Note: Since I have not put up the last chapter of The Truth in the Lie, you need to know this is ten years after the first two chapters. I am planning on the last chapter being up sometime this weekend.
Enjoy.
In dreams we are truly alive; it is not our minds that control our destiny but instead our souls. Fears, past and present, they are not allowed here. Only here we are truly unabated and free. And among the wings of angels our love takes flight, above all knowing when to fall into the love of another and dream.
And this dream, well, it begins with a knock from a long since familiar source.
"Emily, I told you I would…" Booth stormed toward the door as the steam quickly followed, "Oh… hi." His voice fell to a mere whisper at the sight before him.
"Emily?" Brennan choked out, cheeks reddening at the words.
"Yeah, she's my maid." He nodded, stepping aside and letting his former partner into his apartment.
"A maid?" Brennan's careful eye etched the details of his new apartment into her mind, "It doesn't look like she has been here in a while."
"Yeah, well… she doesn't seem to understand that I need…" he fumbled, clearly unable to discuss another woman with the woman, "I digress. I doubt you came here to critique my maid's skills." He smiled as she entered and made herself comfortable on his couch.
"Actually…" She looked up at the man before her, clear view of his slowly falling towel, "I came here to ask you if you would like to join me for some coffee."
"Coffee?"
"Yes, coffee. I am sure you remember the black substance we lived on for years."
"I know what it is Bo- Brennan" He filched at the uneasy way her name flowed from his lips. "I was just wondering why you didn't just call."
"Oh…" She blushed, "You see… during my many moves I seem to have lost your number."
"After all these years and late night phone calls, mine is the number you forget." He chuckled, turning and walking back toward his bedroom.
"Booth…" Brennan spoke after a few moments of silence.
"Yes?" In a flash his naked upper body swung out of the room and pressed firmly to the doorframe.
Brennan gasped in disbelief as her eyes slowly fell down his body, falling short of his chiseled chest. Damn.
"About… that… uh… uh… coffee?" Her voice squeaked as her eyes slowly rolled back. 'Keep breathing, keep breathing' she told herself but the second his skin fell into her vision she lost all sense of rational. Even after all these years her body still yearned for his touch and hell, if she didn't know any better she would be led to believe he looked even hotter.
"I cannot go to the shop in just a towel." He smiled at her bright red checks, "Oh, and one more thing... you might want to clean up that drool before I get out there. Unless that is, you want me to slip on it and take you down with me, that night be fun too. I'll let you choose." He teased, unable to help himself.
As his body slunk back into the room Brennan sunk back and sighed. She had been caught. She was completely mortified yet somehow deep down a smile had snuck out. He was hot. Hell, he was hotter then she remembered.
The walk down the street to the nearest coffee shop was filled mostly with uneasy glances and longing looks. Even though it had been ten years since they had shared anything more than the brief encounter last week, the tension was mounding at an increasing rate. Even after all these years it seemed their bodies had just taken off where they had left, dripping with need and self loathing.
"I really like D.C. this time of year." Brennan spoke as her eyes fluttered up just in time to catch his.
"Me too." He smiled back, quickly following Brennan's lead into the coffee shop.
"I mean… I never thought I would say this… but I really miss the rain. In London it rained but there was just something about the way the city flows under the rain."
"If I hadn't known any better, I would think you have gotten all mushy and emotional on me." Booth spoke on a chuckle.
Without hesitation Brennan placed her hands on his chest and gave Booth a quick shove. She wasn't sure why she did it but as she tried to pull her hands back she felt him pull her toward him. As if her body was on autopilot her body went flush with his. His warmth cascaded down her form and she couldn't help but smile. That. That sense of belonging that is what she had spent years longing for. Her eyes quickly glanced up, engulfed in the almost black orbs staring down at her adoringly.
As quickly as it had happened, the glances were broken by a loud thud.
"Ma'am… sir… you're drinks?" The teenager behind the counter scathed.
Both sets of eyes fell down on the teenager in unabated rage. How dare her. This was them and they were in love. Wait… what? The child almost cringed as their eyes narrowed in horror but somehow found the courage to stand her ground.
"Your drinks? We cannot wait here all day for you two to undress each other." She returned the glare with a snap of the fingers. "I am sure you have apartments for that."
"Bren… Brennan, your drink?" Booth's voice slightly wavered as the teenager's words washed over him.
"Coffee." She barked, refusing to release her glare, "Dark."
"I'll have the same." He spoke, sliding a few bills forward while simultaneously pulling Brennan away from the child.
"You trying to kill that child over there?" He chuckled once they were a safe distance away, coffee in hand.
"Well she deserved it." Brennan nodded toward her cup, refusing to look up and let him see how greatly the teenager's words had affected her.
Once again silence fell upon the unlikely couple as they walked toward the nearest table and sat. In the last ten years Brennan had barely let anyone see her emotional interior but within minutes this man had her on her knees begging him to break down her walls and rescue what was left of her fragile heart. Damn him.
"So…" He fumbled as his eyes were drawn to her ring less, thank God, left hand, unsure how to breach the subject, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
She wanted to lie and tell him she had not been with another, to pacify any lasting need he had to be her only. But the truth was written all over her delicate features. It was absurd to think over a ten year span she would never share her bed with another but as the memories slowly flooded back Brennan found bile slowly rise up and her body began to shake.
Bodily urges. She knew now that had become more then a tag line but rather an anthem that had penetrated her existence. Every partner she had over the last ten years had excelled in one aspect of her needs but none lasted more than a few months or really got to know the real Temperance Brennan. The woman behind the mask was a shattered and worn soul, bound by a lie she had long since given up.
Bodily urges, is that all she would ever be? Only time would tell but as her walls began to slowly crack she knew with him it would be different. It would be real. It would be them. Even if it killed her, she knew in the end for that brief time they spent together she would truly be alive. Her eyes flicked up toward the man she adored, she knew she could never break his heart as much as she already had. The damage was written over his dark, hallow eyes.
"No," Her eyes flicked down, "recently I have not shared my bed."
"Oh." He tried to force himself to sound distraught but a fleeting smile managed to stick around long enough for her to catch it.
"What about yourself?" Her eyes focused intently on the coffee cup before her, "Do you have a girlfriend… or… a wife?" Wife. The word caused nothing short of distain and betrayal. After all these years she knew she didn't have a right to him but deep down there was a part of her that still claimed him in every way. He was hers, he just had to be.
"No." He placed his hand over her reassuringly, "No, I do not. Once they find out what I do they don't seem to stick around long after."
"I am sure the grisly murders can be a sore spot for most females." She chuckled, "Especially the long hours and paper-"
"Brennan, what do you think I do?" His words were stark and void of any emotion.
"FBI agent, of course. Although I assume after all you have given them, you have managed a better position." She slightly smiled but the smile suddenly fell followed by a frown, "It is what you do, isn't it?"
"No," He shook his head, "I haven't done that in well… damn… ten years. I am an author now... sort of. Usually it is recruitment manuals but sometimes they have me in the field, making sure the idiots are capable of their job." His eyes twinkled as he reveled in his conquests as Brennan's heart slowly sank. Sure he seemed happy enough in his profession but his sorrow was not lost on her. In that exact moment she knew all she had caused by leaving. She had not only cost him her friendship but his whole life shattered at her callous hands.
"Oh." She brokenly whispered, "It wasn't because of me, was it?"
With a smile he leaned across the table and placed a delicate kiss on her check.
"For you, I would give up the world."
With a slight nod Brennan began to pick at her napkin, suddenly consumed with thoughts of what his life would have been if she had never been a part of his life. Most of the time this subject was breached she had concluded that even with all her faults, she had mostly improved his life but now sitting before the biggest fact of all her heart sunk. Maybe he was better without her after all.
"Hey… hey…" His hand seemed to have in tracing effects as it lightly brushed her check, "Whatever you are thinking, stop. For one second just live in the moment and know I don't hate you for what you did. I now know, the fault is all my own."
"But Booth…" She pleaded, unable to stop the tears from flowing.
"What did I say? I have had a lot of time to think about this… ten years in fact, so I think I know a little about what I am saying. I will take blame for what I have done and you can do the same." His smile seemed to fill his face as he watched her mind slowly work over the words.
"Bones…" He whispered and she gasped with glee, "Kiss me."
And kiss him she did. She wasn't sure what this was the start of but she was sick, so very sick of living in a land of dreams and fairytales.