Pieces—Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Once again, I still do not own the characters or anything associated with BONES.
Author's notes: Thanks to all of you who have read and special thanks to those of you who have reviewed. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
The cool night air tickled Booth's exposed skin as he stepped out of Brennan's apartment building and collided with a woman's body. Quick thinking and even quicker reflexes allowed him to catch the woman and steady her before she toppled over.
"Angela? What are you doing here at this time of night?"
"I came to see how Brennan was doing," she replied, concern for her best friend evident on her pretty face.
"She'll be okay, Angela. She…and Russ…both of them need to rest. Come on, I'll walk you to your car." Booth offered her his arm in a gentlemanly fashion, attempting to deter her from interrupting Brennan's time with Russ.
"What? Russ?" Angela's dark eyes grew wide. "Russ came back and is staying here with her?"
Noticing that Angela was not accepting his arm, Booth placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her away from the entrance to the building.
"Believe it or not, Bones and I drove down to North Carolina, she talked to Russ and she invited him back here for a few days," he stated proudly.
The truth was Booth was proud of Brennan for finally allowing her brother back into her life. He knew that seeing Russ again had been difficult since it brought back so many emotions—emotions that Bones did not like to deal with. When he had brought Russ into the lab, Booth could have sworn that he saw Brennan mentally rehashing the last contact she'd had with Russ….with Russ walking away from her and out of her life.
Angela allowed Booth to guide her slowly down the stairs. "How did you talk her into it?"
Booth smiled. "I didn't. Bones made the decision on her own and," he whistled slightly as he pointed his finger at the street across from them, "pointed my SUV in that direction and drove."
Angela smiled slightly. "You let Brennan drive?"
Booth nodded, laughing softly. He noticed that Angela had become somber once again as she sat down on the bottom step of the apartment building. "I guess…I guess things didn't go well as McVicar's farm, huh?"
Taking a seat beside the dark haired artist, Booth gave her a quizzical look. "Why would you guess that?"
Inhaling deeply, Angela let out a slow, unsteady breath. "Well, you let her drive," she said, attempting to joke with Booth, even as her eyes filled with tears. "I don't know, Booth…I'm so worried about her. I know Brennan is not the type of person who likes everyone worrying about her…or even comforting her…"
Booth chuckled wryly at Angela's observations. "To know her is to worry about her," he concurred, as he mentally ticked off the shooting incident outside the restaurant, the incident in the warehouse with Kenton, the murder charges in New Orleans and the overenthusiastic men in Aurora as proof of his statement.
"You know, when Kirk died…even before we knew definitively that it was Kirk…I called Bren and she dropped everything, Booth. She dropped everything to fly out to the middle of nowhere to help me." Turning her sad eyes to Booth, Angela continued. "She came out there, comforted me…even when I didn't want her to. She held my hand, let me cry on her shoulder and told me that I would be okay. And now, when she needs someone, she won't talk to anyone…even me."
"I know Ange," Booth said soothingly as he placed a hand on her back. "I know it's hard to stand by and not do anything when you see how much pain she's in."
"The frustrating part is knowing that she's in pain but she refuses to show it—to share it with anyone." Angela ran her fingers through her hair, physically relaying the internal frustration she had been feeling all week. "The day that I drove Bren home, when all of this began, she was so quiet and withdrawn…Booth, it was scary." Angela shook her head at the memory of her friend sitting in the passenger seat of her car, just staring out the window, never acknowledging any of Angela's questions or comments.
"Then the day that Jack and I told her that her mother had died two years after disappearing, Bren simply walked away and started examining her mother's skull—her own mother's skull!—with no emotion whatsoever. I asked her if she was okay and she calmly announced that she may have found a cause of death." The tears were flowing freely from Angela's eyes at this point. She wiped at them with her hands, slightly smearing her mascara.
"A ticket to The Fugitive…her parents had a weird sense of irony, huh?" Angela's attempt at levity broke some of the tension that both she and Booth were feeling at the moment.
Glancing over at Brennan's friend, Booth smiled slightly. "Bones has…um, she has cried…a little. Just so you know, if that will help you stop worrying…a least for the rest of the night."
"She cried…in front of you?" Angela turned slightly to face him.
Feeling slightly uneasy under Angela's scrutiny, Booth extended his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. "Yes, in front of me. And if you like me at all, you won't tell Bones that I told you."
With her head on his shoulder, Angela caught a whiff of Brennan's perfume mingled with Booth's cologne. At least Bren is letting someone comfort her, she thought as she gazed into the darkness that surrounded her and Booth at the moment.