The Argument
"Spiteful words can hurt your feelings but silence breaks your heart." - Anon
Brennan sat on the bench, their bench by the Reflecting Pool. She always came here to think, to clear her mind and to assess her life as objectively as she could. And reflect she did, thinking of everything that happened that week. It had been a long one, to say the least. Firstly her alarm didn't go off and she was late for work - a bad start to any day. Then there was that argument with Booth. And then she got kidnapped by Myers, the main suspect in her and Booth's latest case and things had suddenly gotten a lot worse really quickly.
Drinking in a rare bit of Washington sunshine, she remembered the drive to the crime scene in his car. He was in a bad mood, probably because Rebecca took Parker to New York for the weekend with her new boyfriend when it was Booth's weekend to have him. Booth loved his son, and it made him angry to be denied spending his allotted time with him.
She got in and asked to be allowed drive, as per usual. He denied her again, also as normal, but this time it was rougher.
"No Bones, you can't, okay? How does somebody as smart as you have to be told the same thing again and again to get it into your thick skull?"
Brennan couldn't help but feel hurt by the sharpness in his harsh words. "You know that bone diameter has nothing to do with the rate at which the brain absorbs things", she told him. Booth rolled his eyes.
"I am trying to forgive your unpleasant demeanour because I know that you are upset about Parker," she continued, undeterred. "However, I think you should try to be more supportive of Rebecca's efforts to let her partner and Parker get to know each other."
Instantly Booth's face darkened and his voice became dangerously low. "Don't you ever give me advice about how to raise my kid again, you hear me? You don't know anything about family," he snarled.
A hard lump formed in Brennan's throat as she bitterly retorted "I know that if you're as controlling of Parker as you are of me he'll be delighted to be in New York!"
She regretted those words as soon as she said them. Booths face turned to stone as he stared blankly out the windscreen. She had crossed the line. The rest of the journey passed in tense silence with neither partner speaking- one impassive, one regretful. 'What have I done?' thought Brennan silently.