Hey everyone! The amazing 5546Laura and I have teamed up again to write two more scenes from Booth and Brennan's points of view. If you haven't already, check out her page and read her stories!

I will post the second chapter sometime later this weekend.

~AG13

Brennan

The stars descended from the ceiling, strung up on silver wires. I remembered those flashes of light, their contoured metal surfaces. They had hung up around the school for weeks after senior prom. The senior prom that I spent in the hospital.

I had said no to the offer for a date, but I had still been planning to go. It was an experience that most high school students enjoyed, and I felt the need to observe and analyze why the activity was anticipated so highly. I had wanted to be normal, to blend in with the other students. Maybe if I showed them I could enjoy a dance, they might stop calling me Morticia. Maybe high school could end favorably for me.

But the night before the dance, while trying on my dress, I hadn't heard my foster father calling my name. He came storming up the stairs and grabbed my arm, screaming at me. I tried to escape and he flung me down the steps.

I spent my senior prom in the hospital with several bruised and broken ribs. I had returned to school two weeks later, hiding the ugly bruises under my shirt and disguising the pain from everyone. I never told anyone why I didn't go to prom, but I moved out of that foster home as soon as I graduated.

I looked up at the stars, the shiny surfaces reflecting memories I had long tried to forget. I felt tears gather in the corners of my eyes, but I couldn't look away. I had just wanted to be accepted. And I had thought the dance was the way to do it. I never got to be a normal kid. My later childhood was spent in foster homes and horrible situations. I never got the opportunity to make friends, and bullying was a constant factor in my life. Even as an adult, people judged and alienated me. My high school class reunion was proof of that.

"That is so cool!" Booth exclaimed, grinning up at the silver decorations.

I clapped quietly, unable to look away from the stars. Tears burned in my eyes. High school had not been a pleasant experience for me, and I spent my adult life trying to forget the terrible things my classmates called me and the horrible situations I found myself in. I missed so many opportunities to be a normal kid. The tears threatened to spill over, but I just stood there, paralyzed by my old fears.

"Bones, you're tearing up." His voice reminded me that I wasn't alone. I wasn't a scared 18 year old. But that feeling of isolation really never left. There was always a part of me that felt lonely and scared.

"This was the-" I stuttered and reached towards him. I just wanted a hug. For some irrational reason, I craved contact. I didn't want to be alone anymore. But I pulled my hands back.

"prom I never-got to go to." He had offered himself to me, but I had said no. He deserved more than I could give, and I knew I hurt him. I couldn't expect comfort from him.

But Booth must have seen something in my face because he reached out tentatively, wrapping an arm around my waist. I finally gave in to the pain and wrapped my arms around his neck. Laying my head on his shoulder, I smiled sadly and closed my eyes. He did still care about me. I had hurt him, but he still cared about me. He accepted me, and he was my friend. I wasn't alone anymore.

Booth swayed to the music and I let him lead. There was something deeply comforting about his arms encircling my back and my head resting on his shoulder. I felt safe, and I wished it could always be like that. We could be friends. We could be partners. But I had destroyed our chance at being lovers. How I wished I hadn't hurt him. He loved me the way I was, and he had tried to make that clear. But I thought he deserved so much more. Yet he still stuck by me, even when I refused his offer. I know now how foolish I was; but I had no such wisdom then.

I tilted my head down and buried my face in Booth's shoulder. He was the reason I didn't feel so alone. He made me feel accepted and safe. I only wished I could give him what he had given me: a home.

The following was written by 5546Laura

Booth

It's a good thing I'm a well trained professional FBI agent.

Bones and I were together, working on our first case together since that goddamn fiasco outside the Hoover. It was hard enough working with her, since I was still kind of unsure about how I felt about the whole thing. I was sad...I was embarrassed...I was anxious to put the whole ugly thing behind me. Of course, I still love her, but I'm a professional. I can put my personal feelings aside, right? Except we have to go undercover as a married couple for her class reunion. Jesus...really?

So we get there, and I have to say...I'm in shock. Here's Bones...a beautiful, super intelligent woman who's a world class scientist and a best selling author, and her classmates don't even appreciate her. She's probably the most famous person who ever graduated from her high school, and they're still calling her Morticia and giving her grief about being weird in high school. Well, I was ready to slap the shit out of some of them, until I remembered back to my high school days…

I'm ashamed to say that when I was in high school, I would've looked the other way if my friends had bullied someone like Bones. I desperately wanted to be one of the cool kids, and I guess I would've done most anything to be cool. It helped that I was an above average athlete, and I guess the girls liked me okay, but I was never quite sure that I fit in, so I went along with the crowd, even when I knew they were doing the wrong thing. I know now that I wouldn't have stepped in to stop someone from teasing Bones...God, what a hypocrite I am…I wonder what Bones would think of me if she knew what a coward I was…

We weren't having much luck figuring out the weapon that was used to kill our victim. We looked at all sorts of things, but nothing was quite right. Finally we decided to go to the dance they were having in the high school gym. Boy, did that take me back...I remembered what happened when I took Sherai Belipini to the junior prom. She was the hottest, coolest girl at school, and I thought she really liked me, but what she really liked was wearing my letterman's jacket to make her old boyfriend jealous...she left the prom with him, and I was left high and dry. I guess that's what happens when you try to be a cool kid. Stuff like that just makes me appreciate Bones even more. No matter what has happened between us, she'd never do something like that to me. That's just one more reason why I love her so much...

I think Bones was having a good time at the party. She was showing me her dance moves, and we were laughing and enjoying ourselves until they started playing that slow song. It made me so nervous, and, naturally, that was the song Bones wanted to dance to. Great, right? And while we're dancing I'm trying to keep from holding her too close...we didn't want to enter into that kind of relationship, remember? The guy in the song is singing about "my power, my pleasure, my pain"...and it just hits me in the gut. How does he know that this is what I'm feeling about Bones?

Finally, crazy old Mr. Buxley takes out this big ass knife and cuts a rope, and all of these silver stars drop from the ceiling.

"That is so cool!", I say, as I look over at Bones, hoping that she's enjoying it as much as I am, but she's getting really emotional. "Bones, you're tearing up!" I can't imagine what's wrong…I thought we were having fun.

She's blinking back tears as she looks up at the stars. "This is the prom I never got to go to…."

I know at least one of the guys in her class asked her to the prom. There must be some story about why she didn't go, but she didn't want to share it with me, and that's okay, because the point is, she wanted to share this prom with me. Even with everything that's happened between us…she still wants me to be there for her. So I pull her close, and we dance cheek to cheek, and we both have the prom we always wanted to have. I can't help it...I feel like that's where she belongs...right next to me forever.

So, yeah, it hurts some to hold her that close when I know she doesn't feel about things the way I do, but she's my friend, and no matter what I'm gonna be there for her. She's never gonna have to be alone again, unless she wants to be. I'll always be there to take her home at the end of the dance.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and will take a minute to check out 5546Laura's page. She will also be posting this chapter under her story Thoughts on Being a Duck. Please review and let us know what you think of our co-authored approach!

~AG13