Hey all! I feel like after some comments on the last piece, I should clarify that these "Anger" pieces are all unrelated one-shots. That's all.
There's a few things you should know about this piece. First, it's as well-researched as anything written in less than two hours can be. I pulled up a beginner's kickboxing lesson on my cable's On Demand menu and kickboxed my way through the video twice, making sure I got the lingo right and that the moves I list were doable to a novice like myself... so they should be easy-peasy to the characters below. If you struggle picturing a physical fight, go watch a kickboxing lesson on YouTube first.
This takes place post-that contrived proposal, but before the following episode. Let's assume Brennan had some things she wasn't quite saying (and sadly never did). :)
My thanks to LadyJaneGrey777 for her betaing… she's a newbie to fanfic writing, but her first fic takes an excellent direction into the land of "what ifs" for season six and includes a small (but always makes me giggle) X-Files crossover aspect to it. Seriously, go read it (she's on my Favorite Authors page…).
She sensed him before she saw him. She made a note that later, she should investigate how it's possible to recognize the way someone opens a door, when the sound of a door opening has no correlation to the person opening it, but she did know and a turn of her head confirmed she was correct.
She looked to the woman she'd been sparring with and excused herself before walking across the crowded studio to him.
"What are you doing here, Booth?" she asked with an annoyance in her tone that he couldn't miss.
"There's a body. And a crime scene. Therefore, I need my partner," he said, sounding equally annoyed.
"You could have called," she responded, crossing her arms. "I would have met you there."
"I tried calling. A few times. Finally, I got a hold of Angela and got her to tell me where I could find you… I didn't know the Jeffersonian had a gym, much less classes like these," Booth said, looking around the room. "Boxing, Bones… really? I thought you were already an expert in, like, three kinds of martial arts?"
"It's kickboxing actually, and four."
"Four…" Booth said with a question in his voice.
"While in Maluku, I took several lessons from a Kuntao Master. I've now mastered four types of martial arts."
"Ca-what?"
"Kuntao. It's roughly translates to mean "Way of the Fists. I only have 10 minutes left in this class. If you text me the address, I'll finish up and meet you there."
"It's alright, I can wait."
"Booth, my car is already here, I'll have to drive anyways."
"So, I'll wait and we'll drive together, like we always do when I pick you up from the lab."
"Not lately," she muttered while refastening her gloves.
Either Booth missed her comment or chose to ignore, because he swung back on his heels and gestured toward the floor. "Go on Bones, time's a'wasting."
Brennan sighed, partially because she was not willing to start an argument over why people who are "just partners" don't wait around or follow someone to a crime scene because of a grandiose alpha male need to protect her at every moment. And partially because just a week ago, when Hannah was still around, he wasn't nearly as burdened to act in kind. Her final hesitation came from what she knew would end up being her partner's eventual need to critique what happened next.
She refastened her headgear and made her way back to the woman she was sparring with. They began to trade blows and the other woman got two good knocks to Brennan's clavicle region before Booth decided to step in.
"Whoa, Bones. Haven't you paid attention to anything I've been teaching you all these years? Your stance is all wrong."
"Booth…" Brennan started with an eyeroll, but Booth quickly continued.
"See, here, you need to stand like this when you're facing an attacker. Like this…" he said, demonstrating by grabbing her shoulders and physically shifting her.
"But Booth…"
"No, Bones, I'm serious. We deal with dangerous people all the time, and you need to be able to defend yourself properly. I don't know what they taught you in your kungpao chicken class, but take it from a guy who's been on the streets, you're doing it wrong."
Brennan stopped herself from commenting when her sparring partner started to laugh. "I don't know, Doctor Brennan, maybe you should demonstrate your skills for him directly so he can correct your ways."
She almost defended herself, until she caught the glint of humor in the woman's eyes. It would come to shock Booth later that day to realize that somewhere along the line, he missed that his partner had learned to recognize and wield the weapon of sarcasm effectively.
"Well, if I'm doing it incorrectly Booth, perhaps you should put on some protective gear and show me what I'm doing wrong."
Booth smirked, taking off his jacket while saying, "I don't really need protective gear, Bones."
"It's a class rule, Booth. If you want to participate, you need to put the gear on."
"Oh, okay professor," he remarked sardonically as the rest of the women in the room stopped what they were doing and freed up space in the center of the room, intently focused on the situation at hand.
Once he had the required gear on, he walked to Brennan. "Okay, Bones, so what you want to do when you throw your first punch is place your legs like this, leaning your weight on your back leg. You're going to jab with the fist that's opposite of that leg. And then, you should bring your other hand up to your face like this," he demonstrated, bringing her hand up in front of her chin. "It'll help you to block your face from some of those jabs she was getting in."
Booth looked at her feet, checking her stance while Brennan pursed her lips together to stay silent while the students in the class chuckled.
"Okay, so the ideal combo you want to work with is simple." Booth turned to face the whole class, beaming at the attention they were giving him. You want to 'jab,' then 'cross,' followed by a 'hook' from around the side, and then an 'uppercut' from underneath like this," he said as he was demonstrating the moves. "Okay, now you try it."
Brennan repeated her movements, but locked her elbows in a way that made her movements awkward as she went.
"No, Bones, you've got to loosen up. Come on, I know I've seen you throw a better punch than that at least once."
Brennan let out a slow breath at the insult, more than ready to show him exactly how kickass she was without his very helpful guidance, but decided to play along for another minute.
"Try it again Bones… jab, cross, hook, uppercut," Booth instructed, as she faced him.
Brennan did just as he said, but her punches packed very little force.
"Ah, come on Bones, that was weak. Alright, I want you to think of me as a bad guy, some slimeball we're trying to put away, and really let me have it."
"You're a law enforcement officer Booth, not a murderer, so it would be illogical…"
Booth cut her off at illogical. "Okay, then don't think of me as a bad guy. Just… think of a time when you've been really angry at me, and focus all of your rage into your arms and fists… and then punch."
Oh… well that's just too easy, she thought.
She tried to hide the smirk on her face as she thought of all the things she could choose to be angry at him for. And she attacked.
Jab - Just showing up here to demand my presence at a crime scene.
Cross - needing to Coach me in kickboxing, which I've only been practicing since college
Hook - Hannah, Hannah, Hannah.
Uppercut - giving Ultimatums after 12-years-old psychologists dare you to…
She repeated this series four times, each time faster and more forcefully, which seemed to throw Booth more off-guard each time. By the fourth set, she figured his brain had time to catch up.
"Don't forget Booth… this is a kickboxing class. It's not all about the punches," she said with a glint in her eye.
Jab. Cross. Hook. Knee spear.
Jab. Cross. Hook kick.
Hook. Kick. Uppercut.
Brennan continued her demonstration until she had him backed up to the edge of the mat. Then, she surprised him with an elbow uppercut, and in dodging it, he spun around to her backside with his back to the center of the mat. She spun to meet him, at which point she caught him with another jab and a cross hook. Then she grabbed his wrists and in a very Judo like manner, swept her leg behind his knees to throw off his balance and force his back to the floor. By grabbing his wrists, she ensured his landing would be much less abrupt for sake of his back, but still enough of a fall to hopefully knock his pride down a notch.
As Booth lay on the floor, breathless, he blinked a few times and looked up at his partner with wide eyes, towering over him, now registering the chuckles of the other women in the class, forcing his skin to flush into a deeper red.
"Is your back alright?" she asked.
He wiggled a little bit before breathing a "yeah."
"Anything else about my posture or technique you'd like to critique before we go solve a murder?"
"Nope. You're a lethal weapon. All good," Booth managed to get out, still trying to catch his breath.
Brennan turned to the group of students and said, "Okay, I suppose we can call it a night. See everyone next Tuesday."
Booth started to cough as he managed to sit up as the women gathered their things and said multiple "goodbye Doctor Brennan" on the way out. Brennan held out her hands and pulled him to his feet.
"You teach this class?" he asked incredulously.
"There's this advanced electrophoresis particle separator that Hodgins really wants for the lab, and in trying to convince Cam what an asset the equipment would be for Hodgins' sake and the sake of solving cases, as the machine is portable into the field and can turn out results fairly quickly, she convinced me she'd work on securing the funding if I would take over teaching this class for one of the archeologists who left on a dig for 16 weeks."
"You teach this class. You're certified to teach this class?" he repeated incredulously. "Then when I watched you… what was that about? And why can't Hodgins just by his own equipment?"
"Yes I'm certified to teach and it's a beginners' class Booth. Jill, the lab tech I was sparring with, tenses up anytime she thinks she's going to receive a blow. So I've been working with her, by going easy on her with my response, so she builds up the confidence in her own skills to handle herself in a fight. As for Hodgins, he could surely fund the purchase of the equipment he wants, but then he'd refuse to let anyone else go near it. We've had this issue with Hodgins before and he's not allowed to fully fund anything in the lab himself."
"So, you're giving of your time to help do something nice for Hodgins, while kind of doing Cam a favor. What have you done with my partner?" Booth asked cheekily.
Brennan spun to face him, ire in her eyes from his flippant comment. "I've been teaching this class for nearly three months now Booth. If there was really a significant change in my personality that led me to do something apparently so unthinkable as a favor for a colleague, I would have thought you'd pick up on it before now. So, I guess the better question is, 'what have you done with my partner?'" she shot back.
"Whoa… sorry Bones. Doing this for Hodgins and Cam… It's very nice… that's all. Guess I'm just surprised I didn't know about it until now." he responded sheepishly.
"We solve cases. Occasionally get drinks afterwards to celebrate the closing of a case. 'Just partners' remember?" she said mockingly, as she made her way to the door, leaving Booth to absorb the metaphorical slap he deserved.
Not wanting to leave it on such a sour note, as they made her way up the stairs in the direction of the lab in silence, she decided to extend a bit of an olive branch. "You know, if you really are concerned about any of my fighting techniques and how it might affect our work in the field, I am taking, as a student, another martial arts class on Thursday nights. You're more than welcome to attend and see if I possess an effective technique with this format as well. Perhaps, you could even participate to make sure my skills are sharp."
Booth cleared his throat, before responding, "What type of class is it?"
"It's a beginner Krav Maga class?"
"Krav Maga? What the hell is that?"
"No holds-barred Israeli-inspired street fighting," she said in a smooth tone.
Brennan smiled but refrained from chuckling as she heard Booth choke on a little air, while they continued walking side-by-side to go solve yet another case.
This one-shot is dedicated to Daffodil101, who had requested a piece where Brennan gets to physically beat on Booth. I had a couple of other scenarios I toiled with for a month, and then driving home from a wedding Saturday night, this one was like "Bam!" and I wrote it the next day. Hope it satisfied your "Violence Against (Season 6) Booth" craving. :D
Reviews are like love. *Hits play for The Contours' Hit Song* ... So "Do you love me? (Do you love me?)" ;)