Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them (thank you Hart Hanson), and I don't profit from them, but I do like to take them out from time to time and play with them.
Author's Note: While I wasn't exactly thrilled with the way the finale ended - leaving us hanging over the edge of a cliff - I felt compelled to write a post-ep. However, rather than belabor the amnesia plot device and take such a serious spin on things, I've taken a slightly different angle because I needed a good laugh. I hope you enjoy.
"No you can't drive." Brennan looked at Booth as if he'd lost his mind instead of being released from the hospital after brain surgery. He was being discharged and she had been put in charge of making sure he followed the doctor's orders for the next couple of weeks.
"I remember how to drive, Bones." It was true that he'd suffered a bit of temporary amnesia, but he'd recovered most of his memories - well at least some of the really, really good ones. At least he hoped they were memories and not fantasies - for the time being he was still trying to sort some of that out - especially the parts about not really being married to Bones. For now he was just glad to be out of a hospital gown and into some real clothes.
"You're still heavily medicated and your doctor has specifically indicated that you aren't allowed to drive. I'm a very good driver." She was a good driver, well except for that time she tried to drive a high powered sports car Booth had borrowed - she'd gotten stuck in the middle of an intersection near the diner, but hopefully he didn't remember that.
"Is the wheelchair really necessary?" His motor skills were just fine - he could walk - the surgery had been on his brain, not his legs. A fact that should have been evident by the swath of bandages they'd just removed from his head.
"Hospital policy, sweetheart." A fifty-something nurse that had been fortunate enough to wait hand and foot on Mr. Hot Stuff had gotten the lucky draw to wheel him out to his car. Of course she knew that neither she nor any of the other nurses had a chance in Hell at snagging him given that Dr. Brennan was in the picture. But she could dream - and boy could that man flirt.
"She's right, Booth." He was going home with her until he had his stitches removed and he had been cleared by both his neurologist and Sweets.
"Are you going to make me Mac and Cheese? I'm pretty sure I like Mac and Cheese." He had a vague recollection that he had a very unhealthy desire to be alone with the dish in question.
The smiling nurse chimed in. "Well we know you like pudding." As charming as that smile of his was, they'd had to put their foot down about him eating some real food along with all of those extra pudding cups.
"Yes, I'll make Mac and Cheese." Brennan exchanged a smirk with the nurse whose name she couldn't remember - until she made note of the name tag 'Betty'.
"What about TV...you didn't have a TV, how am I going to watch the Phillies?" Booth frowned. He wasn't looking forward to recuperating if he had nothing to do but thumb through old copies of Anthropologist Monthly or some other equally squinty magazine.
Brennan hadn't wanted to spoil the surprise, but she wasn't very good at lying either. "I asked Hodgins to pick out a nice television and I arranged for cable to be installed."
"Bones, you're the best." His grin went from ear to ear and he had a sudden urge to kiss her, but since he was already being wheeled out of the room by the nurse, he wasn't even in the correct proximity. Maybe later - hopefully she wouldn't hit him.
"I am the best in my field." She smiled, not quite as oblivious to his statement as she might appear, as she followed along behind.
****
"You have a really nice place." He furrowed his brow as he glanced around. "My place isn't as nice as this, is it?" He had fuzzy images in his mind and he was beginning to realize that maybe he spent more time here than he did his own place. Maybe those fantasies weren't all that far off from reality.
"Your place is smaller. I have more financial resources than you do." She didn't want to come out and say that she was rich even if it was the truth.
"That's because you write books." He grinned at her from where he settled himself on her couch. "Best sellers."
"New York Times best sellers." The clarification really wasn't necessary, but she wanted to make sure that his memory was a clear as possible.
"Yup. No doubt because I'm the inspiration for Andy Lister." He stretched his arms out along the back of the couch and was pretty pleased with himself remembering such an important fact.
She simply rolled her eyes. "You are not the inspiration for Andy Lister, you are a real person and Andy Lister is purely fictional." That wasn't entirely true - the longer she'd worked with Booth, the more ideas she had that she seemed to incorporate into Andy.
"You just keep telling yourself that, Bones." He let out an amused chuckle. She certainly did dig the whole denial thing.
*******
"Wow, this is as good as I remember it." And even if he hadn't been able to remember it, Booth was sure that this was the best Mac and Cheese he'd ever had.
Brennan seemed pleased. "The doctor said you might be able to get your stitches out early. When we go back in two days they're going to check to see how things are healing." She was so relieved that after the initial gut wrenching shock of him asking her who she was that his memory was just a bit fuzzy. He hadn't shared his entire dream with her, but that seemed to be part of the source of his confusion. She was more than happy to keep an eye on him while he recovered - that was what partners did.
"I'm a fast healer." Of course that didn't necessarily mean that he wanted to be on his own right away. He was looking forward to Bones taking care of him. He briefly wondered if he could convince her to give him a sponge bath and then thought better of it - she was way too smart to fall for that.
********
"I can't believe there isn't a single baseball game on." He'd checked the listings twice just to make sure and so here they were watching an episode of 'Planet Earth'. Bones had seemed so fascinated by it, that he just couldn't bring himself to make her change the channel to watch 'Dumb and Dumberer' - especially when she hadn't complained about him putting his arm around her - she'd simply leaned into him and smiled.
"The time lapse sequence here is amazing - I've seen the jungles of South America in person, but seeing them like this is very interesting." She was glad that Hodgins had opted for a larger screen, not that it was the 103 inches that Booth had wanted - not even close.
"See, I knew you'd like TV." He couldn't resist planting a kiss against her forehead - temporal bone - that's right, she liked to use the proper labels for everything.
******
There didn't seem to be much on TV now and Booth had been mulling something over. "Bones, why did you want me to help you have a baby?" Once that little snippet had come flying back into his mind in technicolor clarity he couldn't let go of it.
"You're symmetrically pleasing and you're a good man." Of course the fact that she felt something with him that she hadn't felt with anyone else was a factor she didn't want to articulate - swirling emotions were not something that she was very good at knowing what to do with.
"And do you still want a baby?" His expression was thoughtful.
"You had made a deposit at a sperm bank for me. I suppose that at some point in the future I can utilize them for the purpose of insemination." She swallowed hard at the way he was looking at her - shaking his head.
"Sperm bank?" No, he was sure that he'd much rather make a direct deposit.
"Yes." She registered that his eyes seemed to be darker than normal.
"Why not the old fashioned way?" He seemed a little confused.
"Because of the emotional attachment that would surely form." She was sure that he would have phrased it a bit differently, but it was essentially the same thing.
Booth snorted out a laugh. "We've already got a pretty strong emotional attachment." To claim anything else was complete denial.
She couldn't refute his logic.
Booth could see the shift going on inside of her mind as the pieces slid together. His voice was a slow, soft whisper. "I'd much rather try and have a baby with you the old fashioned way." His implication was clear - just sitting out there waiting to see what she'd do with it.
Her eyes widened and she just looked at him as if she was contemplating an unusual marking on a piece of bone. And just as suddenly, she seemed to come to a conclusion and nodded - that was all it took and Booth's fingers were gliding over her cheek as he turned her towards him, his lips softly connecting with hers. Oh, yes, this was what she wanted.
*******
"You really shouldn't try and exert yourself any more tonight - you just got out of the hospital." Brennan was grinning as she propped herself up and looked over at the man she was tangled up in her sheets with.
"I'm a quick healer." Booth grinned right back at her. The reality of making love to her had far exceeded any expectation he might have had.
"The doctor wanted you to get some extra bed rest." She was a horrible caregiver apparently - she couldn't even follow the rules correctly.
"Well I'm in bed, so that should count for something, besides I've got lots of stamina." He didn't wear that 'Cocky' belt buckle for nothing.
"I'm fairly certain this wasn't the sort of bed rest he was talking about." She only mildly protested as he rolled towards her and began to kiss her neck.
"Oh, I don't know, I think that he'd agree that this is going to be a valuable tool for me to make a speedy recovery." He was full of it and he knew it, but she was so damn irresistible - in fact he thought he should be nominated for sainthood for managing to keep his hands off of her for so long.
"I suppose you have a point." Whatever it took to help him get better - she was committed to his well being. Well that and the way he satisfied her biological urges felt so damn good.
He mumbled against her mouth. "Besides, it might take a few tries to get that baby...so we'll just have to keep trying...every chance we get."
The End
