Brennan sat in the church pew next to her partner and wondering what the hell she was doing there. True, she was there because Booth had asked her to go to the Peace Light service with him, she didn't have a clue why but she had agreed to go along anyway.
She stared around her at the other inhabitants of the church and was amused to see a small boy of about three picking at a scab on his knee, candle dangerously low next to the prayer book; and an old man snoozing off next to his grandchildren who were dripping wax onto his hat obviously bored with the service already.
She was just considering what great anthropological value this church could hold and was just getting geared up to have a good peer around the church when she felt a nudge at her side. She turned to find Booth looking at her.
"What?" she hissed
"Don't stare" he hissed back keeping his gaze forward "It's rude and this is church"
Brennan sighed and looked back to the front. The problem with church in her opinion, apart from the obvious fact that she didn't believe in God was that it was too quiet and gave you too much time to think. She was just getting comfortable and was wondering whether the old man was on to something with the sleeping thing when she felt an elbow in her ribs, she turned to glare at Booth but he just motioned for her to stand up. Sighing, she followed suit and they sang yet another hymn.
When that hymn was sang and they were finally seated yet again she thought back to what Booth had said to convince her to come to church with him.
Brennan leaned over the skeleton from the First World War examining the skeleton and talking into her Dictaphone as she went. One whole week had gone by and they hadn't had a single case, a whole week without working with Booth. She supposed she should feel grateful, at least no one had been murdered lately but she found herself missing Booths company. Shaking her head she settled back into her work.
"Cause of death: A bullet wound to the sternum most likely from a rifle shot. Broken Tibia and Fibia from post-mortem stress. I'm convinced. A statistical match to William Hall of the 7th light Infantry"
Switching of the Dictaphone she felt eyes on her back and removing her latex gloves she turned to find Booth watching her. Moving toward her office with Booth following behind she asked the question that had been waiting to fall off of her lips for days.
"Do we have a case?"
"No" Booth replied, seeing her disappointed face he chuckled, "Don't look so downtrodden, I think its probably a good thing seeing as you and I are only called into murder investigations"
Brennan nodded and looked at her feet thinking about how it wasn't a good thing that they had had no cases as she had missed Booth. She could feel the blood rushing to her face and knew that she was probably blushing.
Booth lifted her chin with his finger and peered into her eyes. He could tell that she was felling slightly embarrassed just by the colour of her cheeks but he looked at her gently and whispered.
"Doesn't mean that I haven't missed your company though"
Brennan swallowed and nodded softly. Booth quickly removed his hand seeming to come to his senses and Brennan found that she missed the presence. Coughing Booth shuffled his feet and gazed around the lab.
"Anyway" he said "That's sort of why I came to see you, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming to the Peace Light service at my church with me" Booth held his breath and looked at Brennan apprehensively.
Brennan looked at Booth in awe, he knew that she didn't believe in God yet he still invited her to his church to attend a service that meant a lot to him, she knew that he wanted her to go because he couldn't have Parker for the weekend as he wanted him for Christmas this year and Rebecca wouldn't let him have Parker for two weekends running. She stared at him in wonder and asked the one question that sprang to mind.
"Why?"
Booth stared at her crestfallen, he knew she probably wouldn't want to go, she didn't believe in God and was probably regretting the fact that she nearly admitted that she missed his company. He turned and started to walk away.
Brennan couldn't believe her eyes as Booth turned and walked away, he was giving up just like that, normally they would argue about religion with her finally caving when he gave her his charm smile. She just couldn't resist that smile.
"Booth" she called after him, "Booth" she still got no response. Taking a breath she shouted "Seeley"
Booth turned at the use of his first name and looked to see Brennan running after him. He stopped and let her catch up to him.
"Seeley" she said, "I would love to go to the service with you"
He gave her the charm smile and she melted just a little more inside.
She was beginning to regret that decision now a little though as she was bored out of her skull, technically she knew that it wasn't possible to be out of your skull but she had heard Angela use the expression once and thought it fitted the situation well. Sighing she looked around her once more before finally letting her gaze rest on the candle in front of her. She stared at the flame and just let it mesmerize her.
Booth looked next to him to see Brennan staring intently at her candle obviously lost in thought; he wondered what she was thinking about and supposed it was probably something scientific. Her mind was one of the things that he loved the most about her. Love. It was only a few weeks ago that he had finally admitted to himself how he felt about the good doctor but he didn't think he could tell her, not unless he was sure that she felt the same way.
Staring at the candle flame Brennan wondered just why she accepted the invite to come to the church, she doesn't believe in God and she despises religion so why did she come. Letting the flame burn her retina so that when she blinked she got the image of the flame superimposed on her eyelids she didn't need to think too hard. She liked Booth pure and simple. She even possibly loved him but she would never allow her self to think that deeply for fear of over analysing, she knew that she was guilty of that on at least a few occasion. On a similar fear she would probably never tell him how she felt either, even if he didn't feel the same way she didn't want to destroy their friendship or partnership.
Leaving the church sometime later Booths hand on the small of her back she came to realise something, Booth was always there for her, whether it was to rescue her from agents who want to kill her or just offer her a shoulder to cry on he was always there and she appreciated that and it gave her hope. Maybe he did reciprocate her feelings, maybe one day, hopefully not to far in the future when her walls crumbled she would be able to bring herself to admit how she felt. That on mind she looked up at Booth and acting on an impulse that she didn't quite understand lent up.
Booth was just reflecting on the service and drowning in his thoughts about relationships and where to progress from here when he felt a pressure on his cheek. Startled he realised that it was Bones, his Bones. True the woman wasn't really his but he already felt like she was. That small gesture gave him hope, maybe she did return his feelings, and it was a way, to him, of telling him not to give up. He would wait. When the slight pressure left his cheek he found that he already missed its pressure and as he slipped his arm around Temperance's waist and continued steering her towards the SUV he thought back to the Peace Light and what it meant, hope to the world.
And unbeknownst to him Brennan was thinking along the same lines, about how the Peace Light can not only bring peace to the world, but to a troubled mind wondering on a relationship.
Ands that's what both Brennan and Booth felt walking to the SUV in the light falling of snow. Peace.