Created April 2013 - I don't own these characters as made famous by the TV show, Bones. Love them anyway. All the rest that follows is my feeble attempt to keep time in between broadcasts and Razztaztic, Threesquares, and Covalent Bond postings.
A/N 11/21/2013 - And so concludes this multi-chapter Inception-exercise! Sorry for the delay. Enjoy!
"BEEEEEEEEEEEP."
"Brennan?"
"Hey Sweetie! You're not at the lab are you? You got time to talk?"
Brennan turned towards the hallway. Booth, Parker and his friends were having a "man talk". Wearing a borrowed gray sweatshirt from her partner, a pair of gym shorts and a pair of his striped socks, she nestled into a corner of the living room sofa. "Hey Ange! No. I'm not at the lab. Yes. I am free at this moment."
Angela pouted empathetically. "I gotta tell you Honey, I'm kinda bummed that you're free! I was hoping that you can spice up my Saturday with some sparky bits from the Land of The Singles."
Brennan snickered. She knew that her pregnant friend was getting a bit stir crazy given all of the things that she was now – temporarily – unable to do. Like drink and stay out all night.
But, there was always sex.
"Where's Hodgins? It was my understanding that since your bouts of morning sickness had subsided, your libido was…'through the roof and knocking on the door of the International Space Station!'" she directly quoted her girlfriend, although her words were slurred a bit, given her resurrection of her earlier buzz by the glass of wine in her hand.
Angela chuckled, recalling Cam's face of terror at Sweetgreens as Angela shared an illustrative depiction of the joys of pregnancy sex. "He's still at the lab. He's working on a creating a laundry detergent for Baby Hodgie".
Brennan's brow furrowed. "I don't understand, you're early in your second trimester, why would you need laundry detergent for infant clothing?"
Angela continued to fold the laundry before her. "We've started receiving gifts already. Dad's wife sent over a chest full of baby clothes. So I'm washing them. I don't want to wait to do them all at once, so I do it as I receive them."
"Why is it necessary to wash brand new clothing?"
"Well, conventional wisdom says it's to remove harmful chemicals that the clothes may have on them which may irritate their sensitive skin. But, in reality I have to agree with my husband on this one. It's just a conspiracy to force new parents into the rhythm of baby care through forced domesticity."
Brennan laughed. "I'll take your statement as a suggestion to not purchase baby clothes as a shower gift."
The sound of three little men and a grown man's laughter permeated the room.
"Are you home? Who's that I hear? I know you're not watching TV." Angela looked at her phone to check Brennan's location. After Booth had been abducted by the GraveDigger, Angela had insisted that all members of their team have GPS locators enabled for their phones.
Angela frowned. "Oh, so you're at Booth's?" The air of disapproval hung heavly from her words.
Breathily, Brennan explained "Yes. He has Parker for the weekend and they asked me to come over to sleep with them."
Angela snickered. Temperance Brennan was an intelligent, worldly woman – except when it came to the men in her life. She had wondered at times if her friend's naiveté was authentic or intentional, especially when it came to Seeley Booth.
It was not the first time that Brennan used a phrase a la the "I slept with Booth" variety. Through the years, Angela had fallen for it several times before she realized that her best friend was simply being literal: they were sleeping in the same room. Sometimes, next to each other.
At one point years back, when it appeared that the pair was finally on the inevitable track to finally get it on, Angela had set her best girlfriend straight: "Seriously, Honey – when you really do sleep with him – and you will….don't interrupt me, you will! And when you do, you're going to have to be real specific with me about what happened.
Step-by-step. Start off with something like 'I got into bed with Booth. I stripped him down, wrapped my legs around him and devoured all of that big, sweet, sinewy, Boothy-goodness over and over again to the point that I can't walk, Ange….'"
Years ago that was, before Maluku. Before Hannah. Now the only play that Brennan was getting was her blatantly obvious wordplay about literally sleeping with her partner.
"Hannah's out of town then?"
"Yes, Booth is in Parker's bedroom offering advice about women to Parker and his friends."
"So what's up with the dating advice to ten year olds? I think even I was still only into ponies, rainbows and cartoons at ten."
"Parker likes a little girl. Booth suggests that it's a simple crush. According to one of the American University student social websites, both male and female students crush on me bigtime."
"As they should!" Angela encouraged. She could detect a bit of – something – in Brennan's colloquial chattiness.
"Do you remember the little girl that accompanied Parker to the Jeffersonian recently? It appears that are mutually crushing on each other, so Booth is giving Parker and the other boys pointers on how to woo the ladies…his words."
Like he knows.
"Oh she was a cutie! Wait, you said other boys? How many people are you sleeping with tonight?" Alcohol. Angela detected the lightness in her bestie's voice that only appeared when she had been drinking.
"Well, just Booth, I suppose. Parker has two schoolmates here, and Booth says that when other children are around, we are not cool to Parker and that we should buzz off. As a result, I believe I'll just be sleeping with Booth tonight."
Holy Melrose. "Have you been drinking, Honey? You sound really…chill."
Brennan giggled. "They have this hot chocolate at the skating rink that we took Parker to, so Booth and I spiked our drinks with peppermint schnapps and coffee liqueur. It's called a Chocolate Kiss. Since he was driving, I had significantly more of his flask's contents than he did. He's very responsible."
Hoo boy. Drunk and vulnerable Brennan. Yummy Domestic Daddy Booth. No Hannah. A bit too cozy. "Sweetie, did you eat today?"
Brennan thought for a moment. "Yes! A significant amount of food in fact. Salad for dinner. Chili for lunch, and ooooh! Really tasty caramel cake. Mmmmm, oatmeal and fruit for breakfast."
"And to drink? Of the adult beverage variety?"
"I've had two beers, the flask, and now I have a glass of wine…are you concerned that I am drunk around the children? If that's the case, know that Booth assures me that drunk me is like a person of standard intellect."
Angela sighed. "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Sweetie, I need you to go home."
FLASHBACK
"Booth? What the Hell, man? It's two in the morning."
"Sorry, Hodgins. If it wasn't really important….it's Bones."
Hodgins shot up in the bed. "What's wrong with Dr. Brennan? Is she hurt?"
Next to Hodgins, Angela stirred at the sound of the words 'wrong', 'Brennan', and 'hurt'. Hodgins looked with concern at his pregnant wife.
On the phone, Hodgins listened as one of the bravest guys he knew sobbed openly. "I hurt her, Hodgins. I hurt my Bones. I, I-. Man, I think I broke her. I broke her heart."
Angela sat up next to Jack. Hodgins' eyes widened and he arched an eyebrow at his wife. He mouthed Booth's name. Angela motioned for her husband to put the phone on speaker.
"I'm calling you because….me calling in the middle of the night. I didn't want her to call Ange and have her think the worst. I figured if I called you first…."
"Booth, I'm here." Angela said, voice heavy with sleep. "Where's Brennan?"
"She's home. I just dropped her off at her apartment a few minutes ago. I. Just. I just left her." He knocked his head against the headrest, silent tears streaming down his face, determined not to let Angela hear him cry. Cars sped past his parked vehicle.
"I left her. She said, she said that she didn't need me to call anybody, but I couldn't leave her alone. And, I don't trust myself to be with her right now." He sighed.
"What happened?" Angela slid out of the bed to get dressed. Jack followed suit, leaving the phone on bed.
"She told me that she realized that she was ready. For us." He rubbed his temples. "She wanted to give us a shot."
Husband and wife locked eyes in pain. This was not how any of them expect "them" to end up.
This was bad.
"And you told her 'no'." offered Hodgins.
Booth stared at the phone in disbelief. His defenses were up. "Yes, I told her 'no'." he snapped. "I'm with Hannah now. I. Love. Hannah."
Hodgins motioned to Angela, who was ready to shred their friend. "I'm not implying anything, Big Guy. No judgment." Hodgins said in a neutral tone. Angela frowned, as she sat down to put on her flats. "I'm just trying to understand the situation."
Booth wiped his face. "Yeah, well that's the situation. Bones is hurting. And I did it to her. I fell in love with someone else…" he could feel his voice tremble. He took a calming breath. "She told me that she didn't want me, and I found someone else." He defended, rationalized. "I found someone else." He mumbled.
"We're going to check in on her." Angela said soothingly. "It's okay, Booth. It'll be okay. Thank you for calling us."
"Thanks guys. I'm sorry. It's so late, but hey! Bones figured out what happened to Lauren Eames tonight. I'll text Cam that everyone should sleep in." he offered weakly.
Neither Hodgins cared about Lauren Eames at this moment. Half-heartedly, Jack offered. "Thanks, man. Go get some rest. Sorry about all this." He picked up the phone to disconnect it.
"Yeah. Thanks." He muttered.
Before Jack hung up, Angela grabbed his wrist to halt him. "Booth. You better fucking love Hannah…"
"Ange –" Hodgins interrupted.
"S'okay, Hodgins. Angela, I do." He hung up. "I do." He sighed. "I do."
The benefit of a 2AM wake up call was that the streets were relatively empty, cutting the drive from in half. At a quarter to three. Angela and Hodgins exited Brennan's elevator. Walking down the hallway, Angela was preoccupied with the search for her spare keys to Brennan' apartment, and didn't notice that Hodgins had stopped right in front of her.
"Babe, what the Hell?" she barbed, until she looked over his shoulder.
Brennan sat on the floor, slumped against her front door. She was threading the belt of her trench coat through her hand. When she looked up, she was surprised to find her colleagues staring back at her.
But they weren't just her colleagues. They were her metaphorical sister and brother. Two people who had stood by her and loved her for years.
And they knew.
A fresh set of tears began to fall. Her first instincts were to "Brennan up". To recover and resume composure. But days of round-the-clock working and limited meals had left her weakened.
And losing Booth had left her empty.
"Oh, Honey!" Angela started toward her best friend, but Hodgins blocked her forward motion. He darted towards his tiny, fragile friend. He knelt down in front of her, his blue eyes locked with her own. He took her hands in his.
"Don't lose faith." He offered softly. He nodded at her. In that moment, they were brought back to those tense final minutes in a car buried in Virginia. They had a kinship that each had with no one else.
"Think of you and Hannah as atoms. Right now, you must feel as if her charge is stronger than yours. Look at me. It is not. You are the stronger atom."
Her lips quivered. "In keeping with your analogy, I can't help but feel radioactive." She hiccupped. Hodgins shook his head in disagreement. "Booth loves Hannah. I want him to be happy. I missed my chance." The anguish on her face was heartbreaking.
"Sweetie…" Angela sang sadly as she approached the pair.
"No way that you two are done, Baby. You're just having a bad week." The sparkle in his eyes felt like safety to her. He pulled her arms around him. Ange, can you get the door, Babe?"
Short men have better leverage. Hodgins scooped up his colleague, surprising Brennan with his strength. "Up we go…."
Brennan hugged her friend, burying her head into his neck. "Thanks, Jack." She whispered.
"Anytime Dr. B."
"Don't call me 'Baby'." She mumbled on his shoulder as he turned to put her down. He chuckled, then grunted as he laid her on the sofa, laying her head in the lap of his waiting wife. Angela propped up a pillow behind Brennan's head. Hodgins went to retrieve blankets for what would be a long night.
Brennan frowned at Angela's reference to that night. "Don't be silly, Ange. I'm not going home. Booth and I are friends. We are perfectly capable of interacting socially without being inappropriate." She fidgeted. "And I promised Parker that I'd make vegan banana oatmeal pancakes tomorrow morning…"
"Fine! Then come back tomorrow morning! Neither of you are strong enough to be together this intimately again."
Brennan felt Angela's comment as if it was a slap. "I don't know what that means." She deflected.
Evidence, Ange. Challenge her with evidence. "Bren, has the topic of love or relationships come up between you? I don't mean the Parker's gal pal thing, I mean anything about the two of you." She knew these two people. She knew there was no way that they could be together for 48 hours without "them" arising as a topic.
"We ran into Brandon Cooper. I proposed that we go on a date in the near future."
"Uh-huh...?"
"Booth disapproves of Cooper. He asked me not to go out with him."
"Of course, he disapproves! All guys are threatened by Prince Charmington."
"Who?"
"I mean, Coop. He's the full package. Booth with money."
"I don't think so." Brennan defended. "Coop seems nice, but I'm not certain that there's any chemistry between us."
"Because he's not Booth." Angela asserted, not stopping for Brennan's response. She knew that her friend was being evasive. "Tell me this, Bren – has anything else happened between you two this weekend? Any awkward thing that either of you has felt guilty about?" Angela tapped her foot as she waited, her laundry long forgotten.
She did not want to confess the Tickle Monster incident. Nor did she want to disclose that, somehow – even with sleeping bags separating them - she found herself in Booth's arms that morning. That, plus the fact that she laid in his arms for minutes before betraying her awake status.
But the Chocolate Kisses were betraying her. "Booth thinks I'm Maryanne Samuel."
"What? Who?"
She bit her lip. "The first wife of the murder victim Ed Samuel. Maryanne."
Angela shook her head, laughing. "Now, I don't know what that means."
Brennan continued. "Booth said that you can love many people in your life, but there's one that you love the most. Ed loved Maryanne the most. And Rebecca said that she, Hannah and I were like sister wives." In Brennan's tipsy haze, her reasoning was making perfect sense.
To Angela, she sounded certifiable.
"Bren. Do you hear yourself? Booth doesn't believe in polygamy. You can't share him with Hannah. He's a one-woman guy." She sighed. "I know he loves you, Sweetie. We all know that he does. But he's with Hannah now, he picked Hannah." It pained Angela to continue. "And you and he spending the weekend together – sleeping together, in his home that he shares with her? Parker or no Parker…it's shady, it's wildly inappropriate, Honey, it's wrong. You need to go home."
Brennan felt the warmth of the alcohol in her cheeks turn hot with embarrassment. "You are making sense." Tears of frustration began to form. "What should I tell Parker?" she whispered.
"Talk to Booth tonight. And then the both of you should talk to Parker tomorrow after his friends go home. Call me when you get home, Sweetie, okay?"
Quietly, she agreed "Okay Ange. Goodbye."
Booth returned to the living room to find his partner pulling off the sweatshirt that she had just borrowed. He stopped to admire the form fitting tank top she wore under it before she caught him.
"Whoa, Hey, Bones! If you don't want poor little Timmy to have a heart attack, I suggest that you find a new top that's less MILF-y." He teased.
His grin was halted by the look of pain on her face. He knew that she had received a call. "Whoa! What's going on? What happened? Is it Max?"
Brennan's breath hitched. "I'm going home. We can't do this."
"We can't do what? What are we doing?"
"I'm not Maryanne, Booth!"
Booth stared at her. Marianne? My mother? Sure, the free-spirited side to Bones reminded him of his mom. And, even he would admit that his mother and his partner bore a resemblance to each other. And granted, Bones was treating Parker to a weekend reminiscent of Booth's fondest memories of his mother. But why would Bones make a jump to that conclusion? He hadn't spoken about his mother at all recently.
His dumbstruck expression garnered him an explanation from his teary-eyed partner. "Maryanne Samuel."
Oh from the case, wait…what? "What? What about her?"
Brennan wrapped her scarf around her neck. "I can't be a sister-wife, Booth." She locked eyes with him. "You can't have us all."
What the fuck just happened in here?
"Bones. I don't know what you're talking about. Slow down! What are you talking about Maryanne Samuel for?" It had only been weeks earlier that Brennan had been identifying with Lauren Eames. Now, Maryanne?
She stared at him. "Am I the one you love the most?"
His jaw dropped a moment before he recovered. "Bones…"
"I'm not asking you to leave Hannah, Booth. The other night, when you were talking about the one you loved the most, you meant me, correct?" She pulled on a pair of track pants.
He looked away from her. He put his hands on his hips and turned away. He knew that if he admitted it to her right now, there would be nothing to stop him from pushing her up against the wall.
Some lesson in chivalry that would be for the boys. He thought sarcastically.
He turned to look at Brennan. He was angry at her for poking the wound. He couldn't bring himself to words.
"You don't have to say anything." She sighed dejectedly. "It's the reason that you don't want me to be with Coop. It's the reason that I don't want to be with Coop."
He continued to watch her silently as she slipped on her shoes and coat.
"You picked Hannah, Booth. She is a good woman. She assures me that she cares for you deeply. You deserve that. You deserve a chance at happiness."
She booked a cab from an app on her smartphone. "And in order to do that, we can't do this anymore."
This? "What are you saying?" he stepped towards her.
She sighed. "Let's just be partners. Let's just be good people who catch bad people, okay?" His whole body seemed deflated, but she knew that she needed to be strong for them both. "For now, let's just be partners."
"What about Parker?"
"I'm coming back tomorrow morning to prepare pancakes for Parker and his friends. I was hopeful that you and I could discuss it with him at that time."
"Bones, if you're leaving tonight, you don't have to come back tomorrow to make pancakes. I'll talk to him."
"Yes I do. I will not let him feel abandoned." she stated adamantly. She looked away from Booth, but he knew what she was thinking. He understood how important it was for Parker not to feel any sense of abandonment. She cleared her throat. "But this will work out in the end. This will simplify things for everyone."
She handed Booth the folded gray sweatshirt and turned to grab her satchel. He tugged at strand of her hair that lay on top of it, tensing at the sound of Brennan's close of the front door.
It was 3:50 AM. Booth leaned his head against the door frame as he watched his partner and his son sleep, nestled together like puppies. His drunken state intensified his emotional response to what he saw before him. Had he not reeked of cigars and bourbon, he would have slipped right beside her.
He solemnly vowed to protect the love that he saw before him, at all costs. That he almost let it all slip through his fingers still made him shudder.
That terrible weekend. He thought to himself.
Parker refused to speak to him for days, and Rebecca was none too happy with him either. Parker had discontinued his enrichment sessions with Max because he didn't want to see Bones either. His little boy was so mad at the both of them for breaking up family.
But Booth was going to try and make a family with Hannah. Hannah, who wouldn't be home until Tuesday. He really needed her to save him from himself that Sunday night. Instead, he found himself in a bar, beating the crap out of some dickhead who claimed to know Temperance Brennan better than he did. And in some ways, he did.
"Never again." He swore to himself. "Never again will I hurt this family." He watched as Parker's foot twitched under the sheets.
What was I thinking anyway? He stumbled backwards, and then turned away from the bedroom, heading in a not so straight path back to his residence.
"Why was I trying to make a family with Hannah, when I already had one with Bones?"
A/N: I think that everyone should have a Hodgins in their lives.