Title:
Object of my Affection
Author:
Shannon - shannyfish
Disclaimer:
I do not own "Bones" or its characters, Fox does. This is merely
for entertainment purposes only.
Rating:
PG-13
Summary:
Booth and Brennan must struggle with not only the Grad Students
trying to take Zack's old position, but also help get through a
tragic end.
Warning:
Post Season Three - "Pain in the Heart". Would take place during
Season Four, probably mid to late. Warning! Do not start reading
this unless you plan on reading all…like…one hundred chapters (it
might be that many…might not…). This will be an epic/saga-type
fic and shall include all kinds of fun plot twists. The rating of
this story will most likely fluctuate, FYI.
Chapter 54 – "The Best Present"
Author's Note: I may not have been posting chapters every day, but I've been posting enough without prewriting an outline so much that I'm severely behind on my chapter notes. That's right; when the story gets to be this large I HAVE to have notes. Otherwise I end up reading the whole thing to find one small detail ;)
Trailer #1: h t t p : // www . mediafire . com / ?20w12iod0dd
Hopefully this all shows us, just remove the spaces : )
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Booth Residence
Booth waited back until everyone had stopped fussing, which given that the kids had a hold of the puppies, it wasn't long. He moved back to her side and couldn't keep back the smile that had been firmly planted on his face. "You should be at the hospital," he found himself saying, selfishly he wanted to keep her there forever, but then he was also concerned about her well being.
Brennan smiled at him. She was a bit overwhelmed from everyone surrounding her before, but she was touched by his concern. "They released me," she explained. "My core temperature has remained at 98.6 degrees since yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Booth questioned.
"I asked him," Brennan told him gently. He told me that you'd stayed with me, but I figured that being able to be here was a good surprise."
Booth smiled, she was right. "It's the best present," he corrected. He noticed her sway a bit on her feet and he frowned slightly. "Maybe you should sit down Bones," Booth said. He realized that her leg was not re-casted and she wasn't wearing a brace or sling for her right arm. He reached out and carefully placed himself in order to support her and then felt her legs give way as her weight weighed against him. He had her though. He kept her upright.
"I'm okay," she told him quickly.
"You need to rest, Bones," he argued.
"Please...I want to see the kids open presents," she told him as she stared into his eyes.
"Amy's taping it," Booth countered.
"It's not the same." Brennan stared at him for some time before speaking again, "I'm sorry, Booth."
"Sorry?" he whispered confused. "Why are you sorry?"
She felt herself crying a bit, but trying to calm herself down at the same time. "I didn't mean to ruin Christmas for everyone."
Booth saw her tears and couldn't bear it. Carefully, he swept her up into his arms and then looked into the other room to see the kids playing with the puppies instead of opening presents. He noticed Angela saw him, but then turned her head. Angela was good at looking out for Brennan. He moved her into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. Gently, he laid her on the bed and then lay down next to her on his side. "Where's your cast and brace?" he asked as he pushed tears away.
"You're changing the subject."
"Answer my question and then we'll change it back," Booth compromised.
"The doctor said that I looked healed enough to go without a brace for my arm, but I have a brace for my leg for now." Brennan reached down and carefully pulled up the slightly wide legged slack in order to reveal the complex black brace her right leg was encased in.
He reached out and put his hand on her cheek. "You haven't ruined Christmas, Bones. You saved it." He leaned in and allowed his lips to gently brush hers. He was still worried about her physical state of being even though she had assured him that she was fine. She responded to the kiss and it deepened. Booth wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close as he rolled on top of her, but was careful not to put weight on her right side. After a few moments, he ceased and stared into her eyes. "Let me give you your Christmas present now," Booth said and moved off of her and off of the bed. He quickly moved to one of the dresser drawers.
"My presents are lost," Brennan said sadly but tried her best to sit up. It hardly seemed fair that he gave her something when she didn't have presents to give him.
"No," Booth responded. "Cam found them. Angela wrapped them. Angela labeled everything and she left some of the presents in a bag in the hall closet." He returned to the bed with a small wrapped box with a far too large bow on top. He sat on the edge and handed her the present.
"We should exchange them at the same time," Brennan argued as her fingers brushed over the smooth metallic paper.
"I can wait," he told her with a smile.
Brennan carefully started at the side and started to undo where the tape was in order to not to tear the pretty paper. She could see from the corner of her eye that Booth wasn't impressed with her skills of not tearing paper and decided to just do it his way. She tore the scrap of paper off of the box and frowned. It was a box that normally contained jewelry. That was definitely intimate. "Booth—" she started. It was too much.
"Just open it," Booth told her.
After a moment, she looked back at the scary box and then carefully opened the lid. Inside was soft black velvet that cushioned a pendant on a thin necklace. It was round and made of yellow gold. She ran her finger over its smooth glossy finish. At the top was a wide 'V' with beautiful scrollwork within the letter itself. At the point of the 'V' was a good size diamond shaped emerald and then right below it was a round diamond. Tears pushed at her ducts. "It's beautiful," she managed to get out before the tears fell.
"It's a locket," he told her and carefully showed her how to open it. Inside he'd had the jeweler put in a picture of them with Parker and then on the other side was an old Christmas picture of all the squints. He'd wanted to put in an old Brennan family picture, but hadn't been able to get his hands on one in order to duplicate it. "You can change the pictures if you want."
"No," she blurted out and wiped her tears away. "They're perfect." She looked up at him, "Thank you." She lunged herself towards him and hugged him in a tight embrace. "It's wonderful."
Booth wrapped his arms around her and was happy she liked it, but hadn't expected her to cry. "It's only half of your present," Booth told her.
Brennan pulled back, "What? This is more than enough, Booth..."
He reached up and placed his finger against her lip. "Shhh..."
"But—"
"Please let me give you my other gift."
Technically she had gotten him two presents as well, but neither were as precious as her locket. She gave him a nod. "Can you help me, though?" she requested holding up the locket.
"Of course," he said with a bright smile and helped her with the locket and made sure it was secure around her neck. "There," he said before getting off of the bed to look at it on her. "It looks very nice."
"It's better than nice."
"Close your eyes," Booth instructed. He noticed that she looked like she was going to argue, but then stopped and closed her eyes. "No peeking," he instructed. He quietly and quickly left the room in search of the other present. This present had taken much more thought and time.
He returned a few minutes later with Brennan's present in his arm. He leaned forward and set it in her lap. "Okay, open your eyes."
When Brennan opened her eyes she was surprised to see one of the puppies that her father had delivered. Her eyes lit up immediately and she gave it the attention it wanted so badly as it wiggled around in her lap. "Hi there," she talked to the puppy. "Hi."
Booth smiled brightly, he was glad that she seemed to like her present so far. "So? I got the right color and size?" he teased.
Brennan's head rose, "She's beautiful."
"She is," he said staring at Brennan.
"What's her name?"
"You can name the pup anything you want, Bones."
"She doesn't have a name?"
"Fortune."
"I like it," Brennan told him.
Booth smiled and watched her with the puppy. "I hoped you'd like her..."
"What about if we go out of town on a case?" she asked.
"Parker and Liberty—"
"Liberty?"
"His puppy...it's the one that matches yours," Booth explained. "When we have to go out of town, Angela and Hodgins will watch him and both of the pups." He shrugged, "It's like any other time, Hodgins doesn't have a problem with the dogs being added into the mix. I think he may want one now," Booth told her with a bright smile.
Brennan found herself busy with Fortune as she scratched and petted the wiggly little chocolate lab. "She's really beautiful," she said again and found herself laughing as the pup attacked her with its pink tongue. She giggled, "Okay! Okay! My face is clean!" she told Fortune and found herself falling backwards onto the bed. Fortune of course took the opportunity to walk up her abdomen, then her chest, and then found her face to lick again.
He was glad that she seemed so happy. That's what he wanted, that's what they all wanted. Booth stepped forward and took hold of Fortune in order to save Brennan from the puppy's unyielding cleaning. "See, she likes you," he told her with a laugh and smoothed down the puppy's hair on its head as he held her. He reached out with one hand and took Brennan's in order to help her back upright.
"We should probably go back into the other room," Brennan commented reluctantly.
Setting down Fortune, he didn't give Brennan a chance to discuss the matter, he just swept her up in his arms. "Then let's go check on them," he told her as he was heading towards the bedroom door.
"I can walk," Brennan argued as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Not well," Booth commented.
He made his way into the living room where the tree and everyone was gathered. He kept an eye on Fortune and also an eye out for any other puppies that may get into his way. Booth didn't want to step on any of them. He carefully made his way to the couch and set Brennan down. "There." He turned to the others, "So are all the dogs named?"
"We've got Samantha and Lulu over here," Russ spoke up. Both of the yellow labs were lounging on his lap and were keeping an eye on the girls from their position.
"And we've got Liberty and?" Hodgins spoke up and then looked to Booth.
"She's sticking with Fortune," Booth told him.
"Liberty and Fortune," Hodgins said. "This is going to be fun," he added with a bright smile. "Come on, let's open some more presents."
.......................
Booth Residence
Once everyone had finally left, Booth found that he didn't feel prepared to have Brennan home. He hadn't shopped for food other than Christmas dinner and he hadn't cleaned the house or the bedroom much than where people would see. He didn't even have her doctor's release orders. How did he know what she could and couldn't do?
"You look worried," Brennan commented as she entered the kitchen. She'd just put Parker to bed and though it'd taken longer than usual, she'd enjoyed it. She'd ended up lying in bed with him until he fell asleep. She had a feeling that Parker was afraid that she'd be gone when he woke up.
"No," Booth lied as he finished putting the last of the dishes into the dish washer. He poured in the soap and then pressed for the cycle to start. "How's Parker?"
"Worried, like you," she told him with a smile as she leaned against the refrigerator in order to shift the weight to her left side.
He noticed the change in her stance and walked towards her. "I'm not worried," he told her, though it wasn't true. He was terrified he'd lose her. "Though I think we should round up those puppies and lock them in here for tonight," he said motioning to the tiled kitchen area.
"How are you going to manage that?"
"The guy sold me a baby gate," Booth said. "It's in the closet." He put his hands on her shoulders and then leaned in to steal a kiss. He savored being able to touch her... "Why don't you go lay down and I'll be in in a minute?" he suggested.
"Okay," she told him and turned to leave the kitchen. She crouched down a bit to pet one of the puppies as it walked by her. She smiled and then headed for the bedroom. Brennan had already moved the bag with the remaining presents that Angela had wrapped for Booth into the bedroom. She changed out of her clothes and into something to sleep in.
When Booth entered the bedroom, he found that Brennan had changed and that two wrapped presents were lying on the bed waiting. He removed his shirt, and discarded it. His shoes had been discarded as soon as Russ and his family had left. Max had been the last to leave. He climbed onto the bed in his jeans curious at to what she had gotten for him. "So, is it my turn now?" he asked with a smile.
He looked like a kid in a toy store, Brennan thought as he picked up one of the presents. She took the present away and held onto it, "No, open the other first," she instructed.
Booth looked at her suspiciously, but took the smaller present. "Okay," he said with a smile. He removed the paper and then removed the lid from the unmarked white box. Inside was a new belt buckle. He smiled; it had an eagle and an American flag on it. At the top it said 'Army' and under the flag it said 'Rangers lead the way'. "This is fantastic!" he exclaimed. Of course, the 'cocky' belt buckle was still his favorite, but this one he had never seen before. "Where did you get this?"
"I have connections," she told him vaguely.
"I am very impressed with your connections," Booth told her. Crawling closer to her, he leaned in and took her in for a deep kiss. He was touched that she'd find him something so special. He did love his belt buckles after all, especially ones that were so snazzy. When he pulled away, he stared into her eyes. "So, do I get to open my other present now?" he asked.
Brennan noticed how his eyes sparkled. He was beautiful, inside and out. "Yes," she agreed. She had thought about explaining the present before, but she thought that that may ruin some of the surprise of it. "Go ahead," she encouraged.
Booth tore the paper and pulled the box lid off. He stopped when the contents confused him. "I think I got the wrong present," Booth said staring at the satin and lace.
She giggled at his expression. Brennan was sure that Angela would have loved Booth's expression alone. "It's for you..." she told him, so that he didn't think that he got the wrong present.
Lifting the garment, Booth realized that there was another much smaller piece inside. He held up the teal satin black polka dotted tube top like thing that had black lace trim at the top. He knew that the other piece was the bottom, which was a thong. "I really don't think this will fit me, Bones."
Brennan laughed and took the garment from him. She held it to her chest, "Are you sure you don't want this present?"
"Oh," Booth said with a growing smile. "I like that present...it just wasn't presented correctly." He crawled up, so that he was on top of her, but with his weight kept off of her. He forced her to lie back completely. "I would have enjoyed unwrapping you," he teased as he leaned down to kiss her.
When they were apart, she smiled brightly at him. "I'm supposed to take it easy for a couple of days," Brennan told him. "Especially when I don't have my leg brace on."
He frowned, but leaned down to place another kiss on her lips. "Well, I can wait," he told her and then removed the garment and set it back into the box. He pushed it off of the bed and then climbed back over her and continued his assault on her. He'd missed this contact. It was something about being able to touch her and kiss her to know that they were both alive. "I love you, Bones," he told her as he stared down into her blue-green eyes.
"I love you," Brennan told him. She kissed him this time and reached up to place a splayed hand in his hair. When she pulled back, she rested her forehead against his. "Merry Christmas, Booth."
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TBC...
