Chapter 3 Breathing
Breathing…it's what everybody does without thinking to stay alive. It's as natural as blinking your eyes however many times that occurs during a day. So what else is as natural as breathing?
For each person, the activities that become autonomous, depend upon what kind of personality we possess and how we view the world.
To illustrate, Jack Hodgins loves insects, so he delights in and seeks out the chance to explore, observe, and handle creepy crawly things that make most people cringe.
Angela Montenegro has a zest for living which colors all she does. She empathizes with people around her and notices their reactions, moods, and feelings; sometimes before they're aware enough to interpret and respond themselves. And in the case of Bren, Angela alerts her best friend to her emotions.
Dr. Temperance Brennan who is blessed with a superior intellect, eidetic memory, and extraordinary analytical skills, offers people her knowledge without even thinking. She always has ready a pertinent fact about what's happening around her. She can explain anything and people like Parker Booth who take the time to really listen when she elaborates on a subject find great pleasure in leaning from her.
For some people, being considerate of those they care about-friends, family members, children, co-workers and other familiar folks-happens without them thinking much about it.
Special Agent Seeley Booth falls into this category of individual. He tries to help the people he encounters and do the right thing as he lives his life. One of the recipients of this kindness is his partner. From the first time he saw her lecturing in a university hall, he was impressed with her and thought it was destiny that they had met. As they became friends and partners, he expended a good deal of thought and effort on helping Brennan when she was unaware of and oblivious to his concern for her well-being. The longer they worked together, the more he hoped to someday establish a permanent relationship with her. But he restrained himself due to knowing her past experiences with abandonment. Thinking about his partner, how he could protect her, make her life easier, and gradually bring her to trust him became as second nature to him as inhaling and exhaling.
Brennan became aware of their connection more gradually, but her respect and fondness for Booth increased despite her silence on the matter. Her unnerving experience with Dr. Lauren Eames brought those signals from the universe from static into focus, and she 'got the message.' Seemingly too late…but we viewers know better. Hannah disappeared from the scene, the partners stayed their course. Booth's anger and Bones' imperviousness dissolved. Their relationship deepened as time went on until….
Being part of one another was like breathing. Trying to break the laws of physics and become one felt right. Their partnership became so encompassing that they felt like halves of a whole, only complete when together in spirit. Booth and his Bones finally admitted to themselves and each other that 'like' had become 'love' and they needed one another like they needed air. ..to survive, to thrive, to live.