Booth stared at the menu, occasionally looking over it to see if Tessa had decided what she wanted to order. There was an awkwardness between them lately. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it was there. He swore he could feel it. The other night she had cooked dinner for him and they had just sat there, not talking. She had said she had a headache. That it wasn't him, it was her. I wonder what's really going on with her? he thought as he watched her.
Tessa lay her menu down closing it and rested her hands on it. Her fingers of her left hand twiddling with the ring on her right hand. She was staring at her hands. Her forehead creased slightly.
"You know what you want?" Booth ventured to ask. She looked up and smiled at him, and he breathed a sigh. He was pretty sure he was in the dog house for standing her up the last three times they had made dinner plans. "I have. And I expect you are still tossing up between the veal or the pasta?" she asked him, her head tilting, her blonde hair falling over her shoulder.
Tessa Jankow had been dating Booth for around five months. She liked him. Quite a lot actually. He was handsome, funny, brave, strong, had good values and strong faith. He treated her well. She admitted that, at times, his job took precedence, but she had promised herself that she wouldn't make an issue of that. He was an FBI agent after all. His job was demanding at times, and she had learned that keeping regular office hours didn't apply to him.
She didn't live with him, but she did stay over occasionally. His place was small, but neat. Booth had a place for everything and everything was in it's place. He wasn't anal about it, but he was pretty tidy for a guy. She had gotten used to him taking calls in the middle of the night, or in the middle of dinner. Something she hoped wouldn't happen tonight. They hadn't been out for dinner in a really long time. In fact, she'd hardly seen him at all. He'd been swamped at work, and the last few weeks he had also been working with a new partner. A woman called Temperance Brennan, he had told her. Tessa had heard of her. Who hadn't? She was a successful author and a world renowned forensic anthropologist. Booth had told her he thought she was a nerd and that he called her Bones because that's what she did. Play with bones all the time.
Tessa wasn't jealous that he was working with a woman. She worked with men, after all. And she was a confident, successful woman with a great career of her own. She was curious though. She had tried asking him a few questions about her, but he had shut her down, saying he didn't want to talk about Bones, and she had been made to feel that his working relationship with Brennan was none of her business.
Booth finally closed his menu and grinned at her. "I'm gonna have the veal" he said, nodding at her. She waved the waiter over and gave him her order. The man looked at Booth who was still frowning at his menu, "and for sir?" he asked politely. "I'll have the pasta" Booth announced. Tessa hid a smile behind her hand. She shook her head ever so slightly.
"What? Why are you shaking your head?" he asked, not missing the slight movement. She looked at him, his eyes were crinkled at the corners, his white teeth sparkling as he smiled at her. She sighed, loving how he could make her feel just by looking at her, and hating how he made her feel at the same time. "Nothing. I'm just impressed at how quickly you made up your mind tonight." she joked. It was no secret that Booth hated large menus. He could never make up his mind if there were too many choices.
Booth picked up his glass and held it out to her to make a toast. She was just about to lift her own glass when the pealing of his phone broke through the moment. She sat, holding her glass mid air as he slammed his glass down on the table.
"Goddammit!" he growled as he pulled his phone from the breast pocket of his jacket. He flipped the cover and held it to his ear. "Booth" he said shortly. He watched Tessa drain her wine glass and set it down on the table, then, reach down and pick up her purse. She called the waiter over, motioning for the bill.
He sighed, a sinking feeling in his stomach. I'm sorry he mouthed silently while listening to the voice on the other end of the line.
Tessa shrugged and closed her eyes as she pulled her wrap around her shoulders, standing and waiting for him to finish the call. It was always going to be like this she supposed. The question was, is this what I want?
They pulled up outside the club and Booth looked at Tessa. "You want to wait or come in with me?" he offered. She opened the car door and got out without answering him. There was no way she was going to stay in the car. She wanted to see this Temperance Brennan for herself. He held her hand as they descended the narrow stairs. "This cannot be legally up to code" Booth muttered as he helped Tessa off the bottom step.
The club was, typically, dim and dingy, even though the house lights were on. Booth looked around and screwed up his nose. There was a faint odour in the air. Unpleasant, cloying. A mixture of sweat and cheap perfume. And meth. He noted the film of dust covering everything. He looked around until he saw her.
Brennan was wearing a pair of tight pants, a tiny clingy top that showed off her body perfectly, her hair was pulled up into a pony tail, and she looked. He swallowed, different, to how she looked at work he thought.
Tessa saw that swallow. She noted how his eyes grazed over her from head to toe and back up again. She looked at Temperance Brennan, noting the high cheekbones, the large light blue eyes, her athletic build. She sighed and stared down at her new shoes, her hands smoothing across the front of the expensive little black dress she had bought especially for their dinner tonight.
Brennan had spoken barely half a dozen words to Booth, when he realised, she's completely stoned. He was amused by the thought that he would have quite the time reminding her of this tomorrow.
"Are you high?" he asked, unable to conceal his amusement.
Angela, who was there with Brennan, and acting just as oddly, answered for her "Only by accident. So it doesn't count" she almost yelled at him.
Brennan was looking Tessa up and down, then turned to him. "Why'd you bring her? This isn't much of a date." she said, her tone also confirming she was indeed, high.
Tessa smiled at Brennan "Well we were in the middle of dinner when Seeley got the call. Do you realise your pupils are enormous?", she said, looking closely at her, then Brennan turned and started running around trying to stop a police officer from disturbing the remains of the body embedded in the wall cavity.
A quick look around the scene in front of him and Booth knew that he would be busy for several hours. He turned and looked at Tessa, standing alone by the stairs. He took a deep breath and walked over to her.
"I know Seeley, you're going to be late and I should just get a cab home" she said, trying not to sound sulky.
"yeah, I'm sorry Tess." he started to say, but she held up a hand, trying to smile.
"I'm just going to go home to my place tonight. You have your hands full here and I have a case tomorrow" she said, walking with him back to the stairs. "I'll come back to your place when I'm finished. We'll get icecream." he said.
Tessa shook her head. "It might be too late. You should just go home Seeley. I'll call you tomorrow. We'll have dinner another night." She said kissing him lightly on the cheek. Booth stood and watched her climb the stairs.
He exhaled loudly, then turned and looked around the club. He stood watching Brennan for a moment, then smiled and went to start trying to get her to tell him what happened. It wasn't long and the owners arrived. It's gonna be a long, long night Booth thought as he set about starting to gather details.
Booth opened the door of his apartment and entered, not even bothering to switch on the light. He hadn't been home in two days. It was one of those times when he had been on the job non stop. He'd crashed on a chair in his office, his feet propped up on a coffee table, his jacket as a makeshift blanket, and grabbed a few hours sleep.
He stood under the shower and let the water pound the tension out of his neck and shoulders. Man, that feels good he thought as some of the stiffness eased. He quickly washed his hair and rinsed off, stepping out onto the mat. He grabbed a towel and roughly dried most of the water from his body, then dropped the towel in the dirty laundry basket and wandered out into the living room. He stood in the middle of the room and stretched his arms above his head.
Damn. I wonder if I should call Tess? Just apologise? he thought as he absently scratched at his bare buttock. He looked at the clock. "maybe not. too late to fix things" he muttered as he walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and pulled a beer out. He sat on the couch and picked up the remote and turned on the TV, surfing through channels.
Earlier that day he'd been part of a very awkward conversation with Tessa and Angela. They had been talking about their impending vacation to Jamaica. Booth had been very excited for it. Snorkelling, kayaking, sunbaking, cocktails. He thought Tessa had been too. It had been booked for weeks. But then Angela had started talking about it being a trial before moving in together. What the hell was that all about? Nobody had said anything about moving in together. It was a vacation. That's it. Tessa had acted all weird and kind of shut down and when he kissed her goodbye, she hadn't kissed him back. And then later that day Tessa had called him and told him that something had come up at work and that she wasn't going to be able to go with him to Jamaica. That, she wasn't sure she wanted to see him anymore, actually. He had asked her not to make any rash decisions. To take a bit of time and think about it. They could still date. If neither of them wanted anything more serious, they would work with that, right? Tess had told him that she'd think about it. He was cool with that.
Bones had met him at the bar tonight after work. He'd been sipping a cocktail and watching the news when she'd arrived. She asked how things were going, and he had told her. She had suggested that he should just go anyway. She apparently liked going on vacation by herself. Another indicator that she's weird he thought. He had made some joke about going on vacation and thinking that you never wanted to go back to work. That you would just run away with the person you were with. Bones hadn't understood what he was talking about. She loved work. Hell, she went on vacations that involved her looking at bones.
He smiled and shook his head as he turned the TV off and stood up. He placed the empty beer bottle on the coffee table and headed to the bathroom to relieve himself before going to bed.
He flopped backwards onto the mattress and let out a loud moan. "Ahhhh finally, my own bed!" he exclaimed as he adjusted the pillows under his head.
He stared at the crack in the ceiling and sighed "Maybe Tess and I are never gonna work?" as he closed his eyes.
