Chapter 13
Seeley Booth pushed the door the rest of the way open into Bones' hospital room, expecting to see her awake, waiting to talk to him.
Instead, his eyes fell upon her asleep, the room quiet. The blanket was pulled up to her chest, her casted arm lay resting at her side, her left thrown across her middle. Dark lashes rested on her pale skin, her lips slightly parted as she slept. She appeared to be deeply asleep.
Sunlight was streaming into her room through the vanes of her vertical blind that hung in the room's one window. He walked over and closed the louvers on the blind, so the light would not awaken her. Darkness enclosed the small space. One lone florescent light illuminated the room.
He walked over to the chair beside her bed, and was going to sit on it, but changed his mind, and sat on her bed instead. He eased himself onto the bed carefully as not to awaken her. He watched her sleep a few moments, and considered leaving and coming back later to talk, but need overwhelmed him and he decided to wake her up before he lost his nerve.
"Hey sleepyhead…." He said quietly, reaching over and pulling her hand into his own, it was cool to the touch. He was careful not to disturb the IV line in her hand.
Bones didn't stir at the sound of his voice, or his hand holding her own. He reached across and tucked a stray strand behind her ear.
"Bones…" he called, a little louder and patted her hand, watching her closely, almost willing her eyes to open
Her eyes fluttered open, and her brow creased for a moment, as if she were trying to remember where she was. She sighed, and licked her lips. Then her gaze focused on Booth. Her expression changed considerably. She tugged her hand away from him and closed her eyes again, as she struggled to lift her head and sit up.
"Booth…" she said between yawns "What do you want?" she said and gazed at him with sleepy eyes
"How you feeling' Bones? I've been by to see you, but you've always been asleep" he said with a smile
"I feel like I was thrown from a motorcycle Booth, how do you think I feel?" she said in a crabby voice, and looked away from him
Great Booth thought. She heard my conversation with Cam
"Listen, Bones, about this thing with Cam.-"he started and shifted on the bed "-it's not what you think, okay? She came on to me out there, but its over between us now Bones. Hey..Bones…think you could look at me here?" he said impatiently, watching her look at the window longingly
She dragged her gaze back to him and met his eyes. His eyes were dark and intense. She stared back at him for a moment, for once not knowing what to say or having a scientific anthropological answer for this situation.
"Booth…" and she closed her eyes again. The drugs were making her so tired
"Bones I am not with Cam. Listen, this is hard okay? I've rehearsed in my mind a million times what I want to say, but now that I am here I don't know where to start. I don't want to be just your partner anymore Bones. Well I mean I do, but I want to go further. Do you understand?" he pleaded with her
She opened her eyes again and looked at him warily
"That could be risky Booth…are you sure you want to chance it? What if it doesn't work? We would still have to work together" she pointed out in a tired voice
"I know it's risky" he admitted, and stood to walk around the room. "Do you want to think about it?" he asked uncertainly. This wasn't going like he planned.
Temperance was drowsy and having a hard time concentrating. Part of her wanted to tell Booth exactly how she felt about him, that she felt she loved him, she did love him.
No blood test for love, any scientific reasoning or procedure. She was by nature, a bold person. Able to kick butt and not be afraid. But she couldn't tell Booth she loved him. She'd been on the loosing end once too many times.
"Bones, when I heard you were hurt, in the hospital, you know, when Russ called me, I couldn't think, all I could think was you were hurt, and could die without knowing how I really felt. I don't want to miss this chance with you." He paused a moment, and turned to face her again
"I didn't want you to be with Jaron" he admitted "I knew Jaron for years. He was a player, dating multiple women, taking insane risks. I didn't want him to hurt you like he hurt so many others and I was uh…jealous" he confessed looking up at her. She was watching him with a strange expression on her face
"Booth…Jaron wasn't relationship material, I know that. I guess he was just so animated, so athletic, handsome. He was the aggressor this time, he came on so strong. I was upset about you and Cam and he sort of just appealed to me. Maybe even a little bit of rebound was mixed in. Call it a need for biological urge.. ." she said, her eyes steady on his
"I didn't want to admit how I felt about you. I thought I could run from it. I was going to try to talk to you about it after my date with Jaron" she revealed, and pushed her hair out of her eyes.
"So….what do you say?" he asked her finally after a long moment, giving her his best charm smile, his hands in his pockets, one hand holding his lucky poker chip tightly
"If I say yes, will you let me go back to sleep?" she said tiredly, small smile tugging at the corner of her lips
He felt like he just won the lottery "I might"
"Okay Booth. We can give it a try. But can we not take out a front page ad just yet? I want to tell Angela and the others when I am ready" she pleaded with him
"Okay. I will contact the New York Times and tell them not to run the ad" he conceded.
He walked over to where she lay, and stooped over, catching her scent, and when their faces were inches apart, he heard her breath catch, he smiled and leaned in and kissed her. Kissed her like he had wanted to do for months. He felt her stiffen, then relax and push into him, responding with more hunger than he had anticipated.
She pulled back, and closed her eyes.
"I will come by later Bones.." he said, backing away from the bed
She opened her eyes sleepily and smiled briefly "See you later Booth…."
End this chapter –
More to come – promise!