Two chapters in one day! Crazy! It's all thanks to you guys!

I have gaurd camp next week, so this will probably be the last chapter until next saturday, unless I'm not completley exhausted and I can squeeze one in at some point.

Also, special thanks to xBonesnCsiMiamifan419x, your reviews have made my day!

with that being said, I enjoy reviews, the good the bad and the ugly! (so long as it's constructive, which kind of puts a damper on the whole bad and ugly thing...)

Disclaimer: I still don't own Bones (but hey, my Birthday is in October and it's on my list, so we'll see).

Booth didn't like this. Not one bit.

He stood just inside the Jeffersonian Institute, looking out at the world on display in front of him. Somehow, it seemed so foreign to him, so strange. It was outlandish not having Bones at the lab. It was like pizza without the crust, or a record with just a 'B' side, or beer with no carbonation. The lab without her, he decided, was just a mess of cheese and tomato sauce, not-so-great songs and flat beer. He slid his hands in his pockets and observed for just a while longer.

He saw Hodgins at his station, staring at some weird piece of dirt or God knows what under his microscope, then feverishly writing things on his clipboard, then back to the microscope and so on and so forth. Life as usual.

He noticed Cam leaning over a set of remains; talking to an intern (he couldn't tell which one).

"Cause of death?" she would ask. They'd answer with some heinous, gruesome act of fatal violence. She'd make an ironic or sardonic comment and the prospective squint would say something in return, the comeback depending on the intern of the week. Same old, same old.

He watched as Angela strolled up to Cam and presented her sketch, displaying her usual face of accomplishment at finishing the reconstruction, sickness at the sight and smell of the putrefied corpse lying out in front of her, and sorrow at the fact that whoever this mystery person was had a family who missed him or her dearly.

Booth exhaled slowly and wistfully. It seemed like everyone was taking this fairly well except for him. In fact, it seemed like a normal day at the lab, like no one was missing and everything was perfectly aligned and in place. But to him, something was missing. She was missing.

Booth decided to head up to the platform, mostly so he wouldn't look like some stalker, standing frozen and looking up at people the entire day. He ran his plastic ID card through the scanner and the 'Access Granted' ring that was usually satisfying to him, just felt empty. He bounded up the steps and took his usual place beside Cam, staring down at the body.

It was a typical corpse. Not anything weird like the man-soup they'd found in that bathtub a couple years ago, or the famous 'foaming bones'- (which gave him a reoccurring nightmare he'd rather not discuss.)

He was no expert, but even he knew that the cause of death was a gunshot to the chest and judging by the hole, it had to have been at least a .45.

"Who is he and how did he die?" Booth asked abruptly.

"Good morning to you too." Angela responded dryly, raising her eyebrows.

"His name is Francisco Loran. He was killed by a .45 caliber piercing his heart." Vincent, who was apparently the grad student of the week, replied.

"Did you know-" He began.

"Don't have time for it. Cam, I need phone numbers and addresses for family and coworkers." Booth exclaimed.

"I know the drill. Are you going to interrogate by yourself?" Cam asked.

"I was kind of hoping you'd come with me."

"Can't. I have to supervise Vincent so that any evidence we find will be credible in court. "

"I guess I'll go by myself." He grumbled. That was the last thing Booth wanted to do at that moment. Interrogating had always been a two person thing. Namely, He and Bones (though sometimes Cam or Sweets would accompany him). He did not want to do it alone.

Oh, get a grip. It's not like she won't ever come back. It'll probably just be this one case and then she'll come home and you'll be partners again. Booth told himself. She's just gone for three months. Three months, is all…His train of thought was interrupted by Angela's smooth, borderline seductive voice.

"I'll go with you, Booth." She suggested pleasantly.

"Okay, grab a coat, we're out of here in five. " He commanded briskly in a less than enthusiastic tone. Angela raised an eyebrow and went to fetch her coat.

"You okay, Seeley?" Cam asked after she'd left.

"I'm fine."

Booth turned away and began walking down the steps. He tried to grasp some sort of self control, but it just wasn't coming to him. He didn't understand what was wrong with him. His coworker had left. So what? No big deal. She'd be back in two months and three weeks. It's not like she was just going to leave him. He was so wrapped up in his emotions and thoughts that he didn't notice that he was walking towards Bones's office.

"You really miss her." Angela commented, empathy evident in her voice. Booth didn't answer; he just walked beside her all the way to the SUV parked outside.

"You know, it's totally fine to miss your partner." Angela commented out of the blue. They were sitting in his car, driving to a house in Woodbridge, Virginia. Mostly the ride had been silent.

Booth didn't react to her comment.

"You know why you don't want to admit that you miss her?" Booth didn't respond. Angela interpreted his nonresponsiveness as, "Enlighten me, oh great one!"

"It's because you think that if you admit that you miss her, that you are also admitting that you have a thing for her." She teased.

"I do not have a thing for Bones." He defended himself, taking his eyes off the road long enough to shoot her a look of irritation with an underbelly of desperateness.

"Me thinks the g-man doth protest too much." She smiled devilishly, facing the front window. Booth shot her another look, then turned back to the road. It was silent for about ten more minutes, then,

"Fine. If I said that I missed her, how would you interpret that?" Angela's eyes purred in amusement.

"I would interpret that as an innocent work relationship between partners who have no 'sexual-tension' component at all." She responded, her words dripping in sarcasm

"Well, Good, because I don't miss her."

"Keep telling yourself that, sport." She smirked, leaning forward to turn the volume dial up.

That's why I'm hot blooded, check it and see
I got a fever of a hundred and three
Come on baby, do you do more than dance?
I'm hot blooded, hot blooded

"I love this song!" Angela exclaimed, turning it up louder.

Booth clenched his jaw.

There we go! a shorter, lighter chapter, in my opinion.

Oh, the fact that Vincent was going to say was that Beavers can hold their breath for up to 45 minutes. In case anyone was wondering...

Love you all,

~Rhea~

Cam: And if it happens again, I will take action. And I'm from New York, so that means I'll take New York action. Am I clear?
Brennan: Not at all.
Zack: I'm from Michigan..