My very good friend Nyre The Black Rose suggested this as a story idea using my original character Father Mitch and the idea intrigued me enough that I decided to try it. Any accolades as to the idea behind the story rightfully belong to her, and I thank her for such a great idea. I hope you enjoy this one. Gregg.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Temperance Brennan was in a quandary. Booth had proposed a few days before, and before she had been able to say anything, he had told her that he didn't expect an answer anytime soon. He told her that he understood her views, and wanted her to make her own decision. If she said no, then he was fine with that, and if she said yes, then he would be fine also. Brennan, though, knew that even though he was being honest with her, a refusal would hurt him. He believed in marriage, and in positive ways she could agree with, so marrying the mother of his child was important to him, and also being married to the woman he was living with. Rebecca's rejection all those years before still hurt him deeply, and she did not want to hurt him further. But she had genuine reasons for not believing in marriage. The real question was was Booth enough of a reason to put aside her views?
Ordinarily she would turn to Booth with such musings, but as he was the one who was being mused about, she couldn't approach him. Angela was also out as a confidant on this one as she was biased in favor of marriage regardless. She was hesitant about Sweets and Gordon Gordon because while she did consider them friends, she was still of the opinion that psychology was nothing more than a soft science. She also was desirous of speaking to someone whose opinion Booth respected, so that whatever advice she got, it would be something that he could regard as valid. In her mind, after taking in all the various possibilities, she honed in on one possible choice. Booth's priest Father Mitch.
Brennan genuinely liked Father Mitch. She had been introduced to him several years before and since then had occasionally engaged him in conversation about a number of philosophical issues. While never entirely agreeing with him on those issues, she found his arguments well thought out and supported by evidence she could honestly give credence to. She knew, though, that that wouldn't necessarily be the case on this subject, as Father Mitch regarded marriage as a religious institution that had as a bond between a man and woman in the eyes of God. But she also had to acknowledge that he just may be able to give her a good enough secular reason to accept Booth's proposal. Her decision made, she picked up her cell phone and made a call.
"Holy Trinity, Father Mitch speaking," came the familiar voice.
"Father Mitch, this is Temperance Brennan," Brennan said into the phone.
"Temperance," Father Mitch said, a warmth lighting his voice. "It's been some time. How is the pregnancy progressing?"
"Very nicely," Brennan smiled like she always did when thinking about her pregnancy. She unconsciously moved her free hand to her slightly rounded abdomen where she was beginning to show. "I was wondering if you had some free time to discuss something with me."
"I have today pretty much free," Father Mitch replied. "Would you care to come to the Church and we can discuss the subject over some coffee or tea?"
"Actually I was going to offer you lunch," Brennan told him. "There is an excellent Italian restaurant not far from the Church that also served vegetarian versions of their main menu."
"That sounds excellent, Temperance," Mitch told her. "I know where it is. Say 12:30?"
"That is acceptable," Brennan told him. "I will see you then."
Ordinarily she would be having lunch at the Diner with Booth, but Booth was in North Carolina on a case unrelated to the work they normally did. He'd only been gone one day, but she already missed him more than she had thought she would. She knew that he had had deep feelings for her for a long time, even in that first year of their partnership, and she wondered if this was how he had always felt when she was away on a lecture tour, book signings, or her digs. If so, then she made a personal commitment to include Booth more in her world outside of the Jeffersonian and the FBI. The idea of traveling together, and each of them seeing other aspects of their professional lives and pastimes was something that she found very appealing.
Arriving at the restaurant she found that the normal lunch crowd was not in evidence, but it was the middle of the week, so that was the likely explanation. Scanning the main dining room she saw that Father Mitch was already there and when he saw her he stood politely, motioning her over.
"I hope you don't mind Temperance, but I arrived a bit early and got us a table," Mitch said as she took a seat across from him.
"This is fine," Brennan told him with a smile. Despite being so far apart in beliefs, she did like Mitch and their discussions. She could understand why Booth considered this man a good friend, and why he sought his counsel when he had things bothering him that she was not very adept at assisting him with outside of simply listening.
They each looked through their menus and placed their orders. Brennan ordered Egg Plant Parmesan, while Mitch ordered a meat filled seven cheese Calzone. Neither ordered wine as it was too early in the day for either of them.
"So how is pregnancy treating you?" Mitch asked curiously. After all of their conversations the last few years he had been very interested to see how she would adapt to being pregnant and an expectant mother.
Brennan smiled, her hand wandering down, surreptitiously, to her abdomen. "While physically it is disconcerting at times, and the emotional highs and lows are not appreciated, I find the whole experience to be quite satisfying," she told him. "The dichotomy of such a statement is imprecise at best, but adequately states my feelings."
Mitch hid his amusement at her attempts to deliver a clinical answer to such a non-clinical question. "How has Seeley been handling your pregnancy and the fact that he's going to be a Father again?" he asked.
"Booth is Booth," Brennan shrugged, though a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I did manage to get him to cut back on his overprotective tendencies, though."
Mitch raised a brow. "Oh?" he asked. "I would have thought that would be impossible."
Brennan chuckled. "It was until I managed to get a picture of him preparing breakfast one morning naked," she revealed. "He was doing a rather humorous dance and singing while cooking. I told him that if he stopped being so overprotective, I would not let anyone, especially our friend Angela Montenegro, see the picture."
Mitch let loose a controlled laugh, but his extreme amusement was quite obvious. His eyes twinkled with mischief. "Now that is one picture I have to see at some point," he said as he caught his breath when he stopped laughing.
"I'm sorry, but I did promise him not to show it to anyone," Brennan replied, very amused, too. She'd promised she wouldn't show anyone the picture, but made no such promise about telling anyone about it, therefore she had no problem informing Father Mitch about Booth's morning antics in the kitchen.
"So what is it you wished to discuss with me?" Mitch asked when their food arrived.
"Booth asked me to marry him," Brennan revealed.
Mitch was well aware of Brennan's very direct, and negative, views on marriage. He didn't agree with them, but she did make some valid arguments when she pointed out how men over the course of time had turned such a holy institution into one of ownership and power. Things had improved in the last fifty years, and were getting better, including the Church's views on such past distortions of the institution, but there was a lot of work left to do.
"And what did you tell him?" Mitch asked.
"Booth said he didn't expect an answer. He wanted me to know that his commitment to me is durable, and unwavering," Brennan explained. "He told me that the decision, naturally was mine, but that however I answered, he was still with me."
"So he did so as a demonstration of how deeply he feels about you, and that regardless of how you answer, he wanted you to have another tangible sign of his loyalty and devotion," Mitch observed, mindful of how difficult it was for her to allow a conversation to shift to the subject of love. As such, he used other words that were similar, yet still lacked the depth that the word love conveyed.
"And his love," she added. She may have difficulties saying the words, but she understood how Booth felt about her, and she could honestly say she returned his feelings fully.
"Then I'm not sure I see what the problem is," Mitch said after taking a moment to try and figure out what Temperance was getting at.
"When I first met Booth I can honestly say that if anyone had asked me to marry them my answer would have been no without hesitation," Brennan told Mitch. "Over the course of the last seven years I believe I have come to the point where if I were given a good enough reason to be married to a man, I could do so, and be quite happy with that. But now that Booth has asked me to marry him, I find I need a good reason to say yes."
"Do you share Booth's feelings about the two of you?" Mitch asked.
"If you are asking if I love Booth, then yes, I share Booth's feelings," she replied.
"For most couples that is good enough reason to get married," Mitch told her. "But I get the impression that you disagree."
"To an extent, at least as it applies to Booth and myself," Brennan posited vaguely. "I want Booth to be happy. He deserves to be happy. He has proposed to three women, two of whom have turned him down, and now he is waiting for an answer from me, though he is not in a hurry, he indicated. If I turn him down, I feel that I will be hurting him. Yet at this point, outside of what I feel for him, the main reason I would marry him is because of his guilt in relation to the Church, and in particular you. I do not feel that is a worthy reason to marry someone. It somehow cheapens the feelings each has for the other, and becomes more of an obligation, or a debt somehow paid."
"Excuse me?" Mitch asked. Now this was confusing. She had suddenly lumped the Church, and him, into this and was now discussing obligation and the paying of debts.
"If we do not get married, Booth will then have two children out of wedlock, a situation that I believe the Catholic Church does not approve of," Brennan explained. "Also, and still looking at Catholic morality, he would be living with a woman, engaging in sexual relations outside of marriage. As his confessor, you would have the obligation to determine penance for his sins, if Booth chose to confess those activities."
"And he would," Mitch replied, speaking in the future tense so as not to break the sanctity of the confessional.
"Also, as an Atheist, I would be distinctly uncomfortable being married in a church, so if I do say yes, it would most likely be for a civil ceremony," she continued. "Something else I believe that the Catholic Church does not approve of. If the only thing that brings forth a marriage is the benefit of one persons conscience, then it is not much of a marriage. Much like my early concerns about whether our relationship was built on our feelings for one another, or simply a byproduct of the death of my intern and subsequent pregnancy. Those fears have been alleviated, thankfully, but they were there nonetheless."
Mitch took a moment to compose his thoughts and come up with a reply. He had the feeling that Temperance wanted him to refute her assumptions adequately enough so that her own conscience would allow her to get married to Seeley. The main problem was that the ordinary arguments didn't apply to Temperance as she was a committed Atheist.
"It's impossible to dismiss Seeley's religious beliefs from any decision regarding marriage, Temperance," he finally replied. "The Church does teach that sex before marriage is inappropriate as sex is a gift from God that expresses the love between a husband and wife with the added possibility of conceiving a child. Seeley, like many Catholics, has rebelled against that teaching, and like many has pondered on it. As a Priest I am compelled to uphold the teachings of the Church, but I am also a pragmatist. I can view a strong, devoted relationship as you and Seeley have as being a marriage in itself, in a more metaphorical sense, and one that God would approve of. The Church would not approve a Church marriage, though, due to the fact that you would not be willing to make the needed commitments."
"But would they approve of a civil ceremony?" she pressed. "If I agree to a marriage, it must be with the Church's approval at some level. I do not want Booth to feel as if he is failing in his Faith. I believe in the long term that would hurt the marriage."
Mitch was coming to realize that this was much more about Seeley having what she felt he deserved, and not about accommodating her concerns. He decided to offer a compromise.
"There is one way in which we could get that approval," he offered. "I could ask the Cardinal for a special dispensation to perform a marriage in a civil setting, outside the sanctity of the Church and it's teachings. That way Seeley would have a ceremony conducted by a religious figure, and you would have the civil ceremony you desire. You would even be able to prepare your own vows, and also prescribe what I have in the ceremony itself."
Brennan cocked her head, thinking about that. "Are you sure dispensation would be granted?" she asked.
"It's been granted before, and the Cardinal knows Seeley and the good works that Seeley has done," Mitch replied.
"But would you approve?" Brennan pressed. Booth took his friendships seriously, and she knew that his friendship with Father Mitch was very important to him, and Mitch's opinion held a great deal of weight with Booth.
"Yes, I would," Mitch finally responded, taking a long moment to consider if he could in all honesty. His commitment to the teachings of the Church were also important to him. "The question now is, are you willing to accept Booth's proposal," he asked her. "Or, rather, is there a good enough reason for you personally to agree to a marriage?"
That was the questions, wasn't it? In all of her carefully constructed elements that she had told Mitch, she had avoided the one aspect that eluded her. Was there enough for her to make the commitment, and also the change in her ideals? In the end it really boiled down to trust. Did she trust Booth enough to let down her final barriers and trust him not to turn the institution into what she had so vehemently argued against? When she boiled it down to that, she had her answer.
"Please ask for the dispensation," she requested, looking Mitch directly in his eyes. "There is a good enough reason. Booth. He's my reason."
"I'll talk to the Cardinal this afternoon and let you know this evening," he assured her.
When Brennan left the restaurant she sent a quick text message to Booth. Smiling, she made her way back to the Jeffersonian. For the first time in their romantic relationship, she was sure that all was right.
That Afternoon
Bones was sitting by the hospital bed that Booth was laying in, a large wrap bandage around his head. Apparently when he received her text message he had been walking across his office and was so shocked by the message that he ran into the door frame and got a concussion, plus his head was split open needing a total of 54 stitches.
"Sweets is never going to let me live this down," Booth groaned. "The little pimple was right there and saw it happen. You could have come and told me personally, you know."
"But you're happy, aren't you?" she asked.
"Happy? Damn straight, Bones! I'm going to have that text message printed out and framed!" Booth said firmly. "And then I think I will head on over, get called a pervert any number of times by Mitch in confession, and then give the guy a big kiss for having that talk with you!"
Bones raised a brow. "Why would Father Mitch call you a pervert?" she questioned, suddenly not feeling terribly charitable towards the Priest.
"Because of all the impure thoughts about you I've been confessing to almost daily for the last seven or eight years," Booth admitted, a tinge of red coloring his facial features. He held up his iPhone and went to the text message that had brought about his concussion.
Booth- Yes. I will marry you. My one good reason is, and always has been, you. Love you, Bones.
"Definitely getting that one framed," he said as he took her hand and interlaced their fingers.
Bones smiled. Despite their being in a hospital, and her worry over his injury, she couldn't think of anything that could make her feel any more happy that just holding hands with Booth. She decided that she would make a donation to Holy Trinity. Father Mitch had shown her what marriage really was, and how she could agree to it without compromising her personal beliefs.
A/N: Kind of a soft ending, but I wanted the tone of the story to mute slightly to this ending, though I couldn't resist the slight bit of humor. I hope everyone enjoyed this one. Gregg.