Title: Soon As You Can
Summary: He's in Dallas, she's in DC. 1300 miles between them. And he just wants to get back as soon as he can.
Rating: G
Pairings/Characters: Booth/Brennan
Series: Long Trip Alone, part 4/11 (It is NOT necessary to read the other parts. This can be read as a stand-alone.)
Length: 4000 words
Genres: fluff, angst
A/N: Holy
crap, you think it took me long enough to write this? I think it did!
Sheesh. Anyway, I know the basis of this story is pretty cliche. But
you know what, I did better than the average cliche writer, if I do say
so myself. Oh, and just a pointless tidbit... Booth being in Dallas is
a reference to a joke between me and my sister.
Let's just say it has to do with George Strait's song "Run", Booth
driving a Ford, and then being stranded in the desert. lol.
Soon As You Can
(Long Trip Alone Part 4)
Never in a million years did Brennan think that Booth would willingly let her drive him somewhere, much less that he'd ask. But, then again, she never expected that he would take an out-of-town assignment that didn't involve her going with him either. And yet he had announced to her four days ago that he was going on a two- to three-week assignment in Dallas. And that she wasn't going to be coming along this time.
She'd been surprised to say the least, but, seeing the less than enthusiastic look on his face, she hadn't pressed him for details. The day after, though, she almost wished she had. She didn't see or hear from him that day.
The next day, though, he'd called her and told her that he was set to leave in two days. And he wanted to know if she'd be the one to drive him to the airport. After she'd gotten her voice back and agreed, he asked her to meet him for coffee. Again, she agreed. When they met, she noted that he seemed a lot more like himself than he had when he'd told her he was going to leave. More at ease.
Now, as she drove him to Dulles, she snuck a sidelong glance at him, sitting in the passenger seat of her car. He hadn't said a word since he got in, he'd barely even looked at Brennan, and she hadn't pressed him. He was obviously back in that quietly angry and sulky mood again.
As she took the turn off to Dulles International Airport, she wished he wasn't. They were about to say goodbye for three weeks, and he wouldn't say anything.
She cleared her throat as she turned into the correct lane, the one labeled Arrivals/ Departures. "Hey, I've been thinking about faith, Booth," she said, trying to sound casual. "You know, like you asked me to."
He looked over at her with a surprised expression on his face for a moment before it faded into a smile. "Really?" he asked.
She nodded. "And I've decided—"
"Whoa," Booth said, holding up a hand to stop her. "Don't tell me. I don't want to know." Frowning, Brennan opened her mouth to ask why, but Booth cut her off with the answer before she even asked the question. "That's between you and God, Bones. It's none of my business."
She frowned again. "But Booth—" she started.
Booth held up a hand and interrupted her again. "Uh-uh. No buts."
She sighed. "Fine." Before he interrupted, she had been intending to tell him that she had finally conceded that the existence of God was indeed a possibility. But there still wasn't enough evidence for her to "put faith" in his existence.
Turning to pull her car into a parking garage, she sighed again.
Booth looked at where she was going and frowned slightly. "Bones, you don't have to park here, you know," he said. "I didn't expect you to walk up to the gate with me or anything. You can just drop me off."
"I know, Booth," she replied as she stopped and pulled a parking pass from the dispenser and sat it on the dashboard. She let the barrier raise and started to pull forward before she added, "I want to walk with you."
As she parked, she saw him smile out of the corner of her eye. "Thanks, Bones," he said softly.
"No problem," Brennan replied, turning off the car and stepping out. She helped Booth get his carry-on bag and suitcase out of the trunk of the car, and the pair set off towards the doors of the airport proper.
Both were rather silent as they walked through the airport, through security, and to an arrivals/departures board. There they found that Booth's flight to Dallas/Fort Worth—leaving from a gate not far away—was moving along slightly sooner than expected, and that instead of waiting for some twenty or thirty minutes to board his plane, he was able to do so now.
Booth turned to face Brennan with a solemn look on his face. "I have to go," he said softly.
Brennan nodded slowly, setting down the bag she'd been carrying for him. "I know."
There was a brief moment where both Booth and Brennan stood still and silent, looking solemnly at each other. Then Booth dropped his bags, letting them fall carelessly to the floor. Brennan actually wasn't surprised when he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. Instead, she reflexively let herself melt against him and wrapped her arms around him too.
They stood there silent for a beat, wrapped in each other's embrace. One of Booth's hands was slowly tracing circles on Brennan's back, while she simply laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. The whole scene seemed almost like a cheesy romance movie in her head, but in her heart it felt right.
Then Booth sighed. "I hate to say it, but I really gotta go, Bones."
She nodded and reluctantly slid her arms off of him. Then she took a short step back, resisting the urge to sigh. She smiled lightly at Booth, and he returned the smile.
Then, surprising Brennan, he stepped towards her again and cupped half of her face in one of his hands. On the other side of her face, he planted a feather soft kiss on her cheek, quick and brief. Then he stepped away, leaving her stunned.
"Bye, Bones," he said as he picked up his bags. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Bye, Booth," she replied mechanically, still stunned by the kiss he'd left on her cheek. Her hand drifted up to brush across that cheek as she stood motionlessly and watched him walk away. Even after he disappeared from sight, she stared dumbly after him.
It took several minutes for her to regain her senses enough to turn and walk away too.
----
The first week passed so slowly for Booth, he thought it'd never end. Usually he enjoyed his work and loved what he did—hunting down and catching the bad guys was just his thing. But this week was different. He didn't enjoy any of the work, and he had trouble keeping his mind on it most of the time.
His thoughts kept drifting back to DC, and back to his partner who was there.
It was only a week, and he called her every single night when he got back to his hotel room if only to talk with her for two minutes, but he still missed her like crazy. In fact, he thought that the phone calls made things harder. Because even though he was talking to her, she seemed a little distant and it reminded him that there was a big distance between them.
But he pounded out the week.
Then eight days into the assignment, the work load got heavier as Booth and the team he was working with got closer and closer to catching their man. By the time he got back to his hotel, it was already too late to call Brennan. The next day too was hectic, and he worked straight through it without getting a chance to call her, even though she was constantly on his mind.
And then the day after that was even crazier. That was the day they finally tracked down the man they were after, and moved in to take him into custody. It was an especially long day, and very exhausting.
The next day—the eleventh day of the assignment—Booth was tasked with talking to and supervising the local squints that were going over the evidence against the suspect. Some of them were actually surprised by what he was able to understand of their talk, which led him to explain about the squints he worked with back in DC.
Which then turned his mind to Brennan again.
This time, it wasn't such a long day. He got back to his hotel somewhere around eight o'clock, after picking up some fast food for dinner. He walked into his quiet, empty hotel room with the intention of calling Brennan for the first time in three days. But when he picked up the phone, he realized that he didn't just want to call her. He wanted to see her face to face.
And calling her wasn't going to help that want. It was just going to make it worse.
But not calling her wasn't right either.
With a sigh, he flopped down backwards on the hotel bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to decide whether or not he should call Brennan. After an hour's worth of a long and pointless consideration of the two options at hand, he sat up.
Without any conscious thought, he grabbed his bag and his keys, and was out the door in an instant. In fact, he left the hotel room in such a rush, he forgot his other suitcase, still sitting packed in the corner of the room.
He just got into his rental car and cranked it up, wanting to drive. He didn't even think about where he was going. He just went. No conscious thoughts, no conscious sense of direction. He just drove.
It wasn't until some forty minutes later that he realized where he was going. It wasn't until two hours later until he realized that he shouldn't be doing this. Two hours and ten minutes in, he realized he was going to do it anyway. Four hours in, he subconsciously decided to pick up his cellphone.
---
The shrill ring of her cellphone pierced the dark quiet of Brennan's bedroom. She was quickly and abruptly brought out of her deep sleep, and out of the dream she'd been having. About Booth.
She blinked at the sleep in her eyes, and rolled over during the phone's second ring. She picked up it up before it had the time to get through its third, and flipped it open without even bothering to look at the name on the caller ID.
"Brennan," she answered, her voice slurred by sleep.
"Hey, Bones," Booth's voice replied from the other end. "It's me."
"Booth!" she said in surprise, eyes opening wide even through the residual sleepiness in them. She hadn't heard from him in three days, and he chose now to call. Even though she was glad, she was astounded by the timing. "Is everything okay?" she asked.
"What?" he said. He hesitated very briefly before he added, "Yeah, everything's fine, Bones. Why do you ask?"
She frowned through the darkness at the glaring red numbers on her alarm clock. "Uh, because you're calling me at two in the morning, Booth."
"Oh." There was obvious shame in his voice, like he was kicking himself for not knowing that it was that late. "I'm sorry, Bones. I didn't mean to wake you up. I didn't realize what time it was there."
Brennan frowned again. "How did you not? It's only an hour earlier there in Dallas."
Booth cleared his throat. "That's just the thing. I'm not in Dallas." He pause and Brennan opened her mouth to ask him where he was and why he wasn't in Dallas, but he cut her off. "I'm on my way home."
"Oh," Brennan said. She rubbed a hand over her eyes. "Okay. It's late, but I'm sure I could be there to pick you up when you get in. What time will that be?"
"Uh…" Booth said hesitantly. "It's gonna be a while, Bones."
She tried to stifle a yawn. "Are you not on the plane yet?" she asked. "Because that's fine. I'll catch some more sleep, and still be able to come pick you up when you land."
Booth cleared his throat again, and hesitated even longer. "Uh…" he said, then halted again. Finally he continued, "It's gonna be even longer than that, Bones. I'm not taking a plane." He paused slightly. "I'm driving. In fact, I'm somewhere near Little Rock, Arkansas at the moment. I think."
"Driving? Arkansas?" Brennan repeated, frowning again. "Booth, that'll take forever."
He chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I've already been on the road for four hours. The total trip should take somewhere around twenty and a half hours, according to MapQuest. But I'm hoping to shave some time off of that."
"Booth, why are you driving?" she asked. "Shouldn't you be on a plane?" Before he even got to answer, she interrupted again as a thought suddenly occurring to her. "Wait, weren't you were supposed to stay in Dallas for two weeks, Booth? It's only been one and a half."
He chuckled again. "Yeah, I know. I'm coming home a little early."
"Why?" she asked.
He sighed. "Well, we already caught the guy we were supposed to and all..." he slowly said, "I was supposed to stay in town to testify, but I didn't think I really had to. I don't think I would've made much of a difference. Besides, I got tired of… being gone."
She tried not to read anything into his words, but she failed. She couldn't stop the thought of, 'He missed me…' that ran rampant through her head. She could, however, ignore it for the moment. And that's what she did.
"Oh, okay, Booth," she said aloud. "Are you sure you won't get in trouble?"
"Uh…" he said, and she could practically see him wincing. "No, not really, Bones. I might get in trouble, I might not. I'm not really sure either way. But I'm already on my way, and I can't turn back now." He paused, and Brennan heard a faint sound over the phone before he said, "Uh, I gotta go, Bones. Sleep well, and I'll see you in a while."
"About six o'clock PM, not accounting for any stops," Brennan said matter-of-factly.
Booth chuckled. "Yeah, okay. See you at six, Bones. 'Night."
She smiled even though he couldn't see her. "Good night, Booth."
------
As Booth closed his cellphone and laid it down, he glanced again into his review mirror at the flashing blue and red lights on the car behind him. And he sighed deeply. As he expected, the police officer was still there. He slowly pulled his rental car off the side of the road and put it in park.
The policeman pulled off and parked behind him, then got out of his car and walked around to Booth's door. Booth rolled down the window and offered the man a faint smile.
"Good evening, officer," he said.
The cop's eyes narrowed. "Sir, are you aware that you were going ninety-five miles an hour?" he asked in a gruff voice that sounded as though he was fairly irritated. Though, Booth had to admit, pulling over a speeder at 1 AM gave the man every right to be annoyed. "The speed limit here on I-30 is only seventy."
"Uh, sorry, I wasn't aware that I was going so fast," Booth said honestly. He really hadn't been paying much attention to speed limits since he left Dallas. After all, he was in such a hurry to get back to DC that he hadn't even stopped to consider getting on an airplane instead.
Sighing, the man in the Arkansas State Trooper uniform started to take out a pen and pad to write Booth a ticket.
"But, officer, I promise I have a good reason," Booth said quickly. "I'm an FBI agent in a hurry to get back to DC." It was the truth… He just wasn't in a hurry go get back to DC for FBI business. Still, the officer would probably drop the charges assuming that Booth was on federal business.
Booth reached for his badge in his pocket, and the officer instantly dropped his ticket book and pen back in his pocket to draw his gun from its holster. Finding the muzzle of a pistol aimed at him, Booth instantly froze.
"Hold it, sir," the officer said unnecessarily.
"Whoa there, Sparky," Booth said, slowly bringing both of his hands up into plain sight. "I'm just reaching for my badge, man. I promise." He slowly reached for his badge again as the officer's gun tracked his movement. He then took out the badge and flipped it open. "Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI."
The officer's face relaxed and he re-holstered his gun. He cleared his throat. "Sorry, Agent Booth," he apologized.
Booth pocketed his badge again. "That's all right, officer," he replied. "I understand."
The man cleared his throat. "Well, then, Agent Booth, I'm going to let you go," he said somewhat stiffly. "Just promise me that you're going to try and slow it down some. Especially if you're driving all the way back to DC. That's a hell of a long way to go. Especially at night."
"Don't I know it," Booth muttered. "I promise I'll slow down some, officer." He nodded. "Good night."
The officer nodded back, and walked back to his car. Booth rolled his window back up and pulled back onto the nearly empty interstate. This time he paid attention to his speedometer, and went no faster than seventy miles per hour. He also kept careful watch for the state trooper in his review mirror.
After some ten minutes, when he was sure the policeman was nowhere around, he picked up the speed again. He wanted to get back to Brennan as soon as he could. Regardless of the speed limit.
----
Brennan was sitting at her desk, pretending to look at some information on her computer when Angela walked in and closed the door behind her. Brennan looked up to see her best friend leaning against the door, as if blocking it as an exit.
"What's been up with you today, Brenn?" she asked.
A sudden flash of apprehension passed through Brennan and she looked away from Angela, back to her computer screen. "I don't know what you mean," she lied, trying to keep her voice even.
Angela sighed and walked over to Brennan's desk. "Oh, yes, you do," she said. "You've been walking around here for a week and a half, being all quiet and moody because your FB-eye candy hasn't been around. But today, you can't seem to stop smiling." She raised an eyebrow. "Do you know something that I don't know?"
Brennan sighed softly. "Booth's coming back today, Angela."
The forensic artist grinned. "Oh, I see." She leaned closer to Brennan as she asked, "Any particular reason he's coming back early?"
"He said he got tired of being gone," Brennan answered shortly.
Angela's grin widened. "Oooooooooh. He's coming back early because he got tired of being away from everything." Though Brennan understood Angela's veiled point, she didn't say anything. So, still grinning, Angela continued, "Sweetie, what happened between you and Booth before he left?"
"Nothing," Brennan replied shortly.
"Oh, come on, Brenn," Angela said pointedly. "Something happened. I know something happened. I always know when something happens. And something definitely happened."
"It was nothing," Brennan reiterated. "He just kissed—"
"KISSED?" Angela interrupted. "He kissed you? Oh my God, Brenn! Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
Brennan sighed. "Because, Angela, he only kissed me on the cheek." She kept telling herself that, but her mind and heart still raced at the memory. She wasn't about to tell Angela that, though. "And only quickly before he left to board his plane. It was nothing."
"Brenn!" Angela exclaimed. "He kissed you! That's something!"
"On the cheek," she repeated.
Angela rolled her eyes. "So?" she said. "The first place Hodgins kissed me was on the top of my head. Nowhere near my lips. And look where it got us! Sweetie, a kiss on the cheek is not only closer to the lips," she gestured between the two to prove her point, "but it's also notoriously sweet."
Feeling suddenly shy, Brennan averted her eyes.
"And you know that," Angela stated matter-of-factly, grinning again. "And that's why you've been smiling so much today. Because you know you've got something going on with Booth, and he's coming back today."
Still avoiding that theory, Brennan shook her head. "Angela…"
"Deny it all you want, Brenn," Angela said, turning and walking away. She paused at the door. "But you know it's true." With that and a smile, she walked out the door, leaving it open behind her.
-----
Booth pulled into the familiar Jeffersonian parking lot and took a look at his clock on his rental car's panel as he parked it. It blared not the 6:00 that he was supposed to have arrived, but 5:04. He'd pushed the car as fast as he could without getting into any more trouble with police, and had driven straight through the night wide-awake. He had stopped only once to refill the car's gas tank, and hadn't even stopped to eat anything all day.
Suffice to say he was hungry, but his mind wasn't on his stomach.
It was on his heart.
He turned off the car, got out, and hurried across the parking lot to the doors. After quickly flashing his badge at security, Booth jogged—being unwilling to run—through the familiar labs, eyes looking out for his Bones. The jogging was tough on the legs he hadn't used in the past six plus hours, but he didn't really care. He didn't even know why he was hurrying so much. But he was.
He came skidding to a stop when he spotted Angela, Hodgins, and Zack, discussing something as they all headed towards the door—probably to leave for the night.
"Where's Bones?" Booth asked them.
"In her office," Angela answered.
"Thanks, Ange," Booth said, turning towards Brennan's office and taking off again.
The three squints watched him run until he disappeared around a corner and out of their range of vision. "Hmm," Zack said, frowning after the FBI agent. "I wonder why he's in such a hurry."
"That's because you know nothing about relationships, Zack, my man," Hodgins said, patting the younger man on the back. "Absolutely nothing."
Zack only frowned deeper.
And Angela giggled excitedly.
Booth noticed none of this as it went on behind his back. Not that, being focused as he was at the moment, he would notice or pay any attention to any of the squints' conversation anyway. He found the door of Brennan's office open, and he slowed down to a walk as he went into her office.
And she looked up at him from her desk, wide-eyed and smiling. "Booth!"
He returned the smile. "Hey, Bones."
She stood from her desk and started to make her way around it, and Booth's eyes followed her the entire way. "I thought you weren't supposed to be back for a couple more hours," Brennan said.
Booth shrugged and smiled. "I pushed it a little. Cut some time off of the estimate."
Brennan reached her partner and wrapped her arms around him in an enthusiastic hug. He gladly returned the embrace as she murmured in his ear. "I'm glad you're back, Booth," she said. "I…really am."
"I'm glad to be back, Tempe," he replied, voice barely above a whisper. "I missed you. A lot."
Brennan slowly pulled back, showing Booth the light smile on her face. And he realized how close their faces really were. Acting on pure impulse, he leaned forward to close that small gap between them. But as Booth leaned in, Brennan leaned away.
"What're you doing?" she asked, frowning.
"Just hold still, would ya, Bones?" he responded, leaning towards her again.
This time, to his delight, she didn't back away. And so their lips met, like he intended. Brennan hesitated at first, but then she returned Booth's kiss. It was a slow kiss, but a fairly short one as well.
When they broke apart, both stood there quiet and still.
Until Booth's stomach interrupted them with a gurgle.
He chuckled. "Bones, I think my stomach's asking if you want to go to dinner."
When a man wants to be with a woman,
There ain't no way of gettin' there too fast,
When you know who you wanna spend
The rest of your life with,
You wanna start the rest of your life
Soon as you can
Soon As You Can -- Dierks Bentley
TBC in the next Long Trip Alone fic, "Hope for Me Yet"
Brief A/N #2: Oh, yes, and I just thought I'd mention that most of the last scene was totally and shamelessly snagged from Gilmore Girls. :D
Feed the French Fry. Review.