Author's Note.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Bones or any of it's characters but if I did the show's 100th episode "The Sum In The Parts Of The Whole' would have been a hell of alot better.
There were far too many problems with the plot for a start.
It's very hard to go back in time and de-construct established characters but Hart Hanson made no attempt at all – the script felt cobbled together in a rush with no thought to character traits or development. I'm sorry, but there's no way in hell Bones would call Booth a "bully", especially for the flimsy reasons she gave in the episode.
The worst part of the whole thing was the final scene, which did not actually make sense. Bones can't be with Booth because she's a scientist...?
Eh?
So this is my version of the final scene...
This is what should have happened after our duo left Sweets...
This is what should have happened outside the Jeffersonian...
Booth and Brennan have spent the last six years trying to forget the night they met.
And they might have succeeded...
If it wasn't for Sweets's new book.
It forces our duo to face up to what really happened that night.
Or rather...
What did not happen...
THE MISSING PART OF THE WHOLE.
Part 1.
Outburst.
"Do you think we should have told him?"
Booth spoke up as soon as they were outside the Jeffersonian, away from the prying ears of Dr. Lance Sweets.
Brennan pursed her lips and hesitated... but only for a second.
"Told him what?" She said nonchalantly, choosing to feign ignorance.
Booth looked at her and frowned.
"You know what." He accused crossly, annoyed at her nonplussed expression. "We just lied in there."
He gestured back towards Sweets's office.
Brennan shook her head. "Actually that is not accurate. We simply... withheld a few things, that's all."
Booth stopped mid-walk, turning to her.
"That's all?" He repeated, incredulously.
He didn't give her a chance to reply.
"We may have withheld a few things, as you put it, but we also lied. You told him you went home to your bed after we kissed and I said I went home to mine. You know as well as I do, that's not accurate."
Brennan looked at him, frowning.
"I didn't lie." She stated matter-of-factly. "I told Sweets I went home to my bed and I did... eventually. Is that why your angry? Look, you didn't really lie either. You went to bed after I'd gone right? All we did was withhold the information in between that Sweets doesn't need to know about."
"But-" Booth began to argue but Brennan cut him off.
"But what Booth? We did what we came to do. We made Sweets aware his book is not factually accurate. Now he knows he will change it accordingly."
Booth bit his lip, troubled. "But it still won't be right though, will it?"
Brennan blinked at him.
"Is that what your worried about? The authenticity of Sweets's book?"
She shrugged, bewildered. "You weren't concerned about that before. I was the one intent on correcting him earlier... Why you should be concerned now...?"
She paused, thoughtful. "Although I can understand why you would want to protect your sexual reputation as it effects your success attracting potential mates-"
"W-w-what?" Booth spluttered.
Seeing the look on his face, Brennan went into scientist mode.
"Alcohol is medically recognised as a prohibiter of sexual performance." She declared, as if this was supposed to make him feel better.
Booth's eyes widened in shock.
"That has nothing to do with what happened that night!" He declared angrily. "Jeez Bones! I wish I hadn't said anything now!" He turned away from her... but half a second later he whipped back around again.
"For your information I wasn't the only one who was drunk that night!" He blurted out hotly.
Brennan was unfazed. She folded her arms across her chest and nodded thoughtfully.
"I can agree the consumption of alcohol probably did effect my actions that night, but it's beside the point. Your concerns for your sexual reputation are unfounded-"
"Just stop right there, Bones!" Booth was getting annoyed now. "Can we just focus on the real issue here please? Look, I only asked if we should have told Sweets the real version of what happened that night because he expects us to be truthful. You know he's not my favourite person or anything, but I do believe him when he says he's trying to help us, so maybe we shouldn't have lied to him."
Brennan opened her mouth to speak at this and Booth quickly added. "Or withheld anything."
Booth saw Brennan's expression change as a shadow crossed her face.
When she spoke her voice was quiet.
"He would split us up... if he knew the truth. He'd split us up."
Booth felt a knot in his stomach but he kept his voice steady.
"Maybe not-"
"Yes he would." Brennan cut him off, her voice suddenly stronger. "You heard what Sweets said in there. He thinks we kissed. He thinks we punished each other because we missed our chance. What would he say if he knew -"
She stopped abruptly, swallowing, unable to finish the rest of that sentence.
She shook her head roughly instead and tried to sound firm.
"Look Booth, we work together and in the end we both want that to continue. So we withheld something to protect our partnership. Do you really want to go back in there now and talk about it? After the Cleo Eller case, we swore we would never talk about-"
The sentence died on her lips again but Booth could not stop himself finishing it for her.
"What might have been?"
Brennan looked at him, frowning.
What was that supposed to mean?
She shook her head and said simply, like he should have known, "What happened that night."
At her words Booth felt the first brick, from a metaphorical dam, crumble inside him.
She still could not acknowledge the truth.
His fists clenched at his sides and tension spread throughout his body.
Brennan was watching him.
"Booth...?" She questioned, uncertainly.
He heard the confusion in her voice.
He was angry.
And she didn't understand just why he was angry.
That was all it took.
The whole dam gave way.
"What did happen that night Bones?" He asked through gritted teeth.
His tone was so low even Brennan could not miss the unmistakable danger in his voice.
Booth knew they had an agreement never to discuss this but right now, he did not care at all.
He looked her in the eye and Brennan saw the fire there, an intensity that she'd never known and her only thought was to run.
Just run.
So she took a step backwards, away from him... deliberately avoiding the heat of his gaze.
Booth knew what she was doing.
But he was dammed if he was going to let her get away now without a fight.
So he took a step closer to her, closing the gap between them and when she backed away again, he took another and another and another, until her back hit the brick wall behind her and there was no where left for her to go.
With every step he spoke to her.
"Come on Bones, you tell me." His voice got stronger with every word. "Sweets isn't here now... it's just you and me... so come on, let's talk."
When her back hit the wall, he boxed her in with his body, not close enough that they were touching but close enough for her to know he was done playing games.
Brennan refused to look him in the eye. She tried to sound firm but even to her own ears she just sounded feeble. "I don't think... that's a good idea-"
"Well I do." Booth's eyes flashed as he cut her off. "Six years Bones, that's how long we've not talked about this... enough is enough... it's time."
Brennan finally looked at him.
"There's nothing to say."
Booth stared at her, incredulous.
"What?"
He couldn't believe she had actually said this.
Brennan took advantage of his shock to gain her control back from him.
"You heard me." She said, her chin came up defiantly. "I'm not doing this. What happened is in the past."
"But it's not in the past, is it?" Booth sounded flustered, trying to make her see. "It's always there. It's never gone away! Not for me! And not for you either!"
Brennan remained cold.
"No good can come from talking about this Booth. I mean it. I have nothing to say."
She made to step away from him.
"Nothing to say!"
He could not control the flood of emotions that burst out of him.
He had never felt so frustrated, so annoyed, so just-plain-pissed, at his partner.
He stepped so closely into her personal space that her heart leapt into her mouth.
"You and I kissed Bones! We kissed alot."
She flinched at this, unable to look at him and he realised.
"That's what scares the heck out of you isn't it? That's what you don't want to talk about. You'd rather pretend it never happened! Well enough! You can't make this go away Bones! I won't let you. I'm sick of pretending! We need to talk about this! For God's sake look at me!"
She looked at him but her expression was sullen and hostile.
Refusing to back down, Booth looked her in the eye and spoke challengingly.
"Six years ago we didn't just kiss and you know it! The truth is we didn't stop kissing! You let me kiss you and you kissed me back Bones! Over and over again! In the cab! In my doorway! In my bedroom-"
"THEN WHY DIDN'T WE HAVE SEX BOOTH? !"
It was not really a question, but an angry accusation.
Booth stared at her in shock.
They both knew a shadow had been lurking over their partnership for the last six years.
And this was it.
It was also the subject they had agreed to lock away and never discuss.
No one was more shocked than Brennan, that she had been the one to open it.
Booth knew he had been harsh with her but he didn't expect her to react like that... as if she was still so angry about what had happened that night...
Or rather what had not happened that night...
And Booth found himself going back in time...
To that rainy night six years ago, when he and Brennan had got drunk on tequila... and then taken a cab back to his apartment...
He remembered everything.
So clearly.
Even now.
He remembered what it felt like to kiss her. He remembered how soft her hair felt when he ran his fingers through it. He remembered taking off her blouse because he wanted, no needed, to feel her skin and the smell of her daffodil-scented body lotion, that had lingered with him for days afterwards...
He even remembered how she'd made this little purring sound when he ghosted his fingers over the small of her back...
But they never had sex.
Because that was the moment he also remembered how much tequila they'd drank.
It was all wrong.
He didn't do one night stands as a rule.
Just this one time, who knows, he may have chosen to forget that rule, because, God, he was hot for her, but then she'd made that purring sound.
And as soon as he heard it, he knew.
He just knew.
That sound told him he couldn't have a one night stand with this woman.
It would never be enough.
She was special.
So he'd stopped.
How he had managed that, God only knew, but he'd told her he couldn't.
He said they were drunk.
He didn't want her to regret it.
That was when she'd laughed and told him she didn't care.
It was just sex.
And that was when Booth had pulled away from her...
It wasn't just sex, not to him, not with her.
Unfortunately, when he tried to explain that, he messed it up because she seemed to think he was insulting her...
That was when she'd got angry...
That was when she'd started shouting...
And that was when she stormed out...
She had stopped just long enough on her way out the door, to vow something that had stayed with Booth all the time he had known her.
"I swear Seeley Booth, if you let me leave now you've lost me! No second chances!"
For six whole years these words had haunted him.
He tried everything to forget, to pretend.
He ended up having to build a dam around his heart to keep his feelings inside.
Because he knew, even then, that Temperance Brennan was the type of woman who never went back on her word.