Summary: Prepare yourself to find out the truth about the beloved fortune cookies! And how does a hard day of work, a dinner at Wong Foo's and a fortune cookie may have the possibility to bring the forensic anthropologist and FBI agent together? BB.
Author's Note: For right now, this is going to be a one-shot. I don't know if I will continue on writing this one, but even if I will, I will probably write this when I am done with When Life Is Running Out. Speaking of that, I am done with Chapter 10, and in the process of getting it beta-ed, so it may take a while too, sorry about that. School had started, and I am extremely busy at the moment, with all the readings for AP World History, and also lots of homework from various classes. So, if I don't update, you can assume that I am working really hard on homework and studying at the moment. Also, this chapter is not beta-ed by anyone, so you can blame on me if you find any grammatical errors. Now, enjoy!
Don't forget to review, and also, what I wrote about the Fortune Cookies, it's true. I am not lying about it.
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Looking at the familiar surroundings at Wong Foo, Brennan suddenly felt relaxed for the first time in a couple of days. Her latest case with Booth had caused most of the displeasure, and made Brennan wondered how the human race could be the cruelest living things among the nature. After standing at the front door searching for a certain person, she finally took steps again, toward the bar.
"Hey." She said softly to Booth, who was staring at his drink in deep thoughts.
Booth gave her a smile, so Brennan wasted no time to give him the file.
"All signed?" He asked.
Brennan nodded, "All signed." She was about to leave when Booth asked again.
"You had dinner yet?"
"No."
"How about eating with me? After all, you did come all the way here to bring me the file." Booth suggested.
Brennan considered for a while, and reminded herself that she hadn't eaten anything for at least 8 hours. So, she accepted Booth's offer without further question.
As soon as Brennan sat down, Sid came up and put down a cup of hot coffee, then stopped for while to study and walked away to make the food for Brennan. Brennan had never figure out how Sid could figure what people wants by just looking at them for a while.
"So, you still holding okay?" Booth asked, whose voice brought Brennan out of her thoughts.
Brennan nodded, and took a sip of the coffee. Hmm…Just the way I like it…"Why did you ask?"
"Because you and the squints seemed to be acting a bit unusual during the case?" Booth suggested.
"We're fine. I'm fine." Brennan lied immediately. In truth, she was not. Sometimes Brennan wondered how she could do her job despite the brutality of humans she experienced through her job everyday.
Booth continued to stare at her, as if he was waiting for something else. Brennan tried to ignore his gaze, but she was finally defeated when she said, "All right! That's it, Booth!"
"What?" Booth asked, pretending to be innocent.
"Stop staring at me. I…fine. You just want me to say this. I still feel disturb because of the case, are you happy now?" The anthropologist asked sharply. She hated Booth, for he had the ability to look through her, to know what exactly she was thinking about, or feeling of. How could one man look through her so easily?
"It's okay to feel disturb, Bones. It's normal for people to feel like this. Jezz, half of the time when I look at my cases, I feel sick about them too." Booth tried to comfort Brennan.
Brennan shook her head, "It's not alright, Booth! I should be used to it. I see this all the time when I was looking at the remains, then how is this different than others?"
"You don't have to be strong all the time, you know." Booth told her softly.
Brennan breathed out a sigh. "I just…forget about it. I will be all right later. Besides, why do you even care?"
"Because that's what human beings do? Or maybe I just do this to annoy you. Take your pick." Booth answered sarcastically.
Brennan smiled a little. She appreciated the fact that Booth tired to cheer her up for doing this.
Sid put down a plate of Chinese food in front of Brennan and Booth. Both of them thanked Sid silently, for they were both starving.
"But really, why do you care?" Brennan asked again, curious about Booth's actions.
Booth thought for a while, took a bite of his food before answering, "I care because you're my partner and friend. You seemed to be a bit off during the case, so I thought we can have a talk after this."
Brennan nodded, showing Booth that she understood his intentions. "It's just that…I guess it's too much. I don't know how the parents could do something this inhumane to their sick child. From an anthropology point of view, I would see this action as sick and disgusting. Anthropology told us that the mother will take care of the child no mater what, but apparently it doesn't apply in this case."
"You don't need to see this in an anthology view. I guess the parents just couldn't accept the fact that their child will never be normal, that it's too hard to take care of her. That's what drove them to do a crime like this. People will never understand their intentions unless they had experienced something similar." Booth explained.
Brennan was able to pick up something that was unusual for Booth to say. "You said" people", not "us". If you said people, then that means that you experienced this before?"
Booth nodded his head slightly, and replied grimly, "Yes, I did. Remember I told you about Jared?"
"Your brother?"
"Yeah. I got another young brother too. His name was called Kyle. When Kyle was 3, he was diagnosed with cancer, and he passed away when he was 5. I remembered how hard it was for my parents to take care of him. Therefore I can totally understand their intentions."
"Are you suggesting that what the Carine family did was right?" Brennan asked incredulously. She couldn't believe her ears of what she just heard.
"Hell no. Bones, what I am saying is that I understand what it is like to take care of a sick child. But I didn't say what they did was right, so don't misunderstand about it." Booth pointed out sharply. He wondered when would she finally understand that sometimes truth might not be the most important thing in life. "Gosh, I shouldn't even have to tell you that." Booth added quietly.
"I'm sorry about your little brother." Brennan said softly.
"Bones, it's alright. It's been a long time ago." Booth assured her.
Suddenly out of nowhere, Sid just popped up in front of them, scared the both of them.
"Sorry if I startled you." Sid apologized. "Fortune cookies? It's on the house." He showed them the plate that placed lots and lots of fortune cookies. So, both of them took one, and thanked the owner.
"Wow. Fortune cookies! I love fortune cookies. I wonder how the Chinese can always come up with something like this!" Booth said with excitement. Booth had no idea why, but every time he saw a fortune cookie, he felt like he was a 6 years old again.
"Actually, Fortune cookies are not traditional Chinese food." Brennan told him as a matter of fact.
This statement caused Booth to drop his mouth. "What? It's not Chinese food?"
"No, it's American Chinese food. Fortune cookies were not invented in China, it was invented in America, to attract Americans to eat Chinese food." Brennan explained.
"So, it's not Chinese food?" Booth asked again. Fortune cookies are not Chinese food but American Chinese food? What was Brennan trying to say anyway? There's a difference between them?
"A lot of Chinese foods you eat in America are not the real Chinese food. They all have some mixed culture in it. If you really want to have real Chinese food, you need to go to Chinatown or China in order to taste it. I can tell you that it's totally different kind of food."
Looking at the fortune cookies in his hand, Booth asked disappointingly, "So, fortune cookies are not the real Chinese food?"
Brennan shook her head, "You will never find anything such as fortune cookies in China. Half of the Chinese from China don't even know the existence of fortune cookies."
"How do you know this stuff?" Booth asked.
"I had a friend who's from Hong Kong when I was in College. She told me all about it." Brennan replied shortly.
Booth sighed, but recovered quickly, "Even though it may not be the real Chinese food, but I will still treat it like it is. Besides, it's always fun to see your fortune."
"You do know the fortune inside the fortune cookies are not true right?" Brennan asked worriedly.
"Of course I do." Booth answered, rolling his eyes as he answered.
The two of them cracked their fortune cookies, and took out the piece of paper. They both read out loud, "Look carefully, for the one you seek, for the one true love you seek, he/she may be closer than you can even imagine. Look again, and see who sits beside you."
Brennan and Booth looked up from the table and stared at each other for a while, then quickly dropped their gaze to their food, feeling embarrassed about the content of the fortune. They were both wondering the same thing -"Is it possible that the fortune is true?"
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