Chapter Three:
Booth awoke cradling Brennan in his arms, he pulled her a little closer, not happy with the heat that was radiating off her body. She was sick and there was nothing he could do about it. Deciding he could wait until the sun was up as well, he threw more wood on the fire and went back to sleep.
Several hours later, Booth woke to annoying poking sensation on his back. "What do you want Bones?"
"I don't know much about bones . . ." A thick country accent belonging to Sheriff Wayne Hampton drawled out.
"Now that ain't no way to be addressing the lady." His deputy spoke up.
"Been squirrel hunting, son?" Sheriff Hampton asked.
He looked around regaining his sense and realized how this situation must have looked to the two of them. Booth was pressed up against Brennan, their clothes were spread all about. Brennan was peacefully sleeping.
"Umm," Booth ran his hands through his hair, "this isn't what you think." He reached around and grabbed his boxers, pulling them on underneath the quilt. "Temperance," He made sure to address her properly, "time to wake up."
"Booth, five more minutes." She coughed.
He cursed underneath his breath. "I know you want to sleep longer, but you have to wake up now."
Brennan rolled over and rubbed her eyes. Looking up she finally realized that they weren't alone in the cabin. "Hello."
The Sheriff raised an eyebrow, while the deputy's mouth dropped open. Booth wrapped the quilt tighter around his waist as he stood to gather his clothes, he walked outside to get finished dressing and to give Brennan some privacy. The sheriff and deputy followed suit.
Booth quickly pulled on his t-shirt and sweatshirt with Hampton scrutinizing Booth's every moved. He suddenly felt like he was back in high school and had just gotten caught making out with Christine Sulkowski underneath the bleachers.
"I can explain." Booth began.
"No need for explanations. You saw a pretty woman and you thought you would just take advantage of her." Deputy Leads interrupted.
"That's not what happened." Booth tried again.
"Uh huh. Tell it to the judge."
Booth threw his hand up exacerbated at the situation. He didn't have to defend himself anyway, nothing happened, as much as he wanted something to happen, he wasn't going to cross that line.
"Nothing happened last night." Booth told him once more rolling his eyes. He hoped that Brennan would hurry up with getting ready.
"Son, do I look like I was born yesterday. You can't tell me you were stuck up here all night with a beautiful woman and nothing happened. My mama would have taken a hickory switch to me, and I wouldn't have been able to sit for a week for fibbing like that." The sheriff tells him sarcastically.
He continued on, not believing Booth, "Katie from the motel called this morning letting us know that you two didn't get back to the motel last night. She was worried, didn't want the city dwellers to have run into some trouble with the local moonshiners. I guess that's not the type of trouble you two ran into though . . . Bucky and I found your truck and called a tow. You can hitch a ride back to town with us."
"Why didn't ya'll call and let us know?" Deputy Leads asked.
"Our cell service doesn't work up here and it was so dark, we didn't expect anyone to try to find us. We were perfectly safe. I am a trained Army Ranger, I know how to survive in the woods." Booth grumbles.
"I'm not so convinced that the pretty little lady in there was so safe." Sheriff Hampton started up again.
Brennan walked out looking miserable, she sat next to Booth on the step. Her cold came on as a surprise. She looked at Booth and the sheriff and smiled nervously at them. They hiked silently to the SUV that was about a mile away from the cabin. Brennan stumbled slightly and Booth reached out to steady her.
They booth get silently into the back seat of the cruiser. Sheriff Hampton turned around and looked at them. "Leave room for the holy ghost."
Brennan giggled a little understanding that phrase which caused Booth the laugh slightly. The sheriff spun around and shot them looks that could kill. Why did Booth feel like a teenager that got caught parking at Makeout Hill? Booth continued sulking, not liking the fact that the sheriff believed that he would take advantage of his partner. His mother had raised him right for the most part.
The SUV had been towed back to the Hampton Motel. Booth hops out of the car, helping Brennan.
"Thanks for your help." Booth told Sheriff Hampton. He put hand on the small of Brennan's back and led her back to the room. Sheriff Hampton sped away as he saw the two of them enter the same room.
After taking a long shower and a nap, Brennan woke with her head nestled on Booth's chest, his arm holding him firmly against him. Booth felt her stir.
"Are you feeling any better after your nap?" He murmured.
"Yeah, now I'm feeling a little hungry. Are you up for going to Lily's?" Brennan asked.
"Sure." He relinquished his hold on her, moving from the bed.
They went outside and decided to walk to the café. Brennan turned and studied her partner. "You have been quiet since this morning, what's bothering you?"
"Nothing Bones. Nothing." Booth tried to get her to believe.
"Nope, I'm not going to believe that. Something is bothering you." She insinuated as he opened the door to the café for her. "You are bothered by what Sheriff Hampton is implying. Am I that repulsive that you don't want people to think that we slept together?"
"No Bones. It definitely isn't that. I just don't like people thinking things happen when they didn't. If he calls Cullen then we might be kissing our partnership goodbye." Booth explained. "And you aren't repulsive." He wanted to add that she was beautiful and intelligent, that he would consider himself lucky if they were to be ever together, but he kept his mouth shut on that.
"So you aren't bothered by what his is implying."
"Bones, of course I'm bothered. I'm not that type of guy." He sat back in the chair, rubbing his eyes.
"I don't think you should care so much about what Sheriff Hampton thinks. He isn't playing with an ace in the deck. We are going to be leaving as soon as we can anyway." Brennan pointed out.
Booth nodded looking at his partner. The walk had taken most of Brennan's energy. "It's playing with a full deck of cards. Bones, are you feeling okay?"
"Still feel a little run down." She replied.
"I'll go to the drug store after we finish up and get you some Tylenol." Booth told her.
"Thanks Booth." She looked up at Lou Ann, who seemed to be the only waitress in the café. "I'll have some broccoli and cheese soup."
Lou Ann turned toward Booth, "And what would you like?"
"I'll take some chili and a grilled cheese." Booth replied. He looked up to the sound of the bell.
Sheriff Hampton and Deputy Leads had entered the café. "Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, fancy meeting you here."
Brennan looked up, feeling completely miserable. "Were you able to send the remains without any difficulties?"
"No ma'am. No troubles." Deputy Leads informed her.
Booth's sixth sense kicked in, they may have no troubles with the remains, but there was going to be trouble here. "Well, thank you for your assistance on this. If you don't mind, my partner and I have to go over some logistics about this case."
"Actually Agent Booth, I do mind." Sheriff Wayne Hampton asserted. "You see around these parts, when you take advantage of a nice little lady like that, you gotta make things right. If you catch my drift."
"Booth how can you catch a drift?" Brennan asked, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Not now Bones." Booth attempted. "Make things right? What are you talking about? You're insane, nothing happened up on that mountain." Booth started to stand, but this time Deputy Leads directed his shotgun at him.
"I don't think the sheriff is finished talking with you quite yet." Leads drawled out.
Booth slid back down into the red vinyl booth, looking at his partner. "Hey, are you okay?"
Brennan shot straight up and ran toward the bathroom. Booth went to follow, when he felt the shot gun in his rib cage. "Come on now, this has gone a little bit too far." Both tried to reason with them. "Let me go check on my partner."
"Lou Ann will go." Sheriff Hampton nodded towards her. Lou Ann stopped what she was doing and went to go check on Brennan, who was currently sitting on the floor dry heaving.
Several minutes passed and with each moment Booth was getting more and more impatient with the situation. Finally, Brennan came out of the bathroom, her eyes were bloodshot and she looked exceedingly pale.
"Booth what is going on?" Brennan asked, coming to stand next to him.
"Will you please explain to them that nothing happened between us last night?" Booth asked with as much restraint as he could muster.
Brennan went into a coughing fit and when it finally died down, "Really Sheriff nothing happened between Agent Booth and me last night."
"Uh huh and that is why you were puking your guts out in the bathroom." Lou Ann started, she lowered his voice to a loud whisper. "She must be with child."
"It is physically impossible to 'puke your guts out.'" Brennan tried using the air quotes.
"She is just trying to protect him." Another patron pointed out.
Booth went to move, to only have Deputy Leads press the gun further into his rib caged. He went to reach for his own weapon when he realized that he had left it in the room.
Sheriff Hampton reached into his pocket and drew out a document. Booth looked at the piece of paper . . .
"A marriage license, you've got to be kidding me!" Booth exclaimed. "Come on Bones, help me out."
"Son just sign the paper. You will thank me later." Sheriff Hampton had a great big smile forming across his face. "Besides, there is an entire room here that will swear that this whole ordeal was your idea." Booth went to lunge at the Sheriff, but then felt the shot gun poking him in his ribs, which made him think better of that.
He looked at his partner who had situated herself in an empty booth, trying to catch her breath. "Sheriff, I need to speak with Booth in private."
He nods his head, dropping out of ear shot with Deputy Leads.
"Booth this can't be legal. There is a waiting period anyway between getting a license and ceremony. Let's just sign it and get our food to go." Brennan reasoned with him. "I'm not feeling well, and I just want to get back to bed so I can get better and can concentrate on the case. Let's just go along with it and get out of this place."
Booth agreed, but there still was a little voice in the back of head that was telling him that this was definitely a bad idea. He walked over to the table where the license sat. Brennan had just signed her name to it. Booth picked up the silver pen and went to sign his name, but his hand didn't seem to work. He went to set the pen down when he felt the shot gun back in his ribs. He quickly picked the pen back up and signed his name.
"Alright, it's signed. Bones, let's get out of here."
"Agent Booth, do you mind if I call you Seeley." Booth nodded his head, he knew at that moment he really didn't have a choice. "You really shouldn't call the lady Bones. Her name Temperance is absolutely stunning. I think everyone and their brother would agree with me."
Booth had always known that, he was just irked that some backwoods hillbilly had a gun shoved into his ribs, and that he was being told what to do.
"Speaking of brothers, this is my brother Rev. Willard Hampton. He is the pastor of the Church of Christ here in Hamptonville. He is going to perform the ceremony." The sheriff lowered his voice. "I took the liberty of explaining the situation to him, so he is going to skip over the counseling formalities."
He sounded like he was doing them a favor.
Willard Hampton stepped forward and shook Booth's hand. "Normally we would do this in the church, but the annual fall festival is tomorrow the decorations are strewn about. We can just do it right here, after all Jesus did preach to his people on the mountainside."
"Why not? People get married all the time at cafes." Booth said sarcastically. He looked over a Brennan who just was shaking her head trying to make sense of the ridiculousness going on around them.
Willard Hampton pulled out a small pocket bible, instructed them to stand next to each other. He cleared his throat and started to speak. "The purpose of a marriage is to join together . . ." Willard Hampton laughed a little, "Well, that part has already been done. . ."
"I really wish people would stop assuming we are together." Brennan sighed.
Booth just threw her a look, basically telling her to suck it up for the time being.
Rev. Hampton ignored the interruption and continued. "This man and this woman have chosen to stand in front of all of us here and declare their love for each other. Seeley, would you please repeat after me?"
Booth cleared his throat getting ready to protest, only to hear the unmistakable sound of a shot-gun being loaded. Booth nodded his head and began to repeat.
"I Seeley Booth take Temperance Brennan to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, till death parts us." Booth repeated, looking at his partner. He thought for sure that Brennan would refuse to repeat and would end the ridiculousness of it all.
Brennan muttered, "It's not legal."
Brennan took at deep breath and began to repeat the vows. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed, no matter how ludicrous this who thing was.
Rev. Hampton looked at the two of them, "Now Seeley you may place the ring on her finger and repeat after me."
"They don't have rings, and they can't get married without rings!" Lou Ann exclaimed. Lily stood and handed them two rings, a small diamond encrusted bad and a heavier white gold band.
"My husband passed such a long time ago, and I just didn't want to part with these rings until the time was right. I feel now that I would be so blessed that such a nice young couple such as y'all could wear these rings now." She proudly hands the rings over to Booth. "Just love each other as much as Jake and I did."
Booth looked at the rings in his hand and went to pass them back to her. "Ma'am I can't accept your wonderful gesture."
"Please do." Lily closed her hands over his. "Let it bring you as much happiness as it did me."
Booth sighed, not wanting to take her rings out of this pretense. He wanted to protest, but the constant jab of the shotgun in his ribs were a reminder to him to just keep his mouth shut for the time being. He would send the rings back to her after they leave town.
Rev. Hampton cleared his throat, "Seeley place the ring on Temperance's left ring finger and repeat after me, 'Temperance take this ring as a symbol of my love and fidelity."
He repeats, sliding the ring onto her finger easily. He stared at her for a moment and if he had closed his eyes he could have almost believed that it was going to be real.
Brennan coughed a little, wishing that she could just curl up into bed about know. This was getting ridiculous, and she could tell that Booth was now pushed past the point of irritation with the shotgun in his side. She accepted the ring and repeated after Rev. Hampton.
"Seeley accept this ring as a symbol of my love and fidelity." She coughed again.
"Is there anyone here who can think of a reason why these two should not be wed? Speak now or forever hold your peace."
Booth went to open his mouth, but then thought twice about it. Brennan was getting weaker by the moment and he didn't want to prolong her misery.
"Seeley do you promise to love and cherish Temperance all the days of your life?"
"Say I do." The sheriff prompted.
"I do." Booth grunted out.
"Temperance do you promise to love and obey Seeley and accept him as head of your household?"
Brennan looked like she was going to protest. Out of all the things to protest about, it was that? Booth shot her a warning look saying "let's just get this over with."
"I do."
"With the power vested in me I by the state of North Carolina, I know pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride." He proclaims.
People were clapping all around them, and Booth just stared at his partner.
"Go on. Kiss her now Son. We all know you have done more than that. Now ain't the time to be shy." Sheriff Hampton proclaimed.
Booth leaned in toward his partner. To his surprise she met him halfway. Her lips parted slightly, inviting him in, so he took the opening.
Even louder cheers erupted in Lily's Café. Booth took Brennan by the hand and led her out the door.
"That was the strangest thing I ever had to do." He proclaimed.
AN: I hope you guys liked this installment. My friend's parents got married by the proverbial shot-gun wedding . . . and I wanted to write a BB scene about it. Reviews rock my socks and make my day. Have a great night/day you guys.