Chapter 7 – Boy in the Time Capsule

Booth and Brennan had just stepped into the crime scene as he looked around and said, "Wow. Now this is a sweet field. This is what I'm talking about, right. I mean, it's nothing like ours but hey, that didn't stop me from being MVP my senior year. Got the trophy. Touchdown!"

Brennan looked at Booth and not for the first wondered how she ended up with him. He had had such a different life in high school than she did. She was almost positive that if they had met while in high school, Booth wouldn't even had paid her any attention. He was a jock and she was – to put it in one of the nicer terms – a brainiac. Brennan couldn't help but tease Booth as she said, "In certain tribes in the African subcontinent, piercings serve as a reminder – like your trophy – of the power and agility which has since faded away."

It took a moment for Booth to finally register everything she had said when he told her, "What do you mean fade away...Whoa! Time out." He was about to defend himself, when he decided this was not the place to do so. "Can we just concentrate on the case?" He then turned to the police officer and asked, "What do we got here?"

The officer shook his head as he walked them over to the capsule. Just looking at it made his lunch want to make a reappearance. "We were all gathered for the opening. We had, uh, no idea that that thing was in there."

Booth whistled softly at the smell and the foul looking human soup. "Whoa. That is rank."

The officer grimaced as he looked at it before he said, "I was just expecting to see my 10,000 Maniacs album."

A man came up to them as he told the group, "That was not there."

Booth looked at the man as he withdrew his note cards. "Who are you?"

The man introduced himself, "I'm Gil Bates. I- I sealed it myself. I used a propoline seal and industrial bolt lags."

Brennan leaned in a little as she observed the skull as she made her findings known to Booth. "Adolescent Caucasian male. Late teens, early 20's."

Booth wrote that down as he continued to look at the soupy matter. "Alright, so…what do you say we just pack it all up and ship it back to the Jeffersonian."

Gil shook his head and told him, "Oh, I'm sorry. That's not a good idea. You see, the water has compromised they structural integrity of the case so…"

Booth smirked as he looked at Brennan and joked, "Would you look at this, Bones. Another nerd for your squint squad."

Brennan shook her head as an amused smile graced her lips. She then ordered, "Drill."

Booth looked at her surprised as she took the drill in her hand and came over to the end of the tank. "Drill. Drill? Whoa, wait a second. You're gonna drill right here? What about taking it all back to the Jeffersonian?"

Brennan nodded as he ordered for something else, "Tub." Booth watched – his hunger flying away – as she drilled a hole in the side of the capsule and the human soupy matter drained into the tub. God, sometimes his job could be really gross.

~BONES~

Brennan was looking out her window as Booth drove them back from Roger's old home. She couldn't help but question something that was nagging her. "Roger's father had no trouble getting physical so why would he resort to poisoning his son with a nerve agent?"

Booth however was thinking of something else entirely. He knew a lot about Brennan's past, her life in the system, how she felt when her parents disappeared, but the one thing that she never really went into details about was what she did as a teenager. "What sort of teenager were you, Bones?"

Brennan shot him a look and then ignored his question all together. "He did have a series of odd jobs. Perhaps he procured the poison from one of them."

Booth nudged her with his arm and said, "Come on. You have to at least had one good story before you pasted on the lab coat."

Brennan sniffed slightly before she told him, "I was busy. Studying."

Booth gave her a look this time. He knew that even at a young age she had to have been something else. "And in all those hours of studying, you never came across one hormone?"

Brennan pursed her lips and didn't answer for a few seconds before she sighed and told him, "Fine. There was one boy. Andy Pfleuger. He was the Varsity Lacrosse captain."

Booth smiled at that. They usually didn't talk about their past relationships, but knowing that his Bones had a crush in high school – that was something to smile at. "Did you kiss the Varsity Lacrosse captain?"

Brennan looked away as she said, "I was weighing the pros and cons when he became my secret Santa."

Booth's brows furrowed as he recalled, "I thought you hated secret Santa."

Brennan became angry just thinking about how she was humiliated back then. "Yes! Because he taped the gift to my locker. Everyone saw it. Teenagers can be cruel."

Booth heard the hurt in her voice. He didn't like it when she was hurting. "What was it?"

Brennan shook her head. She didn't want to relive the past. "Doesn't matter."

He nudged her again as he tried to coax her with is charm smile, "Come on, Bones."

Brennan looked at him for a few seconds before she said softly, "You promise not to laugh?"

Booth nodded, "I promise. I'm your partner."

Brennan took in a deep breath before she told him. "It was a Brainy Smurf." Booth tried really hard, but he couldn't help the snort that escaped. He thought that it was something a lot bigger. Brennan however didn't like that one bit and she slapped his arm, "You said you wouldn't laugh."

Booth tried to hold back his laughter as he told her, "I'm not laughing. Brainy Smurf, huh?"

Brennan glared at him as she said, "What? It was deliberate. He knew I wanted Smurfette!" Booth couldn't help the laugh that came out then. Brennan shot him her death glare and then said, "Okay, it's clear you find this amusing."

Booth shook his head as he tried to tamp down his laughter, "I'm not laughing. I'm not. What?"

Brennan's anger spiked. It was better than letting the hurt feelings to come back. She told him angrily, "You know, Angela was right. You were one of 'those guys'."

Booth stopped laughing as he tried to understand what his wife was saying. "What? One of what guys?"

~BONES~

Booth and Brenna were in Sweets' office for their counseling session as Booth tried to persuade him, "Come on, Sweets! Just, come on! You've done a lot of psychological profiling! The case is twenty years old. We just need some help."

Sweets shook his head as he told him, "That's not why we're here today, Agent Booth. This hour is for you and Dr. Brennan."

Booth waved that off. Brennan hated psychology. The more time he took up the more happy she would probably be. "Oh, she's not gonna mind. It's only going to take 5 minutes. Okay? 1987. Suburban kid is killed and stuffed into a time capsule." Brennan looked at Booth annoyed that he would just speak for her. She was mad at him as it was, that was too much. Booth went on though, "Fascinating, right? What kind of person would do that?"

Sweets ignored Booth and looked at Brennan. He noticed her annoyance right away and asked, "So have any conflicts or issues arisen since our last session?"

Brennan began to tell Sweets about what Booth did as she said, "Well…"

However, Booth interrupted her by saying, "Bones and I are doing just great."

Sweets ignored Booth again as he looked at Brennan. "You look angry, Dr. Brennan."

Brennan glared at Booth as she told Sweets, "I told Agent Booth a private story about my childhood and he laughed."

Booth cringed internally at her use of Agent. He was so in the dog house. He looked at her and said, "What? No. I…I was appreciating it. Don't get him involved."

Brennan told him honestly, a bit of hurt creeping into her voice, "Snorting does not suggest appreciation."

Booth told her honestly, "It was about a cartoon character from the 1980's! I didn't think you'd be so sensitive."

Sweets leaned back in his chair and told Booth, "Well, childhood icons have great significance to us, Agent Booth. Alright. I, myself, was very attached to Voltron." Booth and Brennan just looked at him wondering what the hell he was talking about, so he clarified, "Cartoon."

Booth just said, "Voltron?"

Sweets ignored Booth's comment and turned his attention back to Brennan, "You're hurt, Dr. Brennan, because you feel you opened yourself up to Agent Booth and he betrayed that trust."

Booth couldn't believe that their shrink was getting involved with this. "You're talking about a Smurf."

Brennan sat up straighter and said defensively, "Smurfette."

Sweets tried to placate the two by saying, "Perhaps a way to bring this relationship back into symmetry is if you reveal a childhood story about yourself. Show your vulnerability to Dr. Brennan."

Booth knew all about being vulnerable. That's why he was who he was today. Nobody made him feel like that again. "No. You know what? This is crazy. It's – it's not right. Tell him that it's not right."

Brennan tilted her head and asked sincerely, "Is it?"

Booth's jaw hardened as he narrowed his eyes. She was pushing him. She knew how much he hated talking about his past and being vulnerable. "Oh! You're on his side. Why don't you go play Voltron with him."

Sweets leaned back again in his chair and observed, "You were 'that guy' weren't you, Agent Booth. You were the golden boy who could get away with anything just by turning on the charm."

Booth snorted. "That's ridiculous. You don't even know who I am."

Sweets for his part – even if in ignorance – dug deeper, "Could it be that you're still holding on to that persona. That you're afraid to reveal yourself?"

Booth leaned forward as he said deadly calm and serious, "I'm an FBI Agent. I get shot at every day. I'm not afraid of anything."

Sweets saw something spark behind the agent's eyes and knew he had something. "Okay, this is obviously very difficult for you but you shouldn't be ashamed to ask for help."

Booth looked over at Brennan for help, but what he saw stunned him. She was looking at him tenderly and whispered, "You shouldn't." She had opened up to him about her past, even more so than he did her.

Booth sighed, knowing that he was going to do be doing whatever Sweets said – for Brennan, not for Sweets. "Okay. Okay. I apologize. I do. I need help, "he paused, just so he could see Sweets finally think he's had a breakthrough and then continued, "with this case. So, while you review this, I will reveal myself to Bones." Booth placed his hand on Brennan's leg and squeezed it gently. Sweets however took notice and Booth winced slightly at his words and actions, "I know that sounded weird, but you know what I mean."

Brennan placed her hand on his forearm and said, "So you will share an emotionally humiliating episode from your youth with me."

Booth knew that she was sparing him from more vulnerable topics but clarifying what she wanted. "Yeah. I – I have 'em. Here."

Booth handed Sweets the file and he took it as he smiled, "Alright, excellent. Now, for the remainder of our time, let's role play."

Booth took the hat that was offered him and put it on as he said, "Now I know why I'm not allowed to bring my gun in here."

~BONES~

Booth and Brennan were sitting at a table at the diner. Booth had been trying his hardest to remember some sort of humiliating event in his life during high school. But by then he had built up his charm and waxed over his own pain with said charm. He just didn't have a lot of humiliating things happen to him as a teenager. But there was one more. "Alright, there was this kid, uh, junior year."

Brennan shook her head. She now knew that Booth had been 'that boy'. "Okay, is this going to be another story where you think you were humiliated, but you actually were not?"

Booth sighed as he leaned forward and said, "Just listen to me. This kid. Junior year. Harlan Kinney. He was one of those real weird, ya know, looking kids. He had this big Adam's apple stickin out and he wore his dad's clothes to school. Ya know, with the whole stretchy belt around his waist."

Brennan's brows furrowed as she asked, "What's wrong with that? It's practical."

Booth shook his head as he continued, "You're not listening. He was one of those real superior types, always talking out of a thesaurus, and one day he came up to me and a bunch of my buddies and he called us a bunch of Philistines. You know what that means, right?"

Brennan nodded slowly, "Yeah. A Philistine is a smug, ignorant person who is antagonistic toward higher thought and intelligence."

Booth started to feel his stomach clench as he thought back on this event. "Yeah, well, I didn't know what that meant till I looked it up. I told Kinney, 'Look, I'm not Philistine. I'm Catholic.'"

Brennan laughed a little, seeing how it was very hard not to. "That's pretty close to humiliation."

Booth shook his head as he finally got to the important part of the story. "No, that's embarrassing, that's not the humiliating part."

Brennan quieted down as she said, "Oh."

Booth took in a deep breath and told her, "My buddy picked Kinney up and dangled him over the stairway. You know, he begged and cried, and everyone laughed."

Brennan was not getting were this was going, "How is this about you?"

Booth tried to explain, "I laughed."

Brennan was even more confused, "I don't understand."

Booth leaned back as he said, "I could've stopped it. I could've stepped in and helped the kid out. Instead I-I didn't. Chose my side, and it was the wrong side."

Brennan raised an eyebrow, trying not to smile at Booth's words. Maybe she was wrong on how he was in high school. "So you were humiliated because you didn't act like a hero?"

Booth threw his hands in the air in frustration. "Fine. Fine. You know what? I'm perfect. My life was perfect."

Brennan tried to placate him as she said softly, "It's a good story, okay? But it's a bad one. I - it's both, I guess. I mean, I get it."

Booth started to play with something in his hand as he said, "Yeah?"

Brennan immediately noticed said something in his hand and narrowed her eyes. "What is that?"

Booth crossed his arms as he tried to hide it from her view. "Nothing."

Brennan went back to explanation before and told him. "Well, you evolved. And evolution is very impressive and that is definitely not nothing."

Booth smiled sheepishly at her and held up Brainy Smurf. "This?

Brennan looked at him blankly as she asked, "Did you bring that for me?"

Booth shook his head. "No."

Brennan told him a little of her hurt creeping into her voice now. "Good, because it's the wrong Smurf. I liked Smurfette. That's Brainy Smurf."

Booth looked down at the toy in his hand and then back up at Brennan. He smiled at her as he said, "Well, Smurfette was a stupid, shallow Smurf who only had her looks. Look, you're better than Smurfette. You have your looks and a whole lot more."

Brennan looked at the figurine in his hand as she said, "You did bring that for me to charm me in case I didn't find your humiliation story impressive, but I did, so…"

Booth smiled at her and laughed slightly as he exclaimed, "Aha! So I did impress you."

Brennan shook her head and joked, "That's what impressive means, dummy. You're such a Philistine."

Booth chuckled as he looked at his wife. He was so happy that this argument was over with. "I'll tell you what. You can hold on to this, and it will remind you how far I've come."

Brennan took the Smurf from Booth's hand and traced it with her finger gently. She then looked up at Booth and smiled, "I forgive you for snorting, Booth."

Booth leaned forward and whispered, "Evolution is a long, long process. It takes hundreds of years."

Brennan smiled at him as she whispered back, "Thousands."

Booth leaned in a little closer, his eyes darting around to make sure that no one they knew could see them. "Why do you have to always correct me?"

Brennan leaned in a little closer as well as she whispered with a smile on her face, "To help you evolve." Booth smiled at her as he closed the distance between them with a light kiss.