Third week of May, two days before the graduation ceremony (senior year)
"Babe, we gotta talk about this. You can't avoid me forever."
Brennan said nothing and continued to make her salad. They had gotten into habit over the last few years of living together to make dinner together, even though she refused to eat his hamburgers and he always stayed away from her salads.
"Bren, please. Just talk to me about this. In three days, I'm going to Georgia and in August, you're going to Washington. I need to know where we stand on this since you obviously wouldn't marry me before I leave."
She dropped her salad tongs and stared him down. "You don't get to pin this on me. I am doing what's best for me. You decided to join the Army without telling me! And then, not even two weeks after asking me to marry you, you decide to tell me about it and the fact that you're leaving for training after graduation. For two months! You'll be gone for two months! And you haven't even told me what you're doing in Georgia. But I've researched it. You're going to Ranger School, aren't you? I figured it out about four days after you told me you're going into the Army. I waited for you to do the right thing and tell me what was going on but you didn't even bother."
"Bren, please, just hear me out, okay? I wanted to tell you. I was stupid. I know you wouldn't have agreed to marry me if you didn't want to but I had it in my head that, if I told you, you'd leave. Adam kept telling me that's what would happen. And now everyone is upset because I'm not going pro like they thought. I'm giving up millions of dollars a year here, Bren, to do what I think is right for me. I could be playing football for the rest of my life. But this, the whole Army thing, is what feels right for me. I know this is what I want. I want a career helping and protecting people rather than entertaining them. Please don't be mad at me."
Brennan didn't want to be mad at him. She hated being mad at him. But he was hiding things from her.
"Let's actually sit and talk. I'll finish your salad for you, if you want. Go sit."
She followed Booth's instructions as he finished tossing her salad.
"So since you're the one that wants to talk so badly, why don't you start?" She hated the way she sounded so bitter.
Booth hated it too. It made him cringe to hear her talk to him in that tone but he knew she was right. He knew he should've told her about the Rangers back when he signed up but Adam told him not to tell her until Booth was sure she would take it well. He just hadn't expected Adam's plan to backfire.
"If I knew they were going to send me to training right away, I wouldn't have signed up…right away. I've wanted to join the service for a while. It's just something that I've…felt needed to be done. Pops was in the Army and now I feel like I should do the same, you know, like a family tradition sort of thing. I'm not saying I would expect our kids to do the same but Pops was in the service to protect his country and his family and now I want to do the same."
"I just wish you would've told me sooner. I'm not saying I would've gone to Georgia with you but we could've figured something out. I'm sorry I got so upset with you. But why did Adam tell you to not say anything to me? You know I love you. You wanna move to Alaska? You'll have a bit of a fight from me but if that's what you have your heart set on, fine, we'll work it out. What I'm saying is…you don't have to keep things from me. If we're going to get married, you can't keep things from me."
Booth looked nervous. "Adam said you'd be mad that I'm not going pro."
She was confused. "Look I don't care what you want for a career. If you want to play football, that's fine. But if you know you don't want to spend your life getting tackled to the ground by men twice your size, why should I stop you? I don't blame you. Plus, your joints, muscles and bones are going to be thanking you for giving them a rest after so long."
Now Booth was confused. "You don't care that I won't be making millions of dollars a year? If I stay in the pro draft, I could be a first round pick. Teams would pay big bucks for me. You don't care that I'm going into something that's not going to pay all that well?"
Brennan just shrugged. "You do what makes you happy. If it's not football, okay by me. Did you really think I agreed to marry you because you would be making a lot of money?"
"Not me! Adam said so. He said most guys on the team have gold digger girlfriends. I know you're not like that but he kinda freaked me out. I was just scared of losing you."
She laughed a bit. "We'll I'm not going anywhere so deal with it. You're kinda stuck with me now." Brennan smiled at him, hoping to loosen up the conversation.
Booth smiled too and said, "But now what? Even if you can handle being an Army wife, I just don't want to be separated from you for a long time. And what if I get stationed really far away? How are you going to finish up your doctoral stuff? You're so close to finishing your dissertation. I'd never make you give that up."
"I know that," Brennan told him, "We can make it work. Like you said, I'm close to the end of my dissertation. Once I have it reviewed and challenge and it is accepted, I'll follow you anywhere. I can find something no matter where we are, even if it's just teaching, we can make it work."
Booth heaved a big sigh. "I love you. And thank you for not being incredibly pissed that I didn't tell you sooner."
"I still am pissed. You should've told me. But you did tell me, so that counts for something. Plus, you know I can't stay mad at you for long."