Friday morning, Booth was determined to get back to the Hoover to continue on the case. He and Bones had both needed the time out this last week. He had to remind himself this was a marathon, not a sprint and if they didn't pace themselves they were going to lose.
He wasn't sure whether to bring Brennan in with him or drop her off at the lab, he'd let her decide what she wanted to do. She'd been really tired last night, she'd gotten into bed before eight and didn't even say goodnight, which she usually did in some way or other, even if just a look or a gesture. She'd taken the shirt of his from the couch and put it on, though. He wasn't a hundred percent sure what was going on with her, now that she was getting more alert and responsive to the things and people around her. It was to be expected, really, that she'd close down a bit to try and regain control. Booth could feel the tension now, both within her and between them, the way she seemed to be fighting with herself about decisions she made and things she said.
'Bones, you finished in the bathroom?' he called. It had been twenty minutes, and he'd eaten breakfast and read the paper but she was still in there. 'You okay?'
Brennan pressed a wet cloth over her face to cool the redness from crying. 'I'll be out in a minute!' she called. She really didn't know why she was so emotional today. She didn't like it, she was hardly ever like this. But for some reason since talking to Booth last night about eventually going home, she'd been off balance. She wanted to like the idea, she really did—why was it so distressing?
Booth was standing right in front of the door when she opened it. 'Oh,' was all she could say as she almost barrelled into him. 'Thanks,' he said with a bright smile, slipping past her and singing some sort of sports warcry as he brushed his teeth. He figured Bones had to give him some credit for that. Singing while brushing your teeth isn't an easy feat.
Brennan slipped into the kitchen and got herself some toast. She'd made some good progress in the last week with her shaking. Since she couldn't pinpoint a cause, it made it seem that she couldn't do anything about it. Booth said something about 'better the weevil you know than the weevil you don't', or something. It had sounded pretty weird. She liked to have things crystallised, hard and factual. This game of waiting around for things to change, not knowing what was going on was frustrating. It meant she had even less control. Which was why she needed to be near someone she trusted, who, even if she couldn't control her life herself, could at least provide her with shelter and safety until she was ready.
She realised her toast had already popped up and was going cold, so she grabbed it out of the toaster and ate it plain.
'You ready to go?' Booth asked from behind her. She dropped the toast out of surprise.
'Oh,' she breathed looking over her shoulder. 'Um, sure.' She picked up the toast and took one more bite, leaving the rest on the plate and getting up.
'You can finish that if you want, Bones. I'm not going to make you skip breakfast.'
'Oh, no, it's okay. I'm not feeling very hungry today,' she said evenly. Booth looked at her, and when she managed not to flinch under his scrutiny he accepted it and led the way outside.
'Can I drive some time?' she asked quietly as Booth started the engine.
He glanced at her and raised his eyebrows. 'Of course you can, Bones, but I'm not sure that you're ready just yet.'
'Well, I might as well get going early, I mean, if it's going to be hard there's no point putting it off. It will only be harder,' she said very evenly. She thought she'd concealed her whirlwind emotions pretty well.
'It's just driving, Bones. You'll remember as soon as you're behind the wheel. I'm not sure if you're even allowed to drive at the moment, with some of the symptoms you've been having.' He tried to speak as gently as possible. He was getting very mixed vibes from her today, and he had no idea why. It concerned him but if he asked, he knew she wouldn't tell him. I probably just need to give her space.
Bones didn't reply, but seemed to almost brood in silence for the rest of the trip. As they got near the Hoover Booth realised he hadn't asked where she wanted to spend the day. 'Would you rather be hanging out at the lab or in my office today?'
Your office, she wanted to say. By a million miles. 'Uh, I guess the lab. I… could catch up with Angela. And the baby.'
'Okay, great. I'll drop you off. You've got your phone?'
'Oh, uh, yeah.'
'I charged it up for you last night, hope you don't mind.'
For about the sixth time in the last 24 hours, she thought she was going to cry. But she couldn't. Crying wasn't going to make her get better any faster. It wasn't going to convince Booth she was moving forward. She looked out the window and took a deep breath.
'Sorry if you didn't want me to, I know you want to do things yourself,' Booth said kindly, misreading her silence for grumpiness. She gave a sharp gasp and held her breath to keep the tears in. As long as he thought she was in a bad mood, he might give her some space. Space she had to get used to. Lots of empty space.
'I texted Angela thismorning, told her you might be coming in.'
'Okay,' Brennan managed. Just. They were pulling up at the Jeffersonian entrance, the spot where he normally pulled up if he was dropping her off instead of coming in with her.
'You okay to go in? I can always park if you need me to.'
'No, why would I? I'm fine,' she said breezily, even pasting on a fairly convincing smile.
'Okay,' Booth said, possibly a little hurt. Her moods were all over the place today. But this was what he wanted, wasn't it? Her to be getting better. This was exactly how the Brennan he knew would handle recovery from trauma. He wasn't quite sure why it made him uneasy.
Brennan hopped out of the car, heading straight into the building without looking back. Booth waited until the doors had shut behind her to make sure she got in alright, like his Pops had taught him to do when dropping a girl off somewhere. He pulled out into traffic, not entirely sure why he was feeling uneasy and just a little bit bitter. He hadn't once felt annoyed at Brennan in this whole time, but now… now he was annoyed at her callousness. Didn't she care about what he'd been through to get her back? He'd just… thought they had something special going on. And now she was treating him like a hotel valet.
Booth pushed the thoughts out of his head and turned at the lights towards the Hoover.
.
.
A/N
Sorry for the angst! But it's all about balance, I reckon… and there was just a lot of fluff last chapter! Don't worry, someone's going to chat to Brennan next chapter and sort her out :o)
