The next morning, Brennan hands Henry to the daycare director, giving her son a kiss on the cheek and waving as she leaves the room. She holds her bag close to her body and hurries to the elevator, the sound of her son's screams echoing through the space. She steps into the cart and sighs as the doors close. Although it was difficult, she left promptly after handing her son to Dr. Hudson. She has to keep reminding herself that this behavior is temporary and he'll out grow it, just as Christine had. She lets out a breath and exits the elevator, heading to the lab.
She walks through the automatic doors and breathes in the familiar clean smelling air. She disappears into her office, sets her bag on the couch, and sits down in her office chair. She powers on her computer and pulls out her cell phone. She opens the message from Booth and reads it: How'd it go this morning? She quickly replies and sets her phone to the side. She pulls up her email on her computer and dives right into work.
She's yanked from her concentration by a knock on the door. "This better be important." She states, without even turning her head.
"Oh it is." Angela walks in and sits down on the couch, dropping a stack of magazines down on the coffee table.
Brennan jumps at the loud clapping sound and finally looks in her best friend's direction. "What are all those magazines for?"
"They're bridal magazines." Angela pats the cushion beside her and smiles. "Your 'wedding' is in four months, Sweetie, so if you are planning on wearing something down the aisle, you gotta start looking, though I'm sure Booth wouldn't object to you wearing absolutely nothing." She winks.
Brennan rolls her eyes. "Ange, I'm kind of busy here."
"Humor me, Bren."
Brennan rises from her chair and joins her best friend on the couch. "Booth and I talked about the ceremony last night."
Angela tweaks an eyebrow, her interest peaked. "Oh?"
"Yes."
"You're killing me, Sweetie."
Brennan shifts and grabs the magazine on the top of the pile. She opens to a random page and starts leafing through the rest of the magazine. "Well, we picked a specific date, June 20th, and decided to have a small ceremony with just our closest friends and family. Booth liked the whole beach location idea, so we just have to pick the specific place."
"Bren, you're smiling."
Brennan shrugs and flips the page in the magazine. Her breath hitches slightly and she swallows.
Angela looks down and steals the magazine away. She dog-ears the page and hands it back to Brennan. "That's pretty."
"It's beautiful." Brennan pauses. "Do you think Booth would like it?"
"It doesn't matter what Booth would like, Sweetie. This is your wedding dress."
"But this ceremony is for him."
"Keep telling yourself that, Bren, maybe it will actually become true."
Brennan opens her mouth to say something but clamps it shut quickly, realizing she has no rebuttal to that. She flips through the rest of the magazine, nothing else seeming to catch her eye.
Angela joins in, looking through one magazine while Brennan looks through another. She dog-ears the pages that she could see Brennan in and moves on to the next one, until they work their way through the whole stack. "Alright, let's go shopping."
Brennan's eyes widen. "What? That's not what we were doing?"
Angela laughs. "You have to actually try on wedding dresses, Brennan. You can't just order one from a magazine and pray to God it fits you in all the right places." She grabs the magazines where each of them marked pages and stands up. "Come on. We have a lot of work to do. We're running out of time."
"But I have actual work to do, Ange, and so do you."
"Work can wait."
"Angela!" Brennan screeches when her best friend grabs hold of her arms and pulls her up to her feet. "Okay, okay, fine. Let me just grab my purse."
"That's the spirit."
Brennan shuts off the screen of her computer, grabs her phone, purse, and jacket, and follows Angela out of the door. She stops a few feet from her office and swallows.
Angela, sensing her friend is no longer following her, stops and turns around. She rolls her eyes and groans, walking back to Brennan and tugging on her arm. "Come on."
"Angela, wait just a minute."
Angela raises an eyebrow, pulling back her arm. "Sweetie, are you okay?"
"I, what if, never mind. Let's just go."
"You look fabulous, Bren. You don't have to worry about looking good in your wedding dress."
"How did you—?"
"It's a gift." Angela pauses. "You've never looked better, Sweetie."
"You're just saying that because you're my best friend."
"No, I'm saying that because it's the truth." Angela smiles. "Now, let's go."
Brennan nods and starts walking towards the exit.
Cam comes out of her office and heads straight for the two women. "Dr. Brennan, didn't you just get here?"
"We're taking an early lunch," Angela butts in.
"What for?"
Brennan rolls her eyes. "Angela is taking me wedding dress shopping."
"Oh, perfect. I was looking for an excuse to shut down the lab for the day and I think I just found it. I'm coming with you. Let me just let everyone know they have the day off."
"Dr. Saroyan—," Brennan tries to protest, but Cam has already turned around and started walking away. "I blame you for this, Angela. I was looking forward to a nice relaxing day identifying some of the older sets of remains in limbo, but no, instead I'm being kidnapped and forced to go wedding dress shopping with my best friend and my boss."
Angela laughs. "It'll be fun. Trust me."
About ten minutes later, Cam joins the two other women and the three of them leave the lab.
Brennan comes out of the dressing room with a scowl on her face. "This is ridiculous, Angela. I swear you're picking these awful dresses on purpose." She fiddles with the numerous ruffles on the pale pink dress and glares at her reflection in the mirror.
Angela laughs.
"I'm putting my clothes back on." Brennan turns around and starts to head into the dressing room, but Angela grabs her arm.
"No, wait." Angela hands Brennan one last dress and smiles. "This one is for real. I promise. Just try it on. If you hate it, then fine, we'll call it a day and go get some lunch."
Brennan sighs and disappears behind the curtain. She quickly disrobes, scoffing at the frilly pink dress she had just taken off. She carefully removes the new dress from the hanger and unzips it. She steps into it and pulls it up her body, shimming to get the fabric over her butt and hips. She reaches back and pulls up the zipper as far as she can manage. She steps in front of the mirror and tugs on the bodice. She lifts her head and catches a glimpse of her reflection.
"Sweetie?"
Brennan stares at herself in the mirror for a long minute, examining the entire cream colored dress, from the sweetheart neckline, to the fitted and intricately woven bodice, to the silk ribbon synching the smallest part of her, to the flowing, floor-length, lightweight skirt.
"If you don't come out in two seconds, I'm coming in there to get you."
Brennan shakes her head and opens the curtain, stepping out into the changing area.
Angela looks up from her cell phone and blinks, rushing over to meet her best friend. "Oh, Sweetie."
"It doesn't quite fit correctly."
"That's what seamstresses are for, Bren." Angela steps back and looks Brennan up and down. "What do you think?"
Brennan turns to look in the larger mirror and her breath hitches, despite already having seen herself in the dress. She's not exactly sure why, but tears spring to her eyes and her heart rate speeds up. She clears her throat and swallows.
"That is your dress, Bren."
Brennan just nods, letting out a contented sigh.
"Did she finally find a dress, Angela?" Cam returns to the changing area and stops short. "You look beautiful, Dr. Brennan."
Brennan turns to face Cam and smiles. "Thank you." She pauses. "Booth is your friend and you know him very well, so in your honest opinion, do you think he'll approve of this dress?"
"Are you kidding? Seeley is going to be speechless, Dr. Brennan, and I mean literally speechless."
"How else would you mean it?" Brennan asks, completely serious. She just shrugs when Cam doesn't answer her. "I'm going to get dressed."
"Please tell me you're going to buy that dress, Bren."
Brennan stops just before ending the fitting room and turns her head. "I am going to purchase this dress, Angela."
Angela lets out a breath. "Thank God." She sits down on the couch and turns back to her phone.
Cam joins her and the two of them wait for Brennan to get dressed.
Five minutes later, Brennan emerges in the slacks, blouse, and tailored jacket she had worn to work that day and with the dress folded over her arm. "I'm just going to pay for this. I'll meet you right outside the store."
"Oh, no, Bren, we're not finished here just yet."
"I said I was going to buy the dress, Angela."
"Bridesmaids' dresses."
"I'm tired, Ange. Can we take a break and tackle the bridesmaids' dresses another time?"
"All right, fine, we'll continue shopping after lunch."
Brennan rolls her eyes. "That is not what I meant." She heads over to the register and quickly purchases the dress. Although it's a beautiful dress, she cannot understand why anyone would pay that much money for a dress they are only going to wear once. It doesn't make any sense to her, it's not practical in the least, but with a best friend like Angela, there's no way she's going to get out of buying a dress, so she swipes her card and scribbles her signature. She thanks the cashier, grabs the box, and heads out of the store to meet Angela and Cam.