A/N: This is my second attempt at writing Bones Fic, and really only my first attempt at writing anything other than grad school applications in what seems like forever. This is definitely un-BETAed, so if you see any errors, please let me know. I really hope you all like this, as I intend it to be a multi-chapter fic, and I needed to post it tonight for reasons that make the most sense when you've finished reading it. Please let me know if you enjoy it (or if you don't), and help me out with anything I can do to make it more appealing to the masses of B&B lovers out there! Thank you!
The Veteran in the Day
Booth was quick to pull his comforter close to his ears after climbing into bed, half cursing the chilled November air, and half cursing his own laziness at not turning the heat on hours before. As he settled on his back, one arm behind his head and one arm rhythmically tapping his chest in time to an old Stones song, he glanced to the clock at his left.
Nestled between a framed picture of Parker on his third birthday, the year he had purchased him the toddler sized police car with working lights and sirens, and an empty Yuengling bottle, which he should really toss before Parker's overnight on Saturday, sat a strangely prized possession. Perched precariously atop Green Lantern's Wizard of the Light-Wave Weapons, a dog-eared paperback of daily Catholic readings and reflections, and a virtually untouched case study on the correlation between carnivores and reduced testicle size, something he definitely needed to remove before Parker's visit, sat a run of the mill digital alarm clock.
While anyone else might have replaced the dulling red numbers and ancient AM/FM dial with an IPOD docking stereo, Booth preferred the familiarity of the beat up timekeeper that had marked his time and passage through war torn countries. As the clock silently announced the remaining minutes before midnight, Booth let his mind conjure memories of which this clock had survived through as well. From Kuwait to Kosovo, from Somalia to Afghanistan, Booth had carefully wrapped the cheap timepiece, a gift Jared had given him before he left for bootcamp in hopes he would, "avoid a beat down for being late," the deeper truth between the brothers left unsaid.
Much like the ebb and flow of the tide, Booth thought back to the highest highs and lowest lows of his service, and respectfully thanked God for the safety he found fit to bestow upon him when so many others had given the ultimate sacrifice. With mere minutes remaining in the day, a day set aside to honor those with which he had served, Booth chose to honor himself as well. A prideful grin ghosted along his face as he allowed his eyes to close and his mind to clear, and as he relaxed himself to sleep with the gentle hum of "Under My Thumb", an insistent knock began at his door.