Prompt: Honesty (MINE/Bonesology)
Rating: T
Date Published: 3.27.15
Placement Within the Canon Universe: The story telling takes place sometime in season nine, after the wedding but before the finale.
Characters/Relationships: Seeley Booth & Temperance Brennan
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"Booth? I need to admit something to you…"
"Bones?! What is it, are you okay?" Booth asked.
"Oh Booth, its nothing to do with my health," Brennan laughed at the absurdity. "It's more or less about something that I used to do…To you… Before we were… Involved."
Booth looked at her in confusion. "Something you used to do to me?"
"Yes." Brennan said quietly. Booth waited for her to continue, but she didn't.
"Bones? What is it?"
Brennan sighed. "Do you remember when you asked me to start accompanying you to various places of entertainment on your weekends with Parker?"
"Of course I do…"
"Well, it started the weekend of that ridiculous fair in Maryland. You and Parker had just gotten off of the spinning Strawberries – a ridiculous concept of a ride – and Parker threw up, most of it landing on my shirt."
"Where is this going, Bones? Are you trying to tell me something about Parker?"
"What?! Booth, no, absolutely not. I was just trying to set the story."
"Oh, well. You're making me a little anxious here. Is this a bad thing you are admitting to?" Booth's forehead had started to depict his lines of worry. Brennan chewed her bottom lip.
"Well, at the time, I didn't really think it was that bad in the grand scheme of things, but yes, I suppose you could say that breaking and entering would be considered a bad thing…"
"Bones! What did you do?" Booth stood from the couch and threw his hands in the air. He couldn't believe what Brennan was telling him.
"Booth! Calm down. The only home I ever broke into was yours, and you can't even really call it breaking and entering, because I used the spare key you gave me. You know, the one for emergencies…"
"Wait… You broke into my apartment? Why?"
Brennan sighed. "Sit down and let me tell you the rest of my story, please." Booth complied, sitting down once more. "Parker's vomit was all over my chest and abdomen, so, you led us back to the SUV and gave me one of your standard issue FBI t-shirts to change into. I had told you that I would wash your shirt and return it to you."
"Yeah, I sorta remember that. I couldn't apologize enough that day, and poor Parker… He thought that you hated him after that," Booth shook his head with a grin.
"Well, I reassured him while you weren't looking. I told him that I had been covered in much more of much worse substances, that his vomit was nothing in comparison. He hugged me so tight and still refused to quit with the apologies." Brennan smiled at the fondness of the memory. "Anyways, I took your shirt home, and well. I didn't take it off. I slept in it. Every night that week. I liked the way that it smelled, that you smelled. So, I wore it to sleep at night until I couldn't smell you anymore, and then I made sure that you were at the office or church or hockey practice, and I snuck into your apartment and threw the shirt into your laundry so that it would smell like you again, and I stole a new one from your dresser… I repeated this process usually once a week, but sometimes more, until the night that we consummated our romantic relationship." Brennan's gaze dropped to her lap, waiting for Booth to become angry.
"Wait… let me get this straight." Booth put his finger under Brennan's chin to bring her eyes up to meet his. "You broke into my apartment on a weekly basis to steal one of my t-shirts so that you could go to sleep smelling me? And you did this for what, two years?"
"Yes…" She admitted sheepishly. "Although technically it was only a year. The seven months we spent apart… Well, it wasn't exactly easy to sneak into your apartment to grab a new shirt. Instead, before we parted ways, I bought the items that make up your scent. The same laundry detergent you use, your aftershave, that cologne from the farmers market… I brought small amounts of each with me to Maluku, and two of your FBI shirts. When your smell started to dissipate, I would spritz my Boothy concoction on them. It wasn't the real thing, but it worked well enough. Especially when we came back to DC… I knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to try sneaking in with Hannah there, so I just used my Boothy concoction." Brennan smiled slightly as she looked to Booth for a reaction, what she hoped to see, she wasn't certain.
"Bones…"
"I know Booth, it was a very bad idea, but after that first day, I just… I couldn't sleep well without your scent, and I know that that is completely irrational, but those nights wrapped in your scent brought me some of the most peaceful sleeps I had ever experienced."
"Bones, you don't think I'm angry with you, do you?"
"You have every right to be…"
"Oh, baby no…" Booth scooted closer to her and held his palm to her face. Brennan winced slightly at his affectionate term, but decided just this once not to call him out on it. "I'm not mad… Not at all. I'm actually bursting with love right now. It all makes sense now!"
It was Brennan's turn to be confused. "What?"
"When I would go to do laundry, there was a shirt I knew I hadn't worn, and it didn't smell like me. I knew the shirt was mine, so I was very confused as to why it smelled so… Feminine. After about a month of these extra shirts in my hamper, I finally realized where I knew the scent from. It was you of course, and after I realized that, I waited for a new shirt to end up in my laundry pile. I started sleeping in them too, Bones. I watched and watched for a new shirt to come up, and then I would wash the one that had been returned last, and start wearing the newly returned one."
"Booth! You knew and you didn't say anything?" Brennan was astonished. She thought that she'd been more cunning.
"Of course I didn't say anything, Bones! I can just imagine how that conversation would have gone." Booth laughed. "I would have accused you, and you would have asked for proof before blatantly denying it, and then we both would have gone home angry, and you would have stopped switching out my shirts and we both would have been miserable."
"Well… I suppose you're right. I most definitely would have denied those accusations. I was in no place in my life to accept you in a more romantic fashion, no matter how much I actually wanted it to happen."
Booth was positively beaming at her confession. "I wouldn't have it any other way, babe." He placed his hand on her jaw, his thumb stroking her cheekbone affectionately. Brennan leaned into his touch and closed her eyes in contentment before she sighed and looked up.
"Even if we had the chance to go back and remove all of the heartache? If we could go back and do it right?"
"What is 'right,' Bones? I think, all things considered, we didn't do so bad. I mean, we are together now, right?" Booth explained.
"Oh, I dunno. I would certainly like to do away with all of the crying. I don't like to cry as a rule, and there you were, making me cry like it was no big feat for you. I never cried over another man, or person, for that matter, before you." Brennan scooted herself closer to Booth on the couch and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Okay. I agree with that. Too much crying on both of our parts."
"Wait-" Brennan's head shot up off of his shoulder, her eyes boring into his. "I made you cry? You, steely, strong and masculine, Special Agent Seeley Booth, crying over a girl?" Brennan giggled at the thought, even though she knew it wasn't a good time for laughter.
"You're not just any girl, Bones. You never were." Booth's eyes glistened. It couldn't be helped whenever he spoke of Temperance Brennan. "You were worth the tears and heartache."
"I'm so glad that I don't have to steal your shirts anymore, Booth." Brennan leaned over and kissed him deeply, trying to put her emotions into actions instead of words.
Booth reciprocated, opening his mouth to hers as he pulled her onto his lap to deepen the kiss even more. "You're more than welcome to steal them anytime you want, Bones." He whispered as he peppered her jaw-line with soft kisses. "I like it when you wear my shirts. It's actually pretty hot."
Brennan grinned. "Anthropologica- Booth!" She exclaimed as he suddenly lifted their bodies from the couch and sauntered toward their bedroom.
"I'd rather have an Anatomy lesson right now, Bones, okay?"
"Those terms are satisfactory," She whispered against the shell of his ear as Booth closed his eyes and smiled a toothy grin. He'd never let her know just how much he liked it when she spoke so scientifically and matter-of-fact when she was so obviously turned on.
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Hey look! An Authors note!
Thank you so much for reading this ditty! I hope you liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Its been playing around inside my brain for the last week or so, so I finally decided to get it into writing before it vanished for good! (Also, I have about 12 loads of laundry that need doing, so I need something to occupy my time in between load switches. Yay for spring cleaning!)
Please, please, please! Leave me a review? Short, long, I don't care! I thrive on reviews, and so does my muse. Reading what my readers thought of my writing makes me want to continue, so please, do me the honor of letting me know what you really think. I promise I don't bite… Okay, well I don't bite that hard.
For those of you who are waiting on an update for my chaptered fic, A Kiss in the Rain, fear not! An update is only a few days away!
Again, thank you so much for reading. Much love, xoxoxoxo
