8
Brennan was livid as she made her way to the FBI building's parking garage. The last time she had been this angry with Booth, he had arranged to have her detained at Dulles International Airport after a hellish fight home from Guatemala. She had truly hated him at that moment, ready to take him out in the same fashion she had taken out the Home Land Security officer. Had he have not been the only thing that stood between her and the light of day she would have done it. There had been such a smug look on his face as he had slid the copy of her book across the table. That same smug look had not been there this time.
In fact one of the major reasons that she did not fight him more on the topic was the look of true shame that had crossed his face. He had looked more like a cheating lover caught in the act, rather than a smug agent on the trail of his latest perpetrator. The crazy thing was, she felt like his jilted significant other. It was not so much the act of his 'betrayal' as the feelings that she was dealing with. She was comfortable with admitting that she was jealous, nervous that Cam would move in on her territory. She knew there was history there and it was not uncommon for people to fall back into their old familiar habits.
What seemed the most perplexing of all was that she should not care if he did want Cam or not. She was not his wife or otherwise, in fact she had been very clear that they were embarking on this journey together as equals. They had split their assets in this case fifty fifty. There was no real concrete connection linking the two other than their unborn daughter. This was how she had wanted things, no unnecessary strings attached.
It was logical to assume that Booth would take Cam. The body was still clearly fleshy and she only did bones. It had been more of a Cam crime scene. There was always a reasonable explanation for every action. She just needed to withdraw her raging hormones from the situation and calm down. She could not let herself be ruled by her blatant chemical reactions in her brain. She needed to get a grip, and fast.
Sliding into the seat of her silver sedan she placed the metal key in the ignition. With a quick flick of her wrist the vehicle roared to life. Talk radio came from the speakers with her state of the art sound system, yet another luxury that Booth had talked her into. With everything complicated in her life came Booth. From the flat screen TV she could not seem to operate to the extensive car stereo. He had even bought a crib with her last week, that she did not have a snowball's chance in hell of putting together. She had just assumed that when the time came he would have to assemble it on his own.
The smooth roll of her tires in the wet DC road seemed to calm her. She could feel the tension start to dissipate, even sense a much more pleasant atmosphere in the black leather lined automobile. Small white snowflakes feel onto the dashboard and the surrounding pavement. There were colored lights hanging in windows and people hurrying around, their arms laden with shopping bags. Christmas was approaching rapidly and she had forgotten to take notice. It was just another day of the year to her, in fact be it not for her little one she would be taking her yearly trip to identify the dead.
It had occurred to her, though, with a child on the way perhaps she should be a tad more receptive to the magic of the season. Booth certainly was. He loved Christmas, the whole Christmas season. This year in particular she had caught him with a special swing in his step at the thought of have a little girl to share it with. There he was again. Booth. It had never occurred to her that Booth was in every aspect of her life. He was her work, her confidant, the father of her child, and the vast encompassment of her free time. Even her books had more and more of him in them. With one person holding so many roles in her life it was no wonder she found his recent distance concerning.
She had no idea what it meant or what she should do about it. All she could conclude, with absolute clarity, was that she had to get to the bottom of this and quickly. It was starting to impend on her work and that could not be tolerated. They could not function as parents or partners if they were not conveying affection or love of some level in their relationship. Leaning back in her seat she hit the gas a little making her way down the street to the Jeffersonian.
She needed to talk to him in a setting where he was forced to talk back to her. She needed to get him in a situation where he could not shrug her off and tell her she was crazy. They had another partner's therapy session in a few days and that seemed like the best time to dissect their issues. She would resolve this before it became a full-blown problem. They had not met something they could not work out. Not yet anyway.
9
Three Days Later.
Brennan sat on the platform looking down at the cleaned bones on the Steele table below her. The overhead lights glared down on her as she ran her finger along the edges of the right tibia, the left one was missing. Looking at it closely she noticed tiny marks ran down the length of the bone. They seemed to form a pattern but she could not make it out.
" Bones!" Booth's voice startled her causing her head to fly up and crack on the light above her. A dull ache set in instantaneously starting in her crown and spreading outward like a wild fire.
" Oh God! Bones, are you alright?" Booth was there by her side in a flash. He reached out and touched the offended area, his fingers placing the slightest pressure over the wound.
" Booth, you should not scare me like that. What would happen if I had compromised the remains?" She chided him, her hand reaching up to her head. He was close enough that he could smell the sweet scent of her hair, feel the silky black tresses as he checked for blood. For just a brief moment their fingers brushed and he dropped his iron clad guard down. Giving into his own weakness he let himself feel her. He could touch her, protect her, have her, and be a part of her. Just for a split second though. As it is a well know fact all great moments are fleeting.
Steeping away from her, Booth slipped right back into his icy demeanor, shutting her out once more. He was matching her wall for emotionally distant wall. Eventually, if he could keep this up, they would drift apart until their ties were severed by natural selection. It killed him; slowly he felt a part of him die with their life together. It was the only way though. He could not pretend that it was enough for him to have only a part of her. He wanted all or nothing. He glanced at his watch and noticed the delay had caused them to run late.
" We have to go or we will miss our session and he will make us do a make-up on Saturday." Booth said trying to pull her out of her own element and into more common ground.
" Oh! Just let me grab my coat, I'll meet you at the door." Before he could respond she was gone. It was odd that she was so interested in therapy today; usually he had to poke and prod her for several twenty-minute installments. Something was up.
*****
Twenty Minutes Later
Sweets was looking at the couple across from him. Something was wrong. He could sense that their energy was off. Each looked lost in their own thoughts, sadness and torment crossing their faces at different times.
" Ok, I'm picking up some serious hostile vibes here. Is something wrong?" He said gaining their full attention.
" Booth has been acting oddly as of late. It concerns me." Brennan said with out much ado.
" How so?" Sweets countered. He ignored Booth's reaction and instead focused on the woman in front of him. If the good doctor was finally confiding in him, then he had just made a major break trough.
" He has been distant, even cold."
" Agent Booth? Do you have anything to add?" His gazed shifted to the stunned man to his left.
" There is nothing wrong, Sweets, we are just fine." Booth responded to the other man, before he turned to look at Brennan. " You brought this up in front of the kid?"
" I had to get you in a situation where you were trapped. Otherwise you claim there is no problem." She answered in the same hushed tone.
" Agent Booth, What has caused this distance in your partnership? Sweets observed the pair. Brennan looked well pressed, her cool and collected exterior shielding her fears. She was being blunt, putting her self out there and giving him her thoughts at face value. Booth was fidgeting and defensive. He was clearly tying to hide something from her.
" There is no distance, we are fine." His tone giving his lies away.
" Dr. Brennan could you provide some examples?" Sweets offered up, trying to get her to open up.
" The most recent being that he took Cam to a crime scene for investigation with out even informing me that we had a case." She said.
" Bones, it was one crime scene out of thousands. It's not that big of a deal." Booth interjected.
" Then why did you hide it from me?"
" You are a bone person, Cam is a flesh person. What is the big deal?"
" I believe that Dr. Brennan feels you have violated her trust by taking her co-worker out in to the field. Your exclusion of her makes her feel like you are choosing Dr. Soroyan over her, filling her shoes so to speak." Sweets said attempting to halt the argument her could see brewing.
" I did feel excluded." Brennan said.
" She also feels like you have cheated in her in a way. The crime scene, in her mind, is your home together. By bringing Dr. Soroyan in you have violated the sanctity of that 'home'." Sweets said, using his fingers as quotation marks.
" Yes… wait. What?" It was Brennan's turn to glare at Sweets.
" You view the act of the investigation process as your quality time together. To you this is a surrogate marriage, perhaps one that you would like to pursue but are otherwise unable to; therefore you place your partnership in front of your feelings for each other. It is a classic 'band-aid' technique." He said making the finger quotes again.
" I do not believe in marriage. I thought that we were all very clear on the fact that we are just partners." Brennan's voice picked up an edge as she spoke.
" Let me ask you something. Dr Brennan, how many partners can you name, just off the top of your head, who are having a child together."
" This," Booth said for the first time in several minutes, his hand motioning back and forth between Brennan and himself. " This feak show is not any kind of marriage I want to be a part of. It was a convenient union of shared interest. It is nothing more and nothing less. It seems that the only people who have any clarity in this matter is Brennan and myself. So, let me inform you, just to clarify. This is my partner. My absolutely brilliant wonderful partner, but a partner is all she will ever be. Am I making myself crystal clear, because I do not want to repeat this again." The only sound in the room came from Brennan's breath as it hitched in her throat.
Sweets was speechless. He had never heard Booth speak that way, especially not about Brennan. She, on the other hand look the closest to tears he had ever seen. Her blue eyes turned gray and her head hung low. If it were possible he could have sworn he heard her heart break.
" Freak show?" her voice faltered and she did not meet Booth's eyes.
" Bones, I didn't mean…"
" Allow me to end this for you now then." She stood cutting him off. Sweets said nothing in her wake as she turned to Booth one last time.
" Bones, sit down." She looked at him, with lightening in her eyes. There were no words to express how she felt or to even do him justice. For once all of her knowledge failed her. She had worked so hard to keep herself from getting hurt, only to end up shattered. With out another word the turned and left the room leaving the two slack jawed men behind. The tears did her the favor of waiting until the door was closed before they fell. At least she still had her pride.
