Author's Note: Thanks for all the amazing reviews. You guys are the best. Okay, now, about this chapter...let me tell you, it has it all! Cars driving at high speeds, explosions, an alien encounter...okay, yeah, I'm lying. Actually, this chapter isn't all that exciting (insert your anger here). I needed to establish some emotional ground to propel us through the rest of the fic, and so that's pretty much what this is. I did give you a fun chapter title, though. :-) Please try not to hate me too much for it, as I have a feeling a lot of you won't be on board with it. Just trust me when I tell you that there is a reason for everything I am setting up. Seriously. It's all important...that is, it's all important except for the extra crap I just threw in for fun. :-) Anyway, read now, hope it's okay...
Dr. Temperance Brennan, accomplished forensic anthropologist, acclaimed author, and employee of the Jeffersonian, woke the next morning staring at the back of Booth's head. And she instantly felt like teenager who had given it up in the back of a Monte Carlo after the homecoming game. Booth was still sound asleep, and a quick glance at the clock informed her that it was only 6:17am. Temperance was momentarily surprised that she had woken up so early; her activities with Booth had kept them both up rather late. Being careful not to wake the sleeping form beside her, she slowly extracted herself from the sheets.
In the soft morning light, she felt slightly embarrassed to be standing naked in a hotel room, and she quickly searched about for her various articles of clothing that were now scattered on the floor. She then moved into the bathroom, where she quickly got dressed. When she exited the bathroom, Booth was still snoring softly under the rumpled sheets and blankets.
Temperance gazed at his face for a moment. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep, serene. His face twitched slightly, and his eyes fluttered in such a way that Temperance knew he must be dreaming, and she felt a warm sensation in her chest. She knew it was wrong to stare, that she should either wake him up or leave him alone, but she found that tearing her eyes away was easier said than done. She felt a strong desire to smooth his sheets and to reposition his pillow. She shook her head, as if doing so would clear her mind, like it was an Etch-A-Sketch. Mingling with the desire to touch him, she felt strong feelings of regret; things would be different now. The dynamic had changed, and there was no going back. Even if she and Booth did choose to forget about this, the knowledge would still remain. They knew each other now in the most intimate way imaginable physically. 'This is wrong!' half of her brain proclaimed, as the other half countered, 'it felt too right to be completely wrong.'
She sighed, softly. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess, and she had the sudden urge to be alone, to think. She turned and quietly padded to the door. Just before she reached the handle, something on the floor caught her eye. A button; the button from the front of Booth's pants. She remembered how it got there, and though a light blush rose to her cheeks, she reached down to pick it up, and quickly pushed it into her pocket.
She used the stairs to climb one floor up to the room she and Angela had been sharing. She still had her room key, and she quietly let herself in. Hodgins and Angela were still asleep, and Temperance quietly pulled a tee shirt and shorts from her bag. She changed quickly and silently in the bathroom, gathering her hair in a messy ponytail, and grabbed her sneakers as she left the room again.
The morning air on the island was still and heavy with dew, and Temperance inhaled in deeply, instantly feeling as though she had been cleansed. The air on the island felt pure. After a few obligatory stretches, Temperance chose a direction and began to jog.
Booth woke up at about 7:00am to find that he was in bed alone. He gazed about the room, and when he noticed that Temperance's clothes were gone, he dropped back down, burying his face in a pillow. The smell of her hair still clung to the sheets, and he inhaled deeply. With a sigh, he pulled himself up from the bed and dragged himself into the bathroom, where he showered and shaved. He threw on a tee shirt and an inviting looking pair of jeans that were soft due to years of laundering. Running a comb through his damp hair, he made his way around the room, picking up his clothes from the night before. He saw his pants, which now needed the help of a needle and thread before they could be worn again, and smiled faintly as he tossed them carelessly on top of his suitcase. When he had finished straightening, he slid his feet into a pair of sneakers, ignoring the fact that he didn't have any socks on, and exited the room to walk downstairs to the lobby for the morning paper.
The clock behind the front desk read 7:34, and he picked up a paper and a cup of coffee before entering the elevator and pushing the button for his floor. When the metal doors whooshed open, he exited and approached the door to his room. It was then that he remembered how last night had begun. Angela had his key.
With a barely stifled groan, he headed back to the elevator and rode up one more floor to Angela and Hodgins' room. He knocked loudly, knowing that they would still be asleep.
A few moments later, the door was wrenched open by a grumpy looking Hodgins. "Why are you banging on my door?" he demanded, as he ran a hand over his weary face.
Booth heard the shower running and knew Angela was already awake. Apparently, Hodgins hadn't been. "Your girlfriend stole my key, and now I'm locked out of my room."
"Dr. Brennan won't let you back it?" Hodgins surveyed Booth for a quick moment. "Dude."
"Since when do you say 'dude'?" Booth questioned.
"You had sex," Hodgins stated.
Booth ignored the perception, sticking his head into the room. "Bones isn't here?" he asked, puzzled.
Hodgins closed the door after Booth walked in. "Uh, no, she was with you," he answered.
Angela stepped out of the bathroom then, her hair still wet, dressed in a tee shirt and loose fitting sweatpants. "Morning," she said as she rubbed her head with a towel. She looked at Booth. "What are you doing here?" She gave him a quick once over, and a smile broke over her face.
Before she could say anything, there was a loud rap on the hotel room door. Angela reached for it, her eyes never leaving Booth, and opened it to find a very sweaty Temperance Brennan.
"I need a key to a room," she said. "I think I left mine in here."
Angela looked her over, still smiling. Hodgins looked at her as well. "Dude," he said.
Temperance glanced at him. "Dude?" she repeated, noting that it wasn't something she often heard Hodgins say.
Booth, who wasn't quite sure what he should be doing, glanced at the floor as he pushed his hands into his pockets, doing his best to look relaxed. Angela's gaze shifted between the pair, and she saw Temperance look away as well, unsure of herself, when she saw that Booth was in the room. "Can I have the key to the other room?" she asked.
Angela, who was still carefully eyeing the pair, picked the key up off the nightstand and handed it Tempe.
"Thanks," Tempe said as she accepted the small credit card like object. "I won't be long, and then we can head back to NASA."
"We can't go to the lab today," Booth said, speaking for the first time since Temperance entered.
Tempe glanced at him. "Why not?"
"It's Sunday. We don't work on Sundays," Booth answered.
Temperance sighed. "But we have to work today! We have the ID's!" she protested.
"Exactly. We have the ID's, so technically NASA isn't required to accommodate us anymore. Sorry, but if we don't do our best to keep them happy, they can kick us out now."
Angela listened to Booth and Temperance speak to one another, and mentally exhaled a huge sigh of relief. There was no vehemence to their speech now. Apparently sex had calmed their bickering, at least for now, though she did note that they both seemed uncomfortable. She smiled slightly. 'Uncomfortable' was something that could be fixed.
"So what are we supposed to do today?" Hodgins' asked.
"Same as last Sunday; anything we want, but we can't go to the lab. And, personally, I think we could all use the time off, anyway," Booth answered with a shrug.
The three squints had to agree; as eager as they were to finish work on the case, no one really knew where to go from here and they were all drained. A day off would do them good.
"Well, if it's all the same to you guys, I think I'm just going to go to the coffeehouse and write for a while," Temperance said.
Booth nodded. "I think I'm going to walk around, maybe go to the beach," he said, almost eagerly. Angela noted that Tempe looked slightly relieved.
"That sounds good," Angela said. "Hodgins and I will go with you."
"Hey, wait, I was going to say we could go see a movie or something!" Hodgins protested, but a quick look from Angela quieted him. "Or we could walk around with Booth…" He corrected.
And so, the group split up. Temperance walked to the coffeehouse, her laptop in hand, and ordered a coffee. She then settled into a chair, positioned her computer on the table in front of her, and stared at the screen, unable to think of what to write.
As her case of writer's block began to fully express itself, she found her thoughts straying to Booth, to their arguing, to their night together, and to her conflicting feelings on the whole situation. Then she thought of Brian, and she began to feel worse. She knew she had to call him and end it; things with Booth had gone too far now, and the guilt she felt made her realize that she had to end it. And, as if that weren't enough, she hated to admit that she had a nagging fear of Brian. What if he really was the killer that they had been after? She ignored the thought. Brian wasn't a killer, she rationalized to herself. His "connection" to the victims was purely coincidental.
As she sat, staring at the blinking cursor on the white screen, occasionally flicking back to reread the previous chapters that she had completed, Temperance felt her thoughts swim between Booth, Brian, and the voices of the people in the shop. There weren't many people there considering it was a Sunday morning. In fact, there were only five others that Temperance could see: a man, probably about 25 or 30, with a laptop and a cell phone, obviously doing business; a young girl, with a stud in her chin and multiple holes in her ears, with dyed black hair and black clothing who was wandering around, looking at the merchandise; an elderly couple who were drinking coffee at a neighboring table, the man reading a newspaper and the woman reading a thick, well thumbed novel; and a middle aged man who was slightly overweight, with thinning hair, who was wandering around as well, drink in hand, focusing most of his attention on a rack of novelty postcards.
The voice of the young girls behind the counter cut into Temperance's thoughts. They were talking about a guy, apparently the brunette's boyfriend, and about how they hadfought the night before. Temperance recognized Abby's voice from her previous mornings in the shop, and she felt bad for the girl. She was clearly upset about the situation with her boyfriend.
Temperance tried not to eavesdrop, but the girls voice intercut with Temperance's own musings about Booth and Brian. At one point, her thoughts drifted back to the noise in the shop, and she heard the thickset man who had been wandering around order another drink. The girls took his money, and a few moments later he was handed his beverage.
"Thanks," he said, his voice a bit high for a man's and slightly effeminate. "See you later. Bye, Abby."
After the man had left, Temperance heard the two girls resume talking. "Why is it that the guys who notice you are always guys you wouldn't date on a bet?" she heard Abby groan.
"How did he know your name?" the other girl asked as she sipped her drink, obviously ignoring Abby's statement.
Abby shrugged. "Luck?" The two laughed, and Temperance had to smile. Abby was right; why couldn't the right guys make the right moves at the right times?
As Temperance was sitting in the coffeehouse, making no progress whatsoever on her thoughts about her personal life or her newest novel, Booth was walking aimlessly on the sidewalks of Chincoteague as he talked to Angela. Hodgins had left a short time before, announcing that he was going swimming in the hotel pool.
"So, what's going on with you and Bren?" Angela asked bluntly.
Booth's shoulders sagged slightly. "I don't know," he said miserably.
Angela almost smiled; she apparently had found the approach that worked when trying to have a heart to heart with Booth. "You slept together last night," she stated. Booth nodded. "What's the problem?"
Booth sighed. "I woke up this morning, and she was gone. And then when I saw her later in your room…I don't know, I just don't know what to do."
"Talk to her," Angela said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"I can't just talk to her," Booth said. "She'd probably just start screaming at me again. And even if I did, what would I say?" Break up with Brian and be with me. Make me the person you have plans with every night. Talk to me for hours about what you did at work. Laugh at stupid jokes with me. Stay with me forever…Booth was suddenly shocked by his own thoughts. Where had that come from?
"Tell her that you want to talk about last night. Tell her that it meant something to you," Angela urged gently.
Booth didn't answer, and Angela sighed. "Listen, I know that this isn't easy, okay? She's important to you. And, more than that, you have to work with her." Booth nodded silently. "But if you don't do anything, you're going to regret it." When Booth still didn't say anything, Angela stopped walking and placed her hand on his forearm, forcing him to face her. "How much are you willing to risk, Booth? She might not stay with Brian, but it's only a matter of time before another 'Brian' comes along. If you don't do something, eventually you're going to lose her. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to just let her go?"
Booth's gaze shifted to the ground, and after a beat of silence, Angela continued. "You have to try, Booth, because you can't just give her up. You love her."
"I don't love…" Booth began, but Angela cut him off when she squeezed his arm.
"Just talk to her," she said.
The day passed by lazily, but eventually night came again and the three squints and one FBI agent were ready to head back to bed. Booth and Temperance hadn't really spoken at all that day, other than general remarks in the presence of Angela and Hodgins, and both had been careful to avoid situations where they would be alone together. They were both unsure, neither knowing what to do next. It was as if they were junior high kids who had had their first kiss behind the swing set and were now hiding behind their best friends, making sure the memory didn't get tarnished by negative reactions.
However, since Tempe had spent most of her day pretending to make progress on her book, Angela hadn't had a chance to be alone with her to talk, either. And so, when night came and it was time to head back to the rooms, Angela saw the wariness in Booth and Temperance's actions and decided to avoid any potentially damaging confrontations by suggesting that Temperance share her room again that night, and that Hodgins would share with Booth. Angela knew with certainty that Temperance and Booth were ill equipped to handle this new development in their relationship, and, partially out of fear for Booth's feelings, she was anxious to know what Temperance was thinking before she locked them together in a room again.
Hodgins had seemed slightly annoyed by the suggestion, but had agreed after Angela had whispered something in his ear that made a smile cover his face. Neither Temperance or Booth pursued the idea of what she might have told him. They said their goodnights, and the four retreated to their respective rooms. When the door had closed behind Temperance and Angela, Angela flopped down on one bed and launched into the conversation that Temperance knew was coming.
"Tell me everything," she said.
Temperance sighed, falling back onto her own bed, her arm covering her eyes. "Unbelievable," she said in a voice that was almost a groan.
Angela was taken aback by Temperance's willingness to talk, but didn't question it. "How many times?"
"Angela!" Temperance exclaimed, and Angela almost laughed. Now that was the Temperance Brennan she knew. "Okay, so what was it like? Fireworks? Magic?"
Temperance's recalled the question as one Meg had asked her after her first date with Brian. When Meg had asked, she hadn't had an answer. Tonight, however, she did. "The fourth of July and Houdini," she answered.
Angela couldn't contain her smile. "This is great!" she practically squealed. "So what does this mean? You guys are a couple now, right?"
Her childish delight was shattered when Temperance sighed and then spoke. "No. It means I have to tell him that nothing else can happen, and it means that I potentially have to request a new work partner."
Angela froze, completely aghast. "WHAT?"
Temperance sighed heavily. "I can't do this, Ange. I don't want this."
"What are you talking about? You just told me that it was amazing; you have feelings for him! Strong feelings! Why on earth would you ignore that?"
Temperance jumped up suddenly and was almost pacing. "That's the problem!" she nearly shouted.
Angela kept her voice calm, encouraging Temperance to explain. "What's the problem, Sweetie?"
Temperance dropped back to a sitting position on the bed with her elbows resting on her knees and her hands covering her face and eyes. "God, Ange, how did this happen? When did I lose control? Everything was fine. How did it all go wrong?"
Angela was now feeling confused. "Bren, you're not making any sense."
Temperance sighed, glancing up at Angela. "Do you want to know what happened last night?"
Angela was reeling from confusion and shock. "Uh…"
"We were fighting. And then he kissed me…and I lost control. Just like in the parking lot, just like in the hotel room the other morning…"
"Wait, what?" Angela asked, struggling to catch up.
"It's not like that with Brian. With Brian, I don't have a problem stopping. But with Booth…with Booth I lose control."
"You don't feel the same way about Booth and Brian," Angela said, feeling like she had at least a slight understanding of Temperance's last statement. "You care more about Booth."
"I know that," Temperance said. "That's why I've stayed with Brian."
Angela shook her head. "Can you please just stop for a minute and explain to me what you're talking about?"
Temperance sighed. "Okay, it's like this: I like things that I can understand. That's why I love science; you can see it, touch it, measure it. Everything fits together, works together. I can understand it. But something like philosophy, for example, I can't understand. There aren't any answers, there aren't any facts, there's nothing you can objectively know. It's the same way with Brian and Booth; with Brian, I can understand everything that happens. It's like an equation. I can understand it without having to pour my heart and soul into it."
"That sounds romantic," Angela said dryly.
"But with Booth, I can't do that. When I'm with Booth, I don't understand anything. It's like I'm consumed by him, absorbed. I can't control anything that happens." Temperance paused for a minute, looking down.
"So, let me see if I understand this," Angela said. "You're thinking about telling Booth that you can't see him and staying with Brian—who, may I say, you've cheated on a lot this week—just because doing so will enable you to have superficial relationship where it will be harder for you to get deeply hurt?"
Temperance sighed. "I know. It's stupid. It's just…" she struggled silently for a minute before continuing. "No one lasts forever, Angela. Eventually, something happens to all of us and we have to face what it's like to lose people." She shook her head, closing her eyes as her head inclined downward. "I couldn't handle losing him."
Angela smiled faintly at her friend. "Why are you so willing to deny yourself something that would make you happy?"
"To protect him. I don't want to hurt him," she said, quietly.
Angela was shocked to see a faint tear trace down Temperance's cheek. "Sweetie…"
She swiped the tear away. "It scares me to know that someone can make me feel the way Booth does. It terrifies me that someone has that kind of power over me. I know that when all this is over, and we have to go back to D.C., I have to make a decision. Brian's easy to be with. He's the simple answer."
"Ockham's Razor?" Angela said, remembering the conversation in the lab the day before.
Temperance just dropped back on the bed with a groan and closed her eyes.
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