"A Changed Man"
Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine.
Author's Note: This is just a little something that came to me when I watched last week's episode. I can't wait to see what happens with the Gravedigger tonight! Let me know what you think of my piddly little story.
She watched them dance and wondered. She wondered what had happened in that jail cell. She wondered at how blissfully happy they looked. And she wondered at how much Dr. Jack Hodgins had changed. When she and Booth had revisited their first case for Sweets, it hadn't really occurred to her, but looking at him now she was struck at what a different man he was.
"Bones."
She turned to see Booth holding out her glass of wine.
"Booth, have you noticed how much Hodgins has changed over the last few years?"
"Sure. He's a lot less angry. He doesn't have to wear that stupid elastic band around his wrist anymore. He's still paranoid, sure, but he hasn't been a bitter recluse for quite a while. Why do you ask, Bones?"
She looked down at her hands and rubbed her thumb across her mother's ring. "It makes me wonder if I was wrong."
Booth furrowed his brow at her and said, "Wrong about what?"
Without answering his question she said, "I've changed over the last five years too, haven't I? My sense of humor has developed, I'm much more aware of the cultural references you're so fond of making…"
"Yeah?"
"Well, it makes me think that maybe I could change in regards to… us."
Booth's eyebrows hit his hairline and his heart jumped into his throat. Hesitantly, he said, "Does that mean that… you might… consider…"
She brushed her index finger down his cheek to his jaw and lifted his head to meet her eyes. "Yes, Booth. I want us to work. I want to try being in a relationship with you."
Her favorite smile lit his face and he wrapped his hand around her neck, buried it in her hair and brought her lips to his for a soft, lingering kiss.
Angela and Hodgins looked on from the dance floor. They smiled at each other, said, "finally," and kept dancing.
