Ally's Note: Okay, so I suck at writing drabbles with less than 500 words. Oh well, I guess it will just be a collection of short stories, then…
The Daily Theme
Chapter 2: Love
Inspired by the idea of moonserenity089, who came up with a some great suggestions for this theme. Thank you for sharing it with me!
"Hi," Booth greeted Brennan and the rest of the squints as he climbed the steps up to the forensic platform. He was carrying a folder in his hand which he held up in the air as he approached them. Brennan was standing next to an autopsy table, along with Cam, Hodgins and intern Clark Edison. They all turned to look at him, except for Brennan.
She glanced at him quickly, before looking away again. "Hi, Booth." He waved with the folder in his hand. She adjusted the light to shine on a few suspicious spots on the femur of the skeleton. "You see this? Marks like these indicate bone mineralization deficiency. It does not suggest brittle bone disease, for this person has never broken a bone is his life, so I think this result fits more along the lines of endocrine and electrolyte derangements in the body." For some reason, instead of telling Clark, she raised herself up to smile at Booth. "This person suffered from chronic kidney disease. Possibly, he was a hemodialysis patient. "
Booth got caught up in her smile for a few seconds and encountered a little trouble in finding his next few words. He spoke up quickly when he noticed Hodgins narrowing his eyes at him in suspicion. "Excellent, Bones. That's why I came over to bring you his file. The victim, Shaun Peterson, suffered from End Stage Venereal Disease." Booth handed over the folder to Cam, who was grinning widely in amusement.
"I'm sure you meant to say 'End Stage Renal Disease', right? Because venereal…is something else entirely," she spoke with smiling eyes as she quickly flicked through Booth's folder. Booth shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands on his hips.
"That's what I said! Renal disease! With the kidneys and stuff." Booth defended.
Brennan shook her head. "No, you said 'venereal disease' which means a sexually transmitted disease." When his eyes met hers, she took a deep breath and spoke in a much softer voice, "…but venereal diseases are a lot more common and is addressed more often as a topic, in our society nowadays. It's very understandable that you would confuse these two words with each other."
Cam and Hodgins shared a questioning look, which had gone unnoticed by Booth and Brennan. Clark tried to ignore the scene in front of him as much as he could and stubbornly continued to look at the body's femur. "Thank you, Bones." Cam handed him the folder back. "Shall I put this in your office?"
"Actually, I'll walk with you to my office." Brennan said, snapping off her latex gloves and throwing them away in the bin next to the autopsy table. "I have some things that I would like to discuss with you." She stepped past Hodgins and walked over to Booth's side.
"About the case?" Cam questioned with a naughty smile.
Brennan paused in her steps to look back at her boss. She felt a familiar blush creep up her cheeks. "Of course! I-I….have some documents there that Booth should take a look at." She quickly turned away from her colleagues and walked down the steps, off of the platform.
"Have fun," Hodgins commented, joining Cam in the teasing. Booth turned around as he followed Brennan to her office and made a 'zip it' movement with his hand, before pointing to his gun. "Uh-oh," Hodgins muttered when they were far out of earshot.
"I know," Cam commented. "Those two are sleeping together." Clark exclaimed a loud 'Oh, dear lord' and walked away from the autopsy table to look something up in a computer. On the other side of the platform. Cam thought hard for a moment. "Finally! Didn't your wife ever mention anything about this?"
"No, she did not." Hodgins replied. He was staring at the two figures now standing in Brennan's office, keeping a measured distance between each other. "Do you think we should just tell them that we know?"
Cam shook her head with a bright smile. "No, let's just leave them alone." She took a step back towards the autopsy table. "I'm enjoying watching them trying to keep it a secret just a little too much…"
Booth automatically went into worried-mode the minute he closed the door behind himself when they had entered her office. She had turned back towards him very slowly and she was studying him up and down in a very nervous manner. "Bones, what did you want to talk to me about?"
She crossed her arms in front of her chest protectively. "About the fact that I have come to love you." Her face remained serious, while Booth's broke out in a smile. He chuckled softly. They had been dating for several months now. He had kissed her over a hundred times and made love to her on several occasions. He knew how she felt about him, but this was the first time that she voiced it out loud. It made sense for her to say it here; she always felt comfortable and safe at the Jeffersonian. Any other person would bring it up in the privacy of their house or over a candlelit dinner, but not his Bones.
"I love you too, baby. I hope that you know that," Booth spoke in a moderate tone. He saw Brennan take a deep breath and shifting her weight from one leg onto the other.
"I do know that, but…it's just not enough." She shrugged her shoulders. "Staying over two nights a week is suddenly not satisfactory anymore. I wish I could be with you more." Booth's mouth fell open in pleasant surprise. "I'm sorry if I'm startling you with this, but you have always pressed the issue that honesty is so important in a relationship, so I felt that I should tell you."
Booth felt his heart dance in his chest. If it had not been for these glass walls allowing everyone to look at them, he would have gathered her up in his arms and kissed her until they both ran out of oxygen. "You know what? I'm going to give you a key," Booth reached inside his pocket and took out his keychain and took one key off. "This one gives you unlimited access to my apartment, at any time of the day, any day of the week." She held out her hand and Booth placed it gently on her palm. She grasped it gratefully.
"You don't think I'm too needy?" The cool metal felt pleasant in her warm hand.
Booth shook his head. "No, on the contrary, I would love to have you around more." Brennan shoved the key in the pocket of her jeans. "…and you look so incredible underneath my sheets. I could never complain when I get to see more of that." He reassured her with a playful grin, to which Brennan responded with one of her own.
Suddenly, the distance between them became too great for both of them to bear. Brennan grabbed a small pile of papers from her desk and handed them to Booth. "Why don't you go and check out these documents in the Egyptian room? I will come in after a few minutes and then…I'll explain some old dialysis techniques to you."
Booth flicked through the papers. They were ordinary white sheets for her printer. Nothing was on them. Booth looked back up at her in amusement. "Yeah, that would be really beneficial to the case. I need a… better understanding of the victim's condition."
"I will be right over." Booth turned around with a polite nod and walked out of her office. Brennan led out an uncharacteristic giggle after the door closed behind him. "What is happening to me?" she questioned the air as she shoved her hand in her pocket to touch the house key that Booth had just given to her. With the tip of her finger, she traced the sharp edges of the key and she bit on her lip to keep herself from smiling and making everyone suspicious. This is it, she thought. This is what it feels like to completely lose yourself in someone and not giving a damn about finding a way back.
Ally's Note: I completely forgot about kidney disease awareness week last week in the Netherlands. That is REALLY bad from me, because my twin sister is a hemodialysis patient! So I thought I'd mention a vic having it here. One of the B's on dialysis during a 'love' theme seemed inappropriate, even to me.
Do you like these daily short stories? If you do, please let me know! This fic hasn't gained a lot of attention (yet). I appreciate all you readers AND reviewers. Some of you have been with me ever since I first started writing 'Hiatus' and I'm really grateful to still have you with me!
Tomorrow: The theme will be 'light'. Anything in particular that you want me to roll with? Hungover B&B? Someone with a double eye-infection and light-intolerance(haha!)? A church scene?