Several variations on this story have been bouncing around in my brain—this is the one that made its way into the clear light of day. This is most emphatically not a B/B pairing, though there is a pairing. Angsty. And thought-provoking, I hope.
We were standing over the balcony, looking down not into the lab but out into the gardens. It had been a hard case, and the whole team was bushed. I'd come up for coffee and Cam joined me as we idly looked out the window, content not to talk. It had been a three sunrises and three sunsets case, the last finally setting outside the lab. I checked my watch, and noticed it was almost a half hour since Bones said she'd be up in twenty minutes to join me, so I set my coffee down on the table and tipped Cam a smile before tracking my partner down.
She was in her office-- and she wasn't alone, I saw, as I started across the long diagonal of the lab toward the fishbowl she worked in. She was sitting on her couch, and Hodgins, of all people, was standing behind the couch, rubbing her neck, both their backs to me. I didn't think I'd ever seen the two of them touching after the Gravedigger case, but ever since he and Ange broke up, it was weird-- she and Jack seemed to be closer, even though you'd think it would be Ange who would be closer to Bones. But Ange had Roxie and seemed to be one of those women who lived their whole lives through their current romantic relationship, so I guess it wasn't out of the realm of possibility for Bones to try and be there for Hodgins. The squints didn't seem to pick sides that way. Certainly, Ange and Hodgins seemed to be getting along fine. The secret lives of squints, I guess.
I was about halfway across the floor when I stopped short. Bones leaned back into Hodgins where he was standing behind her, and he gently smoothed back a strand of hair that fell into her face, before leaning down to kiss her cheek. And she-- turned into the kiss, kissing him back with her eyes closed.
"Ah," came Cam's quiet voice behind me. I was completely unable to turn around and look away as Jack's hand caressed the side of her face, and her hand came up to twine around the back of his neck.
I felt the floor fall out from under me, and suddenly nauseous, I turned. Cam had a sympathetic, almost pitying look on her face.
"How long?" I managed.
She shrugged. "That they've been working toward it? Or since they've been kissing? A month and two days that they've been working toward it-- the latter? Last night a few hours after you left and we were all still waiting for data to render ... it was sweet," she said, smiling in remembrance.
"But ... how?"
She looked at me keenly, that way she's always had of telling me something I'm really not going to like.
"A month and two days ago, Booth, was the second anniversary of their Gravedigger kidnapping. They both stayed late to work. You peeled off for a Capitals game, Angela had something with Roxie, and I only remembered after everyone else left and I saw them sharing Vietnamese in her office and looking stressed as all get out. I couldn't think of why until I looked at the calendar, and then I realized, apologized for not remembering earlier, and got the hell out. I think they worked the whole night through. It's been ... well, slow but sure ever since, I think, though Brennan's not the type to flaunt herself, as much of a goofball as Jack is. That kiss, though. That was sweet." Another fond smile graced her face, and I felt my heart clench. I could imagine—Jack was handling her tenderly, like a new and sincere lover should. He was a good guy, no contest.
"Why didn't she remind me?" was the only coherent thing I could manage.
"Why didn't you remember?" Cam countered. "You were busy with your own stuff. We all were. They're neither of them the type to ask for help, though they'll give it in spades. So … they found each other, I guess, that night. I don't know, it was just … the air was different around them afterward."
"But ... I was going to ..." I trailed off. Was I? When? We'd been working together for four years. How long was long enough?
Cam patted me on the arm. "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans, Seeley." With a last sympathetic look at me, she walked off to her office-- leaving me to turn once again and look at my partner. Who looked happy. With Hodgins.
So much for my plans.
"Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." There may be other versions of this quote, but the one I've always known is from John Lennon.