Chapter 39
Tuesday
8:02 PM
Booth scanned the restaurant, looking for her. It was crowded for a Tuesday night. Mostly full of people in desperate need for a drink after work, the Founding Fathers was noisy and there was a lot going on. He glanced down at his watch. Knowing she wouldn't be late, he looked around for her again. He saw a dozen pretty faces as he glanced around, but he only had eyes for one woman.
He finally spotted her bright blue eyes across the room. She wasn't looking at him and he could tell that she hadn't realized he'd come in yet. She was sitting in a back corner, probably hoping for a little privacy from the rest of the crowd. He stood still, staring at her. Gone were her Jeans and T-Shirt that he had been used to seeing her in for the last week. He had gotten so used to seeing her relaxed that he had almost forgotten just how stunning she was when she was made up. Almost forgotten. The image of Brennan in a stunning blue dress at the Jeffersonian fundraiser had never completely left his mind.
Booth drank her in like a tall glass of water. He could only see her from the waist up, but that was enough. She wore a cobalt blue sleeveless top that had a scooped neck. Her hair was pinned up in curls with just a few tendrils falling by her ears. Her makeup was simple, but accentuated her cheek bones and gorgeous eyes. She was jewelry free, which surprised Booth, but surprisingly excited him at the same time. He never realized how much he liked to look at her when she had nothing but her natural beauty to rely on. And she was naturally beautiful. He wasn't sure if he had ever seen her look so breathtakingly beautiful.
And, he realized, she had dressed up for him. She wasn't playing a part while on assignment undercover or going to some gala thrown by the Jeffersonian. She was just out for a night with him. The thought made him smile. As he brought his hand up to his necktie to make sure it was on straight, she caught his eye. She smiled when she saw him and her eyes sparkled. Booth gave her a goofy wave and she giggled. He began to make his way through the crowd, wishing everyone around them would all just disappear. He didn't want to spend another second without being by her side. As he approached the table, he could start to smell her. It wasn't her usual perfume. She smelled like a mixture of daffodils and daisies, her favorite flowers. He was beginning to realize that they were becoming his favorite flowers too.
"Hi," she said when he finally made his way to the table.
"Hi yourself." He quickly kissed her cheek before sitting across from her. "You look beautiful."
She blushed. "I thought it would be nice to get dressed up for a change. Angela says it is good for a woman to get dressed up every once and a while. I'm not sure why."
Booth chuckled. "Because it drives men crazy."
Brennan suddenly looked worried. "I don't want to drive you crazy."
"Crazy is a good thing, Bones," he replied, placing his hand over hers. He immediately noticed that she left her wrist brace at home.
"So, how did it go with Dr. London?"
"He said I'm making good progress."
"That's good."
"Yes."
"But?"
"What do you mean but?"
"I can sense there's a but coming. You said you were making progress, but…"
"It's nothing."
"Bones…"
A waitress appeared and asked them for their order. Although he hadn't even looked at the menu and cared more about what Brennan was withholding from him, Booth ordered a steak, fries, and a beer. The fries, of course, were for Brennan. She ordered a Caesar wrap and salad along with a glass of red wine. Booth couldn't wait for the waitress to leave.
"So, what else did Dr. London say, Bones?" He asked as soon as the waitress was gone.
Brennan was chewing on her bottom lip as if she didn't want to tell him. It wasn't that she didn't want him to know. She just didn't want him to worry.
"I…may need another surgery on my radius and ulna," she finally said.
"English, Bones. English."
"Those are the bones in the wrist. It's my left wrist."
"But you already had two surgeries on your wrist."
"I know, but the second surgery wasn't as successful as we originally thought. I looked at the x-rays myself and I agree that a third surgery might be necessary."
"Might be necessary?"
"Dr. London and I will make a decision after I have another round of x-rays in a week. He wanted to wait two weeks, but I don't want to take a chance with my radius. It's better that we catch the problem now."
"What's the recovery time on a surgery like that?"
"Several weeks, but don't worry, Booth. I will be returning to work as I originally scheduled."
"I'm not worried about work, Bones. I'm worried about you. Your body's been through a lot. Having another surgery isn't just a little thing. It's a big deal. And what's with this schedule you say you have about returning to work?"
"It's obvious that you have strong feelings in regards to me staying out of work."
"So you can heal, Bones. That's why I want you to stay out of work."
"Well, after careful consideration, I've decided to take your feelings into account along with my needs and to return to work in one week."
"One week? What does Dr. London have to say about that?"
"He's my doctor, Booth, not my keeper."
"Don't you think you should listen to your doctor?"
"Of course, but he is using a standard amount of time to keep me out of work when he doesn't know the whole picture. He doesn't know that I am a very fast healer and that I can return to work without it being physically demanding."
"Really? You don't consider being on your feet all day physically demanding? Or the fact that sometimes you have to sift through garbage or dirt or any other amount of gross material to examine bones?"
"I'll have a graduate student do all of the physical labor if necessary."
"Bones, half the time you don't let your grad students anywhere near the bones, except for a select few and that's only because you've taken the time to personally train them on your way of doing things."
"Well, the other students might compromise the remains."
"I'll tell Sweets not to clear you to come back to work."
"He wouldn't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because he's a doctor and, unlike you, he serves under a certain code of ethics."
"Are you saying that I'm not ethical, Bones?"
"No, I'm not saying that. You have a very strong sense of ethics, Booth, but not when those ethics are standing in the way of something you truly believe in. You're driven by heart. Dr. Sweets is driven by science. Granted, it's a deeply flawed, illogical science, but a science nonetheless."
"Why don't you talk about when you're coming back to work later? I didn't invite you here to argue."
"Actually I invited you here."
"And we're still arguing."
"Sorry."
The waitress returned with their drinks. Brennan took a long sip of her wine. She wasn't sure if it was just because she had been denied alcohol for several weeks or if she felt like she needed liquid courage for the topic she knew they would ultimately discuss. Either way, she was thankful for the wine.
"I'm sorry," Booth said.
Brennan put her wine glass down, confused. "About the argument? Booth, we argue all the time. Angela says it's how we communicate best."
He shook his head. "Not about the argument. About this morning. I'm sorry I made you angry. I was only teasing you, Bones, about Casey."
"I know. At least now I know. I'm not always very good at understanding when someone is teasing and when someone is serious."
"Yeah, I should have remembered that."
"It just…it made me angry to think that you preferred working with her."
"Trust me, Bones, I don't prefer working with her. I prefer working with you. Only you."
"I'm sorry I was jealous," she said quietly, not looking at him.
He couldn't help but smile at her admission. It wasn't often that Brennan admitted that she was wrong.
"Don't ever be sorry that you're jealous," Booth replied. "It shows you care."
"I do care."
"I know."
"You kissed me," she stated. "Twice."
And there it was. Out in the open. The one thing that they both knew they were going to talk about was on the table, ready and waiting for them. Leave it to Brennan to be so blunt, Booth thought. Booth had to choose how to respond. He knew his only choice was to be open and honest. After all, that was what he had decided long ago.
"You kissed me back," he stated. "Twice."
"Last night…did you only kiss me to make me feel better?"
"No, Bones. That's not why I kissed you."
"Then why?" She wanted to hear him say it. Before she put it all out there, she needed to hear him say it.
"Because I wanted to. Because I needed to."
"I enjoyed it very much."
She was being completely frank again. It was one of the things Booth both admired and feared about her. She wasn't afraid to say what she was thinking.
"So did I."
"I'd like it if you kissed me again," she said.
He looked into her eyes, knowing that she was giving him permission to start taking their relationship to the next level.
"So would I."
Booth leaned over the table. She met him halfway. Unlike that morning at the hospital, the kiss was deep and long. Their lips glided against each other without fear and without question. When they finally broke apart, they both had smiles on their faces.
"So…" Brennan said. "What happens now?"
"We eat."
"Is food all you ever think about?"
"No, but our dinner is headed our way."
He pointed to the waitress who was walking towards them with two plates of food in her hands. She gave them each their meals and left them alone. Booth picked a fry off his plate and held it out, over the table. Brennan leaned forward and he slipped the fry between her lips. It was an incredibly sensual moment.
"This doesn't feel strange," Brennan commented as soon as she had eaten the fry.
"What? Eating?"
"No. Us. It doesn't feel weird."
"That's because it's just us, Bones. Just like always. You and me."
"You and me," she repeated.
"The only difference is, now you're my girl."
She didn't miss the humor in his voice when he called her my girl. Just weeks earlier she had told him the phrase was inappropriate. As he called her it, though, she actually liked the sound of it.
"Am I? Your girl?"
He shrugged. "Are you?"
Brennan didn't immediately answer. Instead, she picked up her fork and stabbed at her salad. As she went to bring it to her mouth, her wrist twisted just slightly and she dropped her fork. Her eyes squeezed shut as the salad dropped onto her lap and the fork fell to the floor. Booth could see the pain in her face. Something as simple as eating had caused her pain. He cursed in his head and immediately went to pick up her fork.
"I got it," Brennan said.
"No, here, let me."
"I said I got it!" She yelled.
With the fork already in his hand, Booth put it back down on the floor. He understood that she needed to feel in control and if that meant he had to let her pick up the fork, then he'd let her. He watched as she painfully leaned over and picked up the dropped fork. She put it down next to her table and closed her eyes. Booth could tell she was concentrating on pushing aside the pain, not only from her wrist, but also from her ribs. When she opened her eyes again, Booth was kneeling next to her.
"Booth, what are you…"
He had his hand out, as if waiting to hold her hand.
"Come with me."
"What?"
"We're going for a walk."
"But our food."
"I'm not that hungry anyway."
"You're always hungry."
"Come on."
She put her hand in his and he helped her to her feet, without pulling too hard. He was always conscience that the slightest movement, like when she had tried to put her fork in her mouth, could be painful.
Booth threw money on the table to pay for the meals they didn't eat and linked his fingers with hers. He led her out of the restaurant and down a few side streets until they were walking on the national mall. There were still people around, but it wasn't anywhere near as crowded as the restaurant. He wanted to be with her without the noise and the crowds. He wanted it to feel like it was just them.
"What are you thinking?" She asked.
"About how beautiful you are," he answered. "What are you thinking?"
"About what all this means."
"What what means?"
"Us."
Booth stopped walking and stood in front of her. He kept her hand in his. He felt her pull her hand away and he knew that he had unintentionally hurt her. As much as she tried to pretend she was ok, she wasn't.
"Bones, there's something I have to tell you."
He looked into her deep, blue, amazing eyes. He wanted to tell her. He was ready to tell her.
She held her breath, hoping she was about to hear what she had wanted to hear. She wasn't good at understanding other people's emotions, but she hoped she wasn't wrong. She needed him to take the first step and then she wouldn't be able to hide her feelings anymore. Dr. Temperance Brennan was finally the type of person who could fall in love.
"Bones, I…" He cupped her cheek. "I don't think we should work together anymore."
Author's Note: Ok, so I know people probably hate me right now, but just stick with me. I couldn't let the story go without one more little surprise. But, stay tuned because I promise there's more soon!
