Note from the author: I am sorry for the delay, but here is the next chapter. We're getting close to Booth and Brennan's confrontation so hang tight, I already have it planned out in my head.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Bones.
Sex had become the solution. A far too familiar solution that was enjoyable but a solution that was getting Booth and Brennan nowhere in regard to the three months in question. One morning, Booth had awoken to the smell of breakfast cooking. When he entered the kitchen after quickly dressing, he had found Brennan cooking, being how did she put it, "The nice one now." What the Hell did THAT mean – "the nice one now." Cooking breakfast had always been Booth's thing. They both could feel the tension as they stood there looking at one another. It was the first moment that they both had realized that they weren't the same people that they had been – they had both changed, and in a way, were strangers sharing a house, a daughter, and a life.
How could three months have changed them so much? Sweets would say something psychological about adapting to life without one another, may be a survival of the fittest type thing. Booth understood that tactic and he was pretty sure Brennan did too. Brennan, when had he started referring to her as "Brennan"? Using that name certainly didn't feel right, but at this point using "Bones" didn't quite fit either. It was almost as if she had reverted back to being the woman he had first met all those years ago at American University. She was beautiful, but cold and distant and something else that he couldn't quite place. She was different. And it was clear she didn't need him. She had learned to cook on her on, and even provided for herself and their daughter while she was on the run. He admired her for that, but at the same time, was madder than Hell that she hadn't trusted him with her plan in the first place. He could have provided for them. He could have protected them . . . he should have protected them so that she would never have had to run in the first place, but he had failed and failed miserably.
Christine began to fuss upstairs in her nursery. "I'll go get Christine ready for daycare." Brennan announced, almost relived in a way to be leaving the kitchen.
Booth leaned in for a quick kiss, which Brennan returned. As she pulled away, both knew it had been the most awkward kiss they had ever shared. Even the kiss they shared in front of Caroline had held more emotion than this peck that was more like something a brother and sister might share. It was obvious things were aloof between the two, and Booth didn't like it one bit.
The day had been a long one, and the case that they were working really wasn't helping things between them. A divorce attorney had been murdered. Markings on the bones were inconclusive as to how the victim had died, and to make matters worse, the couple that had been pursuing the divorce were happily together again, expecting a baby. They had been willing to see that a relationship takes work, something that Brennan wasn't, or couldn't, understand apparently. That thought worried Booth more than the lack of evidence the team currently had.
"Christine's asleep," Brennan began as she entered their bedroom, "the new curriculum at the Jeffersonian daycare must be having an effect on Christine."
"She's a baby, Brennan. I'm sure learning French and exploring the African Sahara must be taking its toll." Booth remarked with a sarcastic tone, turning his attention back to the last of his red wine.
"Christine isn't learning French, Booth. She can barely speak English let alone learn," Brennan began as she noticed Booth's face. "You're annoyed?" Brennan had become more in tune with noting facial expressions than she once had been. "We'll find evidence, Booth. We always do." Brennan was trying to be reassuring as she took her place on her side of the bed.
Turning his head slightly, Booth remarked, "I'm not worried about the case. The squints, they always turn something up. This is about that couple – something they said."
"The architect and his wife? Do you think they lied?" Brennan was now confused as to where Booth was going with this conversation.
"I was thinking more about how they had worked their differences out. A relationship takes work. It takes two people who are committed to making it work, making it through the good and the bad. Who need each other to survive, like they need air or food, or water. They're really lucky. Some couples never realize that and they drift so far apart until one day, they don't need each other. They figure out how to survive without food and water." Booth finished as he took the last of his wine into his mouth.
"I don't understand. A person can survive for a while without those things, but not indefinitely. The body would begin to die without those things," Brennan began, explaining the physical ramifications of lack of food and water to the human body. "And eventually, death would occur." Brennan finished.
Booth turning his face to look fully at Brennan, he only stated, "Exactly." And with that he kissed her.
The kiss became deeper to the point that Booth slid Brennan down the headboard, until she was flat on the mattress. He needed her like he needed air. The thought that he knew she could survive without him scared him to death. She had proven that she could take care of herself and Christine without him. And that knowledge hurt him deeply. So he kissed her harder, almost painfully. In seconds, he had rid them both of their clothing.
Brennan was always in the mood for sex with Booth. It was an extension of their love for one another. But this was different – Booth was being rough with his hands, and his mouth and while she enjoyed forceful and dominating Booth from time to time, this night she didn't. Just as her thoughts made way to her mouth, Booth flipped her so that she was now lying on her stomach with her backside to his chest and he entered her with as much force as he could, holding her down and actually hurting her in the process.
"Booth, stop. You're hurting me." Brennan announced. With those five words, Booth nearly jumped onto the other side of the bed while Brennan turned so that she was facing Booth, grabbing the blanket and drawing her knees to her chest.
"What the Hell was that, Booth?" Brennan was caught somewhere between shocked and horrified that Booth would take that much power away from her. She had sensed his anger; she had for sometime now and with what had just happened, knew that it had escaladed. "Why are you so angry with me? I don't understand," Brennan began as her anger to began to rise.
"I'm sorry Bon, er, Brennan. I didn't mean to be," Booth started, terrified that for a single moment he thought about continuing to take out his frustration out on her through sex, "so forceful. I thought, Hell, I don't know what I thought."
"That much was obvious. You weren't." Brennan continued, anger rising in her voice. "You can't just take whatever you want from me, including sex. I'm not an object marked for your personal pleasure. You don't own me and you can't make me do whatever you. . ." Brennan yelled.
"YOU don't think I know that? I know I can't control you. I know that I can't make you do the things that I want because if I could, there is no way in Hell that YOU would have left with MY daughter for all those months! You're a selfish woman, Temperance Brennan!" Booth was now standing at the foot of their bed. "YOU left ME remember. YOU took control of that situation and made YOUR decision. You're right I can't control you. You aren't MY property. Hell, you aren't even my wife. I don't know WHAT we are anymore!" And with that last statement, Booth threw on a pair of boxers and slammed their bedroom door.
Left alone in their room, Brennan began to sob. For the first time, she began to wonder just what leaving had done to Booth, finding the answer in her own words. In a way, she had rendered him just as powerless as he had rendered her when she was pinned beneath him.
Taking a deep breath, Brennan knew this had to stop. Grabbing her robe, Brennan opened her bedroom door and sought out Booth. One way or another, things were going to change tonight.
