Universe 1 (Sep 2008)
Booth jackknifed himself into his seat in coach and tried to settle down for the seven hour flight to London. Every time he got into his seat on a long flight, he cursed the fact that he wasn't in a high enough income bracket to justify paying the premium for first class seats. Coach seats were just not designed for his body, with his broad shoulders and long legs. Of course, Ms Best Selling Author always paid to bump herself up to first class. Every time they flew together, she offered to cover the cost to bump him too, but his alpha male pride just wouldn't allow him to accept her generosity. Not even when he felt like a pretzel when the flight finally landed.
This was going to be his first time in England as a civilian, and, of course, his first time as a tourist. He and Bones had been invited there to give lectures - he at Scotland Yard, and Bones at Oxford. This trip was a welcome respite from a rough couple of months for the pair. Booth had been shot, taking a bullet meant for Bones from a deranged stalker. The FBI decided to declare that he had died from his wounds because they wanted to flush out a dangerous felon who had gone underground. The criminal had declared that he would see Booth at his funeral. So they faked his funeral, and, sure enough, he showed up and was taken into custody. But Bones went for two weeks thinking Booth had died saving her life. She tried to tell everyone that she was fine, but she just completely shut down and wouldn't even admit to herself how devastated she was. When he appeared at his own funeral, she was furious with him, and it took several days for her anger to abate.
But immediately following this upheaval, a bizarre serial killer case they had been working was solved by the discovery that Bones' beloved assistant was an apprentice to the killer. He had been providing intel as well as human remains from the institute to the serial killer. When he was confronted, he confessed and led them to take down the mastermind of the scheme. For the second time in a few weeks, Bones was devastated - this time over the young man she had mentored for the last several years. So they were both looking forward to getting away from Washington and changing their routine for a few days.
As the flight was landing, he was glad that he had insisted on getting there a day early because he knew he wouldn't get much sleep on the overnight transatlantic flight and would need that day to regulate his jet lag. But he knew that Bones, sitting up there in the front of the plane with a seat that turned into a bed was probably well rested. He was certain she would be off to enjoy wandering around London while he planned to face plant into the bed in his room and sleep for several hours.
Booth was feeling refreshed and energetic when he met Bones in the hotel lobby at 6PM that evening and they went out for a nice meal - such a different atmosphere than their usual meals in the diner or at Founding Fathers. When they left the restaurant, neither one was anxious to go back to the hotel yet, so Booth talked her into going on the London Eye. They took a stroll across the Westminster Bridge, down the stairs to the Queen's Walk, and headed to the iconic new London landmark. It was like a giant Ferris wheel, equivalent to a 35 story building, with oval glass pods holding passengers. The pair of them walked back and forth in the pod, pointing out different landmarks throughout the 30 minute ride. The weather was just perfect, and the ride, plus the walk back to the hotel had Booth declaring that it was "magical". He was especially delighted when they were walking past Big Ben just as it chimed 11:00 and the loud gong bounced off of the surrounding buildings eleven times. Bones chuckled at his boyish wonder and reminded herself that, while she had toured London several times before, this was his first time.
Booth walked Bones to the door of her room, and they made plans to meet downstairs for breakfast the next morning. They had separate meetings scheduled for most of the day in London, and Booth's lecture was scheduled for late in the afternoon at Scotland Yard. After his lecture was over, he called Bones to tell her that his new friends were taking him out for the evening and invited her to meet up with them. She laughingly told him to have fun, but she was going to stay at the hotel and polish up the text of the lecture she was slated to give the next day.
So, the next morning they met again for breakfast in the hotel restaurant and Booth was bleary eyed and slightly hungover. After breakfast, the pair boarded a train for the hour long ride to Oxford and Booth's head spent much of the ride on Bones' shoulder while he tried to catch up on the sleep he had missed the night before. He sat in on her lecture, but kept falling asleep because he understood very little of what she was saying. He had learned a lot of anthropological terminology in the two years they had worked together, but this was on a whole other level, and he was completely lost.
After the lecture he asked her about Dr Ian Wexler, who was hosting her appearance at Oxford. Booth seemed a little jealous of him because he and Bones shared a shorthand in speaking to each other - a shorthand that only two forensic anthropologists would understand. And some of his jealousy was warranted, because over the next few days they realized that Ian was a serial womanizer, and he continually flirted with and tried to seduce Brennan. She even considered taking him up on his invitation, but she finally told him that she didn't want to upset her partner.
They actually ended up staying several days longer than originally planned when Dr Wexler was called to a crime scene involving the possible murder of an American heiress living in London. It turned out that he functioned much the same way Brennan did in helping his partner, Inspector Cate Pritchard of Scotland Yard, solve crimes. Booth declared that they were the English Booth and Brennan. So the four of them teamed up to solve the murder. Since the victim was American, Brennan was able to insist that much of the evidence be shipped to the Jeffersonian so her crew was able to assist. The two anthropologists went off together for part of the investigation, while Booth and Pritchard (or "Pritch" as he nicknamed her) handled some of the police investigative work together. Booth had been complaining about not having access to his gun since they arrived in London, so eventually Pritch secured one for him to use during the investigation. Booth was thrilled to see it was a Walther PPK - the same gun used by James Bond.
They did solve the crime - the butler did it! Well, the butler confessed and, while they didn't completely believe him, they had no other proof against anyone else. As Booth and Bones were loading up their cab to head to the airport, Booth received a call from Pritch asking them to meet her in Oxford because Ian had been found dead in his flat. The pair spent several more days there working with Pritch, Ian's grieving partner, to help her solve his murder.
While Bones had been to London several times in the past, Booth was really seeing the city for the first time. He found parts of it "magical", but not when he got behind the wheel of his tiny rental car. At one point he wanted to just leave it in the middle of the road in central London and get on the next flight home. But Pritch wisely insisted on taking over the driving to save them all from an international incident. And once he was able to relax a little and spend some time in pubs with Bones, he started to enjoy the trip. In fact, he wondered why they didn't have royalty and titles in America - surely he would be knighted. He tried it out, "Sir Seeley Booth." Bones just rolled her eyes, laughed, and shook her head. As they were leaving, Pritch stopped by to say goodbye and she and Booth shared a little subtle flirting. After she left, Bones called him out on it, but he tried to deny it. So they left for home feeling pretty good about the trip. They both met with colleagues, solved two murders, did some touristy things, and got their much needed reset from the upheavals at home over the past month. They arrived back in DC, refreshed and ready to get back to work together.