Thank you for the responses on the opening chapter to this one. I hope the continuing story maintains the interest level. Enjoy. Gregg.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Booth was working away on the pile of paperwork on his desk. Ever since he got a promotion, which he was still regretting taking, even though it was replacing that complete waste of skin Hacker who got nailed for sexual harassment, he was swamped with paperwork. The worst part was that he and Bones were no longer partners, but it was more than compensated with the fact that they were a genuine couple now. Now that was a fair trade. Bones, to his utter amazement, was a closet cuddler. He knew from her own lips that he was the first guy she'd ever been like that with, but she was a cuddler with him!
"Director Booth?" came a knock on the door to his office.
"What is it, Thompson?" Booth asked.
"This was just couriered from the Jeffersonian for you," the young agent said as he handed over a manilla envelope.
"Thanks, Thompson," Booth nodded and dismissed the man. He opened the envelope expecting to find the new budget figures from the Medico-Legal Lab, but instead he took out ten sheets of paper which had real estate information on them, one house to a page. A post it note was on the top one.
Booth~ Here are some excellent homes to consider. Let me know which ones you would like to look at on Saturday and I will set the appointments with the realtors. Bones.
PS~ Angela thinks your toothpaste faux pas is hysterical.
He groaned at the thought of Angela knowing about him trying to brush his teeth with Vagisil. That meant everyone knew by now and Hodgins would give him shit about it until the end of time. He didn't even want to think about what kind of shrinky BS Sweets would come up with when he heard about it. If he had to sit through some psycho-babble BS about channeling his inner female he would be having a long talk with Bones about the meaning of two simple words: privacy and discretion. He sent a quick e-mail to Bones.
Bones~ Got the info and will look it over this afternoon. Did you have to tell Angela? I'm never going to hear the end of it. Booth.
PS~ It was not my faux pas. You put your feminine product where my toothpaste is supposed to be. Your fault, not mine.
Bones got the e-mail and chuckled. She had deliberately told Angela in order to get Booth a bit riled up. They always had the best sex when they were coming off of some frustrating argument. Well, maybe not argument in this case, but a good bicker. Her e-mail alert pinged and she opened it to find one from Sweets.
Dr. Brennan~ Dr. Hodgins just told me about what happened to Booth this morning. May I please have your permission to discuss this with Booth from a purely psychological standpoint? This is my one chance to try and be one up on Booth. Please? Dr. Sweets.
Bones got an evil grin on her face. She replied to the e-mail quickly and simply.
Sweets. Permission granted. Dr. Brennan.
Sweets was in his office when he got the response from Dr. Brennan almost immediately after he sent off his pleading request. He already had all his stuff on Freudian theory out in preparation of such a session and when he saw her agreement he did a fist pump and a loud shout.
"YES!"
Hodgins, on the other hand, was not too happy right then. He had just gotten an e-mail from Booth and he was sitting there with his legs crossed, a little pale.
Hodgins! Give me any shit about it and I swear that you will be the first modern man made a Eunuch with the doings ripped off in a bloody mess and fed to you! Got it? Don't even try to deny you know what I'm talking about. You're married to the Queen of Gossip Central. So shut it, zip it, and all will be well! Booth.
"Angie!" Hodgins shouted and then hightailed it to her office. He was going to be having a talk with her about her gossiping and the trouble he was now in, and he hadn't even been able to have fun with the juicy gossip yet! This was so unfair!
While everyone was scrambling in the face of the knowledge of his toothpaste disaster, Booth got done with his paperwork and settled down for a break to examine what Bones thought of as good prospects for a new home. He took a look at the first one, and the price tag, and almost had a heart attack.
"She's kidding!" he groaned. He could feel a very strong headache coming on. He looked at the sheet again, praying that it was a hallucination, but no such luck.
The picture of the place looked great. Single story, rambling home. Four bedroom, full office, dining room, living room, rec room, three and a half bathrooms, and a two car garage. Large front and back yard with a half basketball court and a swimming pool. Then the price tag. $2,313,000. He read the neighborhood again and realized it was in one of those high end neighborhoods. He groaned. Then something occurred to him. He flipped through each one and discovered that she had placed them in order from lowest priced home to the highest. The last one on the list was listed at $9,000,000. It was a damn mansion! He wrote her a quick e-mail.
Bones~ We really need to discuss the price range for a home. I think our definitions of suitable are way off from each other. Booth.
He wanted to be fair and was able to acknowledge that Bones had the ability to provide them, and any future children, if they decided to have any, with a wonderful life with great opportunities. The only problem was that he wanted to feel as if he was also contributing something tangible to the mix. Likely she would simply have a cashier's check drawn for the amount of the home and any renovations needed and that would be that, but for him he wanted to be a part of that, too, and that meant a mortgage of some sort. He sighed as he considered the coming conversation and was not thrilled. Maybe he should have just chalked up the whole Vagisil crap as part of the pitfalls of living with someone. With that he got back to work. Before he'd gotten too far into the next pile of files his e-mail pinged.
ADD Booth~ I have you marked down for a one on one session tomorrow morning at 8 in my office. We should really discuss the implications of your mistake of this morning. It could have serious ramifications on your personal and professional stability. Sweets.
Booth's jaw about hit the floor. Now that he was one of the big boys his sessions with Sweets were mandatory the first year that he was in such a level of authority to make sure that the transition was the best one for all concerned. He couldn't get out of this one if he tried. He wrote an e-mail to Bones right away, forwarding the offending message from Sweets.
Bones~ See what gossiping with Angela has caused? I swear that if I have to listen to that walking pimple spout all sorts of nonsense about latent Oedipal tendencies I will shoot him! I'm beginning to think Hodgins is right and the whole world is one big conspiracy! Against me! You owe me for this one Baby. Booth.
Booth spent the balance of his day at work just shaking his head at the injustice of it all. All he wanted was to make a home with Bones, and have a little space so he didn't have a mouthful of Vagisil in the morning. Was that too much to ask?
A/N: Well, there's the second chapter to this one. I am making this one more on the side of humor with some seriousness thrown in, such as talking about money issues and the like. I hope you're enjoying this one. Gregg.
