1Zach was hardly looking where he was going much less listening to the conversations flowing around the lab. He had one more lab test to do and then he would go home for the day. Thinking only of the physics calculations that could be used to explain the victim's death, he stopped only when a floating conversation helped him to put the puzzle at the back of his mind together.
"It was great while it lasted, Booth, but our marriage is over. You need to accept that."
"No, Bones. You need to accept that you're feeling the same way I am and you're making a mistake if you file for divorce."
Zach's ears perked up, and he started to eavesdrop, not something he did very often. He could tell who the voices belonged to too. Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth. But they were talking about getting a divorce. Their vacation was obviously more interesting than they let on. Zach's curiosity was uncharacteristically piqued.
"You're the one being irrational. I am not in love with you, whatever the heck that means. We got caught up and took the feelings we were experiencing because of chemical reactions too seriously and we went too far. So we need to correct that."
"Correct?"
"Isn't that what you do with errors?"
Zach heard the hurt in Booth's voice, "Okay, don't...don't talk like that. Our marriage was not an error. It's not one of those variables that you cannot account for in your experiments. It's our marriage. I love you Bones."
"No you do not," Zach could tell that Dr. Brennan, although trying to sound stern was struggling to remain so.
"I do. And you love me too."
"I...I do not. You're signing those papers even if I have to hold you at gunpoint!"
"That is what you're gonna have to do, sweetheart, because I am not divorcing you, especially since you react that way when I do this."
The shout of surprise was not one of protest as far as Zach could hear, and when he tipped up to look over the barrier that separated him from the partners to see, he saw that Dr. Brennan was basically melting against Booth. He had pulled her up against him and was kissing her passionately.
"Interesting," he said. A little too loudly.
They pulled apart, looked at him with wide eyes and shouted, "Zach!" in unison.
"Hello," he said.
"Oh, Jeez. Zach you can not, tell anyone about this!" said Booth.
"About the fact that the two of you are married?" Zach computed.
"Yes. We want to keep the marriage secret, at least until we get a divorce," said Dr. Brennan.
"Why? Isn't a marriage in all cultures considered a cause for celebration?"
"Well, yeah, Zach. In fact I feel very blessed to have married such a beautiful..." Booth started. But then Dr. Brennan put a finger on his mouth.
"Save it, Booth. We are getting divorced. It was wrong to get married in the first place. I'm sure you understand, Zach."
"Well I don't actually."
For the first time in their strained relationship, Booth gave Zach a broad smile. Zach was so surprised he didn't even know if he was supposed to return it.
"Dammit, not even the robot understands why you wanna leave me! Thank you very much Zach! But until we can sort the whole mess out, just respect her wishes please."
"I will," Zach couldn't help drawing a comparison between Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan's marriage and the marriage of his brother and his wife. It was the same way the they only seemed to perfectly paired with each other. It was something that Zach could even explain with biology.
"Thank you Zach. And I assure you, we will be getting divorced." Dr. Brennan walked toward her office.
"Zach, I'm in love with her," said Booth as Dr. Brennan disappeared.
"I see," was all Zach could say.
" If only she wasn't so damn lovable, losing her would be a lot easier."
"I don't understand. Will you still be partners?" Zach asked.
"Yeah, but that's not enough now." booth put his hands in his pockets and walked in the opposite direction.
..........................................................................
"I've got them, Dr. Brennan."
"Thank you. Will I be able to get them by tonight?"
"Uhh... if you come for them yourself. My firm is a bit swamped now. We've got a big case. Millionaire versus Trophy Wife."
"Alright. I'll pick them up before my date."
"Date? Already? Dr. Brennan, you're still married you know!"
"I was invited by a friend, Edgar. And my husband knows I'm going. He has no problem."
Edgar made a disbelieving sound, "Yeah right. Even if he didn't love you, he will have a problem. Unless he's a cyborg."
"Well, he didn't..."
"Of course he didn't! If I know this guy- and the way you talk about him I feel I do- he has a ginormous problem with you going out with you going out with some other guy when you're still married to him."
"Oh... well, thank you Edgar. For getting the divorce papers so fast."
"Yeah. You know it's cuz you're so pretty." He hung up.
Brennan put down the phone, took up her things and headed out to get ready for her date.
.............................................................................
"Hey Bren!"
"Good night, Dr. Brennan."
Hodgins and Angela's enthusiastic greetings was met with Brennan's not so enthusiastic one. She only waved and climbed into the car's back seat. When she looked over she saw Brad Jenkins smiling at her.
"Dr. Brennan. You look beautiful tonight."
"Thank you," she looked over his curly hair, boyish looks and white teeth. She had realized his attractiveness when they had worked on the case together, but for some reason he seemed less appealing to her now. Slumping in her seat subconsciously, Brennan prepared herself for a nice date, filled with nice conversation and company.
Too bad she wasn't in the mood for all that. She wanted to get out of the heels she was wearing and go back upstairs to her Converse sneakers.
They passed the diner on the way to the restaurant and Brennan found herself craning her neck to look inside. No sign of her husband. But they had driven by quickly, she may have just missed him.
Why was she looking for Booth? She was on a date! With a very handsome lawyer. Who was currently asking her something.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," she told him.
"I said you look a bit distracted.." Brad repeated, "Do you mind telling me what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Nothing is wrong. I'm just... looking in that diner my partner. Booth. You remember Booth."
"How can I forget? He's part of the reason I didn't get to ask you out while we were on the case together. He was always there, following you around. I couldn't get you alone for a good second."
"Oh," Brennan wondered if he was telling her this to let her feel sorry for him, and in effect a little more attracted. Too bad for him it wasn't working.
They reached the restaurant and Angela pulled Brennan back a little out of the guy's earshot, "Temperance Brennan you are to stop thinking about that mystery guy right now and enjoy this scrumptious piece of Angel Food Cake in lawyer form. You understand me, miss?"
"How do you know I'm thinking about anybody?" Brennan asked her.
"For some reason you don't get that as your best fried I know you better than yourself. Bren that guy is probably back home forgetting about you. You have to forget about him and get back out there."
Knowing better than Angela that the 'guy' was not liable to forget her any time soon since they were partners, Brennan decided to just nod in agreement, "Okay. I'll enjoy myself with Brad."
"Atta girl," Angel patted her best friend's shoulder and they caught up to Brad and Jack.
But as the night went on, it became more and more obvious that she couldn't have a good time. At first it was kind of fun. She talked shop a while, about their mutual case, then he talked about his family and for a while she was so interested, she wasn't paying attention to what she ate. But then she looked down at the special restaurant- made apple tart and Booth came swimming back into her mind. After that she locked off, no longer participating in the conversation. Not that Brad wasn't trying to get her attention. He tried to tell her a joke- several times- but because she wasn't listening, she didn't get the punch line. Angela sent concerned looks her way.
Wen they dropped her off at home, she pretended not to see Brad coming out of the car to follow her and basically ran up the stairs to her apartment.
Now she sat on her couch, still in her going out clothes, her shoes kicked across the room. Her bag was on the coffee table in front of her. She sighed.
What was this empty feeling in the pit of her stomach? She had no name for it. But it made her pout and sigh.
She wondered if Booth was asleep yet.
Not able to take it anymore, she grabbed her car keys and walked out the door.
....................................................................
Booth opened his door and stared at his wife for a moment. What was she doing here? Didn't she have a date tonight? A date with a guy he had hated enough before, much less now that he was trying to get with Booth's wife not just his partner.
"Goodnight, Booth," she said. He noticed her hands were wringing. She was nervous.
"Goodnight. What brings you here?"
"I came to tell you...I picked up the papers from my lawyer earlier this afternoon before my date. They're in the car."
He was about to ask why she hadn't just brought them up, but he shut his mouth. All the better for him, really. He wasn't going to sign them.
"Oh. Do you wanna come in?"
"Sure," she passed by him and Booth drank in the purple dress she had on. It was cut very low at the back and hugged her hips like a second skin. He took her hand.
"What happened to Brad?" he asked, steering her away from the living room, where he had left something he wasn't sure he wanted her to see yet. He led her to the dining room instead, pulled out a chair for her and went to the kitchen.
"What do you mean? Nothing happened to Brad."
"I mean how was your date? Or is it too weird to discuss with your husband details of how you cheated on him?"
She glared at his back, "I didn't cheat on you. I wouldn't..."
She cut herself off, accepting the beer he stretched over to her, "Nothing like that happened. He talked about his mother, who seemed to have been a very rude little girl growing up, he persuaded me to try a dessert that turned out to be very good, I turned down his request for a dance. And then Ange and Hodgins dropped us home. Separately. So, as you can tell, I did not cheat on you in any way shape or form."
He realized he was smirking, "Uh...okay."
"It didn't even cross my mind, Booth. Why would it? I mean, of course Brad is really nice, but it would hurt me even more than it hurt you if I were to ever...Booth," she redirected her speech, "Do you really feel resentful because I went out tonight?"
A bit, said his brain, "Huh?" said his mouth.
"My lawyer said to me today that even though we are about to get divorced you would have a problem with me going on the date. But you seemed so nonchalant about it when Angela proposed the date, I went. If you had told me you didn't want me to go, I wouldn't have...Booth?"
He was staring at her.
"What? Booth, what is it?"
"God I love you, Bones."
Her brows came together, "Why?"
"What do you mean why? Bones, you're on a date with another guy and you were thinking of me the whole time. I'm here up to my neck in worry. I mean you already wanna divorce me and then you're out with Pretty Boy Lawyer. But now you're telling me that all night you're worried about me? I'm so touched I just had to say it. I love you."
"Alright," she tried to shrug it off, but her heart was beating violently in her chest. He got out of his chair, leaned over and kissed her. Then he took her hand.
"Come here. There's something I want you to have."
They went into the living room and he sat her down on the couch. On the coffee there was a small box. A small ring box.
"No...Booth, you can't..."
"I already did. Come on, look at it."
She took up the box and opened it. Inside was a silver band, with a small but beautiful heart-shaped diamond on it.
Brennan made a choking sound.
"Booth. you do realize we're getting divorced. You can't buy me a ring! Even if it is lovely..."
"Try it on."
"No!"
"Why not?"
She poked him in the chest, "You know why. Because this part of the ritual is usually at the beginning, not at the end."
He smiled, "Our ritual started in the last aisle of a movie theater, Bones. We sorta got it jumbled already. Just try the damn ring on."
She sighed, defeated. Taking the ring from the box, she slid it onto her finger.
"It fits," Booth smiled.
But Brennan was shaking her head, "I...I shouldn't take it."
"Well, I didn't say you have to, but since you want to, it's all yours honey," he leaned over again, kissing her and lingering a little longer than last time. By the time he pulled back, Brennan felt like her limbs had no use. She was glad she was seated.
Pooling the little bit of willpower she had left, resisting the urge to fall into his arms, which would inevitably lead to her staying the night...again...she got up off the couch.
"I'll give you the papers tomorrow. Bye."
She made to move past him, but he held her hand.
"Hey Bones. You wanna stay over?"
Just what she wanted to avoid, "I shouldn't."
"Well I was just asking. I wasn't really saying you had to, but since you do, you're welcome to."
"Your logic is flawed. You know that, right?" she pointed out as Booth got up and led her towards his bedroom.
Booth smiled, "That's why I like having a smart wife like you."
.......
"That 'I shouldn't" thing? My friend does it to me all the time. I say 'I shouldn't," and he said that obviously I want to, since I didn't say I wasn't going to. Next time I'll give him a Brennan stare-down and say, "Your logic is flawed."