Red Fish, Blue Fish (6/?)
Title: Red Fish, Blue Fish
Author: merrymeerkat
Rating: T
Pairings: Eventual Brennan/Booth and some mild Hodgins/Angela
Summary: The star witness in a multi-million dollar tax fraud case goes missing. Three months later, a body turns up at a construction site, wearing her clothing. After their preliminary investigation Booth and Bones are off to the scene of the crime, but the clues lead them on a wild chase - through Michigan, southern Ontario, and back to Washington, DC. Will they be fast enough to catch the killer without losing one of their own?
Notes: Each chapter has been read and beta-read by ani8; insert eternal gratitude here.
( Chapter One)
( Chapter Two)
( Chapter Three)
( Chapter Four)
( Chapter Five)
Red Fish, Blue Fish
Disclaimer: I do not own “Bones,” nor am I making any profit.
Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed - this is the chapter you've all been waiting for. I hope it doesn't disappoint.
Thanks as always to ani8 for beta-reading.
Chapter Six
“What do you mean, there's more?” Booth nursed a coffee in one hand, holding a growing case file in the other.
Zach, for once, did an admirable job of explaining without being overly verbose. “I first noticed the discrepancy between the victim's size and her clothing when I was removing her boot, but I thought decay might have played a factor. Once time of death had been established, I asked Dr. Hodgins to try to reconstruct what the clothing might have looked like before it had been buried.”
Hodgins nodded. “Right, and once I had finished ridiculing him for his interest in women's fashion, I did some analysis. I made an educated guess about the approximate size of Allison Jensen versus the size of her shirt and the jeans she was wearing-” Somehow, Booth got the feeling that Hodgins was some kind of expert on women's sizes- “and there's no way they would've fit her. So I turned the project over to Angela.”
Sometimes, working with the squints in the Medico-Legal lab was a little bit like going to the circus. Angela supplied, “I compared Hodgins' data with some of the pictures I found on Karen Adams' web log. The shirt Allison was wearing when she was buried definitely belonged to Karen.”
Booth fought the urge to sigh. Squinty little details like this sometimes solved the case for him and took all the fun out. And sometimes they complicated - obfuscated, Bones would have said - the truth to the point where it was impossible to decide between suspects. He wasn't sure yet which category this fell into, if either. “Is there any way to tell whether she was wearing the shirt before she died?”
The look exchanged between Zach and Hodgins told him everything he needed to know. “Yeah, I thought that might be too much to ask for. Listen, have you guys seen Bones? I need to talk to her.” First, to find out why she was acting so, well, cold, even for her; and second, to give her another reason.
“You don't want to do that right now,” Angela advised.
Ah-ha! So Angela knew what was going on. “Why not?”
“Come on, Booth, you don't need a PhD to figure this out. Use your deductive reasoning skills. Why could Temperance Brennan possibly be annoyed with you?”
Booth was about ready to throttle her when Zach piped in with, “Is this about that Naked Twister game?”
Oh, god, someone's been teaching him euphemisms. Zach once again surpassed Angela on the To Kill list. Even worse than Zach using metaphorical language was the suspicion that he might know exactly why Bones was pissed at him. His stomach knotted. Shit.
He couldn't quite keep the wince off his face. “Time to face the music. Is she in her office?”
Hodgins nodded. “Good luck, man.”
He'd probably need it.
*
As luck or misfortune would have it, Booth never made it to Brennan's office. Halfway up the stairs, Cam caught up with him. “Hey, Seeley,” she said. “Have you talked to Brennan yet?”
It must have been Workplace Relationship Karma day or something. “As a matter of fact, I haven't. But I get the impression that someone may have tipped her off.”
Cam shrugged. “Well, that explains why she's been in such a good mood today.”
He looked over at her sharply. “You didn't tell her, did you?”
“If I wanted to tell her, why would I ask you to?” Well, that was a fair enough question. “I can't believe she's acting this way. It just seems so childish.”
Booth bristled. For someone who had been hired for her people skills, Cam could be pretty insensitive. “Bones doesn't trust people easily. I betrayed that trust. This is a big deal to her.”
“I don't see why it's any of her business what you do on your time off.”
What about the time I spend here? Booth wondered guiltily, thinking of the previous day in Cam's office. “She's not just my partner, Cam.” In fact, she wasn't 'just' anything. “Look at it from her perspective. Professionally, this is the equivalent of going over her head - a denial of her authority and abilities. Personally, it's like I lied to her. I did lie to her. Of course she's upset!”
Dismissively, Cam rolled her eyes. “Well, she'll have to get over it. I can't have her attitude disrupting my lab.” She led the way into her office. “Are we still on for Friday? I know a great Italian place on L Street.”
Gritting his teeth, Booth did his very best not to expound, loudly, on just how out of line she was. “We've got to go check out the crime scene, do some interviews. I should be back by Monday.”
Cam pouted. “You can't let the local authorities take care of it?”
Not even if I wanted to. “They don't have the same feel for the case, and as a security precaution we want to limit the amount of people who have access to the details. Besides, the body has to be returned, and it needs an escort.”
“I guess you'll have to make it up to me on Monday, then.”
Booth thought ahead to Monday. He would be tired from a long flight, frustrated from the case, and irritable from lack of sleep. Seeing Cam, he knew, was not going to rank in his top ten priorities.
That was probably a sign that this relationship - like so many others before it - was doomed to failure - as if he hadn't known that from the very beginning. The only difference was that now he was willing to face that and desperate to get past it. “I don't think so.”
Cam frowned. “Seeley-”
He cut her off. “I don't want to do this anymore, Cam. When I said this was a mistake, I meant it. Now it's time for me to face up to it and move on. I'm sorry.”
Folding her arms like that gave Cam an eerie resemblance to a pint-sized mockery of Bones. “What do you mean, it was a mistake? I know damn well you were enjoying yourself as much as I was.”
Booth took a deep breath and ran one hand through his hair. “I don't love you,” he said shortly. It felt so good to get that off of his chest that he continued, almost without thinking, “Sometimes I'm not even sure I like you. And I don't like the person I am when I'm with you. I didn't like sneaking around, but more than that I don't like the fact that I'd rather sneak around than come clean.”
Whoops. He hadn't meant to say quite that much.
Cam was really on the warpath now, practically vibrating with anger from tip to toe. It was, he decided, a little bit pathetic for her to react this way, when by her own admission she had only been having fun. “So, the truth comes out,” she half-snarled. “I knew this would happen!”
He froze, hand already on the doorknob, and barely looked back over his shoulder. “Then why did you bother?”
“She doesn't love you,” he heard when he was halfway out the door.
His free hand clenched into a fist. “Neither do you.”
Booth refrained from slamming the door behind him, but only just. Letting out a shaky breath, he closed his eyes and leaned back against it for a few seconds. For someone that he'd never loved, Cam had caused him a lot of anguish. At least that part was over now, he reflected, except, of course, for the fact that they would still have to see each other, since he worked with Bones.
At least Cam wasn't his partner, he thought. He didn't know what he'd do without Brennan's tempering influence. Sure, she set him off sometimes - but more often, she pointed out the flaws in his logic and led him - though often indirectly - to a better way of thinking. He worked better with her than with any other partner he'd had, and he would have been doing himself a disservice if he didn't wonder about why that was, sometimes.
Not that he would ever admit any of this to her face.
Feeling the tension finally begin to drain, Booth gave himself a mental count of ten before unclenching, inhaling deeply and opening his eyes again. The flight was scheduled to leave at six that evening, and he wanted to attempt some kind of apology-cum-explanation to Bones before sitting on a plane with her for an hour and a half plus security wait times.
However, when he opened his eyes, he couldn't help but be a little bit startled to see her standing there, gaping.
He groaned inwardly. Could this get any better? “Uh, Bones,” he stumbled, totally disgusted with himself. “Would you believe me if I said this is only half what it looks like?”
Brennan crossed her arms, though Booth thought she looked more vulnerable than angry. “I don't know what it looks like today, since one of you managed to close the blinds this time, but you should really talk to her about getting her office soundproofed.”
*
So, happy, relieved, disappointed? Let me know how I did!
Author: merrymeerkat
Rating: T
Pairings: Eventual Brennan/Booth and some mild Hodgins/Angela
Summary: The star witness in a multi-million dollar tax fraud case goes missing. Three months later, a body turns up at a construction site, wearing her clothing. After their preliminary investigation Booth and Bones are off to the scene of the crime, but the clues lead them on a wild chase - through Michigan, southern Ontario, and back to Washington, DC. Will they be fast enough to catch the killer without losing one of their own?
Notes: Each chapter has been read and beta-read by ani8; insert eternal gratitude here.
( Chapter One)
( Chapter Two)
( Chapter Three)
( Chapter Four)
( Chapter Five)
Red Fish, Blue Fish
Disclaimer: I do not own “Bones,” nor am I making any profit.
Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed - this is the chapter you've all been waiting for. I hope it doesn't disappoint.
Thanks as always to ani8 for beta-reading.
Chapter Six
“What do you mean, there's more?” Booth nursed a coffee in one hand, holding a growing case file in the other.
Zach, for once, did an admirable job of explaining without being overly verbose. “I first noticed the discrepancy between the victim's size and her clothing when I was removing her boot, but I thought decay might have played a factor. Once time of death had been established, I asked Dr. Hodgins to try to reconstruct what the clothing might have looked like before it had been buried.”
Hodgins nodded. “Right, and once I had finished ridiculing him for his interest in women's fashion, I did some analysis. I made an educated guess about the approximate size of Allison Jensen versus the size of her shirt and the jeans she was wearing-” Somehow, Booth got the feeling that Hodgins was some kind of expert on women's sizes- “and there's no way they would've fit her. So I turned the project over to Angela.”
Sometimes, working with the squints in the Medico-Legal lab was a little bit like going to the circus. Angela supplied, “I compared Hodgins' data with some of the pictures I found on Karen Adams' web log. The shirt Allison was wearing when she was buried definitely belonged to Karen.”
Booth fought the urge to sigh. Squinty little details like this sometimes solved the case for him and took all the fun out. And sometimes they complicated - obfuscated, Bones would have said - the truth to the point where it was impossible to decide between suspects. He wasn't sure yet which category this fell into, if either. “Is there any way to tell whether she was wearing the shirt before she died?”
The look exchanged between Zach and Hodgins told him everything he needed to know. “Yeah, I thought that might be too much to ask for. Listen, have you guys seen Bones? I need to talk to her.” First, to find out why she was acting so, well, cold, even for her; and second, to give her another reason.
“You don't want to do that right now,” Angela advised.
Ah-ha! So Angela knew what was going on. “Why not?”
“Come on, Booth, you don't need a PhD to figure this out. Use your deductive reasoning skills. Why could Temperance Brennan possibly be annoyed with you?”
Booth was about ready to throttle her when Zach piped in with, “Is this about that Naked Twister game?”
Oh, god, someone's been teaching him euphemisms. Zach once again surpassed Angela on the To Kill list. Even worse than Zach using metaphorical language was the suspicion that he might know exactly why Bones was pissed at him. His stomach knotted. Shit.
He couldn't quite keep the wince off his face. “Time to face the music. Is she in her office?”
Hodgins nodded. “Good luck, man.”
He'd probably need it.
*
As luck or misfortune would have it, Booth never made it to Brennan's office. Halfway up the stairs, Cam caught up with him. “Hey, Seeley,” she said. “Have you talked to Brennan yet?”
It must have been Workplace Relationship Karma day or something. “As a matter of fact, I haven't. But I get the impression that someone may have tipped her off.”
Cam shrugged. “Well, that explains why she's been in such a good mood today.”
He looked over at her sharply. “You didn't tell her, did you?”
“If I wanted to tell her, why would I ask you to?” Well, that was a fair enough question. “I can't believe she's acting this way. It just seems so childish.”
Booth bristled. For someone who had been hired for her people skills, Cam could be pretty insensitive. “Bones doesn't trust people easily. I betrayed that trust. This is a big deal to her.”
“I don't see why it's any of her business what you do on your time off.”
What about the time I spend here? Booth wondered guiltily, thinking of the previous day in Cam's office. “She's not just my partner, Cam.” In fact, she wasn't 'just' anything. “Look at it from her perspective. Professionally, this is the equivalent of going over her head - a denial of her authority and abilities. Personally, it's like I lied to her. I did lie to her. Of course she's upset!”
Dismissively, Cam rolled her eyes. “Well, she'll have to get over it. I can't have her attitude disrupting my lab.” She led the way into her office. “Are we still on for Friday? I know a great Italian place on L Street.”
Gritting his teeth, Booth did his very best not to expound, loudly, on just how out of line she was. “We've got to go check out the crime scene, do some interviews. I should be back by Monday.”
Cam pouted. “You can't let the local authorities take care of it?”
Not even if I wanted to. “They don't have the same feel for the case, and as a security precaution we want to limit the amount of people who have access to the details. Besides, the body has to be returned, and it needs an escort.”
“I guess you'll have to make it up to me on Monday, then.”
Booth thought ahead to Monday. He would be tired from a long flight, frustrated from the case, and irritable from lack of sleep. Seeing Cam, he knew, was not going to rank in his top ten priorities.
That was probably a sign that this relationship - like so many others before it - was doomed to failure - as if he hadn't known that from the very beginning. The only difference was that now he was willing to face that and desperate to get past it. “I don't think so.”
Cam frowned. “Seeley-”
He cut her off. “I don't want to do this anymore, Cam. When I said this was a mistake, I meant it. Now it's time for me to face up to it and move on. I'm sorry.”
Folding her arms like that gave Cam an eerie resemblance to a pint-sized mockery of Bones. “What do you mean, it was a mistake? I know damn well you were enjoying yourself as much as I was.”
Booth took a deep breath and ran one hand through his hair. “I don't love you,” he said shortly. It felt so good to get that off of his chest that he continued, almost without thinking, “Sometimes I'm not even sure I like you. And I don't like the person I am when I'm with you. I didn't like sneaking around, but more than that I don't like the fact that I'd rather sneak around than come clean.”
Whoops. He hadn't meant to say quite that much.
Cam was really on the warpath now, practically vibrating with anger from tip to toe. It was, he decided, a little bit pathetic for her to react this way, when by her own admission she had only been having fun. “So, the truth comes out,” she half-snarled. “I knew this would happen!”
He froze, hand already on the doorknob, and barely looked back over his shoulder. “Then why did you bother?”
“She doesn't love you,” he heard when he was halfway out the door.
His free hand clenched into a fist. “Neither do you.”
Booth refrained from slamming the door behind him, but only just. Letting out a shaky breath, he closed his eyes and leaned back against it for a few seconds. For someone that he'd never loved, Cam had caused him a lot of anguish. At least that part was over now, he reflected, except, of course, for the fact that they would still have to see each other, since he worked with Bones.
At least Cam wasn't his partner, he thought. He didn't know what he'd do without Brennan's tempering influence. Sure, she set him off sometimes - but more often, she pointed out the flaws in his logic and led him - though often indirectly - to a better way of thinking. He worked better with her than with any other partner he'd had, and he would have been doing himself a disservice if he didn't wonder about why that was, sometimes.
Not that he would ever admit any of this to her face.
Feeling the tension finally begin to drain, Booth gave himself a mental count of ten before unclenching, inhaling deeply and opening his eyes again. The flight was scheduled to leave at six that evening, and he wanted to attempt some kind of apology-cum-explanation to Bones before sitting on a plane with her for an hour and a half plus security wait times.
However, when he opened his eyes, he couldn't help but be a little bit startled to see her standing there, gaping.
He groaned inwardly. Could this get any better? “Uh, Bones,” he stumbled, totally disgusted with himself. “Would you believe me if I said this is only half what it looks like?”
Brennan crossed her arms, though Booth thought she looked more vulnerable than angry. “I don't know what it looks like today, since one of you managed to close the blinds this time, but you should really talk to her about getting her office soundproofed.”
*
So, happy, relieved, disappointed? Let me know how I did!