Hiatus by Allyson H.
AllyH's Notes: It's been a terrible, busy week with NO internet except for the one on my cellphone and job. But, here it is, cause I haven't been doing nothing, of course!
Week 12, day 7
"So love like my soldier. Fight for what's true. And smile at the gates, 'cause their hate don't belong to you." – Anna Nalick, 'Soldier'
"Happy second trimester, Bones!" Booth raised his glass of wine and clinked it with her glass of fresh orange juice. He looked at her from the corner of his eye as they both took a sip from their drink. It was a little after midnight and luckily, this was downtown Washington D.C., where you could have dinner during breakfast times if you wanted to. Booth had taken her to a restaurant on the corner of a street, so they could look outside and gaze at the people who only come out when it is dark.
Brennan had dressed up nicely for the occasion, as had Booth. He wore one of his dark suits and even a fancy matching tie, while she had put on a neat red dress that reached just slightly above her knee. She had curled her hair and applied some smoky make-up to her eye-lids. She looked gorgeous, especially now that she had a barely visible bump on her lower abdomen and Booth could not take his eyes off of her. "On to the third and the final one." Brennan said, placing her glass down on the table.
The perfect thing about dinners at night was that it made for a quiet atmosphere in the restaurant. A few couples were seated here and there, but it was not the usual bustle of waitresses and people hanging at the bar. It was a perfect place to talk some serious matters over, which was exactly what Brennan planned to do. She waited until Booth received his chicken soup and she received her tomato salad. "I think we should discuss some things…like living arrangements." Brennan spoke in a soft voice, feeling a little hesitant to learn Booth's reaction.
He appeared only mildly surprised when she brought the subject up. He gave her a small reassuring smile, before he picked up his spoon. "Do you have an idea of what you would like to do?" He wanted to give her as much space as she needed, to make sure that he would not crowd or frighten her. Yet, this was maybe a bit too much room for opinion.
Brennan shrugged her shoulders, her long earrings dancing against her skin. "I find that waking up with you and living with you is very enjoyable." Brennan started, taking a deep breath as she decided to look away from him. "But I don't know how things will be when we have a baby with us."
Booth took a spoonful of his chicken soup and held it in front of his mouth. "Probably, we will only get closer." Booth replied casually before putting the spoon in his mouth. He then remembered that she could not cut her food with her left arm in a cast, so he pushed his bowl to the side and reached for her plate.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah." Booth used his knife and fork to cut her salad into edible pieces for her. The blue cast clashed with the red material of her dress, but that did not matter. She looked gorgeous in anything and in the past weeks, he had come to embrace the cast as a part of her. She had not yet been able to do the same. "Our baby is going to be a part from either of us and we'll love it and take care of him or her together. We would work together as partners in the field and as parents at home. There's nothing we can't do when we're together."
Brennan smiled and looked to the side. Booth had her, alright. "And we actually like each other."
"Love each other," Booth corrected, seeing the smirk appear on her face. She had chosen these words purposely, knowing that he would respond to that. These old habits of bickering and alerting each other to mistakes or wrong phrases would die hard, assuming these would ever leave at all.
"Would you want to live with me?" Brennan asked hesitantly, fighting the urge to nervously bite her lip again. This was the definitely the best place to have this discussion. Neither of them had to feel uncomfortable sharing their feelings in the other one's apartment. If Booth was to say no, she could chose to just excuse herself to the bathroom or walk away. Still, this was important for her to know.
Booth finished cutting her food for her and placed her plate back in front of her, before he let out a slow breath and met her eye, searching hers. "Yes."
Brennan felt slightly taken aback by his determinacy and his quick reply. "Really?" She questioned. She knew she was beautiful, smart and sexually compatible with him, but living with her would bring to light so much qualities and not all of them good. She cared too much about him not to warn him about that. "I work long hours, nights if I have to. In my free time, I'm occupied with writing crime novels." Brennan shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not easy and I don't understand everything you say to me. I dislike cooking and I'm scared of failing. Always scared of failing. Especially with you."
Booth leaned forward over the table. "Sometimes, I'm too lazy to sort out my mail and I let it pile up until I get reminders via text message telling me to pay the bills. I wake up in the middle of the night after a long day, craving grilled cheese sandwiches. I wrecked one of Pops' cars once when I was younger and my favorite color is blue." He reached for Brennan's hand and placed his on top of hers. "Bones, we all have our oddities and mysterious ways. No one is perfect!"
"You're pretty close," Brennan said, with a small smile. She leaned her head to the side, swaying her hair along with her. "You prepare my meals, shower me with gifts or whatever else I need and you always make me feel better. I can never live up to that."
Booth's hand moved up to brush her hair back from her shoulder. "You could never fail me."
Brennan's lips parted in awe at the feelings and emotions that were coursing through her at this very minute. It was a simple statement that he made, completely based on subjectivity and his own opinion, but the latter was exactly what meant the most to her. The serious look on his face let her know that he meant what he said. "I find I would really like to kiss you right now."
Booth smiled and took her hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing it ever so softly like only a real gentleman would do. Brennan was about to protest that this gesture was not what she meant, but Booth managed to silence her just in time, by nipping at her fingertips playfully. "Later," he promised, his eyebrows raised in a suggestive manner. "For now, we should enjoy our starters, huh Bones?"
Brennan retreated her hand with a chuckle. "You're just scared that the waiters will think bad of you if we kissed right here," she concluded, picking up her fork and poking at her salad. She gasped when she felt Booth's hand land on the naked skin of her knee and she looked up at him in shock.
"You should be more concerned that I wouldn't be able to stop if we did." Flashing her a naughty grin, Booth then turned his attention to his soup and neatly sipped from his spoon. Brennan watched his every move in fascination and she bit the inside of her cheek. Him losing control sounded really good to her right now.
"Rationally, I know that there are still so many things that could go wrong, but… I feel so relieved that we got through this first trimester the way that we did." Brennan took a sip from her orange juice as she placed a hand on the slight bulge on her lower abdomen. Booth had ordered a dessert, but Brennan was so full that all she really wanted was a decaf coffee. "Analeigh is very competent. I'm happy to have someone like her delivering our baby. I'm pleased with a lot of things, the way they are now."
Booth watched her as she spoke her words from the heart. "Aw, Bones… Soon you're going to tell me that you're thinking about marriage too," he teased her a little.
Brennan's head snapped up. "I do think about marriage." Booth's mouth dropped open. "I… no longer consider it an impossibility. Maybe, in the future, I would like to engage in marriage. With you."
Booth straightened his back as he looked at her intently. "Wow, Bones. You always said you didn't believe in marriage." He could practically feel his heart flutter in his chest. This was his Bones, telling him that she considered contracting her love for him. His Bones, who claimed not to need a piece of paper to confirm love and dedication, had been weighing the option of this sort of permanent commitment. To have and to hold. Booth and Booth-Brennan forever.
Brennan shook her head. "No, it is just that I could never think of a good reason for me to enter into marriage!" Her mouth felt very dry suddenly and Booth's intense look at her brought along her urge to swallow nervously. She could not take her eyes off of him at this moment, to allow herself another sip of her drink. Whenever he was watching her like this, she felt special. Only he could make her feel like she was all that mattered to him, that he was all he could see and that there was no bustling city behind them, no work waiting for them tomorrow. "You, our baby and this happiness that I experience in your presence…" she paused, licking her very dry lips, "these all seem like very valid reasons to me."
"Bones…" His eyes were shining with love and admiration, as he grabbed her healthy hand on the table and laced his fingers through hers. "Whenever you're ready, you can let me know and I will ask you to marry me. I'll get you a ring, I'll even get down on one knee if you'd like me to and I'll make it memorable experience. Just let me know."
Brennan looked down at their hands and could not help but unscientifically noticing how well they fit together. "I could ask you too."
"Well, I'm a traditional kind of guy, Bones. I'd like to be the one to propose. And yes, I know how pro-feminism you are, but please, will you let me have that?" Brennan smiled. "It would mean a lot to me."
"So, when I'm ready, I have to propose to you to propose to me?"
Booth shook his head. "You can just give me a sign. Or tell me a word, so that I'll know." The confusion was written all over her face. "I don't mean this to be a game, Bones. I would just really like to get the chance to do this for you. With you. After all, this third time that I do it will be the charm."
Brennan nodded. Typically Booth to want to take charge in this part of their relationship. He was the alpha male and he wanted to make her his personally. She kind of liked this about him. "What would you like me to do or say to alert you?"
Booth thought for a while as he gave her hand a small squeeze. Brennan was so caught up in shamelessly staring at her, that she barely registered a waiter placing down a cup of fake coffee in front of her. "You can tap your heart twice…" Booth placed his palm to the left side of his chest and tapped it, "and tell me 'alteration'."
"Alteration?"
"Yes, because when I ask you to marry me and you accept, we'll officially change our marital status. We'll alter data, the way people will see us, the way people will treat you when you go out to a bar and they see a beautiful ring on your finger…" Booth said, knowing in the back of his head that a marriage would be reported to the FBI immediately and they would not be able to hide anywhere from them anymore. He did not want her to think about that yet. "But we will still be us. We will be the only thing that won't change."
Brennan sighed and nodded. "Alright. I'll do it." She squeezed his hand back before releasing him and picking up her cup of coffee, not wanting it to go cold. "Whenever I'm ready I'll let you know. Then you can do whatever you like whenever you're ready." This way, nobody would get hurt.
"Bones?" She looked up at him at the mention of her oh-so-familiar nickname. "Would you like to live with me?"
Was this a half-proposal already? Brennan thought back on their entire conversation, on seeing Booth's sleepy face in the morning, on feeling his arms around her at night, on her very strong feelings for him. "Yes." She said. "I do."
"When would you like us to start living together? And where?" In Booth's fantasy world, she would pack her bags right this night and move into his cosy apartment. Realistically however, he knew that he did not have the room in his place to house her, Parker and their little lime in the coconut. There was simply no space for a nursery and he wanted to be able to give their child anything. Even if it meant giving up his own apartment and selling some of his interior.
Booth remembered suddenly that ice cream melted and quickly set himself to the task of eating his dessert. There would be plenty of opportunity for him to stare at his girlfriend later. "I think it would be best if we found ourselves a new place to live together." Brennan was done with her own apartment that reminded her of Peter, who had once lived with her too. Booth's place still had Hannah's spirit hanging around in the closets, strands of her hair underneath the furniture that was hard to vacuum and Booth had some boxes with her stuff downstairs in his basement. "We should go somewhere new to make our own memories."
"I agree." Booth said. "Start a new life together." He liked the idea of them moving together in a place that would be theirs entirely. He would paint the walls, do all the heavy lifting and put nails into the walls while she could direct him and make herself comfortable in an easy chair. "But Bones, if that really is what you want, we should go apartment hunting soon. The bigger your belly gets, the more uncomfortable you'll be walking around with a sore back. Let alone move somewhere else."
Brennan smiled. "Then I guess we have our work cut out for us."
"We do."
Brennan chuckled suddenly, out of nowhere. She laughed at the overwhelming sensations and situations. A year ago, she believed she would stay alone for the rest of her life. Now she was making plans with her wonderful partner to live together, to maybe get married one day. In six months, they were going to have a baby. Life could not get much better than this, she was sure of it. Then she remembered another topic they still needed to discuss: "Booth, what about daycare? We both work and neither of us can stay home during the day. I mean, I don't want to quit—"
"You don't have to, Bones, your career means a lot to you and that's understandable. Rebecca had a babysitter for Parker. She would come in the morning and stay home with him until Rebecca came home from work. She was a kind elderly woman who was very good to him. She played games with him, prepared his meals and bathed him…" Brennan listened carefully. These things, she did not have any experience with yet. "I think that would be better for the baby than putting him or her into some sort of facility with a dozen of crying kids and overworked daycare leaders."
Brennan saw Booth smile at the fond memories of little Parker. It pleased her that she would be able to give that to him too. He missed Parker a lot, but she knew he was looking forward to being able to be involved fully into this baby's life. "Do you think you could maybe get a phone number? It could be worth a try," Brennan suggested.
"I'll be sure to do that. Our lime will only get the best and not a single this less, mark my words." Booth finished eating his ice cream. Luckily, the contact he had with Rebecca went fine. They were not friends, but they were both responsible and reasonable people that got along well enough to make appointments and agreements concerning Parker. He did not foresee any backlash in telling Rebecca that Bones was pregnant.
"Would you like something to drink?" Brennan asked when Booth put down his spoon and sat back in his chair to throw his girlfriend another appreciating look. She was glad he enjoyed seeing her in this outfit. She was starting to feel a little self-conscious about her belly. Sometimes she worried she was so big that she would not fit into her lab coat anymore, while other times she was scared that she was not big enough. Her thoughts seemed to change along with the weather sometimes.
Booth watched her as she reached up with her casted arm, to stretch the heavier limb and he suddenly noticed how perfect the color of the cast matched the pale blue of her eyes. There was absolutely nothing in this world that could make her look less pretty. She was such a natural beauty. "Yes, let's order some champagne and some lemonade for you." Booth leaned forward over the table as Brennan did the same, so that their faces were only inches apart. "I'd like to toast with you, to love, a new home, a new life and whatever else our future will bring us, okay?"
The eye contact between them reached a new sizzling high as neither of them said anything or looked away. Brennan was the one to break the silence. "Okay," she said, "to everything between us."
Booth could not help throwing all his morals and believes out of the window after hearing her say these words. He closed the last distance between them and kissed her right on the lips. The restaurant, the audience, the city and whoever could see them did not matter when all he could feel was her sweet mouth and her soft lips brushing against his deliciously. And oh yeah, there definitely was tongue contact this time.
AllyH's Note: See, I haven't died! But my life has gotten busier. Until August, I'm employed full-time as an EMT and I now need more than four hours of sleep to keep up with the physical demands of the job. So for now, I'll try to post as much as I can, but I hope you understand that I won't be able to do that every day like before. Nevertheless, I'm going to continue this story, maybe until the very end of Brennan's pregnancy, because I have fallen in love with writing this and meeting all you lovely readers through this. So, I'll continue posting as much as I can. Every day will still be my goal, but on Twitter (AllysonHale) I'll keep you updated on any delays or other important things.
I AM officially booked to go to Greece! I will leave on the 29th of July and return on the 21st of August. My posting schedule will probably be a little messed up, since I won't have internet ever where I go, but I might just give you more than one chapter when I do get wifi somewhere. I do have a cellphone with internet, so I can keep in touch with all you lovelies there.
Tomorrow: The T-rated chapter of B&B getting intimate for the second time. It's Day 2, which I skipped earlier on this week, because of the Father's Day chapter. So how do they end up in bed this time? And what will they be like afterwards?
And after that one, there will angst, baby!