Max Keenan looked at his daughter with a smirk; he had been listening to what she had been saying for over an hour now. Knowing she was trying to rationalize what happened, and what she had done by telling him. He knew that she had lost a lot by he and her mother leaving and Russ leaving hadn't helped any at all either. The love she once knew when she was a child had gone, well not gone just buried very deep inside of her so that no one could get that close and no one could hurt her like her parents had. But Max knew his daughter he could read her very well. The fact that she was going over and over this in such great detail meant something was bound to happen sooner rather than later, he'd seen it coming the first time he had seen her with Booth. The way he treated her and the way she regarded what he said with the upmost importance. He knew from a few buddies of his; what this FBI agent had done for his daughter. The way he fought for her, the way he didn't give up when they thought all hope of finding her and that friend of hers was lost. Booth was the one that would bring back that loving side of Temperance Brennan the side he hadn't seen since she was a little kid. Sure she had always regarded the world differently, in a way quite like she did now. The one and only difference between Tempe now and Tempe then was love. Back then she had been able to show love because she knew she was loved for who she was heart and soul. But when things happened that were out of her control, she lost that love she couldn't find it and Max knew Tempe she would have searched for it till something had ultimately let her down. That Max believed was Russ leaving her as well. That was when she stopped looking. At that point in time she had closed her heart off to love because what she associated with love wasn't feelings of being whole of knowing people who would be there for you. Love to her meant people left you without reason and without warning, it meant being alone and living with people you didn't know for reasons you didn't understand or even know at the time. And as she got older the logical side of her brain took over, her heart was permanently stuck in neutral. That was until SSA Booth arrived with the key to her heart and enough courage and determination to put her brain into neutral of once and let her heart lead the way. She had done it last year at his trial. Implying that she could have killed Deputy Director Kirby, it had taken a whole lot of heart for her to do that to put her job, her life and everything she knew on the line for her father. He believed that was the first but most certainly not the last time she would be doing that.
"Dad are you even listening to me or are you just day dreaming again, you're as bad as Booth he does the same thing" Max smirked again another mention of Booth sitting up straight he took his daughters hand in his.
"Honey why don't you call him by his given name, he obviously calls you Tempe sometimes." Max watched the thought process she went through thinking over why she didn't do this.
"We work together"
"But does he call you Brennan all the time?"
"No he calls me Bones which is as you and everyone else state too me is an affectionate name that he has given me. I tried to give him one once, Shoes but it didn't last very long"
"Why the hell were you calling Seeley Shoes sis?" Russ Brennan asked as he joined his father and sister Tempe shrugged and picked up her sandwich to take a bit.
"Oh that's right, his shoes were shiny, very shiny they I assumed were shined every night after worked. But I have since been corrected in that a summation." Russ nodded and rolled his eyes at his father.
"So why am I here?" he asked stealing a chip off his sisters plate when she didn't hit his hand away he looked shocked she hated people doing that she thought it was unhygienic and if someone wanted some chips they should order some themselves instead of eat off someone else's plate.
"Booth does it all the time, I have learnt that only people who care about you and people you trust implicitly may sneak food off your plate." Russ nodded and thanked the waitress who delivered the drink he had ordered when he walked in.
"So why am I here?"
"To prove to your sister that she is in fact in love with Booth-
"See you call him Booth I have never heard you call him by his given name, why should I?" Russ could see this was going to take a while.
"The man arrested me Tempe what am I meant to do, clap him on the shoulder and say thanks Seeley" said Max.
"No, you did that after he arrested you. You said if getting caught meant you could be near me for once in ten years then so be it and you thanked him" said Brennan
"Ok I have a question for you, Tempe" said Russ after their parents left he became very good at getting answers he wanted out of his little sister.
"When I walked in here the topic of conversation was?"
"Booth"
"Has what we talked about changed subjects since then?"
"No"
"And if what I assume is correct, before I got here the topic was Seeley Booth correct?"
"That's three questions Russ in future you should clearly state that you would like to ask several questions not just one" seeing the exasperated look on her brothers face she nodded.
"Yes it was Booth your reasoning being?" Russ smiled yep his sister was- even if it hadn't gotten through that thick shield around her heart yet- in love with Seeley Booth.
"You'll figure it out soon enough"
