Disclaimer: Not my copyrights or characters, those both belongs to much more interesting people than silly little me.
Booth held the steering wheel to the right as the car slid backwards in the suburban street at a crawl. He rested his elbow against the window and let out a deep sigh. His summer was slipping away from him, no friends, no really basketball; nothing about this situation was appealing. Even the joy he once received from watching the relentless youth in his young cousins was beginning to take its toll. The time he spent with Russ seemed to be the only escape from this mundane repetition that was Ohio summer days. But watching hockey, talking sports and playing call of duty could only exercise one part of his brain. He needed actual conversation; he needed a puzzle, a project to keep him sane. Initially Booth thought his project would be decoding the enigma that is Temperance Brennan but her cold exterior gave nothing resistance to his charm, and he found himself being more embarrassed for himself and regretful rather then mentally satisfied. Jack Hodgins seemed to be interesting and good company but Seeley shortly discovered that once Angela sunk her teeth into his heart, there was no way to separate him long enough from her side to get more then a word in.
His summer was stinking stronger then a landfill in the summer, and there was no sign of escape. So he was relishing in the small joys he had, poker nights with the guys at Russ', teaching Sampson something new, or just watching the basketball sink into the net in the backyard. It was getting harder to find comfort in these things but for his sanity he felt no other option.
The Gods were seldom kind to Liam Roberts. His muscle density was anything but impressive, his hair never seemed to want to lie flat, and his parents refused his request for contacts. Overall Liam was the cliché image of a geek, and his passion for learning seemed to only exponentially increase this image. His brother, Oliver Andrew, was the spitting image of their father, the athlete, the jock, popular, a guys guy. Nothing about him said geek, or nerd; he carried himself with confidence, his body language just screamed out 'bro'. Oliver had his father's looks, talents, and ambition, and his mothers intellect, kindness, and passion. He was relatable, and to Liam's distain his younger brother.
Not saying Liam didn't have friends, he had some, but he didn't have what Seeley had, he didn't have what Oliver Andrew had, he didn't have what Tempe wanted or what anyone would want in a guy. He told himself at the start of this summer he would watch Seeley, he would figure out what he did that made him seem to be irresistible and cool. This summer was his chance to become the guy that who in high school had girlfriends, guy friends, and status. But Liam's plan was failing; Seeley didn't seem to be on his game. Since the second week he was in town, Booth hadn't been himself; he played basketball in the backyard or swam for a while alone and then either went to Russ' or chilled with Sampson in his room teaching him video game stuff, basketball, or weird handshakes. This wasn't the cousin he remembered, he wasn't the big shot basketball star, the partier, the rebel, he was a mellow loner. This was all a disaster.
Have you ever had something so great going on that you forget about all the bad in the world? Just let all worries, fears, just slip from your mind, and let the warm content feelings keep you in a euphoric state? That was what was happening to Jack and Angie, and even as she saw her best friend slip into herself she couldn't help but pass it off as a phase. Bren would come out of it, she would be sure, if anything she put it in Russ' hands. She picked up the ball and put it in his hands, which then he would have to hand to Booth so it would be in his court, a very twisted metaphor. But still, Jack took up almost all of her time now, and Brennan didn't seem to mind. Although, she wouldn't say she if she did mind, but Brennan always said she wanted her to be happy. All of this logic was twisted and tangled but Angela knew, it would work out. It had to because Temperance deserved to have the pleasure and joy she had when she was with Hodgins.
June left. July came, and that meant one thing to Oliver, Sampson, and Liam. The Forth of July, Christmas in July, July days, Maniac Mondays, Friday Bonfires, the list went on, but July meant fun and lots of it. The annual camp campout for the forth was an absolute necessary tradition, and it was the official start to a month long family bonding exercise. And for the first time in history no one in the Roberts family was excited, they all had separate plans that conflicted with these activities and the thing they wanted to do least was spend 4 long days camping with 100 other kids and 14 teenagers. This summer, the one that was supposed to offer Booth perspective, give Liam a chance to change, make Oliver a basketball star, and create lasting memories for Sampson was not living up to it's purpose. July meant hell.
Tuesday July 2, Booth woke up like every morning before to Sampson running in his room and jumping on his bed. Showering, eating, washing syrup off of every surface in the kitchen, getting everyone in the car, spending 10 minutes coaxing one of the three children out of his car before he could finally check them into camp. A routine he was used to, seeing Jack or Angela every morning, small talk, updates on the on going adventures of the day, and then off to do various tasks for his Aunt. Today Jack asked him to stay, and so he followed Liam over to an empty table, took a seat and proceeded to listen to the morning announcements.
Brennan was forced to give morning announcements the last couple weeks because Jeff lost his voice during a rather intense song singing session. So there she stood, in her bright orange polo and khakis with her hair pulled back into a no-nonsense ponytail, and a forced smile. She went quickly through the trivial group schedules, which haven't changed since the week before, and moved into the plans for later in the week with momentum. Ugg--was all she could think about when she read from her notice about the upcoming camping trip. Just what she wanted, a trip with a bunch of children asking careless questions for hours at end sounds like a blast. The bus would arrive at noon on Thursday to take them to Devils Head where they would set up camp by 3 and proceed to organize a game of capture the flag. Dinner, campfire, sleep, early morning wake up, breakfast, hike, lunch picnic, swimming in the lake, dinner, games, and so on. As she read the plans for this trip she felt her sanity fall from her grasps. She had one more day to catch a serious disease to get her out of this, maybe then her parents would leave the cabin to come home and care for her.
Booth sat and listened to the explanation of this camping trip to be explained, the one he had heard stories about for years from the boys, but as he looked at Liam, Oliver, and Sampson all he saw was a deep look of boredom and distain. He could see it in Temperance's face too, as she spoke of the different nightly activities he could see her cringe or shift in discomfort. Hiding unhappiness seemed to be popular in this place, because none of the councilors seemed to enjoy this trip, and about 1/5 the kids in the room were grimacing. Once Temperance was finished, she stepped down from standing on the table, and disappeared into the office, while his attention was averted watching her, Jack had reappeared at his side.
"Hey man I understand that, you know this sounds completely bleak and like fucking hell, but Tim just quit, and we are down a councilor, I know it's a lot to ask, but how would you feel about helping us out and being our sports director?" Jacks tone seemed hopeful but Booth sensed the desperation in it.
"You know I realize you guys may need it, but really I don't think I would be able to I have stuff I have to do for the Roberts during the day, and that time is the tiny amount I get to spend without the rascals hanging around." He tried to express a level of consideration in his voice but they both knew he was lying. He spent most of the time the guys were there exercising or playing sports so he had no real obligation holding himself back from offering Hodgins his service.
"I understand that this gig sucks, but I wouldn't ask unless we were desperate." The expression in Jacks eyes seemed to pass as pleading and Booth felt compelled to agree, he could help, these people had been nothing but gracious to him. After agreeing to he followed Jack into the office where he signed paperwork, read the guidebook and changed into the Tuesday-Thursday orange polo he was given. He then checked his watch and compared it to the schedule on the whiteboard. In the main room he saw Angela leading a group of boys and girls just older then Sampson in papier mache, and on the other side at a large circle he saw whom he assumed to be Isaac practice what looked like a skit or play with Oliver's group. Deciding he would meet up with Hodgins to see what he was supposed to do next he followed the back doors to the warm heat of the summers day. Out in the green grass he saw a group of youngsters sitting in a tight circle laughing and playing a game, and another group standing in two lines playing what looked an awful lot like red rover. Knowing that Jack couldn't be inside he scanned the open fields used for soccer and football. Sure enough there sat Hodgins under a large Willow tree, reading and listening to his ipod.
There was a strange cycle to this madness. When the kids arrive they meat there leader. Each group of kids was divided by age group, and given a color from the rainbow proportional to that group's age. There were 5 to 6 groups, depending on the week. He was supposed to be in charge of yellow but because it was a holiday week yellow wasn't a group in rotation. The leaders of the groups took the kids from station to station, arts and crafts, sports, knowledge, and something called cub time. Angela was put in charge of arts and crafts, he was supposed to cover the sports and games part when he wasn't leading yellow, and apparently someone named Kat was in charge of the learning time. Other then that, the leaders apparently worked with the groups on skits, arts projects, different games, or just talked with the kids.
20 minutes of explanation gave Booth an idea of what he was supposed to be doing, and when the next rotation occurred he got his first group, Oliver's group. Henry took the kids out to the field where they meet Booth, and handed him the reigns. Hodgins told him it would be easiest to simply play a game to start his first day, so grabbing a playground ball out of the game shed, he figured a game of spud would be an easy starter. After explaining and secretly assigning numbers the game begin and the kids quickly became enthralled. As he watched from aside, Booth for the first time in days felt a sense of accomplishment and success. He say Oliver run pass throwing a lighthearted taunt at his buddy with the ball, Booth saw what he first saw in this summer, a different perspective of life, the child's perspective.
By the end of the day, Booth had put everything away in the shed said his goodbyes to his new young friends and headed to the office to talk with Hodgins about plans for the future. To his dismay Hodgins had already left, him and Angela apparently took off right after the last kid checked out. The only people left were Temperance, Henry and Kat. They were all standing by the counter and refrigerator. When they noticed his presence their conversation was cut short and all eyes were on him.
Henry was the first to speak, "So you are the new guy Hodgins hired?" his tone seemed very quizative, Henry was appeared to be a curious fellow.
"Yeah, I guess I'm here replacing Tim"
Kat stuck out her hand with a warm smile, "It sure was nice of you to help us out, you're a lifesaver." All Brennan could say was "yeah" after Kat's comments. Both Henry and Kat could feel some sort of tension there, and taking it as a signal Kat excused herself. Just as Henry was about to do the same Brennan spoke up and offered to walk Kat out, leaving Henry and Booth staring awkwardly at them as they walked off.
"So, I would like to officially introduce myself. I'm Henry, but you can call me Roy G. Biv, if you wish." His introduction was met with a blank expression, "Okay buddy that was a joke." Booth still offered no emotion but did offer a response, "Oh, sorry I didn't get it." Henry shook his head, this guy was going to be fun; "It's a really bad cultural meets chemistry joke." "Wow, nothing okay. Well I figured since you are new you might want to come to dinner with us tonight in town. Most of the staff gets together and go to The Nitty Gritty, you're welcome to join. It's usually fun and it would be a great way for you to get to know the others." Booth was appreciative of the offer and told him he would think about it.
Once home Booth relaxed in the den watching Sport Center with Oliver when Liam came in and asked to speak with him in private. They ended up going to the backyard where Liam confessed his summer plan to Booth in the hopes of being pointed in the right direction. Really, Seeley was speechless. Liam, smart, witty Liam wanted to be more like him.
"That day when we had people over swimming I saw the way you looked at Temperance. I know you like her. It's fine I know that she is older then me, and would never ever ever be interested in me, but she just so perfect. When I can home the other day I say you guys in the pool, I'm pretty sure she likes you too. I just wanted to know how you do it. You knew her like 3 day and had her falling into your lap almost. I have been following her around for years, complimenting her, sharing her interests; I've done everything they say girls like. Is it because I'm weak? Because I realize that some women do rely on physic for determining a mate, but do all. Should I start to weight lift, pick up basketball like you and Oliver." Booth interrupted him once he had finally caught up with what he was saying, "Liam, stop. It's okay, you are perfect just the way you are. Don't worry, you just need time and to open you're eyes. There are so many other girls out there that are your age and who I'm sure life you for yourself. You defiantly don't need to change, and taking up athletics is ridiculous, just be yourself. You are young, you will grow into the Roberts family looks, and by the time you are in high school you will have girls crawling all over you. Buddy, you don't have to change a thing about yourself, just don't look to older women for a relationship, I'll tell you girls my age, they are nothing but trouble and pain." Liam looked a little bit more at ease but still there was a sense of tension at the center of the kid that was tearing him apart, still he turned and went back into the house, up the stairs and disappeared into his room. Booth looked at his watch and took an inventory of himself, trying to figure out what would be best to do, go to the restaurant with the new people or go over to Russ' and hang out with the guys. It was a hard one, the pros and cons were weighed but altogether, Liam reminding him of the other day in the pool he felt compelled to go out to dinner with her.
I realize it has been forever since this story had been updated, my sincerest apologizes but I feel as if there is new inspiration for it an and change in direction coming. Thanks, hope you enjoyed...