A/N: This popped in my head while I was at work today… Not sure what inspired it. It's set between "Wannabe in the Weeds" and "Pain in the Heart" and is a very vague spoiler for both.
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What's in a Name?
Bones. I never thought I'd miss that dreadful nickname. He started calling me that in the beginning, just to piss me off. If I could have come up with an equally annoying nickname for him, I would have. Unfortunately, with my social skills being what they are, I couldn't come up with anything that would irritate him. And so it stuck.
As time wore on, the nickname didn't bother me as much. I stopped protesting when he called me it. I actually started answering to it. And I don't think he was doing it to piss me off anymore. It became a weird term of endearment. Bones. As if it was actually my name.
Nobody else dared call me it. It was his name for me and neither of us would tolerate it from anyone else's lips. It became something special between us. Bones. He could convey so much meaning in that one little word. He said it when he was happy, or sad, or angry. He laughed it, whined it, groaned it. He used it to tease, to warn, to ask, to tell. And I embraced it.
I never realized how much I'd come to love it until I didn't hear it anymore. There was nothing left to fill the silence. There was a void that couldn't be filled. I was back to being Temperance Brennan again. I missed being Bones.