Parker's standing at the bathroom counter, looking at himself in the mirror. He hasn't had a good look at himself since the accident. He runs his finger along the thin scar on his cheek and brings his hand upwards towards his hair, which has just started growing back. He skims his index finger against the long, rough scar and swallows. It's just another reminder. He may grow to love it and appreciate that this scar means he's alive, but right now, whenever he lays eyes on the healing patch of skin, he can't see anything but his mother's bloody hand gripping his arm .
Booth knocks on the bathroom door a couple times. "Parker, are you okay, buddy?"
"Fine."
Parker's reply was so quiet that Booth would have missed it if he hadn't had his ear pressed to the door. "Okay, bub. Come out when you're ready to go." He turns his head and looks at Brennan, who's taking the sheets off the bed. "You know, you don't have to do that, Bones."
Brennan stops and looks over at him. "Excuse me?" She then looks at what she's doing and laughs. "Oh, I guess it's just a habit. I always change Parker's sheets after he leaves on Sundays."
Booth nods. "I know."
Brennan steps away from the bed and sits on the couch. "You don't seem happy, Booth. I thought you'd be happy about Parker being discharged."
Booth sighs, leaning against the wall beside the bathroom door. "I'm glad he can leave the hospital, Bones. I'm happy about that. I'm just worried about him. He doesn't seem happy and that scares me."
"I can understand that." She pauses. "Maybe we can marry his life with ours."
Booth blinks. "Bones, did you just ask me to marry you?"
Brennan coughs. "What? No. Booth, you misunderstood me."
"It sounded like you asked me to marry you."
"Well, that is not what I meant." She swallows. "When you and I moved into the Mighty Hut, we furnished and decorated it with furniture, memorabilia, and artifacts from both of our apartments, so that each of us would feel at home. We took possessions from our previous lives and put them together to make a completely new life, our life, shared. Maybe we should do that with Parker."
Booth smiles.
"Tomorrow or this weekend, we can take him to his house and allow him to choose what he wants, either from his own possessions, his mother's possessions, shared possessions, or a combination of items from each of those categories. Maybe then he'll feel more comfortable living with us, and eventually, perhaps it will help him come to regard our home as his."
He stares at her. "That's a stupid idea."
"Yeah, you're right. Forget I even suggested it."
A small smile creeps onto his face. "It's a stupid idea 'cause I didn't think of it."
She slaps him on the chest and pushes him. "So it's not stupid?"
He laughs. "No, Bones. It's an awesome idea." He pauses. "I love you. God, I'll never get tired of saying that. The way your brain works, even during high stressful situations, it amazes me. You amaze me."
She smiles.
"Uh, so you really weren't asking me to marry you?"
Angela's voice resurfaces, but Brennan dismisses it. "No, I wasn't."
"Well, then can I ask you to marry me?"
Brennan blinks. "I don't know, can you?"
"May I ask you to marry me?"
"You may do whatever you choose, Booth." She laughs and zips up her suitcase. When she looks up again, he's down on one knee in front of her. She swallows and bites on the inside of her bottom lip. "Wha—what are you doing?"
"I'm asking you to marry me."
She slowly straightens her legs, standing up fully, and takes a step back from him. "Booth."
"All I have is this twist tie, but I promise I'll get you a proper ring. I'm probably setting myself up to be turned down again, but I love you. Will you marry me, Temperance?"
Her chest tightens at the sound of her first name and her eyes well up with tears at the way he says it, so soft, so sweet, and so full of unabashed adoration. She swallows and continues to gnaw at her lip.
After a minute of silence, Booth stands up and dusts himself off. He sighs. "I knew it was a long shot."
She blinks back tears and reaches for his hand before he has a chance to slip it into his pocket. She flicks her eyes up to his and the corners of her lips curve upwards into a shy smile. "Yes." She pauses. "Yes," she repeats, since the first reply got lost in her throat.
He raises an eyebrow. "Yes, what?"
"Yes, Booth, I'll marry you."
He stumbles backwards into the bathroom door, catching his lower back on the doorknob. "Ow," he groans.
"Are you okay?"
He nods. "Yes? You're saying yes?" To say he's surprise would be the understatement of the year. He can't believe it. He needs her to say it again and then maybe again for good measure.
She smiles and steps closer to him, so that a piece of paper would have a hard time fitting between their bodies. She tilts her head and looks into his eyes. "I'm saying yes." She lets out a shy little giggle and looks away from him.
His heart swells as her laugh resonates. "Really?"
She nods. "How many times do I need to say the same thing, Booth? Should I scream it?"
His smile widens and grabs her hand, slipping the blue string tie down her ring finger. He holds it in place while he leans in to kiss her. He pulls back and brushes his lips against the bridge of her nose. "What changed your mind?"
"I haven't changed my mind, Booth. I still believe that marriage is an antiquated ritual."
"Then why'd you say yes?"
"That's simple. I always said I needed a reason to get married and I found one."
His smile grows wider, but his face deflates with the next thing she says.
She hesitates, but then decides that there's no other option than to just tell him the truth. She already agreed to marry him. He deserves an explanation. "I found over one thousand reasons, actually. I've been thinking about this for months now, even more recently after the accident and my conversation with Angela in the park a couple weeks ago. I have come to realize that getting married is what's best for our family. I don't need to get married to show I love you or prove my commitment to you or anyone else, but getting married will significantly benefit our family."
Booth grunts. Of course there's a catch to this. He knew there had to be. She, of all people, wouldn't just change her mind like that.
"You told me that you had to fight somebody in order for me to be allowed in Parker's room for an extended period of time and Angela reminded me that you wouldn't have had to resort to that kind of violence if we were married." She stops explaining and notices his expression. "You're upset? I don't understand."
Booth grunts. "You just told me the only reason you agreed to marry me was 'cause of a couple stupid benefits, Bones, and you don't understand why I'm upset? I thought you said yes 'cause you love me."
"I do love you, Booth. You know I do!" She pauses. "What difference does it make, anyway? My reasons may not be your reasons, but who cares?"
"I care, Bones. Just forget it. It was stupid. I shouldn't have asked you to marry me."
Just then, something inside her snaps. "You can't just take it back!" She steps away from him and looks at him, tears staining her cheeks and blurring her vision. "You can't take it back."
"There's no rule that says I can't."
She swallows. "Booth, I thought you'd be happy. You've always wanted to get married. Angela said proposing to you would help get you out of a funk, and I assume she would say that accepting a proposal from you would produce the same result, but you don't look happy and I cannot understand why."
He shakes his head and turns around, knocking on the bathroom door. "Parker, what's going on in there?" He gets a faint 'be right out' in response.
Brennan sighs and rests her hand on Booth's back, tugging on his shirt collar with her fingers. "Booth."
He shrugs her hand off and walks over to the bed, sitting down on the edge of the mattress.
She lets her arm fall to her side and looks at him, barely making him out through tears. "Our reasons may be different, Booth, but that doesn't mean I want to get married any less than you do."
He grunts.
She shifts and sucks back tears. "I'm not like you. I don't need to get married in order to have my family. I have that already. I don't feel like there's anything missing in my life at the moment."
"Then just forget I asked."
She shakes her head. "I don't want to forget you asked, Booth. You're not listening to me!"
He lifts his head and looks at her.
"You need that. You feel that your life won't be fulfilled until you have a wife. You need things to be official between us." She pauses. "I love you, Booth. You know I do. Being with you is a choice and I made that choice years ago. Getting married is also a choice and I want to marry you. I have my reasons for doing so and you have yours. They're as different as you and I are, but our love and our desire to spend the rest of our lives together, that's something we share, that's something we'll always share."
He shifts on the mattress, making it squeak, and smiles at her. She's right. It shouldn't matter why she wants to get married because she, the person who has said repeatedly that she was never getting married, has agreed to marry him. That's gotta mean something, right? "I'm sorry."
Her shoulders fall and she sniffles. "You're taking it back. I see, even if I don't truly understand your reasoning behind it."
"No, no, Bones, I mean, I'm sorry I got mad. I wasn't listening to a thing you were saying. I can't even blame that on being distracted with what's going on with Parker. It's all on me." He stands up and closes the gap between them. He presses his lips against hers and smiles. "I'm so sorry."
She breaks the kiss and leans against him, wrapping her arms tightly around him, relieved to say the least. She clings to him, burying her face into his shoulder, as leftover tears fall. "I really do love you, Booth."
He slips his hand between them and lifts her chin up with his thumb. He leans down and gives her a tender kiss on the cheek, trapping her tears under his soft lips. "I know, Bones." He pauses. "Do you still want to marry me?"
"Yes, if you still wish to marry me."
He smiles against her lips and sighs. "Of course I still want to marry you. You're right. It doesn't matter why we want to get married. Nothing will change. Legally of course things will change, but personally, we'll still be us, Booth and Bones, forever and always." He loops his arms around her back and presses his lips firmly against hers, closing his eyes.
She relaxes against him, allowing him to hold her upright. She tilts her head and reciprocates the kiss, her skin tingling. She shifts her weight and leans farther into him.
He holds her tighter and breaks the kiss. He catches his breath and a few seconds later, his lips smash right back against hers. Having her in his arms, kissing her like this, it makes him almost forget the current situation. Almost.
Well, was that what you were expecting? Are you happy about it? Let me know.
Thanks!