Thursday was white polo day at camp, and as Seeley dressed that morning he thought of the day to come. He had already received 6 texts from Hodgins, whom he didn't remember giving his number too, saying how he had to come to work early and should pack an overnight bag including two days of clothes, swimwear, and plenty of bug repellent. Figuring that this meant he would be forced into the camping trip, but packed what he thought would best in any outdoor situation, and right as he was zipping up his Adidas duffle, his phone beeped, alerting him to a message just left in his inbox. It was Hodgins telling him he had to bring a plain green tee-shirt and to not tell anyone if they ask. Booth thought it was strange, but figured that's just how Hodgins was, and threw in the shirt.
After rounding up the boys, going over their bags twice, and breaking up six arguments about the trip, Booth got all three boys into the car. He got the center a little later then he expected but looking at the parking lot and seeing the void that was the surrounding quiet morning fields, Seeley had a feeling he was still early. Walking through the glass doors and into the main hall, Booth was immediately faced with chaos. There were bags and bags of what he could only assume where gear for the trip alongside the far wall, and a group of tall teens in white shirts systematically moving more over to rest with the others. No one seemed to notice his arrival, so he just walked right over past all of the over glitter cover tables and around the randomly placed chairs. As he slowly slipped into the line, and sent down what he figured were tents and possibly hardware. Once all the bags were organized and they sat for morning meeting. Everyone was put in charge of different activities or a group of kids. Booth, even though he was new, was supposed to look after the eleven year olds, which he assumed must be the mellowest group of guys. After going over the trip itinerary a couple of times, Booth couldn't understand why Russ would say this trip was fun, they spent almost 5 hours straight playing games like capture the flag, kick the can, and a variety of tag games. Sure it could be relaxing to play silly games, but not for that long. They then went from there to the lake, to go either swimming, canoeing, or to compete in sand volleyball. He was put in charge of watching the kids swimming, and sitting on the shore. He was supposed to just watch them for what, like 4 hours.
After they covered the schedule, and distributed campground set up jobs, the meeting closed. Booth walked out to the fields, and as he walked, he reflected on his quick decision to work with these kids. He could handle having to throw a ball in the air and shout a number, or teaching kids how to improve their basketball shots, but watching kids shyly splash each other for more than 2 hours, helping eight year olds try and assemble a tent, pretending to be into a game of capture the flag, these were things he didn't expect he would have to handle. These were tasks to great for his patients, he could handle Sampson hiding from him, or Liam's brooding, but could he pretend to be entirely into such childish things. He felt above these things, he wasn't as directionless as Russ, there was no way Seeley Booth, star athlete and all around all-star, could spend a weekend playing with kids and look back on it as one of the greatest weekends of his life. So he walked and moped, shouted for Sampson Oliver to come inside, and turned back to face the "consequences" of his quick decisions.
They spent the morning going over rules, playing a large group name game, then went over the rules for the trip again. They discussed how to put together the tents and the procedure they would follow for meal times once out there. It was simple enough, Temperance remembered when she was younger and it was her first trip without her parents, she sat there and listened as intently as she could. There was no way she was going to allow herself to screw something like that up. All of her peers goofed off took more then five times the time it took her to build the tent, but it wasn't as satisfying as she thought it would be. Her head was reeling as she sat there, watching everyone laughing and having a great time playing with the stakes and poles of their tent, while hers was fully erect and all of her belongings where situated inside. How could it be that this success wasn't sweet, why did she feel like she was losing out by completing the task as it was supposed to be done?
She only took the camping trip once as a child, all the other summers she insisted her father take her along with him up to the summer cabin. There was nothing in town worthwhile when school was out, Angela usually went off with her father and there was no one else around who would chose to spend their summer days with her. But the one time she went, there was nothing appealing about it. They spent endless hours playing the same games, and when everyone else was on the beach or in the lake, she was on the shore reading. No one was mean to her, everyone was pretty nice but she could tell they thought she was weird, she saw their glances and heard the whispers. Now she was stuck doing this all over again, stuck on a trip with people who don't understand her need for stimulation. Brennan understood there was a difference between being a child at camp and a counselor; she had grown a lot since her bookish childhood days. Her social skills have improved and while she still wasn't as good at communicating and remains unable to relax in many social situations, it was easy to see her ability to make human connections is ever growing.
She boarded the bus silently dreading this weekend, wishing it away but as she took her seat next to Angela, it became more and more real.
"Excited for this weekend? I've never been camping, you did this one summer I bet it was super fun for a kid, playing endless hours of games in the sun and shade of lush trees. Mix in a couple of good friends, that's heaven."
Brennan just shrugged in response. Angela continued on for a while expressing her excitement and joy for getting to spend time with her new "hubby" and her best friend. She also splattered in some things about Bren's chance at opening up to this new guy, as if, she thought. No way was this trip going to be any of the things Angela was saying it was going to be.
____
Liam sat next to Madison on the bus by luck. He was the last on board and that was the only seat available. She was wearing a bright yellow shirt with a matching bow in her brown hair with soft curls. Graciously greeting him with a brilliant smile and a cheerful hello, Liam took his seat shyly. No one would call them friends, they went to school together and while Liam was more of a studious type, Madison was a social butterfly. She was one of the more adorable girls in her grade so she got plenty of attention from everyone. But the real reason people loved her so much had to do with her spirit, she was the perfect combination of charming, compassionate, feisty, and curious. There was always a smile on her face, and she was fearless. If someone was being mean to one of her friends she would be the first to intercede, the first to stand up and protect the other child. Never in his life would Liam think she would allow him to sit by her, or be so happy after finding out that she would be forced to share with him.
"Hey, how are you? Excited for this trip?" Madison asked.
"Ummm… I'm good. How are you?" he asked staring at his hands the entire time.
"I'm pretty good, but are you excited? Who is in your tent?"
"Uh, well it was fun last year so it should be the same this year right? But Leo and Alex are in my tent."
"Oh that's cool, I'm with Anna. I didn't go to last year so I don't know what it's like. Do you remember the stuff you guys did?"
Liam couldn't believe she was actually trying to start a conversation with him. "We uh, we played some games had a bonfire, swam and hiked. It was pretty fun."
"Yeah," an awkward silence fell between the two.
----
Angela at the front of the bus, making sure the kids face forward and stay seated. But really she was really watching Hodgins in the mirror. He was sitting in the back next to Booth, and it seemed they were having simple conversation.
"Okay man, here's the deal this trip would be a mega bummer if there wasn't some real fun, ya feel? So here is a real schedule of the stuff we are gonna do. Since you are new and this is your first trip up, we figured you would only have to watch the kids for one shift at night."
Booth looked down at the list. This was a list of ridiculous shit. Who schedules skinny-dipping. While it did have its cliché teen rebel activities it had some nice stuff too, quiet hiking was one.
"What's team terror?" Booth turned to Hodgins who was just about to leave
"The greatest game ever, it's like capture the flag and paintball combined."
"Cool." With that Jack slipped out of the seat and down the aisle to hand the rest of the bus counselors their agendas.
Jack Hodgins favorite movie has always been The Royal Tenenbaums, always has, always will be. It's not like he's a big Ben Stiller or Owen Wilson fan. There was just something about that film something about a fundamentally flawed family that was inspiring to him. Something about a suicidal Luke Wilson, being in love with his adopted sister who is married to Bill Murray, gave him hope for the future. If he was anxious or depressed he just had to close his eyes and picture Gwyneth Paltrow's fake wooden finger taping against the edge of a bathtub, and all his feelings would just slip away.
When he was younger he would pretend to be Alec Baldwin, and narrate his life. Until high school, nobody knew who he was. His family sent him to boarding school for most of his elementary schooling, telling him he would never become anything unless he was properly taught the basics. Since then his family has slowly drifted into oblivion. His father's siblings had all past, and his mother was killed in a plane accident. After that his father moved him away from the Virginia Estate and to the Midwest. There was a nanny, a tutor, and plenty of staff when necessary, but since the move West, his father worked more then ever. Splitting his time between Dubai, Washington, LA and London.
His entire life, left him with a feeling of disappointment. He wasn't the industry man his father dreamed for him, he was never the submissive student his schools wished him to be, he was never the cool guy his cousins thought he was, and he would never be the protector his mother hoped he would become. He just wanted to be a normal kid with two parents in a suburban home, with a pet beagle named Patches. The picket fence and giant tire swing in the front yard, with a wrap around porch. That was the dream right? Instead he has an indoor and outdoor pool, an entire house to himself, a deluxe kitchen Bobby Flay would be envious of, and a home theater. But what he lived for was summer every year, where everyone knew his name, where people listened to him, and didn't car about the money his father had. Where he could teach kids about earth, about the world, about so much more then what they were going to experience at parties and their parents corporate fundraisers. Here on the camping trip, he got to be the cool guy, since Russ gave him The Book, he's been in charge of fun. He was the guy who made watching kids swim, hike and play capture the flag, the greatest weekend of the summer. And to his joy, none of them knew it was going to happen. Kat and Henry had gone before, but that was before Russ had given him the materials, before he was in charge.
The bus stopped at their campsite, around 3pm. After unloading, sorting bags and going over basic boundary rules, assembly began. The kids had tent races, while some staff set up for diner, scouted the bathrooms, and the rest supervised. It was Liam's tent that was up the first, and to the disappointment of Angela, they were missing a tent, leaving 2 counselors without a tent. Thinking it was going to be her, she immediately bunked up with Hodgins in the head tent, saying there should be a member of both genders in the tent with medical supplies and aid, just incase anything happens. Temperance saw a ridiculous amount of flaw in her logic, but didn't mind, as she was perfectly comfortable sleeping outside on a picnic table. When she was younger, her and Russ and her dad would go out to a ridge by their cabin with sleeping bags and stare at the stars until they fell asleep.
After two rounds of telephone and the name game, they decided it was time to start supper. The Boys were in charge of setting the table while the girls helped cook, which would be reverse the next morning. Once everyone was seated and served, Angela turned to Brennan. "So the schedule that Hodgie handed out says that the guys have something secret planned for tomorrow, you know anything about that?"
Brennan could hardly careless, "Are you going to call him that now?"
"What Hodgie, I think it is a cute name, plus it's shorter then Hodgins, easier to roll of the tongue."
"Why don't you just call him Jack, that's his name. Why must he have a nickname to show that you to are romantically entangled." Brennan was obviously not in a good mood.
"What's up with you?"
"Nothing, I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Russ had some friends over pretty late and they were all screaming at the tv the entire evening."
This jogged something in Angela's memory, "Oh yeah, I was texting Eric last night and he said you two hung out for awhile. I didn't even know he was back let alone you were interested."
From down the table, Booth perked at this statement. Was she interested in that guy from the night before?
"Hmm, Eric? Oh he was just sitting out front for a bit and I sat with him, because Charlie was still inside, I wouldn't say we hung out, why did he say something that made you think I was interested?"
"Well nothing really other then you were a nice girl, and that he didn't remember Russ' sophomore sister to be so hot." Angela said with a smirk. Right as she was about to say something else, Kat from the end of the table announced clean up. And it was time to get back to work.
From that point on the evening just got more boring, they taught the kids how to build a fire. Then did more rules, guidelines, and helpful hints to camping before diving into card games and bonfires. After about the third horribly told "scary story" Booth tuned out. Hodgins asked him if he would be interesting in going for a walk that night, he begrudgingly agreed. It was strange to think about going on a long walk with another guy, let alone a bunch of guys he hardly knows all meeting in secret like they would tomorrow. It wouldn't be hard to guess they must be planning something either special for the girls, or something mean. Assuming from the items on the list, this would be like going into the locker room after Friday practice back home. Lots of high claims, not much of proof to show for it, this could be a way to figure out some local fixtures in the neighborhood for future reference, seeing how Booth still has 2 full months of summer left.
Brennan lay on top of the cool picnic table with her heavy sleeping bag rather comfortably. That night she had to convince Oliver that the Spider on the outside of his tent wouldn't bite him and poison him. It had been a long day, but lying under the stars listening to the sound of crickets and leaves rustling, there was a beautiful serenity to the night. The quiet sound of a zipper pulled her out of her dazed world. She looked to the origin of disturbance and saw Booth coming out of his tent. She pushed herself to her elbows to see what he was doing.
It was to hot in his tent, plus Henry talked in his sleep. There was no way he was going to make it through the night while the muttering and heat continued. Stepping out into the fresh, open air lowered his body temperature about 12 degrees. The crisp smell of nature, dirt, trees, everything was so refreshing and freeing. A walk through the darkness would be nice, to finally feel what it's like outside of the city, away from the hustle and bustle, away from colleges and pressure. This is what he needed. It was like the pool, everything is freeing, just room to move. Figuring it was about time for Hodgins and his walk, Booth grabbed his sleeping bag and tried his best to slip silently out of the tent.
The fresh air hit him immediately. He saw Brennan staring at him from across the ways. Figuring it would be strange not to address her, he found his way across camp and sat down on the end of the table.
"Hey"
She pulled her feet into herself and shrugged. "Hi"
"Henry talks in his sleep, figured it would be more pleasant out here." Brennan just nodded in response.
They sat there in silence for a little bit, before Booth remembered why her was out there in the first place.
"Jack said he wanted to go for a walk, I suspect he will be out soon."
"Doubt it." Temperance mumbled
"Sorry didn't catch that," Booth turned to look at her.
"I said doubt it."
"Care to elaborate"
"I figure, he's in a tent with his new girlfriend with one sleeping bag, they were making innuendos and jokes all night, I doubt that he will tear himself away to go on a late night walk with you."
Booth just hung his head, this defiantly wasn't going to be anything like what Russ described. "Okay, well then I guess I will just head over there since you don't seem in the mood for company or civility."
This guy sure is a piece of work she thought, who is he to say something like that to me? "Wow, someone thinks pretty highly of themselves don't they." The harsh words slipped out before she could stop them.
Booth shook his head, "I have done absolutely nothing to you and yet you are hostile every time I see you."
"Done nothing, excuse me. You are the one who judged me and was rude in the car, and you act as if you are protecting me all the time." She was getting defensive, sitting up straighter.
"Hey, slow down there bud, if I remember correctly we were playing a nice game of twenty questions when you got a little defensive, said some aggressive things then tweaked out a little more. And your brother told me to watch out for you because he figured you didn't want to end up like him. So I did him a little favor, it's not a big deal."
"You're an ass you know that."
"Wow, figured I would help clear the air but I see how it is now. You are just confrontational aren't you. Like to start fights?" He turned away.
"I don't get it," she said softly. "You show up here, make me freeze, carry me home, then let me sleep in your bed, take me to a party you have no fun at, and then once again care me to bed cause I fell asleep in your car. No one is that noble. No guy can be that charming."
Booth chuckled and shrugged, "I'm from Philly, that's just how we are. Plus I bet Eric is just as charming."
Brennan couldn't help but laugh, "Eric seems perfect doesn't he. But he's just like the rest of them."
"Rest of who, I'm confused."
Brennan shook her head, "Guy's aren't that nice. I mean none of them are that kind or caring here. They are all like 09ers here."
"Just because you have money doesn't mean you're an ass. Look at Jack. Or hey, Your brother's a cool guy."
"My brother, yeah, you wanna talk about Russ, his freshman year he had a 4.0 played varsity basketball, and was involved in theater. Sophomore year he got a 2.4 and suddenly had no interests out side girls, basketball, and became the flakiest person I know. It just got worse after that. He was the big guy though, I remember Friday night would come around and he would either be out until some ungodly hour, or there would be like 20 people over. It drove my mother insane, my dad too, but how can a father be disappointed when your son is a award-winning athlete. You must know what that's like right?"
"You just don't quit do you? Come on, I get it, I play basketball, I'm a guy. I'm not Russ, I'm not the same kind of guy the ones around here, plus you said it yourself. I'm charming."
"Whatever." Temperance laid back down, accepting defeat.
"What you don't believe me? Think I'm just some creep trying to get in your pants?" Booth scooted closer to Temperance. "Trying to jump your bones?" he practically whispered it in her ear.
"It would be a good story to bring home right, you spend a week or so making the girl next door fall for you and then bang her the rest of the summer, leaving her at the end crying thinking you were the love of her life."
Wow, Booth thought, 'someone has put an awful lot of thought into this.' "That what the guy Chris did, or was that Connor?" Booth took the space next to her on top of the table, laying facing towards her. "He tell you how pretty you are, how special, say something about how much he likes that you aren't like the cheerleaders or the preppy girls that follow him around?" Booth pushed a strand of her hair out of her face to drive the point home. "Let me guess, he wanted to meet your family and asked you to go to his soccer games. Took you to the end of the year dance or something sweet like that, you guys go to movies, or watch them in your basement all snuggled up? I bet he didn't pressure you to do anything either. And when Angela and Henry told you that he was a bad guy, you didn't believe them. Cause they just didn't know him the way you did."
At this point Brennan could pull her eyes away from his, it hurt to hear him say these things, how could he see right through her?
"Then things started to change, he wanted to spend less time on the couch in an open room, more time behind close doors. Oh, I'll even bet he brought you to parties and tried to get you drunk. I'm guessing it worked at first, see how you were one of the only kids not wasted at that party, little miss literate have a shady past?"
She hit him so fast he didn't know what happened. "What you know all this because that just what guys do? Hmmm, Have first hand experience with the Mr. Nice Guy act? And you're the one who says you aren't all the same."
Booth turned towards her, "I got a sister back home, she got with a guy like that, except where you broke it off, she stuck around. The guy was a douche, used her then didn't say anything to her ever again. But I'll tell ya, he talked to a lot of other people. You know what sucks about being a freshman on a varsity team? You hear some things you really shouldn't. They were both seniors, he was starting point, and she was his advanced chem. partner."
A "sorry" came softly from beside him. Seeley turned on his back and looked at the stars. "You may not believe it but I'm not like that, and I didn't mean to upset you before. I'm sorry"
She moved a bit closer to him in her sleeping bag, "It was Chris, and he played lacrosse."
"Isn't that the guy you were all up on the other night, that doesn't seem very proper missy." Booth said with a chuckle.
"I don't know, there is just something about seeing him with all of those other girls, that makes me just want to hurt him."
"And you think dancing on him is gonna hurt him?"
"I don't even know you, why am I telling you this stuff?" she said trying to brush passed the subject.
"I have one of those personalities, call it the therapist gene."
"Fine but I expect you to tell me about a bad relationship you have had."
Booth thought it over in his mind. "I haven't really ever had a bad relationship."
"You're telling me there have never been any bad break ups in your past, no scorned ex-girlfriends. I don't believe it."
"Well my first real girlfriend was in ninth grade, and that lasted a good year and a half. After that I focused on other things, you know started dating again last year but no of them stuck, it was all amicable. I guess I'm just not boyfriend material for some girls."
"Fine, why did you and the first girl end?" At this point Temperance had resituated her pillow and was laying just shy of pressed up to Booth, but he didn't seem to mind.
"Okay, see now I'm finding it incredibly weird that I'm talking about this with you, we hardly know each other. I'm just the guy who baby-sits your neighbors' kids."
"Hey, nope, out with it. Reciprocity my brotha."
"As long as you never call me you brotha again," he smirked at her. "It was really benign, she decided she had feelings for someone else, said she still wanted to be friends, and that she always thought of my as her best friend. That while it was nice while it lasted, that we both knew we were kidding ourselves, and it wasn't going to work out, we were to much like siblings."
"That's too bad."
"Well you know I'm pretty sure my mother took it harder then I did." He could tell she was smiling without even looking at her.
"So let me get this straight, you are an all-star athlete, a family guy willing to spend his last summer in high school taking care of his younger cousins, you're supposedly not a womanizer or scub bag. And you speak what, 5 languages?"
Booth pulled his pillow and self closer to her, "I would hope to think most of those things are true, I'm not fluent in all 5. But you know I have my faults too. I'm sure I couldn't hold a candle to you missy."
"Would you stop with the missy, it's degrading."
Booth laughed, "So you it wouldn't make you feel good if I complemented your ass by calling you sweet checks?"
Brennan slapped his chest playfully. If anyone was watching right now it would almost be impossible to tell these two had only met a couple times before. "You realize how strange these circumstances are?" Booth asked.
"No sorry what do you mean?" "I'm just saying you stumbled upon me one night lying in the grass, and ever since you have been a staple in my life. What are the chances, a beautiful girl bails on a party, meets me, and it just so happens one of the kids I'm looking after is in love with you, what are the chances I knock you off a dock by running into you, then your house is locked? I mean don't get me wrong it's been nice slowly and painfully getting to know you I'm just saying I think fate is trying to tell us something."
"Fate huh, so it's fate the brought you to my house the other night and forced you to sit that close to me, how about sneaking up on me in the kitchen, or the pool? Buddy say what you want, but don't try and pretend fate is at work here, at least have the decency to try a real line on me."
Booth was baffled, any other girl would have been flushed, or flattered by that, but she just has to go and be difficult doesn't she.
Brennan lifted her hand from where it rested since earlier on his chest, just for the heck of it she patted him before getting up and moving to a different table a ways away. She could tell he wasn't trying to be smooth, and that he was sincere for the most party during their discussion, but what kind of, in his words not hers, tease would she be if she let him in that easily.
Never has a girl been that easy to talk to or bicker with, before. There has never been an instance in his life that he wanted to wrestle a girl until she screams give, and simultaneously wanted to hug and hold until the end of time. Her being so close, her hand warming his chest, all made him think back to holding her in his arms, as she buried her face in his shoulder. And the only thing he couldn't handle was what little interest she seemed to show in him. Maybe tomorrow he would ask Jack about her, get to know her favorite things better, seeing how she already lied to him about not liking tv or movies maybe there are other things she has been hiding. Something that could give him a edge over that Eric guy, something that shows he's not just some loser looking for a summer hook up, he just wants to be near her. And as he drifted to sleep, he thought about her, and his hand, on it's own accord slid to cover the place where hers once rested.