Hi again everybody. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. I'm so glad you think I kept Angela and Bones both in character…. I'm putting a lot of effort into it, so it makes me happy that it seems to show. Of course, the whole situation I'm throwing our heroes in, is quite strange, so they can not stay completely in character, I guess. But be assured that I try.

Well, enough rambling.

Here is chapter 16.

Under cover(s) – 16

Booth climbed the stairs towards Brennan's apartment at half past six in the evening. They still had a lot to talk about, so they had agreed upon meeting at seven to be able to discuss the details before they had to leave at eight. But somehow he'd been nervous, anxious even. Something in Brennan's voice had been off, not quite as controlled as it usually was. And if something threw her off balance, it always dragged him over the edge with her, too. So, his worries had driven him here, half an hour earlier than they had agreed upon.

And now he was not quite sure if he should knock on her door or not.

Women tended to get testy when they got interrupted in their "dressing-up" process. But, hell, she wasn't just any woman, right? She was Bones and he'd seen her good and her bad days, right? So, she should better just accept he was here earlier. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but before he could do so, he heard a sound inside. He realised, that she had music playing while getting ready. And not the Tibetan Monks or whatever it was he had seen in her collection, no it was a song that meant something to her. To him, too, come to think of it.

'Keep on trying' by Poco.

A soft smile covered his face as he remembered how they had sung the song together in the diner after she and her father had saved him from his two torturers. He closed his eyes and pictured her, the determined expression on her face as she'd come to his aid. She really was one of a kind. While he was standing outside her apartment door, the song ended…. And begun anew. She had it on repeat, he realised. Now he was really worried. He was not quite sure if she attributed good or bad memories to the song, but setting it on repeat had to mean something, right?

He rapped his knuckles against the door of her apartment, harder than usual to make sure she heard him over the sound of the music. A few moments later the music stopped and he heard footsteps coming towards the door. Satisfied he registered a shadow falling over the spy hole for an instant, than he heard her disengage the safety bolt and open the door. "You're early." She said and arched an eyebrow at him.

Then his eyes fell on the dress that clung to her curves and he just nodded. Words simply eluded him for a moment. That dress, he decided, was as stunning as the woman wearing it. Together, the combination was fatal. Fatal for every thought he had hoped to be able to form.

Somewhere in his brain he registered that she didn't look sad or worried, though, so a relieved warmth spread in him too. Or was that warmth caused by something else entirely, he wondered. She shifted a little and he nearly groaned, then forced his gaze to settle on her face instead of roaming over her body.

She was staring at him and he realised that she was waiting for him to enter her apartment. Or show a reaction other than gaping, at the very least. "Hi Bones." He forced out, desperately trying not to ogle her cleavage. The midnight-blue dress was really something. It had a revealing neckline, cascading blue material draped to show off entirely too much of her breasts. The dress wasn't as short as the skirt she'd worn the day before, but the slit on the left side made his way up her thigh….He nearly sighed. A few scarce inches more and he would have been able to see what panties she was wearing. He hoped to God she was wearing panties. Why the hell was he thinking about her underwear? He scolded himself.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked, not quite sure what to make of the somewhat shocked expression on his face.

"Ah… nothing. Just….ah…. That's a very nice dress, Bones." He was really proud he had been able to form a whole sentence. He watched a pleased smile blossom on her face. "Thanks. Ange helped me pick it out. It's not too… much, is it?"

He blinked and tried to process her question, then he gave her an almost pained smile. "Definitely not too much material here. More bordering on not enough."

"It's too revealing? But… the skirt I wore yesterday was shorter." She arched eyebrow at him and he forced himself to shake his head. "No, no, Bones. It looks great, really. It's…. going to make the other women want to scratch out your eyes, though."

She frowned at him, then shook her head. "There is no reason for them to attack me."

"They're going to be jealous." He tried to make her understand by rephrasing it.

"No. I don't think there's reason for jealousy." She shook her head again.

"But you look absolutely stunning." He said. God, he hoped he wasn't drooling. He rubbed a hand over his jaw and was relieved to find it dry.

She gave him another dazzling smile. "Thank you. But I meant that they go there with the knowledge that their spouse is going to have sex with somebody else. That's what they're all there for. I don't think that they will react jealous."

"Oh. Yeah, right." Booth was quick to nod.

"Why are you so early? I'm not ready yet…. I still have to do my hair and my make up is not quite finished." She said and gave him an almost shy smile.

"It looks fine to me." Booth said, his voice a little rough. She had put on that smoky eyes thing again… no lip stick yet, though, he noticed. And her hair….it looked great to him. But it looked like Bones, not Roxy, he realised.

With some fascination he watched her blush. Which had to be a trick of the light, or maybe just the stuff women applied to their cheeks to make them look rosier. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Give me ten minutes. I made some notes that add to the things you found out. On the kitchen table." She gestured towards the kitchen and he nodded. "There's coke in the fridge." She said and took in a deep breath. "I'll get it."

"No, it's fine, Bones. I'll get it. You… do whatever it is you want to do with your hair." Booth waved it off.

"It's called backcombing. You take a comb and... ." She started and he grinned and interrupted her. "I don't need details. I'm okay with admiring the outcome." She looked flustered again and he scolded himself silently for the… maybe hundredth slip of tongue since they'd started that undercover assignment. Admiring, huh?

He watched her walk towards the bathroom and closed his eyes when he caught himself ogling her butt in that sinful blue dress that seemed to advertise it rather than simply covering it. Mentally he counted to ten before opening his eyes again. Then he helped himself to a coke and sat down at her kitchen table to review the notes she'd made.

Her addition to Vivian Corrigan's sheet made him snort in amusement. "Seems to be very interested in Tony." Brennan had written. Something caught his eye and he frowned. She'd made her additions with a pencil, but the paper seemed a little blurry…. And he suddenly realised she had written 'Booth' initially….then erased it and corrected it to 'Tony'. The fact that even Temperance Brennan seemed to mix up their roles with reality pleased him in an odd way.

He went through the notes and nodded when he read her notes to Andrew Prickett. It hadn't been that hard to find data on him, since he'd told Brennan that he was a dentist. Not that many dentists with the first name of Andrew at Washington, but still enough to keep you busy. But only one of them drove a Porsche 911 Speedster from 1966. The car Gloria had told Tony she'd worked on for her husband. According to Gloria, that had been the way they had met.

Brennan had added. "Interested in Roxy, but not pushy or too obvious. Seems to be fixated on fingernails, maybe because his wife's are short and not polished – most likely due to her line of work."

Gloria received another comment from Brennan that made Booth grin. "Interested in Tony. Enjoys conversation about her work. Ogled Tony when he left the table." His grin widened when he realised she'd written Booth again instead of Tony and had had to erase and replace it.

"Why are you grinning?" Her voice drifted towards him and he looked up. Her appearance once again took his breath away. Now her hair was sexily tousled and the lip stick was applied too. She looked sexy as sin and he had to remind himself to breathe. "Hi Roxy." He said after a moment.

"Hi Tony." She gave back.

Yeah, yeah. Evil Cheese, what the hell, why do you end it here, blah-blah. I know.

The next chapter will be right up, in an hour or so, so no need to threaten me. Which doesn't mean I wouldn't like it if you'd took the time to place a review ;) you can even add threats and insults, I really, really don't mind. ;) THANKS!