A/N - The end is nigh and I'm a little sad to see it coming. One more chapter to go and then that will be it. I had a hard time deciding just how to end this story. Do I do the fluffy ducks ending or do I kill everyone off and leave it at that? What I decided, you will find out soon enough but in the meantime read and review this chapter for me...:) Oh and before I forget, this beautiful song is one of my new favourites. It's called 'Chasing Cars' and is by Snow Patrol. Take a listen, it's awesome.
Chapter Four – Message To My Girl
"What do you want to do with your life Hunter?"
Booth watched as she pasted another page to her large science project, one that was about the disease that took her mother just a few days ago.
"Make movies. Good ones, not the crap ones. Alfred Hitchcock, Jaws type movies. Why?"
Her head stayed down as she carefully added neat notes before sticking on a picture of a severely diseased lung.
"Your teacher said that you didn't have to do that right?"
"Yes but mom wanted it done. I could get an A for this Seeley. It's important to me and mom."
Booth smiled at her as she continued to work. The funeral was tomorrow and Hunter was determined to get the project done before dinner. It contained graphic pictures about lung cancer as well as a picture of Victoria in her final days of fighting with the disease. Hunter had a gut, that much was clear. How many thirteen year olds would stand in front f their classmates and tell them about the disease that killed their mother?
"Why do you want to know what I wanted to do with my life?"
"I'm interested. "
"Fair enough."
Silence fell as Booth continued to watch her work on the project, occasionally passing her the bits she required next, helping her press things down so they would stick. Every once and awhile he would see a facial expression that reminded him of Victoria, as well as that wide grin that was completely her mother's, the same smile that had been absent recently. Booth could only spot a bit of himself here and there; Hunter was definitely her mother's daughter. After a little while, Booth left her to the last odds and ends while he went and got dinner ready, something light and easy considering what they both had to face tomorrow.
Victoria had planned her funeral just a few months after he got her final diagnosis, so all Booth had to do was get Hunter there. The music Victoria had chosen was playing softly in the background, and Booth recognised a few of the songs they had had at their engagement party, even the one that was playing when they had their first kiss. Hunter sat quietly at his side, a bit of paper in her hand. She had insisted on saying something and Booth didn't argue. This was the last chance for her to say goodbye to her mother. Most of the people there were stranger's to Booth but he had seen Temperance slip in earlier, settling herself in the back of the church, away from the main action near the front. He was glad she was there. The priest began to speak and Booth turned his attention to what the older man was saying about Victoria, smiling at some of the things he said about her, his eyes flicking to the smiling picture that sat above her coffin. When he asked people to come up and say something about her, Hunter moved before anyone else and settled herself behind the microphone. Hunter cleared her throat, her eyes scanning the crowd before she began to speak.
"My mom always hated how people always told lies at funerals. That people could only remember the good stuff and not the bad. I promised her that I would not lie. My mom kept a lot from me when I was growing up, like who my real father was. She was stubborn and sometimes forgot that the whole world did not revolve around her. She was flawed, as most people are. She died from a horrible disease that could have destroyed her but it made her stronger instead. It made her a better mother and it taught me a lot about myself and my own strength. This song you are about to hear is one that has always reminded me of my mother and what she went through and just how much I already miss her. Thank you."
The opening bars to the sone began as Hunter took her seat next to Booth again, her head coming to rest lightly on his shoulder.
We'll do it all
Everything
On our own
We don't need
Anything
Or anyone
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel
Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life
Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life
All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see
I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Victoria was buried in a nice plot that sat atop a gentle slope, with only her daughter and past love to witness the dirt falling upon her, the dark soil taking away that they had once loved so dearly. Hunter slipped her small hand into Booth's, her body shaking slightly as she cried, the tears falling down her cheeks in steady unison. Booth allowed his tears to fall as well, finally allowing himself to admit that his life would change all over again. He heard Temperance's light footsteps come to rest beside him as she took his other hand, kissing the back lightly before leaning her body into his. They stood for a while and watched the morning sun turn into the darker afternoon shade, the light casting shadows over the small trio.
Six months later……………Booth felt sick. He looked at the neatly set table and felt the wave of nausea deepen.
"Cakes done. Double chocolate, decorated with M&M's. Booth it's going to be great. Relax."
He gave Temperance a small smile as a knock came at the door and Parker came barrelling into the room, throwing himself at Booth.
"Hey buddy!"
Parker started to chat excitedly as he mother waved goodbye and shut the door quietly behind her.
"Daddy, I made Hunter the best present ever."
"You made her a present?"
Parker nodded seriously as he carefully lifted the gift up to Booth's eye level. He had obviously wrapped it as well, the excess Sellotape and unsealed edges a clear sign.
"That's great. Want to put it on the table with the other's?"
Parker nodded and slipped out of his father's grasp before gently placing the bright green box on the table, flashing Temperance a bright, toothy grin.
"Hi Tempe."
"Hey Parker. Wanna help me whip the cream?"
Parker looked serious for a second.
"Can I lick the bowl when we're done?"
"If you do a good job, sure."
Parker dashed into the kitchen, allowing the adults to have a moment alone.
"She's going to love it Booth."
Booth released a loud breath, trying to loosen the knots in his stomach.
"I hate feeling like this."
"Like what?"
"Out of control. This is her first birthday without her mom and her first with me. What if I stuff it up?"
Temperance bit her lip before stepping forward and pulling Booth into a hug, their bodies pressed together intimately. It only took him a second before his hands came to rest on her lower back, a place they had been a million times before. She counted to 20 under her breath, resisting the urge to kiss the pulse in his neck, the one that raced against her own. She pulled back with a smile and moved into the kitchen, hoping that Parker had left them some cream to go with the dessert. Booth stood rooted to the spot before a soft smile made it's way across his face. Everything would be fine if Temperance kept hugging him like that.
It was another two hours before the large yellow school bus came to a stop outside of the house and Hunter made her way across the front lawn, pausing at the baby peach tree. The day after Victoria's funeral, Booth had gone and brought a baby peach tree and planted it in the front garden, near the dining room window. Victoria had always loved peaches, so it seemed to be a fitting tribute. Booth had asked Angela for a favour and had gotten her to design a little metal plate that ran across the centre of the trunk with Victoria's name, date of birth and death, as well as a little quote form Jane Eyre. Hunter did her homework by the tree every afternoon, Bobby sitting closely beside her, and Booth could often hear her chatting to her mother, telling her about what was going on at school and with her friends. It seemed to help her. Hunter pressed her hand gently to the tree before continuing to the front door, pushing it open and almost colliding with the trio standing next to the dinner table filled with food.
"Happy Birthday!"
Hunter grinned at them as she let her bag fall off of her shoulder and land on the floor with a dull thud.
"You did this for me?"
Booth nodded and watched as she took in the small pile of presents and the food, her smile getting wider.
"Do you like it?"
Hunter nodded and wrapped her arms around him. Booth kissed the top of her head and breathed in the fresh fragrances of her shampoo and the scents that she had brought back from school.
"I'm glad."
Hunter took the seat that Temperance guided her too and Parker threw himself onto his sister's lap, his present in his hands again.
"Open mine first!"
Hunter smiled widely at him and began to pull off the wrapping. Booth loved watching the two of them together. It didn't matter that there was a few years between them, or that they had been separated for so long, they acted as if they had always been together. They played card games, Hunter was teaching him how to play chess and he was teaching her the right way to read Dr Seuss. Hunter smiled as she pulled out a lime green and fluoro pink framed mirror, the paper Mache knobbled and uneven. Parker laughed as Hunter pretended to check her reflection, pulling faces in the bright glass.
"I love it Parker. Thank you. Wanna help me open the rest?"
Parker nodded as he pulled Temperance's gift closer to them.
"This one is from Tempe."
Hunter gave Temperance a quick smile before pulling back the wrapping, revealing a plain white box. Taking off the lid, Hunter let out a small squeal. Temperance had no idea what to get a thirteen-year-old girl, so at the end of her idea tether, she had poked her head into Hunter's room. The result was a large box filled with a variety of make-up, hair dyes, funky rings that Angela had helped her pick up, nail polishes of every colour that she could get her hands on and a couple of CD vouchers.
"I know it's not much but I didn't know what to get you."
Hunter shook her head as she rifled through the little treasure trove.
"This is perfect Tempe. Thank you very much."
Parker was shifted from her lap as she came and gave Temperance a hug before moving back to her place for her final present. Booth handed her a slim white envelope and smiled at the frown on Hunter's face as she pulled it open. A large, colourful pamphlet fell onto the table and Hunter picked it up, taking a second to read it quietly. When she was finished she checked the envelope again and pulled out a letter, reading that with the same silence. She seemed to want to assure herself that it was for real, because she went back and reread both before she began to smile again.
"Is this what I think it is?"
"Depends. What do you think it is?"
"An acceptance letter to the selective movie camp in the country, quite possibly the world."
"Not really an acceptance letter yet. We still need to go to an interview with the head of the camp but if we get through that that, you are in for twelve weeks of learning to make movies. What do you think?"
Hunter just nodded as she started to cry. As she continued to thumb through the pamphlet, Booth pulled out the final gift. The one that he had spent hours trying to find the perfect one.
"If you go to movie camp, you're going to need this."
He put the camcorder in front of her and winced when Hunter screamed and immediately became to examine it end to end, pressing all the buttons and playing with the zoom. She threw herself at Booth and wrapped him into a tight hug.
"Thank you Dad."
Booth felt his heart stop as she used the title for the first time. He liked how it sounded coming from her. He was finally her dad.
"Your welcome. Let's have some cake, huh?"
It was a long afternoon filled with excitement but finally Hunter and Parker went to bed, leaving Temperance and Booth with the fun of the clean up. When the kitchen and dining room was clean again, they settled themselves in the living room with a large glass of wine.
"I told you it would be good."
Booth smiled as he sipped at his wine.
"Ok. You are right, I was wrong."
Temperance nodded happily as she curled her legs under her, her head coming to rest on her hand.
"Told you so. I thought that she would never put that camera down."
"Me either. After having that thing shoved in my face, I was regretting getting it for her. I guess now the rest of our lives will be filmed."
"Do you think she'll get into the camp?"
"Yes. The director was interested in meeting her and you know Hunter, she leaves an impression. Did you read the pamphlet?"
Temperance shook her head and Booth whistled between his teeth.
"It sounds great. They spend twelve weeks making a movie then they have a film festival for the families. Three judges pick the top four and they are given scholarships to Alfred Collins Movie Academy. It's a fantastic school that covers all of the things she needs to make movies. It's an awesome opportunity for her."
"And if she doesn't win?"
"Victoria left enough money for her to go without the scholarship, I just thought it would be nice for Hunter to win in her own merit."
"And then you can stand back and be the proud dad."
"I already am. I don't think I could be prouder of Hunter and Parker. They're good kids."
"That they are."
A comfortable silence fell as they sipped their wine, each lost in their own thoughts.
"I want to say thank you Bones."
Temperance frowned at him.
"Why? What did I do?"
"You've been here for Hunter and I when we needed you most. I really appreciate that."
Temperance shrugged.
"You are always there for me when I need you, so this makes us even."
Booth, purely on impulse, allowed his hand to settle on the side of her face, his thumb resting lightly on her jawbone. It seemed to become a mutual movement as they moved closer together until they were a mere inch or so apart.
"Do you think this is a good idea?"
Temperance's was hot as it danced over Booth's face.
"I don't think this is a good time to be analysing Bones."
"Ok."
They pressed their lips together, the kiss soft and slow as they enjoyed the new heat and sensation. The kiss soon deepened and turned to one of passion and desperation. They had to come up for air and smiled breathlessly at each other.
"Wow."
"Tell me about it. I have a question for you."
Temperance toyed with the collar of Booth's shirt.
"What's that?"
"Stay the night."
"That doesn't sound like a question."
"That's not the point. I'm more interested with the answer."
"The kids are just upstairs."
"You're stalling."
"Do you think that that's a good idea?"
Booth took her hands in his, kissing the knuckles lazily before he smiled at her.
"I want you to stay the night. I want to be with you."
Temperance smiled back and they kissed again. By the time they came up for air again, her mind had been made up.
"Do you sleep on the left side or the right?"
Booth laughed.
"Well, to be honest, I'm not terribly interested in sleeping."
