As soon as Booth locked the door to the bathroom, Brennan slipped into the guest room and used her phone there to call in sick. She did not want Booth to hear, nor did she require Cam to know the details of Booth's visit. The need to keep this under the radar, not that this expression meant anything to her, was overwhelming at the moment. Soon after she managed to prepare the breakfast, Booth emerged from the bathroom, albeit still disheveled, but at least he washed his face and brushed his teeth with the extra brush Brennan had left for him at the sink. He walked silently and sat at the small table in the kitchen.
Brennan, had prepared a full length monologue in her brain, and waited for an opportunity to recite it to Booth, but as soon as she saw him holding the fork and taking a mouthful of scrambled eggs, she decided against all the talk, and made up her mind to approach this differently. She would come around to discussing with Booth his need to seek professional help, but now, he deserves some semblance of normalcy, if pretending with him that today is no different than any other day, then so be it. She urged him to finish his breakfast and when he questioned her motives with a simple raise of his eyebrow, she disregarded him and went about cleaning the dishes.
Although he had just woken up, as soon as he sat on the couch after breakfast and closed his eyes, he drifted to sleep. Brennan took the opportunity and slipped out of the apartment. She needed to make some calls with no fear of Booth overhearing, and also to run some errands. By the time she got to Booth's apartment and packed at least 2 weeks' worth of change of clothes and toiletries, and got in contact with her agent cashing in a favor, it was close to noon. She kept the suitcase in her car and went up to her apartment, hoping that Booth was still asleep and not awake wondering why she had left him and gone.
As soon she passed the hallway to the empty living room, she panicked, he was nowhere. She left him alone and now he is probably back at his apartment or worse, and with no phone she would not be able to contact him. What was she doing, Booth required professional help, not her pathetic failing attempts. Her confidence was restored as soon as she heard rustling of sheets in her bedroom. She ran to the door to find Booth waking up and trying to get out of her bed.
"Booth.."
He blushed, he did not expect her to find him in her bed, and he did not plan to be discovered there, nor did he arrange for a different set up, his body was working on its own accord, he simply needed a comfortable place to lie down and her bed looked inviting enough.
She shook her head, as if telling him that it was ok.
"Did you have a good nap?"
"Why are you here?" Booth asked
When he noticed her confusion he explained "I mean why you aren't at work?"
"I am not at work because you and I are going somewhere"
She expected him to ask where was she taking him, or at least to fight her over the idea, but he simply nodded and got up. Her almost there smile was crashed as soon as the next words left his mouth
"No Bones, I am going back home"
He did not wait for her answer; he simply held his keys and walked to the door, only to find her plastered to the door in front him, blocking his exit.
"No Booth, wait… Please" she begged him.
She closed the distance between them and tried to hug him, but he flinched and stepped away.
"I need to go home, I need to be home" he pleaded.
She did not understand he kept repeating that he had to go home; he was trying to make her comprehend the gravity of the situation, but she didn't budge. His voice was rising now, from his pleading mantra to a frustrated cry to an angry roar now
"Bones get out of my way, I have to go home. It is my weekend with Parker"
Air was sucked out of her lungs when she heard Booth, it was easy for him now to simply move her aside and get out of the apartment as soon as he can. She leaned against the wall and crumbled to the floor holding her knees and sobbing, Booth was lost now.
It took all her willpower not to go after Booth that day, she is not prepared for this, she cannot help with this. Yes she held three doctorates; yes she understood quantum physics, but this was way above her head; but when Booth called her at night crying into the phone that Parker was dead and there would be no more weekends for him, she was at his door in ten minutes, breaking all the traffic laws ever made.
She held him again, but this time not against the wall, but on the floor of his bathroom, he was retching all the medicine he has taken, in an attempt to numb himself. Booth did not try to kill himself, she knew, because he had chosen Parker's cough syrup and none of the stronger pills that could have killed him. So she did not call it in, she did not take him to the hospital, he did not need strangers poking and prodding at the moment. He needed his privacy, a warm hand on his back and whispers of affection. They spent the night tangled limbs on the bathroom after both dropped from exhaustion. The last thought before Brennan closed her eyes were to call someone in the morning, but for now, it is just the both of them finding comfort in each other.
Booth will have to seek professional help, but since I am very much like Brennan, don't put much stock in psychology, I have asked my friend Layal who is a psychologist to help me with the next few chapters. I would like very much to keep it in character; however I am not sure if it is going to be Gordon or Sweets or someone totally new. Your review and votes might help as a deciding factor.