There came an old woman from France

Who taught grown-up children to dance;

But they were so stiff,

She sent them home in a sniff,

This sprightly old woman from France.

Brennan and Angela walked into the house bearing food, laughing about the old woman they'd seen riding a goose down the road.

"Hodgins?" Angela yelled.

"I'm here." He walked into the living room. "We should eat outside I think."

"Why?" Brennan looked at him funny. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." Hodgins shook his head. "But we contaminate the evidence if we eat inside. We're not the world's neatest eaters you know."

"Good point." Angela replied, shoving Brennan back out the door. "The lawn it is. Like a picnic!"

"I'm a very tidy eater." Brennan muttered, putting her bags down on the lawn. "But yes, we should not risk contamination of the evidence."

"Did you run into Booth?" Hodgins queried.

"No." Brennan looked up from the sandwich she was unwrapping. "But here he comes."

"Where?" Hodgins looked around, patting his pocket, making sure his gun was well hid.

"There." Brennan pointed down the road, to where Booth was hurriedly making his way towards them.

"He looks stressed." Angela giggled. "The old lady was too much for him!"

"I heard that!" Booth called. "And you have NO idea!"

"Enlighten us dude, what did you learn?" Hodgins held out a sandwich, which Booth tore into. "And why do you smell like a brewery?"

"She lives in a Brewery! I've never seen so much booze in my life!" Booth groaned. "Pastrami on rye, my favourite!"

Brennan sniffed him delicately. "Budweiser?"

"I had to Bones, she wouldn't talk unless I drank something!"

"Did you chug it?" Hodgins grinned knowingly.

"Only the first one." Booth muttered, shooting him a glare.

Brennan raised an eyebrow. "Well, what did you learn then?"

Booth stared at her blankly. "About what?"

"Peter Piper."

"He drank bud. Not whiskey, whiskey puts hair on your chest, though not in my case, because I'm highly evolved, and no I don't shave it or wax, it's just the way am I, and yes I've drunk sufficient whiskey in my time to be sure that it won't and.." He drew a breath. "Oh Lord, she's got me doing it now!"

Pop sprayed from Angela's mouth as she collapsed into giggles, "You sound like my aunt Mabel!"

Hodgins wiped pop off his arm and gave Brennan an I-told-you-so glance.

"But.. Did you learn anything besides Piper's choice of drink?"

Booth rubbed his temples. "Curly-locks is his business partner."

"That's it?" Hodgins chuckled. "She got you good!"

Booth just shook his head and began eating his sandwich again. "Never again. Never again." He stared at his feet in silence. "If you're like that when you're old, I'm getting a divorce!" He told Brennan before stalking off into the house.

She stared after him, open mouthed. "But.. We're not married!"

Angela burst into giggles again. "She got him GOOD!"

~B~

"Booth?" Brennan called, standing in the doorway of Piper's house.

"Upstairs." He replied.

She could hear stuff moving around.

She frowned, and climbed the stairs. "Booth, what are you doing? Are you ok? Because if you're drunk you shouldn't be.."

"I'm not drunk." He sighed, opening another closet door, checking inside, and slamming it closed again.

"But outside.."

"Yeah, what about it?" He looked around. "That old woman is nuts, but I kind of liked her. Have you seen any business papers? She said Curly-locks was his business partner, but I can't find a safe or a computer or anything."

Brennan looked around thoughtfully. "When I was younger, there was an old lady from France who lived next door, who taught dancing lessons, and I used to go visit her sometimes…"

"Is this the one who was dead when you when to visit one day?"

"Yes." Brennan narrowed her eyes on the bed. "She used to keep all her important papers and some rainy day money in her mattress."

Booth stopped opening cupboards and turned to stare at her. "You checked the beds."

"But not this one." She walked over and started pressing down on the mattress. Suddenly she smiled. "There's a zipper here." She pulled up the sheets and opened it, and withdrew a large brown envelope. "Bingo Baby!"

Booth smiled. "Did you just call me Baby?"

"No." Brennan frowned. "Isn't that the acceptable exclamation when discov.."

"Yeah,." He took the envelope from her and opened it. "I was just teasing you. Good job Bones, you got one right!"

"I'm always right."

He raised an eyebrow. "Well. Almost."

He reached out a hand and touched her face. "Why do I always get the feeling that you're like the little girl with the curl?"

"What's that mean?"

Booth shook his head, thinking of how she'd told him that her father had said she was just like him. When Brennan was good, she was very, very good… And when she was bad.. Well. If she was like her old man, she'd be very good at that too…

"Booth?"

"Nothing Bones. Just an odd thought." He dismissed it. "These look like business papers of some kind, and there is a key, probably to a safe deposit box somewhere. Let's go show these to Ang and Hodgins, I think we're almost done here. Might be time to go back to the lab."

"Can I drive?"

Booth sighed.

"I DID find the business papers." She pointed out.

And he had had a few beer, he remembered.

"Yeah. Ok." He reached in his pocket for the keys, then gave them to her. "Let's go."

There was a little girl, who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good, she was very, very good,

And when she was bad she was horrid.