Attagirl Attaboy, a bones fanfic

"What did you wanna say?" Brennan asked him moving on from the scardy-cat clown topic.

"… that I love you."

The words hung in the air like smoke in a house fire.

Brennan only stared at him. This was what the psychic had said… more or less. Yes. He knows the truth of you, and he is dazzled by that truth. But now the words were out, how was she supposed to respond? She was stunned in silence; for the first time no intelligent word was there as a fallback.

"Bones?" he whispered almost shyly. Had she heard him?

"Booth… I," she was speechless. The words wouldn't form in her mouth. Thoughts swirled around in her mind. She wanted to say it all, she wanted to express her emotions, but she had been burying them for so long that it was hard to bring them to the surface. So she said nothing.

"I understand…" he murmured.

Booth stepped back seeing the caution in her eyes, and his initial reaction left him running. He turned without waiting for a response and left her standing there, a block from the diner.

Brennan wanted to run after him, but neither her mouth nor her legs could muster the will to move. So she just stared after him.

Brennan was examining the identity of the remains of a man found in a penitentiary, but for once her mind was split between what she was looking at and the questions her mind pondered over from the previous night. It almost came as a relief when Angela walked in to distract her, mumbling something about Hodgins.

"I can't believe he's dating again, and he didn't tell me!" she complained. "I know I've taken a vow of celibacy but the least he can do is tell me so I don't find out second hand. I thought we were at least friends, don't I deserve that much?" she went on.

"Yes," Brennan answered without thought. She tried to concentrate on the Bones before her, and drown out the unanswered questions racing through her mind.

"Did you just agree with me?" Angela asked in surprise. She wasn't used to getting such an easy response from her friend.

"Yes," she answered firmly. "The least Hodgins could do was wait for a response from you before he just decided on his own!" Brennan's mind wondered to Booth and the words he had spilled out so abruptly the night before. She'd barely slept a wink since then.

Angela frowned. "Exactly!"

"I mean, what if you included an opinion with his, what if you mirrored the same feelings and emotions and he wouldn't even discern that because he never gave you an opportunity to articulate the expressions you had buried," she mumbled.

Angela's eyebrow lowered. "Yeah… well, sort of."

"I think you should approach him as soon as possible and muster the courage to inform him of your intentions and deal with the situation that is situated in front of you. It's better to have it out in the open, right?"

"All I wanted was for him to tell me he's dating again," she reminded her. "I wanted to be in the loop… Brennan…"

"What if he discards your sentiments because you waited too long?" she pondered, talking more to herself now, than to her, best friend.

Angela held out a hand in front of her, and Brennan stopped talking. Now it was getting confusing. "Sweetie… are we still talking about me?"

"Of course," she muttered. "Who else would we be referring to?"

"Sweetie, it sounds like you are a little confused."

Brennan frowned. No. she knew what she was talking about.

"Is there something on your mind, Sweetie?"

Brennan sighed. "Booth told me he loved me!"

"WHAT?!" she shrieked.

"Shhhhhh!" she cautioned, afraid that someone else might overhear. Brennan had always been a private person. And this was certainly not something she wanted splashed all over the Jeffersonian.

"He told you he LOVED you?" Angela's eyes were wide with pleasure.

"Yes," she confirmed.

"And what did you say?"

"Nothing," she told her shamelessly.

"NOTHING?!"

"Angela, lower your voice!" she ordered. Brennan focused her eyes on the Bones in front of her, and examined the pieces as if that was where her concentration had gone.

"Brennan!" she snapped. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"He walked away before I had the chance."

"But you DO love him!" she stated as more of an accusation than a wondering. Angela knew her friend well enough.

Brennan sighed. "I'm scared, Angela," she confessed.

"Oh Sweetie," Angela placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Booth is a good guy, he wouldn't hurt you…"

"You can't say that, Angela, circumstances interfere and change is inevitable, who knows what might happen in-"

"You can't let that stop you from letting people in," Angela reasoned. "He loves you, Bren, A LOT. He deserves a chance to show you that he can be the guy who is going to make you believe in love… maybe even marriage!"

"Angela, you know how I feel about that," she warned.

"I know," she shrugged in reply. "But you said yourself that things change…"

Brennan didn't have an answer for her, and before she could conjure one up, Booth appeared behind her, sending an uneasy feeling of emotions through Temperance Brennan.

She didn't like feeling out of control.

"So what remains did you find today?" he asked with ease, his expression empty and impassive.

"Booth…" she whispered his name as the thoughts flooded through her mind. Should she tell him now?

"What?" he looked at her with a casual shrug. It irked her that he showed nothing uneasy in his body language.

"Maybe we should discuss the events of last night…" she offered giving him the option. If he gave her a chance to talk then maybe-

"There's nothing to talk about, let's get back to work… that looks gross!" he pulled a face looking down at the remains of an oozing skeleton. But for the first time in her career, she was NOT interested in talking about Bones.

"Booth, I really think that-"

"Forget it, Bones." His tone warned her.

Brennan ignored it. "Well, no, I won't just forget it. You said some-"

"BONES!" he snapped instantly causing her to step back with surprise. His tone had been cooler than he intended and Brennan felt like she had been kicked in the stomach. "Enough! Let's just get on with the job… okay? Okay?"

"Yes," she mumbled turning back to the remains.

"SEELY BOOTH!" Angela slapped him across the back of the head, causing his hair to fly a little before lying in its rightful place.

"OUCH!" he snapped. "What did you do that for?"

"Because you ARE a jerk!" she responded with a deep frown.

Brennan kept her eyes focused on her victim.

Booth groaned and stalked out of the room. "Call me when you have something useful for me!" he called out his shoulder.

"Sorry, Sweetie…"

Brennan shrugged looking as if she were about to cry. Angela had the sudden urge to follow the FBI agent and whack him on the head again. It felt good.

Brennan had walked the streets of Manhattan for over an hour, before she arrived at Booth's apartment building. She looked at her watch. It was late. But if she turned and walked away then she might never say what she came to say, and she didn't want Booth to keep thinking that she didn't reciprocate his feelings.

With a heavy sigh, she knocked on the door and stepped back as she waited for him to answer. No reply. She knocked again, this time louder, and when she heard a noise inside, she knew he was in there.

"BOOTH! Open the door!" she ordered.

"It's late…" he responded. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk…" she replied with a heavy heart. This was going to be harder than she anticipated.

A moment later she heard the shuffle of feet moving around, and then the door opened. Booth looked tired as he held the door. "What can I do for you, Bones?"

"Can I come in?"

Booth groaned and stepped aside. Brennan came in and took residence on his couch. Booth looked far from impressed as he stood a few feet apart, with his arms folded across his broad chest. He pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Why did you leave me there?" she asked. Booth had never abandoned her before, and for a moment she wondered if she could give her heart to him. There were risks and she wasn't sure she was brave enough to take them.

Booth looked uncomfortable as he shifted his feet from one to the other keeping his eyes on the ground. "I don't know, Bones, I couldn't face the rejection."

"I never rejected you!" she pointed out.

His eyes flew up to hers, and for a moment they locked. "You didn't have to, you never said anything, I understand… I am not mad!" he told her honestly. He was just sad.

"I never said I don't reciprocate the feelings, you didn't give me half a chance," she accused.

Booth shrugged. "Okay…" he waited.

"What if you abandon me?" she asked confirming her worst fears. "Everyone I ever loved leaves me, Booth. I don't want you to leave!"

It took a moment for Booth to register the words in his mind. "I'd never leave you, Bones… I love you."

"I know that," she answered. "But what if something happens to you, and you can't help but run away."

He approached her and took a place beside her on the couch, reaching out to grasp her hand. "I won't run away from you, Bones. I won't leave. Nothing bad will happen to me, you have to have some faith."

"I don't have faith, you have faith. I have evidence!"

Booth thought for a moment. "Isn't it evident of my being here, with you… NOW, isn't that proof that I will ALWAYS be here. If it's within my power, Bones, I'd never abandon you. I won't walk out on you. I won't do to you what your parents did… I love you."

Brennan sighed heavily. "You walked away from me lastnight?"

"I got upset, and walked home. I never abandoned you!"

"But if I give in…"

"I'll always protect you, Bones. You're safe with me. I'd never let you fall… remember?"

Brennan nodded thinking it over. He had always had her back, he had always been there to protect her, and he had been her solace whenever she needed a shoulder, he appeared sometimes even when she didn't expect him. Yes. She concluded, she could trust him.

Brennan smiled. "I love you, too, Booth."

Booth laughed. "Yeah?"

She nodded firmly. "Now what?"

"I kiss you," he stated. Brennan responded to that, and leaned in to meet his lips.

12:58am