"C'mon! C'mon! Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up! C'mon, Bones, let's go!" Fussed Booth. He stood fidgeting at the end of the stainless steel table she was bent over. She was examining a set of remains from limbo with a small frown of concentration on her face, easily ignoring Booth's pestering with the air of someone long used to resisting his bulldozer approach to getting his way.
"Go without me, I'll drive myself when I'm finished." She said in a vague and distracted voice. She picked up the partial skull between latex-clad fingers and peered inside.
"No. I'm not going without you because you'll lose track of time and never show up. It's your birthday party, Bones, you have to be there." Booth dug in his heels. "Your squints and students went to a lot of trouble to plan it for you and you need to go. Now."
Brennan finally looked up from the remains and gave him the same examination that she had previously been giving the skeletal remains on the table – her eyebrows drawn together trying to gauge his mood. Brennan knew that Booth was likely capable of simply picking her up and dragging her out if he grew frustrated enough. He met her gaze with an intense and purposeful frown of his own, completely unintimidated by her dissecting stare. Brennan sighed and put the skull back into place on the table.
"Fine, let me get my jacket and purse." She said, stripping off the latex gloves and dropping them into the nearest trash bin. Booth grinned and followed her closely out the door and up to her office. She talked as she walked. "I don't know why they planned all this and I only just heard about it – I have thousands of sets of remains to examine and I could've had plans tonight."
"It's a surprise party, Bones; you aren't really supposed to know about it until you get there and then – surprise!" Booth replied. "That's the fun of it."
"Why did you tell me then – if it's supposed to be a surprise?" Brennan asked. They reached her office and she quickly retrieved her purse and jacket. They left the building and walked out to Booth's SUV.
"Because you wouldn't come with me to get dinner when I asked. I tried to get you out of this building for almost an hour before I told you and then I waited another twenty-five minutes in limbo with you." He held the door of the car open for her before getting in and pulling the vehicle out of the parking structure heading toward Wong Foo's. "Look, when we get there, they'll say 'Surprise!' and just act surprised okay?" Booth said. Brennan twisted her mouth derisively at him.
"Just do it for their sakes, it'll make them happy." Booth said. Brennan now looked doubtful. "Trust me, just act surprised."
"I can do that." She replied with a nod. "I am a fairly convincing actress."
"I know you are…Roxy." Booth slid her a sidelong glance, his eyes twinkling.
Brennan's face lit and they shared a smile over their time in Las Vegas. "You're not too bad yourself, Tony." She replied, getting into the spirit of the banter. Booth, still driving, kept glancing at her with affection, amusement, and pleasure. That mischievous smile and her brows arching, her eyes glowing as if lit from within, made his body fill with tension that reminded him of…well, nothing else he had ever felt. She was simply so lovely and so…important. She was chatting at him with a great deal of happy animation now. She may not admit it, but having people who love her throw her a birthday party thrilled her.
"…cake and everything?" She said, then waited for Booth's reply.
Lost in his thoughts about her, he had missed her question. "What?"
"Do you think there will be a cake and everything?" She repeated, unaware of his lapse.
"Sure. Something truly packed with sugar, butter, and refined flour." Booth grinned.
"And void of nutritional value." Brennan added. She was teasing him to make him smile and soaking up his affection and happiness like desert rain. She wondered briefly how much rain it took to make the desert bloom, startling herself with the poetic thought and the yearning she felt.
Booth saw emotions flash across her vivid face. "Okay?" He asked.
"Yes." She replied, but the mood in the car had sobered.
"Hey, thirty-three isn't so bad." Booth said, guessing incorrectly at the reason for her change in mood. Brennan frowned.
"I know that." She replied in a dismissive tone. They pulled up to Wong Foo's and Brennan suddenly felt nervous. No one had ever thrown a surprise party for her before.
"Act surprised - that's all." Booth reiterated. He saw her tense face and slung an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze and then letting her go to open the restaurant door for her.
"SURPRISE!" chorused the group inside. Brennan gave an Oscar-worthy performance, jaw-dropping open, eyes widening, then a brilliant smile as Angela rushed up to embrace her.
"Happy birthday, Bren!" She said.
"Thanks, Ange. Did you do all this?" Brennan said as they moved into the room.
"We all did." Angela said modestly. "Cam baked the cake."
"You baked?!" Booth said, his voice slightly horrified, as Cam approached with a two layer cake covered in pale frosting, sugar roses, and bristling with candles.
"Oh, stop it. It's all basic chemistry." Cam said, smirking. She set the cake on a table beside Brennan.
"Cam has mad skills." Hodgins contributed, following behind her with serving utensils. "Look, we even managed to spring someone from the clink for the occasion. Zack, my man, lead us off will you?"
Brennan's face shone in authentic surprise now that she saw Zack seated beside Sweets. He gave her a smile in return and, hearing his cue, straightened in his chair and began 'Happy Birthday' in his surprisingly robust baritone. As the song ended, Brennan leaned in to blow out the candles. Booth put a restraining hand on her arm.
"Make a wish." He prompted. Brennan cocked her head and her eyes narrowed, about to argue. "It's traditional, just make a wish in your head and then blow out the candles."
"Don't tell anyone or it won't come true!" Angela chimed in.
Brennan glanced from Angela back to Booth. Looking into his face with a serious expression, she paused for a long moment. Then turned and blew out the candles on her cake in one long breath. The crowd cheered and immediately swarmed around her and the cake. Cam began cutting slices and handed one each to Brennan and Booth.
"Whole wheat unbleached organic flour, sweetened with Stevia, made with soy milk and butter, and still delicious if I do say so myself." Cam said smugly.
"Stevia?" Booth repeated dubiously, eyeing the cake in suspicion.
"Eat it." Cam commanded. He poked his fork into it and, still suspicious, took a bite.
"It tastes like cake." He said with genuine surprise. Cam rolled her eyes.
"Thank you." She said drily.
Brennan had taken a bite as well. "This is delicious, Cam. I didn't know you cooked."
"You learn with a teenager in the house." Cam said. "Happy Birthday, Doctor Brennan."
"Thank you." Brennan replied. "I'm going to go speak to Zack now."
"Yes, yes! By all means. Go!" Cam encouraged, shooing her with a smile.
Brennan made her way through the group, being waylaid for hugs and felicitations along the way, toward Zack who stood and greeted her with a sweetly fervent hug. Cam stood beside Booth whose eyes followed Brennan wherever she went. "So what do you think she wished for?" Cam asked.
Booth blinked, took another bite of cake, and looked over at Cam's mischievous expression. "Something she really wants, I hope." He said evasively.
"I think she did just that, Seeley." Cam said, her smile softening. She put an affectionate hand on his forearm and patted. "Do you think her wish will come true?"
Booth's mouth quirked into a lopsided smile. His eyes rested on Brennan who was now deep in a lively conversation with Zack, Angela, and Hodgins. Her face glowed. "When the time's right." He replied.