Hey dudes...hope you enjoy this...thanks so much for all your reviews. The reason this is reposted is coz some reviewers noticed some errors... blushes>...yip so hopefully they're fixed. Umm if you're noticing spelling issues you may want to bear in mind that I hail from New Zealand...lol...anyways enjoy and have an awesome day :D
Even before Bones opened her eyes, she could tell that sunlight was streaming into her bedroom. Damn, she thought. She had really wanted to get to the lab relatively early, even thought it was Sunday so she could start to catch up on the work that had been put aside while she and her squints had worked on her mother's case. Blearily, she swung her legs over the side of her bed. Or rather, she tried to, as her way out of bed was hindered by a pair of muscular arms.
"Booth! What the hell are you doing in my bed?" Brennan yelled, as she detached his arms from around her waist.
Booth woke with a start. "Huh?"
"I asked you why you're in my bed, and now I'm asking you why you're still in it," she said, her tone steely.
"C'mon Temperance, you were upset last night, and I was just trying to make you feel better," Booth shot back.
"So? There was no need for you to sleep in my bed, much less with your arms around me!" Brennan was angry, her face a flaming red.
"Fine, push me away. That's your choice, though."
This argument was more vicious than their normal steamy debates, and Brennan couldn't take it anymore.
"Booth, just leave, okay?"
"I'm going, but before I do I'm going to get dressed and then I have something to tell you."
Brennan opened her mouth to argue but Booth was too quick for her.
"No, Bones you need to hear this."
Booth emerged from the bathroom three minutes later, fully dressed. He found Bones, who was also looking a tad more respectable having covered her skimpy pjs with a dressing gown, sitting at her dinning room table. She looked up as he entered.
"Booth, where did your pyjamas come from last night?"
He laughed; Bones was never one to mince words around. "I end up staying away overnight so often because of work that I keep an overnight bag in my SVU."
Bones looked enlightened, and Booth recognised that she was attempting a truce. Booth sucked in a deep breath of air. He wasn't so confident that she would be so accommodating with what he had to say to her. In fact Booth felt somewhat amazed that he had to say this to Brennan. She was such a logical person, that it was surprising she hadn't thought of it. Then again, he mused, people were never logical and rational when it came to dealing with their loved ones.
Clearing his throat, Booth began. "Umm, Temperance, you remember that I had something to tell you…"
Brennan stiffened as she realised he had called her Temperance – this must be serious. Booth shifted on his feet, and Bones recognised that he was stalling.
"Booth, stop idling."
He shook his head; only Bones could be so ignorant of pop culture.
"I believe the proper expression is 'stop stalling'." He decided just to come straight out and say it. "Bones, you need to have a funeral for your mother."
Booth watched as her face closed down, almost as if he was physically watching her put up her walls.
"No, I can't deal with this right now," she replied angrily.
"Temperance, you have to. Russ and I will…"
She cut him off, "you'll help me? Do you even know what this is like? I find that a woman in limbo is actually my long lost mother, and that worse yet she's been murdered?"
Booth just let her rant.
"And then I have to pull myself together so that I can find her killer, who then threatens me. Then I get a phone call from my long lost father telling me to stop nosing around…even though he has no right to say that, considering they lied to me my entire life about mine and their true identities," she continued sarcastically.
He realised that Bones was trying to hide the depth of her hurt.
"No, I cannot deal with this right now. I don't even know who I am anymore," she ended, almost with a scream.
As she broke down into tears Booth pulled her into his arms.
"Bones I know this is hard for you," Booth forced her to look into his eyes, "but you have to do this."
Brennan just shook her head blindly.
Booth continued. "This isn't just about you anymore. All those people in your hometown who had to deal with your parents' disappearance need to move on. The reason it hurts so much is because you love them, and having a funeral for your mother is a way that you can show that love."
"No, Booth. The reason it hurts so much is that she's leaving me for the second time," Brennan said coldly.
"Bones, I understand that. But this time she isn't leaving you on your own. You have Angela, the rest of the squints, Dick…I mean David, Russ, and Temperance you have me to help you through this."
He put his index finger under her chin, lifting her face so that she was forced to look at him. Her cheeks were tear-streaked, and she was shivering slightly but she did so. Booth knew that she was beginning to understand.
"We are not going to abandon you," Booth said fiercely.
The sceptic in Brennan wanted to object. She had suffered so many disappointments in her life that she almost couldn't believe Booth. But the quiet intensity that radiated from his eyes started to remove her doubt. It was removed completely with Booth's next sentence.
"I would never leave you to deal with this by yourself."
Temperance knew that he wouldn't lie about something as important as this. She sighed.
"Okay, we'll have a funeral."
Booth was so inexplicably relieved, that he almost missed her next comment.
"But you have to help me." She eyeballed him, almost as if appraising him. "And you can pay for Woo Fong's for the next month as well."
Booth knew that there was no way he could get out of this one. "Fine"
"Oh, and Booth, you can let go of me now."
Booth reddened. "Ah sure thing, Bones," he said as he stepped away from her.
They settled down companionably to start sorting out the details. Booth realised straight away that he needed Angela in on this one. There was no way that he was dealing with girly stuff like flowers, and he was sure that Brennan just wouldn't be interested. Excusing himself, he went to call Ange.
She answered after three rings.
"This is Angela."
"Angela, its Booth."
"Ohh, what do I owe this pleasure to?"
Booth sighed. "Brennan. I finally convinced her that she needs to have a funeral for her mum."
Angela sobered immediately. "Sweetie, thank you so much. I wanted to say something but I just didn't know how."
"Yeah, we could do with a little help on the details though."
"You're at Brennan's apartment aren't you?" Angela questioned. When Booth replied affirmatively she said "I'll be right there" and hung up.
Booth felt a weight lift from his chest. He knew that Angela with her quiet determination would be able to help enormously with a process he knew so little about, even though he dealt with death every day.
The doorbell rang presently, and Brennan got up to answer it.
"Angela! What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Booth called me."
Brennan felt a surge of annoyance but then realised that Angela would be far better at this kind of thing than either of them.
"So what is Booth doing here on a Saturday morning anyway?" Angela asked, suddenly suspicious that her best friend was hiding things from her.
Brennan coloured slightly. "He stayed last night."
Angela squealed excitedly, causing Booth to look up. "Congratulations to you both."
Brennan just rolled her eyes, and the three of them got down to work.