Booth had been led offstage and out off sight when an agent came up to her, "Mrs. Booth, could you please go get your daughter and we will get going." Temperance nodded and accompanied by agents made her way around the crowd of press to the familiar faces at the back. Security was holding back the press as they called out to her, determined to get answers and a photograph. Some of the press had the nerve to call out asking when her next book would be published.
Just up ahead of her was Beth; she was crying in Angela's arms. Temperance felt a headache building and her stomach flipped feeling guilty for leaving Beth. Temperance broke through the wall of agents surrounding her and ran towards Beth. When Beth saw her mother, she was blubbering and her nose was running as she tried to talk but it was completely incomprehensible.
Angela passed Beth over and she wrapped her little arms around Temperance's neck holding on tight. "Sweetie she wouldn't stop crying, I think she's scared, the noise, and the cameras really got to her. People were trying to take photos of her!"
"Ange, don't worry about it, thank you." Temperance was remaining strong although all she wanted to do was cry. She had family and friends standing around looking questionably at her. She assumed they were up for a welcome home party, especially all Booth's friends. Booth's parents looked ready to come home with her, while the squints, her closest friends and practically her closest family were looking lost on the side. Her five year old was a mess in her arms and was leaving a snotty wet mark on her shoulder while her husband…. She didn't know what to make of Booth; she didn't know how to handle this.
Agents behind her kept insistently reminding her that the convoy was waiting for her. She just stood there looking at Angela, not knowing what to say. Angela pulled her into a hug sandwiching Beth in the middle. Angela pulled back looking at Temperance sternly, "Everything is going to be ok."
Temperance nodded, "Booth's parents? Do you know if their staying in town tonight?"
Angela shrugged, "Honey don't worry about it, they understand what's going on; they will be fine. Now go home."
Temperance nodded again and turned, following agents out of the building towards a convoy of black SUV's surrounded by police escort. The photographers were still snapping away as she was lead to the third SUV in a line of six. An agent opened the back door to an empty car except for a driver. Temperance turned to the man, "Where's…?"
The agent slightly smiled, the first sign of emotion she had seen from this man dressed all in black, black sunglasses and an earpiece. A mirror image of every single agent she had seen today. He cut her off anticipating, "Don't worry ma'am. He's in a vehicle."
She smiled lightly and carefully climbed in the car, cautious of hitting Beth's head. Inside the tinted black SUV the driver sat motionless waiting for the all clear and yet another different agent hopped in the passenger seat.
The only sound in the car was Beth sniffling on her shoulder. "Beth honey, sssshhhhh, everything's ok now. We're going home."
Temperance distinctly felt her wipe her nose on her jersey. "Is he coming?" Beth asked quietly.
The car pulled away from the curb following the car in front in unison. Police motorcycle's had arrived on either side of the SUV. Temperance frowned, "Your Dad?"
Beth nodded into her shoulder. "Yeah, he's coming home with us." Temperance was cautious and felt nervous again. Beth looked up at her mother and Temperance wiped tears away from her cheeks. "Its ok, your fine Beth, were going home."
The bustling DC city was packed with people taking late lunches. It was going on almost three o'clock and traffic was heavy with parents on their way to pick up their children from school. Temperance wished she was in the same car as Booth as he rode through the city that held so many memories for them but hadn't seen in years.
"I hear you panting Booth. Can't keep up?" Temperance laughed and focused on keeping her breathing steady.
Their footsteps were a steady beat echoing in the early morning silence as they turned down their street. "I'm fine." He said shortly, he too focused on his breathing. Their house loomed in sight and Booth smiled somewhat glad their run had come to an end. About three houses away from theirs Booth broke out into a sprint "race you to the front steps!" he called out.
"Hey!" Temperance matched his sprint and slowly began to close in on him. He jumped off the sidewalk and started cutting across their front lawn and Temperance was right there alongside him. She was laughing and his baggy t-shirt hung to her sweaty body, he was staring and starting to fall behind her. Halfway up the yard he pushed his left hand out towards her lightly pushing her off balance. She wobbled and he surged forward leaping up the front steps in one go and turning around to face her, his hands on his hips. "I am the champion!" she sat facing away from him looking out at the quiet road. He saw her put her hands on the ground and push her self up her left leg not taking any weight.
She turned to face him her face a mixture of pain and confusion. He leaped down the stairs and sprinted towards to her almost knocking her off balance again "umph" he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her in close. "Shit Bones I'm so sorry." She rested her head on his chest and her breathing eventually returned to normal. Their sweaty bodies stuck together and he placed kisses up and down her neck apologizing profusely.
She lifted her head up to face his and she'd never seen his face more guilty or sad. "You know I win by default right." She smiled and the corners of his lips lightly turned up protesting a smile. He moved his hand higher up and back and bent down to put his other hand behind her knees picking her up and he carried her around to the right of the house and she silently unlatched the gate. She hadn't protested to him carrying her and he was surprised. He knew she must be in pain and was furious with himself; she rested her head on his shoulder. He walked round the side of the house to the back and stepped up to the back porch and walked through the open French doors. He carried on through the house to the stairs and then down to their bedroom placing her on the side of their bed. He walked into the bathroom lifting off his t-shirt and scrunched it up aiming and shooting at the laundry basket. Booth reached the medicine and grabbed plasters, cotton wool and antiseptic.
He walked back out to the bedroom and she was sitting quietly where he had left her. She looked up when he reappeared and smiled her eyes traveling over his chest. "Booth just dab the antiseptic on and put a plaster on, I'm fine it's just a little graze."
"Yeah yeah Bones." He soaked the cotton wool in antiseptic. He looked up at her his eyes merciful, "I'm so sorry."
"Booth stop it I'm fine …Ouch"
"Geez Bones for someone who's supposed to be tough you're actually quite a wimp; quit wriggling."
"Well Booth I said dab the antiseptic on my knee not use the whole bottle and it's stinging!"
He put down the bottle and cotton wool and grasped her knee with two hands. He lightly blew on the abrasion.
"Um ok what are you doing?" she looked down at him eye brows raised.
"I'm blowing on it Bones, it takes the sting away."
"Booth frankly your spreading bacteria"
"Thanks for that Bones, I though I was healthy."
"Well I think you would be interested to know just how many bacteria are in…"
"Stop right there. I can already tell I'm not going to care. Has it stopped stinging?"
She narrowed her eyes at him and he smiled. "Yes"
"Good. I'll let an ice pack."
"Wait." She placed her hands on his shoulders and lightly massaged them. She smiled at him "Don't go."
The drive from the airport was quick as Temperance was lost in another world. They turned down their street and she felt apprehensive. Soon it would just be the three of them, what was she supposed to say, or do?
The other cars in the convoy had trailed of in their own directions and two black SUV's pulled up outside the house. A police car sat in the driveway and the two police motorcycles waited until both SUV engines had been turned off before heading back in the direction of the city, leaving just another police car escort to pull up behind the SUV's.
The agent from the passenger seat in front and got out and opened the door for them. Temperance lifted Beth off her lap and encouraged to get out of the car. Temperance got out next and turned to look to left at the SUV behind her. Booth was already standing out on the curb staring up at the house. Temperance looked at the house and was glad she had mowed the front lawn the previous weekend and had weeded the small rows of flowers his mother had planted in spring for her. Her eyes moved back to rest on Booth. He was watching Beth grab her bag from an agent and run up the lawn to the front steps where she sat down waiting. Temperance turned to the agent holding her bags; she thanked him and turned to Booth. She smiled at him and started across the lawn to the front door where she dug around in her bag for her keys. She opened the front door and asked Beth to put her bags in her room. Beth took them and begun her accent up the stairs struggling with the three bags.
Temperance turned her attention to Booth; he was talking with an agent who wearily passed him a brown paper bag glancing towards Temperance on the steps when he did so. The police car backed out of the drive and disappeared with the two SUV's leaving Booth on the side walk looking up at her. One police car remained outside the house with an officer sitting inside with a cup of coffee and a doughnut hanging from his fingers. An inconspicuous black car sat across the street, a couple of houses down with two men in it, she recognized one as the man who led her to the car back at the airport.
Temperance could see a few neighbors down the street standing gawking on their lawns. Booth was clutching the paper bag in his right hand and turned to walk down the sidewalk until he reached the path leading up to the house, he was still limping faintly. Time was moving slowly, it probably didn't help that Booth was walking incredibly slowly as well. He reached the stairs, they hadn't taken their eyes off each other but he briefly looked down as he carefully stepped up the two stairs. They now stood opposite each other at the front door, "So are you going to invite me in?" Booth smiled and Temperance's heart lifted, he was home. "You don't need an invitation" she countered.
"It hurts"
"Yeah I know honey, hang on. Parker will you get the band aids and antiseptic?" Temperance called from the yard. She wiped some tears that were rolling down Beth's face.
"It hurts Mommy"
Parker arrived in the doorway between the back porch and kitchen with an array of band aids, "Sponge bob or Jimmy Neutron?"
"Sponge Bob" Beth squeaked out.
Temperance dabbed antiseptic on the scrape and blew lightly on it, "Is that better?" Beth nodded and sniffled.
Parker sat down beside Beth on the bench resting his head in his hand, "Dad used to do that for me"
Temperance smiled up at him, he increasingly rarely spoke of his father but when he did she felt a sense of pride.
Booth stepped over the threshold into the foyer, he looked around. She could tell he was tired by the way his shoulders were sagging. He peered up the stairs just to the left of him and then walked to the right, into the living room. He was wandering, soaking the place in like it was the first time he'd ever seen it. He let out a small laugh, it was croaky. "What?" Temperance asked, she couldn't help but smile at him.
He turned around to face her; he was smiling "You kept the chair."
She laughed and looked at the brown leather recliner sitting amongst the couches and coffee table. "Yeah well it's kind of grown on me."
"I'm surprised I would have thought that would have been the first thing to go."
She looked at him questioningly, "to go?"
"Yeah, thrown out."
"Booth I didn't throw anything out when you left."
"Oh." He knew the topic of while he was gone would come up a lot but he didn't think so soon.
He walked around to a side table and pointed at a picture of just the two of them. "When was this taken?"
Temperance walked up beside him and looked at it, it was a nice picture of the two of them, both smiling at the camera, not forced, and they were obviously having a good time. "That was taken…" she paused and thought back "the Christmas before you…..left."
He smiled "It's a good picture."
"Mom! Where are you?" A holler broke the contentment of the two. Footsteps could be herd thumping down the stairs. Temperance glanced at Booth sideways as he took a deep breath of air. Beth appeared and stopped in her tracks "Oh… hi" she said breathlessly.
Booth looked at Temperance who felt the uneasiness. "Yeah honey."
Beth was staring at Booth but turned and looked over at her mother "I'm hungry."
"Alright ok, yeah I'm hungry too. Booth?"
"Nah I'm ok" he looked around "I'm kind of tired could I..?" he broke off.
"Oh yeah, sure. Beth why don't you go and uhh…watch TV and then I'll come back down and fix you something."
"No, it's ok, I know where it is." He slightly smiled reassuringly holding out the paper bag to Temperance. He glanced at Beth and lowered his voice, "It's meds 'n stuff, I have to take the next lot at five so could you wake me up? The instructions are in the bag."
"Oh sure….yeah ok." Temperance took the bag and was surprised by its weight.
He started to walk towards Beth in the direction of the stairs but stopped and turned around "Do you have any of my stuff, like my clothes..."
"Uh huh, right where you left them." He raised his eye brows but didn't say anything and continued to the stairs. At the foot of the stairs he paused and looked behind to see if they were still standing there but he could hear Temperance and Beth talking down the hall to the back of the house. He carefully took the stairs one at a time pausing every now and then. At the landing he looked around familiarizing himself with the layout.
He was exhausted and decided to leave the exploration till later so he walked down to what he remembered as their bedroom. He glanced in the rooms as he passed and Parker yet again popped up in his mind for the hundredth time since he found out he wasn't at the airport. He stopped outside his room and walked in. Booth didn't remember what Parkers room looked like before he left, now it littered with posters of bands and movies he had never seen or heard of. Opposite a couple of bean bags was a fairly large TV and what looked like very modern game consoles. He smiled; Bones had been spoiling their son. His legs were stiffening up beneath him so he walked out of Parker's room and down to their room.
Booth stopped just inside the room, it was a sunny and airy room with large windows, but it was very private looking over the expansive backyard. Temperance's things were draped over a couple of arm chairs in the corner and her bags had been unceremoniously dropped at the foot of the bed just in front of a large chest where they stored their winter blankets. He moved to the window and looked over the backyard; the trees running along the boundary had grown tall and provided privacy from the neighbors. A large painting hung opposite their bed on the far wall. He was sure he had never seen before, it was a slightly impressionistic painting of a little girl in a field, and he wondered if Angela had done it of Beth. Some pictures had accumulated on the dresser and bedside tables, his eyes scanned them, some he felt he may have seen before some not. There was a picture of Beth outside in the yard in a sundress, sitting on Temperance's bedside table along with a picture of Booth and Parker fishing off the dock at the lake house. He thought back to that summer before he left.
Temperance was right; his clothes were in his wardrobe where he had left them. It was slightly eerie. It was evident that occasionally throughout the years she had washed and aired them. He sought comfort from this familiarity of his clothes, some he recognized and some he didn't. He grabbed a t-shirt from a draw and a pair of boxers. He wandered into the ensuite and smiled at Temperance's stuff littering the vanity. Getting changed was harder than he thought and painful, he considered calling out to Temperance but told himself to toughen up. He dumped his outfit the FBI had provided him with on the ground debating with himself whether or not to throw it out.
He walked into the bedroom and pulled back the covers on the right side of the bed, the left was always hers. This was the first decent bed he had slept in since he left originally, it was certainly the first time other than the hospital he had had sheets and a duvet. Sinking further in the bed he felt a little out of place like he was intruding in her life. But he was too tired and medicated to ponder that for long.
"What's wrong?" Booth rolled over in bed and propped his head in his hand. In the darkness he could vaguely make out her outline.
"I can't get comfortable, everything hurts." She sighed and wriggled around trying to get comfy.
He looked over at the clock and the red numbers blared 2.16am at him, he groaned. "Are you hungry? Something to eat, drink?" His hand moved to find her hand and he held it.
He saw her shake her head. "Roll over on your side." He asked softly. She did as she was told and he moved closer wrapping his arm around her and over her large stomach. His other hand moved slowly over her lower back where he knew she was hurting. She sighed and he knew she was tired.
"I'll have to get a new car wont I?" she asked quietly.
"I knew something was wrong… stop worrying."
"There's only three months left and we're not even prepared."
"There's not point worrying about it now Bones. Just try to get some sleep." She was silent for awhile but her breathing wasn't steady and he knew she wasn't asleep.
"Booth?" he grunted. "I was thinking if it's a boy, what sport would you want him to play, baseball like Parker or soccer?"
He laughed and she smiled feeling a little silly. "Bones what ever he wants to play."
"So baseball?"
He smiled, she knew him too well. "Probably."
"Would you want him to enlist with the army? You know, fight for his county. Like you?"
Booth was silent for a while contemplating her question, "I'm not sure, I don't regret doing what I did but I'm not sure I'd want him to see and do what I did. I can't imagine Parker out in the middle of nowhere with two wounded soldiers and just a gun for company….its just too painful." She nodded in response. They lay like that for awhile just thinking about the future until he felt her fully relax in his arms and her breathing evened out.
His hand was firm on her round stomach and as he was drifting off he felt his child kicking. Not a lot, just randomly once in a while lightly. He smiled into her hair and felt himself soon fall asleep.
Down stairs Temperance sat on a stool at the bench with a plate of macaroni and cheese in front of her while the after school cartoons entertained Beth in the TV room. Temperance had opened the French doors in the kitchen and it was sending a cool breeze through the house after it being locked up for a couple of days. She had sorted through the mail, nothing of importance, but she assumed the next couple of days would bring numerous forms to fill out. Temperance was sorting through the bag of Booth's meds and reading over the instructions from the doctor who promised to be over first thing in the morning. The pills he would be taking were extensive; they varied from pain relief to muscle relaxers to vitamins and supplements. Sleeping pills were thrown in as was Xanax for anti-anxiety. Temperance paused and frowned slightly, but put them all back in the bag and put it in a high cupboard
She was constantly asking herself whether she should go check on him, see if he was ok. She decided against it and gave him space; he was tired. Temperance rang Beth's school and work, she talked to Dr. Goodman and they decided it would be best if she took time off. Usually Temperance wouldn't have agreed to time off, it was hard enough getting her to take maternity leave.
The phone rung at 4.30pm and Temperance ran to get it before it woke Booth up. "Hello?"
"Temp, it's Parker." His voice was nervous and seemed small.
"Hey, Parker." Temperance tried to be calm; she didn't want to spook him.
"Hi." Silence.
"Would you like to come over Parker?"
"Is he there?"
"Yes honey, he's sleeping now." Parker was taking deep breaths and Temperance wondered if he was crying.
"Ok, Mom will drop me off soon."
"Ok I'll see you soon."
"Bye Temp."
"Parker wait…" she waited for a dial tone but there wasn't one so she assumed he was still there. "He's eager to see you Parker, don't worry I'm here and so is Beth. Ok everything is going to be fine."
"Ok. Bye" Parker put down the phone and his un-talkative nature concerned Temperance.
The 5 messages on the machine blinked at Temperance but she decided not to clear them yet. She looked at her watch and went to the cupboard and grabbed the pills indicated by the doctor and took a bottle of water. She walked into the TV room where Beth was absorbed in the TV but her eyelids were drooping and Temperance knew she would be asleep in 10 minutes. "Beth, Parkers coming over so if the door bell rings it'll be him so can you get it?" Beth looked up and nodded, clearly having no idea what her Mom just said.
Temperance walked up the stairs all of a sudden aware of how she must look; she hadn't changed or showered in a couple of days and smelt like plane. She lingered in Parker's room straightening things out before glancing at her watch; it was almost five. She walked down the hall to her room. Booth was lying on his back with his left arm out of the sling but elevated on a pillow. He hadn't closed the curtains but the sun was pretty low in the sky now and wasn't streaming in still. She had a strong sense of déjà vu seeing him lying like that. She sat down on her side of the bed and placed the water and pills on the bedside table.
Temperance lightly placed her hand on his shoulder, "Booth, Booth wake up. Wake up, it's five o'clock." She very gently shook him. "Booth, wake up." His eyes flittered before opening wide, his eyes darted around and his breath hitched in his throat. "Booth it's ok, it's me, Temperance. You're home."
He raised his right arm and wiped his eyes, "Sorry, it's just …. Weird, you know being back."
She lay down on her side of the bed on her side facing him. "Parker rung, he's coming over. Is that ok."
"Of course it's ok, what he just rung? Is he coming now?" He liked them talking together alone like this it reminded him of what they used to have.
"Yeah, I told him you were asleep so you can nap for awhile longer and I'll get some food or something for dinner and you could come down... What do you want to do? Do want a shower?"
Booth tried to sit up but grunted and brought his right hand to his ribs. Temperance sat up and helped lift him up. "Thanks" he said, not meeting her eye.
"I guess I'll have a shower later, but umm... I need help."
"Oh yeah, of course." Temperance reached for the water bottle unscrewing the cap, she handed it to Booth and proceeded to hand him pills.
"So is there anything in particular you want to eat."
He smiled, "I haven't had pizza in five years."
Ok so longest chapter to date! You all said you liked the long chapter last time so here's another long one for all you reviewers! Please please please review! I've become addicted to reviews, their like air. I love to know what you think. I admit I've been extremely slack at replying to your reviews but I promise to try harder. (By the way, I leapt out of my chair a couple of chapters back when you hit 200 reviews!
So this is Booth and Bones first chapter back home, I kinda like it. Anyway at the risk of sounding like I'm begging, please review!
Thanks to 'MadeOfStars' for beta'ing this for me.
