The stage was set, the props and various articles in their places and neatly typed and printed cards dictated each prop's history and significance.
Temperance Brennan stood at the top of the stairs, surveying the scene as the last of the movers cleared out. Anok and Meti at rest, the ruby in between them. Finally, the exhibit was ready. That night, the empty hallway would be filled with people clustered around the ruby and gasping at the mummies.
Everything was set in place. So why didn't the scene feel right?
*
"I told you, Angela. I'm not going." Seeley Booth slumped down in his seat, looking tired.
"Come on, Booth. We both know everyone's allowed a plus one. And since Brennan's plus one is that Hacker guy..."
"I am saying this for the final time. I am tired, I have got a ton of paperwork to do, and not to mention, I need to pacify a Nobel Laureate who is considering SUING me just because I happened to break into his house and interrupt his sleep."
Angela Montenegro furrowed her brow, then shrugged it off and continued, "Brennan really wants you to go."
Booth stared back at her. "Don't even try that on me. If she had really wanted me to go, you and I both know who she would be bringing as her plus one."
She took it as a sign to leave him alone and strode out of his office, sighing. Sometimes, Brennan could really be too much. It was at the parking lot where she realised she had left her purse in Booth's office.
Angela arrived back at Booth's office in time to see him hurl a folder at the wall. Then a split second later, he rushed to the spot and started picking up the items that fell from the folder, smoothing them out and staring at them with a tender look in his eyes she had never, ever seen before.
A call came, so he hurriedly put the file back on his desk and ran out. Angela stepped in, picked up her purse, and darting her eyes around, opened the file.
"Oh". She gave a small sigh.
*
"I'm telling you, Booth refuses to go unless you bring him as your plus one", Angela stated.
"But I already promised Andrew that I'd take him to the exhibit."
"Just cancel it. He'll understand."
"But..."
"Don't but me. Are you going to bring a man you just met to that exhibit, or a man who scrounges every paper to painstakingly cut out any mention of your cases, your books and your reviews?"
Angela then turned her back and walked away.
*
Booth was sitting at his desk, head in his hands, staring into blank space.
He didn't know what happened. One minute, he was staring at the spot on his office door, and the next he was barrelled into a toilet stall with a clothing bag by Hurricane Brennan.
He unzipped the bag, curious.
A monkey suit?!
*
It wasn't anything, really. Just silence.
An odd, magical silence.
She felt like there wasn't anyone in the world except them. And she believed it, drowning into those intense eyes of his.
She believed he was going to kiss her. And readying herself for it, she tilted her head to the side and raised her hands a little.
Chatter broke the silence, ruining the moment. Booth immediately turned to look for the source.
Brennan heart sank. He never intended to kiss me.
She heard something about a speech beginning. Then when the squints finally left, she turned back to Booth. His eyes dropped to her hands, still curled up, anticipating the moment where she would wrap them around his neck.
She tried to cover it up by raising them to fiddle with his bow tie.
Then, he did something totally unexpected. Lifting a finger, he brushed a lock of her hair behind her shoulder, leaving goosebumps on her skin where his touch lingered.
She was shocked by the gesture. It was something she'd only ever seen her dad do to her mom. Or Hodgins to Angela. Not to forget Russ to Amy.
Something couples would do.
He had meant to kiss me after all.