Brotherly Love?
By wired2damoon
Chapter 18: Bedsides And Bridal-Style
A/N: I am aware that some of you were unable to read all of the last chapter. I am sorry to hear that but I've absolutely no idea why that is…I'm stumped really…just keep clicking into it and see what happens, I assure you I definitely posted all of it!
Thankies to everyone who reviewed, it means a lot to me! There's maybe two-five chapters left, depends on how long I decide to make them! Hope you all enjoy! Xx
The soft beeping of the heart monitor was what kept Special Agent Seeley Booth from going crazy.
It's low, rhythmic rumble was like music to his ears.
He sat, half hunched over the hospital bed, his hands clasped together in prayer, his head hung low, his St. Christopher medal swinging off his neck.
Fresh, salty tears stung his eyes and threatened to spill down his cheeks.
He reached up suddenly and pulled the medal over his head, clasping it in his hand.
He didn't dare look up and stare at the figure in the bed for fear he would break down completely.
Outside, he could hear commotion, presumably his partner's father demanding that he be allowed into the room.
Taking a deep breath, he reached down and squeezed the small, fragile hand and murmured, "I'll be right back…I promise…" before bringing it up to his lips, kissing it tenderly and leaving his medal to rest in her palm.
Standing up, he made his way silently out of the room and into the hallway were a small congregation of people resided.
"I'm sorry Mr Keenan, there's just one person in allowed to see her at a time. She just had a major blood transfusion, she lost a lot of blood from the bullet entry into her tibia and quadriceps…" the doctor trailed off, looking slightly alarmed as the older man began to square up to him.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Max saw someone step out of the room and he immediately felt his blood pressure rise.
"BOOTH! WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER GOD DAMNIT!?" he demanded, striding up to the agent and bringing his face a mere inch from his.
Booth stood his ground and stared intently at Max.
"She was shot Max, in the leg, she lost a lot of blood, I found her and brought her here…" he mumbled calmly, his eyes never leaving the older man's.
The rest of the group, consisting of Russ, Angela, Hodgins, Cam and Sweets, looked on silently.
"How did you even get into see her?" Max hissed, "you're not family…"
Booth suppressed a sly grin, "well I told the doctors I was her partner, it's not my fault they misinterpreted my meaning…"
Max rolled his eyes and shoved passed him, ignoring the doctors protests and walking straight into the hospital room without a backwards glance.
Booth knew this was normal behaviour for a worried father so he wasn't offended by Max's reaction, instead he turned his attention towards the others.
"She's alright…just sleeping…" he informed them, as Angela waltzed over and threw her arms around his neck.
"Oh thank god," she mumbled into his shoulder.
Booth hugged her back lightly before turning to Russ.
"Tell Max I'm sorry I didn't inform him sooner," when Russ nodded he continued, "I'm just going to see how my brother's doing, be back in a minute".
He took off down the hallway.
Seeley slowed his pace when he came within view of his parents, white faced and jittery, sitting outside a ward talking adamantly to a young, blond doctor.
His mother was the first to spot him after the doctor walked away.
"Oh Seeley!" she squealed, racing towards him and throwing her arms around his neck.
Booth hugged his mother back tightly, watching with a grave face as his father approached him looking pensive.
"It's alright Mom, I'm okay…" he mumbled into her hair.
"Oh my poor boy! Something could of happened to you! Oh and you found Jared, you are so good at your job and I'm just so glad-"
"-Give the boy room to breathe honey", Seeley's father smirked, winking at his youngest son.
The older woman released her son hesitantly and turned to her husband.
He looked at Seeley intently for a moment before pulling him into a hug too.
"I know I don't say it often enough son, but I'm proud of you…" he mumbled into his ear.
Booth let out a puff of air in surprise.
All his life his father and he never really saw eye to eye. Sure they loved each other, but they were so different and had different opinions on life, especially when it came to life's choices.
It made his heart swell when he heard his father say those words, but he'd never admit it.
"Thanks Dad," he replied quietly, before clearing his throat as they broke apart.
"So…how's Jared?" he asked nervously as his father sat back down beside his mother.
The two glanced up at him, small smiles gracing their faces, "the doctor says he'll be as right as rain in a few days, he just needs a few stitches and a good rest", his mother informed him, her eyes brimming with tears.
"How's your partner?" she asked, her tone changing slightly from relief to subtle curiosity.
Seeley sighed and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.
"She's had a blood transfusion, doc said she'll need crutches and bandages but she'll be fine in a few weeks…" he muttered quietly, still not looking at them.
His parents exchanged a worried glance.
"You sound bitter Seeley, you should be relieved", his mother told him, the confusion in her voice evident.
Booth was silent for a few moments, opening his eyes to stare at the florescent light that was flickering over-head.
"It's my fault…" he said so quietly that both his mother and father had to lean forward to hear him.
"Seeley, what do you mean it's your fault? How-"
"-Sorry to interrupt…" interrupted a voice from a little way down the corridor.
The Booths turned and was greeted by the frame of Angela Montenegro.
"Angela, what's up? Is Bones okay?" Booth asked frantically, racing towards her.
She smiled softly at his reaction, he really was cute when he was worried.
"Yes she's fine, I just came to tell you that she's just woke up and is asking to see you", Angela informed him with a small smirk and a polite nod to his parents.
Seeley glanced back at his mother and father, throwing them an apologetic smile before replying hurriedly, "alright, I'm coming…"
Angela suppressed a laugh as he sped past her, down the corridor and out of sight.
She turned to his parents who were gaping, open-mouthed.
Mrs Booth glanced up at the artist and the two shared a knowing smirk.
There went a man in love…
Booth stood nervously outside his partner's hospital room door.
There was no sign of her family or the squints.
They all must have gone for coffee, thought Booth as he shifted his weight from foot to foot for a moment, before taking a deep breath and opening the door and stepping in quietly.
He peered into the room from the doorway, almost afraid to go in.
Brennan heard the door open and turned to look at him.
"Booth…" she mumbled softly, upon seeing her partner hover in the doorway.
"Hey Bones…" he whispered softly, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind him.
The two partners merely stared at one another for a few, silent moments.
The tired blue eyes, met the shinning chocolate-brown ones and held the gaze tenderly.
Suddenly, Temperance broke the gaze and looked down at her hand where Booth's medal still lay.
"You left this with me?" she mumbled, her voice confused and more question-like then statement.
Booth edged towards her bed and sat down on the chair.
"Yeah…I-I know you don't believe in that stuff but I…I dunno I felt, better leaving it with you when I had to go…" he muttered, feeling extremely stupid all of a sudden.
A minute smile graced his partner's pale face as she stared at the medal, letting it lace between her fingers.
"It was a nice gesture all the same, thank you Booth…" she said quietly, not looking at him as she reached for his hand and squeezed it tightly.
Booth stared at the small hand covering his for a moment, his mouth going dry. He had absolutely no idea what to say, so he blurted the first thing that came to mind.
"So where's your Dad and the squints gone?"
Brennan sighed, letting his hand go and looked up at the ceiling, a little chuckle omitting from her.
"They're gone to the cafeteria to get some coffee, they said the ones from the machines are just awful."
Booth kept his head down, staring intently at his now solitary hand.
"Yeah the coffee's crap", he agree softly.
The two partners were engulfed in silence.
It seemed neither wanted to address the issue at hand, but after a moment Brennan decided it was irrational not to talk about it.
"Angela told me he got away…" she trailed off, not sure how to continue.
Booth nodded his lowly-bent head. "Yeah…" he replied bitterly, refusing to look her in the eye.
The anthropologist took this opportunity to look out the window.
The sky was darkened and the moon was starting to peek out between the clouds.
She sighed deeply and could feel her partner's eyes watch her closely.
"You look tired Booth…" she said after a moment's silence, "why don't you go home, have a shower, spend some time with your parents and go to bed?"
Booth regarded her for a moment before mumbling something incoherent.
"What?" Brennan asked as she couldn't understand him.
He cleared his throat nervously and muttered, "I uh…don't want to leave you…uh you know…alone…" he flinched as he finished as if he were expecting her to attack him for saying such a thing.
Instead, Brennan smiled softly and said quietly in her best squint-speak, "Booth, it's irrational to have a fear of leaving me here alone, it is a hospital after all. I'll be perfectly safe from harm".
Booth stared at her for a moment, as her blue, shinning eyes connected with his before replying, "yeah I know Bones but…you know, he's still out there and he could come back and-"
"-Booth! You look exhausted you need your rest, there is no way I am allowing you to stay here all night", she said, her tone demanding and final even in her weakened state.
Booth admired his partner greatly, she just had a major blood transfusion and yet she still found the energy to boss him around…amazing.
"Alright, alright Bones…if that's what you want…" he murmured, his eyes twinkling against the moonlight as he walked backwards towards the door, his gaze never leaving her's.
The two partners stared into each other's eyes as a sense of understanding passed between them.
A small smile tugged at the edge of Booth's mouth before he whispered, "good night Bones", turning to leave, pausing only when he heard Brennan reply softly, "goodnight Booth".
Once her partner had left, Temperance shrank back into her pillows with a heavy sigh, the events of the last few days weighing heavily on her mind. Glancing up at the ceiling she saw the soft flickers of the moon cast shadows which gloomed deeply. They brought back bad memories…
Shaking her head, she willed the nasty memoirs from her and closed her mind, waiting for sleep to claim her.
Unbeknownst to her, a mere ten feet away on the other side of the door sat her relentless, stubborn, sleep-deprived partner whom refused to leave her.
He knew that she'd be less than pleased when she saw him emerge the next morning in the same clothing as the night before but watching that playful, mischievous smirk grace her very beautiful, very alive face as her sea-blue eyes burned with intensity, made sleeping sitting-up on a hard, uncomfortable, plastic chair, seem oddly worth it.
It had been nine days since Jared Booth and Temperance Brennan had been rescued.
Mr and Mrs Booth had taken it upon themselves to take over their youngest son's apartment - sleeping in his bed whilst they made up Parker's room for Jared.
Booth rolled his eyes but remained silent as they drove to the hospital, Seeley and his mother in his car whilst his father tailed behind.
The agent felt a familiar warmth in the pit of his stomach as he thought about his partner's release from the hospital.
It had been a rough few days, from taking un-paid leave off work, spending all day in hospital taking turns for the coffee run and of course, pretending to your partner that you're going home at night when in reality you're sleeping outside in the corridor on the plastic chair from hell with a change of clothes in the duffel bag by your feet.
Getting out of the car, Booth opens the door for his mother and walks into the hospital.
"Okay Seeley, Jared's room is up this way, your father and I are going to bring him back to your place", his mother told him, looking around her for the arrival of her husband.
"Alright Mom, well, I'm gonna bring Bones home first and I'll be home later okay?" Seeley replied, giving his mother a quick hug.
"Okay dear, such a strange thing to call her…" she mumbled more to herself but Booth caught it anyway.
Giving her his best charm-smile (which evidently never worked on her) he waved goodbye and walked off to the left.
He was only walking for a few moments when he saw Angela and Sweets come into view.
He walked attentively towards them, catching a snippet of their conversation.
""Wow…your life is complicated…" Sweets was saying.
"Yep", came Angela's off-handed response.
"Ok so let me get this straight. You're engaged to Hodgins, but were married to a guy in Fiji who you haven't seen since, are highly sexually attracted to Booth and have had lesbian dreams about Dr. Brennan"…
Booth's ears pricked up at the last bit.
"Yeah that's about the gist of it", Angela replied sweetly.
Booth began to laugh as the two saw him. "Whoa Angela, you and Bones? I really wanna hear the rest of this conversation…"
Angela turned to grin devilishly at him, her eyes sparkling, "why? I'm sure your sex-dreams are exciting enough…"
Booth just gaped open-mouthed at her, trying and failing to form a sentence as the artist winked at him and Sweets threw him a knowing glance.
Before anything further could be discussed, the room door opened, and out hobbled Temperance Brennan, supported on crutches.
"H-Hey Bones!" Booth exclaimed a little too enthusiastically, jumping forward to hold open the door for her, trying desperately to escape the uncomfortable all-knowing smirks of his companions.
Brennan flashed him a small smile before rolling her eyes.
"Booth, I'm perfectly capable of holding open the door", she mock-scolded him as Angela enveloped her in a big hug.
Booth grinned at her - his charm smile at full blast.
"I know Bones, I know…"
After all the hugs and greetings, the promises from Max that he'd be over the very next day to check on her and of course the defined, hard look in Booth's direction that told him 'if anything happens to her I'll hurt you' were passed Booth turned to his partner and rested his hand on her back protectively.
Brennan glanced at him as he said quietly in her ear, "c'mon Bones, I'm taking you home…"
There was no complaint on her end, she'd just be happy to sleep in a warm, comfortable bed…
"I don't think we thought this all the way through…" Brennan muttered, clearly aggravated by their current situation.
As much as he hated to admit it, Booth knew she was right, they really hadn't.
At present, the two partners found themselves at the bottom of the stairs of Brennan's apartment block, Brennan struggling to get up the stairs with her crutches and Booth trying to keep an eye on her and carry up her bags of clothes that Angela brought into hospital for her.
After watching his partner struggle and after he dropped another item for the umpteenth time Booth lost it.
"Okay! That's it!" he growled, suddenly dropping all the bags at the end of the stairs and approaching his partner.
"Booth what're you - BOOTH!" Brennan squealed in very un-Brennan-like tone as he suddenly lifted her up off the ground, causing her to drop her crutches and fling her arms around his neck tightly for support.
"BOOTH PUT ME DOWN!" she yelled in alarm, grabbing fist-fulls of his t-shirt so tightly that her knuckles whitened.
Booth could sense her distress but confidently ignored her.
"No way Bones…I told you it'd be too dangerous to take the stairs but would you listen? No…so this is the only alternative…" he grumbled as he tenderly hooked her legs under his arm and began carrying her bridal-style up the flights of stairs as gently as possible, willing desperately for the intimate thoughts of how this must look out of his brain.
Silence ensued as Booth wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his chest, walking slowly up the stairs, rolling his eyes at the fact she'd have to live on one of the top floors of the building.
"What about my stuff?" Brennan asked quietly, her soft breath bouncing off his neck as she rested her chin on his shoulder, trying to ignore the fact that this was even happening.
"I'll leave you up in your apartment and I'll run back down and get it-"
"-No Booth you don't have to-"
"-Bones how the hell are you supposed to get them? There's no way you're going to make it all the way down the stairs and all the way back up is there? So accept it".
That shut her up…
Well, at least he thought it did…
"This is just another conveyance of your alpha-male tendencies you know", she said matter-of-factly, trying her best to make her tone sound more aggravated then anything else.
"Yeah I know, I know….I'm showing that I'm all manly and being protective over you to lay claim, I get it", he muttered agitatedly, still trying to ignore the fact that he was actually carrying his partner in his arms the same way as a groom would his bride.
Brennan smirked and rolled her eyes.
"Just because you carry me up a few flights of stairs it gives you no claim over me Booth", she replied playfully as she heard her partner groan as they reached her front door.
"Ugh Bones! One, that was not a few flights, that was eight to be exact! And two, when did I ever say I wanted claim over you?" he asked, his voice intense and strained as he held her, turning his head to the side to stare straight into her eyes.
Brennan's breath caught in her throat as she too turned her head.
The lips lay a mere inch apart, Booth tightened his grip on her waist whilst she clutched the fabric of his shirt tighter in her fists.
The stared at one another, both lost in each other's gazes for a moment.
It felt as if the whole, wide world had stopped and they were the only one's still breathing. It was deathly quiet, neither seemed willing to move, neither seemed able to as the dark-brown eyes caught the blue.
It was mystifying, alluring, arousing…and yet, neither could push themselves to move that extra inch forward…
Booth cleared his throat loudly, suddenly remembering their predicament.
"Uh…Bones…house key?" he mumbled, his eyes adverted from her.
"Oh, yeah, um, Ange put the new set of keys in my pocket…since you knocked my door in I had to get a new one", she replied, her playfully-stern tone suddenly making an appearance again.
Suddenly, she began shifting in the agent's arms and he struggled to keep a hold of her.
"Woah Bones, steady as she goes…" Booth exclaimed as Brennan began to wriggle in his arms and dig her hand in her pocket.
"I don't…know…what…that…means…" she gasped as she struggled to find her key, deep in her pants' pocket.
Booth merely rolled his eyes and held her steady.
"Aha!" she smiled with glee as the brand new key appeared in her palm.
"Great, now give it here so I can open the door", Booth ordered.
"And how exactly pray tell, are you supposed to support me and open the door at the same time?" the anthropologist asked with an air of intellect.
Booth grumbled and mimicked her voice quietly, sounding like a five year old, "and how pray tell…whatever Bones! Just open the damn door! My arms are about to give out!"
Brennan smirked in triumph and leaned forward slightly in Booth's arms and slid the key into the key-hole, turning the handle gently.
The door swung open and Brennan's eyes lit up as she saw her familiar abode.
It took nine days in hospital for her to appreciate her own space.
"Now to carry you over the threshold", Booth said jokingly, his face slowly turning to horror once he realized what he just said.
Did I just say carry you over the threshold? Oh God!
Brennan looked at him puzzlingly for a moment, her head cocked to the side as she pondered his words.
"What do you mean Boo-"
"-Let's get you settled on the couch shall we? Then I'll go and grab your bags!" Booth murmured hurriedly cutting across her.
He stepped carefully across the living room, towards the couch, and set her down gently.
Once Brennan felt her back against the couch, she looked up, her arms still around his neck.
The two felt themselves get drawn in to one another again and Brennan instantly withdrew her arms and looked away.
Booth, (more so for something to do in the aftermath of awkwardness) rubbed his hands together and said softly, "okay well I'll go get your stuff…"
Brennan nodded and watched him go, heaving a deep sigh as she did so.
Things were changing between them, even she could sense that…
After a few moments, Booth was back - bags in tow and closing the door behind him.
Grinning at her, he lay her crutches beside her and muttered the sweetest words Brennan had heard in a long time.
"So Bones…how about some Thai Food?"
A/N: Well that's chapter 18. Hope you liked it, originally I was going to keep going but I decided to split my massive chapter into 2 chapters. Up next is a Booth&Brennan heart-to-heart, some romance and some shocking mail…
And I would like your opinions on something, those of you who have read "To Make Love" do you want me do to a sequel? Because I've definitely been thinking about it... let me know! xx