BOOTH
When I arrive at the back of the Jeffersonian, the first thing I note is Bones is nowhere to be seen.
You'd think after six years, Bones couldn't make me nervous anymore, but nothing could be further from the truth. One of the things I love most about her is you never know what to expect from her hour-by-hour, let alone day-by-day; one of the things I find most exhausting about her is you never know what to expect from her hour-by hour, let alone day-by-day. I'll never be bored with Bones, that's for sure. Exhausted, frustrated, irritated by – yeah, all of those things – but never bored.
"Maybe she's not coming," Cam suggests as the hearse arrives.
"No. She'll—She'll be here," Angela assures.
"Well, Dr. Brennan has been known to retreat into hyper-rationalism in times of emotional turmoil…" Sweets starts spewing the psychology again. Will he ever get that psychology can't begin to explain Bones? "Which could very well—"
"Okay, even I want to slap you now," Hodgins cuts him off. Way to go, Bug Boy!
"Alright, guys," I step in before I'm subjected to a nerdy school-yard argument. "Bones said she'll come, she'll be here." I'd bet my life on it. Bones never breaks her word. Nope. She'll be here. The only question is how angry she'll be when she gets here.
All conversation stops when the metal clatter of gurney wheels moving towards us announces the arrival of the English squintern's body. Cam gasps –
"Oh—" I make a mental note to stop by and check up on her. The squintern's death has cracked her armor.
"Hey, uh—Hey, guys?" Hodgins approaches the lab techs as they get ready to load the casket into the hearse. "Let us handle that, okay?" One of the techs nods his agreement and they all disappear back inside
"Do you—do you want to say something?" Angela asks. Wait. What? Me?
"What?! Me?" I ask out loud
"Yeah."
"I barely knew him," I defend. Why is it I'm always they guy they look to when it comes to this stuff?
"That's true." Perfect timing, as always, Bones. "Booth only ever called Mr. Nigel-Murray 'the English squintern'."
"Well, some of us were worried you wouldn't make it." Ah, geez. Can we drop the psychobabble for one night?
"I stopped to get this." The thought is dead on, but the choice is slightly off: A potted flowers of some kind.
"Right," Cam smiles. "Because nothing says 'rest in peace' like a potted plant." Bones eyes drop to the ground, her self-confidence plummeting.
Sweets chuckles.
"Did I do something wrong?" Angela beats me to the answer.
"No, honey, you did something exactly right." I watch the relief wash over Bones and, finally, our eyes connect and this time it's me who can relax a little, when we share a smile. She may be angry still, but not enough to push me away.
No one notices as the reality of what we are about to do hits home. I've been here more times than I can count, burying a fellow soldier… or friend. The loss of their squintern weighs heavily on them.
"You know," Hodgins offers, "Vincent gave me a great piece of advice. He said the busiest shopping hour of the entire year is between three and four on Christmas Eve. So, I never shop during that time."
"Oh, he told me," Sweets chimes in, "That Quebec City in Canada has the same amount of street crime as Disney World. So it's a safe place to visit." While he talks I take another opportunity to look at Bones.
"He told me," Cam begins, wiping a tear off her cheek, "That the crack of a whip was actually the tip breaking the sound barrier."
"He told me that the top of the Eiffel Tower is actually six inches shorter in the wintertime so it's better to climb it then." Then, for the first time since she's arrived, I can look at Bones freely without arousing suspicion.
"Vincent's favorite song was 'The Lime in the Coconut'," she offers up.
"Really?" Sweets, despite the occasion, is excited at this bit of news. It's no wonder. The kid sings the song whenever he has a chance. "That's my jam." See?
Everyone falls silent but the air is thick with their emotion. Right now my attention is all for Bones, the sadness in her eyes tugging at my heart. I want to drag her into my arms and make love to her until she can't remember her grief. Since I can't do that, I'm kind of glad when Sweets starts singing and the others join in, as they load the coffin into the hearse, then watch it drive away.
I stand there, waiting for some sort of sign from Bones telling me what she's comfortable with right now. She doesn't take long, sliding her hand through the crook of my arm then clasping her hands together. We've walked like this a bunch of times but tonight it feels different. Her arms are a little more snug tonight, her weight against my arm a little heavier.
Bones has, in her own way, let me know last night wasn't a one time deal – As far as she is concerned, we're together.
And as my smile shows, that's more than fine by me.
"What happened to Broadsky?" she asks.
"Thanks to my partner, he didn't stand a chance when I came up on his right flank." A smile appears and disappears just as fast.
"You didn't kill him." It's a statement, not a question. I shrug my shoulders.
"Shot him in the leg. He's in surgery now then we'll pass custody to the Army."
"The Army?"
"Yeah. Broadsky is receiving a military pension which means they can choose to prosecute him for the crimes he's been charged with. He'll never walk free again."
"You made the right choice." I understand what she means: I'd chosen justice over revenge. We come to a stop where everyone is gathered at the bottom of the platform. Bones abruptly drops my arm.
"Should we go have a drink for Vincent?" Bug Boy is not even finished before Angela is shaking her head.
"Jack," her voice is dangerously close to a whine and I wouldn't want to be Bug Boy if she gets there, "In case you haven't noticed, your wife is eight months pregnant. My back hurts, the baby's hungry and I'm exhausted. I want to go home. Now." Hodgins takes her mood in stride and with a smile.
"You heard the boss." Smart man. "Come on, let's go home and get the little guy a snack before Mommy goes to bed."
"Hodgins, Angela," Cam calls after them. They come to a stop and when they turn around it's obvious Angela is not pleased. "This will only take a second, I promise. I'm closing the lab for the next sixty-hours. I don't want to see or hear that anyone was in this lab before nine Monday morning." Her eyes zero in on Bones when she prepares to object. "That includes you, Dr. Brennan. We've all suffered a trauma—" Cam holds up a hand before Bones can interrupt, "Whether you want to admit it or not, Mr Nigel-Murray was one of us. We all need time to address that… even you." That draws an immediate frown on the face of the woman who doesn't like anyone telling her what to do or how she feels.
"I'll just get my things." With those words she spins and comes pretty close to stomping away. Camille's shoulders sag wearily and she looks at me expectantly.
"I'll drive you home," I call after her. She doesn't so much as miss a step. There's a good chance I'm going to take the heat for this decision of Cam's, which is truthfully the last thing I need since Bones already has a bone to pick with me.
Bones picking bones. The lines never end.
"Go ahead. Say it," she invites.
"I have no dog in this fight, Camille. Bones knows how to take care of herself. If she has anything to say, she'll say it," I remind. I step closer to her. "How are you holding up?"
"I just keep hearing the shattering of glass, seeing it sprinkling down. It's my lab, Seeley. Mr. Nigel-Murray died in my lab." I don't hesitate to wrap my arms around her and give her a long hug. I understand what she's going through. It's bad enough when you lose a part of 'your family' but to have it happen on your watch?
"There's nothing you could have done," I assure. She nods her head rapidly against my shoulder then stepping back wipes at her eyes.
"I know. I know." Drawing in a deep breath, she gives her eyes a final wipe then blinks them a pair of time. "I need to get going if I don't want to be late meeting Paul."
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," I tease.
"Oh, but that would take away all the fun." We share a laugh and it's not until I start towards Bones' office that I realize Cam has just essentially called me dull.
What?!
I stop and look back over my shoulder to where we'd been standing as though it might help me figure out when I'd gone to from Hans Solo to Obi-Wan Kenobi. There have been way too many comments since coming home from Afghanistan on my age, about being set in my ways and my broken body. Turning, I use the reflection of the floor-to-ceiling glass of an office to see if I can find whatever it is that is inviting these comments. With a look left then right to make sure the no one is lurking in the shadows I part my trench coat.
Broad shoulders, narrow hips, toned core. I think I have a body better than most thirty-year-old men let alone forty-two. Sure, it takes a few more sit-ups these days to keep my waist tight but I take pride in caring for my body. It's a tool as much as the gun in my holster. A couch potato couldn't do this job.
Boring? Does Cam really think I'm boring? Sure, I go to Mass every Sunday and play hockey Tuesday and Friday nights so it doesn't interfere with football on Sunday and Monday. It doesn't mean anything that I eat lunch at the diner every day or after work drinks are always at the Founding Fathers. I happen to like the places, that's all. And really, who cares that I think a baseball game can't be watched without hotdogs, popcorn and a cold beer or that I leave my socks on the floor at night so I can keep my feet warm in the morning?
None of that makes me boring.
Does it?
Another peek around shows the coast is still clear. I step just a little closer to the glass to examine the same face I see in the mirror every morning. So, I have a few lines on my face. People used to say they give a man character. And let me tell you, you'd have a few wrinkles too if you spent your days with Bones and Sweets. Hehe.
"I need to get something from the bones room then I'll be ready to go."
Bones walks briskly past me, while I freeze like a deer in headlights. Trust me when I say no man wants to be caught checking himself out, especially by his partner. I turn my head to watch her. If Bones noticed, she's sure not saying anything. I say a prayer of thanks to an unnamed saint then double time it to catch up to her. "Leishenger's parents were only children as were their parents… and him." I rub my lower face with my hands, and shift on my feet, disbelieving.
"He was the last of the line." She picks up a manila envelope off a rolling table and pauses.
"Two lines, actually." I wince. "I thought his belongings might bring them some… comfort." She shifts on her feet, something she does when she's uncertain.
"You're amazing," I tell her. It's not flattery, but the truth. Seven years ago, people's emotions wouldn't have even been on her list of considerations. Now, she's trying to do for others what she wished someone had done to her: Give them something to hold onto after their world has been turned upside down.
The smile that lights her face at the compliment is dazzling and before I know it, she closes in on me and presses her lips to mine. Liquid lightening shoots through me but when my ability to think kicks in, I quickly put space between us as though I've been scalded.
"Bones, we can't do that here." I doubt I'm very convincing since I can't take my eyes of the lips that were just been caressing mine.
"I don't see why not," she replies moving close again. My eyes widen. I've waited for what seems a lifetime to experience this side of her.
"Someone could see," I nearly whisper, unconsciously moving closer as well.
"We're the only ones here," she informs me in a sultry tone that makes me ache to take her into my arms. I smile, crookedly, and bend down to kiss her when I remember the story Bones had told me a few years ago about Angela and Bugboy getting caught on camera having sex in a thousand-year-old bed in the Egyptian room. The thought was like ice water being poured over me. I'm the type of guy who believes my sex life should be kept private out of respect for the woman I'm with and because I'm a private kind of guy.
"The cameras," I announce as I scan the room for one. She frowns at me.
"We don't have cameras in the lab, only in antiquities." Her tone suggests I should have already known this. With a laugh, I wrap an arm around her waist and tug her to me.
"Get over here." Before her hands land on my upper arms, my lips are teasing hers. Kissing her has a way of leaving me unable to think, just like when she'd kissed me that first time in the pouring rain. Only now, knowing that I finally had her heart, kissing her calmed my restless soul. My mom had been right when she'd told me all those years ago that, one day, I'd find the missing piece of the puzzle and I'd be whole.
That piece had been Bones.
The thought draws a groan from my throat and the kiss kicks up a notch. Turning us, I walk her backwards until her back is against the wall and I press my body to hers from chest-to-thighs. The thought that I could make love to her here and now has me rapidly hardening. She draws another moan from me when her hands slide up my chest and her fingers begin loosening my tie. My lips slide away from hers and drop a string of kisses down her neck. My eyes briefly flicker open and when they do, my erection withers as they wander over box after box of human remains. My arms release her of their own will and I put a step between us.
"We should go," I suggest. Her eyes widen and her head tilts, clearly confused,
"Why?" I look pointedly at the bins of bones lining the wall.
"Well..." She laughs.
"They're just bones, Booth. They can't see." I lay my hand on the small of her back and guide her out of the room.
"Bones of dead people. Do you have everything you need?"
"Yes," she confirms.
"I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Want to stop off at the diner and grab a bite to eat?" I suggest. She considers the question for a pair of seconds, then shakes her head.
"Truthfully, I had something else in mind."
"Oh?" I remove my hand from her back and push open the door to the parking lot. "What's that?"
"Take out Chinese and a glass of wine followed by a hot shower." My face falls. I'd hoped – fantasized even – that we'd spend the night together. My spirits pick right back up when she offers, "You can join me, if you'd like."
Like is an understatement. I try to sound casual.
"I need to go pick up a few things at my place."
"We don't work tomorrow," she reminds as we reach the Sequoia.
"I thought I'd deliver Leishenger's personal effects to his grandparents tomorrow. I'd like to offer my condolences in person." She stops to face me.
"You're a good man." As always, the sentiment touches me somewhere deep inside me – a place only she's ever been able to reach.
"Well, he was a good kid and I think they should know a lot of lives were saved by his sacrifice." The look on her face when we get in the car has warmth spreading throughout my body. Bones' opinion of me means… everything.
"I'd like to go as well," she announces as she pulls the door closed. I do a double-take. Bones has made it clear, more than once, that funerals are pointless…
"I just don't agree with the social convention which requires us to attend a day-long grieving ritual…"
And the number of times she'd said exactly the wrong thing? Well… I could spend the rest of the night listing those one at a time. But the hopeful light in her eyes, like always, is my undoing.
"Yeah, let's do that," I smile at her.
The smile she gives me is worth every blunder of hers that I'll inevitably have to cover.