This chapter immediately follows 2x15 "Bodies in the Book," so spoilers up to and including that episode. It's a little bit shorter than the previous chapters, but it met it's natural conclusion earlier than I expected it to. Also, I wanted to apologize to those of you who were wondering about the random stopping point in the previous chapter. I have a reason for ending it where I did, but you won't find out for a while. There will also be other chapters that end rather abruptly, so I apologize in advance.
Chapter 10—Walk
Brennan pulled back from the kiss, looking into Sully's eyes. He had said she would learn how to trust and need other people, but the truth was she already knew how. He just wasn't a person she wanted to trust or need. He was purely there for recreation, which is not what she needed right now. "I'm going to catch up with Booth so we can finish the paperwork on this case, okay? I just want it to be done and gone so I don't have to think about it anymore," she said, pulling out of his arms.
"Okay," he said, watching her grab her things. "I'm going to head home then. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure," she answered distractedly, looking for the case file, barely noticing when he left.
"Looking for this?" Angela asked from the doorframe, holding the manila folder up for Brennan to see.
"That's it! Thanks, Ange, but I gotta go," she said in a hurry, grabbing the file and pulling the door shut as she rushed out of the lab, trying to catch Booth before he left. Making it down to the parking structure in record time, she slowed to a walk when she saw his SUV was still in its assigned parking space.
Approaching the vehicle from the driver side, she noticed Booth slumped over the steering wheel, and immediately panicked. Knocking on the window, she was almost frantic with worry.
He jumped at the sudden knocking on the window next to him, sitting up suddenly to look at her. Rolling his window down, he asked, "What are you trying to do, Bones? Scare me to death?"
Blushing sheepishly, she reached through the window to hit him lightly. "Don't do that to me! I'm coming down here to see if you'd already left, and I just see you slumped over the steering wheel! What am I supposed to think?"
Only catching the first part of what she'd said, he asked, "Why were you looking for me? What happened to Sully?"
"He went home," she explained vaguely. "And I was looking for you because I need to go for a walk and I knew you'd kill me if I went alone."
Realizing she didn't want to talk about Sully, Booth just nodded. "Ok," he said, rolling up the window and grabbing his jacket before climbing out of the SUV. "The gardens?" he asked, knowing the answer was probably yes, since it was their regular late-night walking route.
"Sounds good," she agreed, matching his stride as the walked back towards the Jeffersonian.
They entered the gardens through the lobby of the Medico-Legal lab, not really feeling like dealing with the squints. Walking at a leisurely pace, they existed in a comfortable silence. The full moon shone down on them, illuminating the blooming flowers and shrubs as they walked, the only sounds were the crickets and water flowing in the fountains.
He knew Brennan was having problems opening up to Sully, but he thought it was because she wasn't used to trusting people. He just wanted her to be happy, and it seemed like Sully made her happy. "You should really give Sully a chance, Bones, he really cares about you," he said, trying to help her even though it was the last thing he wanted.
She just nodded silently in response, stopping near the bench where they always stopped to sit. They both sat down in the near-darkness, Brennan cuddling up to Booth's side as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close.
"Why are you pushing Sully on me?" she asked softly, finally voicing the question that had been bugging her since this case began, "You've never liked any guy I've been with."
"I'm not trying to push him on you, Bones, but I don't want you to push away a good guy like Sully just because you're afraid of opening up to people," he said, suppressing a sigh. "I just want you to be happy."
"It just takes time for me trust people, you should know that better than anyone, Booth," she responded with a sigh, settling her head comfortably on his shoulder, still looking out into the garden. "Before you, I hardly told anything to anyone, including Angela, who was my best friend."
Placing a kiss to the crown of her head, he just whispered, "I know, Bones. I know."