A/N: Thank you for continuing to read this story and for the reviews of the previous chapters.
Booth was sat on the floor with the ice pack pressed firmly against his cheek, but his eyes were tracking the play on the pitch. The ball was being passed nimbly amongst the Dragons backs and they were making ground on the opposition 22.
Nia was cheering and hopping from foot to foot. Booth could almost hear her repeating 'don't jump up and down, it's bad for the baby' as the tryline came into sight. He glanced across at Bones and felt a strange twinge in his chest. She was standing sideway on,a few feet away from him, holding Carys against one hip and smiling at the little girl's comments about the game. She had offered to look after Carys after instructing him to sit down with his ice pack and having realised that Nia would probably like a bit of freedom to watch the game. For someone who professed to be uninterested in kids, she had built up an instant rapport with his friends' daughter, and he didn't think that it was entirely down to Carys' sunny and trusting nature.
The Dragons attack was thwarted about ten metres out, as a solid tackle brought one of their wingers crashing into touch. The Anacostia team won the line out and booted the ball back just inside the Dragons' half for another line out, which the Dragons won, but not cleanly. The ball bounced and wobbled along the ground until it was scooped up by the Dragons full back. An Anacostia player was closing in rapidly and he had no time to set up a kick, so he threw the ball wildly to his left and it landed in Huw's rather surprised hands. He was unmarked and had a clear run deep in the Anacostia half. He hesitated momentarily, looking left and right, and then he put his head down and ran fowards.
Temperance stared at Booth, who had got up to stand next to her as soon as Huw had got the ball.
"What's so funny?" She asked taking in his amused smirk and barely concealed chuckle.
Huw was almost on the 22, when he ran directly into the Anacostia centre. He stayed on his feet and team mates were soon piling in and keeping the maul rolling forwards.
"You've just witnessed every front row's worst nightmare." He paused to yell some encouragement at the faltering drive, "Being passed the ball in a position where your only option is to run." He turned to grin at Nia who was glaring at him threateningly, "To be fair Huw's got a reasonable turn of speed, but slamming into that centre and driving the maul on is really more his thing."
The referee blew for an offence and the Dragons opted to run the penalty.
Nia's face relaxed into a grin, "That was a great run Seeley, and you know it. Mind you, if he'd scored then, we'd never have heard the end of it!" She turned her attention back to the game, "Let's see what they can do with this."
The Dragons had been slow to take the penalty, but somehow still managed to find an overlap on the left. Their backs fanned out, and running along the touchline, their left wing was able to sneak across the line and slam the ball down for a try just ahead of a tackle.
The ice pack had begun to dull the throb in Booth's cheek, but after a few minutes without it and yelling a lot, it was starting to ache again. Temperance noticed that he was grimacing slightly and stretching his jaw.
She reached over and touched his arm, "Are you okay?"
He smiled, enjoying the renewed physical contact, "Yeah. It's starting to ache again." He took in her silent stare, which was laced with genuine concern, "Back to the ice pack, huh Bones?"
She nodded slightly and stepped back to pick it up from where he'd left it on the ground. As she knelt down to grab it, Carys started to wriggle.
"Do you want to get down honey?" Temperance asked.
Carys nodded, "I want to ask Mummy something."
Nia had been watching the exchange and walked over to gather her daughter in her arms. She smiled her thanks at Temperance and moved back to watch the restart of the game as Carys chatted to her in a language that Temperance still didn't recognise.
She stood up, brushing the grass from the ice pack and handing it to Booth clean-side first.
He rolled his eyes but dutifully held it to his cheek. He stood behind her and wrapped his free arm around her waist. Then edged her round until they were both facing the game. She folded her arms across his, the fingers of her left hand laced through his. He leant down to nuzzle her neck gently before propping his right elbow on her shoulder.
She half turned in his arms to look at him quizzically, "So, I'm an arm rest now?"
He kissed the top of her head in apology and she turned back to face the match, squeezing his hand in acceptance.
There were only a few minutes of the half left and neither side was making much progress. Temperance noticed that a number of the supporters had switched from cheering and shouting encouragement to start singing. She felt the hairs prickle on the back of her neck as voice after voice joined a rough, but harmonious chorus. Looking around she could see that almost everyone wearing red was singing. As the song reached what she assumed was the chorus, she was amazed to hear one section of the crowd break into a seemingly effortless counterpoint, echoing the words 'calon lan' in the tenor and bass range. She looked around and her realised that some distance away there was a group of about thirty older men who were leading the singing.
Nia noticed Temperance's surprised expression and explained, "We always try to get one of the choirs out here to coincide with the competition. They're very good - we're right at the end of their tour. Back to Rhondda tomorrow."
The song and the first half came to a close within the moments of the other. Temperance and Booth cheered enthusiastically.
The song had reminded Temperance of the question she had been meaning to ask Booth, "What language is that? I mean, I assume its Welsh, but how come you can speak it?"
She could feel Booth's silent laugh as her back was pressed into his chest. She let go of his hand and turned to face him, linking her hands behind his back.
He was grinning, "What, didn't think I looked like a linguist, Bones?" The grin widened, "Damn, never thought I get one up on the anthropology stakes. I can speak a language that you didn't recognise."
She pursed her lips and tilted her head on one side, but didn't say anything.
Booth's grin eased into a more playful smile, "Actually you've already heard about half my vocabulary - and that took Huw two months to drill into me." He paused, "I can also say 'Good morning, my name is Booth', count to ten and say that I like coffee."
Temperance's eyes were sparkling back at him, "Well?"
"What?" He said, dropping the hand holding he ice pack to his side.
"Demonstrate."
"Oh. Bore da, Booth ydw i. Rdyw i'n hoffi coffi." He shook his head, "No way I'm counting to ten."
"Rdwy i'n hoffi coffi?" She repeated incredulously.
He shrugged, "Come on Bones, you gotta admit, it's memorable."
They smiled at one and other and tightened their embrace.