Okay, the title to this chapter gives you a clue...so how does Max try to help? Keep your fingers crossed for Max!
Thanks for the great reviews and welcome to my new followers eire76, BONES-LOVER-94, AND BnB447.
Now on with the story
Disclaimer: I don't own Bones but I can't wait until Sept 16!
"Booth? Tempe?"
Booth was asleep when he heard Max's voice. Waking up, he realized where he was and why. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes to a room darkened by the curtains.
"Booth?!"
"Heard you the first time, Max!" Booth bellowed back as his head was pounding but attempted to open his eyes. Suddenly, he was blinded by the sudden sunlight peeking through the opened curtains and put his arm over his eyes.
"Son of a bitch, Max! What the hell did you do that for?!"
Max, holding his granddaughter, looked over and saw Booth and the shape he was in. "Well, you look like shit."
Booth's only response was pulling his left hand out from under the pillow and flipping his middle digit at him.
Max ignored the gesture. "Whatever, I'm bringing my granddaughter back. We had fun, but someone needs to give Christine her bath now and put her to bed." Max continued to look at Booth. "Obviously it won't be you. Where's Tempe?"
Booth took a deep breath for a moment and considered lying, but knew the old rhino had an awesome bullshit detector. "I don't know Max."
Max played dumb but had a bad feeling things came to a head. He felt too sorry for the man to make fun of him. 'No wonder he looks like shit. I'll be damned…he cried, too.'
"Come on Booth, let's go downstairs."
"I'm not in the mood for a Max Keenan pep talk right now. I need to give Christine her bath and put her to bed."
"You're not getting a pep talk. I'm going to put your daughter in her crib and we're going downstairs for a bit. You will get your ass downstairs or I will come back and drag it down there. Capische?"
Not in the mood for a fight, Booth got up, squinting his eyes from the sunlight as it aggravated his headache. "Fine, but make it quick. Christine needs to go to bed."
"Don't worry about it, Booth. Now get down there and I will be there in a few minutes."
When Max was satisfied that Booth was downstairs, he put Christine in her crib. "Looks like Grandpa has his work cut out for him. Be back soon for your bath and a story," He said before kissing her on the head, making her smile.
Booth was sitting on the couch when Max walked downstairs to the kitchen. A few minutes later, Max came back with a plate, a wrapped item, two glasses, and Booth's bottle of Glenlivet. He put the items on the table. "Shit, forgot something."
Max returned with a bottle of water he sat on the table. He opened the bag to a beautiful Italian sandwich that he purchased for a snack later that night. However, he decided Booth needed it more. He put the sandwich on the plate and then poured two fingers of Scotch in each glass. Seeing Booth's eyes bug out, Max jumped in. "Don't worry I have a new bottle in the kitchen."
He put one glass in front of Booth. He then reached in his pocket and dumped two pills out of a bottle and put them with the nearby water.
"Take these with the water. Eat that. Then drink the Scotch. I need to give Christine a bath and put her to bed. I will then check my messages. Then we are going to have a chat. I swept your house earlier and turned off all electronic items. We have something to discuss Seeley Booth and I want it when you've eaten and settled down."
After Max walked away, Booth looked at the sandwich. Usually he would have had a hard on for it, but nothing mattered now. He knew Max wouldn't leave him alone otherwise, so he began to eat.
Brennan continued to drive, but her thoughts wandered to different places. She knew that rationally Booth did the right thing. With Pelant and his ability with computers, plotting their strategy has been difficult if not almost impossible to stay one step ahead of him. Rationally, she knew that Seeley Joseph Booth would never intentionally hurt her like that. He had issues of his own abandonment and abuse by his father that came to the surface at times, but were always able to deal with together.
But the irrational always seemed to overtake her rational thought. The fact that she has been more tired than usual lately didn't help matters. The last few days it seemed it took all she had to stay awake, but she was also dealing with a great deal of stress.
The irrational part of her always brought up the fact that people before Booth always left her. Her parents and her brother leaving her in foster care during her adolescence all but destroyed her faith in people. The people, specifically men, who entered her life always told her the words, but when it mattered, they never got past her breasts or her skill in the bedroom to really get beneath the surface…until Booth and her friends at the Jeffersonian.
Until she came to the Jeffersonian, she could protect herself from being let down. People always left, so she always kept a piece of herself to herself so she wouldn't be lost. Angela, Hodgins, and even Cam over time helped chip away at her outside. Booth was the one who stayed with her until her walls finally came down. Their timing over the years was always off, but in the end it was a tragedy that brought them together.
She and Booth worked every day to maintain a connection. It wasn't always easy, she knew because they were almost polar opposites. When she took Christine when she was wanted for murder, it was the hardest thing she had ever done. Not only did she do what she swore she would never do, she left behind the one person she loved more than herself, the one she always trusted, and the only one besides her Christine and Parker she would die for. If it did anything to him what her family leaving did to her, she not only crushed his spirit, but almost killed him, metaphorically of course.
They stumbled when she returned. She couldn't let herself relax with him. They were walking on eggshells with each other. Finally it took a fight during a case that hit close to home to let their feelings surface. He felt abandoned and angry because she left and took three months of time away from Christine that he will never get back. Considering the way Rebecca was with Parker when he was born it was emotionally devastating for Booth.
She didn't know what her issue was. After Mr. Abernathy pointed out how their initial resolution could be the calm before the rain, she did something uncharacteristic. Needing help to know why, she went to Sweets. He helped her understand that subconsciously she was rebelling against the fact her happiness was not from her alone anymore, but dependent on Booth and their children.
She assumed things were settled, but what if they weren't? What if deep down, Booth still resented her for what she did? She knows rationally that he was honest with her and loved her completely, but the irrational took over again. He realized when he accepted her proposal that he made a mistake and didn't want to hurt her with the truth that he did resent her even though he knew how she felt about lying.
She looked at her clock on her car…10:00 PM. Then she saw the state line as she entered Virginia. She realized that driving aimlessly across the Eastern United States wasn't the answer. She couldn't face Booth or his lies yet.
No, that wasn't true. She was afraid he didn't want to face her again, especially after exploding like she did and throwing a glass at him. He could have been injured….his beautiful brown eyes…the ones that gave her the ability to see inside his soul, something that only in the few years she truly learned to do and appreciate.
Brennan wanted to cry again but was spent. She also wanted to hide away but knew it was only avoiding the inevitable. She took the exit to go to Alexandria, Virginia. She needed to go back. Not to the house, but somewhere where she could regroup and decide between her anger and her needs.
Max gave Christine her bath and got her to sleep. When he came downstairs, he saw Booth sitting with his head on the back of the couch and his eyes closed. He saw that the sandwich was eaten and the Scotch drank. Satisfied, he came down and sat across the younger man.
"I can hear you Max. Okay, let's have it."
"What, Booth?"
"Max Keenan's Words of Wisdom. Any advice you give me can't possibly piss Bones off more than anything I said and did tonight."
Max got up and grabbed a nearby bag and walked it back over. He went to open it, but changed his mind for the time being. "Look at me, Booth."
"Why."
"Because I said so. Now do it!"
Booth exhaled and inhaled slowly, followed by slowly moving his head to face the older man. Max saw the pain in the young man's eyes, making him more determined. 'Pelant will get what's coming to him if I have anything to say about it.''
He decided it was time. "I know what happened, Booth."
Wary, Booth thought his words out carefully. "What do you think you know?"
"Cut the bullshit. I swept the place and it's clean. All your wireless is turned off. I know what happened to the engagement. I know it was that shit bag Pelant that made you do what you did."
Booth was frozen. He had been suffering in silence for over several weeks now to the point where he wasn't sleeping or eating and it showed. When he weighed himself today he lost fifteen pounds since this all began. He looked into eyes identical to Bones's. Max Keenan was many things, but this was something he would not lie about. His wariness was enveloped by relief as tears came out and he put his head in his hands.
Max gave him time to adjust to the situation. He knew what it was like to be relieved of stress caused by secrets. He knew the next questions would be coming when Booth finally took everything in, so he sat patiently.
Booth wept for a few minutes and then sat staring at the floor. 'Thank god someone else knows now.'
Suddenly, his relief gave way to questions, one in particular. 'How did Max find out?'
He was a clever man, but no one is that clever. He raised his head slowly and looked to the other man. "How did you know, Max?"
Max knew that this wouldn't go over well, but it had to be said. "I suspected something was off right away. You can be a pain, but you would never intentionally hurt Tempe. The night Angela was in the hospital, when I stayed the night in the man cave, I overheard you two talking. I heard you say you wanted to tell her something, and then the phone rang. Who the hell calls at five in the morning, anyway?"
He waited for a moment to let this sink in with Booth, and then continued. "When the coast was clear, I walked out into the kitchen and saw you….upset."
Booth looked up suddenly, feeling violated. "You spied on me!"
Max held his hand up. "There's more"
Booth greeted that with a 'How much worse can this get?' look, but Max continued. "I saw your notebook and figured something was in it.
Booth felt sick inside. That notebook was the only thing right now he could trust implicitly that could not by touched or manipulated by Pelant. He documented not only strategy, but his very soul. Having them read was bad enough, but to have it done by Max Keenan only pissed him off more.
"Where the hell do you get off reading my private thoughts?"
"I do because something was wrong and I intended to fix it any way I know how. You don't like my methods, tough shit. If I could have done it any other way I would. You think I liked reading that? You think I want people reading my shit? I respect your privacy Seeley Booth because you respect mine in turn, but when a pissant motherfucker like Christopher Pelant comes in my daughter's life and tries to destroy it, privacy goes out the window. Something had to be done to get around his computer crap. I had to recruit help this time."
"Who did you con this time? Or do I not want to know?"
"Don't worry about it. Want my advice?"
Booth, still annoyed, looked at the older man. "No."
"Tough, you're getting it anyway….think of this conversation as practice for Christine in about 10 years."
Max took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Have to admit, at first, I didn't like you Booth. You were self-righteous and a major pain in the ass, but I saw how much you loved my daughter, even then. I have seen this dance you two have been doing for several years now and at this time you are at a crossroads."
Seeing Booth rolling his eyes, Max pointed at him. "Quit rolling your eyes, Agent Booth. I may not be your parent but I will smack you upside your head just the same…..don't think I won't do it."
Suddenly, Booth changed his countenance to Max's satisfaction. "That's better. Where was I, oh yes. The crossroads. This isn't your first time here with her, nor will it be your last."
Max got quiet for a minute. "Christine…Ruthie and I had those moments. I had days where I was sick to death of her. There were days I know she wanted to dump my ass. We fought….oh did we fight. We had obstacles that not even Tempe or Russ know about."
Booth saw tears swimming in Max's eyes and heard his voice break. "We almost gave up several times, but we never did. We fought for each other and for one another when the other couldn't."
Max sniffed up mucus and saw Booth's face of awe. "Oh quit staring will you? It's just allergies."
He got up and walked back to where his bag was and took out a three ring binder full of paper. He walked over to Booth and threw it in his lap before his phone buzzed. Max picked up the phone and smiled at a text from his latest lady friend.
"Max, who is texting you this late?" Booth said before holding up his hand. "Never mind, I don't want to know."
Suddenly Booth's phone buzzed. He picked up the phone. It was from Bones.
I am fine. I need to be alone right now and process all of my thoughts
Booth felt a few tears form in his eyes, but then remembered the notebook in his lap. He looked up to see Max getting ready to walk out the door. "Max, what is this? Where are you going?"
Max turned to him. "I am going to my car grabbing my emergency travel bag because I'm staying here tonight. You on the other hand, are going to take this book, grab a beer, and go sit in the treehouse. But you will read all that tonight. When you are done, you will go and do what needs to be done and not before."
"What are you going to be doing? Who's going to take care of Christine?"
"I am Bonehead. Now get moving!" Max saw Booth hesitate. "Now!"
Wanting to get him off his back, Booth got up. "Fine, since I have nothing to do but think anyway. This shit better be good Max Keenan."
"Oh it is…it's the best," Max said.
Getting a grunt in response as he heard the fridge open and close, followed by the back door closing. He got out his phone and sent a text to Angela.
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