Of course. She had to go to the bathroom. She couldn't just tell him no and put him out of the misery of anticipation. She had to torture him a little more. And yet, here he was, probably more in love with her than he had been five minutes ago.
"Wow. I mean… wow, bro. You said she wasn't a marriage kind of girl, but… wow. You sure know how to clear a room."
"Shut up, Jared," Marisa hissed. "You? Are not helping." She placed a comforting hand on Seeley's shoulder. "She'll be okay."
"Are you going to go talk to her, son?" Dave asked.
"No. It's Bones. She's very… analytical about everything. She just needs a minute. She'll be back. I think."
"Unless she goes out the bathroom window," Jared muttered.
"You listen to your wife and hush your mouth Jared Michael," Emily ordered. "I'll go talk to her, honey."
"No, Mom. Please. She'll come back."
"And until then… we just wait?" Dave raised an eyebrow at his son.
"She'll come around," Booth nodded confidently. "I know her."
"Uncle Seeley, you got dumped," Justin said seriously, patting Booth on the shoulder. "It's okay. Katie Olson dumped me. You'll get over it."
Booth smiled as best he could. "Thanks, Justo. I don't think she's dumped me." He hoped to God she didn't. "But if she does, I know you'll be there for me."
"Sure," Justin nodded.
"Uh, Seeley, are you sure you don't want to go talk to her?" Marisa questioned quietly.
"You guys!" Booth jumped to his feet. "Please, stop!"
"He's right," Jared supplied. "He has lived through this before."
Booth snorted. "Thanks, bro."
"Anytime," Jared grinned.
Booth paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. "I really shouldn't have put her on the spot like that. I just wanted it to be special and memorable. And I told her two people could make a marriage whatever they wanted. I just figured she knew I meant we could make a marriage whatever we wanted. I guess I shouldn't have had that conversation with her when she was drunk. Or maybe she really doesn't want to be with me forever. Have I been kidding myself this whole time? What if I--"
Booth stopped suddenly and looked up at the beautiful woman standing in the doorway, his niece balanced on her hip.
"I suppose you're wanting an answer to your question," she said so softly he could barely hear her husky voice.
He swallowed. Did he? He'd talked a good game to Jared about how he was prepared for her to say no, and that he'd be okay if she did say no. Now, standing in his parents' living room, looking into her bright blue eyes, he realized it was true. He could live if she said no, but he sure didn't want to. Slowly, he nodded his head and waited for her to speak again.
"I might have one."
She felt paralyzed for a second by the intensity of his wide eyes, which reflected so much: hope, fear, excitement…love. It struck her how much courage it had taken for him to do this here, in front of all the people who were important to him. What a risk it had been, especially when the last time he had been rejected as he was. But their entire relationship had been a chance…every step of the way, from when she followed him into a darkened room at Halloween knowing, somehow, that everything was going to change, to when he kissed her after the Macy's Parade, to when she invited his son into their lives and their relationship. In some respects, this was no different. She so didn't want to disappoint him this time around…but…
"I'm not Catholic like you and your family, you know," she said, softly, but firmly.
"I know."
"Your church believes that marriage is something that I will never believe it is."
"I know."
"It will never mean the same thing to me as it does to most people."
"Yes."
"The only thing it could ever mean to me…is that everything in me is willing to work my hardest to be with you and Parker, for as long as we are together. It could only mean that we are a team…in every sense. To each other and to the world. It could only mean that…that I love you. Completely. And that I trust you love me."
She saw her words sinking into him. She barely noticed their rapt audience, or Ali squirming a little in her arms. She and Booth might have been the only people in the room. He slowly nodded.
"Would that ever be enough?" she whispered to him, eyes pleading for his honesty and his understanding.
He didn't say anything for a moment, and she could have heard a pin drop in the room. Then…
"It's more than I could ever ask for. It's everything I want."
She studied him, reading all the emotions on his face. "Okay."
"Okay…?"
"Okay. I will."
"You will?"
"Yes. I'll be…"
She was interrupted by pain of a tiny hand reaching out and taking a death grip on her cheek.
"AUNT BO!!" the toddler in her arms shrieked.
That broke the spell in the room, and the people in it began to laugh quietly. It brought a smile to her face, too.
"Yes," she whispered, pulling the baby's hand from her face and kissing the little fist gently. "I'll be your Aunt Bo." She saw Parker bouncing on his knees on the couch. "And…I'll be your stepmother." And her eyes fell on Booth's, and they were shining. "And I'll be your wife. In whatever way we decide for that to be, together. But I will."
And then, her fiance was holding her and there was no way she could ignore the others in the room as they descended on the two of them in a mass of hugs and shouts and a feeling that felt suspiciously like home.
He couldn't breathe. He had locked his knees and he couldn't breathe. He knew from experience that if he passed out, he'd fall straight over backwards if his knees were locked. She was talking. Her lips were moving and she was giving him an answer to the most important question he'd ever asked anyone in his life and all he could think was that any second now he was going to pass out and he'd fall straight over like a tree because he had locked his damn knees.
He nodded dumbly and tried to put together the words he'd only heard as buzzing in his ears. She wasn't Catholic. Well good thing his parents weren't the super strict kind that forbade him to marry anyone who wasn't Catholic. Of course, maybe they would have been if he hadn't first had a child out of wedlock. Hmm. She was waiting for him to say something. "I know."
She reminded him that the Catholic Church believed marriage was something she never would. Well that was fair. But he'd already explained to her that marriage – that their marriage – could be whatever they wanted it to be. All his religious beliefs aside, he just knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life trying to make her smile. Simple as that.
He responded again. "I know."
"It will never mean the same thing to me as it does to most people."
Well thank God. Anymore, most people got divorced. He smiled at his own joke. He knew that wasn't what she meant, but he also knew what she did mean, and that was okay too. "Yes."
Then she was telling him what it did mean to her, which he was pretty sure he already knew for the most part. They were a team. They'd been a team for three years, but now they were going to be a team forever. Her, him, and Parker. If he had both of them, he could take on the world if he had to. She told him she loved him and that she trusted he loved her too. You got it, babe. Forever.
"Would that be enough?" she asked quietly. He saw the emotions cross over her face… love, hope, fear? Did she think now that a cell in his body would be able to turn her down? Of course that was enough. More than. So he told her. And waited. And she said okay. Okay, what? Okay, okay? Wait. Okay?
"Okay?"
"Okay, I will."
She would what? What was the question? His head was rushing and his ears were buzzing and he could feel himself grinning like an idiot, so apparently, somewhere in his brain he knew what she was talking about… "You will?"
"Yes. I'll be…" All of a sudden, Ali shrieked, wanting to be let down.
"AUNT BO!"
"Yes. I'll be your Aunt Bo." He followed her eyes to where Parker sat on the couch, nearly in launch mode. "And I'll be your stepmother." He could feel his throat closing with tears, and the pass-out feeling from earlier came back, but somehow it was so much better. He grinned at her. She smiled back, her beautiful blue eyes sparkling. His fiancee's beautiful blue eyes sparkling. Wow. Then she said the greatest words he thought he'd ever hear: "And I'll be your wife. In whatever way we decide for that to be, together. But I will."
He swept her into his arms, baby Ali still smushed slightly between them. Parker rocketed off the couch and wrapped his arms around their waists and grinned up at them. The rest of the family descended on them with boisterous family hugs and shouts of congratulations, and he grinned. This was exactly perfect. Exactly as, deep inside, he knew it would be.
A/N: Yay! We hope we did this moment justice and kept it in character (at least, NBI-flufftastic-in-character:-D). NBI is exhausted from the "winter" holidays coming one right after the other, so we're hibernating until Mother's day. But until then, look for new chapters and maybe even new stories from kinseyjo and SSJL. We lurve you and hope you had as fantastic of an Easter as Booth and Brennan! Kisses!