Chapter 12- Wow
Booth and Nik had been eating in an uncomfortable silence for a while when Nik finally broke it.
"So… uh, how do you deal with everything that happened to us when we were Rangers?"
Booth finished chewing his food, then answered slowly. "When things get tough, Temperance is there."
"Yeah, she is there, but how does that help?"
"She knows what happened, she knows what I have done, and she doesn't hate me for it. When I told her about the target at his son's birthday she didn't think any less of me. We actually became much closer than we had been before that."
"She didn't freak out? You have killed people, and she is okay with that?"
"She has been with me when I have killed people before. She killed someone in order to save me and herself. Temperance Brennan-Booth has some things that she is not proud of either, and I know what they are. That is part of what makes us so… good together. Through thick and thin."
"Was there ever a part of you that didn't want to tell her, because you were afraid of how she would take it, or that she would leave?"
"No, not really. Most of what she knows I told her when we were partners and friends, best friends. I knew that no matter what I told her she would be really supportive. She isn't like most women in the fact that she is very… literal. And she is a forensic anthropologist, she has been to very unstable places to identify bodies and she knows that warfare is a horrible, horrible experience, and she doesn't hold it against me."
"So, it is because of who she is."
"Yeah, but… you can tell who you can trust with this kind of thing. I never in a million years was even considering telling Rebecca what I have done. She would have left in a heartbeat. Because she is a heartless bitch, but you can tell."
"So, it is something that only you can do."
"Ha ha ha, no, have you ever considered telling Abby about it?"
"Yeah a few times."
"Has she ever asked you about it?"
"Yeah, at least once a year."
"Does she ask in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable?"
Nik thought for a minute, "No, when she asked it makes me feel, better, clamer, I know that she just wants to help me."
"Then you can tell her and know that she will not hate you for it. But you have to remember to give her a little while to process it. Not everyone can go with out mulling."
"So you think that I should tell Abby?"
"Most defiantly." Booth looked at his watch. "lets get out of here, I have just about two hours until I need to go get Tempe so she can make dinner. Would you like to join us?"
"Sure, as long as I will not be an imposition."
"No, Parker is bringing his girl friend over for dinner to meet us." Booth put an extra long pause between girl and friend. "Let me call him to make sure that it is okay with him." Booth walked over to the bar and dialed Parker. "Hey Parker, remember how I wrote to the guys in my unit… I sent them out Tuesday night… Nik Kaher came by to see me today… yeah and we have been talking about what has happened… yeah, I was wondering if it would be okay with you if I brought him home for dinner… I know that you are bringing home Aderyn are you sure its okay?...Okay thanks Parker, see you at dinner." He hung up the phone and walked back to the booth were they were eating. "He said it was fine. Lets get out of here."
"What are we going to do for two hours?"
"We can get some coffee and walk around D.C. Have you ever been here before?"
"No this is my first time."
Booth smiled, "Okay walking tour of D.C. How's that sound?"
"Great," They got up and Booth threw two 20's on the table.
"Thanks Sid!" Booth called to the back.
"See ya later G-man, tell the Bone Lady congratulations for me!" Sid yelled in response.
Booth and Nik started walking around D.C. "Okay so I am a Army Ranger Sniper turned FBI Homicide Investigator and you are…"
"A Army Ranger Weapons Specialist turned high school accounting teacher and girls volleyball coach."
"Wow. You sure stayed on the same track!" They both laughed, "But really, that sounds great man."
"Yeah my team has been undefeated for the three years that I have been head coach."
"Nice, I coach Parkers summer baseball league, we win most of the time, but are not undefeated by any means, but we have won a few tournaments. For us though it is more so about having a good time."
"What do you like best about coaching?"
"Spending time with Parker and his friends. He literally just moved in with us and Rebecca didn't really let us see him that much. What about you?"
"The girls, by far. Not in a creepy kind of way. They are all really great kids who are a lot of fun and sometimes really competitive, even with each other, but they are also very supportive of each other. They always tell someone to shake it off if they make an error, stuff like that. Like I said great kids, what is the worst aspect of coaching?"
"Rebecca never came to one of his games after she got married to Drew, so when Parker was, I think 7. Even when he plays for the high school team, for a long time it really hurt him, when it first started happening it was really hard to try and explain it to him. Either Tempe or I are at every game, and when I coach it is usually both of us," Booth paused, "Okay I lied, there was a time when we both missed his game but there was a hostage crisis at the Jeffersonian. Parker understood, he actually told me that had he known about it he would have missed the game! What is the worst part for you?"
"The fact that I coach girls, sometimes it is very hard! Boys, friends, boys, family, boys, school, boys, rumors, boys. Girls have it so hard sometimes. I am so glad that I have two boys!"
Booth was laughing really hard, "Parker was pretty easy, there have been a few spots that have been hard but for the most part it has been nice. I also think that some of our problems were more so with the fact that Rebecca and Drew were horrible to him, I am just mad that it took so long to finally realize that Parker would have been so much better off with us."
"Ryan and T.J. are really easy, although we are getting to the girl stage with Ryan, but hey that's life right?
"So you said your wife's name is Amy?"
"Abby, she is great. I met her a year after we got out of the Rangers." Nik paused for a minute, "So you really told your wife about what we went through, the things that happened?"
Booth stopped and turned to him. "Yes, she was the first person that I ever told, she was still my partner when I told her. But I felt so much better after I told someone, it may have been that I just said it out loud, but I really think that it was that I told her. For her to put her hand on my arm after I told her about the target at the birthday party, and the boy all covered in his daddy's blood, well it was a huge step for her. She was very… emotionally distant when I first met her, and when she did that I knew that I was getting through to her, that she was opening up to me. She had a hard time with her family and it took her a LONG time for her to open up to me. It was a long slow process, tearing down the walls that she put up a long time ago. But when I got them all down it was so breathtaking what I found there."
"Wow, that sounds… crazy."
"You have no idea, but it was so worth it. I was not the only person that was working on the walls, but even if you ask Angela, mostly I did it, Angela got it started, but I gave her the opportunity to live wide. Angela did a lot but mostly it was me."
"So telling her brought you closer?"
"Oh no question."