Story: Let Me Count the Ways
Disclaimer: WE OWN NOTHING!!! Basic idea is courtesy of Rockerbaby423
Spoilers: none
Pairing: BoothxBrennan of course…
Chapters: currently 6, number subject to change
Summary: Valentine's Day is around the corner, and little gifts keep popping up before Brennan's eyes.
Chapter 1: Roses Are Red
Note from azarathangel: This is my first fiction to write with someone! So it should be interesting! Much thanks to Lauren (aka Rockerbaby) for the invitation to this co-written fic!
Note from Rockerbaby423: And much thanks to Ash (akaazarathangel) for agreeing to this little experiment, it will be a fun ride. That being said, enjoy!
Another general note: This chapter was written by me, azarathangel, with all editing and many wonderful additions by rockerbaby. I wish we could point out who did what, but i just hope it all blends well and you love it!! AND REVIEW IT!!
Rating: K+
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This is going to be a bad day… Brennan thought as she rushed into the lab, her heavy coat askew and possessions precariously balanced in her arms. Her nose was red with the cold and her hair was windswept. The big clock told her it was only three past nine, but for an early riser she was hours late. Brennan had awakened that morning to find her clock flashing an angry eight o'clock: any other day she would have already been at the lab.
"Sweetie, you're late!" Angela fell in beside her. "Well, not really, but late for you. What was it? Did someone spend the night?" Brennan groaned; she should have known Angela would jump to conclusions like that.
"No, Ange, I was here late last night working on a set of remains from San Salvador and then I had a bunch of paperwork to It should have been done three days ago but my case with Booth put that on hold and after I finished that I had to—""Whoa, Bren, hold up. I was just kidding," Angela raised her eyebrows. "I'm not even going to ask you how late you were up last night. If it was enough to make you late and snippy like this…" Angela trailed off.
"I'm sorry, I'm just tired and the alarm didn't go off." Brennan sighed, and if her hands hadn't been so full, she would have run a hand down the side of her face to smooth back the errant strands of messy auburn hair back. Angela took in the deep purple bags below her friend's bleary blue eyes and backed off.
"It's alright," Angela said with a half smile. "I'll drop by your office later."
Brennan—exhausted, pissed off, and now worried about whatever it was that Angela wanted to say later on—was now confident in the fact that this was going to be a bad day, indeed. Finally, she escaped to her office and dropped the armload of folders on her desk. Laptop safely placed on top of the stack, she sank onto her couch, eyes closed and finally feeling somewhat more relaxed in the familiar office. She sighed and opened her lead-infused eyelids.
That's when she noticed the cup on the mahogany coffee table, steam curling up and dissipating into the cool air of the office. She reached for it and smiled as she studied the contents: hot chocolate. Too tired to care where it came from, she wrapped her hands around the ceramic cup and took a taste of the decadent drink, feeling the warmth from the plain white mug drive away the cold in her fingers. Looking back at the coffee table, Brennan noticed something in her latest novel: she always kept copies of her books on the table. Picking up the hard-backed book, she opened it and removed the fragrant red rose that rested between its pages.
A small laugh escaped her lips as she read the passage the flower marked. It was a scene between Special Agent Andy Lister and her own character: one that always made her laugh, a charming little moment that her readers loved to find within the pages of her books. And although she would never admit it, Brennan loved to write them, too.
Temperance sipped her warm drink as she twirled the red rose in her nimble fingers, wary of the thorns guarding its beauty. She studied the rose, wondering where it came from. There was no card, and as she set it down on the table to look for a possibly fallen piece of paper, she noticed red lettering on the opposite side of the steaming cup.
The ornate script spread across the side of the mug, its message subtle yet sweet. The flowery red writing read, "Love is a rose, and you its only seed."
She smiled a bit as she read the sappy words, touched by their message and now more than a little bothered at the gifts' mysterious appearance in her office. She picked the rose up again, and the wishful thought of Booth dropping by earlier to place the rose between the pages of her book and set the ceramic mug down brought the smile to her lips once more, and though nobody was there, she hid it with another drink from her cup of hot chocolate. The warm drink, sweet rose, and lull of sleep were getting to her…
"Well, well, Sweetie, what do we have here?" Angela was standing at the doorway and Brennan opened one eye to study her interrupting friend. Angela quickly stepped into the room and Brennan continued to twirl the rose in her fingers. Plopping down beside her on the couch, Angela's dark eyes quickly read over the message on the mug and took in the perfect red rose.
"Who's it from?" She asked nonchalantly. Brennan shrugged.
"I don't know." She responded. Angela knew enough about her to know Brennan was telling the truth, and she watched the rose spin around between her friend's pale fingers, both wondering who sent it.
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Later that day, Brennan found herself buried beneath a sizeable mound of paperwork she had yet to complete with various textbooks piled around her on the desk and another cup of hot chocolate resting at her elbow. Looking up, she saw Booth saunter into the room. Immediately she began analyzing him, looking for any clues that might indicate he had been the one to send her the rose and cup.
"Angela tells me you received a certain gift from a certain someone this morning." Brennan noticed his face was neutral, eyes revealing nothing. She nodded, though, and gestured towards the mug and flower on the coffee table.
"What she failed to tell me, though, was who it was from. So, Bones, who's the admirer?" Booth said as he sat down on the couch, inspecting the two gifts.
"I don't know." Brennan repeated for the second time that day, checking a box on the identification form in front of her. She heard Booth sigh and knew he was looking straight at her. She chose not to raise her head.
"Bones, you drank this without knowing who it was from?" She knew he was angry now, and she grimaced as she mentally crossed him off her very, very short list of suspects for the gifts. She noted, though, that removing his name caused a small wave of disappointment to wash through her. Shaking it off, Brennan finally looked at him.
"It didn't look, smell, or taste funny, so what's the big deal? It's just hot chocolate." With a glare, she dropped her eyes to the form once more.
"What's the big deal? What if some psycho left it here for you, Bones? What then?"
"The Jeffersonian has excellent security, Booth. Also, we are not involved in some high profile case involving a serial murderer who would want me dead at the moment." She paused, her statement bringing to mind another idea. "Why are you here?"
"What?"
"We don't have a case to work on now and you don't have a file to indicate one just came in." Brennan's forehead was creased in concentration, bringing a small smile to Booth's face. "And, if I remember correctly, didn't you mention taking the day off today?"
"Well, yes," Booth said.
"So why are you here?" Brennan finally got up and walked over to where Booth was now standing, arms crossed as she stood right in front of him.
"You mean I need a reason to come visit my favorite forensic anthropologist?" The tension in the atmosphere quickly evaporating, leaving a much lighter one as Booth gave her one of his slow, easy smiles. She rolled her eyes in response to his charm, but Booth noticed how her lips twitched in an effort to fight down her own grin.
"Really, Booth, how many forensic anthropologists do you know?"
"Millions, but you're the only one I'm willing to drag away from work to take out to lunch on my day off." Now Brennan did smile.
"I have work to do." Her response was typical: one that Booth was always ready for. It signaled the beginning of an argument that had gradually been getting shorter and easier to win since the start of their partnership.
"It's not going anywhere, Bones."
"Yes, but it's your fault that I haven't been able to do it yet." Booth feigned innocence.
"My fault?" Brennan nodded, swallowing the laughter that threatened to erupt at his 'innocent' face. "Well, I wasn't stopping you from pulling one of your infamous all-nighters in an attempt to finish every piece of work that you have to do for the next week."
"Yes, actually, you were. I'm remembering a certain FBI agent insisting on taking me out to dinner practically every night and then insisting that I go back home and the same agent making sure I slept for at least five hours every night." She smiled at him, Booth shrugging.
"Don't know the guy," he said, "but these skeletons aren't going to get up and walk away. They've been waiting for a thousand years and I doubt another hour or so will kill them."
"They're already dead, Booth." Brennan deadpanned.
"My point exactly." Brennan raised an eyebrow at him. "So, your argument is pointless and therefore you should come to the diner with me."
Brennan rolled her eyes, but she took her blue lab coat off and threw it over the back of her desk chair. Booth quickly diverted his eyes from her, a half-hearted attempt at ignoring the figure-hugging shirt she wore. He plucked her long brown coat from the hanger on the back of the door.
"Shall we?" He handed her the coat and Brennan allowed herself to be escorted out the door, and upon feeling Booth's hand find its spot at her lower back, she couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't turn out to be such a bad day, after all.
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Next chapter coming soon!! Review, pretty pretty please!! I, Ash, shall bake a huge batch of chocolate booths for all of you lovely reviewers!! (ava leigh, you better review… I made extra for you)
Again, hope you liked this first chapter, and reviews fuel our minds and make us want to write faster and update more for all the lovely reviewers!!! Cookies and other sugary concoctions to all readers, and special chocolate booths to the reviewers!!
-Ash and Lauren, aka azarathangel and Rockerbaby423