Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I certainly don't profit from them; however, if I did, you can be sure that Booth and Bones would entertain us with a kiss in each and every episode.

Author's Note: This is a work in progress and I have a fulltime job so please be patient for the updates; they will come, but I won't guarantee how quickly they'll arrive. However, if you stick with me for the ride, I assure you that I'll do my best to write a story that will not only entertain you, but hopefully keep you in a little bit of suspense with a healthy dose of fluff here and there. So without further adieu, let's begin.

Dr. Temperance Brennan regarded her partner Special Agent Seeley Booth with a decidedly annoyed expression on her face, "Booth, I don't need you to come with me; it's a book tour not a murder investigation." She wasn't particularly thrilled about having to leave her work at the Jeffersonian for a few days as it was, contractual agreement with her publisher aside, but she certainly did not need to have Booth in alpha-male-alert-mode along for the ride.

"Bones, some of your fans have proven to be a little..." Booth twirled his finger next to his ear and contorted his face into a somewhat comical expression, "off balance." Fresh in his memory was her former publicist's assistant and a few other fans that had traded murders that they'd taken right out of the pages of one of her books; so he couldn't help but be a little worried that she was going off to Seattle all by herself to meet and greet these obsessive bookworms face to face.

"Three people, Booth, out of millions of people reading my books that's an anomaly." She scowled at him; part of her was truly irritated, but there was another part of her that was glad that he felt the need to look out for her. However, right now it was the fiercely independent Temperance Brennan that was in control of the conversation and she had a book tour to leave for; she'd only stopped by the Jeffersonian to pick up a few things on her way to the airport, a stop that had somehow inspired Booth to protest her trip with some flimsy excuse about her safety.

"Anoma-what?" Booth looked at her with a perplexed expression, "Never mind, look, Bones, I'm just saying that you need someone to watch your back." He knew full well that she was very capable of taking care of herself; however, he also knew that she didn't read people nearly as well as he did and for his own peace of mind he'd feel a whole lot better if he went along to make sure that his partner was safe.

"My publicist said that they had security provided for my appearances," Brennan felt a flurry of nerves as she considered just how many appearances had been scheduled; thankfully only one television appearance on some local afternoon talk show and a couple of short spots on several call in radio shows followed by a handful of bookstore appearances at some large chain bookstore that she'd already forgotten the name of. The book signings at the store didn't make her nervous the way that being on television or radio did.

"What kind of security?" Booth put on his best FBI face as he rested his hands on his hips and stared her down. He didn't begrudge the fact that she had to make appearances for her latest book; a book that she'd dedicated to him. His stern expression cracked into a smile for a brief moment as he considered that of all of the people that she could have dedicated it to, she'd chosen to dedicate one of her books to him, again. He cleared his throat and furrowed his brow, "If it's some kind of rent-a-cop, I'm not sure that's good enough."

Brennan suddenly found it all fairly comical and she let out an amused chuckle, "Booth, it's only Seattle." She'd been to far more dangerous places in more far flung places than the Pacific Northwest. Rwanda. Guatemala. Somalia. Just to name a few.

"Home of Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, and D.B. Cooper to name a few," Booth was rather pleased with his knowledge of the FBI's most wanted; past and present. Surely Bones couldn't discount the potential danger of any city, even one where the residents drank so much coffee that it nearly ran through their veins.

"Booth, you're being ridiculous," Brennan snuffed a breath out her nose and pursed her lips together, folding her arms over one another in the process, "Look, I have a plane to catch," her expression softened; she knew that Booth was only showing concern for her well being – the sort of thing that partners did for one another, "Zack can help you if you get a case while I'm gone."

"Promise me that you'll be careful, Bones," He wasn't sure why he felt the need to admonish her; she was a grown woman. Ok, she was a grown woman who seemed to be a magnet for trouble and on top of that she was gorgeous which brought along a whole different kind of trouble that she really didn't realize she needed rescuing from most of the time.

She rolled her eyes as she gathered her things and headed towards the doorway of her office, "I'm going to miss my flight if you don't hurry up; traffic on the Beltway is particularly heavy this time of day." As far as Brennan was concerned this discussion about her safety at a book signing in the other Washington was over; they had exactly 90 minutes until she was supposed to be boarding her flight to Seattle from Dulles and even if Booth used sirens and lights she was going to be cutting it close.

Brennan settled in her first class seat on the non-stop flight to Seattle; she'd been the second to the last one on the plane; having an FBI escort had its advantages at times, however, she was glad this time that she'd left him standing at the gate with a promise that she'd call if she needed him; something that she didn't anticipate at all, but it seemed to placate him as she made her way up the jet way. She'd planned to catch up on a few forensic journals during the six-hour flight, but almost as soon as Brennan had fastened her seatbelt the woman next to her had struck up a conversation with her, having recognized her from the jacket of the book she'd brought along to read.

By the time they were making their final approach into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Brennan had learned far more about advances in drinking water quality science and technology than she'd ever considered and she'd gotten a brief history of the area from her seatmate and an invitation for dinner if she had time in her schedule in a city that could be polite but wasn't always genuinely friendly.

As she made her way out of the Boeing 737 and headed to the baggage claim area to gather her bags and where she was going to meet her publicist Natalie she had no way of knowing that this moment would be the calm before the storm, both literally and figuratively.