Not an incredibly long chapter, but I hope it's good enough to satisfy all of you. I would usually update later in the day, but I just found out some amazing news about the show... (everyone else probably knew this awhile ago, but whatever) If you're curious, check my ending author's note.
It was a long drive, but that was fine with him. They'd settled into a comfortable silence quite a while ago, with music playing lightly in the background. It wasn't obtrusive at all, but he could see her mouthing along to the words faintly, apparently having recognized the song. Her eyes, though, were glued to the book on her lap.
They had been swamped with a great deal of work lately, mostly in the form of paperwork, and she'd picked her way through the sixth Harry Potter book at an excruciatingly slow rate, before taking an extended break from reading altogether. With the weekend to themselves, though, she was already several chapters into the seventh.
"Anybody die yet?" he asked cheerfully. Her eyes snapped up to lock on his, confusion swirling in her light blue eyes. Then they cleared, and she rolled her eyes before moving her attention back to the page.
"I though I was quite clear when I threatened you to not spoil anything for me," she muttered. "Especially after you told me the ending."
"I did not tell you the ending!" he protested, still grinning cheekily. "I just said you wouldn't like it."
"That in itself is enough to be infuriating. Now be quiet."
He chuckled, but obeyed, turning his attention fully back to the nearly empty road in front of them. Trees lined both sides, and the late morning sunlight created patterns across the road which danced through the windows and played across both of their features. He had noticed in particular how it shone on her auburn hair and lit it up like fire.
He wondered briefly if she was still annoyed about not knowing where they were going. From the looks of it, she wasn't thinking about anything along those lines at the moment, but he wasn't stupid enough to think he was out of the woods on it yet. Heck, he wasn't even sure if she was going to like this or not.
He really hoped she would.
They arrived at their destination just past one o'clock, but she still didn't look up, seeming almost uninterested in where he'd taken her.
"Come on, Bones," he half-moaned. "At least pretend to pay attention to what's going on in the real world."
"Sometimes a break can be nice," she murmured, her focus not leaving the page as her eyes skimmed easily down the final lines of the page and then she flipped it and tucked her bookmark neatly into the crease. The book shut with a firm snap and she tucked it under her arm as she opened her door. He followed suit, and then watched over the roof as she looked around, a light breeze ruffling her somewhat untidy hair and billowing it across her face. She brushed at it, pulling it around behind her shoulders as she shielded her eyes against the sun and turned to take in their surroundings fully. "...Where are we?" she questioned, her tone so clueless and innocent that he was almost fully convinced that she hadn't been in the car with him.
He chuckled lightly, "We are in northern Maryland, Bones." He told her cheerfully. "As far from murder and criminals as we can get."
She frowned, still looking around rather than at him. "Booth, we were driving for barely over an hour. Hardly far. And besides... there's murder everywhere."
He sighed. Trust her to not get it at all. "Yeah, Bones, but we are going to have nothing to do with it. This is called a getaway. A weekend of relaxation... nothing to do... no obligations...."
She looked doubtful, but he was willing to give her time to change her mind. He'd make sure she had a good time. Maybe he'd even get up the courage, finally, to ask the question.
"Come on," he said, stepping around the car and laying a hand easily on the small of her back as he led her towards the building they were parked in front of.
"A bed and breakfast?" she asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow as she located the sign out front and figured out where they were at last.
He grinned. "Yep. No communications with the outside world, either. We're spending the weekend here, alone. No casework."
She didn't look entirely pleased with this, but at least she seemed to relax once they got their key and settled into the room. She took over the unpacking, systematically organizing their things into separate drawers while he flipped nonchalantly through the stations on the television.
"I figured we'd head out and just drive around, maybe find something entertaining to do, and then relax here for the evening with takeout Thai food?"
"Couldn't we do that back home?"
"Yeah, but that's beyond the point. Tomorrow morning there's a nice buffet for us, and then we'll relax the rest of the day and head out for an early dinner someplace nice before making our way back to DC."
She contemplated for a moment, closing the last drawer and zipping the empty suitcases back up before climbing onto the bed beside him and offering him a quick kiss. "That actually sounds rather nice."
He smiled back warmly. "So, anything you'd like to do to pass the time until we go wrangle up some lunch?"
She raised one eyebrow. "I can think of something."
The lights were on, but they only lit the corners of the rooms, giving a cozy and not overwhelming effect. The natural light from outside had long since faded, and there was now only a dull neon-ish glow coming from the sign out front, which made its way in through the cracks of their window shades.
They were side-by-side on the balcony of their room, leaning on the railing and staring up at the clear black sky, thousands of twinkling lights winking down at them. He had an arm wrapped loosely around her shoulders, warding off the cold as best he could with his own body heat.
She was still shivering slightly, but not enough to concern him. And besides, the warmth that shone in her eyes, and the smile spread across her face, were more than enough to make up for it.
"I haven't done this since..." she shook her head in wonder, her eyes never leaving the sky. The stars seemed to reflect in the blue depths of her gaze, making them brighter than he'd ever seen them. He couldn't resist the urge to kiss her again, and he did so with a teasing light shining in his own dark brown eyes. She chuckled and pulled back slightly after his lips had melded to hers for a brief second, instead turning herself and leaning her head on his shoulder.
"You're going to come camping with me and Parker this summer," he said, breaking the peaceful silence.
She stared at him in surprise. "But that's your time with your son," she protested.
"And, like I've told you plenty of times before, my son happens to adore you. He'd rather go with you than me, probably," he added with a chuckle.
"He's your son; he loves you," she said quietly. "He might like me, but he doesn't get to see you enough as it is."
"We'll work something out. Besides, wouldn't you miss me if I was gone for two weeks with Parker?" he nudged her shoulder, his words both teasing and serious. He wondered if she'd see both sides, or if she'd only catch the more obvious joking tone.
The way her eyes met his suddenly left him with no doubt, though. "Yeah, I would," she answered in her completely honest way that left him breathless. She turned her attention skywards, leaving him staring at her and wondering how on earth he'd succeeded in getting her in the first place. He tightened his grip around her shoulders, but if she noticed she didn't say anything about it.
"There's Delphinius," she commented, pointing at a collection of stars. He recognized it, having helped Parker with an astronomy project not long ago, during which he had taken the liberty of looking it up because he knew it was her favorite.
He knew he probably shouldn't ask this, because they were on a relaxing weekend, but he still couldn't stop himself from letting the question escape. "Have you talked to your dad lately?"
Her head turned sharply and she stared at him in surprise. "No," she answered guardedly, as if she expected to be reprimanded for this.
He just nodded thoughtfully, though, and turned his attention upwards without another word. From the way he could still feel her eyes on him, he knew that she wasn't quite through with the thought. And for that, he was proud of her. Even more so when she actually addressed it again.
"I think he's unsure of how to act around me," she murmured. "Russ, too."
The sadness in her tone only made him want to turn her away from the railing and nestle her close against his chest, but this time he didn't give in to an urge. He stayed right where he was, although his hand began to rub soothingly up and down her arm, his own arm still draped across her shoulders.
Sensing that she had more to say, that she was struggling with internally, he stayed silent, his eyes watching her patiently, letting her know he was there, and he was listening.
"I just... we were getting closer. And then, when I was... when what happened..." her features seemed to harden, and she spoke harshly all of a sudden, as if she was angry with herself, or with him, or with everything... he couldn't really make the distinction. "When I was raped," she snapped, getting the word out through clenched teeth, "Everything changed." The burst of energy that making herself say it seemed to have taken left her looking a bit drained, and she leaned more fully over the railing, tilting her head up to stare at the stars forlornly, her eyes sparkling with a bit more moisture than had been there a moment before.
Somehow, he'd kept himself from wincing when she'd said it, but that didn't change the effect hearing it from her had. He'd accepted that it had happened, and he'd fought through the aftermath with her, but somehow hearing it from her wasn't something he had wanted. Maybe it was him being selfish, and hoping that they could just forget it, or maybe it was just pretending that the world was perfect and it had never happened, but either way, he couldn't deny it. She had yet to be this blunt about it with him, though, and that seemed like a step forward. Like... perhaps saying it was a way of gaining control back.
"Everything's going to be okay, Bones," he whispered soothingly in her ear, pulling her more fully against him. She nodded, but didn't meet his eyes. "They blame themselves, you know," he added after a silence that he wasn't quite comfortable with. "Because they weren't there, when you were a kid."
Her gaze pierced him before he could even comprehend that she had turned to face him again. "And do you blame yourself, too? Because I don't see you pulling away. Unless you actually want to avoid me altogether as well."
The pain that stabbed into his heart at that statement must have shown in his eyes, because hers were immediately shining with sadness as well. "Sorry," she whispered, looking away again, only this time focusing on the ground a floor below rather than on the brilliant sky.
"You have every right to be mad," he answered calmly. "And it's not your fault."
"But I shouldn't take it out on you," she murmured back quickly. "It's not your fault either."
He stayed silent, and her eyes found his again, although he saw the hesitation there that showed she would rather be focusing on the ground still.
"You don't blame yourself, do you?" she asked, her voice quiet and completely serious.
This was not the way he'd wanted their weekend to go.
"It's cold," he said, a finger stroking over the goose bumps that covered one of her bare arms. "We should head inside."
"No," she said firmly, eyes blazing. "Answer my question."
"We've talked about this, Bones."
But her eyes weren't giving up.
He sighed heavily. "Sometimes, yeah, Bones, I blame myself. But tell me, what did you think when I was shot by Pam Nunan? Did you blame yourself? We're human. We think about how things could have gone differently. And I've told you before... I'd have given anything to change what happened."
Her eyes had flashed at the reference. "She was aiming at me," she answered. "Jake didn't have any interest in you. And if you had been there, at the lab, that day? He would have waited until you weren't. He had Andrew keeping a lookout, remember? He followed me in that cab back to the house. That's the only way it could have happened. They knew you weren't there. And you couldn't have always been there, that wouldn't have even been possible."
"Logic doesn't play a role, Bones."
She bit her lip, looking away, and he knew that his words had hit a nerve. He didn't know why, but that didn't matter. He lowered his tone.
"Your dad, your brother? They're still your family, no matter what's going on right now. And you'll all get through it. They love you, and you love them. That's what's important."
She nodded, her eyes not leaving his this time.
As the silence extended, she slowly let them drift downwards to rest on her feet. "I haven't forgiven him," she murmured softly. "For leaving in the first place," she added, although he'd already taken that leap and guessed at her meaning. Her eyes drifted upwards, seemingly in an aimless pattern, and found their way to what he knew was Delphinius, even though he didn't look up to follow her gaze and confirm it. "I forgave her, though," she whispered. "Maybe it was... the video tape, that she made for me on my sixteenth birthday... or maybe it's just that she's not here to be mad at... but I forgave her for leaving."
He had no response to that, so he settled for listening silently again, watching her intently.
"And Russ... we had a sort of silent agreement, where we just never brought it up. With him helping me find dad, after we started talking again... I had thought I could trust him. But then, when I found out he'd actually gotten back together with dad, and he'd been lying to me... and he drove off with him and left me there on that bench..." she closed her eyes for the first time in the conversation, and he knew she was fighting tears now. She shook her head. "I don't even know," she whispered. "I've though I could trust them, after all this time had passed since all of that, but maybe I was just completely wrong. Maybe they want nothing to do with me."
"Hey, hey..." he soothed, rubbing her arm again, "You know that's not true," he murmured as he brushed her hair back behind her ear and gently stroked the single tear that had escaped away with a caress of his thumb.
"Booth, I've barely talked to either of them in months. They made separate plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I grew up in the foster system, knowing that no one wanted me; I can tell when someone's trying to avoid me and when they genuinely are sorry about missing the time." A slight smile tilted up one corner of her mouth, "With you it's always the second one," she whispered.
He managed to smile back, but it wasn't easy with the way his heart was constricting painfully from her words. "Then give them time," he whispered. "Because you can't tell me, honestly, that you think they don't care about you. I'd say the problem is probably that they care too much... and they don't know what to do about it."
Hesitantly, she leaned into him again, and he comfortingly wrapped both arms around her, glad that she was still willing to do so, rather than pulling away as she once might have done after a conversation like they'd just had.
"I'm ruining our weekend," she muttered into his shoulder.
He chuckled softly, and kissed the top of her head. "You could never ruin anything for me, Bones. Let's get out of the cold, though, okay?"
She just nodded, and they stepped back into the room together, sliding the glass closed and pulling the curtains to shut out the outside world... leaving him to hope that maybe things would look much more cheerful in the morning, and that perhaps all this talking was doing some good for the both of them.
I hope I'm still doing a good enough job of keeping them in character.
I haven't been responding to reviews the way I promised, so I apologize, and I thank each and every person who dropped me a lovely review last chapter :)
Now, onto the fun stuff.
I figured I'd check and see exactly when to expect Bones to be back on TV, and found that a new episode had been added onto the episodes list, at the top, titled The Beginning in the End. At first, I was confused, thinking it was the same as last year. And then I realized they'd flipped it.
I'm not sure what the rest of you make of this, but I see some very hopeful prospects ahead :) The 'end' part is a tad worrisome, but the 'beginning' part makes me think that they are FINALLY going to admit they're feelings. So it will be the start of something new, and the end of the tension and stuff.
Or, at least, that's what I'm desperately hoping.....
Oh, and if anyone knows anything at all about the next episode, The Bones on the Blue Line, PLEASE let me know. I'm dying for some spoilers to help me with the recent Bones withdrawl during this long wait.
One final question, and then I will leave you to (hopefully) click that lovely review button. Does anyone know, for certain, if they will be addressing the Gravedigger trial this season? I had heard it was going to occur, and judging from the number of fics I've seen covering it over the past few months, apparently everyone else thinks so to. I'm just wondering if anyone knows more. Because I love any information I can get my hands on :)
Thanks for reading all of my rambling. :)