Hey! Remember all those times when I said: this will have 10 chaps?
Well, I REALLY meant 11! Sorry guys. But number 11 is coming up soon, no worries! Thanks SO MUCH for the reviews! *dances around a little*
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering… the second part of Double Trouble is in the making. Just… don't hold your breath until Xmas, it IS tomorrow after all!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
CHAPTER 10 – One Month
It wasn't easy.
It had never been easy, but this was worse. There were so many close shaves.
Not with the cases, of course. They were so used to living with this added strain that they fought it, and they won. When it came to the cases, victim was first, emotions and tensions were second. They solved all three of them, and in two they put the murderer in jail. Not bad odds.
But the other part… oh, it wasn't easy.
The worst moment was probably the least apparent. They were walking to his office, not speaking or arguing (it was a silent month) and she walked infront.
He didn't put his hand at the small of her back anymore. What she didn't see was that he always reached out instinctively, and then shook his head.
Charlie was busy with his notes. This was not unusual, Charlie was hard working. He worked. It wasn't Charlie's fault.
He simply didn't see the pretty anthropologist.
They collided, and she almost fell. Almost, because holding her safely in his arms was Booth, of course.
How long does it take for someone to regain their balance? It seemed seconds and eternity that she stood there, eveloped in his warmth and strength. But finally he had to let her go.
"You okay?"
"Sure."
And again, in silence, they kept walking.
Since Brennan had been forced to admit to herself what had happened, she had a look of surprised disbelief on her face whenever she saw Booth. She'd read about the physiological responses our body generates when our eyes process the object of affection. She'd expected the usual ones, and she'd already felt most of them (this she realised with some surprise, because they hadn't really registered). Increase in heart rate, saliva production, pupil dilation, arousal… but no one had told her about the choking sensation at the pit of her stomach. Or the curious inability to form semi-coherent sentences if he stood too close or looked too directly.
Brennan felt cheated. No one had ever told her it was this complicated. Most processes couldn't even be explained biologically!
Yes, it wasn't easy.
Booth, one the other hand, was only mildly better off. He had known. He'd been trying to fight it with all he was worth, but he had known, ever since he almost lost her, and he realised part of him would have died if she's stayed there buried forever… he had known. So he didn't feel surprised when all of his reactions multiplied tenfold.
The fact that he wanted to do things to her whenever he saw her had also happened before. So he was ready now to clench his fists if she walked beside him, to avoid backing her into a wall and kissing her and letting his hands roam everywhere. He looked away if she bent to examine a bone, just to avoid the urge to grab her and kiss her and let his hands roam everywhere.
He stopped trying to fight. Fighting was something he had always been good at, but this was different. He wasn't good at fighting this.
They still had coffee, in the last case. They told themselves all this tension was because they were nervous: at the end of the month Edwards would decide wether he let them keep working together or not. And after that, everything back to normal.
Part of this was true, they double checked results, wrote very careful and detailed reports…
When they got the call on the thirty first they weren't surprised.
"Meet me at my office, Agent Booth, Dr Brennan."
*
"I'm happy to see you continue to work as hard as ever. You can keep being partners, although I'm warning you right now that I'll be monitoring you very closely. Just in case."
Just in case…
They stood to leave, and to their relief, a small burden did come off. But the rest was all still there.
All of it.
*
And suddenly, Booth cracked.
"Hey Bones, you want to grab some Thai and celebrate?"