Tysons Galleria, Saturday, 2pm
"You know how much I detest malls. A stand-alone department store would have been more appropriate for my needs. I only require a few items to replace those I damaged in South Africa."
"And you also would have missed out on pretzels and lemonade, and making a wish in the water fountain…Also, if you had not liked what the department store was offering, we would have had to go someplace else. You would call that, 'inefficient," Angela countered with the enthusiasm of a kid at an amusement park. Brennan had to admit Angela was in her element.
Brennan was definitely out of hers, however. She was also exhausted- all of the political posturing required to close the case would have made her weary independent of the tension between her and her partner. Fortunately, Occam's razor had served her well during the case. It was a simple suicide, although the gun had been stolen from the Director's home. The ATF would be following up about that particular matter.
Still, she doubted that she had the energy to keep up with Angela- resting alone with Bach and an anthropology journal were more appropriate given the impending stress she was soon to encounter. She and Booth would have another required meeting with Dr. Sweets on the following Monday, but she doubted it could do any further damage. It was clear that Booth was tolerating her, although she could only speculate about why he did not request a different partner. She suspected that it regarded how quickly he anticipated a transfer, if not a small fraction of responsibility to her.
Even after hearing about how she had embarrassed herself in front of Terrence and the lab, after Booth had put her insignificant role in his return to the FBI in context, after he had rejected her repeatedly, she was mustering false conviction to end their partnership. She wanted to maintain her dignity, but she wanted to prove Booth incorrect even more. They continued to work together productively despite the resentment between them for the duration of the week, but as soon as the conversation turned away from the details of the case, the familiarity that made them an excellent team dissipated quickly.
With so much on her mind, she would have declined the invitation if Angela had not been so insistent throughout the week about the importance of their girl time. She would have to admit that the warm oversized cookies Angela continually supplied her with throughout the day did play a small part in improving her mood. Her dramatic retellings of Hodgins' battle with a finch colony outside of their hotel on Baltra Island were also amusing, and she enjoyed recounting her own adventures.
Inside Neiman Marcus, Angela held up vibrantly patterned skirts against Brennan's waist: monochromatic walnut flowers, checkered cerulean and white, polka-dotted violet. "I can't decide," she told Brennan as she pushed them into her hands, "Try them all on- oh! With this white top!"
And so commenced the afternoon, as Angela dressed her up and dressed her down until they had thoroughly poured through every department store except for the Macy's. Fortunately or not, Angela informed her that they would have an opportunity scan through their lines as well because it was on the way to the parking lot.
"Thank you, Angela," Brennan told her, eight bags later, as they sorted through the last of the women's racks at Macy's. "I have enjoyed our afternoon together."
"No problem, sweetie. You know- I have avoided prying further, but if you need to talk to me about…"
"I know. If I feel compelled to discuss it, you have the ears that I will rent."
"I will lend you my ear" Angela corrected her with a wink, and handed her a sapphire-blue cocktail dress. "Why don't you go try this on? And when you get back, I want you to finish telling me about gorilla trekking."
Brennan slipped the bags off her hands, and allowed them to join the other six on Angela's own arms. "I'll be right back," she indulged, and headed towards the dressing room. The dress was flattering and it highlighted her eyes well, but she already had one in a similar cut- the black one she wore the night of the Anok exhibition. She tried not to dwell on the palpable tension between her and Booth that night. She wondered if things would have turned out differently if she had taken some initiative then, or ever, for that matter. She scowled at herself as she pulled the dress over her head. 'What ifs' were futile, irrational exercises. Furthermore, she had made the right decision based on the evidence she had and could not correct it regardless. Clearly, she had been away from the lab too long if she was entertaining such ridiculous notions.
She left the dressing room, having put the dress back on the hanger. Scanning, the racks for Angela, her eyes fell on something else entirely: Booth and an attractive red-head, flipping through small items on a clothing rack across the main walkway of the store. She was quick to observe that they were section designated for baby clothing, from the sign above and from the size of the items on the rack. From her training, Brennan also noted that the gait of the woman as they meandered towards a second rack, indicating the last weeks of the first trimester.
Brennan was rooted in place, unable process the information in front of her. He was smiling. She was holding up outfits for his approval and he seemed to appease her- mimicking her attitudes towards the tiny articles of clothing as if he had very little opinion of his own. Then, he held up a hideous one-piece in chartreuse, they began laughing and he embraced her, sharing a private joke. Brennan's own face could have been chartreuse with jealousy- she was too stunned to conceal it.
Angela must have detected that something was wrong, because she appeared at her side soon after. Brennan's conception of time was distorted by the shock. "What's wrong?" she asked, before following Brennan's gaze. Brennan could hear her gasp in her right ear.
"Come on. Let's go, before he sees you," she heard her speak again, but Brennan felt as if she was in a tunnel and Angela was at the far end of it. Everything proceeded in slow motion. The dress was pulled out of her hands and the handle of the metal hanger clicked against the rack as Angela hung it up. She was being pulled away when Booth noticed her. He looked as stunned as she was, but she was denied further analysis as Angela turned her away from the scene, out of the store, through the parking lot and into the car. Brennan followed her footsteps as if she was hypnotized. The image burned into her retinas.
"I'm fine," she finally protested as she came out of her stupor. Angela had been trying to pull the seatbelt over her like a child. She pushed her hands away, unable to hide her agitation, and buckled her own belt. She stopped the passenger side door as Angela tried to close it, absorbing a gratifyingly painful amount of momentum, and then shut the door herself. She heard folding and crumpling of paper bags as Angela threw them in the back seat.
Her friend climbed into the driver's seat, visibly stunned as well. She put the keys into the ignition but didn't start it. "Brennan…" she began and then paused. "There's nothing I can say. I know you don't want to talk about it."
"Take me home, please. I have some paperwork to finish," she requested, pushing aside the various clutter in her purse.
"Are you sure? We can still go to a movie," Angela tried as she started the vehicle and pulled out of the space.
"No. I would like you to drop me off at my apartment." Brennan ran her fingers over the edges of the crumpled envelope, bundled with a rubber band with two, neater ones. The edges were worn now. She would need to replace it.
A/N: What can I say? I'm feeling inspired and I have a great deal of work to do this week, so I will be unable to update until around Thursday. This is, admittedly, a short chapter, but it is because the next chapter is lengthy. I will admit that I may be bribed away from my PCRs with some reviews- good or bad ones. I suspect the next chapter will be more shocking than this one.