A/N: Booth and Brennan are out of the Dark of Night but not out of the shadows yet.
Enjoy
The smell of the freshly brewed coffee coated the surroundings of corridors all the way to the terrace; Booth was sitting holding his second cup of the day close to his mouth, inhaling the smell enjoying the chirps of the few birds locked in the golden cages in the corner. He knew eventually will have to go down and check up on Brennan, but was too scared to do anything now, his restless night and lack of sleep did not help him sort out what he might tell her when he see her. Before he could dive deeper into his thoughts he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
"Bones, what are you doing up" he jumped from his seat his shoulder right under her arm to hold her up.
"I am fine Booth, it is not hurting that much, although my hip got most of the abuse this morning, when I forgot my ankle was hurt and fell down in the shower" she explained confidently, as if nothing was the matter.
"Oh, Bones, you shouldn't have done that, you could have seriously hurt yourself, you should have called me" he instructed her in a very fatherly tone.
"I am not a child Booth, I can take care of myself, well obviously I forget this morning how to, but I am sure it will come back to me, now are you going to let me sit down" she asked him with mock annoyance
"Oh, sure, here take my seat" he was not sure if she wanted him to sit with her, so he moved away slightly as soon as she was comfortable
"Where are you going?" she asked with slight panic in her voice
"Nowhere Bones, I just thought …." He trailed when he saw the look in her eyes begging him not to talk about the night before "just going to get you something to drink Bones, they have great coffee here" he gave her a weak smile.
She returned the smile gratefully, and as soon as he was out of her sight she sighed, she was surprised that after all this time Booth was still able to read her.
They sat silently, listening to the sounds of chairs moving and few pages flipping from nearby guests sitting close by having their morning coffee with books in the hands. She moved her hand slowly and placed it on his shirt, he took it as invitation to move his hand and close it around hers. They sat like this in this familiar state so many times before, granted not in New York, but every time they met by the reflecting pool back in DC they drew courage from holding each other hands.
"Bones" he called to her softly
"Don't"
But he shook his head, refusing to back out
"No Bones, I cannot pretend, I cannot do this anymore, hold your hand and pretend that everything is fine"
She called him by his name then to draw his attention "Please Booth"
He stood then moving the chair to face her, but kept her fingers enlaced with his
"Bones, we have to talk, we have to discuss what happened last night, or for that matter, we have to talk about what has been happening the past two years, and I need to know what will happen now, tomorrow and a…" he was about to say a year or 40 or 50 years from now, but he knew the last time these words came out of his mouth she panicked and ran and he was not about to lose her forever, not like this.
"I am with someone Booth, Tye is a good man" the words sounded awfully familiar to him, they broke his heart all over again, but wasn't him the one who used the same sentence, at least she did not say she loved him, or maybe she hasn't changed and she still does not believe in love.
It was his turn to panic now, how does he go from here. What is supposed to say, to save his heart, his soul his dignity and pride without causing her or himself any more pain for that matter.
"I know Bones, I am sorry, I should not have stepped a line, I shouldn't have kissed you yesterday"
"As far as I remember it was me who kissed you first"
"Yeah well, I pushed you, and I am sorry"
"I know, I am sorry too, you are a good man Booth" she ended the sentence abruptly before she adds any more tension to the already apprehensive condition they both they found themselves in.
He then weakly moved his hand from her holding his cup of coffee and taking a large gulp. Wanting to change the subject, he jumped to the next best thing he could think of besides kissing her.
"So would you do me the honor and have breakfast with me my friend" He emphasized the friend in order to give her some control back and not have her relent in accepting his invitation.
"I am not sure it is right Booth"
"Come on Bones, you gotta eat sometime, and we have been best friends for a long time, it would be fun, I will even let you have some of the delicious bacon I am going to order" he teased
"Booth! Have you forgotten that I do not eat meat?" She scolded
"No Bones, but have you forgotten that I always have to offer so you can start lecturing me about the benefits of organic vegetables fruits and rabbit food you have in the morning" he was grinning now
"Yeah, yeah, well I am not going to start now, obviously my years of lecturing you are over, plus it is not as if you listen, it will go to waste and I prefer to give my advice to someone who actually takes it"
"I will take your advise Bones, and eat some vegetables, I will tell you what, I will have some potatoes with my breakfast" he laughed out loud as soon as he saw the look on her face.
Breakfast was better, they ate, and they laughed and even discussed their jobs; however as if they wordlessly agreed not to bring up their significant other or their upcoming weddings.
Parker stole a big part of the conversation, stories they both shared from old times, and what Bones missed while they were away, he even told her about the not girlfriend that Parker has. Brennan let down her walls completely and by noon they were still sitting on the terrace talking when his phone started ringing. The flash of anxiety in her eyes at who the caller might be did not skip him, he attempted to ignore it but whoever was calling was insistent and he was left with only two options now. Either deliberately close his phone, or answer it.
Brennan chose not to comment on Booth short phone call; he did not need to tell her who it was on the other line, for if Booth's sincere apology for not calling in the morning did not give him away, his stuttering and surely his flushed face did. He ended the conversation on the other line as fast as he could and sighed.
"Booth, you can go back to DC today, I can bring the invitation with me, or ask Luc to mail them to you, that won't be a problem, I have to stay here anyway until I am mobile enough to travel plus I am meeting my publisher in a few days"
"No, I am not leaving you. I mean I am not leaving you alone. Uh! You know with your foot like this, plus it is not like I have much to do back in DC, I have take a few days off, I can stay, give you some company, make sure you don't fall and crack your hip next time you get out of bed" he finished
"And how are you going to do that, you will sleep with me. Uh I mean in the same room" she asked
"No, I mean I will call you early in the morning and remind you that you cannot walk"
"Well you can still do that while you are in DC"
"Yeah well, I will"
"Good"
"Good"
They both knew she meant he should call her when they are both in DC and it was past the initial talk of him going back.
"So what do you want to do for lunch Bones?"
"Booth" she scolded "you just ate a mammoth not long ago..."
"an elephant Bones, I ate an elephant, and no I am not hungry, I thought maybe with your foot hurting, you might want to rest and then maybe we can hang out watch a movie maybe"
"I don't know Booth, I am tired, I think I will head to my room and nap for a while"
He was disappointed but not for long before she added that he could bring in a book and read in her room later while she worked on editing some chapters of her latest book.
Booth took the opportunity while Brennan took her nap to go out and run few errands, he hesitated going into the flower shop before he convinced himself that she was hurt, and it is a custom to buy flowers for people on bed rest, especially when they are your friends. So couple of hours later, and a bag full of cookies, snacks and what not, and a single yellow daisy among a bouquet of daffodils he was on his way to her room.
"Bones, wakey wakey" he knocked on the door, before opening the door with the extra key card they got the reception to issue for him, since she was not supposed to walk around much on her foot. He entered the darkened room and watched her face illuminated by the lingering light coming through the drawn curtains.
He watched her silently not daring to move, afraid of waking her up, afraid of losing the moment of being able to watch her. She looked peaceful and beautiful. His legs betrayed him and walked him towards her, maybe his legs had more sense than his brain and heart, if she had woken up to him standing watching her, she would think of him as a pervert. So he bends down and softly called to her.
"Bones, wake up"
"mmmm"
He touched his finger to her forehead moving the strands of hair behind her ear and brought his mouth closer to her ear
"Bones, wake up"
When he moved his fingers to her face tracing her jaw again, she sharply slapped his hand
"Ouch Bones! That hurt what was that for?" he asked irked now
She opened one eye warily and asked him to sit down and find something to do or read before she is fully awake.
"Come on Bones, it is not like there is something to do in this room, there is no TV for god's sake, this place is overpriced for rooms with no TV/cable"
"Read something Booth"
She sounded exhausted, so when her breath evened indicating she went back to sleep he decided to let her rest for some more time. He scanned the books in her room and sat down on top of the covers next to her, and started reading. He was not going to be sitting on a foot stool waiting for her to wake up, plus he would notice before she is ready to awake he will be up on his feet and by the window before she would know about it.
