Title: Hope For Me Yet
Summary: Booth and Brennan play a game of Trivial Pursuit.
Rating: G
Pairings/Characters: Booth/Brennan (established relationship)
Series: Long Trip Alone, part 5/11 (Can be read as a stand-alone.)
Length: 800 words
Genres: humor
A/N: This, like most of the other Long Trip Alone fics before it, can be read apart from the rest of the series. All you need to know is that B&B are dating. And you only need to know that for one or two short, miniscule references. Thanks to Miss Inf0rmati0n for the beta job!
Hope for Me Yet
(Long Trip Alone Part 5)
Booth was losing to Brennan. Badly.
When rain had ruined their plans for dinner, he'd suggested that they stay home and play Trivial Pursuit. Considering Brennan had never played the game before, Booth had thought that he had at least half a chance against her. But the luck of the draw was against him tonight.
Every time he rolled, he hoped and prayed to land on a pink or orange space for entertainment or sports—his fortes. He'd even be happy if he landed on yellow or blue for history or geography. But he didn't. He always landed on green. Which were science questions that he didn't have the faintest clue about. Or brown. Which were art or literature questions that he didn't know much about either.
Every single time.
Brennan, on the other hand, had already earned her green, brown, and blue pieces without a hint of trouble. She'd even gotten her orange piece for knowing where the game of basketball had been invented.
And now Booth was reluctantly reading her the question that could potentially win her fifth of six wedge pieces. "What state lead the US in percent increase in population in the 1980s?" he read off of the card, hoping that she wouldn't know the answer.
She frowned thoughtfully for a moment and tapped a finger against the table. "Hmm," she said. "I don't know… I think it's Nevada."
Booth read the answer and sighed exasperatedly. "Right again, Bones," he said, putting the card back into the box. As Brennan grinned, Booth reluctantly handed her a yellow wedge. "Of course. It's insane that you even know anything like that, and even when you're not sure you know the answer, you get it right."
She shrugged. "I can't help it if I'm good at this game." She glanced over at his piece, empty of wedges, then looked up at him. "But I'll go easy on you. I give up the rest of my turn. You go."
Shrugging, he accepted her offer by picking up the dice. He rolled his dice and moved his piece. It landed on the green category headquarters.
And he groaned. "Great. Another science question."
Trying and failing to hide an amused smirk, Brennan drew a card and read the question off of it. "What snack food did an University of South Florida professor of engineering spend six years studying?"
Booth blinked slowly, realizing he actually knew the answer to this one. "Potato chips," he responded.
Brennan smiled and nodded. "Correct," she said.
"Ah-ha!" Booth exclaimed, dropping the green wedge into his piece. "There just might be hope for me yet, Bones!" He rolled the dice and moved his piece again. And again, it landed on a green space, causing him to sigh. "Or not."
Drawing another card, Brennan read Booth another question. "What was the name of the scientist who developed the periodic table?"
He wracked his brain, but he couldn't turn up any semblance of an answer. So he sighed. "I have no idea. Absolutely no idea."
"Dimitri Mendeleyev," Brennan said as if it were the easiest question in the world. "Mendeleyev was the scientist's name." Putting the card away, Brennan swept up the dice and rolled them. Her piece happened to land on the pink category headquarters—the last piece she needed to earn to win the game.
Booth sighed as he drew the card, hoping again that she wouldn't know the answer. But he groaned when he read the question. It was an easy one. "What future sitcom superstar began wearing her hair in its signature red in 1942?" he read resignedly, head already starting to droop.
When Brennan didn't answer right away, Booth glanced up to see a deep frown creasing her face as she looked off into nothing. She looked as if she were really and truly having a hard time with this question.
Finally, she shrugged. "I have no idea," she said.
Booth's mouth dropped open. "Really? You honestly don't know the answer to this one, Bones?"
She blinked. "Should I?"
He shook his head. "Seriously, have all of those 'I Love Lucy' reruns we've watched done nothing for you?" he asked. "You're sad, Bones. I get you a TV, and you start watching it, but you still don't get the simplest question about Lucille Ball."
"Lucille Ball's hair is red?" Brennan asked, blinking dumbly.
Booth sighed. "Yes, Bones. Her hair was red. Famously red."
"Well, Booth, I don't see how I was supposed to know that from watching 'I Love Lucy'," she responded. "The show's in black and white. Which means that her hair is gray when I see it, and so I just assumed it was brown."
Again, he sighed. "Whatever," he said dismissively. He picked up the dice again and smiled as he rolled them. "Your lack of pop culture knowledge means that there's still hope for me yet."
TBC in the next Long Trip Alone fic, Trying to Stop Your Leaving
Be kind too, please review.