(Bones/Eureka) Just Sign Here for karrenia_rune
Title: Just Sign Here
Author: arysani
Fandoms: Bones/Eureka
Characters: Booth, Brennan; Jack, Jo (with appearances by Angela, Fargo, Zoe, and Vincent)
Pairings: Mentions of Booth/Hannah
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Set in season 6 of Bones so Brennan knows about Hannah, but is not overly friendly with her or trying to be friendly with her yet. Set indeterminate season of Eureka - at least season 2, but no real spoilers.
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Bones and Eureka belong to their respective creators.
A/N: Thank you to beta!Elizabeth for tweaking my B/B banter after so many years not writing them and hating that they can’t be normal now because of Hannah and her intrusive existence making things uncomfortable.
Summary: Booth and Brennan are called to investigate the death of a Russian scientist in Eureka, OR, and discover things are not what they seem, and some things never change.
Portland International Airport
"But we've been to Washington before, remember? The bear thing?"
Temperance Brennan leaned forward and retrieved her travel-worn duffel bag off the carousel. "Yes, but now there's more of me. They didn't have to call you."
Booth laughed and jingled the coins in his pocket, eyes constantly searching for his suitcase. "There's only one of you, believe me. I would've heard about it."
"I have been in communication with several forensic anthropologists in this region who could have been called in from a much closer distance than Washington D.C."
Booth grabbed his suitcase and released the handle, letting the wheels hit the floor and gesturing for her to walk out of the throng of people ahead of him. "Oh this is a special case. I was requested," he admitted with a grin. She looked back over her shoulder and frowned at him, but he waved her forward with an "I know more than you" smile and she began shouldering through the crowd.
# # # # #
"How far is this place, anyway?" Brennan had gotten on her mobile the moment they were settled in the black SUV that seemed to be the only thing Booth would drive, even on the government's dime three time zones away. She had wanted something more fuel-efficient and he had informed her that black SUVs made a statement. When she countered that the statement was "I contribute to the greenhouse effect", he had just told her to get in the car or he was leaving her there. She hadn't had much of a choice.
"Another hour or so, I think."
"So can you tell me now why you were 'specially requested'?" She tilted her head back and forth instead of employing hand quotes - either gesture was sufficient to elicit an eyebrow raise and a sidelong look.
"I have a certain experience with working with the sort of people we're going to be questioning."
"I thought it was because you had to bring me?"
"Are you going to ask me questions you already know the answer to the entire trip?"
She looked slightly chastised and went back to her phone. "No," she said.
"What's up with you?" He tried to look at her but kept his eyes on the road.
"Nothing is up with me."
"Somebody cranky after the flight?"
"I've taken much longer flights than that."
"I know, but you're also being moody."
"I'm not menstruating if that's what you're getting at," she said distractedly, her thumb flicking through something her eyes were glued to on the screen of her phone.
"Bones!" he made an uncomfortably disgusted noise, wincing.
She was distracted, but it was unlike her to take it out on him. She couldn't help but think of Angela's words before she left.
"Sweetie, it's okay not to like his girlfriend."
"I don't know her, Angela."
"Yes, but she's moving in on your man."
"He's not mine, Angela. Booth is very much his own person," she assured the other woman, tucking an e-reader into her carry-on. She had a lot of journal articles to read, and some of them to peer-review to get back into the swing of her academic commitments.
Angela smiled. "You're going off on this assignment, the first time you've spent a lot of time together since you both got back. Don't rush things, let things go slowly."
"What would I be rushing?"
"Don't try to just jump back into your Booth-and-Brennan thing. You've been apart for awhile, and there was some stuff. It's going to be weird and possibly awkward, and that's okay," she enunciated the last and took Brennan by the arms, giving her an indulgent look before giving her one of the many gestures of affection she was never quite comfortable with - a hug.
"Thank you, Angela," Brennan replied, in that tone of voice that said she wasn't sure if she was thankful, but she also kind of was because she always was, even if she didn't know why.
Angela rubbed her arm, bracelets jingling. "Go on, don't want to miss your flight."
"So, brief me on the case," Brennan asked, bringing herself back to the present. "You usually tell me about the case, and you haven't told me anything yet."
"Maybe I want it to be a surprise," he smiled at her, turning to face her briefly.
"Why would you want a murder investigation to be a surprise?"
"It's not a murder investigation. It's more..." he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, "confirmation to avoid an international incident."
"I dislike not being told everything, Booth," she informed him with a severe look before turning her gaze out the window, and he smiled briefly, but it didn't reach his eyes. She was being mercurial, and that wasn't really like her.
"Okay, okay," he said after a pause. "We're going to a big science lab, lots of squints, called Global Dynamics. They had a Russian scientist helping out there who was killed in some top secret circumstances, and the Russians think he's trying to defect to Geek City, USA and so they want confirmation of his death, because GD won't send the remains, which can be double-checked by their people. They're trying to start an international incident because apparently someone's got it in their head that the Cold War isn't over and we're trying to steal Russian science. I don't even think the guy was even a lead on the project - the file," he reached behind his back to his carry-on and jiggled the zipper, his fingers feeling for the familiar manila before he pulled it out and handed it to her, "lists him as a tech. So it's not like he even had any state secrets to give away in exchange for us facilitating his defection. We're treating it like any other investigation, pretending that we don't know that they're trying to start something, and were just asking for our help in investigating a disappearance. There's going to be a guy from State to look over the case file before we send copies to the embassy, but we're trying to make like it's no big even though everyone knows it is."
"So why me? Why you?" she began flipping through the file. "This still sounds like something anyone...we're going to Eureka?!" she turned to him, her eyes wide, pupils dilated. It was as close to genuine enthusiasm as he'd seen her in a long time.
"Yep," he smiled and pointed at himself. "Squints is why they wanted me, and you," he snapped his fingers pointing at her, "come with me. We come as a matched set. And I knew you'd be excited," he chuckled to himself at his own genius. "All those smarty-pants scientists and geeks and nerds gathered in one place..."
"Eureka is our Atlantis," she informed him seriously, and he let out another chuckle at the raised-eyebrows no-nonsense look she was giving him. "Everyone is pretty sure it exists, but unless you get asked to go there, you don't know for sure," she trailed off, reading the file, and then seemed to perk up like she had left out vital information. "Atlantis doesn't really exist under the ocean," she stated firmly, and he smiled. "Plato was merely lecturing on the pride of human civilization, but Eureka really exists," she added, just to make sure she was using a metaphor he would understand while maintaining her disbelief.
"Well then, to Atlantis," he gestured forward as though directing a cavalry, and she just raised her eyebrow at him and went back to the file. He smiled to himself and shrugged, hoping that whatever was bothering her would work itself out.
# # # # #
"I'm Jack Carter, sheriff," Jack held his hand out first to the FBI agent and then to his companion, pointing needlessly at his badge when he identified himself.
"Seeley Booth, and this is Dr. Temperance Brennan," he nodded at Brennan who shook Jack's hand as well - that she was back to emulating him in that regard was promising. She was always talking about how she didn't feel the need to establish dominance that way.
"Well the remains of Igor are over here," he gestured to a deputy who pulled a box out from under her desk. Brennan frowned.
"I thought his name was Andrei?" Brennan started, now downright terrified that the box contained several things, including a catcher's mask, before a smaller metal box was retrieved out of it.
"Well, sure, but he was kind of short," Jack measured someone who came up just below his armpit, "and kinda had a, um, hitch in his walk," he mimed a shuffle, and the deputy (whose name badge read "J. Lupo") handed over the fist-sized metal box with a laugh, miming Jack's shuffling motion, and began twitching her head and laughing, which caused Jack to mimic her in turn and break out in laughter himself. Booth looked amused, if confused, and Brennan snatched the very light metal box out of the deputy's hand with growing horror.
"Do you have the key for this?" She turned the box over in her hands gently, unsure how it held the remains of a human being - unless there were very few remains to evaluate, in which case she wasn't sure if she could identify them without the aid of a DNA lab and a lot more time than Booth insinuated they had to avoid major issues with the Russian government.
"Oh, yeah," the deputy reached into her pocket and pulled out a key ring with a mess of keys, and separated out what appeared to be a small laser pointer, which she screwed the top off of, and then held out her hand for the box. Brennan gingerly placed it in her hand, and watched with wide eyes as the deputy licked the exposed end of the laser pointer, and then held it half an inch from the standard-looking key lock. It made a high-pitched noise that was almost too high in frequency to be audible and made her feel like she had water in her ears. The lock popped open and the deputy handed the box back to Brennan.
Peering over her shoulder, Booth watched as she opened the box to reveal a glass vial nestled in foam. Inside the glass vial was pale green-colored sand. She furrowed her brow and wiggled the vial out, setting the box down and turning it over in her hands.
"These are not human remains."
"Yes they are," the deputy insisted.
"No, they are not."
"Yeah," Jack rubbed his neck and said in a tone meant to avoid argument. "They are."
Brennan kept shaking her head, opening her mouth to argue when Booth laid a hand on her wrist briefly. "Tell us what's going on here, Sheriff."
"Neither of you have security clearance high enough to know why," he began carefully, and Booth flicked the sides of his jacket away from his waist to put his hands on his hips and give the sheriff his thoughts on being called into a case which he didn't have high enough security clearance to actually resolve. Jack held up his hands, hoping the FBI agent would allow him to explain. "We just needed someone from outside GD and, really, outside the US government, to confirm what we already know, and what we already told the Russians. And Dr. Brennan here," he gestured to her with a smile, "is well-known. They'll take her word for it over ours, and they know we're not hiding Igor-"
"Andrei," Brennan corrected him.
"Right. Andrei. They know we're not hiding him and he's not defecting, they just want a reason to come to GD and get nosy."
"And we can't let them do that," the deputy piped in.
"Exactly," Jack agreed, pointing his finger at the deputy and then putting his hands on his hips with a decisive nod.
"So what exactly am I supposed to do? These do not appear to be human remains, and I will not just sign my name to some piece of paper saying they are."
"Actually it's a thumb...print," the deputy contributed, trailing off under Jack's sharp glare.
"We need you to use our machinery and verify the sample you have in your hand is a match to a sample provided to us by the Russian Embassy when Ig-Andrei was hired on temporary assignment."
"How do I know your samples aren't tampered with?"
"Well the DOD signed off on that part," the deputy began. "You're just agreeing that the two samples being provided to you are a match."
"It doesn't make sense that I would be called all the way out here, with Booth," she gestured to him, and he nodded, "just to, to give a thumbprint."
"You're apparently pretty popular with the Russian government," Jack shrugged, and Brennan looked mildly surprised. "We gave them a list of names and they picked you out right away. And Agent Booth is here as your government representative."
"Even though I am not to be acting as a representative of the US government myself?"
"Yeeees," Jack nodded, acknowledging the run-around they were all mired in.
Brennan sighed and picked up the metal box to put the vial back in it. "If I lock this, do you have to lick that thing again?" The deputy smiled and Jack snorted.
"No ma'am," the deputy said. "Just close the top and don't push in the lock. We're just going over to GD, and you can hold onto it," she smiled, and looked over at Jack, who jingled the keys for the formerly-a-golf-cart vehicle they'd been testing.
# # # # #
"Well I don't feel special anymore," Booth looked around the diner, and gestured to the seats at the bar, letting Brennan precede him and pulling away his hand before he let it hover over her lower back. He had to stop doing that.
"How so?" She took a seat and started craning her neck around looking for a menu.
"I thought they wanted me and I was doing you a favor, but it turns out you're a rock star in Russia and I'm just here to escort you. I'm an escort. Without the sex and the better pay," he muttered, leaning over the counter to see if he could find a menu, and was surprised by a large man without outrageously curly hair who popped up from behind the counter, wiping his hands on a towel.
"What can I get you folks?"
"How about a menu?" Booth asked, and Brennan merely nodded.
"We don't have one. Order whatever you want, I can make it."
"Anything?"
"Anything. Whatever you feel like. Except squid. It escaped," the man informed him somberly, and Booth raised his eyebrows and shot a look at Brennan before clearing his throat.
"I'll, um, have a burger."
"What kind?"
"Well done. Lettuce, tomatoes, all that."
"No, what kind of meat?"
"Um...beef?"
"Beef? That's a little boring, isn't it?" The man curled his lip.
"I like boring," Booth admitted uncomfortably, and the man turned to Brennan, and she grinned briefly at Booth.
"You can make anything?”
“Anything. My skill set is unmatched, even by my inventory. You name it, you get it. Of course, if you ask for it and it’s an insult to your taste buds or internal organs, that’s not my problem,” he added.
“Um, I'll haaaaave..." she drew it out grinning and Booth turned on his stool to give her an amused-confused look, "a spicy tuna roll and some apple pie."
"See, that's creativity. Spicy tuna and apple pie coming right up!" Their host in the empty diner looked delighted, and disappeared into the kitchen.
They hardly had time for Booth to ask her what in the world prompted her to order something so odd, when the door jingled and a young girl with teased and bleached hair accompanied by a young man with black-frame glasses walked in arguing, sat down, and then paused abruptly.
"I think that squid is looking at me," the young man stated. "Switch seats with me."
"What, so it can look at me?" the girl replied, and gripped her seat. "I am not moving."
Booth and Brennan leaned over in their seats in unison out of curiosity, and the girl yelled, startling them both. "Vinnie! Your squid is stalking Fargo!"
-END-
Prompt:
“I am not permanent, I am only a visitor here”
Author: arysani
Fandoms: Bones/Eureka
Characters: Booth, Brennan; Jack, Jo (with appearances by Angela, Fargo, Zoe, and Vincent)
Pairings: Mentions of Booth/Hannah
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Set in season 6 of Bones so Brennan knows about Hannah, but is not overly friendly with her or trying to be friendly with her yet. Set indeterminate season of Eureka - at least season 2, but no real spoilers.
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Bones and Eureka belong to their respective creators.
A/N: Thank you to beta!Elizabeth for tweaking my B/B banter after so many years not writing them and hating that they can’t be normal now because of Hannah and her intrusive existence making things uncomfortable.
Summary: Booth and Brennan are called to investigate the death of a Russian scientist in Eureka, OR, and discover things are not what they seem, and some things never change.
Portland International Airport
"But we've been to Washington before, remember? The bear thing?"
Temperance Brennan leaned forward and retrieved her travel-worn duffel bag off the carousel. "Yes, but now there's more of me. They didn't have to call you."
Booth laughed and jingled the coins in his pocket, eyes constantly searching for his suitcase. "There's only one of you, believe me. I would've heard about it."
"I have been in communication with several forensic anthropologists in this region who could have been called in from a much closer distance than Washington D.C."
Booth grabbed his suitcase and released the handle, letting the wheels hit the floor and gesturing for her to walk out of the throng of people ahead of him. "Oh this is a special case. I was requested," he admitted with a grin. She looked back over her shoulder and frowned at him, but he waved her forward with an "I know more than you" smile and she began shouldering through the crowd.
# # # # #
"How far is this place, anyway?" Brennan had gotten on her mobile the moment they were settled in the black SUV that seemed to be the only thing Booth would drive, even on the government's dime three time zones away. She had wanted something more fuel-efficient and he had informed her that black SUVs made a statement. When she countered that the statement was "I contribute to the greenhouse effect", he had just told her to get in the car or he was leaving her there. She hadn't had much of a choice.
"Another hour or so, I think."
"So can you tell me now why you were 'specially requested'?" She tilted her head back and forth instead of employing hand quotes - either gesture was sufficient to elicit an eyebrow raise and a sidelong look.
"I have a certain experience with working with the sort of people we're going to be questioning."
"I thought it was because you had to bring me?"
"Are you going to ask me questions you already know the answer to the entire trip?"
She looked slightly chastised and went back to her phone. "No," she said.
"What's up with you?" He tried to look at her but kept his eyes on the road.
"Nothing is up with me."
"Somebody cranky after the flight?"
"I've taken much longer flights than that."
"I know, but you're also being moody."
"I'm not menstruating if that's what you're getting at," she said distractedly, her thumb flicking through something her eyes were glued to on the screen of her phone.
"Bones!" he made an uncomfortably disgusted noise, wincing.
She was distracted, but it was unlike her to take it out on him. She couldn't help but think of Angela's words before she left.
"Sweetie, it's okay not to like his girlfriend."
"I don't know her, Angela."
"Yes, but she's moving in on your man."
"He's not mine, Angela. Booth is very much his own person," she assured the other woman, tucking an e-reader into her carry-on. She had a lot of journal articles to read, and some of them to peer-review to get back into the swing of her academic commitments.
Angela smiled. "You're going off on this assignment, the first time you've spent a lot of time together since you both got back. Don't rush things, let things go slowly."
"What would I be rushing?"
"Don't try to just jump back into your Booth-and-Brennan thing. You've been apart for awhile, and there was some stuff. It's going to be weird and possibly awkward, and that's okay," she enunciated the last and took Brennan by the arms, giving her an indulgent look before giving her one of the many gestures of affection she was never quite comfortable with - a hug.
"Thank you, Angela," Brennan replied, in that tone of voice that said she wasn't sure if she was thankful, but she also kind of was because she always was, even if she didn't know why.
Angela rubbed her arm, bracelets jingling. "Go on, don't want to miss your flight."
"So, brief me on the case," Brennan asked, bringing herself back to the present. "You usually tell me about the case, and you haven't told me anything yet."
"Maybe I want it to be a surprise," he smiled at her, turning to face her briefly.
"Why would you want a murder investigation to be a surprise?"
"It's not a murder investigation. It's more..." he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, "confirmation to avoid an international incident."
"I dislike not being told everything, Booth," she informed him with a severe look before turning her gaze out the window, and he smiled briefly, but it didn't reach his eyes. She was being mercurial, and that wasn't really like her.
"Okay, okay," he said after a pause. "We're going to a big science lab, lots of squints, called Global Dynamics. They had a Russian scientist helping out there who was killed in some top secret circumstances, and the Russians think he's trying to defect to Geek City, USA and so they want confirmation of his death, because GD won't send the remains, which can be double-checked by their people. They're trying to start an international incident because apparently someone's got it in their head that the Cold War isn't over and we're trying to steal Russian science. I don't even think the guy was even a lead on the project - the file," he reached behind his back to his carry-on and jiggled the zipper, his fingers feeling for the familiar manila before he pulled it out and handed it to her, "lists him as a tech. So it's not like he even had any state secrets to give away in exchange for us facilitating his defection. We're treating it like any other investigation, pretending that we don't know that they're trying to start something, and were just asking for our help in investigating a disappearance. There's going to be a guy from State to look over the case file before we send copies to the embassy, but we're trying to make like it's no big even though everyone knows it is."
"So why me? Why you?" she began flipping through the file. "This still sounds like something anyone...we're going to Eureka?!" she turned to him, her eyes wide, pupils dilated. It was as close to genuine enthusiasm as he'd seen her in a long time.
"Yep," he smiled and pointed at himself. "Squints is why they wanted me, and you," he snapped his fingers pointing at her, "come with me. We come as a matched set. And I knew you'd be excited," he chuckled to himself at his own genius. "All those smarty-pants scientists and geeks and nerds gathered in one place..."
"Eureka is our Atlantis," she informed him seriously, and he let out another chuckle at the raised-eyebrows no-nonsense look she was giving him. "Everyone is pretty sure it exists, but unless you get asked to go there, you don't know for sure," she trailed off, reading the file, and then seemed to perk up like she had left out vital information. "Atlantis doesn't really exist under the ocean," she stated firmly, and he smiled. "Plato was merely lecturing on the pride of human civilization, but Eureka really exists," she added, just to make sure she was using a metaphor he would understand while maintaining her disbelief.
"Well then, to Atlantis," he gestured forward as though directing a cavalry, and she just raised her eyebrow at him and went back to the file. He smiled to himself and shrugged, hoping that whatever was bothering her would work itself out.
# # # # #
"I'm Jack Carter, sheriff," Jack held his hand out first to the FBI agent and then to his companion, pointing needlessly at his badge when he identified himself.
"Seeley Booth, and this is Dr. Temperance Brennan," he nodded at Brennan who shook Jack's hand as well - that she was back to emulating him in that regard was promising. She was always talking about how she didn't feel the need to establish dominance that way.
"Well the remains of Igor are over here," he gestured to a deputy who pulled a box out from under her desk. Brennan frowned.
"I thought his name was Andrei?" Brennan started, now downright terrified that the box contained several things, including a catcher's mask, before a smaller metal box was retrieved out of it.
"Well, sure, but he was kind of short," Jack measured someone who came up just below his armpit, "and kinda had a, um, hitch in his walk," he mimed a shuffle, and the deputy (whose name badge read "J. Lupo") handed over the fist-sized metal box with a laugh, miming Jack's shuffling motion, and began twitching her head and laughing, which caused Jack to mimic her in turn and break out in laughter himself. Booth looked amused, if confused, and Brennan snatched the very light metal box out of the deputy's hand with growing horror.
"Do you have the key for this?" She turned the box over in her hands gently, unsure how it held the remains of a human being - unless there were very few remains to evaluate, in which case she wasn't sure if she could identify them without the aid of a DNA lab and a lot more time than Booth insinuated they had to avoid major issues with the Russian government.
"Oh, yeah," the deputy reached into her pocket and pulled out a key ring with a mess of keys, and separated out what appeared to be a small laser pointer, which she screwed the top off of, and then held out her hand for the box. Brennan gingerly placed it in her hand, and watched with wide eyes as the deputy licked the exposed end of the laser pointer, and then held it half an inch from the standard-looking key lock. It made a high-pitched noise that was almost too high in frequency to be audible and made her feel like she had water in her ears. The lock popped open and the deputy handed the box back to Brennan.
Peering over her shoulder, Booth watched as she opened the box to reveal a glass vial nestled in foam. Inside the glass vial was pale green-colored sand. She furrowed her brow and wiggled the vial out, setting the box down and turning it over in her hands.
"These are not human remains."
"Yes they are," the deputy insisted.
"No, they are not."
"Yeah," Jack rubbed his neck and said in a tone meant to avoid argument. "They are."
Brennan kept shaking her head, opening her mouth to argue when Booth laid a hand on her wrist briefly. "Tell us what's going on here, Sheriff."
"Neither of you have security clearance high enough to know why," he began carefully, and Booth flicked the sides of his jacket away from his waist to put his hands on his hips and give the sheriff his thoughts on being called into a case which he didn't have high enough security clearance to actually resolve. Jack held up his hands, hoping the FBI agent would allow him to explain. "We just needed someone from outside GD and, really, outside the US government, to confirm what we already know, and what we already told the Russians. And Dr. Brennan here," he gestured to her with a smile, "is well-known. They'll take her word for it over ours, and they know we're not hiding Igor-"
"Andrei," Brennan corrected him.
"Right. Andrei. They know we're not hiding him and he's not defecting, they just want a reason to come to GD and get nosy."
"And we can't let them do that," the deputy piped in.
"Exactly," Jack agreed, pointing his finger at the deputy and then putting his hands on his hips with a decisive nod.
"So what exactly am I supposed to do? These do not appear to be human remains, and I will not just sign my name to some piece of paper saying they are."
"Actually it's a thumb...print," the deputy contributed, trailing off under Jack's sharp glare.
"We need you to use our machinery and verify the sample you have in your hand is a match to a sample provided to us by the Russian Embassy when Ig-Andrei was hired on temporary assignment."
"How do I know your samples aren't tampered with?"
"Well the DOD signed off on that part," the deputy began. "You're just agreeing that the two samples being provided to you are a match."
"It doesn't make sense that I would be called all the way out here, with Booth," she gestured to him, and he nodded, "just to, to give a thumbprint."
"You're apparently pretty popular with the Russian government," Jack shrugged, and Brennan looked mildly surprised. "We gave them a list of names and they picked you out right away. And Agent Booth is here as your government representative."
"Even though I am not to be acting as a representative of the US government myself?"
"Yeeees," Jack nodded, acknowledging the run-around they were all mired in.
Brennan sighed and picked up the metal box to put the vial back in it. "If I lock this, do you have to lick that thing again?" The deputy smiled and Jack snorted.
"No ma'am," the deputy said. "Just close the top and don't push in the lock. We're just going over to GD, and you can hold onto it," she smiled, and looked over at Jack, who jingled the keys for the formerly-a-golf-cart vehicle they'd been testing.
# # # # #
"Well I don't feel special anymore," Booth looked around the diner, and gestured to the seats at the bar, letting Brennan precede him and pulling away his hand before he let it hover over her lower back. He had to stop doing that.
"How so?" She took a seat and started craning her neck around looking for a menu.
"I thought they wanted me and I was doing you a favor, but it turns out you're a rock star in Russia and I'm just here to escort you. I'm an escort. Without the sex and the better pay," he muttered, leaning over the counter to see if he could find a menu, and was surprised by a large man without outrageously curly hair who popped up from behind the counter, wiping his hands on a towel.
"What can I get you folks?"
"How about a menu?" Booth asked, and Brennan merely nodded.
"We don't have one. Order whatever you want, I can make it."
"Anything?"
"Anything. Whatever you feel like. Except squid. It escaped," the man informed him somberly, and Booth raised his eyebrows and shot a look at Brennan before clearing his throat.
"I'll, um, have a burger."
"What kind?"
"Well done. Lettuce, tomatoes, all that."
"No, what kind of meat?"
"Um...beef?"
"Beef? That's a little boring, isn't it?" The man curled his lip.
"I like boring," Booth admitted uncomfortably, and the man turned to Brennan, and she grinned briefly at Booth.
"You can make anything?”
“Anything. My skill set is unmatched, even by my inventory. You name it, you get it. Of course, if you ask for it and it’s an insult to your taste buds or internal organs, that’s not my problem,” he added.
“Um, I'll haaaaave..." she drew it out grinning and Booth turned on his stool to give her an amused-confused look, "a spicy tuna roll and some apple pie."
"See, that's creativity. Spicy tuna and apple pie coming right up!" Their host in the empty diner looked delighted, and disappeared into the kitchen.
They hardly had time for Booth to ask her what in the world prompted her to order something so odd, when the door jingled and a young girl with teased and bleached hair accompanied by a young man with black-frame glasses walked in arguing, sat down, and then paused abruptly.
"I think that squid is looking at me," the young man stated. "Switch seats with me."
"What, so it can look at me?" the girl replied, and gripped her seat. "I am not moving."
Booth and Brennan leaned over in their seats in unison out of curiosity, and the girl yelled, startling them both. "Vinnie! Your squid is stalking Fargo!"
-END-
Prompt:
“I am not permanent, I am only a visitor here”