Chapter 7—I Missed You
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own them…not even Booth, darn it!
Author's note: Again I thank all of you for reading and reviewing. Foxie Roxie, Booth playing "keep away" with Hodgins basically consisted of him holding his keys out of Hodgins' reach. And WOATCAPIITON…I don't think you're crazy…but just in case I'm going to have Booth send you an entire box of bagels. Hope you enjoy this chapter…but be warned….Brennan did not want to play well with others today.
Booth pulled his SUV into the parking structure of the Jeffersonian a little before one o'clock, strumming his fingers on the steering wheel in rhythm to AC/DC's "Black in Black", which was blaring from the speakers.
He quickly parked and made his way inside the building, his brown eyes searching for Brennan's as he walked along. Upon entering the lab area, Booth spotted his partner standing on the platform with the rest of the squints. He scanned his ID card and walked up the stairs, joining them.
"So, whatcha working on there?" Booth rubbed his hands together and smiled.
Zach turned to face him. "Its human skeletal remains, Agent Booth."
Booth glared at the Brennan's young protégé with a modicum of disdain. "I was on vacation for a week, not in the nuthouse having a freakin' lobotomy…I know it's a dead body."
Brennan glanced up at Booth with the intention of telling him to lay off of her assistant. Instead she noticed the way the fabric of his shirt stretched across his broad chest as he placed his hands on his hips and quickly closed her mouth. She refocused her gaze on the remains lying on the table in front of her.
"I, uh, I…" Zach stammered under Booth's scrutiny.
"Well, we weren't sure since you were behaving like a moron last week at Wong Foos." Hodgins stepped forward, placing himself between the agent and the cowering young man.
"Jack…" Angela warned from her position beside Brennan.
Hodgins grinned at Booth, who smiled in return. "He's right Angela. I did act like a moron."
Angela stepped around the examination table and stood beside Hodgins. "Booth, please don't say things like 'you're right' to Hodgins—it only feeds his delusions of grandeur."
Striking a Booth-like pose, with his hands on his hips, Hodgins wagged his eyebrows up and down at Angela. "You know it baby."
"Oh please," she said as she watched Booth walk over to Brennan.
"So, Bones, you ready to go?"
Brennan stiffened slightly at the close proximity of Booth's body to hers. She cleared her throat, focusing all of her energy on not looking at her handsome partner. "Give me just a few minutes Booth."
Booth leaned down, almost cheek to cheek with Brennan, who was studying the skull of the body lying on the table. "Maybe it's just me Bones, but I don't think he's going anywhere." He nudged her with his shoulder slightly. "Come on…I know you're hungry."
With a deep sigh, Brennan stood up. "Fine, let me get my jacket."
"Lunch? You know, lunch sounds good," Hodgins said. "So, where are we goi..AHHHHHHHH!"
Booth, Brennan and Zach were startled as Hodgins screamed out in pain.
"What the hell did you do that for Angela!" Hodgins screamed at the dark haired woman as he sat down on one of the chairs, rubbing his right foot.
With an innocent, apologetic smile, Angela shrugged. "I thought I saw a spider on your foot."
"So you decided to grind it into my foot with your heel!"
Brennan rolled her eyes as she walked down the stairs. Booth simply chuckled as he followed her while Zach began searching the platform for the spider.
Angela pulled Hodgins close to her. "What is wrong with you?"
"Well at the moment I have a severe shooting pain in my right foot!" he seethed.
"Try to ruin another matchmaking moment between Bren and Booth and you'll be feeling pain in another, more sensitive, part of your anatomy." Releasing the lapel of his lab coat, Angela stalked off the platform.
"Feisty," Hodgins muttered as he watched her walk away.
Booth also watched as Angela stalked away as he stood in the doorway to Brennan's office. He made a mental note to thank her later for ensuring that no one interfered with his lunch with Bones.
He turned his head and saw Brennan hanging up her lab coat. She reached behind her head and released her hair from its ponytail. Booth gulped as he watched her run her fingers through her long wavy hair.
"Booth?"
"Huh? Yeah Bones?" He looked away for a moment, attempting to regain some control.
"I said I'm ready to go." Brennan wondered briefly where Booth's mind had wandered off to. When he turned his sable gaze back to her, it was Brennan's turn to look away. She pulled her jacket tighter around her as she recalled Booth's lips on her.
"Bones, you okay?"
"Fine, I'm fine…let's go." Brennan walked past him and started down the hallway. Booth quickly caught up with her, falling into step beside her and placed his hand in its rightful place at the small of her back.
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Booth managed to find a parking space relatively close to the entrance of Wong Foos. The short ride from the Jeffersonian had been mostly silent. Booth had attempted to locate a decent radio station while Brennan had stared out the passenger's side window.
Brennan climbed out of the SUV before Booth had the chance to come around and open her door. He did manage to reach the door of the restaurant before she did and opened it for her. Booth waited for her to playfully berate him for his old-fashioned ways and was disappointed when Brennan simply walked past him, offering no commentary on his actions.
Sid watched as the couple entered the restaurant and sat in a booth on the other side of the room. He smiled, recognizing the nervousness of both parties. Making his way across the room, Sid placed two glasses of water on the table.
"Booth, Dr. Brennan…want to order or…"
"I think we'll let you choose Sid," Booth replied with a smile.
"Dr. Brennan?" Sid turned toward her.
"I agree with Booth. You always make a good choice." She smiled slightly t the older man.
"Good deal. I'll be back in a few minutes."
Booth and Brennan watched him walk to the kitchen area. Brennan picked up a paper napkin that was lying on the table and began folding the corners of it. Booth watched her hands as they nimbly moved across the napkin. He found himself wondering how her hands would feel on his body.
"You said we needed to talk?" Brennan continued her task without looking at Booth.
"Hmm…oh, yeah…we, uh, we do." Reigning in his imagination, Booth shifted slightly, moving closer to Brennan. "I think we need to talk about what happened last week…my behavior, I mean."
Brennan finally allowed her gaze to rest on Booth. "Okay," she said softly.
"I…I am really sorry for…uh, for mentioning your parents while I was drunk." Booth's voice was low and even. "I hope you know that I would never do anything to purposefully hurt you Bones. And I'm ashamed at the way I dealt with my emotions at the end of the case."
Brennan cringed slightly at the mention of her parents but her gaze never strayed from Booth's face. "Booth…you…I know that you didn't mention them to hurt me. You don't have to apologize for that."
He sighed as he watched her. "Yeah, I do Bones. I haven't been that drunk or done something that stupid in…well, it's been a good long while." He smiled sheepishly at her, causing her heart to race.
Sid approached their table and placed their lunch in front of them. "Need anything else?" He smiled as the couple jumped slightly, startled by his sudden appearance.
"No thanks Sid." Booth picked up his fork and glanced at Brennan. "Looks good, huh?" he said as he licked his lips.
Brennan blushed and quickly averted her gaze once again. "You have no idea," she mumbled.
Sid chuckled as he left them to eat their lunch. Booth watched Brennan as she skillfully used her chopsticks to pick up the pieces of chicken and stir fried vegetables on her plate. He noticed that she still seemed a little tense and was avoiding eye contact with him. 'Okay, I apologized, she accepted…something else is wrong here.'
Deciding it would be best to question Brennan later, Booth sat beside his partner in a companionable, if somewhat tense, silence and ate his sweet and sour pork.
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The silence continued in the SUV on their trip back to the Jeffersonian. Booth regularly stole glances at his passenger who seemed a little too interested in the passing buildings outside her window.
He slowly pulled the SUV into the parking structure and looked over at Brennan, who was unbuckling her seatbelt.
"I missed you Bones…last week." He moved slightly in his seat to face her.
Brennan slowly raised her head and stared at him. Narrowing her eyes, she leaned forward, surprising Booth. "Are you drunk again?"
Booth was momentarily taken aback by her question. "What! No! Bones, we just had lunch together—you know I didn't drink anything but water. What…what the hell is wrong with you!"
"Nothing is wrong with me!" Brennan replied defensively.
"The hell it's not! You've been acting weird since I showed up at your office this morning with coffee and bagels!" The exasperation in Booth's voice was evident.
Brennan threw open the door of the SUV and stepped out. She turned back to face him. "I believe that you showing up with coffee and bagels this morning is the epitome of weird behavior!" she said as she slammed the door shut.
"Oh no you don't," he muttered as he grabbed his keys from the ignition and jumped out.
"Bones! Just tell me what's wrong," he shouted at her as she continued walking away.
"Nothing is wrong," she threw over her shoulder, never once breaking her stride.
"Yes, it is. Did I do something? Did Angela? Hodgins? Zach? Goodman?" Finally catching up to her, Booth grabbed her arm, forcing Brennan to turn around and face him. "Bones, I just named every person in your very limited social circle…"
Fiery blue eyes traveled to Booth's hand grasping her left arm, causing Booth to quickly remove the offending hand. "Booth, you are skiing on very thin water…"
"Skating on thin ice, Bones…it's skating on thin ice! How the hell could you not know that! I'm going to buy you a book that contains all of the phrases that every normal person knows so you can study up!"
Brennan narrowed her eyes again. "Well, here's one phrase I know very well…Go to hell!"
Turning on her heel, Brennan stormed away from the confused agent. "I'm surprised you even knew that one!" he shouted at her retreating form.
Booth stood in the parking structure for a few moments wondering how he had gone from being excited to see Bones just that morning to wanting to throttle her at that moment.