One of Us
Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine - despite my most fervent wishes.
A/N: As much as I loved the BB dinner scene in Killer in Concrete, I thought that the squints were kind of forgotten. After making such a big deal about how worried they were about Booth, they didn't show them getting the news that he was fine. So, I came up with this fic; it took longer to finish it that I'd planned but here it finally is. It takes place between Brennan finding Booth and the dinner scene, as you could tell by the end. This fic can also be a companion or maybe prequel to my other two oneshots: She's the one for him and I know, because I couldn't resist having the squints talk about the BB relationship. They do make a cameo at the end.
"Ok, sweetie," Angela Montenegro said into the phone as she listened to her best friend and co-worker Temperance Brennan tell her about the rescue of Brennan's partner FBI Agent Seeley Booth. "But he's all right?" She asked and then grinned as she overheard Booth argued that he was fine and there was no reason to go to the ER. "Yes, I can hear him," she said with a smile as she looked at the rest of the team that sat around her. "Well, call me if you guys need anything. Bye." She closed her phone and reached down to take Hodgins' hand.
They were all sitting on the couches on the second floor, where they've gone to eat something and wait for Brennan to call and tell them how the rescue had gone. "He's going to be fine," she said as she looked at Zack and Cam who were sitting across from her and Hodgins. "They're on their way to the ER. Bren said he has a bad burn on his thigh, bruised ribs that might be broken and a possible concussion. All in all, it could be worse. I could hear complaining about going to the ER, so I doubt even Bren could get him to stay the night."
"Thank God," Cam said with a sigh and sat back as all the tension of the past few hours finally left her. Zack and Hodgins also breathed a sigh of relief at the news. Then a silence fell over the four friends as they all assimilated the fact that they were all once again safe.
Angela was truly thankful that Booth was safe, not only because he was a close friend and she wouldn't have wanted anything to happen to him but also because she was not sure what Bren would have done had Booth not been found safe and sound.
Angela had been extremely worried about her friend's mental state ever since Booth had gone missing. Brennan had been wound up so tight that it wouldn't have taken much for her to snap. Her childhood had been so traumatic that she rarely let people into her life, but Booth had broken though all of her usual barriers and had become an important part of her life. His sudden departure from it, under these circumstance, would have had a devastating effect on Brennan; one from which Angela wasn't sure Brennan would recover. Angela was just glad that all that worry was moot now.
Cam was likewise thankful that her friend had survived yet another close call. She had worked with law enforcement officers most of her career and had lost of a number of friends in the line of duty. She knew that it was always a risk and one which all of them had accepted, but that didn't make it any easier when a friend was lost. And if that friend happened to be Booth . . . well, that would have been a tough blow. She and Booth went back a long way, and though they weren't together nor were they would be again, he would always be special to Cam.
Zack, for his part, was contemplating, that however unlikely it might seem, Booth had become a role model. While Dr. Brennan was still his role model when it came to what a forensic anthropologist should be, in the last two years Zack had found himself looking to Booth for how a man should act. In the young Doctor's eye, Booth embodied some of the best qualities of a man (though he also embodied some of the bad ones) and Zack had begun to model his action after the agent.
Jack was also thinking how nice it was to once again know that all of his friends were safe. And he was once again grateful that his knowledge had in some way helped ensure someone's safety. He also contemplated how different life would be if Booth was no longer around. That thought led the entomologist to wonder just when the FBI agent had become such an integral part of the team. Just when had he gone from being another mindless drone of a corrupt government agency to being a respected colleague and a trusted friend – a man they knew they could depend on?
"Huh," he said.
"What?" asked Angela, as she turned sideways to look at him.
"I was just wondering," he answered. "Do you guys know when did Booth stop being the agent the FBI fostered on us and Goodman forced us to work with and became someone we actually like trust and respect? When did he become a close and good friend instead of someone we had to put up with? Just when did he become one of us?" He asked as he looked at each one of them in turn.
The question made Zack and Angela looked at each other and think while it make Cam looked at the other three curiously as to her they had always appeared to be a unit.
"Agent Booth is not really one of us; he's not a scientist and I don't think he'd appreciate you saying he was." Zack argued. "In fact, he might just shoot you, if he heard you."
Jack rather thought Zack had a point, however, "I don't mean one of us us," he said waving his hand between the two of them. "I mean one of us as in part of the team, part of our little crime fighting family thing we've got going on here." He said waving his hand to encompass more than just the lab.
"But we don't fight crime and we are not a family," Zack, always literal, argued again.
The other three just looked at each other and shook their heads at Zack's denseness.
This time it was Angela that answered, "We might not go out there and literally kick criminal ass like Booth and Brennan do, but what we do here," she waved her hand to indicate the work that they did in the lab, "that gives them the tools they need to go and kick that ass. They couldn't really do what they do if we didn't do what we do." Angela turned to find both Jack and Cam nodding. "So, we do fight crime.
"As to when Booth became part of our family," she continued, turning to look at Jack this time. "I think that happened when we became a family, shortly after we started working with him."
"What do you mean?" Jack asked, surprised. "We were a family before Booth came."
"No," Angela argued. "We were colleagues and friends but we weren't really close enough to be considered family. It wasn't until we started to work on the cases Booth brought us that we really started to know each other. I think it was the intensity and closeness that working those cases brought us that made us as close as we now are."
Jack thought about it for a minute and then agreed. "I guess you're right." He shook his head with a small chuckle as something else occurred to him. "Who would have thought a year ago that we'd be this close, hu? Especially Booth and Brennan. God, remember how they fought about everything?"
Angela and Zack nodded smiling. Cam, however, looked a bit confused. "But they still fight about everything." She argued.
"No," Angela said with an amused look. "Now they bicker about everything; when they first started to work together they fought, loudly, about everything. It actually got pretty vicious a few times."
"Really?" Cam asked, fascinated. "I guess, I'm glad I missed that. Hearing them now is bad enough."
"It's funny, though it could get really nasty sometimes, neither one really took it personally. Even then, they had more patience with each other and gave each other more leeway than they would have anyone else," said Angela.
"Yeah," Jack agreed. "Still, if you had told me when they first met that Brennan would care so much about him that she'd loose it like she lost it today, I'd have said you were certifiable."
"Bren did not loose it today," Angela protested, though not very convincingly.
"If by loosing it," Zack pointed out. "Hodgins means that Doctor Brennan acted out of character today then he's right. She was erratic, irrational and in a panic – most unlike herself." It was clear by Zack's voice that he hadn't understood his mentor's behavior.
"Well, what did you expect Zack?" Angela asked though not unkindly. "Booth was missing. She didn't know where he was, how he was or even if she would get him back safe. Of course, she freaked. I mean remember how Booth was when the gravedigger took Brenn and Jack? It's the same thing." Angela told him and reached for Jack's hand as remembering that time always affected her and him.
"But that's different," Zack pointed out. "Booth is a very emotional person; he's very excitable and easily irritable. He's prone to action; his first reaction is always to go out and do something even when he doesn't have a plan and can act quite irrational as a result. But, Dr Brennan is not like that. She's always been logical, analytical and rational. I've never seen her act so out of control or unpredictably before. I mean she accepted her father's help, when she hadn't wanted to even talk to him before; and she even lied to the FBI, without thinking about it. I just don't understand." He finished, shaking his head and looking quite befuddled. "I know that she cares for Agent Booth but she cares for all us and I just don't see her acting like that if one of us was missing."
Angela and Jack shared a look and shook their heads at the comparison. "Well, sweetie, that's because the first thing Brenn would do if one of us was missing was go to Booth and have him find us."
"Yeah, Brennan sure has a lot of faith in Booth," Hodgins agreed. "She wouldn't really worry because she'd know that he'd find us."
"Yes, and if she did start to panic, well, he'd be there to keep her from flying of the handle." Angela added. "But this time Booth was the one missing; not only didn't she know what was going on in the investigation but there was also no one to keep her calm."
"But aren't you her best friend?" Zack asked, still looking confused. "Why didn't you calm her?"
"Yeah, I'm her best girlfriend but Booth is her best friend." Angela answered and then she went on when Zack opened his mouth to ask the difference. "There's a difference, believe me. There are things they share, things they've gone through that I don't know about – things that she'll share with him but not with me. Their relationship is special."
"They're partners," Zack said, nodding his head to show he at least understood that part.
"No," Angela disagreed. "Well, yes they're partners, but it's more than that. They're best friends, like I said. They trust and depend on each other; she relies on him much more than she'll ever admit – even after this. She cares for all of us, yes, but what she feels for him is different, is deeper. She . . ." Angela trailed off and shot a small glance at Cam.
Cam, who had been enjoying Angela's verbal Olympics and wondering why she was having so much trouble articulating what she wanted to say, saw the glance and understood Angela's hesitation. "What Angela here is trying to delicately say is that Booth and Brennan not only love each other but they're also in love with each other." Cam then smiled nicely at Angela and told her, "Thank you for your discretion but it's not necessary."
Angela nodded and smile, glad that Cam appeared to have no problem with the concept of Booth and Brennan loving each other.
"They love each other?" Zack sounded so surprised that the other three looked at him incredulous and wondered where he had been for the past two years.
"Yes, Zack." Angela answered patiently. "They love each other."
"How do you know?" He asked, not because he doubted Angela but because he was curious as to how she'd formulated such a hypothesis. "Have they told you?"
"Well, no, they haven't. But I know," Angela answered.
"But how?" he insisted. "How can you possibly know something like that if they haven't told you?" His scientific curiosity now arose, Zack persisted; he'd always found it extremely difficult to tell how people feel about things if they don't tell him about, so he was curious to see how Angela gained her knowledge.
"Because of the way they look at each other; how they trust each other more than any one else and how they'll tell each other things they wouldn't tell anyone else. It's in the way they act around each other: how the first thing he does when he comes over is look for her and go stand by her and how she does the same when she enters a room he's in; how they always seem to know where the other is even if they haven't seen each other that day because they call each other at least three times a day; how he's always pulling and pushing her or guiding her with a hand on her back and how she has never said anything about it but instead thinks nothing of pulling or pushing him when she never voluntarily touches anyone else outside of a crisis. It's in everything they do, Zack," she finished. "Anyone can see."
Obviously not anyone if Zack's face was anything to go by, "But that's so inexact; how can you be sure of your findings?"
Angela just shook her head, "There are not findings, Zack. And yeah, they're inexact but human nature is not exact; you just have to go with what you know. Ok," she said when his face didn't change, while Hodgins next to her said, "Give it up babe, he won't get it."
"Ok, you want something more concrete?" At Zack's nod, she went on, "Why do think Bren didn't go with Sully when he left? She stayed because of Booth." She answered as Jack nodded and Cam made a half nod as she brought her glass to her lips.
"But, I thought that Booth's psychologist, that Dr. Wyatt, said it was because Dr. Brennan was incapable of living a life with purpose at this moment."
Angela nodded her head as Hodgins smirked and Cam thought how really there were no secrets in that lab and wondered just how much Seeley liked the fact that everyone apparently knows that he's in therapy.
"That's true as far as it goes," and with a wave of her hand she dismissed the good doctor's opinion, "but Dr. Wyatt is an FBI psychologist and his job is to get partners back in the field," when Zack opened his mouth to object, she stopped by raising a hand and saying, "I know Brenn is not an FBI agent but for this purpose it doesn't matter, ok?"
"Ok," Zack shrugged. "So if Dr. Wyatt's diagnosis was wrong, why do you think she stayed?" he asked, in a voice that suggested he didn't entirely believe Angela.
"I didn't say that Wyatt's diagnosis was wrong, just incomplete," Angela protested. "But ok, I'll tell you why she stayed. Sully's a good guy and he genuinely cared for her and he respected and admired what she did but he just didn't understand it – he didn't really understand her for that matter. He didn't understand that for Brenn this," and she waved to indicate the lab and the job they did there, "is more than just a job; it's her way to exorcise her demons.
"She needs to give a face and name to the people that come through here not only to give them justice and find the truth but she needs to feel that she's doing something important, that she's contributing something. Also, after her tumultuous teenage years, she needs the stability that having a regular job gives her and her association with the FBI satisfies her need for adventure and the unknown. But Sully didn't know any of that because Sully didn't really know her, nor did he get her – not on a fundamental level like Booth does.
"Booth has different motives, different demons but his dedication to the job and his need of it is the same as Brenn. He understands that aspect of her personality in a way that Sully never could and in a way that Brenn never would have let him.
"As much as I encouraged and wanted her to go, I knew that she wouldn't because she couldn't and I know deep down do did Booth. He encouraged her because he really cares for her and wants her to be happy, but we both knew she wasn't going to go. Sully's wide and Brenn is narrow the two just aren't compatible because as much as Sully didn't get Brenn, Brenn didn't get Sully. She doesn't understand how he could have leave everything he's worked hard for and deep down she's gotta have wondered if he could do that then would he just leave her if he ever got bored?
"After her childhood, she couldn't stay with someone like that, with someone that she couldn't really trust to stay. Booth, on the other hand, has already proven time and time again that he's here to stay. Like Hodgins said, she's got faith in him; she knows that he won't leave her. And that's why she didn't go, because she knew he wouldn't leave her and she couldn't leave him."
"Ok," Zack said slowly as he digested everything that Angela had said, which, in all honesty had been a lot. "Ok, she trusts him, that doesn't necessarily mean that she's in love with him." He still argued.
"ZACK!" Angela said in a somewhat exasperated voice as Cam and Hodgins shook their heads yet again. "Of course it does. Brenn wouldn't trust him and depend on him to the extent that she does, or he her, if they didn't love each other. That level of trust and dependence doesn't happen unless very strong feelings are involved. And like you pointed out, each is more than willing to go to any extreme to make sure the other is safe; they're prepared to do for each other what they wouldn't do for anyone else – that's love: being willing to sacrifice your career or happiness so that the other person is happy and safe."
"Ok, then why haven't they done something about it? Why aren't they together?" Zack asked, not sure if he was totally convinced by Angela's reasoning but willing to take her word for it.
"Because they're both extremely stubborn and because they're both comfortable where they're right now. They've skittish of a more romantic relationship: Booth has already been burned before and doesn't want to ruin what he has with Brenn by complicating it with romance and Brenn is weary of opening up and really let someone in and she knows that Booth wouldn't accept anything else than all of her if they were to go that path. They know that it could be good but they're afraid to risk what could happen if it'd go bad – their relationship means too much to both to risk loosing it. And let's face: no romance is guaranteed a happy ending."
They all fell silent as they contemplated their own romantic histories and acknowledge how rocky that path could be.
"So," Hodgins was the first to break the silence. "You think they'll ever have the guts to just go for it?"
"I hope so," Angela answered with a sigh. "I mean they could be so good together. And part of me says sure they will, but that's my romantic side. My more practical side, which ironically has really developed since knowing Brenn, says that nothing in this life is for sure and if they don't wake up soon one of them may meet someone that won't scare him/her as much because he/she won't be as important but still important enough that they'll miss their chance to be more."
That possible prediction brought silence over all of them again as they all thought of the possibility that Brennan and Booth wouldn't end up together. But just as the mood was tuning somewhat somber, they heard the aforementioned duo entered the lab downstairs in middle of one of their famous bickering sessions.
"I still say we should be in the hospital right now!" Brennan was saying. "You're hurt, Booth."
"Oh, come on, Bones, it's not that bad. And you know how long it takes for them to see you in the ER. If we have the file, we can work on it while we wait instead of being bored to death."
"Ump, I could have dropped you off at the ER and come back for the file myself. That way you'd be in hospital and waiting already."
"Oh, no. You were not leaving me there by myself. What if you got so wrapped up in work that you forgot you dropped me off?" Booth protested.
"Like I could ever forget you," Brennan murmured but loudly enough that they could hear her up at the mezzanine just as they could hear Booth's smirk that followed the pronouncement.
There were a few seconds of silence as Booth and Brennan entered her office and then the arguing began again.
"I'm not staying at the hospital," he said firmly. "All I want is to go home and go to bed. They never let you sleep in the hospital; always coming in to wake you up. It's annoying."
"You have a concussion, Booth! That's why you need to stay, so that they can monitor you," Brennan exclaimed.
"I'm not staying," Booth said stubbornly and much like Brennan imagined his five year old might sound when throwing a tantrum.
"Ok, but if you don't stay," Brennan gave in, "then I'm staying over at your place."
"Really, Bones, I appreciate the offer but I'm really tired tonight," Booth couldn't help the smart-ass comeback.
It took Brennan a few seconds but she finally got it, "Very funny, Booth. I'm staying to wake you up every hour. We need to stop by my place for me to pick up my stuff after the hospital."
"Ok, but I'm hungry. Let's stop by the dinner," Booth said and Angela could just imagine his puppy dog eyes and charm smile by the tone of his voice.
"Ok, but after the hospital," Brennan agreed.
"But I'm hungry now," they could hear him arguing as the two partners left the lab.
"On the other hand," Hodgins said with a huge smile. "I don't think you have much to worry about, Angela. I don't think anyone else would take either of them on."
They all laugh and Cam said, "I don't think there's anything or anyone that could get between those two. They're too committed to each other and anyone in a relationship with either find that out sooner or later, one way or another believe me. And I don't know anyone that would willingly put up with that."
Angela looked at her and then slowly nodded, "Maybe you're right and it's just a matter a time. Meanwhile, it is fun watching the two go at it and to speculate about them." She said with a grin. "I'm just glad he's fine. I really wouldn't have wanted to see what would have happened if he hadn't been."
And they all once again contemplated how different their lives would be without the agent because he had, against all logic and expectation, become one of them. And his absence would have been deeply felt by all not just Brennan.