Disclaimer: I do not own Bones.
"We opened a door the other night that neither of us wanted to walk through, Bones."
He was talking lies, and he knew it.
Bones may not have wanted to walk over that threshold, but damn, he already had a foot in the door. That's why when he saw the tears subtly pooling in her eyes, and the soft 'This is the prom I never had' , He knew he couldn't not give this to her; and so he danced with her. Not the stupid, prepubescent, arms length away dance he had tried to do earlier, mere minutes ago. He pulled her close and actually swayed with her.
This is how it should be.
The traitorous thought wouldn't leave him alone for the entire time he had her in his arms. He was close enough to smell the vanilla in her hair, and it was making his nose tingle.
It was over all too soon, and he felt empty as soon as she slipped from his arms. She smiled at him, and then whispered that she had to use the restroom.
He sat at a table covered in a sparkly table cloth, and waited.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
Her face, gazing up at the fake stars, tears in her eyes. She was beautiful. Smart to almost a fault, socially awkward, observant, and gutsy. She was Bones. She was his brown haired, blue eyed, fiery anthropologist.
And he wasn't going to be able to get over her easily. The date he had next week was a fluke. Just a rumor for Sweets to get excited about.
He opened his eyes and glanced at his watch, nearly choking on his own saliva.
It had been ten minutes. He would have chuckled at his ability to get lost in the daydream that was his Bones, but he was more freaked out about her absence. There was a killer on the loose and she was wandering around.
He got up and paced himself to the girls locker room on the other end of the gym, before rapping on the door and opening it a crack, just enough so he could hear and talk to the occupant on the other side.
"Bones? You ok in there?"
"I-I'm ok Booth. Thank you. Be out in a moment." And she was.
He looked over at her from his place, leaned against a wall. She was smiling at him a little, but he could see a thin red rim around her eyes.
Tears?
"Want some punch, now?" She asked, and he grinned, letting it slide for the moment.
"Has it been spiked?"
"Probably. My former classmates, especially the males, loved to do that. They probably haven't stopped just because they're supposed to be older and mature."
Booth chuckled.
He was stronger than many things out there, but he wasn't strong enough to get over Temperance Brennan.