Red Fish, Blue Fish (7/?)
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)
( Chapter Six)
Thanks as always go to ani8 (livejournal) for the beta, and you guys for reviewing. If you did review. If you sneaked into the back of the theatre without paying... well, at least you're still here, right?
Disclaimer: Bones is still not and never will be mine, no matter how many clever non-sequiturs I come up with.
Chapter Seven
“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.”
Oh, hell. Booth really didn't know how he kept ending up in situations like this, but hopefully now that he'd ended his pseudo-relationship with Cam, things would straighten out again. He followed her as she turned around and headed back to her office. “Bones-” No, that wouldn't work; he'd have to bring out the big guns. “Temperance.”
She turned to him, posture rigid, lips pressed into a thin line. “What could you possibly have to say for yourself?” Her words sliced through the thick air between them. “I thought you were my friend! Friends tell each other things, Booth; they don't sleep with each other's bosses and then lie to cover it up!”
Three things occurred to Booth then. The first was that he was in bigger trouble than he'd thought. The second was that he deserved every second of misery. But the third and most interesting thing was that Bones was taking this a lot more personally than even he had anticipated. “I know,” he admitted, “I fucked up.” Twice, he realized - first by getting into a relationship with Cam, and second by hiding it from his closest friend.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Her question made his insides twist a little in discomfort. “Our relationship... mine and Cam's... it wasn't great, Bones. It didn't mean anything to me. I guess I was ashamed of it.” Well, that was at least part of the truth. He would tell her what he was beginning to suspect might be the other part of the truth later, for example when they were dead.
Expression softening, Brennan unfolded her arms and rested her hands on the back of her chair. “Like Rebecca again?” she asked concernedly. Then she ruined it by adding, “Don't they have support groups for this sort of thing?”
Booth smiled in spite of himself, although he did also allow himself the luxury of rolling his eyes. “For being a complete idiot in the ways of the heart? It's called the Man Club and if you're born with a penis, you're automatically signed up, dues paid.”
Bones smiled back a little. “Well, you're not a complete idiot, although you have shown remarkably poor judgement lately.”
He made a face at her, trying not to read too much into the comment. “Thanks.” Sarcastically, for the snide remark - but on another level he knew he meant it, because somehow she'd forgiven him, even though he probably didn't deserve it.
Breaking eye contact, Brennan shuffled around some papers on her desk. “So, what time is our flight leaving?”
“Six o'clock. We should be ready to leave for the airport in about an hour.”
She nodded. “So it will be too late when we get there to start our investigation. Did you make a hotel reservation yet?”
Flopping lazily onto the couch, he shook his head. “It's not exactly high tourist season. I might just stay at the airport hotel, or maybe rent a car and find a place a little closer to the safe houses. Why?”
Brennan shrugged, stopped fiddling with the chair, and sat down in it. “Zach's sister is picking him up at the airport; he's staying at home. His mother invited me to stay with them... but I think that might be....”
“Awkward?” Booth suggested. He tried to imagine the scene, but he didn't know much about Zach's home life.
“Uncomfortable,” she agreed. “Zach has a large family and... and I'm not very good with people.”
Booth was pretty sure she had almost said, and I haven't got much family at all, or perhaps even none, although he knew she and Russ were working on restoring their relationship. She'd even told him that she was thinking of dedicating her next book to her brother. Still, he could see how that setting might be a little jarring. “You were hoping that if I had already made a reservation, you could decline without hurting anyone's feelings. That's considerate of you.”
Looking up from her computer with a glare, she pointed out, “I'm not completely inept, you know. I grasp the basic sensitivities behind proper manners. I just... forget, sometimes.”
“Well, if you think you're going to slip, you know you can come to me, right?” he teased.
Bones threw him a dirty look, but it was laced with amusement. “Maybe you should take your own advice.” She turned off the computer. “I'm going to go tell Zach to start finishing up what he's doing.”
Booth nodded, stretching out further on the couch. “Don't forget to tell Angela you're leaving; she'll probably have a few hours worth of advice for you.”
“Unfortunately, most of it will be useless, since I'm not going to sleep with you.”
Did I hear that right? He glanced up, mouth slightly agape, brows furrowed, and realized that he had absolutely no idea what to say to that.
Brennan, however, evidently had something to add. “Don't look so shocked,” she said, half-smug and half-bitter. Maybe three-quarters smug. “Someone has to be immune to your charms.”
“Yeah, but did it have to be you?” The words were out of his mouth before he could think about it. Willing himself not to cringe, he added, “I mean, I need all the help I can get.”
Temperance just laughed at him as she walked out the door.
*
Booth stashed Zach's duffle bag beside Brennan's small rolling suitcase in the back of the SUV and shut the hatch. “Buckle up, kid. You don't get airsick, do you?”
“Not since I was thirteen,” Zach answered hesitantly. “Is that the right answer?”
“Tell you what,” Booth opened the door and slid into the driver's seat, “Bones can sit in the middle.” He gave her his best charm grin and donned his sunglasses.
“I thought we established that wasn't going to work on me.” She looked at him coolly.
Yeah, this is going to be a long trip, he decided as he started the Tahoe.
Forty minutes later they were checked in, through security, and thoroughly sick of each other's company.
“Listen, kid, you've gotta stop staring. You're making me look bad by association.”
Zach spared him a disparaging glance and went back to making notes in his coil notebook. Every so often he would look up and make a squinty face at a couple talking across the gate, tapping his pen distractedly on the notebook.
“Leave him alone,” Bones defended without taking her attention off of her laptop. “If people look at you funny just flash your badge at them or something.”
Booth ignored her. It was only fair, after all; she was ignoring him. “What are you doing, anyway?” he asked Zach. “Is this some kind of creepy stalker side of you I've never seen before?”
“It's an ethnography experiment,” Zach answered tonelessly. “I am observing and recording human activity in hopes of developing a mathematical model of behaviour prediction.”
That, of course, got Brennan's attention. She looked up from her laptop and focused on her student, contemplative. “That's a fairly in-depth project, Zach. Are you going to use it as part of your thesis?”
His eyes never moved from the couple he'd been observing. “I'm concerned about the lack of practical application, considering the specific focus. Angela provided me with a number of different attributes to focus on, but that does tend to create a skewed result. And even if my calculations are correct, the implications...” he shrugged. “I feel a little bit like Big Brother.”
Booth was too busy trying to decipher what it was that Zach had just said to be surprised by the pop culture reference. “What exactly did any of that mean?”
Slamming his notebook shut, Zach sighed. “It means I really hope those two aren't on our flight, because they're about to join the Mile High Club.”
“It's only an hour and a half flight,” Booth protested, incredulous. Getting up in the middle of such a short flight to - well, it would be obvious! “Wait, you can predict that kind of thing?”
“What's the Mile High Club?” Bones wanted to know.
“A colloquial expression for a fictional association of persons who have copulated in mid-flight,” Zach answered without a beat. “It's not an exact science, Agent Booth, more of a prototype. As I said, I am convinced neither of its veracity nor its applications - but it is a fascinating study.”
“Fascinating,” Bones repeated, snapping her laptop shut. “An act of sexual intimacy that has achieved cult status. I was a member of a highly specific social clique and wasn't even aware of it.”
What?! “Wait, Bones, you're not saying you... on an airplane? Really?” No way. He tried not to gape or squirm or breathe, or do anything that would give away just how difficult it was to stop his imagination from running away with that particular fact.
Zach looked just as shocked as he felt. “Dr. Brennan?” To be fair, he looked a good deal greener than Booth was feeling.
“Does Angela know about this?” Booth asked stupidly.
Brennan fixed him with a piercing stare. Considering the things he was completely failing not to think about, it made him particularly uncomfortable. “Come on, Booth, you've been on enough flights. You're telling me that you've never--”
“Calling American Airlines flight A37 with service to Detroit, your flight is boarding at gate D7. Repeat, American Airlines flight A37 with service to Detroit is now boarding all passengers.”
Saved by the bell, Booth thought, standing and collecting his carry-on luggage. He got into line just after the couple Zach had been watching for the past half an hour. “This is going to be a long flight.”
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)
( Chapter Six)
Thanks as always go to ani8 (livejournal) for the beta, and you guys for reviewing. If you did review. If you sneaked into the back of the theatre without paying... well, at least you're still here, right?
Disclaimer: Bones is still not and never will be mine, no matter how many clever non-sequiturs I come up with.
Chapter Seven
“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.”
Oh, hell. Booth really didn't know how he kept ending up in situations like this, but hopefully now that he'd ended his pseudo-relationship with Cam, things would straighten out again. He followed her as she turned around and headed back to her office. “Bones-” No, that wouldn't work; he'd have to bring out the big guns. “Temperance.”
She turned to him, posture rigid, lips pressed into a thin line. “What could you possibly have to say for yourself?” Her words sliced through the thick air between them. “I thought you were my friend! Friends tell each other things, Booth; they don't sleep with each other's bosses and then lie to cover it up!”
Three things occurred to Booth then. The first was that he was in bigger trouble than he'd thought. The second was that he deserved every second of misery. But the third and most interesting thing was that Bones was taking this a lot more personally than even he had anticipated. “I know,” he admitted, “I fucked up.” Twice, he realized - first by getting into a relationship with Cam, and second by hiding it from his closest friend.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Her question made his insides twist a little in discomfort. “Our relationship... mine and Cam's... it wasn't great, Bones. It didn't mean anything to me. I guess I was ashamed of it.” Well, that was at least part of the truth. He would tell her what he was beginning to suspect might be the other part of the truth later, for example when they were dead.
Expression softening, Brennan unfolded her arms and rested her hands on the back of her chair. “Like Rebecca again?” she asked concernedly. Then she ruined it by adding, “Don't they have support groups for this sort of thing?”
Booth smiled in spite of himself, although he did also allow himself the luxury of rolling his eyes. “For being a complete idiot in the ways of the heart? It's called the Man Club and if you're born with a penis, you're automatically signed up, dues paid.”
Bones smiled back a little. “Well, you're not a complete idiot, although you have shown remarkably poor judgement lately.”
He made a face at her, trying not to read too much into the comment. “Thanks.” Sarcastically, for the snide remark - but on another level he knew he meant it, because somehow she'd forgiven him, even though he probably didn't deserve it.
Breaking eye contact, Brennan shuffled around some papers on her desk. “So, what time is our flight leaving?”
“Six o'clock. We should be ready to leave for the airport in about an hour.”
She nodded. “So it will be too late when we get there to start our investigation. Did you make a hotel reservation yet?”
Flopping lazily onto the couch, he shook his head. “It's not exactly high tourist season. I might just stay at the airport hotel, or maybe rent a car and find a place a little closer to the safe houses. Why?”
Brennan shrugged, stopped fiddling with the chair, and sat down in it. “Zach's sister is picking him up at the airport; he's staying at home. His mother invited me to stay with them... but I think that might be....”
“Awkward?” Booth suggested. He tried to imagine the scene, but he didn't know much about Zach's home life.
“Uncomfortable,” she agreed. “Zach has a large family and... and I'm not very good with people.”
Booth was pretty sure she had almost said, and I haven't got much family at all, or perhaps even none, although he knew she and Russ were working on restoring their relationship. She'd even told him that she was thinking of dedicating her next book to her brother. Still, he could see how that setting might be a little jarring. “You were hoping that if I had already made a reservation, you could decline without hurting anyone's feelings. That's considerate of you.”
Looking up from her computer with a glare, she pointed out, “I'm not completely inept, you know. I grasp the basic sensitivities behind proper manners. I just... forget, sometimes.”
“Well, if you think you're going to slip, you know you can come to me, right?” he teased.
Bones threw him a dirty look, but it was laced with amusement. “Maybe you should take your own advice.” She turned off the computer. “I'm going to go tell Zach to start finishing up what he's doing.”
Booth nodded, stretching out further on the couch. “Don't forget to tell Angela you're leaving; she'll probably have a few hours worth of advice for you.”
“Unfortunately, most of it will be useless, since I'm not going to sleep with you.”
Did I hear that right? He glanced up, mouth slightly agape, brows furrowed, and realized that he had absolutely no idea what to say to that.
Brennan, however, evidently had something to add. “Don't look so shocked,” she said, half-smug and half-bitter. Maybe three-quarters smug. “Someone has to be immune to your charms.”
“Yeah, but did it have to be you?” The words were out of his mouth before he could think about it. Willing himself not to cringe, he added, “I mean, I need all the help I can get.”
Temperance just laughed at him as she walked out the door.
*
Booth stashed Zach's duffle bag beside Brennan's small rolling suitcase in the back of the SUV and shut the hatch. “Buckle up, kid. You don't get airsick, do you?”
“Not since I was thirteen,” Zach answered hesitantly. “Is that the right answer?”
“Tell you what,” Booth opened the door and slid into the driver's seat, “Bones can sit in the middle.” He gave her his best charm grin and donned his sunglasses.
“I thought we established that wasn't going to work on me.” She looked at him coolly.
Yeah, this is going to be a long trip, he decided as he started the Tahoe.
Forty minutes later they were checked in, through security, and thoroughly sick of each other's company.
“Listen, kid, you've gotta stop staring. You're making me look bad by association.”
Zach spared him a disparaging glance and went back to making notes in his coil notebook. Every so often he would look up and make a squinty face at a couple talking across the gate, tapping his pen distractedly on the notebook.
“Leave him alone,” Bones defended without taking her attention off of her laptop. “If people look at you funny just flash your badge at them or something.”
Booth ignored her. It was only fair, after all; she was ignoring him. “What are you doing, anyway?” he asked Zach. “Is this some kind of creepy stalker side of you I've never seen before?”
“It's an ethnography experiment,” Zach answered tonelessly. “I am observing and recording human activity in hopes of developing a mathematical model of behaviour prediction.”
That, of course, got Brennan's attention. She looked up from her laptop and focused on her student, contemplative. “That's a fairly in-depth project, Zach. Are you going to use it as part of your thesis?”
His eyes never moved from the couple he'd been observing. “I'm concerned about the lack of practical application, considering the specific focus. Angela provided me with a number of different attributes to focus on, but that does tend to create a skewed result. And even if my calculations are correct, the implications...” he shrugged. “I feel a little bit like Big Brother.”
Booth was too busy trying to decipher what it was that Zach had just said to be surprised by the pop culture reference. “What exactly did any of that mean?”
Slamming his notebook shut, Zach sighed. “It means I really hope those two aren't on our flight, because they're about to join the Mile High Club.”
“It's only an hour and a half flight,” Booth protested, incredulous. Getting up in the middle of such a short flight to - well, it would be obvious! “Wait, you can predict that kind of thing?”
“What's the Mile High Club?” Bones wanted to know.
“A colloquial expression for a fictional association of persons who have copulated in mid-flight,” Zach answered without a beat. “It's not an exact science, Agent Booth, more of a prototype. As I said, I am convinced neither of its veracity nor its applications - but it is a fascinating study.”
“Fascinating,” Bones repeated, snapping her laptop shut. “An act of sexual intimacy that has achieved cult status. I was a member of a highly specific social clique and wasn't even aware of it.”
What?! “Wait, Bones, you're not saying you... on an airplane? Really?” No way. He tried not to gape or squirm or breathe, or do anything that would give away just how difficult it was to stop his imagination from running away with that particular fact.
Zach looked just as shocked as he felt. “Dr. Brennan?” To be fair, he looked a good deal greener than Booth was feeling.
“Does Angela know about this?” Booth asked stupidly.
Brennan fixed him with a piercing stare. Considering the things he was completely failing not to think about, it made him particularly uncomfortable. “Come on, Booth, you've been on enough flights. You're telling me that you've never--”
“Calling American Airlines flight A37 with service to Detroit, your flight is boarding at gate D7. Repeat, American Airlines flight A37 with service to Detroit is now boarding all passengers.”
Saved by the bell, Booth thought, standing and collecting his carry-on luggage. He got into line just after the couple Zach had been watching for the past half an hour. “This is going to be a long flight.”