Hello. I'm back. Sorry for the delay, I genuinely got a bit stuck in the middle of this one, took a bit of un-sticking to sort myself out. I also decided not to take part in the Valentine's Day exchange as I didn't want to put any more pressure upon myself when I have this to focus on at the moment (although I may post something up depending on how quickly I get the next chapter of this up.) The good news is that I'm already nearly half way through the next one and know where it is going next!
I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed, followed and favorited, especially Gailuvspurple, who has given some great ideas in their review. Thank you! Also, as ever, big thanks to Jen, my beta.
If no-one minds, I think I'm going to write at least a couple of extra chapters more than I originally planned, actually having quite a lot of fun writing these.
Probably extra important in this chapter to chuck in the "I don't own Bones" disclaimer, alongside the "I have only borrowed the dialogue and I am not profiting from it" as there is a fair amount direct from the episode.
It's "guess the episode" time, again...
One moment, Booth was enjoying the feel of Brennan's lips on his and her arms snaking around him in a very un-partnerly way, the weight of emotional expectation just starting to lift, when he had the sensation of being physically torn away from her into an inky blackness. He blinked as he tried to work out if his eyes were open or closed, and in the next moment, he was standing alone outside Brennan's office holding a bound set of case notes, wearing… what the hell? He looked at down at his blue lab coat, buttoned-up checked shirt stuffed into a very unpleasant pair of trousers, and felt the glasses on his nose. He allowed himself a grin when he realised who would be walking through the door in mere seconds and what they would be wearing.
"Don't you have to put on your costume?" Brennan called through the door, just left ajar.
"Already did. I got a profile of the killer from Sweets."
"You mean Doctor Sweets."
"Well, it's only theory, Bones, but it's what he's best at. I mean… he's only twelve." His eyes flicked across the page. "Sweets says the killer's definitely a male…" Man, the writing on that report is small - Booth decided that maybe he needed to get his eyes tested after this case.
"Oh, Greg is a male." Brennan called from behind the door.
"Ow, no… Greg and Lola worked their sick little thing together. Sweets says the killer works alone… has a respectable blue-collar job… in his public life he's into saving people, he's unmarried, oh, he has a police or military background."
"You do realise that Sweets is describing you, right?" stated Brennan matter-of-factly as she appeared through their frosted glass door and came to stand next to him, slightly baffled at his costume. At first, he didn't see her as he still had his head in the report, but when he registered her voice, Booth glanced away from his paper to meet his partner's gaze, and was simply blown away. Although he was by nature a gentleman, he was also a plain old heterosexual male, and Booth couldn't help himself from a full-blown, full-frame check-out. He had always had a healthy physical appreciation of his partner – for example, he'd chosen her black Roxy dress with great success (she'd taken the hint and subsequently purchased the even hotter red one she'd worn during his fight), but right now, Brennan made that look like a nun's habit. She was an absolute knock-out. Hair teased back, a lot more make up than she usually wore, legs up to her armpits and, woah, her, um, assets left nothing to the imagination. He was spellbound and couldn't help but leak out a reaction.
"Wow."
"How do I look?" He allowed himself another quick peek, but recovered quickly. He was going to have to store up a lot of surreptitious looks in the comIng hours.
"Are you kiddi… good, 'wonder-ful', geddit?"
"Yeah." She was distinctly unimpressed with his attempt at humour, although Booth himself felt that under the circumstances of extreme distraction, he'd been pretty clever.
"Because you're Wonder Woman."
"I know." She eyed him up and down with disdain and placed her hands on her hips. "What are you supposed to be?"
"Oh, I'm a nerd squint. See!" Booth put on a very nasally voice and whipped out the sort of calculator that hadn't been used since the dawn of the computer. "What is the rationale behind that conclusion?" He was very pleased with himself; Brennan less so.
"That's not what they look or sound like!" She marched around the corner with purpose, Booth scuttling along behind her, still, apparently, in character.
"You mean 'we', that's not what we look or sound like."
"OK…" Brennan almost sounded amused.
"You see what I did there, I corrected you, you know, in character, as a squint!" Booth was gleeful. Brennan rolled her eyes at him as she proceeded to engage Zach (the back end of a cow) who had further information for them.
In the back of Brennan's mind as she, Hodgins and Zach continued their assessment of the data they had thus far, was the brief look of awe that Booth had given her when she'd appeared through the doorway. Was he checking her out? She tried not to think too hard about it.
When they entered the subway maintenance area, Booth got a look at Brennan's gun. His first thought was, 'where the hell did she keep that?' and he couldn't help but vocalise his thoughts. It was huge, and he'd certainly not seen any sign of it previously. Despite the potential danger of their situation, all the wrong thoughts immediately popped into his head and he found himself having to compartmentalise very quickly before he was in a position of some embarrassment. That said, Brennan really didn't have a clue what to do with the weapon and Booth hoped his wasn't a euphemism for anything else as he unloosed the lock and chain she'd been desperate to shoot.
Pacing carefully around the building, they'd soon realised who their killer was.
"You should wear a lab coat at all times" mused Brennan out loud as Booth's inner squint showed himself. Brennan found herself wondering whether those same thoughts she now knew Booth had about her could be replicated the other way around. She'd thought about peeling off his jacket... gun holster… but him in lab gear? There was something quite arousing about that. She snapped out of it as they found the next victim screaming behind a locked door, and then in attempting to emulate her heroine, Brennan managed to shoot her partner. It was a freak accident, her bracelet acting in true Amazonian style and ricocheting into her partner in a grazing blow that lucky left him with only a minor flesh wound. As they opened the door, they were met with somewhat of a surprise and Brennan found herself shrieking like a little girl.
Snakes, why did it have to be snakes… Once she'd jumped up onto the nearest surface, Brennan found herself frozen on the spot, and no amount of logic could persuade her otherwise, not at least until Booth offered his slightly wounded body for her to climb upon.
"It seems I'm not entirely in control of my actions" she yelped.
"Just get onto my back."
If Brennan hadn't been so petrified, and the situation not so grave, she'd have enjoyed the sensation of being wholly attached to her partner, her legs wrapped around him, chest against his back and arms around his neck. Unfortunately, she had no time to make the most of the situation as they came across the teenage girl simultaneously screaming and cowering in the corner of the room. Professionalism and the bravery that made them, well - them - took over and it wasn't until hours later that Brennan came to appreciate what she'd had. Having taken what was a defending shot with her gun, to keep the killer at bay, Booth was still not a happy man when it came to Brennan wielding that particular gun, and they quickly swapped over as Brennan rapidly realised she really had no idea what to do with a weapon of that size. Brennan's braver instincts kicked in enough to keep her charge safe, and Booth, despite another grazing gun shot wound, managed to get a single good shot and took out the murderer.
With Booth suitably patched up by the paramedics, who'd arrived along with the back-up, when Booth and Brennan finally returned to the lab, everyone had left.
"Where is everybody?"
"Well, at the party, I guess."
"We could still go."
"Aw, we look like hell."
"It's a Halloween party. We could be Wonder Woman and, um," she tapped him on the arm, "What's Superman's secret identity?"
"Clark Kent."
"Yes, we could be Wonder Woman and Clark Kent after a really, really bad date," she chuckled. Actually, despite being covered in what could only be described as genuine grease and dirt, she still looked stunning. Booth tried not to think too hard about her mussed hair getting that way through other activities… He recovered.
"Yeah, bad date, because… you shot me!" Booth wasn't going to let it drop that easily.
"It was only a flesh wound and you dropped me on my head!"
"After you shot me. I think, I got ya on this one, OK, Wonder Woman?" He strained as he sat down, the effects of the paramedic triage on his wounds wearing off. She winced a little as she watched his motion. Her voice softened.
"I'm sorry you had to kill someone. I know you hate that."
"Yeah, he had it coming." He smiled at her in gratitude. Sometimes, underneath the bluster, she was that awesome. She knew what it meant to him to hear that.
"You hate it. I'm sorry that happened to you."
"We saved the girl. It's a pretty good date." Brennan gazed at her parter admiringly at his stoicism.
"Except not really a date."
"I know."
"It was work, not a date."
"Really, really hard work."
"And we're not really Wonder Woman and Clark Kent, we're Brennan and Booth."
"Look, you're the one who brought up the date analogy." She could tell that he wasn't being terribly serious and was teasing her a little. They shared one of their special smiles, before Brennan broke the silence.
"You hungry?"
"Yeah."
"Me too."
"Let's go and grab a bite to eat."
As they got up to leave, Brennan span around and around, enjoying the sensation of being Wonder Woman for just a little bit longer. Booth caught her for just a second, amused by her momentary childish behaviour – this was not a side of her he saw very often and although he outwardly ignored it, inside he was charmed by her girlishness, but didn't let the small internal smile he was holding slip outwards.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Nothing." Her response bordered on indignant.
As they left the lab, they discussed dinner plans. Not like a date at all, mused Brennan, understanding the heavy irony from her position of knowing what the future held for them. After several weeks with Booth, the coins had been metaphorically been removed from her eyes (she knew that one being somewhat of an anthropological commonality across many cultures) and she now understood many of those opportunities they'd had to blow that line away somewhat earlier.
"So, where would you like to go? The diner?"
"You know…" she pondered for a moment, "We haven't been to Wong Fu's for a while."
"That's true."
As they arrived they saw their favourite dining booth was free and immediately sat down. Sid gave them a welcoming smile and a nod, and soon arrived with something tofu-y for Brennan, beef in black bean sauce for Booth, and some Mi Krop for them to share. They sat close as they devoured their food, Brennan being especially careful not to drop the crispy noodles down her considerable décolleté, Booth mentally willing her to do so. Sid sauntered over some time into their meal.
"Not that we're complaining, but this is Mi Krop – it's Thai, Sid. I thought this was a Chinese restaurant?"
"Sometimes you have to try something a little different as a means to an end," replied Sid, somewhat enigmatically. "Look at you two in your costumes." Sid smiled at his favourite customers. "Dr Brennan's I get…" he briefly glanced at Brennan in acknowledgement before he looked his friend up and down, "But who the hell are you supposed to be, Booth?"
"I'm a squint!' he put on his nasal, reedy voice he'd used when Brennan had first lain eyes on him.
"Although, interjected Brennan, "I posited that Booth actually looks like Clark Kent, Superman's alter-ego. We look like them after a bad date – Clark Kent and Wonder Woman that is. Not our actual selves," she clarified, just in case Sid hadn't got it by insinuation.
"It's the glasses," Booth wiggled them up and down on his nose.
"You know," considered Sid, "that works. And they are both DC Universe Justice League members."
"Yep. I'm more a Green Lantern kinda guy though," chuckled Booth. Sid leaned down towards them conspiratorially:
"Something else to let you know," he spoke quietly, "Superman and Wonder Woman are a thing. Check out the fan fiction." Sid raised an eyebrow at them before walking away with a grin neither could see, as Booth and Brennan exchanged yet another set of awkward smiles.
"I know what that is," whispered Brennan, fixing Booth with a strong gaze. "People write stories, or create graphical examples of characters from their favourite pop culture and entertainment sources that they share on various internet sites and forums. For example, TV shows, books, movies… especially popular is the 'shipping' aspect, that is in context for 'relationship' of certain character combinations, whether in canon or allowing alternative combinations such as same sex or unexpected couplings. It fills in the gap between the established canon already published and wish fulfilment on the part of the fan author and their followers. I myself am aware that Kathy Reichs and Andy Ryan are subject to a considerable amount of fan fiction, although my publisher has advised me not to read it in case a fan author claims copyright for any ideas in my books. This way, my conscience remains absolutely clear and I would pass any lie detector tests in the event of a law suit." Brennan tried to keep her voice flat, but was hoping that Booth understood the link she was trying to make for them both. When this scenario had occurred originally, they'd shared the awkward smile but neither had allowed themselves to say anything more after Sid's comment.
"I know what fan fiction is, Bones." What Brennan didn't know was that Booth was more than familiar with that particular fandom, not being bound by the same constraints, especially with Brennan having time and time again rebuffed suggestions that Andy was based on him. His eyes flicked back down to his food as he had to break eye contact with her, so many were all the thoughts ripping through his head at that moment. "You know Sid didn't mean anything by that, right?" he attempted to deflect.
"Yes." Brennan sounded genuinely disappointed. "I sensed he was teasing us. He knows everyone thinks we're a couple."
The partners continued to eat the rest of the meal, though much less was spoken as the partners both contemplated what Sid had said, despite their outward mutual agreement that his words had been light-hearted. They would grab glances at each other whilst the other was navigating chopsticks and food. Brennan managed not to spill any noodles down herself, much to Booth's disappointment. They spoke occasionally between bites, but the mood had changed a little as both remained in deep thought.
By the time Booth drove Brennan back to her apartment, it was heading towards midnight.
"You stopping for a beer?"
"You sure? It's getting kinda late."
"Sure."
As they rode the elevator, Booth ended up standing behind Brennan, willing himself not to look down at her satin-encased rear. He failed miserably, and continued to fail as he followed her down the corridor. She let them into her apartment and went straight to the fridge, from where she produced two cold beers.
"Here," she passed one over to him.
"Thanks." They clinked bottles and glances, and each took a hearty glug, eyes finally making contact. "So…"
"So…" Brennan hesitated before speaking up, her eyes locked on Booth's. It's now or never. "About what Sid said earlier… did you think about it at all?"
"A little." He lied. He'd thought about little else, even on the drive home. "You?"
"Yes. I considered it." They had edged slightly closer to one another in the preceding moments.
"Do you think Wonder Woman and Superman-"
"Clark Kent," interjected Brennan.
"OK, Clark Kent. By that rhetoric, it should be Diana Prince and Clark Kent. Do you think that they could be together?"
"I think it could work out." Brennan surprised herself, but of course, she was fully aware that part of herself knew how she and Booth would eventually work out.
"You sound like an Eight-Ball," Booth laughed as they edged closer still.
"Oooh, I know what that means! Russ had one of those!" They enjoyed the shared cultural experience for a moment.
"Honestly," he became more serious again. "Do you think this could work?" He realised his own language had changed slightly, maybe he was no longer talking about Wonder Woman and Superman's alter-egos, either.
"Yes." She smiled at him reassuringly. "I think this could work."
Booth glanced down at Brennan's lips before closing in the gap at the same time she did. They met in the middle, mouths crashing together as strong arms enveloped her waspish waist, long delicate fingers running though the short, buzzed hair of the nape of his neck. Booth felt an explosion of emotions that he was now pleasantly very familiar with as they kissed frantically, her hands soon reaching for zips and buttons, as his found his way to the same area of satin he'd been gazing at longingly in the elevator.
Brennan found herself scooped up, Booth's hands solidly under her ass, her legs and arms wrapped him in almost a mirror of their earlier escapade. But this time they were facing each other and bumping blindly against walls as they somehow found their way to the bedroom.
His shirt now half open, his tie loose and askew, he threw her quite unceremoniously onto the bed, and clambered on after her. Brennan leaned back onto her elbows and grinned salaciously at him as he approached her on all fours, his eyes dark with passion. She pulled him towards her by his tie, and as he went, leaned in to kiss her again, this time aiming for the soft, exposed flesh atop her breasts, and felt himself spiralling away once more.
I feel like I should be doing the Scooby Doo / Wayne's World 'wavy hand/doolidoolidoo' thing at the end of each chapter. Please take it upon yourselves to do that if so inclined.
