"The Missing Anthropologist"
It hadn't taken long for Brennan to come up with a new idea.
She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing heavily as she thought everything through.
Once she had it she turned on the car once more and drove to the FBI building.
It felt strange walking past Booth's office without stopping in, but she was doing what had to be done.
Careful that no one would recognize her; Brennan reached the end of the hall to where the door that read "Agent Collins".
The small desk lamp just inside cast a soft, almost haunting glow over the hallway and Brennan just happened to catch her reflection in the glass of the window.
What she saddened her. Her eyes were a dull gray color. She could see the coldness in her eyes, the emptiness they held. It was as if she were staring into the eyes of a corpse with all the life taken out of them.
Brennan remembered a conversation Angela and herself once had before Booth had started to work with them full time. He would bring a case to them once in a while; humor them with what he called "the real world".
On one particular case that they had finished early, Booth had asked her out to coffee. They talked lightly about current events and a little about their jobs. Booth drove her home after the long day and walked her up to her apartment, a gesture Brennan told him was unnecessary but Booth being the gentleman he was wouldn't budge.
As they said their goodbyes Booth leaned towards her ever so slowly. Brennan couldn't decide whether to pull him closer to end the suspense or back away from his advances. Before she could decide, Booth was almost meeting her lips with his, when he turned his head to whisper in her ear that he would see her when she got back from her trip.
Brennan watched as Booth left down the stairs. She almost stopped him, almost invited him where who knows what would happen. Her heart beat loudly in her chest, as she thought of what had almost just happened.
There was a twinge of regret, a feeling that she had surely missed out on something, but her mind couldn't decide what it was.
The next day Angela didn't hesitate to corner Brennan in her office.
"You and Booth had to have done something last night. I can tell by your eyes, it actually looks like there's some life in them finally"
"What do you mean?"
"There's a spark, a glimpse of happiness or something. Usually, their kind of grayish and sad, it's like looking at a corpse. Whatever it is, it's there and I'm betting Booth was the cause of that."
"That's ridiculous, we went out for coffee and he brought me home"
"Uh huh, admit it you hoped it would've been something more"
"Well it doesn't matter now; I leave in three days for my trip"
Brennan always wondered what would have happened if she had asked him into her apartment that night.
She took one more glance at her reflection and opened the door, ready to break her own heart in the process.
Meanwhile...
Booth was nervously waiting for his partner to show up. He had been waiting at her house for hours now, and was really starting to get worried after no one had heard from her.
It wasn't like her to leave work like that and it was even less unlikely for her not to talk to him or even Angela.
This morning things were fine between them, hell more than fine. Whatever happened to have her hiding from her friends was a mystery to Booth.
Suddenly his phone rang on the couch and he dove to get to it. Looking at the caller ID he sighed, "Not her".
"Agent Booth"
"Booth its Cullen"
"Yes sir" Booth was worried that Sweets had called Cullen and described how their meeting went earlier. Booth figured he was calling to tell them that their partnership was terminated and that was the last thing he needed right now, considering he couldn't even find said partner.
"Booth I was wondering if you've had a chance to speak with Dr. Brennan recently"
"Not exactly, I haven't seen her since early this afternoon"
"Did she seem all right?"
"Not entirely, why?"
Cullen paused and Booth got extremely nervous for some reason.
"Well I talked to her about ten minutes ago and she didn't sound herself at all."
Booth felt the lump in the back of his throat rise, "How so"
"She asked for a temporary leave until this case was over"
"What? Why would she do that?"
"She said she needed a break from you and from the FBI"
"And that was it? You let her drop the case?" Booth said disbelievingly.
"No, she told me that mentally she could not function on this case and that she felt she would be endangering her co-workers. What was I supposed to do?"
Booth ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know sir"
"She didn't mention anything to you?" Cullen asked. He felt bad for Seeley; he knew how much he cared for his partner even though it was against an unwritten FBI policy.
"No" His voice sounded far away.
"Look Booth I'm sure she's just going through a tough time. She's been batted around pretty rough these last few cases, maybe she's finally had enough. I'm just surprised she hasn't cracked months ago."
"Yeah"
"Don't worry about it; I'm sure she'll come around."
Booth hung up the phone and closed his eyes. "Come on Bones, where are you?"
It didn't take long for him to find out.
REVIEW!!! Okay I know it's late but I feel asleep. It is before 12 though so technically my promises are all fulfilled.
