CHAPTER 11. Steering & Stadiums
Love is a condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
- Robert Heinlein
Brennan and Booth looked around one of the last three houses that Brennan had circled and Booth had never seen Brennan this excited about anything before. The estate agent approached them and said that she was going outside to contact another client and that they were welcome to show themselves around the residence a second time, telling them to phone her when they were done.
Brennan squeezed Booth's hand tightly. "This is the one, Booth," she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder, "I can feel us living here." She smiled at him and he half heartedly returned it.
Hard as it was to admit it to Brennan, Booth was a little unsure about the property. The house was larger than he had originally anticipated and he was conscious about maintaining such a big place. He had to hand it to Brennan though, the house sure was beautiful. It may not have had the white picket fence, but everything else about it was idyllic.
She tugged at his hand and guided him into the study. She beamed when she looked at the built-in bookcases. They would be perfect for all of her anthropological manuals, historic culture reference books and research materials for her writing. She grinned contentedly and Booth kissed her hand, leading her to the kitchen.
This room was certainly something that appealed to Booth. It had its own breakfast bar and he could imagine them sitting down in the morning whilst he prepared omelettes or pancakes or waffles; it wouldn't matter. All that mattered was that he, Brennan and Parker would be living as a proper family. Another smile played at the corners of Brennan's mouth; she had hoped that Booth would fall in love with the kitchen and it seemed to be working.
The living room was warm and cosy with a roaring fireplace, and there were French doors which allowed them to view the beautiful garden. It was like something out of a Beatrix Potter novel; the front of the garden was peppered with sweet, fragrant flowers and as the doors were open they were able to breathe in the sensual aroma.
Behind that there was a large expanse of grass. "Look, this would be perfect for you and Parker to set up some football posts," she suggested. She smiled and eagerly looked at Booth.
"Temperance, with a garden this size, Parker could set up his own stadium," he laughed.
She seemed a little discouraged by this but she was determined to remain vigilant. "Come on, spoil sport, let's go take a look upstairs," she cried, poking him in the rib sharply.
The first room on this level that they checked out was the bathroom. "Look, it's large and spacious in here and it has a shower and a bathtub so it's very practical. I love the tiling on the walls, and I'm sure that you will appreciate the Jacuzzi in the corner," spoke Brennan, and Booth chuckled.
"Bones, you sound worse than the estate agent you know that?" he groaned, pouting his bottom lip and creasing his eyebrows. She narrowed her eyes at him, before standing on her tiptoes and kissing his extended lip tenderly.
"Okay, I'll cut it out, but I really like this one, Booth. At least consider it, please," she begged. Booth had to laugh to himself. Normally it would be him telling her to remain open minded.
"Okay, Tempe," he whispered, running his finger delicately from her forehead down to the tip of her nose then placing a soft kiss there. She smiled and they wandered into the next room down the hall.
He wrapped his arms around her toned stomach and leaned down; pressing a kiss into the strands of hair that loosely covered the base of her neck. His face broke out into a smile as he surveyed the room.
"Know what this makes me think about, Temperance?" he whispered, dotting a trail of kisses up from her neck to her ear. She pinched his arm and turned around to glare at him playfully. They were stood in the master bedroom and she thought she had a pretty good idea about what he was thinking.
"Hey, that hurt! I didn't mean that, little miss one track mind," he scowled at her, feigning pain, "I was actually thinking about how incredible it would be to wake up and find the most beautiful woman in the world next to me every morning, though if she has this much pent up anger maybe I'll rethink it."
She turned around in his arms and laced her fingers through his, bringing the faint red mark that had appeared on his arm up and brushing her lips over it. "Sorry, Seeley," she uttered, smiling affectionately at him.
She wrinkled her nose up and stuck her tongue out in the way that she knew he couldn't resist and he stuck his tongue out back at her. She leaned forward and touched the tip of her tongue to his cheekily. He laughed and kissed her forehead, steering her to the next room they needed to view.
After surveying all of the other rooms they finally finished up in the bedroom opposite the main one, arms still intertwined together tightly.
"Bones, this house has five bedrooms; surely we don't need all of them? You had an excuse for all of the others; one for Parker, one for your father when he wants to come and stay, and a general guest room for Angela and crew, but I really think this one is pushing it," he moaned.
"I thought you and Parker could maybe... you know... have a games room or something," she mumbled, turning away from him so that he wouldn't see the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She was so disappointed that he didn't feel the same way about the house.
Booth knew Brennan better than anyone and he saw straight through her actions. He placed his hand on her shoulder and softly twirled her around to look him in the eyes.
"What's wrong, Tempe?" he soothed, rubbing her back with his fingers gently. She pulled back from his embrace and folded her arms across her chest, as if trying to make sure that her heart did not fall out of her ribcage.
"I can tell you don't like the house, Booth. You don't have to be so negative about the whole thing. All I want is a house that I can build my family in; for you and me and Parker. I know that we don't need anything extravagant, or big, or picturesque to do that but there's just something about this house, Seeley," she sighed. She had started off furious at him but as her speech wore on it began to diminish.
She walked back over to him and sank into his arms, clinging to his shirt and resting her head against the taut muscles of his chest. "Let's go and get the estate agent back here shall we?" he said, smoothing his hand over her cheek. She opened her eyes and looked up at him in disbelief. She searched his eyes and he bent down, capturing the tears that had appeared in her eyes once again with his lips, kissing away the salty liquid.
"If this house makes you happy then that's all that matters to me. Seeing your face light up with a smile couldn't bring me more joy, so if you love this house, then let's take it," he grinned.
She beamed at him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, nuzzling into it and squeezing him tightly. "Thanks, Seeley. You have no idea how happy I am to be doing this with you," she whispered. She smiled at him sweetly and he kissed her forehead delicately.
"I think I have a pretty good idea," he murmured, as he reached into his pocket to dial the estate agents number.
This chapter is dedicated to: CSI-4077
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