Title: Free and Easy
Summary: Booth teaches Brennan the importance of letting go.
Warnings: I was mean to both Russ and Daddy Brennan. :( But I didn't kill either one this time, I promise.
Rating: PG
Pairings/Characters: Booth/Brennan est. ship
Series: Long Trip Alone, part 10/11 (need to have read from part 6 to part 9 at least)
Length: 2,000 words
Genres: hurt/comfort
A/N: The first one of these fics in a definitively set time-period! It's set after 2x18 and approximately 6 months after "That Don't Make It Easy Loving Me". (But remember, it's still AU.) Oh, yes, and this has gone through a beta who has assured me everything's okay, but I still feel kinda weird about this fic. Like it's... wonky somehow. facepalm Anyway, read and enjoy.

Free and Easy

(Long Trip Alone, part 10)

Booth glanced over at his partner in the waiting room chair beside his. Brennan gave a deep, pained sigh and rubbed her forehead, moaning faintly. She'd never confessed to the headache, but Booth guessed that she'd been battling it for at least an hour now. He didn't blame her.

Gently, he laid a hand on her arm where it sat on the chair's armrest, stroking her forearm with a thumb. "Why don't you take something?" he suggested. "Or maybe just get coffee or soda, or anything with caffeine to take the edge off?"

She didn't even turn to face him, but simply shook her head, saying nothing.

"Hmm?" he pressed, continuing to stroke her arm gently. "Why not, Tempe?"

This time, she did turn and look at him.

Something in his gut twisted at the sight of her face. He knew she was exhausted both mentally and physically, but the deep purple semi-circles beneath her eyes visibly proclaimed the fact. And her eyes themselves… Usually so beautiful and bright, they were dark now with concern, worry, guilt, and pain.

She looked away again.

Dropping his hand from her arm, he resisted the urge to sigh. Sadly, he understood everything that he'd read in Brennan's eyes. He let his own eyes travel around the barren, sterile whiteness of this hospital waiting room and let his thoughts drift back over what had happened today to make Brennan so weary.

------

When it was still fairly early on in the day, Brennan had received a call that her brother Russ was in the hospital in Morehead City, North Carolina after having been shot. Booth had watched the horror pass over Brennan's face as the very fate that she had feared would befall Booth instead fell on her brother. It didn't take them long to decide to leave and they'd barely taken time to run home and pack.

Quick checking revealed no available flights in the next two days. It was a long drive from Washington DC to Morehead City, especially with Brennan being so silently reserved in the passenger seat. Booth knew she was upset and worried, but he didn't know how he could comfort her. So he had just driven as hard as he could, for her.

When they arrived at Russ's hospital, they received little more news than Brennan had over the phone. He'd been shot, the hospital had no idea why or how, he was unstable and in critical condition, and that they might need to operate again. And that Brennan and Booth couldn't see him yet. Not until he stabilized. Knowing only that, they were banished to a waiting room.

Shortly after that, Brennan's father showed up. At the bewildered glance Booth threw at Brennan, she insisted that she hadn't called him.

Max Keenan had barely gotten to ask how Russ was before Booth rose from his seat, reaching for his handcuffs. He really didn't want to arrest Keenan at a time like this, with his son in the hospital and his daughter right in front of his face, but Booth knew it was his duty and he couldn't shirk it.

Brennan quickly informed her father that Russ was still in critical condition and that they hadn't heard anything. And then, knowing only that, Max Keenan turned and bolted.

Reluctantly, Booth left Brennan behind to chase her father down the halls of the hospital. People ducked out of the way left and right, and Booth was nearly on Keenan by the time he rounded a second—or maybe it was a third?—corner.

Oh, he really didn't want to do this.

Then an idea hit him out of nowhere.

He fell down to the floor in a feigned trip, hoping that it looked real enough that none of the people watching in this hallway would suspect it was intentional. He let both knees hit the floor like he was going down hard. It hurt, but it was a pain he was willing to endure. When he looked back up, Keenan was a safe distance down the hall.

Booth sprang back to his feet and took off again, knowing that he couldn't catch Keenan now. But he was satisfied with that.

Then a pair of uniformed police officers stepped out of one of the rooms up ahead and caught sight of Booth and Max. Instantly, the pair swung out to cover the hallway. Keenan saw them and looked frantically around for a way to escape, but there was none. Down the hall in front of him were the two police officers, blocking his chances of escape. Back up the hall behind him was Booth, closing in fast.

Holding his hands up in a sign of surrender, Max Keenan stopped running. The two police officers instantly moved in to restrain him—which wasn't really necessary since Keenan didn't put up any sense of a fight—and Booth came over to put the cuffs on him.

One of the police officers eyed Booth. "FBI?" he asked, glancing at the exposed straps of Booth's holster.

Booth nodded, and flashed his badge quickly at the policemen. Re-pocketing it, he pulled out his handcuffs and put them on Max Keenan as he impassively read him his rights. Something twisted guiltily in Booth's gut as he did.

He dropped his voice to a mere whisper and leaned in slightly closer to Keenan's ear, making sure neither of the policemen could hear. "I'm sorry it has to happen this way," he apologized quietly. "I'm so sorry."

Max Keenan offered no response.

-------

A nurse appeared in front of Booth and Brennan, instantly drawing Booth from his thoughts into the here-and-now. Reflexively, he reached over and took one of Brennan's hands in his own, clutching it reassuringly.

The nurse smiled down at them lightly, looking at Brennan in particular. "Miss Brennan?" she asked.

"Doctor Brennan, actually," Brennan corrected stiffly. "PhD."

"Oh." The nurse's smile didn't waver. "Sorry, Doctor Brennan. I didn't know." Now, though, the smile slowly faded until it was barely visible. "Well, Doctor Brennan, your brother's condition has partially stabilized. We're confident that he'll be fine for now, at least until tomorrow." She paused slightly. "It's late, Doctor Brennan. We suggest that you go home for tonight and get some rest."

Slowly, Brennan shook her head. "Home's too far."

At the nurse's confused frown, Booth hurriedly clarified, "We live way up in DC, ma'am. We drove all the way down here this evening."

"Oh." The nurse's smile widened again. "Well, there are a lot of hotels back up the highway a little." She gestured. "Not too far. I'm sure you can find an available room at one of them for tonight."

Briefly, Booth returned the woman's smile. "Thank you," he said.

She nodded, smiled again, then turned and walked off.

Sighing quietly, Booth glanced sideways at Brennan and squeezed her hand. "You ready to go, Tempe?" he asked. "Like the nurse said, it's late, and we should get some rest." He could see her hesitating, so he added, "Russ will be fine for now."

Closing her eyes as she too sighed tiredly, Brennan nodded. "Okay," she said. "Let's go."

-----

The next morning when Booth awoke in the hotel room, he found Brennan already awake and dressed. Despite the make-up that he could see on her face, she still appeared exhausted to him. Even the extra concealer under her eyes couldn't cover the purple semi-circles there. She was turned away from him, talking to Angela on her cell phone, but he could still see them. And there was worry and exhaustion in her voice as well as she spoke.

Finally, wrapping up the call, she closed her cell phone and turned around to face Booth. She smiled weakly.

He didn't return the smile. "Did you sleep at all, Tempe?" he asked.

Her smile faded and she rubbed a hand over her eyes with an exasperated sigh. She dropped her hand and shrugged. "A little, I guess." She sighed again. "I don't really know how long, but it wasn't much at all. I just couldn't stay asleep."

He frowned sympathetically. "You should've taken something to help you sleep." He looked again at the thinly disguised bags beneath her eyes. "You really could've used the rest, Bones."

Brennan shook her head. "I'll be fine."

"Temperance—" Booth started.

She glared at him sharply and cut him off just as harshly. "Would you please stop talking and just get dressed so that we can leave? I'd like to actually make it down to the hospital some time today."

Shutting up, he nodded silently as he rolled out of bed and went about getting dressed. Knowing that Brennan was only snapping at him because she was angry and tired, he didn't take the jab personally. He was dressed and they were out the door within five minutes.

While in the car, Brennan was stiffly silent.

In an attempt to respect that, Booth left her alone and tired not to say anything to her. But he'd driven six hours yesterday with her like this. She should've come out of her distant, reserved state already. It quickly became too much for Booth to handle.

Glancing at Brennan out of the corner of his eye, Booth sighed exasperatedly. "You need to learn to let go of your worry, you know," he said. "You can't keep it all pent up like that."

Brennan looked over at him, frowning. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," he replied. "You have to learn to just let go. Bottling all that up and holding onto it is going to kill you and me, Bones."

Her eyes narrowed. "I have every right to be worried," she defended. "My brother is in the hospital after being shot, and as of yet, nobody's told me why. And the doctors aren't sure that he's going to make it through or not."

Booth sighed. "He's going to be fine, Tempe."

"You don't know that," she argued.

"Of course he'll be fine; he's a Brennan," Booth retorted. He paused for a moment, then added, "Besides, even if you don't know that he'll be okay, you can't hold on to so much worry. It doesn't do him any good. And it especially doesn't do you any good."

Brennan opened her mouth to object. "But—"

"Uh-uh!" he interrupted, holding up a hand that told her to be silent. She was. "You admit that the mind has control over the body, yeah?"

She nodded.

"And a person's mood affects the mood of the people around them too," Booth went on. He didn't even give her the time to object to that. "So, it's not that far of a leap to say that all of your worry might affect Russ if you do get to see him today. And his chances at recovery." He looked at her pointedly. "You wouldn't want that, would you?"

She shook her head. "No, I wouldn't."

"So," he continued, "it makes sense that you should try and get rid of all that worry. To try and relax some, so that you don't have a negative affect on Russ. That does make sense, doesn't it?"

Brennan shrugged. "I guess so."

He raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "You guess so?"

Rolling her eyes, she sighed. "Okay, fine. It does make sense."

"Good. Now then, just repeat after me: 'Free and easy down the road I go.'" He gestured at the road in front of them. "'No worries.'"

Brennan rolled her eyes again, but she did as he asked and repeated the words. "Free and easy down the road I go." She openly mocked his gesture with an overly dramatic wave of her own hand. "No worries."

Grinning and unable to help himself, he added, "Hakuna Matata."

He thought that maybe she'd get that reference—it was, after all, the Lion King—but Brennan just frowned and spoke her trademark, "I don't know what that means."

And Booth just laughed.

TBC in part 11 (the FINAL part), Every Mile a Memory

Oh, yeah, and the next part might take me a little extra time to write, because it's going to (in essence) be two totally separate fics. Alternate endings.

Anyway, as always, Please Review!