Title: Brennan's Song
Author: Poly
Beta: Nina/Deia
Category: Alternative Universe, B&B, Hodgela
Warnings: light violence, reference to adult themes
Rating: T / PG-13
Summary: I was seven when I first met him. And neither of us knew how our lives would change from that moment on.
Disclaimer: The themes, characters, and stories related to Bones belong to Fox and its creator, Hart Hanson. The songs quoted belong to the respective artists. I own nothing!

Brennan's Song

1. First Impression

She said, I was seven and you were nine
I looked at you like the stars that shined
In the sky, the pretty lights

My first impression of him had not been incredible. People usually say that the first impression is the last impression but I disagree. How could I have a good impression of the classmate of my brother when he did nothing but annoyed me?

I was seven years old and was playing what was one of my favorite games at that time - pretend to dig bones in the backyard.

"Those are not bones, they are painted sticks!" he told me. So smart.

"No, they are dinosaur bones! I just discovered them, and I'm going to be famous!"

He stared at me with an expression of disbelief, with his brow furrowed.

"You're nuts, right?"

And I stared at him back, mirroring his expression.

"I don't know what that means."

He sighed, like saying, Oh, it is not worth to explain, and went back to the house to annoy my brother instead of annoying me.

Russ had never brought that boy to our house before and Russ always brought friends to the house. But I wouldn't say that the boy was Russ' friend. My brother told me earlier that the boy had entered our school last week, transferred from Philadelphia. Since he was new in class the teacher asked Russ to work with him on a project. So both of them needed to meet after school to finish a presentation about the pilgrims.

Russ was bothered by the boy, complaining that he was an idiot, that he was just doing the paper with him because the teacher made him do that. And in the first time that I saw the boy, disdaining of the game that had already become an obsession to me, I didn't take him seriously. But things would change a lot, and soon.

It was the end of the afternoon. I was looking for a book that I was reading but couldn't find. I was looking for it in my room when I remembered leaving it in the tree house earlier.

The tree house was my sanctuary. Dad, Russ and I had built it some time ago on a big tree in the backyard. We called it the Lab because it was a place where we could bring things that we never brought home like bugs and dirty stuff. In the Lab we could cut, paint, make a mess, and even explode little things without Mom complaining about the mess. I also liked to go there just to read or lean on the whole that served as a window. I could see the windows of both my room and Russ' since both windows overlooked the backyard.

I was going up the rope ladders when I heard a muffled sound. I stopped, staring at the dark backyard. We didn't have a dog, even with Russ saying that he wanted one every single time that he had the opportunity. The backyard had a fence and I knew that my mom was in the kitchen making dinner and my dad and Russ were upstairs. I could see the lights turned on in my brother's bedroom. Then I noticed that it seemed like the noise was coming from inside the lab.

Grabbing a thick stick that I found at the ground I kept going up in the ladder. I wasn't the kind of girl to run away, even at that age. I reached the end of the ladder, gazing at the lab almost in darkness. At one corner near the window, I saw a black mass that didn't move. I heard another muffled sound and finally recognize it as a sob.

I approached slowly, letting go of the stick. I seated near the ladder but the boy closed in a little ball near the window didn't move. I touched his shoulder, awkwardly.

I really scared him. He moved away from me as if I would bite him. He went all the way to the opposite wall pressing his back against it when he didn't have anywhere else to go. I could see the bright pearl color of tears on his face with the weak light of dusk.

I was always clumsy with this kind of thing, never knowing how to act. I didn't have aunts and uncles or cousins and I wasn't social at school. Most of my experience with people my age came with the relationship with my brother. If my brother cried, my mom was around and she knew how to act. I didn't know how to act.

"What are you looking at, weirdo?" he said after some time, angry.

"I.. I.." I wanted to help. "I didn't know you were here, I'm sorry."

I began to go down the ladders.

"Wait."

I stopped, looking at him.

"This is your tree house... I should go."

I came back.

"We call it the Lab. If you want to stay, it's ok."

It looked like he was thinking about his choices. Then he dried the tears and took a look around.

"What do you usually do here?"

I stretched my arm to get the book I was looking for at a spot near Russ' remote-controlled toy car.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Is it good?"

"I like it. Do you enjoy reading?"

He looked at the other side, not comfortable.

"I read the school books."

Suddenly everything got darker and I looked out the window. The light in Russ' room had been turned off.

"Did you and Russ finish the presentation?"

He shrugged.

"We fought about who was going to write the title. He ripped the paper and we ended up not doing anything."

"Don't you need to go home? Your parents will be worried."

He shrugged again but didn't answer me. He stared at the house with all the rooms dark. That's when I noticed something.

"Russ doesn't know that you are here! That's why you are hiding!"

He remained silent an didn't look at me.

"Is that why you were crying? Because the two of you fought?"

"Don't be silly!"

The eyes that were so gentle a second ago became dark with fury and I shut my mouth. I was not afraid of him, even if he was bigger than me. But it would be better not to make the boy angry. I looked at the stars in the sky wanting to change the subject and soon he was looking at them too.

"They are beautiful, aren't they?" he said in a low tone.

"Did you know that some of them are already dead but we can still see the light?"

"What do you mean?"

"They are so far away, and the light takes so long to come all the way, that what we are seeing already happened a long time ago."

He stooped gazing at the stars and looked at me.

"Really?"

"Really."

"How do you know?"

"I saw it in a book on the library. I asked my dad, and he said it is true."

"You're smart," he stated after some time, looking at me like something had changed.

"I know."

He laughed, I don't know why. Then he extended his hand like he was older than he looked.

"Seeley Booth."

I extended my hand too, holding his in a grip.

"Temperance Brennan."

We went back to gazing at the stars together.

A/n: This is the first chapter. Please let me know what you thought. I first wrote this story in Portuguese and since English is not my first language I apologize for any mistakes. The story has more than 50 chapters and I`m still writing it. So depending on the response I`ll keep translating it or not.

The first idea for this fic came with a B&B video that I made with the song quoted above, Mary`s Song by Taylor Swift. If you're curious about it, the name is "Booth and Brennan AU - Mary`s Song (Oh my my my)". Yes, I intend to write about the whole song.

Thank you for reading!