A/N: Before I forget to ask, does anyone know exactly what happened to Booth's dad? Did he go to jail, die, walk out, etc? I have a feeling he just walked out after Hank took over but I would like to know for sure. If anyone has any idea, please let me know. I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!
So I couldn't really figure out how to end this chapter. I hope it's not too lame or anything. I won't be posting tomorrow but I'll try to post something the day after. Sorry! :(
P.S.: I do not intend any infringement on the Big Ten conference, SEC, Northwestern Wildcats or the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is all for the fun of the story.
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The Booth family (which now included Brennan) was getting ready to head to Miami. That's where the national title game was being held. Booth had to fly back to Chicago in order to fly to Miami with the team. Hank, Jared and Brennan were all flying from Philadelphia and meeting him there. The plane ride was relatively uneventful, just chock full of Jared making lame attempts at hitting on Brennan and Hank telling him to knock it off.
As they pulled up to their beach-front hotel, they could see a large group of football players in the distance on the beach. Hank walked up to the front desk as Brennan and Jared took a look around.
"Bren! Come here!" Jared shouted.
She walked over to him, struggling, as she was carrying some heavy luggage. "What?" she called out to him.
"Look what I found," he said. There was a giant pile of random suitcases and dozens of the same, large duffle bag, all with names, numbers, and the Wildcat logo stitched across the top.
"Booth's staying here?"
"Let's find his bag and do something with it!" Jared said, mischievously.
"No! Jared, leave it alone. You're going to get in trouble!" Brennan whispered to him. Before she knew it, Jared was in a headlock being taken down by his older brother.
"She's always right, you know. Bren's always right." Booth wrestled Jared to the ground and let him go. He then pulled Brennan into a deep kiss and only stopped when his buddies showed up and began to "Aww" at the couple.
"I can't hang out tonight, Bren. We got team meetings and we have practice in the morning. But we get free time all tomorrow afternoon. I'll see you then, 'kay?"
"Of course." Booth reluctantly let her go and he followed his teammates to the hotel conference room.
"Alright, kids, let's hit the sack. I'm exhausted. Jared, leave Seeley's bag alone!"
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Brennan slept in and was only woken up by Jared, who banged on the room's adjoining door. Hank had been nice enough to get a room just for Brennan so she could have her space from Jared. She just didn't know it had been at Booth's request to keep his little brother from his girl.
She put her swimsuit on and covered up with a tank top and jean shorts. Brennan pulled open the door connecting the rooms and sat down on the desk chair in Hank and Jared's room. Both men were almost ready and they soon left for the beach.
It was almost noon. Time for the Wildcats football team to be done with practice for the day. She was attempting to throw a football around with Jared while she waited for Booth to show up. She couldn't throw the perfect spiral like Booth did, but she was trying hard to imitate his throw the best she could. She kept looking over her shoulder, looking for Booth, every time she passed the ball back to Jared.
But, on the one pass where she didn't look behind her, Booth picked her up, threw her over his shoulder, and ran into the water, with Brennan pounding his back and kicking her legs to let her down. He jumped into the water, pulling both of them under water.
They both jumped up out of the water, Brennan just a few seconds before Booth. She wiped the water out of her eyes, giving Booth a few seconds to breath before pushing him back underwater. She ran off, back onto dry land before Booth could pull her back under. Brennan was all dried off when Booth came running up the beach to where Hank, Jared and Brennan were all laughing at him.
They spent all day out on the beach. Brennan and Booth had wandered away from where Jared and Hank were hanging out and walked down the beach. Losing track of time, by the time they got back to the hotel, Booth's coach was waiting in the lobby.
"You broke curfew, son," the coach said to Booth, completely ignoring Brennan.
Booth didn't answer him. "Go upstairs, Bren. I'll see you tomorrow."
She just nodded and walked away. Brennan stood out of sight but wanted to listen to what was going to happen with Booth.
"Alright, son," she heard the coach say, "Pick your punishment. Run three extra miles in the morning before practice or five laps around the field with a linebacker on your back?"
"The three extra miles. Definitely. Sorry, Coach. It won't happen again."
"That your girlfriend?" His coach asked.
"Yeah, Coach. That was Bren."
His coach nodded and looked at Booth. "She a keeper?"
"Yes, sir. Definitely, sir."
"Good. Just don't break curfew again."
"No, sir, I won't."
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A few days passed and day of the title game had arrived. The team was allowed to spend the morning with friends and family before heading to the stadium for the game.
Brennan, Booth, and Hank ate breakfast in the hotel's buffet area while Jared slept in. They sat in silence for a while until Booth broke the silence.
"Bren, wanna see my socks?"
She nodded and Booth lifted up the leg of his jeans to reveal the socks she gave him for Christmas. She beamed back at him.
"I asked Coach if I could wear them instead of the white socks but he told me I had to wear the white ones. I'm still gonna wear these under those though. I promise."
Brennan didn't say anything. She just smiled and Booth smiled back. Hank excused himself to go to the restroom and Booth took that opportunity to pull Brennan into a deep kiss.
She giggled. "What was that for?" she asked as he released her.
Booth shrugged. "You're my good luck charm. I need all the luck I can get before the game tonight. I mean, I have the socks and the medal but I need as much sugar as I can get."
Brennan laughed as she felt her cheeks turn red. Leaning over the breakfast table, she kissed him again. Booth moved his chair closer to hers and cupped her cheeks to pull her as close as possible. They were only interrupted by Hank, who gave Booth a gentle slap on the back of head. Brenna pulled away quickly and blushed again.
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The Miami night was oddly warm. Dressed in jeans and a Wildcat t-shirt, Brennan was becoming more and more anxious waiting for the game to start. Jared, Hank and Brennan all had their sideline passes hanging around their necks. They waited anxiously on the sideline with TV personnel and Wildcat staff members. The stadium was packed and there were plenty of Wildcat faithful fans in their student section and scattered all over the stands. The cheerleaders, mascot and dance team arrived, prepping their corner of the sidelines for hyping up the crowd.
Players were slowly coming out in packs to warm up. Linebackers, safeties, running backs, they all came out according to what they played and Brennan watched intensely, waiting for Booth to make his appearance.
All of the players came and went, except for Booth. Brennan, Hank and Jared began to worry that something was wrong. Was he not strong enough to play? Has his ankle not healed properly?
But, as soon as the team came out to do warm ups together, Brennan breathed a sigh of relief. Booth was leading the pack of players out to the field for warm ups. Jared snagged a trainer as he walked by to ask how his brother was doing.
"We taped his ankle more than we normally would. He should be fine though. We don't expect any problems with the ankle or knee," the trainer said. Jared was so happy he hugged the unexpecting trainer.
As kickoff time arrived, Booth was chosen to do the coin toss. The Wildcats lost the toss, which isn't always a bad thing. Alabama chose to receive the ball first. Booth ran back to the sideline and winked at Brennan. She cheered for him louder than Jared or Hank and kept asking them when it was Booth's turn to throw the ball.
The game was a high scoring one. Going into halftime, the Wildcats were down, the score 35-28. The Wildcats only needed one more touchdown to tie the game but everyone seemed depressed, like they had already lost the game. Brennan waited impatiently on the sideline for the marching bands to leave and the football players to come back, while Hank and Jared went to get something to eat.
The halftime clock ticked down and the Wildcat football team stormed the field. The crowd lit up again and the Crimson Tide came onto the field as well. Brennan booed the other team, but only quietly, to herself, so to her, it didn't seem like she was being mean.
Brennan noticed something different about Booth as he was running back out to do a few more stretches before halftime ended. Then she noticed the socks. He wasn't wearing the white socks anymore. Covering his shins and calves were the tie-dyed socks she had bought him for Christmas. Beaming, she brought the development to the attention to Jared and Hank.
As they were chatting, Booth ran over and tapped Brennan on the shoulder. She spun around right into the grass stained jersey. Looking up, she could barely see him through his helmet facemask.
"I told Coach I needed a change of luck, and he let me take of my white socks," Booth told her with a giant grin covering his face. He ripped off his helmet quickly as the halftime clock expired and stole a deep kiss from Brennan.
Saying nothing, he turned and ran back to the sideline to get ready for the next quarter. The Wildcats took control of the lead easily, but it was still a constant back and forth game. Booth's luck did seem to be turning around but, since Brennan didn't believe in luck, she knew it was pure talent that was showing.
The third quarter came and went, Booth still showing no lasting effects from his injury everyone thought would end him. The fourth quarter was tense, with the Crimson Tide taking a commanding lead about half way through. It became Booth's job to squash the Tide and their dreams of a national title.
With thirty seconds left in the game, the Wildcats were down by three points, needing a field goal to tie and a six point touchdown to win. Brennan, Hank and Jared could hear Booth's coach saying they were going all or nothing, no overtime, win it in regulation.
She noticed Booth said a little prayer and headed out to the line. They needed to go fifteen yards, without losing yards, a fumble, interception or anything negative like that. Brennan could almost hear her heart pounding in anticipation. Hank had a grip on Jared's arm, mainly to steady himself but also to use a shield in case something happened he couldn't stand to watch.
Booth had advanced the line just two yards shy of the end zone. But they only had three seconds left on the clock to get the win. Like the coach had said, no overtime. Booth's coach had faith in him that he would win the game.
Looking around, trying to read the play the Crimson Tide defense was setting up, Booth shouted out a play to his teammates, they made a few last second changes and Booth hiked the ball into motion. As the clock ran out, he passed the ball a mere six feet to Adam who was wide open in the end zone. He caught the ball.
"TOUCHDOWN WILDCATS! WILDCATS WIN! WILDCATS WIN!"
Brennan could barely hear the announcer. Wildcat students and fans had already started rushing the field, but since Brennan was already down on the sideline, she was out there first, beating some of the football players still on the sidelines.
There was a swarm of players and she soon had troubles finding Booth. She had to jump to see over the taller players.
"Bren!" She could hear him calling but she couldn't see him anywhere. But he found her first. Scooping her up, Booth gave her a long hug. He was laughing and it shook her as she hugged him back.
The press was surrounding them now, wanting to talk to Booth about throwing the game winning pass, but they ignored the media. Booth pulled Brennan through the crowd to find his granddad and his brother. They all hugged, rejoiced and congratulated the newly crowned champ. The press was still hovering, trying to get a word from the guy Wildcats fans called a hero. But, Booth wanted nothing to do with them.
"Aren't you going to talk to them?" Brennan asked, practically shouting over the ruckus.
Booth just grinned at her. Instead of answering her, he grabbed Brennan and pulled her into a kiss. He didn't care that that picture of them would be on every front page in the morning. And she was learning to let go of her inhibitions. Right then, everything was perfect for them.
