Chapter 33
Monday
8:07 AM
Booth was angry. He hadn't seen or spoken to Brennan in over thirty-six hours. He had gone home after she had asked him to and couldn't sleep. He couldn't stop seeing the tears on her face. He couldn't stop hearing her voice, asking him to leave. After spending all night flipping through terrible infomercials, he had called Brennan in the morning. She didn't answer her phone. He left her half a dozen messages, but she didn't return any of them. Worried about her, Booth had even driven to her apartment, but he didn't go in. Instead, he had called Angela to have her call Brennan. Sitting in the parking lot outside her building, he waited. If Angela couldn't get through to her by phone, he was going to storm up to her apartment and break down her door if he had to. A few minutes later, Angela had called and said that Brennan had answered. She wasn't interested in talking, but at least Booth didn't have to worry that she had fallen in the shower and had cracked her head open on the edge of the bathtub or something worse. Booth had gone home, unable to do anything except think about Brennan. Casey had called to talk about the case they were working on, but even that wasn't a big enough distraction. He wanted to talk to Brennan. He needed to talk to Brennan. Booth was trying to be patient like Sweets had suggested. He was trying to wait for Brennan to go to him, but he was tired of waiting.
Booth stormed into his office, slamming the door behind him. He hardly ever shut the door, but he did not want any visitors. Booth pulled out his chair and sat down. He rested his elbows on his desk and put his head in his hands. He didn't know how his world had gotten so turned upside-down.
Booth lifted up his head and was about to turn on his computer to attempt to get at least some work done when his phone rang. Booth quickly pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. When he saw that it wasn't Brennan, he cursed out loud. He was beginning to really hate his cell phone. He put the phone to his ear.
"What do you want, Cam?" Booth asked.
"Good morning to you, too, Booth," Cam replied.
"Sorry. It's been a very long weekend."
"I have something at the lab you need to see."
"Is it about the case?"
"Just get here, Booth."
The last place Booth wanted to go was the lab. It just reminded him too much of Brennan and thinking about Brennan was making him angry.
"Can't you call Casey? She can…"
"No. You need to be here, Booth. Now," Cam commanded.
Booth heard the click of Cam's phone hanging up. Sighing, he shut his phone and put it back in his pocket. He was angrier than when he started the day and that was not a good thing. Booth stood up and strolled out of his office. He wasn't in any particular hurry to get to the lab so he took his time. He stopped in the break room to grab a cup of coffee to go before making his way down to his car.
Without his sirens going and with the early morning traffic, it took Booth nearly a half hour to get to the lab. As he pulled into the parking garage, he was aggravated by the fact that someone had parked in his usual spot. His day was just getting worse and worse and he hadn't even been at work for an hour. Booth rode the elevator up to the floor the lab was on and walked through the sliding doors into the lab.
"Cam!" He shouted.
Booth glanced onto the platform, but didn't see anyone. Usually when anyone called to tell him that they found something important, the platform was a flutter with action. This time it was completely deserted. Hoping that Cam had a very good reason for calling him, Booth made his way to her office. She met him at the door.
"What took you so long?" She asked.
"I was busy. What's so important that you couldn't tell Casey?"
"I thought you'd want to see this with your own eyes."
Cam started walking across the lab. Booth followed her. He expected her to stop at a computer to show him some microscopic evidence that only a squint could find, but she didn't stop until she made it to the doorway of Brennan's office.
"What are we doing at Brennan's office?" Booth questioned.
"You'll see."
Cam walked through the door and over to the couch. Booth stayed put until she motioned for him to follow her. He made his way to her side and looked at the couch.
"What the…"
"I told you you'd want to see this with your own eyes," Cam whispered.
Booth was looking down at a sleeping Brennan. She was stretched out on her couch with the throw blanket draped over her. Her face was pressed into the back of the couch. She was snoring quietly.
"How long has she been here?" Booth asked. He kept his voice low. Even though he was surprised that she was there and he wanted answers as to why she was there, he didn't want to wake her.
"Security has her coming in at around one AM."
"One AM? She came to work at one o'clock in the morning?"
"The security cameras show her coming in and walking directly into her office. She didn't stop to look at the body of our victim or look at any of the scans. She just laid down on the couch and went to sleep. My guess is she didn't come here to work."
"Then why would she come here?"
"This place of full of people. Even at one AM, there are still people working. There are still security guards walking around. It's impossible to be alone here."
Booth's anger was swept away when he realized why she had gone to the Jeffersonian to sleep. He had seen her nightmares. He knew she wasn't sleeping well. She had gone to the Jeffersonian to finally get some real sleep because she knew she wouldn't be alone and she had nothing to fear if she wasn't alone.
"I'll take it from here," Booth said. "Thanks Cam."
"Don't mention it."
Cam left the room, closing the door behind her. Even though Brennan's office was made entirely of windows, Brennan and Booth deserved their privacy.
Booth kneeled down in front of the couch and leaned over her, looking at her face. He couldn't see her whole face, but he was glad that it didn't appear that she had been crying. At least he felt sure that she hadn't had a nightmare, which comforted him slightly. He only wished she hadn't felt like she had to sleep at the Jeffersonian to have a restful night.
Booth ran his finger down her arm and whispered her name. She stirred underneath him, but didn't quite wake up. Brennan had always been a light sleeper, but with all the medications she was on, she slept more soundly. Booth leaned over her and kissed her on the cheek. He wondered what would happen if she woke up at the exact moment he kissed her. Would she be mad? Would she wonder why he was kissing her?
"Wake up, Bones," he said a little above a whisper.
She mumbled something and rolled onto her back. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was his face looking down at her.
"Hey sleepy head," he said. He could have chosen to be angry. He could have chosen to yell at her for sleeping at the Jeffersonian, but he chose a milder approach. The last thing he needed to do after their last moments together was make her angry at him.
"Booth?" She suddenly realized where she was and she sat straight up, wincing.
"Take it easy," he said. She took a deep breath and he could hear her wheezing. She clutched at her chest with her right arm. "Where's your medication, Bones?"
She started gasping for breath. "In my bag. By my desk."
Booth hurried over to her desk and found the small bag she must have packed. He began to dig through it, but then thought better of it when he heard her breaths becoming shorter. He dumped the bag over and all of the contents spilled out onto the floor. He grabbed her four medicine bottles and brought them over to her. Quickly, he unscrewed each one and handed them to her one at a time. She took out the necessary amount of pills and cupped them in her hand. Booth went back to where he had dropped the bag and took a water bottle from the pile of things he had emptied and brought it over to her.
"Here," he said. She put the pills in her mouth and swigged them down with the water.
"Thank you."
They both waited a few minutes while her breathing went back to normal. She shifted on the couch so that Booth could sit next to her, rather than kneeling on the floor. He scooted up onto the couch and glanced over at her. She was staring straight ahead at some unknown object. He knew she had to know what question he was going to ask so he decided to just come out and ask it.
"You're asleep on your couch at the Jeffersonian, Bones. Why?"
"I wanted to get some work done and I knew you wouldn't let me so I came last night," her answer was quick. Too quick. It was an obvious lie. "I got tired and I laid down. I didn't expect to be asleep for so long."
"That's the truth?"
"Are you interrogating me, Booth?"
"If I have to."
"Well, you don't. I came here to work and I fell asleep."
"How many times do I have to tell you you're a bad liar?"
"I am not."
"Yes you are, Bones."
"No, I'm not."
"I know you didn't come here to work. Cam saw the security tapes. Now tell me what you're really doing here." He already knew the answer, but he needed to hear her say it.
Brennan knew she had been caught. She couldn't deny what was on the tapes.
"I didn't mean to fall asleep for so long," she admitted quietly. "I was going to go back home before anyone came in."
"You didn't really answer my question."
"What do you want me to say, Booth?"
"I want you to tell me the truth."
"I did."
"You and I both know that's not true. You can hide all you want, Bones. You can kick me out of your apartment and you can lie to me about why you're sleeping in your office, but I know. I know you're hurting and I know you're afraid of admitting what you're feeling. I know you don't want to ask for help, but you need it, Bones."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He had to take a deep breath to keep his temper under control. He didn't want to be angry with her, but she was making it increasingly difficult.
"Do you trust me, Bones?"
"Of course I do."
"Then trust me now." He put his hand on hers. "Trust me."
She looked at him for the first time since she had woken up. She covered his hands with her other hand. She concentrated on keeping her tears from falling.
"I…I trust you, but I…I can't. I'm sorry, Booth."
"You need to talk to someone, Bones. You need to tell someone how you're feeling. You need to talk about what happened."
"I told you, I can't."
"It doesn't have to be me," he replied even though it was somewhat of a lie. He wanted it to be him. He wanted her to open up to him, but if that wasn't an option, she needed to open up to someone. "Talk to Angela. She's your best friend. She'll understand and she'll know all the right things to say and…"
"I can't talk to Angela."
"Why?"
"I just can't."
"Then, hell, Bones, talk to Cam. Talk to Hodgins. Talk to Clark for all I care. Just talk to someone."
"Talk to Clark? Our relationship doesn't extend beyond anything but a professional one. It would be completely inappropriate for me to talk to him. And Cam? She's my boss. And Hodgins? I wouldn't feel comfortable…"
"Fine. Forget them. All I'm saying is you need to find someone. You need to talk about it."
"I told you…I'm fine."
"Is that why you're sleeping on a couch when you have a five thousand dollar bed at home?"
"How did you know how much my bed cost?" She asked, deliberately changing the subject.
"Bones…"
She immediately looked down at the ground. She knew she was disappointing him, but she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't be open with her friends. She couldn't tell them what she had gone through and what she was feeling.
"You said you trusted me," Booth said.
"I do trust you."
He stood up. "Then come with me."
"Where?"
"Just…trust me. That's all I'm asking is your trust."
She nodded. "Ok."
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! There are still 10 more chapters to go!
