Alright, YAY! I wrote this scene first… and it was kinda hard to go backwards and forwards from here, but I did it, hopefully in a understandable way. *whew* Let me know what you think! We've still got 8 more chapters, so let me know if you're still with me on the journey! …But I'm telling you, I'm really happy with it, so hopefully you will be too!
Thanks so much! …and I warned you it was a monster ;)
He had gotten a text message from Kelly that simply read: If you're anywhere near the area, meet me at Vermillion when you get the chance. Big news!
Not knowing what to expect when he arrived, he navigated the streets of Alexandria, looking for a spot to park his SUV on the narrow streets near the bar where she had said to meet. Once he found one, he made his way to the bar, walked in the doors and looked through the crowded lounge with rustic décor for his sister. He spotted her at the bar, chatting with a woman seated on her left.
As he approached, he heard her laughing and he smiled.
"Big news? Should I sit down?" He asked as she whipped around and smiled. It had been weeks since he'd seen her and he was pleased to know she was still doing alright.
"Only sit down if you plan on drinking to my success!" She smiled and introduced him to the woman she was chatting with. "Seeley, I'd like you to meet my co-counsel, Katrina Harris."
"Co-counsel?" He smiled at her, not entirely sure he was as thrilled as she was.
"Big, important case!" Katrina nudged Kelly "Virginia Court of Appeals!"
Booth warily sat on the bar stool next to Kelly, listening as the women excitedly explained.
"So the guy we're representing, his original court appointed attorney decided it wasn't something he could do." Katrina spilled.
"Martin, our boss, he heard about it and decided to take it pro bono." Kelly continued. "But his case load is like, whoa." She mimed a tall stack of files. "Huge. So he kicked it over to Katrina."
"He asked if I wanted co-counsel, so I demanded he give me the best."
"Guess what, Seeley, that's me!" Kelly laughed. "I'm the best. My first real case. Not just a lackey. Me! Courtroom!" She squealed almost incoherently.
Booth quickly order a drink from the passing bartender as he smiled and gave her his congratulations.
"Hey Pusher," Katrina leaned in to Kelly. "I see Dylan Werner over there. I want to congratulate him on his win today."
"Oh," Kelly looked over her shoulder. "Give him my congratulations as well. I'm going to hang with Seeley for a minute."
"I'll see you tomorrow." She took her purse and smiled at Booth. "Nice meeting you."
"You too." Booth nodded with a smile as Katrina walked away. "Pusher?" He looked at Kelly.
"I have a work place nickname." She laughed. "Martin said I was the best pencil pusher he had, then one day, everyone is calling me Pusher." She shrugged. "Martin started it, but Katrina says it's because I pushed all the other new guys out of my way."
"That sounds…" he looked for the right word
"Brutal?" She smiled "I know, I love it."
"So where's Jeremy? I thought I'd see him here tonight." Seeley looked around.
"He was for a little bit, but he had to teach a class." She twirled her wine glass around in her hand. "He said we'd celebrate later tonight."
"Ok," Seeley took a sip of his drink and cringed. "Stop that."
"What? I just said we were going to celebrate." She laughed. "You made it disgusting."
"So you're taking on a big case." Booth dodged the topic and Kelly smiled.
"This is huge." She nodded. "I just passed the bar, I haven't really had to pay my dues yet, you know? I'm really fortunate Martin has so much faith in me."
"You are pushy." Booth nodded.
"You know, it wouldn't kill you to be a little bit excited for me." She grumbled as she looked into her now empty wine glass.
"I am." He said begrudgingly.
"No you're not." She sighed and called the bartender over to get their tab. She threw down a credit card before Booth could argue and looked at him. "We should go somewhere else to talk."
"If that's what you want to do." He shrugged and she sighed in exasperation.
"You're such a girl."
She trailed after him as he negotiated through the crowd. They stood on the sidewalk and Kelly pointed up the street.
"My car is that way."
"So is mine." He nodded and took off in the direction of their cars.
"Why are you so mad at me?" She chased him down the sidewalk
"You sue the Commonwealth of Virginia for a living!" He surprised himself when he threw it over his shoulder while he started fishing for his keys. He didn't stop walking and he didn't apologize.
"The court refused the motion to suppress when my client's rights were violated!" She tried to explain
"Why would the court refuse a motion to suppress?" He stopped and turned to look at her.
"Because the judge is a jerk." She shrugged. Booth turned on his heels and started down a side alley towards his car.
"The judge is upholding the Constitution!"
"Not Judge Green." She contested as Booth grunted and started down the sidewalk.
"So why do you think your client's rights were violated?" He stopped again, this time in front of his SUV. He looked around, making sure no one else was in sight and he saw Kelly's car across the street.
"Unlawful search and seizure. The upstanding State Police violated my client's fourth amendment rights! They arrested him outside of his house after he brandished a firearm. He has been convicted of a drug felony within the past 10 years, so he violated Virginia Code 18.2-308.2. Class 6 felony, minimum of 2 years, then they broke into his locked house, finding drugs." She rattled off
"But he's guilty!" He insisted
"But it's illegal!" She countered, knowing she was right.
"They had probably cause." He attempted. It was really bothering him that Kelly was able to speak legalese better than he could.
"No, they had reasonable suspicion, but not probably cause." She pointed out and he had to bite his tongue to stop him from arguing more. "I'm not saying my client deserves to walk free, he deserves those two years, but I'd really appreciate it if the men in blue could do things the right way!"
"You'd be out of a job. And your client is going to be walking free." He accented his statement by repeatedly pointing and accusatory finger at her.
"I'm just trying to get his drug charges dropped. Why? Because they violate his Fourth Amendment rights! Aren't you pro-Constitution and all of the inalienable rights therein?" She crossed her arms and glared at him
"For the people who deserve them!" As he was glaring at her, he tried to contain the shock he felt. His little Kelly was arguing the Constitution with him. His little Kelly who had been his shadow as she was growing up, was stepping out from behind him and looking for her own spotlight. They were Booths, they were good at what they did, always in control, but there was a look in Kelly's eyes that made him stop and stare in wonder. An almost maniacal intensity flashed through her eyes before she turned away. He hadn't seen a look in someone's eyes like that in a very long time. Not since their father…
"Hi, my name is Seeley Booth and I am morally superior to all of you plebeians." Kelly waved her hands in the air in disdain as she walked towards her car, hoping she would have the last word.
"I have to be that person." He called out "I didn't have a choice."
"You always have a choice!" She stopped in front of her car
"You wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for me." He spat through his teeth as he approached her "You would have been lost in the world."
"How dare you!" Kelly shouted "How dare you speak to me like you know me! I am 26 years old and I still look in the mirror every morning wondering who the hell I am, if I'm going to survive the day. You think that you can read my face? You think you know what's best for me? No one knows what's going on underneath. No one ever has!"
"I've always done what's best for you." He pointed at her intensely
"You've always done what you felt is best. Has anyone bothered to ask me ever?"
"This is why no one asks you, Kelly! You get too emotional." He shouted back "I see what you're going through and I'm going to be able, from a objective point of view, to help you!"
"Help me?" She laughed angrily "You can't even help yourself! Open your eyes, Seeley, you're so painfully in love with Bones it makes me want to vomit. You can't even see past your own nose to know what's best for you so why do you think I'm going to be able to trust you?"
"I know." He said softly.
"What?"
"I know I'm in love with Bones. But it's kind of difficult to get past that when you work together and when she has no intention of ever reciprocating those emotions! You just don't understand." With every word, his tone became more accusatory
"I don't understand?" Kelly shouted back incredulously. "Did you meet my mother? Because I'm fairly certain that you met our father. I know what it's like to love and adore someone so much that it hurts. I know what it's like to go to bed every night praying that tomorrow will be different, that they'll see what you mean to them. I feel that gaping wound in my chest every time I think about them."
Booth, standing by the front of her car, suddenly kicked the tire with rage.
"Don't kick my car!" She ran up to him and pushed him away
"It's my car. I'm paying for it." He reminded heatedly
"Wasn't it a gift? Is it not in my possession? Is that not nine tenths of the law?" She sneered
"Then I'm taking it back!"
"Take it back! I don't care! Then you can kick it all you want!" She cried, jamming her hands into the pockets of her black pea coat.
All of the sudden, the expression on Booth's face melted from fury to amusement and he started laughing.
"What the hell is so funny?" She glared at him.
"We had a fight like this before." He tried to sober up. "About a My Little Pony."
"I don't remember it." She shook her head, wondering why it was so comical.
"Sure you do, we were living at Pops' house and Grandma had just bought you all of these new toys." He prompted and she still looked lost. "Jared stole a My Little Pony and we burned the hair off, thinking ponies shouldn't have pink hair so no hair, in our opinion, was better." She blinked and he continued. "You were 4 and you told us that if we wanted to burn hair off of ponies, we should go buy our own because that pony was yours, given to you by someone who wasn't us, so we had no right to ruin your things."
"I said that?" She laughed a little
"You're a smart kid, Kelly." He said after a moment.
"Does that refer to the pony incident or now?" She asked cautiously.
"Both I guess." He shrugged and looked at his now scuffed shoe.
"Seeley," She took a step forward. "That's just cruel."
"What's cruel?" He looked around confused.
"We're fighting, I'm mad, don't tell some cute, cliché story of how we resolved a fight when we were little!" She crossed her arms defensively.
"We didn't resolve the fight. You cried for days." He tried not to laugh again. He looked in her eyes, hoping that they were twinkling behind her anger, giving him a hint of the Kelly he knew. He stared back into brown, empty pools of cold rock.
"You are so close-minded and condescending." Kelly said in a measured tone. "I hate you so much." She reached for her keys and headed towards the driver's side door of her car. However, Booth was quicker. He firmly pressed his hand on the top of the door. Kelly reached for the handle and pulled, but it didn't get anywhere. She sighed and looked up at Booth.
"I don't have to justify myself to you. You were a baby." He said evenly
"In the grand scheme of things, we're both still young." She looked up at him with anger in her eyes.
The passion that flickered behind her eyes frightened Booth a little. Reluctantly, he pulled his hand away from her door and let her get in. He stepped back as she turned on the car and pulled out of the parking space, leaving him standing alone in the street.