Disclaimer: I do not own Bones. Story is mine, not the characters. Sigh.
The drive from the Jeffersonian to Brennan's apartment took twice as long as usual thank to heavy DC traffic. They finally arrived at Brennan's building and went up to her apartment. Brennan managed to pack a bag quickly, making sure to grab her laptop. Booth opened the door so they could leave just as a messenger raised his hand to knock.
"Uh Hi." The messenger was a young man not more than 20 years old, clearly intimidated by Booth "I have a package here for a T. Brennan. Are you him?"
"I'm Dr. Brennan" Tempe answered. The package was a small box wrapped in plain brown paper. Before Booth could stop her she had opened it up.
"Bones! That could have been a bomb for all you know." He chastised her.
"Booth." Brennan held the opened box for him to see "It's definitely not a bomb." The small box held a collection of women's teeth along with a note:
"I hope you enjoyed the reunion with your friends. You'll be joining them soon."
"Come on. You aren't safe here." Booth was grim as Brennan showed him the notes and contents. "Grab a plastic bag for that stuff and let's go." Brennan grabbed a plastic bag from the kitchen, carefully placing the contents inside as they left.
"We'll stop at the lab so you can leave the teeth and then swing by the bureau so they can check the note and packaging for prints."
"Booth no" Brennan argued "I need to determine which victim these belong to, if either."
"Bones it's late. You're exhausted. You haven't slept in days. You already have ID's on both victims. This can wait until tomorrow."
"I can call Hodgins back into the lab. He may be able to find particulates that will lead us to Davis."
Booth checked his watch before responding "Even if Hodgins finds something it will take several hours to process. Once he does we'll need a warrant which will not be possible to get until tomorrow. Same goes for any prints."
"That seems logical."
"Really?"
"Mmmhmmm"
"oh, okay." Booth had expected more of an argument. They'd gotten judges out of bed to sign warrants before. Bones not arguing unnerved him more than any threat. It told him just how frightened she was.
They made it to Booth's house after stopping at the Jeffersonian, the Hoover building and Wong Foo's for take-out. Booth carried her bags in while Brennan had their dinner.
"I'll put your bags in the bedroom and you can take the food into the dining room." Brennan watched carefully as Booth took her bags to his bedroom.
"I'm not sleeping in there with you." She stated, walking with dinner to the dining room.
"I hate to disappoint you Bones" Booth grinned "But I'm sleeping in Parker's room. I thought you would be more comfortable in a larger bed."
Brennan felt a deep blush work its way up her neck. He had such a reasonable excuse…and why was she so disappointed? "I don't want to force you out of your room Booth."
"Parker has a car bed Bones." Booth explained "Besides, I've stayed in there with him when he's had bad dreams. Just say 'thank you' and don't insult me by arguing anymore."
"Okay. Thank you." Even with everything happening around her, this man could still manage to get a smile out of her.
"That's better."
Booth walked into the kitchen to retrieve plates, utensils and a couple of beers as Brennan laid out the carry-out containers.
They ate for a while in companionable silence. Finally Brennan looked across the table to her partner "How can you be so nice to me after all this?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Judy and Angel. They're both dead because of me. If I had just let it go like before…"
"Wait a minute." Booth stopped her "Let what go?"
Brennan realized with a start she had said more than intended. She sighed. "What happened with Bernie…it wasn't the first time." She could feel Booth's intense gaze on her face "It was the worst but…"
Booth could not decide what he wanted more in that minute. To shake some sense into his partner, put his fist through a wall or put his fist through Bernie Davis' face. All three were very tempting. He opened his mouth to convince her none of it was her fault when she continued.
"I know you're angry I didn't tell you about any of this earlier. I argued with myself over it. Before we identified the other victims it seemed logical to keep it to myself. If I told you, you'd be upset with me. Maybe even disappointed." Brennan played with the food on her played, not able to meet Booth's stare. She couldn't bare to see him disappointed in her.
"Bones, where would you get an idea like that?" Booth sighed. "You were 16 when this started. What were you supposed to do? You're parents hadn't been gone that long. You were constantly surrounded by strangers. Pressing charges and testifying against Bernie Davis was a very courageous thing to do." She carried so much weight with her all the time. He needed to make her understand this had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Davis. "You cannot keep blaming yourself for choices other people make."
"Maybe" Her answer was non-committal at best. "Booth I'm really tired. Do you mind if I just shower and go to bed?"
"Sure Bones." Booth gave her clean towels and headed into the dining room to clean up. When he didn't hear the shower running anymore he cracked open his bedroom door to check up on her and found her sound asleep in his bed. He stood there for several minutes watching her sleep wanting nothing more than to crawl in beside her. With a heavy sigh he closed the door and made his way into Parker's room.
A few hours later Booth was jolted awake by the sound of screaming. Jumping out of bed he grabbed his gun from the end table and burst into his bedroom. He made a quick survey of the room and the only other person there was Bones. She was sitting straight up in the bed, tears streaming from her eyes screaming. Booth climbed on to the bed to sit in front of her. Her eyes were glazed over and he could not tell if she was awake or dreaming.
"Bones!" Booth grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her slightly. She may have been shivering but her body was still covered in a cold sweat. She screamed again when he touched her and pulled her legs up to her body in a protective gesture. He wanted so badly to comfort her but wasn't sure how to do it without making the situation worse. Finally he crawled beside her and pulled her into his arms like he had done countless times before. He held her tightly as the shivers coursing through her body slowly subsided all the while murmuring soothing words. Booth could feel the moment she woke up from her nightmare. Her breathing was starting to return to normal and the tears stopped.
"Booth?" Bones raised confused eyes up to his.
"You were screaming" Booth answered.
"I'm sorry" Logically she knew she should pull away, being this vulnerable could only lead to trouble. But she just could not make herself move and found herself resting her head on his chest. "I didn't realize… You should go back to sleep."
"Hey. It's okay." Booth felt her start to stir and pulled her tighter against him. "I don't suppose you actually want to talk about it?"
She shook her head "There's nothing to tell really. It's the same nightmare I mentioned earlier."
"I figured that much. What I meant is do you want to talk about the specifics?"
"There's no point."
"Maybe it would help you to talk the whole thing through."
"I hate psychology."
"It's not psychology. It's like talking through a tough problem, sometimes a different perspective helps."
Brennan eased out of his embrace and sat up against the headboard. "Why do you always want me to talk about things?"
"Because whether you want to believe it or not talking helps." Booth said gently. "We're partners and friends. And… I care about you. A lot."
His brown eyes were so full of warmth and caring it made her heart ache. "You really shouldn't, you know."
"Shouldn't what?"
"Care so much."
That had to be the dumbest thing he had ever heard her say. "Why not?"
"I can compartmentalize almost anything but look at me. This whole thing has turned me into a pathetic mess. You shouldn't want to be anywhere near me." She held her breath in fear he might agree. Knowing he wouldn't.
"Wow. That is such crap Bones. You do this. Anytime you feel like we might be too close you try to push me away. After four years you still don't get it. I'm not leaving you." Booth smiled a little "Sorry Bones but you're stuck with me."
"I am not trying…"
"Yea, you are." Booth affirmed "Remember? You read bones, I read people. And you count as people."
His gaze had never left her face as he tried to get her to open up a little more. This was one of those times she frustrated him to no end. He knew she trusted him but she still tried to push him away. More and more it seemed like a test. Anytime the got closer she would eventually try to force him away. He knew that she expected him to abandon her, the same as her family, but she was bound to be disappointed. The waiting for her to figure it out was what was hard.
"You know what I hate the most?" She asked him. When he didn't answer she continued "I hate that I only feel truly safe when I'm with you."
Booth couldn't believe what he had just heard her say. One minute she's pushing him away and the next she was pulling him closer. Bones was not an easy woman to figure out. But, oh, is she worth it he thought to himself.
Brennan smiled at his stunned expression the leaned forward to wrap her arms around his torso, resting her head on his chest again. "Do you think you could…would you stay with me?" She asked the question to his chest, afraid to look at him.
"Whatever you want Bones." It was a good thing she couldn't see his face or even Brennan would have been able to tell exactly how much he cared.
Brennan fell asleep snuggled up against Booth. She slept better that night than since before her parents left.
