Title: Persuading Hearts
Series: 206 Ways to Say I Love You
Rating: K
Summary: For the March CBPC; Booth and Brennan as another classic B&B couple: Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing
AN: Despite the obviously Shakespearean language, this is still set in the modern Bones world.
Angela smirked when Brennan stormed into the lab, followed closely by Booth. Clearly, their day had not gone well. Catching part of an argument, she briefly considered leaving, or at least letting them know she was there, but the matchmaker in her stayed safely hidden so she could hear what they said.
Brennan's first comment made Ange wince for Booth. "I wonder that you will still be talking, Booth. Nobody marks you."
Booth sighed. "What, my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living?" he asked, trying to hint that he was ready to end the fight.
"Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Agent Booth? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain if you come in her presence," she replied, not accepting or not recognizing his olive branch.
"Then is courtesy a turncoat," he retorted, quick to get back into the argument. "But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted, and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for I love none."
Angela's snort nearly gave her away. As far as she could tell, Booth had no problems loving women. In fact, his problem seemed to be with choosing to love the right woman.
Brennan's reply erased his smug look. "A dear happiness to women. They would else be troubled with a pernicious suitor," she said sharply before stalking into her office and slamming the door behind her.
Booth stared in shock at the door before throwing his hands up in the air. "That a woman conceived me, I thank her. That she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks. But that I will hang my bugle in an invisible baldric... all women shall pardon me. I will live a bachelor," he declared before leaving the lab.
Slowly, Angela came out of her hiding place. She'd known the fighting between them had gotten intense, but she hadn't expected anything like this. Even in their fights, they couldn't resist talking about dating! She promised Booth's retreating figure one thing. "I shall see thee ere I die look pale with love."
Later that week, she had a chance to put her plan into action. Deputy Director Cullen had chased Booth down at the lab with an urgent case that took both him and Brennan out into the field. Before the man could escape, Angela dragged him into her office, where she'd already gathered Dr. Goodman, lately back from his sabbatical, Zach, and Hodgins.
Once they were all assembled, she got straight to the point. "She cannot endure to hear tell of a husband." No one needed her to explain who she was talking about, and all four men rolled their eyes and groaned, realizing they'd been pulled into a yenta session. "She were an excellent wife for Booth."
Hodgins said what they were all thinking. "If they were but a week married, they would talk themselves mad."
Angela ignored him, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. "I will undertake one of Hercules' labors; which is to bring Booth and Brennan into a mountain of affection, the one with the other. I would fain have it a match, and I doubt not but to fashion it if you minister such assistance as I give you direction."
Not many men could resist Angela when she got excited about something, and her new accomplices were no exceptions. After listening closely to her plans, they all found themselves nodding in agreement.
The next day, catching sight of Booth leaving the lab, Angela signaled to Hodgins that it was time. "Come hither, Zach," he said loudly. "What was it you told me of today? That Dr. Brennan was in love with Agent Booth? I did never think that lady would have loved any man."
"No, nor I neither," Zach answered.
Angela saw Booth stumble down the stairs and smiled in satisfaction. He'd overheard, perfect. Now to bait the trap.
"But most wonderful that she should so dote on Booth, whom she hath in all outward behaviors seemed ever to abhor," Hodgins said, trying to sound suitably doubtful. "Maybe she doth but counterfeit?"
"Counterfeit?" Zach said, sounding scandalized by the idea. "There was never counterfeit of passion came so near the life of passion."
"Why? What effects of passion shows she?" she asked, watching Booth sneak closer to where they were talking, clearly trying to catch every word they said.
"Bait the hook well," she told Zach softly. "This fish will bite." But she had forgotten his utter inability to lie on the spot. When his face turned pale, she groaned to herself and prodded him one more time. "What effects, Z-man?"
He remained frozen for another moment, and then motioned for them to huddle around him. He pretended to tell them in hushed tones, adding a few hand gestures for the watching FBI agent.
"You amaze me!" Angela said after an appropriate amount of time. She winked at Zach, letting him know the ruse had worked. "Hath she made her affection known to Booth?"
Zach was finding himself strangely enjoying the charade now. "No, and she swears she never will," he said dramatically. "That's her torment."
"It were good that Booth knew of it."
"To what end?" Hodgins challenged. "He would make but a sport of it and torment the poor lady worse." There was a loud sound of protest from the hall, and the three squints grinned at each other.
Angela moved toward the door, making plenty of noise so Booth would have time to hide himself. "I love Booth well," she said on a deep sigh. "I could wish he would modestly examine himself to see how much he is unworthy of so good a lady."
It was the one true statement uttered in the entire exchange, and the perfect note to end on. Booth watched her walk toward her office, an expression of amazed disbelief on his face. "I should think this a trick, but that Zach speaks it," he muttered.
He walked toward the parking structure, the words he'd heard still ringing in his mind. "They have the truth of this from Zach," he said again, unable to believe it.
"Love me?" he questioned, unlocking his car door. "Why??"
He sat in his car for a long moment, still processing the new knowledge. In the end, there was only one response he could give. "It must be requited," he stated firmly, saying for the first time what he knew he'd felt for a long time.
Brennan's turn came a few days later. She was walking down the hallways toward Dr. Goodman's office when she heard words that stopped her cold in her tracks. "But are you sure that Agent Booth loves Dr. Brennan so entirely?"
It was unmistakably the voice of Booth's boss, full of skepticism. From anyone else she would suspect a trick of Angela's, but Cullen had no reason to convince them of their "undying passion" for each other, and as Deputy Director of the FBI, every reason to keep them out of a relationship.
When she heard Dr. Goodman reply, she knew it had to be real. She trusted his integrity implicitly; he wouldn't play games with her. "So says Cam and Zach."
"And did they bid you tell her of it, sir?"
"They did entreat me to acquaint her of it, But I persuaded them, if they loved Booth, to wish him wrestle with affection and never let Dr. Brennan know."
Brennan couldn't help scowling at the thought of Cam loving Booth. Surely the other woman wouldn't want her to find out about Booth's feelings… she probably just told Dr. Goodman to get her rival in trouble.
But Cullen was talking again, so she turned her attention back to the conversation. "Why did you so? Doth he not deserve as full as fortunate a bed as Dr. Brennan shall couch upon?"
At the word "bed," her mind was filled with thoughts not at all appropriate to the workplace. The couch wouldn't be a bad idea either…
"Nature never framed a woman's heart of prouder stuff than that of Brennan. Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, and her wit values itself so highly that to her all matter else seems weak."
A protest was forming on her lips, but Cullen's next words halted her. "She cannot love," he said, the statement coming out like a half question.
"Sure, I think so."
Stunned by Dr. Goodman's assessment of her character, she wandered blindly back to her office, shutting the door firmly behind her. "What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true? Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much?"
She paused to consider to actions, tallying up the benefits of living the way she had against the sting of the comments she'd just received. In the end, she realized that though her distance had served her well for years, it was time to lay it aside.
"Contempt, farewell. No glory lives behind the back of such. And, Booth, love on. I will requite thee."
But neither she nor any of the conspirators were prepared for the way Booth approached her. Two days later, he strode boldly into the lab and declared, "Do not you love me?"
The challenge was obvious, and Temperance answered it with a quick toss of her head. "Why no; no more than reason."
Booth rolled his eyes; did everything always come down to reason with her? But he had insider information; she just didn't know it yet. "Why then Angela, Hodgins, and Zach have been deceived; they swore you did," he said smugly, flashing a full-wattage charm smile.
The smile slipped a few notches when she asked, "Do not you love me?"
He sputtered a bit then turned her words back on her. "Why no; no more than reason."
Temperance smirked at him. "Why then Dr. Goodman, Cam, and Cullen are much deceived, for they did swear you did."
He scowled; this was not going as he had hoped. Where was the confession he'd thought sure to win from her? "They swore you were almost sick for me," he said, his tone almost aggressive.
"They swore you were well-nigh dead for me," she returned, giving as good as she got.
He sighed then and ran a hand through his hair. "'Tis no such matter. Then you do not love me?"
She looked at him suspiciously for a moment. Booth didn't usually give up so easily, unless… Did he truly not love her? The assurance she'd had of his feelings disappeared, leaving her with only a desire to protect herself. "No, truly, but in friendly recompense," she lied smoothly.
The rest of the team had been watching the whole conversation intently, their heads swinging back and forth as if at a ping pong match. Now though Angela knew she had to step in before her friends' stubbornness ruined their only chance at happiness.
"Come Bren, I am sure you love the gentleman."
Hodgins stepped forward next, holding up a piece of paper he'd lifted from Booth earlier and giving it to Dr. Brennan. "I'll be sworn upon it he loves her, for here's a paper written in his hand, a halting sonnet of his own pure brain, fashioned to Dr. Brennan."
"And here's another," Zach said, handing Booth something he'd found on the floor next to one of the lab tables, "writ in Dr. Brennan's hand, containing her affection unto Agent Booth."
The partners took the papers reluctantly and read them, blushes creeping across their faces as the read the sentiments expressed, feelings they knew they shared. "A miracle!" Booth said finally. "Here's our own hands against our hearts. Come… I will have thee." He couldn't resist teasing her a little though, just to lighten the tension. "But, by this light, I take thee for pity."
When she didn't hit him, he wondered what was going on in her mind. "I would not deny you," she replied airily. "But, by this good day, I yield upon great persuasion and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in a consumption."
"Peace!" Booth said over the laughter echoing in the lab. "I will stop your mouth."
She barely had time to register the glint in his eye before his lips were on hers, and then all thoughts vanished entirely. All she could do was feel; feel his hands on her waist, pulling her closer; his hair beneath her fingers as she held his head firmly in place; the firm pressure of his lips moving over hers; the delicious tingle radiating out from her lips to the rest of her body.
It was several long moments before they parted for air, resting their foreheads together as they panted for breath. When her heart rate had slowed somewhat, Brennan noted that everyone else seemed to have disappeared, leaving them alone on the platform, something she was glad of when Booth finally broke the silence.
"I do love nothing in the world so well as you… Is not that strange?" he said, his voice holding a note of wonder.
She couldn't help but smile. Once again, their thoughts were running in perfect synchronicity. "As strange as the thing I know not. It were as possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as you."
Booth grinned and swooped in for a fast kiss before leaning back to look her in the eye. "I pray thee now tell me, for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?"
"For them all together, which maintained so politic a state of evil that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them," she said immediately. "But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?"
Her impudence made him laugh. "Suffer love, a good epithet. I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will," he teased her.
For once, she knew she was being teased and didn't take offense. "In spite of your heart, I think. Alas poor heart, if you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours, for I will never love that which my friend hates."
"Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably," Booth declared. When she would have argued, he moved in for another kiss and she decided that perhaps peace is overrated.
AN: I do believe I followed the challenge completely. Every line of dialogue is directly out of the movie Much Ado About Nothing. If hearing the Shakespearean language from characters who live so solidly in the 21st century was probably strange, try thinking about what's actually being said, not the words that were used. All the behind the scenes conversations, the machinations to get two clueless people together… Maybe it's just something about the initials B&B.
Disclaimer: Bones is the property of Fox TV. All dialogue is credited to William Shakespeare and the screenwriter who wrote it for the MGM movie.