What I Wish I Could've Said

By: Lesera128

Rated: T

Disclaimer: ::stares:: ::blinks:: ::stares again:: Yeah. I still don't own anything…but, you knew that from the stares, right?

Summary: Hindsight is always 20/20. Everyone has a single moment that they wish they could have said something better than what they actually did. A completely random series of what-if vignettes.

Ch 40: That Time Brennan Let Something Slip

As Booth walked with Brennan at his side as the walked around the midget wrestling arena venue that Gidget Jones. He was doing his best to continue devoting his full attention to the interview, but he couldn't help feeling distracted. His poor performance at the shooting range the day before had left him with a bad taste in his mouth, which he couldn't seem to shake no matter how hard he tried.

I mean, what type of FBI agent am I? I can't even hit the broadside of a barn, let alone drop my target, a familiar voice complained in Booth's head. Forget about the part where I was a sniper. I'm just lucky nobody saw me screw the pooch as badly as I did at the range. God, how embarrassing this is. It's so friggin' embarrassing.

"Come on, we had a thing," Gidget was saying about her relationship with Bryce. "Got old, I moved on. Thought at first Bryce did too, but it ate at him. Guys are like that, you know." She stopped and shot Brennan a conspiratorial look. "On the outside it looks like they don't care, but on the inside they're chewing themselves up like cancer." Booth had to stop himself from chewing the bottom of his inner lip as he suddenly began to wonder if he was giving off vibes or something that the female dwarf was reading.

It can't be that bad, Booth thought. At least…not yet…right?

"I gotta be a suspect, right?" Gidget asked when Booth shot Brennan a look, Brennan returned his gaze, and he panicked when he wondered if he'd some how said something out loud that he thought he'd only thought as a part of his internal dialogue.

When Gidget continued to wait for a response, and Booth didn't seem to be quick in offering one, Brennan said, as she shot a strange glance at her partner, "We don't like to come right out and say that."

Shrugging her small shoulders, Gidget said, "Well, I know I am 'cause Bryce was suing me."

Focus, Booth, damn it, he chastised himself again. Or, you might as well just take a billboard add out right now and tell your partner that you've become a sorry putz who can't use his gun in more ways than one. Damn it―

"Oh, really?" Booth managed to ask. He was quite proud of himself when he had enough forethought to add, "What was he suing you for?"

"Bigger cut of the gate," Gidget responded simply. "I didn't take it personal, maybe he did." She paused and then gave the partners another look, her eyes coming to rest on Brennan as she flashed her that knowing smile again. "You know men―"

Wait―what? Booth thought as his heart began to pound in his chest and his mouth went dry.

"Something goes wrong in the heart department―" Gidget continued.

Son-of-a-bitch, Booth muttered silently, suddenly grateful that he'd shoved his hands inside the pockets of his dark grey suit as he clenched them into fists. How does she know?

"―it always shows itself in another way," Gidget finished as she nodded back at Booth.

I'm going to kill her, Booth thought as he flushed at the smaller woman's words. I'm going to grab her by those tiny little gold lapels of hers and see if she should reconsider . I don't care if she's a woman or that I have three feet and about a hundred pounds on her. And, I don't know how she figured it out, but I'm getting really tired of the backhanded barbs. Especially in front of Bones. So, enough. I'm gonna do it. It's not that I want to do it, but I'm going to, God help me, and―

Booth's eyes darted back to Brennan's as he gave her a nervous look. However, she barely looked at him before Gidget spoke and refocused the forensic anthropologist's attention on their suspect.

"You know Bryce had a criminal past, right?" Gidget asked them both.

This time, it was Booth who had to fill the awkward silence when Brennan didn't say anything, but merely gave them a thoughtful look.

"Yeah," he nodded. "He went to prison for assault or a robbery."

Gidget blinked at Booth for a minute and then laughed. "What can I say? Got a thing for the bad boys." She gave Booth an appraising look before she swiveled her head back to meet Brennan's gaze and asked, "Don't you?"

Booth tried to keep himself from wincing at the answer as he awaited his partner's response.

"No," Brennan said simply. "I prefer good boys."

Of course, she likes bad boys. Stereotypical rebellion. So, she can't possibly get off on the fact that a good guy like me…wait, Booth stopped mid-mental rant. Wait, wait, wait. What did she just say? She prefers good boys? Like me? Really?

Tilting his head at Brennan, Booth couldn't help it as he asked his partner in a hushed whisper, "Really?"

Brennan nodded simply at Booth as she said, "Yes."

Booth was dumbstruck as Brennan then turned and resumed talking to Gidget Jones. He passed the rest of the interview in a daze, and it wasn't until they were outside the arena and seated back in the Sequoia that Booth had finally collected his wits enough to look at his partner. Brennan, for her part, shot him a strange look when he sat in the driver's seat with the car door lock, his seat belt buckled, both hands firmly clenching the steering wheel, even though he hadn't turned the key from where it sat in the ignition.

Arching an eyebrow, she asked, a touch of concern in her voice, "Booth?"

"Yeah, Bones?" the squeaky reply came.

"You okay?" she asked, blinking at him as she studied his tense frame.

"Uhhhhh," Booth responded, not really giving her an answer before he shook his head, drew a breath and dared to look over at his partner. "Not really."

Ask her, damn it, a voice echoed in his head. You want to know. You need to know. So quit being a damn fool and just ask her. She said she likes good boys, you're a good boy, ergo―you could be in here, Booth. So pull the trigger, make the shot count for once in your sorry life, and just go and get her!

Brennan immediately sat up straighter and looked at her partner with growing worry in her steely blue gaze. "What is it?" she asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"No," Booth said quickly. "At least…well, I've just got a question for ya, Bones."

Brennan studied Booth again, and then nodded. "Okay. What's your question?"

"Earlier," he said, his voice hesistant as he spoke. "When you told Gidget you liked good boys…errr, you know that, well, I'm a good boy. So, does, well…does that mean that youmightlikeme, not in an attaboyyou'remypartnerway, but youmightlikemebecauseyou'reagoodgirlandI'magoodboyandsincewe' kinda way?"

Booth's words had slurred in a furious way at the end as he flushed a brighter red, from the tip of his nose to the tips of his ears. But, knowing he needed to know, he turned and looked to see his partner's reaction to his question…and, more importantly, the veiled implications behind it.

It took Brennan a moment to make sense of what Booth had said, but after a pause, a small smile broke her normally serious face. Her body relaxed, and her blue eyes twinkled in merriment as she arched an eyebrow at Booth and said, "Booth, did you just ask me if I wanted to do very bad things with you?"

He flushed again, still not moving a muscle, except to nod his head curtly.

Swallowing a chuckle, Brennan shook her head slightly and said, "Then, I'm afraid the answer is no. I don't want to do very bad things with you."

Booth's heart fell into his stomach. He felt a bout of nausea take him, and his head begin to pound even as Brennan continued speaking.

"But, as a good girl, in a potential situation with a good boy like yourself, I can think of several very bad things I'd like to do to you," she said as she arched an eyebrow at him. "That is…if you want me to?"

The roaring in Booth's ears almost kept him from comprehending his partner's last statement and the question that had accompanied it. However, a part of his brain wisely kept paying attention as the thought echoed, Wait…did she just say what I thought she said?

As if she'd heard him, Brennan reached out and lightly placed her hand on Booth's thigh in anything but a partner like way. She gave him a small smile that was also unlike any she'd ever given him before.

Oh, wow. Yeah, she did, the voice echoed, sending a surge of confidence building adrenaline coursing through his brains. He narrowed her eyes at her in an unspoken question, Brennan nodded once solemnly squeezing his leg reassuringly, and then he relaxed as he let out a deep breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding. Giving her a toothy grin, he had only one thought as he reached to turn the key in the ignition.

Awesome.

-TBC-