A/N 1: A great big thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter. Your support is amazing.
A/N 2: I had every intention of posting this a week ago from my hotel before spending most of the week without internet (or electricity for that matter), but couldn't get online. Thanks for your patience. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing Bones related except my imagination.
Angela and Lucas started out dancing in silence while Angela tried to ignore the fact that she was in the arms of the absolutely most delicious man she'd ever encountered and she had a protruding stomach, swollen ankles, and a tendency to waddle a little these days when she walked. She loved Jack and took her vows to him seriously, but would still prefer to at least feel like a femme fatale when in the arms of a gorgeous man as opposed to feeling like the Goodyear blimp. On the bright side, as Brennan pointed out earlier in the evening, she did finally have a cleavage worth flaunting, compliments of the small being growing inside her.
Lucas held her loosely as they swayed to the music, his embrace strong and certain but allowing for a respectable distance between them. Angela took a moment to luxuriate in the sensation of having the arms of a large, muscular man wrapped around her before turning her focus on what she really wanted to talk about, which was Brennan, of course.
Angela spoke first. "You, my friend, are a wonderful, wonderful man. Thank you. Really, I mean it. Thank you for stepping forward and championing Brennan like that."
Lucas gazed down at Angela's smiling face and read the sincerity in her eyes. Temperance had spoken often and fondly of Angela when they were in the islands together and Lucas had come away with the perception of a woman who was fiercely loyal and protective of her friends. "Dr. Brennan is a good woman. She's honorable, hard-working, and very dedicated to those of you sitting at that table tonight. I got the impression that she may be taken for granted by some in your group and I admit I was surprised. She always spoke so highly of each of you that I was not expecting to encounter the resentment I heard tonight about her decision to pursue an aspect of her career that didn't revolve solely around the duties of the Jeffersonian."
"Yeah, well, it's easy for us to get wrapped up in our little world and forget about the influence and prestige she carries in other circles. I guess sometimes we need someone like you to come along and shake things up to remind us."
"Well then, I'm glad to have been of service," he responded with a chuckle.
"Look, stud-muffin. Here's the deal. I know Brennan. In some ways, I believe I know her better than she knows herself." Angela's tone subtly shifted from the easy going, light-hearted comradery of a moment earlier to a more serious vein and her gaze on his became more intense.
"Okay." Lucas could tell the tenor of the conversation was changing, but wasn't yet sure where it was going. He recognized in Angela's voice a woman who wasn't going to put up with any crap from anyone.
"Some of our friends are undoubtedly speculating on the nature of your relationship with Bren, but I don't think the two of you were lovers. I can tell she enjoys you and she's comfortable enough with you to joke around and flirt more than is usual for her, so she must also trust you to some degree, but from what I've seen watching the two of you together for a few minutes tonight, I'm not picking up that vibe of sexual attraction. None. Her feelings for you are strictly platonic and I believe yours for her are the same. How am I doing so far?
"You are correct, Angela. Temperance and I spent a lot of our free time together in the Maluku's and I like to believe we became reasonably good friends, but that's all there is to it. I'm actually a very happily married man with a family I love beyond words."
"So, give me the dirt. What drew you two together? And, why the extreme flirting? It's not usually Bren's thing."
Lucas relaxed. Angela was watching out for her friend, just like he would expect based on Temperance's descriptions of her and he was happy to answer her questions. "Life on a dig site can be filled with way too much drama. In the Maluku's, we were fairly isolated in the jungle and there are always those on a dig who seem to think the more primitive accommodations at our camp provide a license for more primitive behaviors. It's like the rules of civilization cease to exist sometimes." He paused to take a breath and organize his thoughts. "At the risk of sounding immodest, I know I am considered by most standards to be an attractive man. Couple my appealing looks with my notable financial status and I tend to be the target of attention for the single women, as well as some of the not-so-single women, and even some of the men on occasion. I could regale you for hours with stories of the creative ways women have tried to attract me, seduce me, or otherwise compromise me on past explorations with no regard to my marital status or whether I returned their interest. Temperance was different."
Angela half chuckled, half snorted as Lucas paused again and seemed to be temporarily lost in his own reflections. "Tell me about it. She is definitely one-of-a-kind and that's part of what I love about her."
"Yes. In addition to being extremely intelligent, hard-working, and just general good company, I'm not sure she even really noticed that I was a red blooded man. It was evident from the first moment we met that she had zero romantic inclinations towards me, or anyone else at the site for that matter. She was focused on her work and not looking for a dalliance with anyone . . . . I confess, the complete lack of any sexual tension between us was quite novel for me and made her extremely easy to be around. I am not used to being around women who look through my charms as though they did not exist. Temperance also recognized fairly quickly that by cultivating a friendship with me, one where we flirted outrageously and left others speculating on just how close we were, she could discourage other unwanted suitors from bothering her as well. So, we formed an alliance of sorts. We never behaved inappropriately or actually claimed we were involved romantically, but we'd sit together at meals or in the evenings . . . we'd tease one another or make suggestive comments that we both knew were meaningless when around others . . . and we generally just watched each other's back."
"So, you guys let everyone else believe you were doing the horizontal hula, but it was all a ruse?"
"Yes. She once likened it to acting in one of her undercover operations."
Angela laughed at that, knowing how Brennan loved undercover work. "Well then, I'm glad she had you to protect her and keep her out of trouble while she was away."
"The pleasure was all mine Angela. Sincerely. Temperance and I spent a fair bit of time together and we talked about a great variety of things, but that was the extent of our relationship. She spoke often and fondly of you, you know. She missed you greatly."
"Aww." Angela suddenly felt a lump in her throat as her heart swell with love for her friend. Needing an outlet for her rampaging hormone fueled emotions, she threw her arms around Lucas to give him a hug.
Lucas accepted the embrace with good humor and a laugh. "And now, I think I should return you to your husband as it appears they are about to start serving dinner soon. Besides, he seems to be getting distraught watching us together. Perhaps he worries you will give up your rational man of science for a mysterious man of the islands," he charmingly teased her, waggling his eyebrows up and down.
Angela chuckled. "Not gonna happen big guy. I've already thrown back one mysterious man of the islands for my little bug happy scientist," she said, alluding to her previous marriage with Grayson. "Jack knows he has nothing to worry about."
Lucas and Angela shared a smile of mutual understanding, then he led her back to her table and her waiting husband and excused himself to continue mingling with the crowd.
As Angela and Lucas had made their way to the dance floor, Hannah turned to Booth with every intent of gossiping about this mysterious man who had appeared out of nowhere.
Hannah believed she and Brennan were similar in many ways – they both were strong, smart, independent, career-minded women with a solid sense of self-worth who followed paths of their own making. Therefore, Hannah assumed that it would be reasonable to expect Brennan's behavior in a given situation to be similar in manner to how she herself would behave in the same situation . . . and Hannah knew that if she'd been stuck in a hot, tropical jungle for months on end with a man as scrumptious as Lucas while single and with nothing to do in the evenings but gaze up at the stars, mosquitoes would not have been the only thing getting a taste of her bodily fluids. Fig tree, palm tree, or banyan tree – it didn't matter to her. She would have jumped him at the first opportunity and so she naturally assumed Brennan would've (and had) done the same.
Speaking quietly to keep the conversation just between Booth and herself, she teased "You never told me Temperance was romantically involved with someone during her sabbatical."
Booth's response was just as quiet, although that was due as much to the unexpected and irrational jealousy choking off his ability to speak as it was because of a desire to keep this conversation intimate. "I didn't know. Bones never mentioned it . . . I wonder why she didn't say anything . . . It must not've meant anything to her, right? I mean, if she had really been into this guy, she'd have said something, don't you think?"
Hannah, not noticing the tinge of distress in Booth's voice, chuckled softly and happily. "Oh, I don't know. If I had a lover who looked like that, all golden and gorgeous, I might want to keep him a secret too." Grinning flirtatiously, she bumped her shoulder into him where his arm was draped over her seat back. "Either that or I'd want to stake my claim and shout it out loud to everyone around me, like I did with you."
The idea of Temperance being involved with Lucas pleased Hannah for several reasons. (A) Temperance was her friend and Hannah wanted her to be happy; (B) Lucas was not her man, Seeley. Despite the fact that she honestly believed Temperance and Seeley were platonic, no woman could be totally unaffected when her lover spent a fair bit of time with another woman, especially when that woman was single and carrying a torch for said lover; and (C) she figured Seeley would feel less guilty about not reciprocating the feelings Temperance expressed for him on that rainy night not too long ago. Hannah may not fully grasp the emotional dynamics between the partners, but she was cognizant of the fact that Seeley was still struggling to come to terms with Temperance's recent revelations and that somehow, that was still spilling over into his relationship with her. If Temperance were to engage in a romance with someone else, Hannah was certain Booth would find an inner peace that he was missing right now.
When Booth didn't answer, she continued to speculate as they both watched Brennan mingling on the other side of the room. "I wonder how it happened the first time between them. You know, like who made the first move and what the situation was." She laughed softly. "I can actually picture Lucas relaxing in a camp chair at the end of the day, beer in one hand, looking like the quintessential male with the bare skin of his chest glistening in the afternoon sunlight from a fine sheen of sweat, and Temperance just walking up to him and inviting him to 'engage in coitus' or some similar phrasing in her typical socially awkward and blunt way. Can't you?"
All too easily thought Booth. "Yeah," he grunted.
"She doesn't strike me as the type to be very bashful or inhibited." Hannah smiled in humor, not realizing how her words were affecting Booth and tying his insides in knots. "I bet they snuck away to make wild monkey love in the jungle a bunch of times . . . Temperance seems like the type to enjoy a little adventure when it comes to sexual antics. Maybe they even cut down a few vines and tied each other up as part of their Tarzan and Jane antics. I wonder who would tie up whom first and whether they made enough noise to scare the birds from the trees."
Booth couldn't stop the image that formed in his mind at Hannah's Tarzan and Jane reference. He pictured Bones, scantily dressed in tattered brown scraps of material that resembled a two piece bathing suit, barely covering her feminine attributes . . . standing with her back against a large tree, her arms pulled back and bound by vines on the reverse side of the tree trunk. Her chest would be thrust forward in this position, her breasts pushed forward and beckoning for a lover's caress. He pictured Lucas with her, his hands braced on the tree trunk on either side of her head as he leaned in and trailed moist kisses along her jaw, down her throat, and across the creamy smooth skin of her bare shoulders. The image felt all wrong to Booth and gave him an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach that he couldn't identify.
But then, in an instant, the image changed and instead of Lucas, it was his lips he pictured feasting on her bare skin and his hands he imagined slipping forward to gently cup one of her breasts, strumming her nipple to a hard nub and drawing a moan from her throat. Booth was so caught up in the fantasy, he could almost taste the salt of her skin in his mouth and smell the familiar scent he'd come to associate with her over the years, a scent that was uniquely hers. In his imagination, he could picture her gasping his name on a breathy sign as he trailed wet, sucking kisses across her chest as his hands explored her flesh.
His impromptu fantasy was interrupted by Hannah. "You are happy for Temperance, aren't you?"
Shaking his head briefly to dispel the erotic images lurking there, he automatically gave Hannah the assurance she was seeking. "Well yeah, of course I am." Liar.
God. He hadn't had a sexual fantasy about Bones in a long time, probably not since Hannah showed up in DC at least. He saw Bones excuse herself from the group of investors she'd been entertaining and head back towards their table at the same time Angela and Lucas started heading back from the dance floor.
"You know what, Hannah? I really don't think Bones would like us talking about her like this. I think it would be best if we changed the subject." Booth didn't want to think about Bones and Lucas together anymore. It was unsettling him in ways he wasn't prepared to handle right now.
Lucas regretfully declined the invitation to sit with the Jeffersonian group for dinner explaining that his purpose for being at the gala was to try to secure additional funding for the Maluku expedition which was still ongoing and that sitting with them wasn't likely to provide the payout he was striving for.
Brennan momentarily watched him walk away then turned back to her table of friends to find all eyes trained on her. "What?" she asked self-consciously, reaching up to pat her hair and touch her dangling earrings. "Is something wrong? You're all looking at me strangely."
Angela reached out and squeezed her arm. "No, Sweetie. There's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect just as you are. Absolutely perfect."
Brennan furrowed her brows at Angela, feeling like there was some sort of double meaning to her words that she wasn't catching. Try as she might though, she couldn't figure it out.
"Your friend Lucas told us that he made several attempts to get you to join the Maluku team before you accepted," Cam stated casually as she started eating the salad that had just been served.
Brennan shrugged. "Yes. That's true."
"Why didn't you ever mention it?"
"Because it was irrelevant. I wasn't planning to take the job."
"But you did take the job," Cam responded, a hint of accusation coloring her tone.
"Yes. I did." Brennan knew that reading social cues was not her strong point, but she sensed an undercurrent to the conversation that she didn't understand. ". . . and as soon as I decided to take the job, I informed you of my intentions."
"Well, a little more advance notice would be nice next time," Cam grumbled.
"I'm not sure I know what that means. Are you asking me to tell you about every job offer or expedition invitation I receive regardless of my intentions? I probably receive an average of around a dozen offers or invitations a month. It seems to me like a waste of both of our times to inform you of them when I have no intention of pursuing them, but there's no other way I could have given you more notice."
Cam sighed, recognizing the futility of this discussion and acknowledging, at least to herself, that Brennan hadn't acted inappropriately in how she had handled things when she took off for the Maluku expedition. It was largely her own frustration with how things essentially fell apart following Brennan's decision that made her so resentful of the whole thing. She needed to get over her annoyance with Brennan and move forward. "No Dr. Brennan. You're right. You followed the proper protocols and I have no desire to be told about all your other opportunities, especially if they are of no interest to you. Let's just keep proceeding as we have been, okay?"
"Okay." Brennan answered, wondering at the purpose of the whole exchange that had just passed.
After that, dinner proceeded much the way one would expect a dinner amongst this group of friends to proceed. They all chatted amicably, joking together boisterously as good friends do. The meal was followed by a brief presentation highlighting the ongoing research and development happenings at the Jeffersonian, an overview of the key museum exhibits from the last year and some of the new exhibits planned for the coming year, and several of the Jeffersonian employees made brief speeches about their work and associated activities, including Dr. Brennan. Booth hadn't been able to keep from admiring how beautiful she looked up at the podium.
Once the presentation was over, the host of the evening announced that the bar and the dance floor would remain open until midnight for those who wished to stick around and enjoy the evening a little longer. Hannah immediately dragged Booth onto the dance floor and shortly thereafter, Brennan decided she could probably get away with sneaking out and going home now. She'd done her duty to the Jeffersonian and wasn't looking forward to sitting on the sidelines and watching Booth and Hannah acting all lovey together. No point in torturing herself.
She was just about to make her excuses to Angela and escape when she felt Booth's presence over her shoulder.
"Dance with me, Bones?"
She turned, looking up at him from her chair, and felt the catch in her throat. She'd always found Booth extremely attractive dressed in a tuxedo and tonight was no exception. The cut of the perfectly tailored jacket seemed to emphasize the breadth of his shoulders and the narrowness of his hips. The confidence and natural grace with which he wore the crisp white shirt and the dark black jacket and slacks produced an aura of danger and power, a man to be reckoned with. Booth in a tuxedo wasn't someone who you'd easily dismiss. Of course, Booth in jeans and a T-shirt couldn't be easily dismissed either, so maybe it was more the man himself than the clothes, she thought as she felt the rate of her heart palpitations accelerating.
"Oh. Uh, I'm not sure that's such a good idea. What about Hannah?"
"Hannah bumped into a congressman that she recently interviewed and went to chat with him and his wife for a bit," he answered, not examining the relief he'd felt at being able to leave her side for a bit or the instant desire he felt to come find Bones.
Booth gave her the boyish grin that he reserved for when he needed to pull out the big guns with his charm and held out his hand to her, palm up. "C'mon Bones. One little dance. We always dance together at least once at these things." Booth tried not to let the desperation he was feeling show. Coming to one of these types of events and going their separate ways at the end of the evening without even sharing a single dance seemed like a monumental shift in their relationship. They always danced together some at these events and for some reason, Booth felt like if she left the gala without dancing with him at least once, it would be a statement of just how much their partnership had changed and symbolic of a new distance between them that he feared would become permanent. "What d'ya say? C'mon Bones . . . consider it a partner thing."
Against her better judgement, Brennan found herself slipping her hand into his outstretched one and allowing him to pull her to her feet and lead her to the dance floor. "Just one dance."
She was weak. She had no will power.
He was offering her what she secretly wanted most – the opportunity to be held in his arms – and she couldn't resist. Just for a few moments, she told herself, just for the length of one song she'd allow herself to indulge and pretend he was hers to hold.
They'd danced together many times over the years, but now she was acutely aware of him as a man in a way she'd never acknowledged before. She felt the warmth of his palm through her gown where it rested on her lower back, just above the curve of her buttocks while his other hand held hers in a loose but protective grasp close to their shoulders. The pace of the music was slow and as they moved, she felt his thighs brush against hers, hinting at an intimacy they'd never experience. At least, not together. Her free hand could feel the heat of his skin and the play of his muscles by his neck where her arm wrapped around his shoulder and she had to consciously resist the desire to tangle her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck and caress his scalp with her fingernails.
They didn't speak as they danced, but the silence didn't feel awkward. It felt . . . reverent. As if this dance meant something special to each of them.
Brennan felt herself relaxing into him the longer they danced. The space between their bodies slowly disappeared until her chest was pressed fully to his and her chin rested comfortably on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the sensations as she breathed him in, fighting the urge to nuzzle into his neck. She tried committing what she was feeling right then to memory – the feeling of being safe and cared for while enveloped in his arms, the low hum of arousal coursing through her system, the contentment – never realizing that Booth was experiencing essentially the same sensations and also trying to commit them to memory, uncertain as to when, or if, they'd share this opportunity again.
Neither partner really noticed when one song became two or when two songs became three.
But Hannah did.
She'd not thought it a big deal initially when she saw Seeley and Temperance head to the dance floor together. It's just part of what people do at events like this. But, as she watched them surreptitiously from the corner of her eye while she conversed with the congressman and his wife, she couldn't help but observe that this dance seemed too private for an event like this. Oh, they weren't doing anything lewd or inappropriate but, they weren't talking. They were too close together. And, there was a sense of peace about them that until she saw it, she didn't realize had been missing.
As she watched Seeley and Temperance together, she comprehended that something wasn't right - either about her relationship with Seeley or his with Temperance or both, but she wasn't sure what was off or what it meant in the bigger picture. She'd have to think about it some more later. Not here. Not now.
For now, Hannah was just about to excuse herself and go break them apart when the music set ended and the band announced they were going to take a 10 minute break. When Seeley and Temperance broke apart, they both looked a little startled and quickly worked their way back to the dinner table. She saw Temperance lean down and hug her friend Angela and could tell from watching that she was preparing to leave for the night, saying her farewells to the group. She saw the soft smile Temperance turned on Booth and how he held out a hand to her, which she squeezed, as she bid him good night too. Then, as Temperance turned and headed towards the exit, she saw Booth's eyes follow her out the door before he turned and headed to the bar.
A/N: Comments?