Sometimes I wake up by the door.
Now that you're gone must be waiting for you.
Even now when it's already over, I can't help myself from looking for you.
I set fire to the rain.
Watched it pour as I touched your face.
Let it burn while I cried cause I heard it screaming out your name.
The house was quiet. Too quiet. She'd barely been gone for a month, and already it felt like a year. Katie had been fussy the entire time as expected. Brennan had tried Skyping her once, but it hadn't been enough. The girl wanted her mommy.
Booth was lonely too. He hadn't realized how much he talked to her whether it be ranting, complaining, or a random comment about one thing or another. No wonder he had turned to Hannah for comfort and attention while he was in Afghanistan. Being alone sucked.
On Monday morning, he wandered into Cam's office and slumped down in her desk chair with a sigh. She walked in moments later, startled to find him at her desk.
"Problem, Seeley?" she asked, setting the victim's stomach she'd just removed from the remains down on her autopsy table.
"Why do I let her do this to me?"
"Let who do what?" she asked looking for her scalpel.
"Really? You're going to do that with me sitting right here?"
"I'm at work. This is what I do. So, yes." She cut into the tissue without waiting for him to respond and started to examine the stomach contents. "Oh look, steak."
"Okay that smells worse than the dead body itself. Seriously, Camille, this couldn't have waited?" Booth asked covering his nose with his suit jacket.
"Do you want me to solve this murder, or not?"
"How does learning what he ate prior to death help with anything?"
"It has in the past, okay? So I repeat, who is doing what to you now?"
"Bones! I…I let her get into my head."
"Oh, have you spoken to her lately?"
"No, I have not."
"Then I'm lost. Okay seriously, he swallowed a chicken bone too? Just why?"
"Will you stop doing that?"
"I have so many things I need to get done right now, I need to be working while you're venting to me. So go ahead, carry on."
Booth sighed. "Fine. She just…she's the most...remarkable ...maddening... challenging... frustrating person I have ever met."
"Is that a quote from Castle?" Cam asked, cinching her eyebrows together.
"What?"
"Nothing. Carry on!"
He shook his head. "I want to hate her. I want to hate her for leaving, for…for running. I want to hate her for putting her career first and claiming that her life has become too domestic for her liking. She's stubborn and she thinks too highly of herself and assumes that everyone else is an idiot unless they've proven themselves otherwise. She still doesn't understand pop culture references and she has the occasional tendency to be awkward."
"But?" Cam prompted, sifting through more of the stomach contents.
"But she's beautiful. And she's great with Katie, she really is. And I do love how smart she is…it's sexy. She's sexy, from her smile to those eyes. God those eyes. Have you ever really looked at her eyes? They're like this beautiful sky blue with this golden ring right around her pupils. They're stunning. She's stunning. And her hair… Plus she can be quite comical sometimes, like the other day…last month…"
"So, you miss her," Cam said flatly, properly disposing of the stomach contents.
"Find anything helpful?"
Cam shook her head no.
"Well yeah I miss her. I love her."
"But you don't want to," Cam stated, taking off her gloves and moving to wash her hands.
"Right, because she's maddening and…."
"And challenging and frustrating and remarkable. You said that. As did Richard Castle in last season's finale."
"Okay, what do you keep talking about?"
"My point is, Seeley that you can bitch and moan about her all you want, but she's your other half…some would argue your better half. Was now the wrong time for her to go to Egypt for five months? Maybe. But you have to stop and see things from her perspective."
"They were my friends too," Booth argued. "Everyone keeps saying 'Oh poor Brennan, she lost her best friend.' Well you know what? I lost them too. We all did. And she wasn't the only one who had Katie just dropped in her lap and who was forced to move and alter her life. I have the same perspective she does, and I'm not running anywhere."
"She doesn't adjust to change well."
"I know her better than anyone all right? So don't sit here and try to explain away her decision to leave."
"Then I'm not really sure what you want from me," Cam admitted moving around to stand in front of her desk.
"I want you to tell me that it's going to be okay. That after five months apart we can still be us. That after five months, maybe I won't be so mad at her and will finally understand why it is that she needed to get away so bad."
"She will come back to you with open arms I can guarantee it. She loves you. You just need to remember that she's Dr. Brennan. Traveling around the world for anthropological reasons is what she does. And just because she has a family now, that's not going to change that. You say that you know her better than anyone. So here's an idea: take a second and think about the woman you've fallen in love with. You've known her for what about nine years now? If you truly know who she is, then you know why she had to do this."
Booth was silent for a moment, ruffling through the piles of papers on her desk.
"Your advice has gotten a lot better since you told me to tell her about the Hannah thing," Booth mumbled at last.
"Yeah well I've learned from my mistakes. Maybe learned to channel a little bit of Angela too," Cam smiled. "So what are you going to do?"
"Try to make it to January. Damn it, I just realized she's missing Christmas too. I could invite her family over again, but it would just be awkward without her there."
"Jump that hurdle when you get there, Seeley. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go check in on Daisy and Fischer."
"So that's what you're doing now? With Bones gone, two squinterns at once?"
"Yes. And if you ask me, Daisy and Fischer are polar opposites working together and even less is getting accomplished than normal around here."
"Then go on and be head boss lady. I'll be fine."
"You know you could always go talk to Sweets. I'm sure he'd love to help."
"He just tries to shrink me…still."
"Suit yourself," Cam called over her shoulder as she exited her office. "Have a good day, Seeley."
"All right Miss Katie, what do you want for dinner? How about some nice spaghetti?" Booth asked, ruffling through the kitchen cabinets.
"No. Cheerios," Katie told him.
"Sweetie, that's all that you've eaten in the past two days. It's time to eat something else. How about some chicken?" Booth asked, holding up a bag of frozen Tyson popcorn chicken.
"No. Cheerios."
"Katie, you need to eat something else."
She shook her head no and started chanting Cheerios over and over until Booth finally gave up and poured her a bowel of her favorite cereal.
"There are still a couple of weeks before your birthday and already you've entered the terrible twos," Booth told her, slumping down in a chair at the kitchen table.
Katie just watched him, contentedly munching on her cereal.
"Are you acting this way because you think you can get away with things with your mom gone? Parker used to do that and I wanted to be the fun dad, so I let him. But it's not like you're just staying with me for the weekend. You and me babe, we're in this together for a couple more months. You're gonna have to start cooperating with me. Cheerios are good for your heart and cholesterol and all, but those are hardly things a two-year-old needs to worry about."
She just continued to stare at him while eating.
"You know I've noticed that ever since she left, you've stopped talking other than 'no' and 'Cheerios.' You were starting to learn some good words too. I promise you kid, she is coming back. This isn't like when you lost your birth parents."
Katie still didn't have anything to say. Booth pushed himself out of the chair where he was sitting and moved to make himself some dinner. Just because his daughter was eating cereal for dinner, didn't mean that he had to. As he poked holes in the film of his microwave dinner for ventilation, he wondered how much more he could take of this single dad stuff. If Katie didn't eat something soon, he feared he may have to call in Rebecca.
"So what have we learned?" Booth asked the next day, swiping his card to ascend on the platform.
"Fischer and I are currently at odds about the cause of death," Daisy told him with a huff, shooting Fischer a dirty look.
"Look, I'm telling you. The puncture marks on the ribs have healed, they didn't kill him. Your newlywed brain is affecting your skill," Fischer explained.
"Newlywed brain? Ha! That's absurd."
"Actually, no it isn't."
"Okay, why don't you just call in another squintern for a third opinion?" Booth suggested. "We really need cause of death ASAP."
"I have time of death," Dr. Wessland butted in. "Judging by the larval stages of the blow flies I found, he'd been dead around five days by the time of discovery."
"Five days? How did he lose so much flesh in five days?" Booth asked.
"I'm not sure. Which is why I think these two are going about finding cause of death all wrong!"
"We can hear you, you know!" Daisy called back. "And we don't sit around criticizing your work, so don't go around criticizing ours!"
"But we do criticize his work," Fischer whispered.
"Oh shush," she whispered back.
Cam made her way over to the platform. "How's it going?"
Daisy, Fischer, and Dr. Wessland all exchanged a look before all talking at once, arguing with one another and trying to justify their cause of death theory to their boss. Cam shot Booth an exasperated look. He pulled her aside, allowing the squints to continue to argue amongst themselves.
"You know, when I said that we could get along just fine without Dr. Brennan, we at least still had Angela and Hodgins around," Cam said through gritted teeth.
"Hey, at least you still have people here unlike when we all left you a couple of years ago," Booth said, trying to get her to look on the bright side.
"Ugh don't remind me. I almost lost my job over that."
"I have finished the facial reconstruction," Annah announced, walking up to the two of them. "Here." She handed Cam her drawing.
"All right thank you. I'll have this run through missing persons."
"May I leave early? It is my baby brother's 21st birthday."
"It's only 11," Cam said, looking at her watch.
"Yes, I know. But until they decide on how he died, I have nothing else to do here."
"Well then, okay," Cam sighed. "But just for today. Don't make a habit out of it."
"Kisses," Annah called over her shoulder, heading out of the lab.
"Employee of the month right there," Booth joked with a chuckle.
"She's an excellent artist," Cam defended, holding up her drawing. "She just sucks at following a structured schedule."
"There has to be someone better."
"I know. I'd start interviewing again, but without Dr. Brennan here to voice her approval…"
"Bones hates her. It would probably be a welcome surprise to come back and have her gone."
"Unless I hire someone she hates even more."
"Well then tough. You're her boss. She's not yours."
"You do remember when I took over for Dr. Goodman, don't you? She has never seen me as her boss and she never will. If anything now, she sees us as equals."
"That's quite the compliment coming from her."
"Have you decided if you're still mad at her yet?" Cam asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"It comes and goes."
"Personally, I think it's time to just let it go, but far be it from me to tell you how to live your life."
"Oh Camille, what ever would I do without you?'
"Should we see if the Phillies won their game today?" Booth asked Katie as she played with her blocks.
"No."
"What? You want them to lose?"
"Yes."
"Well that's not very nice. I don't go around telling you that I wish The Wiggles would get canceled."
Katie giggled and rolled her ball into her block tower, knocking it down. She made an explosion sound.
"Ah going into demolition I see. That's a good career choice for you." He turned his attention back to ESPN as he heard the announcer mention Philadelphia. "Damn it they lost again! Pull it together why don't you? God, what a terrible season this has been."
He looked back over to find that Katie had wandered away.
"Hey kid, where'd you go?"
She scurried back in moments later with a book in her arms. Booth helped her crawl up onto the couch and she handed the book to him.
"Now who said it was story time? Sports Center is on!"
She pointed at the book and then gave him that begging look he just knew he was going to hate when she was older.
"All right, all right." He muted the TV in the background and opened the book. "Once upon a time as a Queen sits sewing at her window, she pricks her finger on her needle and three drops of blood fall on the snow that had fallen on her ebony window frame. As she looks at the blood on the snow, she says to herself, 'Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony'. Soon after that, the queen gives birth to a baby girl who has skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony. They name her Princess Snow White."
Booth paused, flipping back to the cover to see what version of the story this was. "The Brothers Grimm? You know sweetie, the Disney version is probably what we should be reading."
Katie pushed the cover back out of his hands, and pointed back at the page to tell him to keep reading.
"You're right," he told her. "Bones probably prefers reading you Grimm rather than Disney."
He continued on with the story, smiling at how enthralled she was in it. "Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrives at the wedding, and her heart fills with the deepest of dread when she realizes the truth. As punishment for her wicked ways, a pair of heated iron shoes are brought forth with tongs and placed before the Queen. She is then forced to step into the iron shoes and dance until she drops dead… Okay seriously that's how it ends? That's terrible. Next time, we're finding the Disney version."
"Mama," Katie said.
"I know, I know. Bones hates Disney. But these dark and twisted fairytales are too mature for someone your age. Leave all of this death talk to your parents, not harmless little princesses."
"No, Mama!" Katie said again pointing toward the foyer.
Booth finally looked up and met Brennan's eyes in the doorframe. Her suitcase was in her hand behind her and she was soaking wet. A little half smile formed across her lips. He imagined that this must be like one of those moments in sitcoms where the live audience goes wild with applause and cheers.
"Is it raining?" he asked stupidly, at a loss for words.
"Appears to be," Brennan responded, finger combing her wet hair.
Katie hopped off of the couch and ran to her. Brennan scooped her up in her arms and twirled her around.
"I missed you so much, baby girl," Brennan said, placing a kiss on the top of her head.
She clung to her side, burying her face in Brennan's wet jacket.
"You're going to get all wet," Brennan laughed, trying to put her down.
When Katie wouldn't let her, she sighed reluctantly and hoisted her back up on her hip.
"Did the dig get canceled or something?" Booth asked, closing Snow White and placing it on the couch next to him.
"No, it's still going on."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I live here."
"Bones –"
"I came back, all right? Isn't that enough?"
Booth scrubbed a hand over his face. "Why don't you put Katie to bed and get changed, and then we'll talk?"
"Fine."
Brennan grabbed her suitcase and headed upstairs with Katie in tow. 20 minutes later, she wandered back into the living room.
"Have trouble getting her down?" Booth asked.
"Yeah, she wouldn't let me leave."
"I don't blame her."
She nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. She was wearing boxers and that old FBI sweatshirt of his again. Her hair had mostly dried from the rain, but now curled at odd angles from air drying. And yet she still managed to look beautiful. Brennan drew her lower lip into her mouth waiting for him to speak again.
"It's only been a month," Booth said at last. "What made you come back?"
"I'm in love with you…and Katie. And I've never felt this way about anyone before. And it terrifies me. It does, but…being away from you two is too hard."
Booth got up off of the couch and started to move towards her.
"And I'm sorry. I should've realized that yes, my life has changed, but it's not necessarily a bad thing anymore. I'm happy. I'm happy with sticky fingers and Cheerios and dirty laundry and you. The only thing I want is you."
He reached out and tangled her hair with his right hand. She parted her lips to kiss him, but he didn't let her.
"Say, 'I got off the plane,'" he whispered.
"What?"
"Just say it. I'll show you later."
"I got off the plane."
He closed the distance between them, kissing her with all of the passion he could muster. Their tongues danced as she kissed him back with such a fever, one would think she'd been gone for a year instead of a month. Booth pulled her flush against him, needing to feel her there right next to him, every inch of her body right where it should be. She pulled away from the kiss, breathless, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He returned her solid embrace.
"You put your arms around me and I'm home," she whispered. "Never let me go."
"I tried," he laughed. "I tried so hard. But I'm sorry too. I should have…I know you, Bones, better than anyone. I should have realized that you were just doing what Temperance Brennan does – being an anthropologist."
She kissed his neck. "I shouldn't have left. As hard as it has been for me to accept it, I am not that person anymore. I can't just put the job first like I used to. Family has to come first."
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that."
Booth pulled apart from their embrace, took her by the hand, and led her over to the couch. Instead of sitting on the couch next to him, Brennan opted for straddling his hips. His arms wrapped around her torso as her arms laced behind his neck.
"How's the team doing at work?" she asked, toying with the little tuft of hair at the nape of his neck.
"You really want to talk about them right now?"
She shook her head, tilting her head down to kiss him again. She rocked her hips against his as the kiss intensified and he let out a little moan.
"I'm really glad you're home, Bones."
"I'm really glad to be home. Thank you for not still being angry with me."
"Well you can thank Cam for that. She actually had some good advice for once."
Brennan smiled, dragging the pad of her thumb across his lips.
"Come on," Booth started. "Let's go to bed."
"But it's so early," Brennan protested.
"Sleeping isn't exactly what I had in mind," he said with a wink.
A devilish grin spread across her face as she pulled him off of the couch and pushed him upstairs. Yes, it was good to be home.
AN: Okay. So. I do not own the Castle references or the Friends references or the Grimm Brother's fairytales or even the two songs I quoted within this chapter. The final chapter might be posted at a really odd time because I have work week for sorority stuff next weekend, but it will be posted and then we can all cry together. Review please?