Thanks to all who have taken the time to review. Musie assures me she knows what she is doing so please bear with me for a couple of chapters. And please remember to review, she is a little down in the dumps since Games ended and needs some cheering. Thanks, T.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
"So, Alex, lead the way and let's get this party started." He knew he was looking forward to a physical confrontation much more than he should be and he almost felt bad about that. Not bad enough not to do it but it bothered him a little. Brennan's reaction also worried him just a little but he didn't want to kick Alex's ass, he only intended to get in a couple of good licks, it should be over with quickly and she never had to know. And even if she found out, how mad could she really be?
She was pissed as she stalked down to corridor toward the workout room, not so much about what she was afraid she would find as she was about how long it had taken her to figure things out. Yeah, right. Ok, fine, she was plenty pissed that after Booth and Alex had both given her their word that they wouldn't fight, they had used semantics and subterfuge to get around those promises. She understood that Booth felt the need to punish Alex for his part in her attempt to divert Perez and she knew that Alex would be willing to accept that punishment up to a certain point but then he would fight back and they could both get hurt. Besides, she had expected much better from both of them.
She was extremely pissed and, ok, a little embarrassed about how she had finally come to the realization of what was going on but, hey, she'd had a rough few days and let's just say she wasn't exactly at her best and leave it at that.
"Well, Dr. Brennan, we certainly appreciate your time," General Hood had told her smilingly just minutes before, after going over the last day of their mission in excruciating detail. "Now, we just need to get the others in here for a few more questions. Then you will be all done and we'll see about getting you all sent home," he offered, patting her hand in a fatherly manner. "Do you know where they went?"
Brennan wasn't paying much attention to the question. Home, God, she wanted to be there more than she could have ever have imagined possible. Home where, granted, people still shot at them but it usually wasn't with RPG's. Home where they didn't have to slog through the jungle to avoid capture and sure death, where they didn't have to wear Kevlar and hope that today wouldn't be their last. She couldn't wait to get back to her house of reason and her real life with Booth, where she could see and talk to her friends and hug Parker and do nothing more dangerous than chasing down killers. As hard as that sounded, it would be a walk in the park after this last couple of weeks.
"Dr. Brennan," prodded General Hood, "do you happen to know Agent Booth's and the other's destination?"
"Yes, they were going to the gym. They said something about sparring," she said, her thoughts still centered on how happy she would be to return home. Absently glancing at the general's face, she's taken aback by his wide eyed concern. "What?" She demanded.
"Dr. Brennan," began Hood rather uncomfortably, "it's not really my place to say anything but do you honestly think it's a good idea for your husband and Alex to have permission to hit each other?" Brennan didn't even blink at the question.
"Oh, they wouldn't do that," she protested only to be stopped by the general's raised brow and disbelieving expression.
Her mind began to whirl with possibilities and she felt like giving herself a well, Duh slap on the forehead. Of course they would do that. Alex had known exactly what he was doing when he mentioned the gym to Booth upstairs. He had been inviting Booth to express his anger by getting physical. And by not objecting when Booth had asked her how she felt about her boys sparring, they would, no doubt, feel that she had tacitly given them permission to do exactly that. She could not believe that she hadn't caught on to that right away but, dammit, didn't she have enough on her plate already without having to worry about Booth and Alex acting like juvenile delinquents and pounding on each other? Especially when they had both given her their word that would not happen?
Hood watched the emotions flitting across Brennan's face, fascinated. He had never seen her this easy to read before. He saw her eyes widen in speculation then narrow in suspicion. They then took on what he could only describe as an angry glow and her jaw clenched and she, apparently, came to some kind of conclusion. He wasn't left wondering what that conclusion was for long.
"Excuse me, General," she said through clenched teeth, rising quite calmly from her chair. "But I'm afraid that I suddenly have an urgent need to speak with my husband and Alex." She hadn't bothered to lower her voice and one of the three other men in the room spoke up helpfully.
"Dr. Brennan, you don't have to track those boys down," he assured her jovially. "We'll send one of the guards to bring them here." And he sat back in his chair as if the matter was settled. Brennan paid no attention to him whatsoever as she stalked toward the door. She did, however, take a second to answer before jerking open the door and stalking through. She left three men gaping after her, their mouths opening and closing like fish until finally three pairs of eyes settled on Hood.
"She didn't really mean that, did she?" They demanded in unison but Hood was laughing too hard to answer them. She most probably wouldn't do as she had threatened but he knew someone, or rather two someone's, were in for a bad time. And he was really hoping that the exercise room had decent surveillance equipment so that he could take a look at it later to see just how much grief she actually gave Booth and Alex. Actually, he thought, it might be better for her if the room didn't have proper surveillance because her exact words before leaving the room had been, "No, thank you. I would prefer not to have witnesses when I murder them!"
EARLIER IN THE HALLWAY LEADING TO THE EXERCISE ROOM
Booth followed Alex's lead toward the exercise room, ignoring the whispered conversation going on between the three men behind him. Minutes later, Garrett and Gavin jostled by Booth to sidle up to Alex, each grabbing an arm and encouraging him to walk faster. Grant quietly stepped up to Booth's side and deliberately slowed his steps, putting even more distance between Alex and Booth. Booth looked over at the younger man in amusement just waiting for him to speak and obligingly slowed his steps. While he was waiting on Grant to decide exactly what it was he wanted to say, Booth had no trouble overhearing the conversation going on in front of him.
"Red is not going to like this, Alex," started off Gavin calmly. Garrett snorted at such a severe understatement.
"Red is going to be pissed," Garrett wanted the facts on the table. Alex looked between the twins and shook his head.
"She'll be fine," he said calmly. "She'll never even know," he insisted, hoping it was true because if she did find out, he had no doubt that she would be royally pissed, especially after she had made him promise not to fight with Booth. But he felt the other man deserved a little retribution and this wasn't really fighting, not like she had meant. Besides, he knew it would make Booth feel better and take some of the heat of the other man's anger off of Brennan and that's all that really mattered. He didn't want Brennan's relationship with her husband suffering because of something he had done. Hell, he was a little surprised that they all didn't want to take a shot at him.
Gavin and Garrett both snorted and rolled their eyes at each other at Alex's justification. They both knew why he was doing this but they also knew that Brennan would find out, she always did, and that she would not be happy about it. In which case, it was a pretty sure bet that none of them would be happy and they were just trying to prevent any further upset.
"Alex, you should really rethink this one," Garrett encouraged. Gavin nodded his agreement. Alex looked back and forth between them and came to a halt with a sigh.
"Look, guys, I really appreciate the concern but I can't have Red paying the price for something I did. If she finds out and gets mad then so be it," he said firmly and started walking again. Booth came to a stop at his words.
"Is that what you people think? That I'm punishing my wife because I'm pissed off at Alex?" he demanded of Grant incredulously.
"No, I think that you had a fight with your wife because you were pissed off at her," returned Grant easily. "Then again, I'm the only other married man in the group and I can only imagine how pissed off I would have been if Gena had pulled something like that." Booth relaxed back against the wall at Grant's words, glad to get some validation and understanding of his feelings at long last but also knowing that the other man had a point to make.
"But?" he queried, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But I also know that there's no way you're not pissed off at Alex. How could you not be? He took Red into a very dangerous situation when you trusted him to take her to safety and make sure she stayed there." Booth could feel his temper rising and wished Grant would get to the point. "I would want to pound on him myself in your shoes," Grant assured Booth honestly. Booth nodded, so far he agreed with everything the other man had said.
"But?" he prompted again and Grant grinned.
"But my understanding is that you and Alex both promised Red that you wouldn't fight and…," Grant broke off at Booth's rolled eyes.
"This isn't fighting, Grant. It's sparring." Grant was the one to roll his eyes at the emphasis Booth placed on the last word.
"Uh huh and I'm certain that Red will immediately understand the difference and not be at all upset that you both appear to have broken a promise to her. After all, it's not as if she takes things very literally." Ouch, that actually smarted. Sarcasm aside, Booth had to admit that the big man holding his eyes levelly had a point. Brennan was the most literal person he had ever known and, if she did find out about this, it was unlikely that she would be amused or easily swayed over to his way of looking at things. Feeling his level of frustration rise, Booth ran a hand through his hair.
"What, exactly, is your point, Grant?" He snapped.
"My point, Booth, is that I know you want to hit Alex badly but are those few moments of satisfaction really worth breaking a promise to your wife?" Grant snapped right back and Booth winced at both the tone and the words. "You're the only person who can decide if it's worth the possible consequences but you had better be damn sure it is before you start throwing punches. Because you won't have a choice about facing the consequences by then and lying to your wife isn't something you can just take back. I seriously doubt that Red will just be able to forget about it. My wife would make me pay in ways I don't even want to think about," Grant added with a shudder, "and, trust me, she's a babe in the woods compared to Red when it comes to making you pay." Despite the rising anger Booth felt as his opportunity to physically square things away with Alex receded into the realm of daydreams, he couldn't help but grin at Grant's slightly overdramatic presentation of Brennan's ability to exact revenge. Then again, maybe there was nothing overly dramatic about it. Booth had the feeling that she had led this group around by the nose for years and he had no doubt that, in that time, she had been unhappy with each and every one of them at some point. He didn't even want to know what she had done in retaliation if she had ever felt wronged by them.
With a sigh of resignation, Booth said goodbye to the fantasy of beating the crap out of Alex and admitted to himself that Grant was absolutely right. Brennan might understand why he had needed to do it, but she would probably still feel angry and betrayed and that he had broken a promise to her. No matter how badly he wanted to hit Alex, nothing was worth making her feel that way and putting additional strain on their relationship. Damn it, Booth silently fumed, why the hell couldn't the twins have talked to him rather than the one person in the group who could, apparently, see the situation from all angles and give some damn good advice? No, he admitted to himself after a short internal temper tantrum, he was lucky that Grant had reminded him of what was really important here. Not that he was ready to say thank you just yet but he was grateful. Well, he would be grateful later, he assured himself. Right now, he was still pissed but he wasn't stupid and he could see that Grant was right and that the other man wasn't finished.
"Is there something else?" Booth asked sardonically with a lifted brow.
Grant could tell that Booth had come to some kind of decision and he wasn't all that happy about it but he didn't ask what that decision was. But he did have a lot more to say and Booth seemed to be in a listening mood so he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to give the other man what he saw as much needed advice. Oh, Grant liked and respected Booth, he liked a lot of things about him. He especially liked the fact that the FBI agent loved Brennan very much and would obviously give his life to protect her. The fact that he yelled at her and made her cry, however, he liked much, much less. But, as a married man himself, he knew that he had no right to interfere in whatever issues the couple was having but that didn't mean he couldn't offer some advice derived from his sometimes turbulent years of marriage. But first he owed the man an apology. With a sigh, Grant stuck his hands in his pocket and leaned against the wall beside Booth.
"I know that we had no right to interfere with you and Red earlier," Grant looked everywhere but at Booth uncomfortably as he remembered just what they had interrupted. Of course he knew Booth and Brennan had sex but it was like thinking about his little sister having sex and that was an image he just did not want in his head. "But," he continued hastily, "we just reacted instinctively. Not that any of us thought for a second that you would actually hurt her," he held up his hands placatingly at the scowl on Booth's face. "You would not believe the kind of trouble she can get herself into even when she's supposed to be all tucked in somewhere nice and safe." He explained, running a hand through his hair as some of the worst incidents that he had been involved with over the years whirled through his mind.
Booth looked at Grant and fought the urge to laugh at his put upon expression. Oh, yeah, he and Brennan had been partners for more than five years so he knew exactly what kind of trouble she could get herself into without even trying and he could even understand the instinctive need to go to the aid of someone you had been protecting so long. The fact that they felt the need to protect her even from him gave him mixed feelings. On the one hand, she didn't need to be protected from him and they should know that by now. On the other hand, how could he condemn them for caring so much about her? He was willing to bet that she had run this bunch ragged from day one and he almost felt sorry for them. The assertion that they had never believed that he would physically harm Brennan calmed him somewhat and he truly appreciated the apology. Nodding his acceptance of the apology, he waited on the other man to continue. Grant could see Booth relaxing and his anger cooling and he was glad. Especially since he didn't know how the other man would take his next remarks.
"You have to remember that Red has never really had to answer to anyone for her actions when we were on missions," Grant explained. Booth's brow rose. He knew that this bunch pretty much let her do what she wanted to but a military mission carried out without each and every person being responsible to someone for their actions was almost incomprehensible to a former sniper.
"Wait. What do you mean she never had to answer to anyone? What about Nathaniel? Or the higher-ups in the chain of command? Surely the people who sent her on all of these missions would be interested in what she did while she was on them?" Grant snorted and rolled his eyes at the mention of Nathaniel keeping Brennan in line. Okay, Booth had to give him that one. He had already known that Nathaniel had little to no control over Brennan and he was actually okay with that. He was a little taken aback by the pitying look Grant shot him at the rest of his questions.
"Nathaniel always tried to keep her in line," Grant acceded, his tone alone telling Booth how well that had worked. Not very. "As for the higher ups," Grant's voice now carried a heavy note of disgust, "they considered Red a very, very valuable asset. She could get us in places that normally we just couldn't go and they didn't really care what she did as long as we got results." Booth felt the familiar fury of his wife being used by the government sweep over him but there was nothing he could do to change that and it was now most definitely at an end. He would see to that. Before Booth could answer, Grant realized that they had gotten off the subject.
"My point is that she's used to doing whatever needs to be done without any real consequences and I honestly don't think she knows how to take orders," Grant shook his head sadly that they had never been able to make Brennan understand that concept then glanced up sharply at Booth's snort. Oh, she knew how to take orders all right, Booth thought, she just didn't like doing it and knew she could get away with it with this group, but Booth was a beginning to get Grant's point and he didn't like it all that much.
"I'm her husband, Grant, not her commanding officer or her boss," Booth growled in aggravation.
"Exactly," Grant agreed placidly and Booth blinked in surprise. Had he been acting like Brennan's commanding officer or boss instead of her husband? He honestly didn't think so but had to admit that those lines could have gotten a little blurred in the last couple of weeks. Dammit, he could actually see Grant's point.
"So I should cut her some slack?" Booth asked with a trace of amusement in his voice.
"Yep," Grant grinned. "You also have to remember that Red is very, very good at just about everything she does and she doesn't do things in a small way. So when something goes wrong, it's usually pretty damned major." Booth was intrigued by the note of experience in Grant's voice. In his opinion, it had, indeed, been major for his wife to basically go after Perez with only Alex as an accomplice. Obviously the other man had some experience with her not always showing the soundest judgment and, surprisingly, Booth wanted to hear all about it.
"Are you ladies going to stand out here and gossip all day or will you be joining us in the ring?" Garrett asked irrepressibly, stepping into the hallway from the gym. Booth and Garret rolled their eyes at each other but obligingly pushed away from the wall and walked into the gym. Gavin was already in the ring and Garrett quickly joined him. Leaning back against the wall while he watched the twins try to kill each other, Booth winced as Garrett landed a hard right to Gavin's side just as Gavin landed a hard left to exactly the same spot on Garrett's side at the same instant. Watching closely, he was fascinated to see that they moved exactly alike, landing the same punches on each other at almost the same instant over and over again.
"Tell me about these things going wrong," Booth said to Grant as if their conversation hadn't been interrupted. Alex joined them in time to hear the question.
"Red's screw ups?" he clarified with a raised brow. Grant and Booth both nodded and Alex laughed. Booth looked at him questioningly. "I wouldn't even classify them as screw ups," Alex mused almost to himself. "She just seems to wind up in all these dangerous situations and most of the time I have no freaking idea how it happened," Alex ran an agitated hand through his hair and Booth bit his lip to keep from laughing. Alex glared at him, "It's not funny, Booth. She can get in some of the tightest fixes of anybody I've ever seen but no matter how bad it seems at the time, it just always seems to work out ok in the end. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Alex offered, his face full of wonder at the phenomenon. Booth looked at Grant and saw the same look reflected on his face, but he didn't get it.
"Example," Booth demanded, barely biting back the words, I don't know what that means before they slipped out. He could just imagine the other's amusement at that.
"Like when you put her somewhere safe and tell her to stay there and she marches into an armed enemy camp to buy Beavis and Butthead there for an IPod and a watch. She shouldn't have walked out of that village alive but she did and she brought them with her," Alex said, pointing at the twins to clarify who he meant. Luckily, they were still too busy punching each other to object to being renamed. "Hell, for that matter, she should never have walked away from rescuing us the first time. None of us should have but we all did. I've seen her in some really tough scrapes that she shouldn't have survived time after time but she always does. So, I knew she would be okay yesterday, Booth." Well, there went Booth's laughter. He was furious all over again, stepping away from the wall and going toe to toe with Alex who was only a couple of inches shorter than him.
"She had no business being there in the first place, Alex and she wouldn't have if you hadn't helped her," he yelled straight into Alex's face. Alex didn't even blink at the anger radiating from the taller man.
"Don't kid yourself, Booth. If I hadn't helped her, she would have figured out some way to do it alone. There was just no way she was going to walk away and leave all of you to die out there and you know it. At least this way, I was there to watch her back." Alex's voice was calm but there was steel underlying it, he believed every word out of his mouth. Dammit, so did Booth, he knew Alex was right but that didn't really help with the anger.
"How could you take her out there to die, Alex?" Booth demanded in a harsh whisper, his hands curled into fists at his sides. Alex closed his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face, holding onto his own temper determinedly. He reminded himself that Booth had a right to be angry and it was better that he be angry at him than at Red but he couldn't stand for any of them to actually believe he had taken her out there to die. Yes, it had been a possibility but he had never really believed it would happen.
"I didn't take her out there to die, Booth," he repudiated. "It did get a little hairy there for a while but that wasn't exactly the plan," he grudgingly admitted. "Even after we lost the chopper, I knew you would come after her and all I had to do was keep her alive until you got there." That assurance didn't pacify Booth in the least.
"She got shot," Booth yelled, grabbing handfuls of Alex's t-shirt.
"There was one screw up and it was a doozy," Grant said loudly, trying to distract the two men who were glaring at each other. Neither man even looked at him and there was no way he was stepping between them. Hell, he couldn't if he wanted to as they were now nose to nose.
"She was wearing Kevlar," Alex responded, not to make light of Brennan being shot but to show Booth she had been as protected as possible. It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull and Alex saw that so he thought he might as well get everything he had to say out in the open here and now. "I know you're angry with both of us, Booth, and I can live with that. So if it will make you feel better, take your best shot," he invited, pulling his t-shirt from Booth's grip and backing up a couple of steps, spreading his arms to indicate he wouldn't try to defend himself. "But Red did what she did because she loves you and you might want to remember that. She doesn't deserve you making her cry and before you do it again, you might want to seriously consider that what we did yesterday saved your ass." By the time Alex finished his tirade, he was just as loud as Booth had been and almost as angry.
Brennan entered the gym with Alex's words still echoing. No one had noticed her entry but she quickly took in the presence of all five men. Garrett and Gavin were in the practice ring, looking toward Alex and Booth with wide eyed interest. Grant stood with his back to her and was muttering something but she wasn't paying attention because her interest was snagged by the two others present. Alex was standing about two feet in front of Booth and she could clearly see that he and Booth were about to have a physical altercation and suddenly it was just too much. The anger that had driven her down here to put a stop to just this situation evaporated to be replaced with profound fatigue that seemed to instantly drain all her energy away.
She had tried so hard to protect everyone and she was overjoyed that none of their people had died yesterday but she didn't feel joyful. She just felt tired and sad. Yes, her actions had saved lives but they had also brought her unexpectedly large amounts of emotional pain and grief. Not that she had expected or even wanted thanks but she sure as hell hadn't expected this. Her husband was angry with her, her second family was bickering and falling apart, she was filled with guilt, anger and so many other emotions that she couldn't even name much less know what to do with them. At this point, she just wanted to go home, to escape all this and return to her reality but she couldn't even do that yet. She had tried to make Booth understand but his continued anger with Alex was a good indication that he didn't understand or forgive her. She had tried to protect Alex so he wouldn't be hurt for something she had talked him into doing, but here he was practically taunting Booth to hit him and Booth was barely holding himself in check and suddenly she was just too damned tired to try to stop it. She had had enough. If they wanted to beat the crap out of each other, then so be it. Maybe it would make them feel better and she didn't think it could make her feel any worse. In fact, she didn't think anything could get past the tiredness, the sadness dragging at her right now. She realized she was wrong as she turned to silently leave the men to their games and she caught Grant's words.
"She was supposed to block the exits from a building and she brought the entire building down." Grant continued doggedly, hoping to catch Booth's attention with the story. His eyes widened as he heard the gasp of outrage behind him and he ducked. But he wasn't fast enough to avoid the sharp slap on the back of his head. Gingerly rubbing his head, he turned to face Brennan and gave her a charming smile. She snorted in his face.
"You're just never going to let that go are you, Grant?" Brennan demanded, her hands planted on her hips. She had actually felt a little spurt of anger for just a second but it was quickly extinguished. Booth's head snapped around at the sound of his wife's voice and he was fiercely glad she hadn't come in even a few seconds later or she would have seen him slugging Alex and that would have been bad. Turning his back on Alex, Booth took deep, calming breaths and tried to get himself under control.
"Come on, Red, it was a 5 story building," Garrett called laughingly from the ring. He and Gavin had stopped pounding on each other and were leaning against the ropes of the ring watching the show. Brennan glared at them and they both winked at her.
"I have told you repeatedly that that building was already structurally unsound or the bare minimum of explosives that I employed would not have completely collapsed the entire building," she snapped at the grinning twins. Booth frowned and looked at Brennan more closely, easily spotting that something was wrong. She was trying to sound angry as if it was expected of her with this particular conversation but he could tell she wasn't really angry. She looked almost dejected and she hadn't once looked at him. Alex snorted behind him and Brennan's gaze swung to him, bypassing Booth entirely. She didn't even bother to glare at Alex. Yep, something was definitely up.
"You're probably right, Red, but you know that's not the worst part," teased Alex. Brennan looked at him, blinked a couple of times then freaked her boys out completely when she simply sighed and dropped all pretence of anger.
"You're right, Alex," she agreed softly, "the worst part is that I blew up the wrong building entirely." Booth looked around and the others appeared to be frozen in shock. Booth could only surmise that this was something they frequently teased her about and he knew she would have varied arguments to counter each and every point one of them made. It wasn't like her to just give up on anything, especially an argument. Something was very wrong here.
Booth took a step toward her, his hand already extended, but she held out a hand to stop him, finally meeting his eyes and he wasn't sure how to describe the look he saw there. He had never seen it in those beautiful blue eyes before but it sent a shiver down his spine. In anyone else he would have described it as defeated but his Bones didn't give up, she fought to the bitter end, no matter what.
"They need you all to debrief," she said and Booth could hear the weariness in her voice. Her eyes never left his and they began to look exhausted as well. "Then if you and Alex still feel the need to settle your differences physically, be my guest." It was the first thing she had said directly to him and he didn't find that encouraging. What the hell had happened in the last 45 minutes? They had been fine when he had left her to be debriefed but he had the feeling they were far from fine right now. While he was trying to figure out what the hell had happened, she turned on her heel and left the room.