Disclaimer: Don't own Bones.
A little something that came to me from RebeccaInley's D suggestion for Fighting Words. Enjoy!
Defiance
She waited for him in their living room because it was almost certain they were going to argue. She had learned that fighting with him in the bedroom was always a risky proposition, the combination of him all riled up and their bed right there often affecting her logical, rational thought process. Her susceptibility to him no longer surprised her but it could still irritate her.
Well, Brennan knew this fight was coming and she was determined not to end up under him in that bed until she made a few things clear.
As expected, he burst through the front door looking furious.
"Bones!" he yelled, slamming the door and throwing his keys hard on the table.
"I'm right here, Booth," she responded, knowing the calmer she stayed the more it would agitate him. "There's no need to yell."
"You fucking went to see him," Booth accused, voice seething, eyes flashing dangerously. "After I damn well told you not to."
"If you remember correctly," she replied in an infuriatingly calm voice. "I specifically left obey out of our wedding vows."
"This is not a goddamn game, Bones!" He was livid, it was the kind of anger that could only come from outright fear. "I asked you not to for a reason and you fucking went behind my back!"
"No, I didn't," she disagreed. "I knew you would find out once you checked the prison logs." She knew he checked those logs nearly everyday, because he wasn't willing to take any chances where that bastard was concerned. Standing from the table, Brennan studied her partner, the muscle ticking relentlessly in his jaw told her just how pissed he was. "I didn't do it behind your back, I just did it without your permission."
"Don't you dare play semantics with me, Temperance," he growled, fisting his hands to control the roiling waves of anger and terror that had been crashing through him since seeing his wife's name in the prison logs he had checked before leaving work. "I want an explanation and it'd better be a damn good one."
"Why do you need an explanation?" she asked defiantly.
"Because I'm your husband, Bones!" he shouted, losing all sense of control. "Because the last time he played his mind games with us, you nearly died. Because just the thought of you alone in a room with him makes me break out in a cold sweat!"
"Yes, you are my husband," she agreed, it was always surprising how the thought could make her feel just a little bit smug. Yes, he was hers, and she protected what was hers. "But you are not my keeper and I think you are overreacting."
"Overreacting?" Booth whispered the word violently. "You know what he's capable of! Those two days when I couldn't find you I FUCKING LOST MY SANITY!" His voice rose in near hysteria as he remembered how close she'd come to dying at that psychopath's hands. "Damn it, Bones, you know he wants to hurt you …!"
"NO!" Brennan interrupted fiercely, losing some of her composure. "He wants to hurt you!"
"What?" He was momentarily taken aback by her vehemence.
"It's you he wants to destroy, Booth." Her voice was hoarse with a mixture of panic and passion. "It's you and I'm not going to let him!"
Grabbing her shoulders, he jerked her against him and kissed her brutally. "And can't you see why it terrifies me that you were even near him?" The fear overrode all anger, leaving his voice scraped raw. "Because he knows, he knows exactly how to destroy me." Threading his fingers in her hair, he pulled her head back a little to look into her eyes. "Don't you see, Bones? I know it's me, but he doesn't have to get near me to destroy me, he only has to get to you."
"Booth …" Her arms went around him and she pressed her lips to his throat. "He won't get to me and I'll kill him if he ever comes near you."
Booth shuddered at her words, his anger drained in the face of her own demons. "Please," he pleaded hoarsely. "I don't care that he's behind bars, I don't want him to ever be near you again."
"All right," she promised. "I just had to see him … Booth, I had to let him know I wasn't going to let him ever hurt you … I couldn't …"
"Shhh," he soothed, enveloping her in his arms and pressing kisses to her forehead. He wasn't the only one that was terrified. "I'm right here." He held her tightly and she did the same, both of them helpless against the emotions they'd long ago stopped trying to deny.
"I warned you I was going to be a defiant wife," she reminded him. "Are you sorry you married me?" He could feel her smile against his throat.
"Yes," Booth answered on a long-suffering sigh. "I regret it every day of my life."
She giggled as he tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and strode towards their bedroom.
"Poor you," Brennan commiserated on a breathless laugh as he dropped her on the bed and then landed on top of her.
"Jesus, I love you," he whispered against her lips, the panic that had gripped him for hours finally receding.
It no longer surprised him how everything bad disappeared when he was in her arms. And it defied logic, but she'd long ago stop trying to figure out why she was only ever blissfully happy in his.
