Disclaimer: I do not own, or know, any of the real people or teams mentioned in the following chapter!
They arrived to the ballpark almost two hours before the game.
"Booth, what are we doing here so early? I had more time to eat and get ready. I'm still really hungry," Brennan complained as he pulled her toward the gate.
"So we can get you food and souvenirs before the lines get long and we can find our seats without having to deal with rude, drunk people," he explained like it was nothing.
She held onto his hand for dear life as Booth took her from food stand to food stand trying to decide what they should eat. Brennan settled on a pretzel and Booth got the biggest Philly cheese steak on the menu.
"Can we sit to eat this? I don't like people watching me shove my face full of food," Brennan asked, still being pulled along by Booth, who was on a mission to find the perfect souvenir for Bren.
"You can eat when we find our seat. I wanna get you something," he said, his voice muffled by the giant amount of meat in his mouth.
He dragged her into the gift shop and started suggesting things she might like.
"God, this stuff's a fortune. I guess that's why Pops never liked to take Jared and me into the gift shop," he commented. Booth was done with his sandwich by now and Brennan was still nibbling on her pretzel.
"Let's just wait 'til after the game, I really wanna see the…uh…where they play," Brennan tried.
He smiled at her. "It's called a diamond. Come on, I'm not sure where we're sitting."
They walked through the concourse and searched for their section.
The couple finally stopped a worker to ask for directions.
"It's under the scoreboard in left field," the worker told them. Booth's eyes widened and he could barely spit out a thank you.
"What's wrong?" Brennan asked. Booth was running and even though he had a firm grip on her hand, she was struggling to keep up.
The reached their seats and Booth was jumping around, cheering and shouting.
"Bren! I've wanted to sit in the outfield forever! This is where all the homeruns are hit! Maybe if we're lucky we'll catch one. Ha! I can't believe it! Pops got the best seats!" He cried.
Brennan watched him look around like he had never seen this place before. The game soon started and they were enjoying themselves and the game was a good one. The Phillies were playing their rival, the New York Mets.
They had to crane their necks to look back at the jumbotron but the view from their seats was perfect. It was a high scoring game, meaning the number of home runs was high as well. A few balls few over their heads. Brennan could tell as soon as the ball was hit were it would most likely end up. It was simple physics. But Booth jumped and reached for balls that were several feet over his head. Brennan tried to explain how to determine where the ball would go to Booth but he was too in to the game.
The score was 6-8 with the Mets in the lead and there was only two and a half innings left. It was the seventh inning stretch and Brennan didn't understand the classic baseball tradition. The groundskeepers combed the dirt on the infield and the crowd was standing around her.
Booth was standing too. "Come on, Bren. Stand up."
She did but was still confused. "Why are we standing?" Brennan whispered to him.
"It's the seventh inning stretch, babe. Every team in baseball does this," he explained.
"Don't call me babe."
They looked at each other with the same intensity. She was upset over the term of endearment and he was just happy to be at one of his favorite places with the love of his life.
"Sorry," Booth broke the silence between them, "I'll try not to call you that." He smiled at her but she didn't smile back. Booth looked back to the field to watch the players run back out. His favorite player, Roy Halladay, was up to bat next. Everyone sat back down, and Brennan just followed what they were doing. The crowd cheered and waited for the Mets pitcher to hurl a ball towards the plate. The first two pitches Halladay got were called strikes and the Phillies fans booed the home plate umpire. The Mets pitcher released the next pitch. Booth was scared Halladay was going to strikeout.
"It's a slider! Swing the damn bat!" Booth called. Brennan rolled her eyes. There was no way the batter could hear Booth from the outfield over all the other noise.
Surprisingly enough, Halladay swung his bat and sent the ball flying toward left field. Everyone in the section stood up, waiting to see if the ball would land by them. The fans were cheering, knowing it was behind the homerun point. Booth stood on his seat to try to get the advantage over other fans around him.
Booth jumped off his chair and caught the homerun ball bare handed. Brennan knew it had to hurt. That ball was probably flying through the air faster than eighty miles per hour. He yelped as he landed on the row of people in front of him. The other fans helped him up. Brennan expected the other people who were trying to catch the ball to be angry with him, but no one seemed upset.
"Here ya go, Bren!" Booth tossed the ball to her once he was back on his feet. She caught it and handed it back to him.
"No, it's yours," Booth said. "I have plenty of baseballs at home. Plus this is pretty cool for your first Phillies game!"
"Normally, don't people get mad when they…miss an opportunity like this? Other people could've caught the ball had you not jumped from your chair."
"Well, sure but I think everyone's just happy that we're getting closer to winning."
The game ended not long after that, the Phillies losing to their rivals but it was still a good game. Brennan and Booth arrived home late into the night and found Hank still up, waiting for them.
"Hey guys! Shrimp, you were on TV! They showed you catching Halladay's homer! That was a great catch, Shrimp! Who taught you catch like that?"
Booth laughed. "You did, Pops. Look at this!"
He pulled Brennan's hand up. She was holding the ball and she held it out for Hank to see.
"Very nice! That's awesome. You know, your brother is going to be very jealous," Hank told them.
"Seel! Lemme see it!" Jared came running into the living room and almost knocked Brennan over.
Jared couldn't get over it. He was upset Booth decided to take Bren to the ballgame but it almost didn't matter to him anymore since the Phillies lost.
"Hold on, I'll be right back," Jared called over his shoulder. He ran to his room and returned with a Polaroid.
"Bren, hold the ball up!" he shouted, looking through the viewfinder. Jared pressed the button and the picture was released.
"I'm going to go put it in your frame, Bren!" Jared shouted, running back down the hall to Booth's room.
Booth and Brennan sat on the couch and Hank sat in his recliner in the living room and watched Sportscenter. They were all thrilled to see the Phillies highlights.
"And in the bottom of the seventh, Roy Halladay sends a homer to the left field stands and look at this! Look who that is! Philly native and Northwestern champion quarterback Seeley Booth makes a nice leaping fly to catch the ball without a glove! Who knew a quarterback could catch?" The man on the TV joked. Booth scoffed at that.
"Damn straight, I caught it. I'm the national champion," he muttered.
Brennan elbowed him gently.
"So what are you kids gonna do tomorrow?" Hank asked.
They both shrugged.
"We could go fishing?" Booth suggested. Hank nodded and Brennan looked confused.
"I don't know how to fish. And where are we gonna get a boat?"
"When dad left, he left his old one. I can make sure it's still working and we can go fishing. I'll show you how to fish. It's not that bad."
"Okay," she said.
"Okay? Wow, I expected a bigger fight from you. I didn't think you'd want to go." Booth pulled her closer.
"I don't really care what we do if I'm with you. You want to go fishing so I'll go," she whispered. Booth looked at Hank. He was dozing in his recliner.
"Is there anything you wanna do?" Booth whispered in her ear.
She turned in his arms to face him. "Well," her voice was low and husky, "I would stay in bed all day with you if I could but…I don't think that's reasonable."
"Ugh, you have no idea how much I want to do that," he groaned and nibbled on her ear.
She did all she could to hold in a moan.
"Let's finish what we started this morning," Booth whispered and led her to the bedroom.
