Hey guys! Long time no see, I know. I hope everyone had a great holiday and start to the new year!
I don't know what prompted me to write this one a couple of months ago, but when I found it again today, I decided to finish it. Not my very best work, but I think you understand what I'm getting at. It's pure fluff but I hope you enjoy it!
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"No Booth, I don't want any pie, as usual," Brennan scolded her partner, trying to hide a grin. Booth just sighed with his own smile and put the forkful he'd held out to her into his mouth. They continued discussing the case at hand while Sweets just watched them with fascination.
"Doctor Brennan, why don't you want to even try pie?" he questioned, interrupting a discussion about their latest murder.
"She doesn't like her fruit cooked, you know that," Booth replied trying to effectively halt the conversation he felt had no merit at the moment.
"And yet you still insist on trying to give it to her," the therapist observed before addressing Brennan, "And I don't think that's the only reason."
Brennan's lightening fast mind recalled Sweets' pie theory from a few years back, that it was a kind of seduction on Booth's part, but she couldn't bring herself to admit that was straight where her mind had headed.
"It's also loaded with empty calories and it's not filling in any way," she replied firmly before turning back to Booth to continue their theories.
"But if it wasn't," Sweets interrupted before she could begin, "If pie didn't have any of the setbacks you believe persist, if it only had the warm flavors and delicious aroma and could fill you up in ways other foods couldn't, would you try it?"
Booth watched the conversation flowing between his friends and the way Bones' eyes had widened at the thoughts their therapist was suggesting. This wasn't even remotely about pie any more.
"Well, that would be nice but that's not true. A pie is only full of empty promises," Brennan dismissed primly.
Sweets cocked his head to the side, his own mind zipping around her phrasing, "Promises?"
"I meant calories," Brennan backpedaled, "A pie is inanimate, it can't make a promise."
"And yet you feel like it will let you down,"
"It won't let me down, I just don't see the point in allowing myself to indulge in something that, while good for a short time, won't sustain in the long term."
The psychologist continued his pointed stare at Brennan as he sat back in the chair, "That may be true about most pies, but I think experience has taught us that this pie is vastly different than any other pie, or food for that matter. This pie wouldn't dare let you down."
"No, he isn't, and yes he will," Brennan's hands hit the table in protest while her eyes widened at Sweets through the haze of emotions.
"Do you really think that little of pie?" Booth's hurt voice finally interrupted the tense silence that had enveloped the table. Brennan's head whipped to her partner's face, cataloguing the emotions that stretched across it. He knew this was about far more than a dessert.
"It's not that Booth, it's just," Bones looked down at the now empty plate as she tried to compose herself.
"It's okay Bones, I get it," he said, throwing a few bills on the table before collecting his wounded pride and leaving the table. Still struggling for words, Brennan finally looked up, meeting Sweets' now frustrated stare.
"What are you doing?" he hissed, "Go fix it!"
She whirled from her chair and ran after Booth, seeing him crossing the street to the SUV. She yelled to him and finally caught up to him.
"I'm sorry," she breathed out heavily from her sprint.
"It's okay, really," her partner replied, his expression showing that he was anything but, "I understand it. You don't have room in your life for pie. I'm glad you figured it out before hand."
He started to move away again but was pulled back around by the strong grip on his sleeve.
"Booth, it's not that I have no room for pie," she tried again, he eyes shining earnestly as she attempted to show exactly what she meant, "It's that I'm afraid of pie. I'm afraid of what might happen to me once I taste it. I'm afraid that I'll lose the balance that I have based my life on and topple head first into it. I would have pie every day if I could, but I can't, not if I know it'll be gone someday."
"But I'll never leave you, not without a fight," Booth replied, abandoning the metaphor that had started this whole mess.
"You can't be sure of that, not with the work that we do," she sighed ruefully.
"I love pie," she continued with a whisper, only now registering the strong arms that seemed to have materialized around her, "but I couldn't handle having it for a while and then have it taken away."
"So we're at an impasse then," Booth replied, smiling a bit at the quizzical look she shot from her position against his chest, "you can't live on the 'crumbs' of pie and I can't live without the sweet deliciousness it brings to every aspect of my life."
"I love pie too, and I would rather enjoy everything it gives me and lose it, than have to live in the agony of never tasting it at all," he summed up in response to her hopeful expression.
They held gazes for a while longer before she looked back down at her feet. She started breaking from her partner's intimate hold and his heart dropped in time with the drops of rain now falling from the sky. Brennan looked up at the clouds gathering overhead and then back at the man tethered to his spot in fear.
"Come on Booth," she said finally, reaching for his hand and leading him from his daze and the short distance to the diner, "We have to tell Sweets that I'm having my pie and eating it too."
His answering grin chased the clouds away.
See? Total fluff! Thanks for reading!