Disclaimer: Bones and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement. There are quotes from the episode that do not belong to me. I've interjected thoughts, altered scenes and added scenes.
Author's Notes: You'll notice in chapters 3 & 4, I have moved, revised, deleted, and added scenes. I hope you enjoy it.
A Blizzard of Confessions, Wishes, and Promises
Chapter 4: The Magic in the Burning Candle
"I promise, Bones. This is going to be better than just having a drink at the bar."
"With all the junk food you bought… popcorn, hot dogs, and Cracker Jacks… I find it hard to believe. But… I'm curious to find out what is so special about those seats."
"Bones? Are you telling me you've never been to a stadium?"
"Why would I? You know I've never had an interest in sports. Although, I have learned a few things about hockey."
He looked over at her in the passenger seat with a thoughtful smile. "I think maybe I'd like to play again next year. I've missed it."
"Oh. Someone took your spot on the team since you were supposed to be in Afghanistan."
"No, that wasn't it."
"Oh. Well, I'm sure with the year off; it would only take a little bit of practice to be the grand star again."
He grinned at the familiar Brennanism. "It's superstar, Bones. Superstar. And thank you for thinking of me that way," he grinned.
"Well, at least it means the same thing." Booth laughed. "Why would that be funny? Usually I'm embarrassing you."
The laughing stopped. "What? You think you embarrass me?"
"No. Forget I said it."
He gaped at her with sadness in his eyes. Was she crazy? Forget about it?
"Booth." She pointed out the windshield. "The light is green."
Booth was quiet for longer than she could remember while traveling in a car. "Look, it was my fault. I was trying too hard to get your attention. Please don't give it another thought."
Bones had been trying to get my attention? "When?"
"When what?"
"When did you feel the need to get my attention?"
"You make it very difficult to keep promises."
"This has to do with Hannah," he said without anger. "I kept my promise. I remained your partner even though it hurt like hell in the beginning. Hannah made it easier to deal with, or so I thought."
They stopped in front of his building, but he didn't get out. "Let me see if I understand this. You were being you and I was acting like I was annoyed? Am I close?"
"Well, that sounds about right. Like when we went to my class reunion. You said people didn't dislike me. They just didn't understand me. But you understand me. You used to tolerate me. I sometimes…. on occasion… would think I embarrassed you because I knew it couldn't be because you didn't like me anymore."
He laid his head back on the headrest, closed his eyes, and sighed. "Bones, some day, I don't know when, we're going to need to have a long talk about Hannah."
"I don't think you'd like that."
"No. I won't. But it won't be as hard to talk about once my anger leaves. But in the mean time, I need to correct some of your thinking. It sounds like I was unaware of how successful I was being. And I already know that you don't know what that means."
Brennan chuckled.
"But I want you to say it anyway."
"Say what?"
"I don't know what that means. I want you to say it."
"But it's not necessary if you already know that I didn't understand what you were trying to explain to me."
"Please," he said.
"Okay, but this is crazy. I don't know what that means. Happy?"
"Yeah. It put one more piece of my metaphorically shattered life back in its place."
A few moments went by in silence and Brennan said, "Booth, I still don't know what you were trying to tell me."
"Oh, right! Even with Hannah here, I was still having a hard time controlling my feelings for you. I needed to do whatever it took to forget. It seems that I overcompensating."
"Oh. So I don't embarrass you."
"No."
"But I really should improve my humor. I'm getting better at it, don't you think?"
"What I think, Bones, is that you should stop thinking you need to change yourself. You're wonderful just the way you are."
"I'm not sure I believe that but thank you."
"Come on. Let's go get our seats in place and eat our game food."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
"Booth, I'm not sure this is a very good idea. Your shoulder has got to be very sore. And I assume your back isn't any better."
"If it feels like I'm making it worse, I'll see if there are a couple of neighbors who can help us. Okay?"
"I suppose. But I'm watching your face for signs of pain."
Great!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
"Now, isn't this great?" asked Booth smiling broadly as he ate another hot dog with all the 'right' toppings.
"I can't imagine sitting in these seats for hours watching men hitting balls and running around the field."
"Come on, Bones. This is American. Maybe we can sit in these seats and watch a baseball game on TV one day, you know, so you can get a little bit of the feel of the excitement."
"What makes these stadium seats so special?"
"Tuesday, October 21, 1980. Game 6 of the World Series."
"That sounds very important."
"Yeah. Pete Rose, Manny Trio, Mike Schmitt, Steve Carlton. Tug McGraw strikes out Willie Wilson at 11:29 PM. Phillies win!"
"And these seats were there and you're sentimental about them."
"My dad and I were there." They just looked at each other for a few somber moments. It wasn't like Booth to talk about his dad.
"He quit drinking… for about 2 weeks." He looked away with hopes that he could keep from getting too emotional. "Long enough to remember I was his kid." He looked back at her. He didn't see pity. He saw empathy and understanding. "Just history. Our one perfect day." He wanted to lighten the mood. He picked up his bowl of popcorn and flicked a piece of popcorn into the air to catch it on his tongue. It had the right effect. Brennan laughed. She'd been doing a lot of that recently and he loved to hear it.
"Is that a baseball tradition, too?"
"Nah. It's just fun. You try it."
"No. I'll leave that stunt for you to do."
"Come on." She didn't look willing, yet. "Let's make a game of it." And the telling sparkle of competitiveness was written all over her face. But she wasn't giving in that quickly. It just wouldn't be natural.
"What kind of game?"
"Well, we can each have ten tries and see who catches the most pieces of popcorn."
Brennan chuckled. "That's not very competitive. Why don't we time ourselves? We can set the timer on the stove for a minute and see who catches the most."
Booth wore a big grin as he jogged to the kitchen. "Where are you Bones? The timer's in here."
She shook her head as she walked into the kitchen. "Walking seemed like a suitable way to get here."
"Okay. Ready, get set…"
"GO!" yelled Brennan and was already tossing a piece in the air.
"Hey! You cheated."
"If you keep talking… you're going to get further behind."
Booth noticed that Brennan was pretty good at catching the popcorn in her mouth. He needed to do something about that. He inched his way over as he tossed pieces of popcorn in the air. He accidentally bumped into her side causing her to miss.
"Hey!"
"It was an accident."
Right. I know how to make accidents. She accidentally threw her piece a little too far and it sailed on by Booth's face confusing him. By the time the minute was done, they were laughing too much to catch anything.
When the timer went off, they abruptly stopped and surveyed the mess.
"You don't play fair," claimed Booth.
"I play just as fair as you do."
"Right. How many pieces did you catch?" Brennan looked like she was busy thinking. "You lost track after your secret attacks. Didn't you?"
"Like you didn't," she accused.
"Nope. I caught 31."
Brennan looked down at the floor and back up at him with quirked brow. "Well, since you claimed yourself the winner, you get to clean up this mess."
"It's usually the loser who does the dirty work, Bones." His face was flushed as he smiled at her. "Why don't I put all the food away and you can sweep the floor."
"I find that quite acceptable."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Booth really wasn't ready to take Brennan home, yet. It'd been a frustrating day, but it was getting better as the day went along. He wondered if he should resume their earlier conversation. It would just make him more nervous as the days went by. And they had started talking seriously in the elevator.
He broke the silence rather abruptly. "Just uh. I'm just angry." He looked at Brennan and saw she was worried. "Not at you."
"Okay," Brennan said softly with some relief.
"I just need time. That's all. I need time to kinda hang back, find that inner peace before I… you know… get back out there. You know what we're talking about here. Right?"
"Yes," said Brennan calmly.
"You and me. Ya know… love, happiness, and a life, and fate…"
"I don't believe in fate, but I know what we're talking about."
Booth nods and appears to be thinking.
"I'm improving."
"Improving?" Is this the same conversation or a different one?
"Yes. I'm quite strong."
"Yeah well, you've always been strong."
"You know the difference between strength and imperviousness, right?"
He smiled with genuine joy. "Well, not if you're going to get all scientific on me."
She returned his smile before explaining it. "Well, a substance that is impervious to damage doesn't need to be strong because it's incapable of being penetrated. When you and I met, I was an impervious substance. Now I'm a strong substance."
"I think I know what you mean. I used to explain it as you having a wall put up to protect yourself. You wouldn't let people in… to get to know you. Remember when I said you should offer up a piece of yourself?" She nodded. "You were already breaking pieces of that metaphorical wall… becoming less imper… What did you say?"
"Impervious."
"Yeah. You were becoming less impervious a little bit at a time." He was thoughtful for a couple of moments. "Bones?" She looked up at him hopefully. "I'm glad you let me in. I think I've misinterpreted a lot of things between us in the last 11 months or so."
"A time could come when you're not angry anymore and I'm strong enough to risk losing the rest of my imperviousness. Maybe then we can try and be together." She gave him a small hopeful smile.
At first he didn't look at her and his facial expression was unreadable. But in just a few moments, his face brightened. He sat forward and ripped a paper plate into two smaller pieces and grabbed a pencil. "I am going to write down a date and guess what that time is and I want you to do the same."
"Why?"
"Why?" Booth asked in exaggerated surprise. "Because when I was a kid and I wanted something really, really bad, I'd write it down on a piece of paper and I'd burn it. It was like a spell. It was bound that my wish would become true," he said in excitement.
"Why?" she asked again while laughing.
"Why? 'cause it was, you know, burning it was releasing it into the universe."
"It's just smoke, Booth. Particulates with no special powers."
"Fine," he said simply. "Then what do we have to lose?" He shrugged. "Go ahead." He handed her a pencil. "Come on."
Brennan knew she was going to relent, but she had to make her scientific points first. He admitted he wanted her, he wanted them… 'really, really bad.' "Okay. How does this work?"
"Write down a date you think we'll be ready." Booth leaned back and strained his body up to look over her shoulder. "Don't look."
"I'm not looking." But he tried to look again, this time not being detected. "Okay. Now burn it on 3."
"Are we going on 3 or after 3?"
"Bones, just burn it together, okay. 1, 2, 3."
After letting the burning candle ignite their paper into flames, Booth argued," You were a little late on that one."
"Wait. I think you humped the gun."
"You mean jumped the gun." He started waving his burning paper. "It's jumped the gun."
"Booth, stop freaking out."
"I'm not freaking out. I just don't want to burn down the apartments. That's all. Ouch!"
Brennan left and came back with a bowl of water.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
"Let's have another beer and watch a fictional baseball movie in my new vet stadium seats."
"I don't know."
"The roads will be better by the time it's done." He flashed his charming smile. "Please? I have a few. I'll let you pick. But I'm already guessing which one you'll pick."
"Then write down your answer before I choose."
"Why?"
"So you don't say anything I pick. And if you'd like, you can burn that one, too."
Booth rolled his eyes but charmed her with his sexy smile.
"This one called 'Sandlot' looks like something Parker would enjoy."
"He loves it! And I don't mind watching it with him," he grinned.
"Let's see. The Natural looks interesting." She chuckled softly. "Well, I didn't have to read much of the summary to know that Bull Durham is probably your personal favorite. But this one, A League of Their Own, I'm surprised this would be your type of movie." Booth blushed. "You're embarrassed. Did someone give it to you as a joke? Maybe Pops or Jared?"
"Close. But it didn't have to do with Pops or Jared. It was Cam's little gag gift a year ago or so."
"Gag gift?"
"It's a gift you give to someone as a joke."
"Why would she do something like that?"
"You can ask her."
"Why should I do that? It's your gift."
"Trust me. The story will be much better if she tells it."
"Have you watched it?"
"No!"
"Well then, I choose this one. It should be refreshing to watch women stepping out of enforced cultural rules of society."
Booth opened his folded piece of paper. It read, "A League of their Own." He smiled like he won a medal!
Brennan found the movie to be very thought provoking from an anthropologist's perspective. Booth wasn't too interested. He had fallen asleep leaning against her with his head against her arm.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Author's Notes: I added this statement: (because it's incapable of being penetrated) with Brennan's explanation of 'impervious'. Even though Booth understood her, I didn't. I have a pretty good vocabulary, but I had to get my dictionary for that one!
Here's a bit of information about the movie 'A League of Their Own.'
Penny Marshall's popular 1992 comedy sheds light on a little-known chapter of American sports history with its story of a struggling team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league was formed when the recruiting of soldiers during World War II resulted in a shortage of men's baseball teams. The AAGPBL continued after the war (until 1954), and Marshall's movie depicts the league in full swing, beginning when a savvy baseball scout (Jon Lovitz) finds a pair of promising new players in small-town Oregonian sisters (Geena Davis, Lori Petty). The sisters are signed to play for the Rockford Peaches near Chicago, whose new manager (Tom Hanks) is a former home-run king who wrecked his career with alcoholism. They're all a bunch of underdogs, and Marshall (with a witty script by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel) does a fine job of establishing a colorful team of supporting players including Madonna and (in her movie debut) Rosie O'Donnell. It's a conventional Hollywood sports story (Marshall's never been one to take dramatic risks), but the stellar cast is delightful, and the movie's filled with memorable moments, witty dialogue, and agreeable sentiment. And just remember: there's no crying in baseball! -Jeff Shannon
Review Responses
I continue to be amazed at the attention this story has gotten. The # of views… wow! I have the epilogue mostly written. It needs a couple of more scenes, polishing, and editing that I won't be able to get to until after a very full day. But I'll get it to you as fast as I can. I find it exciting and I feel guilty about neglecting my other stories.
Thank you reviewers: luckywynner86, mendenbar, cheysma2000, PotterLover1996, Boneslover10, bb-4ever, squnitytotheBone, SouthunLady, and cast14.
Epilogue: I've heard speculations and suggestions about using the coffee cart as when they get together. Hmmm. That's a great idea! But what if they didn't choose the same date? Are there any other significant dates you can think of? If they both don't have the same date, then what happens? Oh, the possibilities are endlesssssss! HeeHee! But I can make one promise… whatshername will not be back!
Sweets: I was also surprised when Booth apologized to Sweets on the show. I wouldn't have expected that.
Cheysma2000: I know what you mean about Brennan's confidence as a scholar vs. a woman. I've noticed she has been laughing more on the show. She's even giggled! I love her excitement in the promo. I'm really excited in the changes I'm seeing in her.
mendenbar: You made some good points!
Thanks: So many of you have expressed how much you're enjoying this story. Thanks!
Funny: I found this episode to be funny. I've watched it twice and some scenes multiple times. I'll be watching it again to write down my favorite quotes. Do you have any favorite quotes from the show? I'm going to post them on my blog.