A/N: hey guys! I know I just posted the other day but I couldn't wait to get this chapter up to see how you guys like it. Please review if you have a chance. And special thanks to my aunt who helped with parts of this when I had a tiny case of writer's block.
In the car, both had stopped laughing but there were still smiles on their faces. Brennan's phone buzzed, "Wendell says the victim was autistic."
"What? Wait. First of all, I thought he was a bone-guy. Second of all he's still at work?"
"He's going over the file, and yeah he hasn't been the same since Angela dumped him. Today was probably really hard on him."
Booth was amazed. What had happened to her? Of course she always felt bad for people in bad situations but she never verbally expressed those feelings. "Poor guy. Hey we're here!"
"Oh…um…ok, well, bye," she said taking it the wrong way.
"No, Bones," he grabbed her hand and she immediately stopped and looked at him. "What kind of a guy do you think I am? I'm at least going to walk you to your door." He said softly as he got out of the car and went to help her out thought she stated she didn't need any.
"Oh, I just thought with you shirt," she pointed to the purple stain on his light blue shirt.
"Nope wine-soaked or not I'm walking you in," he said about to take her hand but then stopped. As they walked to building's door he remembered they didn't even talk about Them. The whole reason he had asked her out. Oh well, they'd talk about that later.
"Thank You," she said as he opened the door for her.
*BONES*
They were standing at her apartment door. She had just unlocked it and was walking in but Booth stalled at the door. "Aren't you coming in?"
He shook his head "no". It wasn't he didn't want to go in and spend time with her; he just didn't want to have to talk about his father. He was afraid for some reason that she wouldn't be able to look at him the same way again. And he didn't want her to always pity him. Although he wasn't quite sure she would.
"Why not?" she asked coolly. She felt hurt and unwanted.
"My shirt," he said genuinely.
Oh yeah. She felt stupid.
"Well…..you can come in and we can wash it here," she said grabbing his hand.
"To tell the truth, I have to call and ask my grandmother how to get a wine stain out of a blue shirt."
"Oh I have the perfect thing," she told him as she pulled him in the apartment and shut the door.
"No I really think I should go."
"Booth, if your only insisting in leaving because you're afraid I'll make you talk about you father…..well personally I don't think that's worth losing a shirt over." He handed her his shirt while she took it to it to her laundry room with a triumphant smile on her face.
Booth could hear her spraying something on his shirt and prepared himself for the talk which was inevitable once she saw the scars on his back chest and shoulders. He felt weird being in her apartment without a shirt. But that was beside the point. He knew that she wouldn't buy that the scars were from the army. And somehow that made him feel closer to her. He heard the washing machine door slam and her start it up.
Brennan walked out of the washing room with a smile on her face but as soon as she saw Booth it slid off her face and was replaced with concern. He had his arms crossed across his chest, but she could still see the marks encircling his shoulders to his chest from his back. The scars were healed and obviously from his childhood. She knew they were from his father. Anger filled her whole body. Not at Booth but at his father. How could anyone hurt Booth so badly? Her Booth? The scars also suggested he spent a lot of time protecting Jared, his younger brother. But she already knew that. She had known for a couple of years that his father had abused them. And Cam had told her about the scars. But she couldn't have imagined that they would be so bad. For them to have been that bad now they would have had to have been near to unbearable. Her family life did not touch this. She wanted to go back in time and save little Booth from this pain in his life both physically and emotionally.
Booth knew he couldn't keep it from her any longer, so he grabbed her hand and led her to the couch sitting down and letting her sit close to him. He knew he would need the extra comfort. She clung to his hand intertwining their fingers.
"You already know," he began, "that my father was a drunk and an abuser. He would leave Jared and me alone at home to go out and get drunk. I mean that was after my mother died." He looked down at their hands. This was not easy for him. "My mother died when I was seven and Jared was four. Before that I had a perfectly normal family. My dad and I even went to play baseball every weekend," he scoffed. "After she died he started drinking just a little bit then just a little bit more then just a little bit more. And then," his hand tightened around hers unconsciously. He was forcing back the tears,"then he began to hit us." She felt sorry for him; sorry he ever had to endure that kind of pain. "I….I tried to protect Jared but he'd just beat me down until I had to give up, then he'd hit Jared but only once or twice. He was always too tiered after me. Then he'd go somewhere, I don't know where. And I'd put Jared to bed, then I'd clean myself up and go to bed. We always told the teachers we fought, Jared and I. Every day that would happen. Many days when…" he choked on his words. The tears were streaming down his face now. Brennan wanted to cry, and she felt she was almost there." Many days when I made our lunches… I'd find myself staring at the knife….and I'd think 'Who would miss me?'" her hand tightened around his. No. He couldn't have. She couldn't imagine Booth reduced to such a depression as to kill himself. "Then Pops came over one night and saw it. He told my father to leave and never come back. He never did. Then six years ago I got a call saying he had died." He sat forward putting his hands over his face. His back was even worse than his chest. It was covered in scars from what looked like a belt. Her heart stopped. She could see the scar that would have come from the buckle of the belt. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.
"I'm sorry that happened to you," she whispered as he sat up and hugged her. He pulled away but still had her in his grip.
"Bones we have to talk."
"What about?"
"Us, Bones we have to talk about us.
"Oh," she said slumping back into the couch, "What about us?"
"Well," he said slumping back into the couch with her,"are we going to take this and run with it or are we going to run away…..again?"
"You mean our relationship? Like dating?"
"Yes, and I'm the only one. I know you like to double up sometimes," the both laughed remembering the time she had attempted that.
"That joke may be funny but mono-"
"Bones, I'm not asking you to marry me" 'yet' he added in his mind. "Just boyfriend-girlfriend."
She laughed at the way he put it. "Ok."
"What?" he asked surprised. "Really? So you and I are going out?"
Brennan laughed,"It seems juvenile but," she looked into his hopeful eyes. "Yeah Booth I'll be your girlfriend."
He slid his hand through her hair and kissed her softly. Right as they were about to kiss again, the washing machine buzzed signaling it was done. She got up and went to hang their shirts up; she had added a few of her dirty shirts so as not to waste water. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw how normal it looked to her that their shirts were hanging up walked back into the living room. Booth was sitting on the couch with his head resting on the back and almost asleep. He looked so innocent, almost like a child just lying down to take his nap. She walked to her bedroom grabbing the most comfortable fleece blanket she had and carried it back to the couch. As she snuggled up to him she covered them up in it accidentally waking him up. He smiled at her and kissed the top of her head before they both fell asleep to the monotonous drone of the dryer.\
*BONES*
It was two o'clock in the morning when Brennan's eyes fluttered open. She was absolutely, completely comfortable. She felt as if she was floating on air, and there was a repetitive thud-thud coming from where her head was resting. She reluctantly picked her head up to find that she and booth were both stretched out on the couch and because the couch was small, she was practically lying on top of him. He had both of his arms wrapped around her and his face had been buried in her hair. She laid her head back on his chest. She was not going to ruin this moment.
A/N: And the major fluff begins! LOL! Hope you guys like! Please tell me what you think! The actual storyline picks up soon soooooo. Stay tuned. LoL. Thanks for staying with me so far
Lizzie