Brotherly Love
By wired2damoon
Chapter 6: Pinky And The Brain
A/N: Hey everybody! Again, I'm using this really, really ancient computer so forgive me for any errors, I will fix them as soon as I get my proper computer back! Thankies to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, this is dedicated to all of you guys because you're all so amazing! Enjoy
–wired2damoon-
Temperance Brennan stormed into her apartment, her door swinging widely open and banging harshly against the wall.
She had no idea why she was so irritated; she started feeling this way at the Diner with Jared.
To say the rest of the evening went smoothly would be quite an understatement that much Brennan knew.
She cast her mind back to her evening with Jared Booth and inwardly cringed.
She knew well she had given him quite the brush-off but she really didn't know how to act around him. She realised pretty quickly that Jared Booth was no Seeley Booth.
He had this rather irritable habit of talking about himself for long periods of time. Brennan let it slide for the first few minutes as he was going through a hard time due to the hectic case but after a while he began to get rather tedious.
"So what's the deal with you and my brother?" Jared had asked, mid-way through the conversation of how he was always the boss when it came to him and his little brother.
"I don't know what you mean", Brennan replied uncomfortably as she began to quietly push her food back and forth with her fork.
"Oh y'know Temperance, the way you and Seeley are…" Jared continued gesturing to her with his fork, pointing accusatorially at her in little jabs.
Jab, jab, jab.
Brennan found herself glaring at Jared's fork with frosty blue eyes.
"No I don't know, what way are we?" she asked, her voice utterly defensive.
She could physically see Jared retract from her, obviously noticing the change in his companion's tone.
"Oh well you know, the way you fight all the time. I mean I'm only here five minutes and you've already reminded me of my parents, they've been married for forty-three years and still aren't as bad as you two", Jared replied light-heartedly trying desperately to lighten the mood.
Brennan leaned forward and folded her arms, her nostrils flaring.
"Oh I see…well, that's just the way Booth and I are. We are nothing like a married-couple however, we are always strictly professional, partners, friends, nothing more", she replied, her tone as convincing as possible the finality obvious.
Jared nodded his head lightly. No matter how much he tried to refrain himself from doing so he couldn't help but think that Brennan sounded like she was more trying to convince herself and not him.
"Oh…okay…"
There it was again. That little voice (that sounded oddly like Booth) telling Brennan that Jared did not believe her. Not one little bit.
Temperance shook her head vigorously, trying to forget all the doubts that rampaged through her brilliant mind.
Sighing heavily, she trudged towards her couch and plonked down, not caring how ridiculous it looked, but she was alone, nobody would care.
Suddenly she heard a knock at her door.
'So much for being alone' she thought to herself, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling, standing up and walking slowly to her door as if the whole world's weight resided on her shoulders, hoping that the person on the other side of her door was not who she thought it was.
Ever so slowly Brennan reached out and pulled the door-handle towards her and dared to peek her head around to see who her guest was.
'No such luck'…Seeley Booth stood in the doorway, his broad, muscular arms leaning against the doorframe as his head hung low, seemedly unaware that the door had opened.
"Uh…Booth?" Brennan mumbled, not being entirely used to Booth greeting her like this. Usually he was all "charm smiles" and "hey Bones" as cheerfully as he is at Christmas…well, his enjoyable Christmases anyway.
"Oh hi, uh, is Jared here?" Booth asked, barely looking up and he stood continuously motionless.
Temperance frowned at his behaviour but decided to ignore it for now.
"No…he's not. Why would he be?" she asked, the confusion and slight defence evident in her tone.
Booth knew he had to thread carefully.
"Uh, well I just thought that after your date you would invite him back to your place for uh…coffee…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck vigorously, knowing he was digging himself a deeper hole.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Brennan asked, her tone definitely defensive now, as she folded her arms and glared at him, completely blocking entrance into her apartment.
Booth merely stood there unable to answer her question so she moved swiftly on.
"First of all, your brother and I were NOT on a date, it was rather immature of you to think otherwise. Secondly I do not like the way you insinuated my usual manners and hospitality when it comes to inviting my dates back for coffee. I may not always comprehend when someone is using innuendo but I understand fully what you meant when you hesitated and find it crude and insulting", Brennan rambled, not caring if Booth failed to keep up with her rant.
Seeley seemed momentarily stunned by Brennan's little speech but could not help a little smile that now graced his face.
"You're right Bones, I was insulting. I apologise. Now are you going to let me in or what?" he asked, his charm-smile appearing out of nowhere and surprising Temperance.
"Why the sudden change of demeanour?" she couldn't help but ask as she was rather puzzled by Booth's sudden change from almost mopey, grumpy man to smiling, charming man in 2.3 seconds.
Not to mention the sudden reappearance of "Bones". Brennan didn't fail to notice that.
"What do you mean Bones?" asked Seeley, tapping his foot impatiently as Brennan still refused entry into her warm apartment.
"What do you mean what do I mean? Now you're all smiling and calling me Bones and such when a mere minute ago you were all down in the trash", Brennan replied matter-of-factly, almost certain she had gotten that particular saying correct.
"It's down in the dumps Bones…and I've no idea what you're talking about." Seeley replied just as confidently, although not feeling it as he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Yes you do Booth! You know well what I am referring to." Brennan almost yelled as she stood aside and let him into her apartment, although she made sure she kept a fair distance from him.
Seeley opened his mouth to speak but Brennan cut across him.
"- Today, you've been…for lack of a better word, different. You were quiet and did not want to join Jared and I at the diner. You called me Brennan, which is something you never do, and just now you greeted me as if I was the person who told you you're favourite basketball team didn't get a touch-town", she continued to rant as she made her way into the kitchen, Booth hot at her heels.
"Okay, first of all, it's score a touch-town and that's in football not in basketball Bones", Booth corrected her, again hiding the smirk that had crept onto his face as he adapted her way of replying.
"Secondly I already told you, I had a lot of work to do so I couldn't come to the Diner tonight, thirdly I didn't realise I called you Brennan, I didn't think it would bother you since you've told me so many times in the past not to call you Bones and lastly, I'm just not in the best of moods right now as I unlike you have not had a pleasant evening", he finished, knowing that he sounded like a cheap imitation of his partner, right down to the insane rambles and slightly longer words. Only slightly though, Booth's vocabulary wasn't quite as vast as the Anthropologist's.
Brennan glared at him, her hands planted firmly on her hips as he finished.
"What other women do you have a nickname for?" she asked suddenly, not caring that her question was completely random and not the best topic for conversation.
Booth's eyebrows rose to his hairline as he heard this.
"What are you talking about Bones? That was a bit Colombo".
"I don't know what that means".
"Colombo Bones. He was an investigator on TV, had a knack for asking weird questions at random. Never mind…anyway what are you talking about? What nicknames? What women?"
Brennan looked away from Booth and folded her arms. Suddenly she wasn't in the mood to explain things to him.
"Never mind…"
"-No, no, no! Don't you try and get out of this Bones! What did you mean?"
"Nothing its just something-"
"-Jared said right?" Booth finished, everything suddenly falling into place.
"Yes", Brennan finished quietly, still refraining from looking at her partner as she wrapped her arms around herself almost protectively.
Booth let out a long sigh before storming over to Brennan's armchair and plonking down heavily.
"It was just this stupid thing I used to do in High School. Whenever I wanted to talk about a girl to my friends or wanted a girl to like me I would christen them with a name only I would call them. It was really stupid and I've no idea why Jared brought it up", he mumbled through his fingers as his hands were now covering his face, his elbows resting on his knees.
Brennan looked slightly put out by his words but pressured him for more information.
"Give me an example".
"What?" asked Booth, jerking suddenly, looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
"Give me an example of what you would call a girl", Brennan elaborated, hoping that he would.
"Aw Bones I can't really remember now…High School was like a million years ago-"
"Booth, that's impossible. No human being can live for a million years-"
"I know, I know Bones! I was over-reacting alright? Uh…ok…an example", Booth paused for a minute, obviously deep in thought, rubbing his chin deeply.
"Ok, there was this girl I had a major crush on when I was a junior called Jenny Pinkinson. So whenever I would see her I would call her Pinky…" he mumbled, trying to control his blushing as he could feel his face grow red hot.
Brennan's eyes widened in surprise.
"Pinky?" Brennan asked, sounding slightly amused and disgusted at the same time.
"Yeah…and his good ol' pal Brain" Booth joked, smirking slightly as he realised, Jenny was Pinky and Brennan was Brain.
"I don't know what that means."
"Of course you don't, doesn't matter."
"You had a crush on Jenny. So does that mean you would only give a nickname to a girl you have a crush on?" Brennan asked, her voice sounding that of a young child trying to make sense of something.
"Yea-no", Booth stuttered, suddenly realising what he nearly confirmed.
"No…I would just give nickname to some people, not just girls, like my friends too, not…not just girls I liked", he mumbled his eyes darting everywhere, as he again vigorously rubbed the back of his neck.
Temperance cocked her head to one-side as she observed his behaviour. He was obviously uncomfortable having this conversation, she just couldn't understand why.
"I'm making you uncomfortable", she announced as she sat down opposite him on the couch.
"No, no Bones you're not, it's just that High School was so long ago ya know?" Booth replied hurriedly, his hand falling from his neck and clasping together as if in prayer.
The bright blue orbs that were his partner's beautiful eyes followed his every move he noticed, and he gulped under her scrutiny.
"Yes, yes I understand, I'm sorry I questioned you. Jared just made me wonder that's all", Brennan replied, her eyes darting from him as she sat bolt upright on her couch.
"Yeah, that seems to be happening a lot lately", Booth muttered, but it didn't go unheard by Temperance.
"So…did you have a good time with him tonight?" the words flew out of his mouth before he had time to register what had happened.
"Uh, yes, yes I did", Brennan replied, trying to block out the memory of her and Jared's hasty, awkward departure. He had been the gentleman of course; it was she who was uncomfortable.
"Well, what did ya think?" Booth asked, suddenly sitting dead straight on the edge of the chair, merely inches from Temperance's face.
Brennan's breathing hitched slightly at this new occurrence but she mentally slapped herself and wrote off her reaction as "being on edge due to lack of sleep".
Suddenly she felt herself being drawn in by those large, deep chocolate eyes and couldn't help but stare back feverishly, unblinkingly into them.
"He's…not you…" she replied, her words not even registering in her brain and Booth continued to stare into her eyes.
"Well obviously not, we're brothers, not the same person", Booth replied jokingly, and suddenly the connection between them was broken as he wretched his eyes away from her.
Temperance, feeling suddenly lost, frowned and nodded in agreement.
"Of course he isn't. But it is rather regular for two brothers to share similar characteristics, whereas I found hardly any that was common in both you and him, except maybe slight alpha-male tendencies and an overly-large ego", Brennan replied, smirking slightly as she watched Booth's amusing reaction.
"Hey! I resent that! I can't believe-" although Temperance never got to hear what Booth couldn't believe as suddenly there was a loud knocking coming from her door.
Frowning at Booth slightly, realising he would be the only one that would drop by unexpectedly at such a late hour Brennan pondered who on earth it could be.
Booth, instantaneously leaping into Special FBI Agent mode stood up and motioned to Brennan to walk with him towards the door as he kept his hand, itching towards his gun that was concealed under his suit jacket.
He nodded to Brennan as she reached the door that it was okay to open it.
Rolling her eyes at his behaviour Brennan whispered, "Booth honestly do you really think if someone was going to attack me they would knock first?"
Booth glared at her as he hissed, "better safe then sorry Bones!"
Rolling her eyes one last time Brennan reached out and pulled on the door handle, edging the door open slowly.
Peering around the side she noticed that the hall light wasn't on and she could not see her visitor, but it was okay, as soon as they spoke both Brennan and Booth knew exactly who it was.
"Hey Temperance, mind if I come in?"
A/N: So…who is our mystery guest? Lol not much suspense I know but oh well! Anyways please let me know what ya think, it would be greatly appreciated. Again, thankies to those who have reviewed, it means so much! –wired2damoon-