TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
BONES

Season 6, Episode 16: The Blackout in the Blizzard

"Just, uh…I'm just angry. I'm angry."

Bones looked over at him, relief flashing in her eyes as he further explained, "Not at you."

Letting out a soft sigh, she gave a small nod, "Okay."

"I just need time, that's all. I just need time to kind of…hang back and find that inner peace before I…you know…get back out there," looking over at her, he cocked an eyebrow, "You know what we're talking about here, right?"

"Yes."

"You and me…you know, and…and love…happiness and life and fate."

Tilting her head to the side, she gave him a pointed look, "I don't believe in fate. But I know what we're talking about," biting the inside of her cheek, she let out a breath before speaking up again, "I am improving."

He stared at her, a bit confused as to what she was referring to, "Improving?"

"Yes," she nodded decisively, a soft smile stretching her full lips, "I'm…quite strong."

Letting out a soft scoff of incredulity at her statement, he had to point out the one thing he'd never doubted, "Yeah, well, you've always been strong."

She pursed her lips, wanting to find a simple way to help him understand what she was referring to, "You know the difference between strength and imperviousness, right?"

Leaning back into the stadium seat he sat on, he stared at her somewhat perplexed, "No, not if you're going to get all scientific on me."

She let out a soft laugh before continuing with her explanation, "Well, uh…a substance that is impervious to damage doesn't need to be strong."

He nodded, softly humming to let her know he understood where she was going with her explanation.

"When you and I met, I was an impervious substance," she cocked her head to the side, eyes bright and a smile of accomplishment slowly blossoming across her face, "Now I am a strong substance."

He gave a nod, studying her face with tender eyes, "I think I know what you mean."

Without warning, she felt shyness flooding her as she gave voice to her inner hopes and dreams concerning him and her and love and happiness, "A time could come when…you aren't angry anymore and…I'm strong enough to risk losing the last of my imperviousness. Maybe then, we could try to be together."

He could see the vulnerability she was feeling, could feel her letting go of another bit of that imperviousness she referred to, could feel a bit of the anger he held inside slip away.

He grinned as he picked up a clean hot dog paper holder, ripping it and handing her half as he picked up one of Parker's school pencils left behind on his cluttered coffee table, "I am going to write down a date and guess what that time is, all right? I want you to do the same."

Confused, she looked at the paper she'd taken from him, "Why?"

"Because," he leaned forward, resting the paper on the table as he scribbled, "When I was a kid, if I wanted something really, really bad, I'd write it down on a piece of paper and I'd burn it."

Straightening up, he looked over at her, seeing the look of disbelief as she stared at him, "It was like a spell. It was bound that my wish would come true."

Brennan couldn't help laughing at the ridiculousness of his words, "Why?"

"Why? Because it…" he spread out his arms in an effort to visually explain his current theory of wish making, "Well, you know, you burn it and it was released into the universe."

There were times when Brennan just couldn't understand Booth's thought process, "It's just smoke, Booth…particulates with no special powers."

He tried not to show his annoyance as he gave her a pointed look, "Fine. Then, what do we have to lose? Go ahead. Come on."

Letting out a breath of frustration, she took the pencil he offered, "Okay, how does this work?"

"Well," he looked at the paper he'd written on, folding it in half, "Write down…what you think."

She leaned forward, scribbling as she looked over her shoulder at him, "Don't look."

Grinning, he leaned to the side, trying to catch a glimpse over her shoulder, "I'm not looking."

"Okay."

Setting the pencil down, she moved to sit sideways on her seat, her knee touching Booth's as he held his piece of paper over the burning candle, "We'll burn it, okay? On three. Ready? One…"

"Wait," she looked over at him, "we're going on three?"

"Let's just –"

"On three or after three?"

Giving her a look of annoyance, he let out a sigh, "Bones, let's just burn it together, okay?"

"Okay."

"One, two, three."

Brennan held hers over the flame, watching the paper ignite as Booth pulled his burning paper out, "Ah –kay, I think you were a little late on that one."

"No," she looked over at him, calmly pulling her paper out as Booth began waving his in the air, "No, I think you humped the gun."

"Humped the gun," Booth laughed as he fought with the burning paper currently trapped between his fingers, "You mean jumped the gun...humped the gun."

"I think you were a little lagging," lifting a shoulder in a shrug, she watched with slight alarm as Booth continued to wave the burning paper over his head, "Don't freak out."

"I'm not freaking out," he tossed the blackened paper into an empty glass on the table, watching as Bones did the same, "I just don't want the house to burn down, that's all. I think you were late coming in with it."

"No," she smiled at him, shaking her head, "I put mine in exactly on the count of three."

"On three or after three?"

"On three."

He gave her a teasing grin, picking up his half empty beer bottle, "I think you put it in after three."

"This conversation is going nowhere," Bones leaned back in her seat, taking the box of popcorn with her, "Perhaps we should just agree to disagree and move on."

Chuckling, he reached over to grab a handful of her popcorn, "So I'm thinking…how about we share some secrets with each other…about each other?"

She stared at him with a contemplative look, munching on her popcorn before she leaned forward to get the bottle of beer that was still more than halfway full, "Why?"

"Something to do," he lifted a shoulder in a shrug, gesturing towards the windows behind them, "It's still snowing hard so there's not many options on entertainment, what with the electricity being out and all."

"I'm not sure what kind of secrets you want us to share."

"I'll go first," he stretched out his legs, slouching slightly in the stadium seat, comfortable silence settling as he thought of something regarding her he'd been keeping to himself; "Ah! Remember the case we had over at Little Salvador? The one with the gangbanger you beat up outside the elevators?"

"I recall," she took another sip of her beer; "You were late to the funerals."

"There was a reason for that," he quirked an eyebrow at her, his smile barely detectable as she looked over at him, "Which you wouldn't tell me. You told me it was more important at the time, to do what you had to do."

"And it was."

"So what was it?"

"That gangbanger you beat up," he gave her a pointed stare, having known even back then he couldn't stop her but it would blow back on her, which was why he'd called the gang unit as soon as she'd left to have them give him a heads up on any threats made, "He put a hit out on you."

Hand frozen halfway up her mouth, a kernel of popped corn fell back into the box as she stared wide-eyed at him, "What?"

"Did you really think you could break a gangbanger's nose and not have any blow back," he asked her with surprise, his heart thudding hard when she lifted a shoulder in a shrug, "I just assumed you would take care of it."

He could hear the absolute trust she had on him, could see she truly believed he would always watch her back, "I did…I tracked him down; told him if anyone hurt you, if anything happened to you, I'd blow his brains out."

"You told him that?"

He nodded, finishing the popcorn in his hand, "While I had my gun in his mouth."

"Booth," she let out a shocked gasp, her crystalline blue eyes glittering, "You could have lost your job!"

Chuckling, he took a healthy swallow of his beer, noticing he was almost done with it, "Oh, Bones…there were many times I could have lost my job over you, but that wasn't one of them. Anyway…that's why I was late to the funerals. Your turn."

"There were other times you risked your job for me?"

"Yes," he smirked at her, resting his left foot on the edge of the coffee table as he slouched into the uncomfortable stadium seat, "But I won't tell you because it's your turn to share."

"Oh," sitting back, she stared into space, thinking what she could share that would be equal or better to what she'd just learned, "Well…do you remember the case with the bounty hunter?"

"Yup," finishing his beer, he leaned forward and set it on the table; standing up to head into his small kitchen, quickly removing a beer from his fridge to make sure the rest of his food stayed cool, "the one with the Science Dude."

Her chuckle was soft and husky, her eyes dancing as she watched him return to his seat, "Yes…do you recall me telling you I had planned the perfect murder?"

"I do recall," he responded teasingly, popping the top and tossing it onto the coffee table, watching as she set aside the popcorn box to pick up her beer, which was still halfway full, "I also recall you wouldn't tell me because I was dating a journalist. What was it you said…that I might give it away in a post-coital haze? Because, you know, pre-meditative murder is my preferred topic of pillow talk."

She stared at his smirking face, seeing the teasing light in his chocolate brown eyes. Nibbling on her bottom lip, she tried to guess what his response to her revelation would be without much success, "Well…the reason I didn't tell you was because…I began planning that perfect murder…the day Hannah came to DC."

He stared at her, the shock he was feeling at her revelation not showing on his face as he tried to understand what she was implying through revealing this nugget of information, "Uh…I thought your…plan for the perfect murder was…theoretical."

"It was," she shifted in her seat, letting out a soft sigh as she looked up from the beer bottle in her hands, "I…I didn't handle the insertion of Hannah into our life here in DC very well. I didn't realize it at the time, but it affected my work, my concentration…having her be a physical and tangible part of your life, of our life, was upsetting for me and I didn't see it until the whole theoretical perfect murder solidified in my mind…with Hannah as the victim."

"I must say, Bones," Booth laughed as he shook his head, the sense of awe he was feeling inappropriate considering the current topic of conversation, "I didn't expect that. You seemed so accepting of Hannah, I thought perhaps, the reason you turned me down outside the Hoover was because you didn't feel the way I felt."

"I wanted you to be happy," she gave him a soft smile, peeling at the label of her beer bottle, "I want you to be happy. She was a part of your life and you…you loved her, and I couldn't risk not having you in my life, so it meant accepting her in our lives."

"Wow."

Sucking on the inside of her cheek, she let out another sigh, "Angela didn't like her. In fact, she told me she hated her. I…I did my best to be her friend, but it wasn't easy…she had you…and she took my sunglasses."

A burst of laughter escaped him, his eyes dancing as he stood up and went over to the cupboard where he kept his Scotch, reaching into one of the drawers and turning to face Bones, "These?"

"Yes," she exclaimed in surprise, taking her favorite pair of sunglasses when he handed them to her, "Did she forget them?"

"No," he sat back down, tipping back his beer bottle and finishing the yeasty liquid, "She left them on my coffee table with a note telling me they weren't hers and she had no right to keep them. She didn't say they were yours, though."

She turned them in her hands, setting them on the coffee table. Looking over at him, she rubbed her fingers against the denim of her jeans, letting out a soft sigh before speaking, "Chris and Laura invited me to go skiing with them this weekend…would you like to join us?"

Tipping his beer back, he finished it before setting the bottle on the already cluttered table before them, "Where?"

"Vermont," stretching her legs, she crossed her ankles, tucking her hands between her thighs to warm up her cold fingers, "One of Laura's Air Force friends has a family cabin near the ski slopes, so we'll be staying there."

His eyes moved over her profile, brown eyes filled with tenderness she gave him a shy smile, a hint of pink warming the soft skin of her cheeks, "Is it a big cabin?"

"Uhm, no," she reached up to brush back her bangs, feeling slightly nervous over the arrangements, "There's two bedrooms…but we've shared small spaces before, so it shouldn't be a problem. Should it?"

Clearing his throat, he shook his head, remembering their time undercover for the circus, when they shared the double bed in the mobile home, "Of course not. I take it Chris and Laura are taking the other room?"

"Yes…" fidgeting in her seat, she gave him a teasing grin, "Unless you want to share with Chris. Laura and I can take the other room."

"No way am I sharing a bed with a guy," the affronted look on his handsome face had her laughing, his teasing keeping her gasping for air.

The snow continued to fall outside, blanketing the city in white.


Ski Slopes in Vermont

Bones laughed as Booth fell for the third time, the sun glinting off her polarized ski goggles, "You should have told me you didn't know how to ski!"

Struggling to his feet while attempting to keep his skis from crossing and tangling him up again, he made sure to send some snow flying her way, "There would have been no reason for me to come if I had told you."

"There's no need for a reason to hang out," grinning, she shifted her weight, the slick surface of the snow under her skis letting her move easily away from the flying snow, "You want to hang out, just tell me."

Finally getting his balance, he worked on replicating her stance, using the poles he held like canes to keep himself upright as he worked at not letting the long skis he stood on from sliding away with him, "What if I want to hang out in the middle of the night?"

"It's not like we haven't done it before," her smile was soft as she moved to the side, letting him get into her space without tangling her skis with his and taking them both down to the cold ground, "Remember those late nights you brought Chinese to my house? When we were working on Deputy Kirby's case?"

"Yeah," he reached out to give her gloved hand a soft squeeze, "I remember, Bones."

Keeping her hand in his, she let out a soft breath as she moved a bit closer to him, "I have a secret to tell you…I should have told you then, but I didn't know how to say it."

Looking down into her face, he swallowed hard, wishing he could see her eyes. Without further thought, he reached up and clumsily, due to the gloves he wore, pushed her goggles off her face, neither caring when they fell to the snow along with her knit cap. Staring up at him, she reached up with her gloved hand to do the same, except she was able to keep them securely in place just above his forehead.

Dipping his head closer to her, he felt himself drowning in her beautiful blue eyes, thinking how similar they were in hue to the icy blue hues of the snow, "So what's the secret?"

Losing herself in his warm chocolate brown eyes, she could feel her heart beating hard against her sternum, her lungs filling up with the scent of him, which made her almost dizzy with a need to bury herself under his skin, "After we found my mother…when we discovered who my parents were…I felt so lost, like I had died too. It was…truly confusing to me to realize I wasn't who I believed to be since long before I could remember. My whole world shifted, Booth…but that day, in the barn –you held me together. I was falling apart, but you held me together…and you told me you knew who I was. You gave me my identity back when I most doubted myself, and…I...I realized, not right then but when I was in the Maluku Islands. That day…you became the center of my life. Your opinions and beliefs became the compass upon which I anchored myself…it was such a gradual thing, I didn't realize it had happened until the day came when I wanted your thoughts on something I was struggling with, but you weren't there."

He stared into her blue eyes as she looked up at him, his heart beating fast at the implications of what she'd shared. Brushing his blunt fingers along the side of her jaw, he lowered his head and touched his nose to hers, his thumb stroking her chin as he whispered, "Bones…"

"Hey, you two! Are you coming or are you planning on standing there and melting the snow?"

"Chris!"

Chris' laughter grated on Booth's nerves as he pulled back, giving Bones a smile before they both turned to face Chris and Laura, grinning as he caught Laura give Chris a good smack in the arm, "You have the worst timing ever."

Booth nodded in agreement, keeping Bones balanced as she leaned down to pick up her cap and goggles from the snow at her feet. Setting his goggles back in place before he reached out to clumsily help her tug the cap down her auburn hair, enjoying the way it shined in the bright winter sunlight, "Alright, Bones, let's go try the bunny slopes. I know you're more experienced than I am, but you'll stick with me, yes?"

"Of course," she grinned at him, settling her googles until they were comfortable in place, "I'll always stick with you."

Chris and Laura waved to them as they headed off to the beginners' slopes, Laura leaning into Chris as she let out a soft sigh, "They're really sweet together. Do you think Temperance realizes Booth is wooing her?"

"I don't think she is at all aware of it," Chris looked down at her, reaching up to tuck a long strawberry blonde curl behind her small ear, "For as smart as she is, she's quite naïve in certain things and romance is one of them. No worries, though. Booth will let her know -when he's ready."

Grinning, she pushed away from him, sliding along the slick snow, "Well, Chris, let's concentrate on you wooing me, yes?"

Laughing, he kept pace beside her, staying far enough not to tangle their skis or poles, "And what exactly can I do today to woo you?"

Tensing up in preparation, she threw a sassy grin at him over her shoulder, "Buy me hot chocolate when I beat you down this slope!"

"Hey!"

He watched her slide away, laughing as he pushed to go after her, keeping a pace or two behind her as he enjoyed the silhouette of her snowsuit clad body, thinking how strange life was when it came to the things that marked the heart.

In a world where everything revolved and time kept marching on, it brought opportunities one thought lost…and he could see those opportunities for himself in Laura, but also in Booth and Temperance.

This time around, he knew Booth would do everything necessary to make sure the opportunity didn't slip though his fingers. He also knew Temperance was open and willing, although scared but it wouldn't be long before those two were together.

In the meantime, it was going to be entertaining to watch them as they moved closer to each other instead of just circling each other.