The Second Chapter in the Story.
"Hi Bones."
She was wearing different clothes than earlier today, gray jazz pants and a pale pink sweater, indicating that she must have been, however briefly, at home.
Opening his door wider, he let her in, gesturing towards the bottle on the table.
"Scotch?"
Brennan nodded.
"Yes please."
"Come on, take a seat."
Sitting down on his couch almost carefully, Brennan accepted the offered tumbler. He fell into the cushions next to her, resting his feet sloppily on the table, raising his glass.
"To the heart."
She nodded wordlessly and took a sip of the smoky drink. Silence spread out between them, and he let it fill the room, knowing that she would speak, eventually. For now, he was fine with sharing a drink.
A clock hit midnight somewhere, announcing the new day, and, finally, she turned her head to look at him.
"Booth... why am I here?"
He took a moment to ponder her question, twisting the glass in his hand.
"To understand why you did it. To hear that you did the right thing."
More silence, as she filed away his answer.
"Did I?"
Straight to the core of the problem, as always.
He leaned back with a sigh.
"Does it feel right?"
"Yes. And no."
"See, Bones, there's more than one 'right'. Did your parents do the right thing in leaving you behind? Intention versus outcome. Was it right for your father to protect you the way he did? Is it right for you to love him?"
Her brow furrowed, as she tried to take in his words.
He spoke on.
"There are a lot of wrongs, but, Bones, we can only work with what we get, make the best out of it, you know? And there can be rights in wrongs."
"That doesn't really make sense..."
"But you understand what I mean?"
Gnawing at her bottom lip, she nodded.
"Is it right to love my dad?"
A smile spread out on his face, as he tugged at her arm, forcing her to fall into the cushions beside him, finally relaxing, if only a bit.
"Does it feel good?"
"He cares about me," she admitted.
"He does. Bones... whenever you find love, hold onto it. It's precious. Don't let it go because you're afraid it might be wrong."
"But he's a murderer."
"So am I."
His words hung heavily in the night-covered room, and she turned to him with eyes wide in shock.
"Don't even think that, Booth. By the morals of our society, you're a hero!"
"Yes, and by the very same morals, he's a criminal. Bones, maybe this says more about our society than about right or wrong itself."
Shifting a few inches towards him, she placed her head on his outstretched arm, regarding him with child-like trust.
"How can I do my job after today? After everything..." she finally whispered.
"How can you not do it? This isn't a world of black and white alone, there's a lot of gray. Doesn't mean black doesn't exist. We put bad guys away. We cannot stop."
"Does it make me hypocritical?"
The hand that wasn't busy twisting his glass reached out, found hers, clasped it. An anchor in the whirlwind that was her mind. Comfort without conditions.
"It just makes you human. Hey... you did nothing wrong. Not really. You protected your father, your family. That's it."
Taking one more sip, she studied Booth's face, deciding that he was telling the truth. At least, his version of it. Brennan didn't really know why his opinion mattered so much, more than everything else... or maybe she had a suspicion but wasn't brave enough to follow that chain of thoughts... However, in this very moment, she accepted his truth and she was grateful for it. Grateful that, just like she had stood up for Max, her partner was always willing to stand up for her.
"I think I wanna get drunk."
He laughed out and used his foot to nudge the bottle in her direction.
"Knock yourself out."
"Booth?"
"Hmm?"
Her head on his arm, warm and heavy, his hand covering hers, she finally shared her own truth with him.
"I did the right thing."
"I know, Bones, I know."
She did knock herself out. And so did he. Dawn found them on his couch, wasted but peaceful in sleep, curled around each other in the most sincere embrace they had ever shared. At least up to then. Intimate but innocent.
Bones, she believes in the system.
He had said that just a few days ago...
Except that she didn't. Not completely. Not anymore. She had learned that the truth can be bent and that, sometimes, there is more than one truth alone. Right or wrong aren't absolutes, they depend on a relative position. Depend on where you're standing.
For the first time, Temperance Brennan had stood on the side of love.
To be continued...