AN: So I know there are a ton of these fics out there, all with their own takes on this moment. This one is mine. I've had the idea for this in my head for ages and finally I've written it. I hope you all enjoy my turn at taking a stab at this.
Summary: Booth had called it a spell. Brennan had said it was nothing but 'smoke, particulates with no special powers.' But they both secretly called it hope. Hope for a future together.
She watched the flames curl around the last of her little slip of paper, the date of when she thought she and Booth would finally become a 'them' written on it as Booth had instructed and then insisted on burning for their 'spell'; his words echoing in her head.
'When I was a kid if I wanted something really, really bad, I'd write it down on a piece of paper and I'd burn it. It was like a spell. It was bound that my wish would come true.'
While she didn't believe in such things, part of her longed for it to be true; because despite what she'd told Booth about not being ready to give up the last of her imperviousness yet, she'd lied, she was ready; more than ready actually.
From the moment she'd come back from Maluku she'd been ready to do what she had been too afraid to do on the steps of the Hoover that Spring night. She was ready to 'give this a shot' as Booth had put it.
Her excitement to see Booth again near the coffee cart where they had promised each other to meet when they returned, had been crushed when he'd told her about Hannah. She had felt something sharp being thrust into her metaphorical heart as he explained how they'd met and then showed her the pictures of the beautiful blonde journalist.
She had kept a brave face, not letting him see her hurt; only congratulating him on his new relationship while inside she was crumbling.
She'd made it through working on the remains they had been called back to DC to help Cam with in what amounted to a basement without showing any signs of her distress. It was once she gone home and was in her apartment again for the first time in six months that she'd finally let the tears out.
He was everywhere she looked. The late night visits after she'd found her mother in Limbo, Thai food in hand. The nights they would work on paperwork, sitting side by side on her couch, containers of takeout Chinese food spread out been the piles of papers.
So many moments that had happened and she'd known that they would never happen again now that Hannah was in the picture.
She'd collapsed on her couch and sobbed for what felt like hours but which turned out to only be about half an hour. She thought she'd lost her chance forever. Yet for reasons she could not explain rationally, she held on to hope.
Even when, a few days after returning to DC, the blonde journalist had shown up in DC, surprising Booth with the news that she had transferred there to be with him; and so it had been another blow to Brennan's metaphorical heart. Yet she'd still clung to the thin and delicate thread of hope inside herself.
Finally though, that delicate thread had snapped and the last of her hope had died for good during the Eames case and that night in the pouring rain, after confessing to Booth that she had gotten the signal. The moment Booth had once more reminded her of Hannah and that they were 'as serious as a heart attack,' she'd felt the thread break.
She'd fallen apart again. That time mourning her lost chance for good.
Now, months after Hannah's exit from their lives, she and Booth were on the precipice of becoming more. The difference this time was that he was the one that wasn't ready and she was. She would have laughed at the irony if it didn't also make her want to scream in frustration.
Instead she let out a breath and shifted in her seat, trying to find a more comfortable position in which to sit on the hard, molded plastic of the stadium chair. The very stadium chairs that Booth had coaxed she and Sweets into helping him rescue from a trash pile, which resulted in she and Booth being trapped in the old, cage-style elevator in Booth's building after the power went out due to the blizzard.
Now, hours later, freed and safely ensconced in Booth's apartment, the remnants of their 'spell' turning to ash in front of them, Brennan found herself hoping and wishing once more; this time that the 'spell' would work.
When she looked over at Booth, she saw that he was staring out into the room, obviously lost in his own thoughts. For a moment she considered asking him what he was thinking about, if perhaps he wasn't as angry as he thought. At the last moment though, she decided it didn't matter she would wait as long as he needed.
She had hope again after all. Hope that eventually they would finally have their moment and everything would finally fall into place and they could be together. She just had to be patient.
In the meantime, she would continue to be there for Booth as he worked through the mix of emotions he still had about his breakup with Hannah.
Resting her hand on his knee, she gave it a gentle squeeze, letting him know that she was there and she wasn't going anywhere and when he looked at her, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth, she felt her heart soar. It wouldn't be long. He was almost there; she could see it in his eyes. She just had to wait a bit longer.
Little did either of them know that fate was already conspiring to push them together in a way neither had imagined. Nor what the result would be once they had.
For now, they would just have to wait.
So, there you are. What did you think? Was it great? Was it awful? Just okay? Let me know by posting your thoughts in that lovely little box down there. After all, reviews feed the Muse ;)