This was an entry in my collection of oneshots called "Colage" but I decided to repost it and the other oneshot in it because it wasn't getting any hits. I did keep the original posted for the sake of the sweet reviews I did get. Thank you for those!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones.

Late morning in the woods it was unusually crisp for a summer in D.C. and the odor of foul play was evident in the air. This is precisely the reason why Special Agent Seeley Booth and his partner, Doctor Temperance Brennan, were hiking through said woods.

"How much further to the body, Bones?" questioned Booth, who had to fall back every now and then so not to leave his partner behind in her cautious pace.

"Not much." replied Brennan, stopping to calculate how far they had come and how much further they had to go, "It should be about two hundred meters or so."

"Great." Booth mumbled as he continued a few feet ahead of her.

Brennan started to take a step, but noticed something out the corner of her eye and stopped dead in her tracks upon realizing what it was.

"Booth…" she spoke slowly in a voice dripping with fear.

He picked up on her panicked tone the second he heard it and was by her side in an instant.

"What's wrong?!" he asked anxiously.

Staring straight ahead, too afraid to move even her wide eyes, she pointed downwards. Booth followed his partner's finger with his eyes to a small, red and black striped snake, slowly wrapping itself around her ankle. His serious face eased into a smile and a small chuckle escaped him before he could control it.

"Don't laugh! Just get it off of me!" she snapped, staying as still as a statue.

"Calm down, Bones. It's not even poisonous." he rolled his eyes.

"I don't care! It still bites! Now shoot it, or step on it, or something!"

"I'm not going to kill it!"

He knelt down and gently took the snake by the neck between his fingers and unwrapped Brennan's ankle. She closed her eyes and let out the breath she had been holding when she felt him remove the snake. He stood, holding the small creature. With a devious smile, Booth held the snake a few inches in front of her face. When she opened her eyes to see the tiny red face staring into her blue eyes, it lashing its fork tongue, she leapt back with a high-pitched yelp. Booth couldn't contain his laughter.

"Dimmit, Booth!" she smacked his upper arm, causing her hand to tingle from hitting solid muscle.

"Sorry, Bones." he said between cackles, "It's just: I've seen you take out guys twice your size, stare down serial killers without a hint of fear, and keep your cool when you're being shot at. But you freeze in fear over a harmless little snake."

Suddenly the snake wiggled out of Booth's grip and bit him on the finger.

"Ouch!" he dropped the snake and it slithered away quickly.

"I guess it didn't like being called harmless." Brennan and smiled and started towards their original destination.

"Yeah, yeah. You got any band-aids in your kit? It's bleeding." he asked, catching up with her.

"Nope. Serves you right for laughing at me." she poked his shoulder as they continued on.

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