A/N: So glad folks enjoyed the last chapter. Thanks for all the great comments. Moving right along …
"Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed each other." – Laurence Sterne
Disclaimer: I own nothing Bones related except my imagination. (9/19/15)
A few days later, Booth and Brennan were sitting in the lounge area at the Jeffersonian with the paperwork from their most recent case spread out across the table in front of them.
She'd been surprised when Booth called earlier asking if she had time this evening to work through filling out the forms together and offering to pick up some dinner for them on his way over. He hadn't done that in a while. It was so much more efficient when they worked on the paperwork together he explained and it never occurred to her to deny him.
It was reminiscent of old times and Brennan was quietly pleased.
They'd spent the last couple hours bickering and laughing between mouthfuls of carryout Thai food as they filled out the government issued forms and cross checked their facts together. She'd secretly stolen glances at him all evening, admiring his handsome physique, wishing she could do more than just look. It was just like old times.
It was nice.
It was easy.
It was comfortable.
It gave her hope that maybe she and Booth were getting closer to that point where he'd be ready to take a chance on them again now that Hannah was no longer in the picture and had surely been gone long enough to allow her marks to fade. Brennan made up her mind that before this evening ended, she was going to invite him to go out, socially, this weekend. She'd already probed him indirectly about his upcoming plans and he had nothing scheduled, not even visitation with Parker. She was just waiting now for the right opening.
It was deceptive and she was reminded once again how quickly pleasure could turn to pain in an instant. An instant that started with a simple phone call from another old friend.
Startled by the sudden warbling of her cell phone, Brennan automatically reached for the device without checking the caller ID first. "Brennan."
"Good evening, Temperance. It's Lucas. Am I catching you at a bad time?"
"Lucas!" she exclaimed with pleasure in her voice. "No, this time is fine. How are you?"
"I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. Listen, I know you're probably busy so I'll get right to the point. The reason I was calling is that my wife, Laura, and I are going to be in town for a few days at the end of the week and a colleague gave us four tickets to the Annual Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center there in DC. I know it is a last minute invite, but Laura and I would love to see you again. We were hoping that you and a date would be willing to join us for dinner and the concert?"
"Oh, umm, a date?" Brennan glanced over at Booth sitting across the table from her listening unapologetically in on her side of the conversation. Could she invite him? Would he be willing to go with her on a formal date with other people or was it still too soon? Surely he wouldn't mind accompanying her now that Hannah was gone, even if it was still just as friends. After all, they used to be each other's fallback dates for all sorts of activities before things between them had gotten so strained and these last few weeks things between them seemed to be going much better again, like before. "What are the details?"
"The show is a 3 hour concert which starts at 7 PM and our tickets are for the Saturday evening event. We were hoping you'd be willing to meet around 5:00-5:30 for an early dinner before the show so we could spend some time visiting together with you and your date. If that's agreeable to you, maybe you could select the dinner venue since you know the DC area better than we do and we'll meet you there."
Deciding that she'd enjoy visiting with Lucas and Laura with or without Booth, she accepted the offer. "Yes. That's sounds reasonable and I don't have any other plans for that evening. I'll select a restaurant for us to meet at and email you the details tomorrow. Thanks for the invitation Lucas."
"Laura will be pleased you're joining us, as am I. Good night Temperance. See you soon."
"Good night, Lucas. I'll be looking forward to it."
As she hung up her phone, she looked over at Booth who was frowning down at the paperwork in front of him feeling pissed off and irrationally jealous as hell that she'd so casually schedule a date with a fly-by lover right there in front of him. Booth knew he hadn't staked a claim on her yet, but he thought they at least had an understanding of sorts. Maybe he hadn't been clear enough when he told her that even though he needed a little time after ending his relationship with Hannah before he started a new one, he wanted his next relationship to be with her. Maybe he was being too selfish to expect her to just sit around and wait for him to get off his ass and make a move. But, he'd begun to think of her as his and he didn't think he could just sit there with her anymore tonight. Not now. He'd just be thinking about her on a date with lover boy and get more and more pissed off, so he started to gather up his files and belongings.
Brennan was suddenly nervous, not quite sure how best to broach the subject of asking Booth if he would like to accompany her to dinner and the show, as her date, especially since the easy camaraderie of a few minutes earlier seemed to have been replaced with an awkward, almost hostile tension that she didn't understand. "That was Lucas Kristensen," she explained. "You met him once before. A couple months ago . . . at the Jeffersonian Gala. We worked together in the Maluku's."
"Yeah. I remember." His response was short, curt and Brennan was confused by his angry tone and the fact that he seemed to be avoiding looking at her. Had she done something wrong? She thought over the last 15 minutes and couldn't understand what had caused this mood shift. He was acting angry and surly and she didn't know why.
Watching him putting all his files back in his box and realizing he was about to leave in a moment when he stood up, she felt a little desperate and blurted out her invitation for a date without finesse. "He invited me to go to dinner and a jazz concert Saturday night. Would you like to join us?"
Booth froze. Was she fucking serious? Incredulous, he finally looked her way but was too mad, at her for asking and at himself for not making it clear to her sooner that he wanted her as his – only his, to register the look of hopeful expectancy on her face. All he could think about was being a third wheel on her date and watching her and Lucas flirting and touching in a subtle game of public foreplay and he wondered briefly if he was about to lose his dinner. Part of him was tempted to say yes, just to put a crimp in lover boy's plans, but he knew he would probably do irreparable harm to his friendship with Bones if he did that because he wasn't convinced he'd be able to remain civil. To either of them. "No. I have to wash my dog that night," he snarked instead.
Brennan's brows furrowed in confusion. "Dog? I didn't know you had a dog. When did you get a dog? Why is it important that the dog be bathed at a specific time?"
Booth immediately regretted his comment and sighed deeply, feeling like a bastard and wishing he could take the words back. "I don't have a dog."
Even more confused now, she looked at him, "But, you just said . . ."
"I know what I just said," he interrupted, watching her watch him and studying her eyes as she tried to figure it out.
"Oh," she said softly, a few seconds later. "It's like a colloquialism of some sort, isn't it?"
"Yes. Sort of." After a few seconds passed and she didn't respond, Booth knew she was still struggling to figure out the literal translation. If he didn't explain it to her, she'd eventually call Angela and then he could kiss his balls goodbye. Regretfully he clarified. "It means no, I don't want to go out with you and Lucas on Saturday. It means I'd latch on to any excuse, including one as lame as washing the dog, to avoid going out with you guys and it wasn't a very nice way to respond. For that, Bones, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that."
She looked away quickly, but he still caught the hurt that flashed in her eyes and she couldn't hide the rapid blinking or the clenched jaw which meant she was trying valiantly to hold back tears. Booth had hurt her and he felt like shit. He didn't understand why she'd want to invite him along on her date or why she'd be disappointed that he said no, so figured she was upset by the fact that he'd responded cruelly. He tried again to apologize and make her understand. "I'm sorry Bones. I don't want to go on your date, but that was no reason for me to have been an ass about it and hurt you. You're my friend and that was uncalled for."
"Friend." She nodded her head once, in acknowledgement of his apology, but she still didn't look at him and she still looked like she was struggling to contain herself. Booth had really been enjoying their time together tonight and was thinking it was just like it used to be. He'd been enchanted by her smiles and the sound of her laughter, enjoying her quirky sense of humor. Lucas's call was an unwelcome reminder that things between them had changed. Life had moved on and would never be completely the same again.
She'd told him she loved him and he'd asked her for time, unfairly expecting a commitment from her to wait without giving back one of his own. Obviously, it was time for him to man up – fish or cut bait as his Pops would say, but Booth recognized he was feeling too angry and jealous now to do anything about it tonight. He'd go home and get his head on straight, then Dr. Temperance Brennan better watch out because he was going to come after her with all his charm. He'd give her a reprieve this weekend, because he owed her that, but as far as he was concerned, she was his now and this was the last time she'd be going out with someone else. Hopefully ever.
He picked up his box of files. "I'll call or email you tomorrow for the last few items we need to coordinate on these reports. 'Night Bones. Don't work too late." Booth wasn't surprised that he was met with silence as he walked away but he felt the burden of it all the way home.
Brennan sat there at the table in the lounge, unmoving, for a long time, heart breaking . . . again. She shouldn't have let herself be deceived into thinking Booth's natural friendliness and charm meant anything special. She shouldn't have allowed herself hope. She knew she wasn't any good at reading people or understanding innuendo, but she had been certain from their talks following Hannah's departure that Booth still had feelings for her despite the fact he'd made it perfectly clear to anyone who'd made a comment about him and her since they returned from overseas that his feelings for her were completely gone.
'I don't want to go on your date' seemed pretty clear though. Not much room for interpretation there.
Have faith in him Hodgins had advised but based on Booth's reaction this evening, it seemed he had no desire to spend any more time with her than was absolutely necessary within the framework of their jobs. She thought of all the dinners and movies they'd previously shared as friends, all the times she'd shared with him and Parker at the zoo, the museum, the park, or her pool and wondered if she'd ever share in any of that again. She felt the loss of everything she'd unwittingly destroyed between them all over again and finally allowed the tears to run freely down her cheeks as she mourned for the relationship they never had and apparently never would.
Eventually, once her sobs had subsided and she felt in control of her emotions again, she picked up her phone, took a deep breath, and dialed a number she didn't call very frequently.
"Hello. This is Lance Sweets."
"Hello Dr. Sweets. It's Dr. Brennan."
"Oh. Dr. Brennan. Is everything okay?" he asked, alarmed by her unexpected call, especially this late at night.
"Yes. I'm, uh, sorry for calling so late. I didn't realize the time."
"No. No, that's all right. What can I do for you?"
"Well, since you spent several months earlier this year wasting your time playing the piano in a night club, I assume that you are a fan of instrumental music. A couple friends of mine from out of town invited me and a guest to the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center this Saturday. Given your apparent enjoyment of music, I wondered whether you'd like to accompany us?"
"The Jazz Festival? Are you kidding me? That'd be totally awesome."
Brennan finished filling him in on the details and said she'd copy him on the email with the restaurant information once she finalized her selection. Hanging up the phone, she breathed out a sigh of relief. Sweet's was a good choice. He was a safe choice. She knew he understood without her specifically stating it this was just a friendship outing and not a romantic date so there'd be no pressure or expectations associated with the invitation.
Trying to block thoughts of Booth from her mind, she finished as much of the remaining paperwork as possible without his input and put it into an oversized envelope to be couriered to his office in the morning. It was finally late enough and she was tired enough that she hoped she'd be able to actually fall asleep when she got home without reliving Booth's latest rejection over and over again.
A/N: Don't hate on me too, too much …. I promise it will get better . . .