Author's Note.
This is just a cute little one-shot that came into my head and I had to write it down.
Hope you enjoy.
Simple Things
Forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan, was sitting in her office at the Jeffersonian, doing paperwork.
She was with her best friend and co-worker, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth.
They had just completed a case and were now sorting through the piles of paperwork that needed to be submitted to the District Attorney, so the arrest could be prosecuted.
It was the normal routine for the partners and they had been working steadily for the last few hours.
Brennan looked up from the file she was reading, feeling tired and stiff from being hunched over her desk for so long.
She glanced at her partner.
Booth was sitting a few feet away from her, on the couch in her office.
He had a file of his own perched on his lap and several others spread all around him.
He wasn't looking down at the paperwork though – he was absent-mindedly gazing out the window.
In one hand he held a dice, which he kept tossing casually into the air and catching, over and over again, without looking.
Brennan smiled.
She watched him for a moment – marvelling how symmetrical his features were and how good he was to look at.
Ever since Booth had come out of his coma, Brennan had noticed a change between them. Something about their relationship was different.
It felt like... something had shifted.
She just wasn't sure what.
Booth continued to toss the dice into the air.
Brennan had always found it rather endearing how Booth always had to be fiddling with something – whether it was pen, or a yo-yo or some other mundane object.
Today, it was a small red dice.
As he stared out the window, Booth appeared lost in thought.
He wasn't even aware he was doing it.
Smiling to herself, Brennan looked back down at her own file and began to read again.
It occurred to her a few minutes later, she had no idea what she had just read.
She blinked rapidly, but when that didn't help she realised just why the words weren't sinking in.
A sound had begun to creep up on her, so slowly at first she wasn't aware of it.
Tap, tap, tap, tap
The sound was coming from Booth.
It was the steady rhythm of the dice as it slapped against Booth's hand each time he tossed it into the air and caught it in his palm.
Tap, tap, tap, tap
Trying to ignore it, Brennan looked down at the paragraph she was trying to read but the sound only seemed to get louder now that she had focused on it.
TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP -
Suddenly it seemed to be deafening.
"Booth?" She said aloud.
He didn't appear to hear her.
"Booth?" She said again and he turned his head... and blinked.
"What is it Bones?" Booth asked.
"Can you stop doing that please?"
Booth looked confused. "Doing what?"
Brennan sighed.
"The dice." She indicated his hand. "It's annoying and I'm trying to concentrate."
Booth was apologetic.
"Oh I'm sorry Bones... I was just bored. We've been doing this for hours." He complained.
Brennan felt the same way but she sighed.
"I know Booth but this needs to be finished by tomorrow remember? Now please... just concentrate on the paperwork and put the dice away okay?"
Booth nodded.
"Okay." He agreed and she watched him return his attention to the file on his lap.
Satisfied, Brennan looked down at her own file.
She reread the paragraph from before, then the next.
She became aware, during the third paragraph, of a sound.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Brennan looked up at her partner.
Booth was gazing out the window once more, lost in thought as the dice returned to the air.
I love him.
The thought entered her head out of nowhere.
Brennan was so shocked , her mouth fell open.
Oh My God... I love him.
Her eyes widened as if she'd been stuck by lighting.
Brennan gripped her desk hard as a tidal wave of images suddenly flooded her mind:
Booth's hand on the small of her back... Booth rescuing her from the Gravedigger... Booth giving her a toy smurf... and a plastic pig... Booth hugging her after her father's trail... Booth holding her hand as they skated... Booth waiting for her at the harbour when Sully left... Booth denying he would ever betray her... Booth smiling, just for her... and finally Booth tossing a small red dice into the air...
I love him.
Ever-so-slowly a smile crept across Brennan's face.
I love him.
Suddenly she had the urge to jump out of her chair and dance across the room... shout it to the world... but nobody was looking at her... not even Booth.
I love him.
She couldn't stop smiling.
For so long I've had a wall around my heart but Booth tore it down, one brick at a time... now he's in my heart but I don't have to be afraid any more because he's always been there...
I just didn't know it.
Booth must have sensed her gaze because he turned to her... and smiled.
Then he looked down at his hand, still tossing the dice in the air, and his smile turned apologetic.
"Oh Bones... I'm sorry... I didn't know I was doing it again... why are you smiling at me like that?"