm not flying out to Scotland".
"Why would she want you to go to Scotland", Cam smiled on the other end.
"Cam, it is Bones. She would have found a murder or something all by herself. You know what she is like".
"Uh huh. Have you only just got up?".
"Um no. I have been up for about...", he took in a dramatic breath, "Half an hour".
"It is even worse than I thought", she laughed, "You got anything planned?".
"Pick up Parker at half three and hang with him for a bit. Why?".
"We need you to stab the body again".
"If that had come from anyone else's mouth Cam that would have sounded so wrong".
"I'll see you in half an hour then".
"If I can get past all the Lego", and with a smile on his face, he hung up.
The three teenagers collapsed at the top of the mountain. For Aidan, it was brilliant to see them coming up here unaided by dragon power. Sadly, her fun was ruined by the fact Brennan had made it all the way up, no complaints, and wasn't even breathless. She set down her bag of fish, and looked about her students. "I never want to use my feet ever again", Bart complained as he lay flat in the grass with his eyes closed.
"C'mon you get up", Aidan kicked his foot, and with that he sat up and smiled, "You'll like this next bit".
"I'm not liking what is going through my mind", Brennan remarked as she looked around.
The dragons had been tied up back down in the ring, with a remote control lock which Aidan would release during her next lesson. This one was all about trust, and she just hoped there was a damn good enough bond between the Night Fury and doc; otherwise she would have to answer to her partner. Booth was it. Well, whatever his name was, she wasn't looking forward to the prospect that she might have to tell someone their partner died after throwing themselves off a mountain.
"Right then you ugly lot", Aidan smiled, "This next exercise is all about trust; Bart style".
"Oh God", Betha exclaimed as she sat up shocked.
"Is this a good idea Aidan?", Caley asked as he looked over the edge.
"Of course it is. It is the best way", the trainer replied, "If this fails, you know there are some things that need to be changed with your relationship with your dragon".
"If this fails, we will be dead", Brennan added.
"And you can't fail at that", Bart added, butterflies already in his stomach; there were some things he was even afraid to do.
Aidan took out a fish and wacked it in her hand like you see generals in war films do with a whip. She had a wicked smile on her face now, and her eyes looked mischievous. "So who is going to go first?", she asked, looking at them in turn.
Betha turned away, and Caley shook his head. Bart was fixated on the drop, and Brennan just looked at her like she had asked her to commit suicide. Well in one way, she had. With no eye contact heading her way apart from Brennan's, Aidan tried to sign to her to go first. The doc looked even more confused, so Aidan marched over, fish in hand. "If you go first, you will have another stunt over Bart", she whispered into the anthropologist's ear.
Brennan had a pained expression on her face, and took the fish from the trainer's hand. Unbeknownst to the teens who were all avoiding any eye contact and were trying their best to hide, didn't see the doc take a few steps back and crouch down. In a running start position, Brennan took some deep breaths. Booth would murder everyone on this idea if she died. Well, at least she knew that he would kill to avenge her.
She pushed off, and ran at full pelt, creating a dust cloud from the dry soil. She ran past Bart, who jumped and just watched. The other two were soon to follow and ran behind her to the edge of the cliff. And before they all knew it she was falling to her possible death. Aidan smiled, and released the lock to Mandible, and listened for the whoosh as the dragon did a vertical lift off. The two boys whistled and cheered as Mandible flew over their heads and down towards Brennan.
The air was rushing past her ears. Time seemed to slow down, and she began to think about the worst case possibility. Her friends thought she was in Glasgow. What would happen when they found out she wasn't? But before she could answer herself, a black object zoomed past, and two black wings opened out below her. With all the momentum of the fall, she hit Mandible, and like lightening attached the safety cord.
The dragon let out a small blue flame which erupted feet in front of them, and flew straight through it. "Oh great", Brennan said to herself as they approached it.
With the ends of her hair smoking, and her lovely white shirt covered in soot, they flew around the island in one swoop. One by one, Brennan heard the teens throw themselves off the cliff, Betha's screams echoing around the entire space. Soon, she was joined by four other dragons; another Night Fury, a Nadder, one exhausted looking Gronckle, and a Monstrous Nightmare.
They landed in the ring, and Bart and Caley high fived and whooped, the adrenaline still evident. Betha let out an almighty breath, and Brennan had a grin extending from one ear to another. The dragons too seemed jumpy, and all the riders moved up and down in their saddles as their friends jumped around.
"Okay, okay", Aidan started, seeing that she got no response from the teens at all, "GUYS!".
They all stopped, even if they had smiles that would most likely last late into the evening. "Right, tomorrow, we are going to practise the worst case scenario. I hope you have all seen what has been going on in New York, so as part of the new dragon training curriculum, we will be teaching you the vital skills to defend yourselves", Aidan said in a serious tone, "Meeting here again at half eight".
The teens all nodded, and in unison flew off. Mandible tugged to go with them, but Brennan nudged her and stopped her in her tracks. Aidan jumped off the red beast, and it flew off to the perch up above them with the rest of the trainee dragons. Brennan jumped down from Mandible, who looked rather confused. "So B, what have you got planned?", Aidan asked.
"Well, I hope Bart thinks that dive was enough", she laughed, "But just in case, I think I can beat your insanity".
"Okay", Aidan nodded, looking over the docs shoulder at Mandible to see her looking very nervous indeed, "Nothing to mentally damaging".
"Well, I'm worried about Mandible with this situation".
"Explain doc, because not everyone here has a PhD".
"You know you told me earlier about you being able to ride every dragon".
"Yeah but not the Night Furies because they are untrainable by others", Aidan confirmed, and started to think, "Oh God B. You must be kidding me".
"No, why would I?".
Aidan shook her literalness off, "Are you sure Mandible won't bite my head off".
"I don't know, but Bart did think of the idea first with the extra material", Brennan said as she called over Mandible.
Somehow, that didn't make Aidan feel a lot better. The dragon looked nervous as Aidan went around to the side and looked up at the saddle. Brennan tugged down on the safety cord, and the dragon lay down, looking over her shoulder at what her rider was doing. Brennan removed her bag from the bag of the saddle, and looked for the extra safety cord hidden under a small piece of material at the back of her saddle. She passed it down to Aidan who took it cautiously from her.
Mandible growled a deep growl from within her neck, and Brennan threw herself up onto the saddle. She gave the dragon a reassuring stroke behind the ears, before reaching down to help Aidan up. The dragon trainer looked terrified. She had flown on so many dragons before, but had never sat upon a Night Fury. She had once pinned down Fredo when he was just bigger than a smallish dog for his inoculations, but even then, it felt wrong.
She was soon up on the saddle, and Aidan could feel that Mandible didn't like it. Two people were strange to her, and Aidan was quick to attach the safety cord to her belt. Brennan turned around, nervous as the dragon was. "You ready?", Brennan asked, trying to be as reassuring as possible.
"As I'll ever be", she stammered out, very quietly.
"Okay Mandible, let's take this really slowly", Brennan patted the dragon, who decided that a running start was the best.
Aidan grasped onto the handle bars just in front of her, and closed her eyes for the first time during a dragon flight. She felt her stomach go as the first flap of the wings hit the air. Mandible bucked a little, and it seemed to settle the saddle for her, and suddenly, like something clicked, they were flying smoothly.
"It is irrational to close your eyes", Brennan laughed.
"Don't lecture me on irrationality when you came up with this idea", Aidan joined in as she opened her eyes to look at the doc.
She looked around. Mandible's wings flapped in a calm and gentle rhythm as they flew over the village. Aidan smiled to herself, as people looked up and waved at them. This was the best feeling in the world, and not even the end of the world could bring her down from up in the air now. "If anyone ever tells you that you are a horrible person B, send them to me and they will be sorted", Aidan laughed as they swopped around over the square.
Mandible, knowing what the two women were discussing let out a roar of pleasure. Even for her this was amazing. Her brother would be so jealous, and all of them could see Bart and Fredo doing their best to get a passenger to ride with them. That was never going to happen. As they flew over the square Bart and his three male friends cheered and whopped, but Bart felt the jealousy deep down. It was so on in his opinion.
They did one lap of the island before Brennan got Mandible to land back in the ring. The trainee dragons roared and flapped as they landed, and Mandible replied back with a low calming growl. Aidan was quick to get off, and stood back to watch Brennan hop off. Mandible was quick to fly up to the others, where quickly a grooming fest began.
"My God B that was so cool", Aidan said loudly as the doc picked up bag which she had abandoned in the middle of the ring.
"I thought what if my partner had to ride with us? You know, just in case something happened", she replied as she walked over to Aidan.
"Well you taking passengers may become a reality", Aidan stated.
"What?".
"Haven't you seen the news?".
"I don't own a television".
"You don't! Well Bart should have told you".
"Should have told me what?".
"I hope they told you Berk is the only safe place for dragons", Aidan looked deep into the doc, who nodded thankfully, "Well, all around the world there are places where dragons have colonised, one location on each continent, each run by a Night Fury rider. But these places they are not as safe as up here, even though they are seculed. But, the one in North America, there has been a lot of conflict lately, and the rest of us have lost track of who is the chief. Also, the conditions up there for dragons are horrible, in our community, that colony is the scum of the dragon riding community. The dragons are made to work no matter what for the humans who take advantage of them. Here, the dragons if they don't want to fly are not made to, but there...".
Aidan didn't even want to finish the sentence. For her, the way those dragons were treated was horrific. "Well, if I ever met one them... this colony is in the middle of the Hudson Bay. And it seems that the new Night Fury rider is heading south down the Eastern Seaboard of America, exploding the roofs of skyscrapers leaving this... this mark", Aidan shook her head, "It means war. Someone is calling dragon riders to war. But we are hoping that it never happens".
"Do you know what the war is about?".
"No, but we have to be prepared to protect this secret. The rest of the world isn't ready for the truth about dragons. Only the very few at the top of governments know about them, even then their knowledge is limited. We will just have to wait for the reasons to come forth, but in my opinion, it will be another looney thinking that he is better than the rest of us. And we have to be ready to put the scum back into place".
"So is that what you are going to teach us tomorrow, how to fight", Brennan had her hand on the trainers back now, doing her best comforting voice.
"We are going to go against the nature of dragons. Guns, Spears, Swords, Killing, none of these words are in their vocabulary", Aidan looked pained, her eyes holding back tears, "But they will soon learn them".
Brennan looked up at Mandible. If she had known they hated weapons she would have never come back to Berk. She had killed, wielded a weapon that caused death. And her partner carried one all the time. On average, she was never a metre away from a gun. She looked at her hand, like in Macbeth; she wouldn't ever be able to wash the blood off her hands.
Booth walked in through the front door. The glass separating as he got within a metre of them. His eyes went straight to the place where his people were standing, as if he had trained them to. Hands in pockets, he walked up the stairs, and saw the body set up for them to stab. Hodgins was fussing about with the knife, whilst the others watched and discussed something. For Cam and Angela it was most likely about shoes or some worthless gossip. And for Sweets who was talking to the working Hodgins, it could be about anything.
"Wow, dude you're actually awake", Hodgins said from in-between the legs of the mannequin.
"Such a surprise is it?", he laughed as he rested up on the railing next to Angela.
"Just a bit seeing Cam told us you have been up for a minimum of an hour", the artist smiled at him.
"I have an excuse today. I'm off work. What about you last week, you came in an hour late, what is your excuse", he glared at her, smile on his face.
Her expression told him that she was beaten as she gave him a set of evils. She smiled to herself as Hodgins stood and hit his head on the table. "So who is going to go first?", Sweets asked as he looked around at the group.
"As the boss, I have that honour", Cam said as she took the knife from the entomologist.
Fifteen minutes later, and many stabs, they were done. Hodgins sat at the computer as it processed the information. Boredom was getting the better of Booth as Sweets had now joined in the conversation with Angela and Cam, about what he wasn't really too fussed. Booth reached into the back pocket of his jeans and took out his phone. He flipped it open, but there was nothing. No messages from Bones, no missed phone calls from the bureau asking him to leave his time off to come and collect a body for the squints. Nothing.
"Cam is the murderer", Hodgins announced, "Or the closest to it".
"Congratulations Cam", Sweets said over enthusiastically.
"Thanks Sweets", she glared at him as she walked over to Hodgins to type in her height and weight.
"So now what?", Booth asked.
"We go back to solving how our caveman died", Angela told him, "And you go and do whatever".
It is so unfair. That is twice in one day that she has made me feel jealous now. How the hell was I going to top that? It was a good thing then that I took my frustration out on my mash potato instead of something else, as it ended up in a pile of mushiness with carrots and broccoli mixed in. My dad was stroking his beard as he watched some TV programme on knitting. Parents are a strange race.
Fredo was curled up behind the sofa my dad was sitting on, dreaming about something as he snorted every so often, and his feet twitched every now and again. He was so cute when he slept, but he had had a busy day, so it was to be expected that he would sleep just a bit more today. Also there was an even more hectic day to come tomorrow.
The front door creaked open and the doc walked in carrying a face worse than death itself. Her feet scuffed across the floor like I would do when I was in a 'mood' as my father puts it. She slumped down into the chair next to me, and put her head in her hands. The doc's hair fell forward, creating a shield around her face, hiding all emotion. Her clothes were still covered in soot from earlier, and any other day, it would have been quite funny to look at.
My dad made it worse by not recognising her presence. He just remained glued to the television screen, which had now gone on to talk about tax credits. What kind of show was he watching? Then Mandible came in, well crawled actually. Her eyes never left the doc, her tail was lifeless and was dragged on the floor behind her. She knew something was up, like they all did when we were upset, and her only priority was to make Dr. Brennan feel better. But the way the doc was ignoring Mandible had to make me wonder if the dragon had done something.
Mandible's eyes left the doc momentarily as she rose onto her two back feet, and slammed her two front feet onto Fredo's tail. He yelped and shot straight up into the air, making my father jump. "Dear God!", he exclaimed as he shot round to look at the dragons who were now cowering beneath the boss, and finally noticed the doc presence.
"Are you okay Dr. Brennan?", even I know that was possibly the wrong question to ask right now, but what else could he say.
She nodded her head slightly, as my dad got up and headed over to the kitchen. The female social life was one my father and I had yet to conquer, and I tell you, it is more complicated than a Rubik Cube. Only few have ever mastered it, and I and my father may have only solved one side to it. She removed one hand, still not looking up, and ran her fingers along the groves in the wood of the table. What I would give to be a psychologist now.
"Do want some mash and veg?", my father asked, that question not much better than the last.
There had been a lack of female presence in the house for a good seven years now, and we were most definitely out of practise. For once, I wished I was... a girl, so at least I could help her. Those words tasted like sick in my mouth, but I really do feel sorry for this woman. From what she had told me on Saturday, I knew her life was hell, but I most definitely have no idea how bad it was.
She nodded at my father, and soon an appetising looking plate of mash potato with broccoli, carrots and sweet corn was placed in front of her. She lifted her head slightly, on by a fraction of an angle, and took the fork in her right hand. Using it like a spoon, she placed a decent mouthful in her mouth.
Mandible looked up from her grooming fest with Fredo. Night Furies are so proud of their physical image. But she now had big puppy dog eyes, reaching out for anything from the doc, but nothing came her way. All she needed was some reassurance that her partner was okay or not, but the way Brennan was hiding herself, made it all the more difficult for the poor dragon.
My dad motioned at me to speak to her as he turned off the TV. I mouthed at him 'what' and he shrugged. It wasn't like I was much better with girls than he was, and I bet that he thought because we spent so much time together we had some sort of connection. You wish. "Goodnight Dr. Brennan", he said as he headed for the stairs up to his room.
"Goodnight McCullough", she smiled, and lifted up her head, and my dad walked away feeling as if he had accomplished something.
But as soon as he turned away, the smile was gone. She continued on with her veg, but at least this time, her hair was off her face, and she was sitting upright. She looked over at Mandible, who gave a low pathetic grumble and a small smile creeped into the corner of the doc's mouth before she turned back to her food. Now it was Mandible's turn to ask me to communicate with this woman. Her puppy dog eyes were horrible, and sadly, I succumbed to them.
"Is everything okay Dr. Brennan?", I asked.
"Why didn't you tell me?", she muttered quietly as she finished her veg.
"Tell you what?".
"About the weapons".
"Dragons don't like them. So what?".
"Did you never stop to think that maybe me working with the FBI that I would have never come into contact with a gun? I'm American Bart, give me $100 and I could go and buy one from the nearest mall. I have owned a gun, still do, and I am an excellent shot. How can I use a gun whilst riding a creature that is terrified by them?".
"It is only the worst case scenario at the moment. We just have to train them just in case".
"But after what Aidan told me, it looks like inevitable".
"So you didn't know?", God I felt foolish now.
She shook her head. "If I knew about what dragons were like with weapons, I would have never come back", tears were in her eyes, great, "There is blood on my hands Bart. You have no idea what it is like to take another person's life, and I don't want you to become familiar with the sensation either".
I sighed and rubbed her back. "I know that your friend Angela would be the better person to console you, but the only thing that I know that might make you feel, better is a goodnights sleep. Yeah?", I told her as I helped her to stand.
She nodded and knew what I had said was true, so being the gentleman I am, I lead her to her room. One arm wrapped around her back rubbing the opposite arm. Mandible was quick to follow, and I heard Fredo hit the ground as the space he was leaning up against disappeared. As I turned to open the door, I could see him waiting by the stairs for me, the first time in years that he has done that.
I smiled to myself as I saw the state of Brennan's room. Mandible went straight to her nest of accumulated fabric and pulled out my old blanket that I used to use when I felt bad. I thought I had lost it ages ago, but dragons seemed to have a knack at finding items for their nests. She dropped it over the doc's shoulders as she sat down on her bed. "Goodnight Dr. Brennan", I said as I started to close the door.
"Thank you Bart, and call me Temperance", she smiled at me.
"Goodnight Tempe", I said as I shut the door.
AN: I would like to thank all the patient readers out there. I can't believe that it has been a month since I updated! Don't worry though; I have the next few chapters planned out, minus a few small details. Also, any ideas on what Booth could be doing in his spare time until Friday evening when Brennan comes home? (Next chapter will be Monday evening for Booth and Tuesday for both him and Brennan). I'm rather stuck on ideas for that part, and some audience participation would be very much appreciated. Any questions? Just ask me, and also I would be grateful if you would let me know if anything doesn't make sense. Thanks a lot guys, and those who haven't reviewed yet, please do!