Here's another little bit of this story that I've been slowly chipping away at.
Booth saw them before he even got close to Bones' office, and almost turned around. She'd asked him to come by this afternoon to compile their notes on the Watson case, so he wasn't exactly intruding by showing up. It didn't mean he felt any less awkward, walking up to her office and rapping his knuckles against the open door.
"Oh, Hi Booth. We're almost done here." Bones assured him, flashing an apologetic smile his way. "Come in." she told him as she stood and, of course, ever the damn gentleman, so did Sam. "This is our wedding planner, June Kavanaugh." Bones introduced him to the flashy looking woman seated next to Sam with her thick white binder spread out over Bones' desk.
Wedding planner. Of course they'd have one of those. God forbid they keep it simple and just plan their own wedding. Bones had told him so casually about Sam's proposal. Actually, she hadn't even told him; he'd seen the damn asteroid on her knuckle when she got into his truck a week ago, and now she was meeting with wedding planners and doing all kinds of un-Bonesy things.
"What the hell is that?" he'd asked, hoping, really hoping it was not what he thought it was. It couldn't be. This was Bones. She mocked marriage at every opportunity.
"My bag?" she asked curiously as she plopped her messenger bag down at her feet and met his gaze with her own guileless stare.
Shaking his head in disbelief, he grabbed her hand and wiggled it back and forth. "This." he told her, his eyes wide and incredulous.
"Oh." Oh? Had she really just said 'Oh?' as if more explanation wasn't required on this momentous occasion? He stared at her expectantly before she finally shrugged one shoulder as if it was nothing of consequence. "Sam proposed marriage. I accepted. The ring is a symbolic token of the agreement we've come to. Much like the one you gave to Hannah." she told him and then launched into details of the case so seamlessly that Booth wasn't sure he'd actually heard her right.
"Bones." he interrupted her. "You don't think it's a little bit , I don't know, coincidental that Hannah and I announced our engagement, and now Sam is proposing?" he asked her. What the hell was this guy trying to get at? Was he trying to compete for the damn happiest couple award? Booth had seen it from day-freaking-one; the guy had a complex, always trying to one-up people; always trying to be the most showy, the most romantic, the most funny… the most… everything. Now, he was going to try to one-up him and Hannah? He'd definitely bought a bigger rock for Bones. Booth wasn't sure that one was even in the same stratosphere as Hannah's. It probably had its own freaking orbit.
"No. It was not coincidental at all." She told him so matter of factly, he was really ready to hunker down to hear this. "After your announcement, we thoroughly discussed the pros and cons of exploring such a commitment ourselves and combining our assets. Ultimately, we determined that it would be a logical step for the development of both our romantic and our business relationship."
"Well…. Congratulations, I guess." Booth told her, confused as all hell about whatever the pile of gibberish she'd just spouted meant.
A bitter part of him felt a dull ache. Bones had rejected him flat out last year, wouldn't give him the time of day to even consider a committed relationship, but this guy? This was the guy that changed her mind about everything she'd been so firmly against for as long as he'd known her? Temperance Brennan was going to get married. Of course she was, and of course it was going to be to some rich bastard who could speak enough science to convince her it was a great idea.
"I guess you'll be having some big blow out of a wedding then, huh?" he asked, and was shocked when she shook her head.
"No. I think I'd prefer something private… intimate. Just family and close friends. I'm not fond of the frivolity or the spectacle associated with traditional weddings." she mused, looking out the window. "What— what about you and Hannah? I suppose she'll want to bungee jump from a hot air balloon or something?" she teased, and he laughed because Hannah was definitely not interested in tradition.
"Have a seat, Booth. We're just wrapping up." Bones told him, nodding to the couch across from her desk.
"Yea, take your time." he muttered, settling down and pretending to focus on his files as they chatted about the details of their wedding.
"June, whatever Temperance wants, just make it happen." Sam said, and Booth wanted to roll his eyes, but he understood the sentiment. He wanted Hannah to have whatever she wanted too, though it hadn't been anything nearly as extravagant as what these people were talking about.
Hannah had pitched the idea of a quickie marriage, low key, just the essential personnel, down at City Hall.
"Hannah… you know I'm Catholic, right?" he'd asked, and she seemed unfazed by it, nodding absently. "I– I always imagined I'd, you know, be married by a priest… in a church– in my church. The church where my grandparents were married, and my parents, well that didn't turn out that well, but it's where both Jared and I were baptized and served as altar boys… even where I had Parker baptized." he explained, wondering if she, someone who had lived most of her life like a nomad, would understand the importance of his familial roots.
"I mean, I'm not religious at all, Seeley. Is it going to be a weird religious ceremony with lots of kneeling and praying and water on the face?" she asked, pointing to her forehead as she flipped a page in the magazine she was skimming through.
"A bit, yea…" he told her honestly, and her cringe and shrug seemed to end the conversation.
"What if we get married in a little chapel…. Say, in Vegas? Then we get the church vibes and a vacation… play our way up and down the strip with some newlywed luck!" she pitched, and he wondered if now was a good time to tell her about his gambling addiction. If he was planning to marry her, it was one of those things she should be aware of, wasn't it?
"What are your favorite flowers, Temperance?" June asked.
"Daffodils." Bones answered, and it wasn't until he felt the awkward stares that he realized he'd also said it out loud.
"Daffodils are great, but they don't exactly scream extravagance." June told her with an air of false apology in her tone. "It's all about the optics here. You need things to be a bit exaggerated if they're going to look as good on camera as they will in person." she explained further, and he watched through the corner of his eye as Bones nodded thoughtfully. "What do you think of dahlias?" she offered.
"Murder." Booth and Bones said at the same time, resulting in both of them chuckling as June frowned in disapproval.
"I think dahlias will be great." Sam piped in. "Gotta think of the optics, Temperance." he told her, sounding like he was reminding her of something he'd already said. "June, you make damn sure that our hotel room is full of daffodils though. I don't want a single surface in the Honeymoon suite not covered in daffodils." he said, speaking to June, but he was looking directly at Bones with that stupid half smirk he always wore. "There won't be any cameras in there." he added, and Bones laughed, seemingly fine with the stupid dahlias all of a sudden.
"You guys hiring a photographer?" Booth asked casually, mostly to make conversation and make himself feel less like the elephant in the room.
"A photographer?" June laughed like that was the most absurd thing he could have suggested. "Can I tell him? He's on the in list, right?" she asked in a mock conspiratorial whisper toward the happy couple. Sam nodded, but Bones seemed to wilt in on herself, almost like she was embarrassed. "This is going to be the wedding of the year, the decade, the nuptials to end all nuptials. You saw the Royal Wedding, Charles and Di?" she asked, and then continued without waiting for his reply. "Bigger." June was gushing, and Sam was smiling, but Booth kept his sniper eyes trained on Bones and the pink flush rising up her neck.
"Thought Bones wanted something small and intimate?" he asked with a faux casual tone, flipping through his file as he inwardly seethed. The guy really had some nerve. What kind of guy worked so damn hard to persuade his fiance into things anyways? Marriage was about compromise, not coercion, and it looked like Bones was the only one making any damn concessions.
"My publishers think it'll be really good for sales, and the Jeffersonian board thinks it'll be great for the donors to feel like they're a part of it given how prominent I am within the institution and how much my research has been featured, and of course Sam's contributions. It's all about the optics." Bones explained. There was that word again– optics.
Weird. Booth thought the wedding was supposed to be all about the couple and their love for one another. Why should her publishers and her employers give a damn what kind of wedding she had?
Brennan climbed into Booth's SUV, schooling her features to hide her anxiety. In the month since she'd agreed to this arrangement, she'd become increasingly overwhelmed and increasingly aware of how far apart she and Booth had grown. Normally, she'd have talked to him about this sort of thing, about her anxiety and her fears, but it seemed almost inappropriate now. She wasn't sure how receptive Sam would be to hearing about her misgivings either. She wanted to bring that up with Angela, but the last time she'd mentioned being wary of discussing something with Sam, Angela had made a vague point about being able to discuss anything with the person you're marrying. Brennan had later dissected her comment and wondered if she was trying to say that Brennan and Sam shouldn't be getting married.
"You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?" Booth's voice was laced with dry humor, and she whipped her head toward him. She truly hadn't heard anything he'd been saying; she didn't even notice he'd be talking. She muttered an apology, and took comfort in the smile that graced his face. "I was saying, I was kind of surprised by all that stuff June was talking about in your office last week." he repeated for her, and she bit the inside of her cheek. She'd been wondering when he might bring that up. "I thought you wanted something intimate? Cameras and live streams… that – that doesn't sound anything like what you were talking about." he pointed out, and he was right.
"It's not such a big deal. It's showy and makes people feel as though they're a part of the event." she told him, though even to her own ears it sounded ridiculous. "It's just a business transaction, Booth, and as such we need to appease those who will benefit from a bit of showmanship." she added when he remained silent. "Hannah told me you were going to be getting married in a park with a non-denominational justice of the peace." she remarked with a little more snark to her tone than she'd intended.
He nodded casually, seemingly unbothered by her accusation and change of subject. "Yea, well, that's because I'm the kind of guy that wants my girl to have the sort of wedding she'd be comfortable with." he told her, and she almost missed the backhanded comment because he'd said it so casually. "Hannah agreed to go with me to some counseling with my priest though. Get his blessing and what not, talk through some of the issues that might come up in our marriage. You know, the important part of the wedding is the actual life-long commitment being made. That's what matters most to me." he added, and she turned toward the window. "See? That's compromise."
Brennan entered her apartment after midnight, having left the lab only at the demands of Dr. Saroyan. She jumped a little to find Sam sitting at her dining room table. It looked like he'd set it with a meal, though the candles in the center of the table seemed to have burned almost all the way down. "What are you doing?" she asked with a nervous laugh as she took in the eerie glow that flickered across his emotionless face.
"Waiting for you." he told her simply with a raise of his eyebrows as he unfolded his hands and gestured toward the two untouched meals set on the table before him.
"Did we have plans?" she asked, placing her bag down on the couch and kicking off her heels as she headed toward her bedroom. "Sam?" she called again, padding barefoot back out to the dining room when he didn't answer.
"I wasn't aware that I needed to make an appointment to have dinner with the woman I'm marrying." he commented cooly, and she frowned. They both often worked through meals and dined alone. Tonight wasn't an anomaly.
"I was working on this fascinating case. A colleague of mine in Ecuador had what he believed to be the contents of an Inca grave sent to the Jeffersonian." she explained. "I lost track of time entirely." she explained with a laugh, picking up the two plates from the table and placing them into the microwave. "You should come by and see the artifacts tomorrow." she told him, and she knew she was rambling, but the excitement was overwhelming.
"Goodnight." he said simply, rising from his seat and striding to her bedroom just as the microwave beeped. She watched his retreating back with curious confusion, taking only her own plate from the microwave and sitting down to eat.
