While she waited for Booth to be done in the bathroom, Brennan wandered around the apartment in a half daze. She felt hurt inside, as if she was drowning in her pain, and there was nothing she could do to keep her head above water. The enormity of it reminded her of how she felt when her family abandoned her, and the lonely years she spent in foster care. She tried not to think about it, but somehow it kept coming up.
"Why are you crying?" Booth asked quietly from the doorway.
Brennan jumped, surprised, and said, "You shouldn't sneak up on me like that. And I'm not crying."
He reached out a finger and gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "Um, Bones? What do you call this?" He held out his finger for her to inspect. She pursed her lips, unwilling to admit that he was right. "What were you thinking about?"
She looked at him carefully, and, seeing compassion in his gaze, answered, "It all came back to me: how I felt when my family left, what it was like not to have any friends. I mean, it wasn't like I fit in very well before my parents left, but I had a couple of friends and my family. When my family left, it was like my heart was ripped out of my chest."
The tears continued to flow down Brennan's cheeks, unnoticed by her. "And then I was moved from school to school. I never stayed long anywhere. I didn't have much of a chance to make friends and then the kids would tease me or make snide remarks. At first I was so devastated by the loss of my family that I didn't really notice. Eventually I couldn't carry the pain around with me anymore, so I just pushed it away. I put it in a room, walked out, and closed the door behind me. That was when I learned just how mean kids could be."
Brennan collapsed onto the couch. "I tried to fit in, but nothing seemed to help. I got picked on either way. So I decided that I didn't care what people thought of me and I kept to myself. I buried myself further in my studies and books." Brennan sniffed. "There are so many ways that I'm still that abandoned lonely girl."
Booth sat down beside her, and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. His heart ached for her as he reflected on the all the pain she had just revealed.
They sat like that for a while. Brennan cried quietly in his arms and he slowly rubbed her back.
When it seemed that she had cried herself out, he decided it was time for a distraction. "It's almost lunchtime. How about I buy you lunch and we catch a movie?"
He was surprised when she replied, "I don't really feel like going out."
"C'mon. It'll get your mind off things," he cajoled.
She shrugged and gave in. She didn't have the energy to argue with him. At the restaurant he ordered a hearty meal for her. When she would have abandoned it after a few bites, he kept at her until she ate a good portion of it.
After lunch he bought them tickets for a documentary she had mentioned wanting to see. At first it didn't seem very good, but part way through she started to get interested. Afterward, she thanked him. "I think getting out was good. I didn't really want to, but the movie turned out to be pretty good. Of course a few of their facts were wrong."
As she analyzed the movie, Booth smiled. 'That's my Bones.'
But the slice of normalcy was short lived, and on the way back to her apartment, her earlier mood settled back in. Although he didn't much like puzzles, he sat down and worked it with her for about half an hour. When she decided to try to read, he browsed her bookshelves to find something to read. After a quick perusal nothing looked interesting, so he looked again more slowly. Soon she was asleep on her couch, and he gave up altogether.
Figuring that she would sleep for a while, Booth went out. He stopped by the bookstore to pick up some reading material for himself. If he was going to hang out with her for the next few days he'd need something to do when she was reading. He browsed the music and then the DVDs. After making his purchases, Booth wandered next door to the Toys 'Я' Us. He purchased a present for Parker and a couple of other things. Next he headed to Blockbuster where he rented a couple of movies to watch that evening. As he left the video store, he smiled. 'Maybe a movie about women who kick butt will cheer her up,' he thought.