Chapter 13- She Needed to Know
Once the remains of dinner had been obliterated, Brennan could feel her eyelids drooping as she carefully wiped away the crumbs from the corners of her lips and looked down at her hands for a moment. She knew that he was watching her, the conversation had been light and friendly, and in the past ten minutes, their words had been few and far between. He had tried to keep the conversation light for her benefit, only touching on subjects that he knew would make her smile or laugh, and he never once mentioned work, for which she was quite grateful for. She placed the napkin on the tray between them and leaned back on the pillow, closing her eyes.
"Are you ready to go to sleep?" He whispered.
"Mmhm…" She nodded, her eyes opening slowly, flittering flashes of blue that appeared to be glazed over.
"I'll get you the medicine… and we'll change your bandages, okay?" He said, watching her eyes slide closed, her head nodding. "Then I'm going to take advantage of you in your oblivious drugged out state." He said, watching her nod her head, he smiled as she made no attempts to show her surprise by that last statement. He lifted the tray in his hands and moved it carefully to the bedside table. He then leaned over her softly, dropping a kiss on her forehead.
"Be gentle." She whispered as a slow, sly smile spread across her face, she heard his light chuckle that made her eyes open, finding that he was just a mere inch from her face, his eyes delving deeply into her soul, she caught her breath in her throat, and her eyes widened just a bit.
"You're beautiful." He whispered.
"Thank you." She replied.
"I'll be right back." He said, dropping another kiss on her forehead, he started to move away from her, and found that he couldn't go much further, for there was a forensic anthropologist connected to his hand.
"I have a question." She whispered.
"Okay."
"You… come to my rescue, to tell me you love me… break me out of the hospital… you carry me to your bed… you bandage me up, drug me up, dress me in your t-shirt when I'm too exhausted to do it myself… you bring me dinner…"
"I'm still waiting for the question, Bones." He said, watching the sleepy smile on her face as she continued to grip his hand with both of hers.
"Why haven't you kissed me on the lips yet?" She whispered, tugging at his arm, she watched a sly grin slip onto his lips as he moved closer to her, hovering so close to her she watched his eyes sparkle, though her eyes were so filled with exhaustion.
"Because you can barely keep your eyes open… because you are hurting in here." He said, touching her chest lightly with a closed fist. "Because you're hurting up here." He said, touching her head softly, her eyes filling with tears. "Because I don't want to confuse you, or hurt you, or pressure you, or…make you think that I feel sorry for you. I want to take this slowly." He whispered, sitting on the bed beside her, he placed his hand on her cheek as she tipped her head into it. "Yeah, it feels a little bit backwards… me telling you that I love you, and I haven't even kissed you… but since when have you and I done things by the book in anything we do together?" He whispered.
"Booth?" She whispered, watching him tip his head to listen to whatever she had to say very intently. "I love you too." She whispered, letting her tears slip down her cheek onto his hand. "I love you too."
"Let me go get your medicine… your bandages… and then I'll help you to bed."
"Where are you going to sleep?" She asked innocently, watching the sly smile appear on his face as he tipped his head.
"Wherever I land, Bones." He said, watching her smile sleepily up at him as he carefully stood up and grabbed the tray. "I'll be right back." He said, giving her a smile as he disappeared out the door once again.