Yes, people, here it finally is: the chapter in which Booth and Brennan meet again. Before you start reading, though, we'd like to point out again that the previous chapter was uploaded faulty. It took us a helpful review to realise what had happened, and we went back and made sure the chapter was posted correctly. A large part was missing, so, if you haven't, please go back and read chapter 12 again, to prevent any confusion about this one. Then, without further ado, we introduce you to chapter 13!
Chapter 13
It had taken Booth just one phone call to get an address and he left immediately. All sorts of scenarios were running through his head, but he did his best to ignore them. After all, the only scenario he was interested in was the real one and he was going to find out what that entailed pretty soon. Booth parked his car in front of the right place. He took a deep breath, sent up a quick prayer asking for strength, guidance and patience and got out of the car.
As soon as Russ spotted the black SUV Angela had told him about, he got out of the house and waited for Elena's father with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
Booth walked over to the man. This had to be the man Angela was talking about. He decided to cut to the chase. "Does Temperance Brennan live here?"
"She does. So do I. What do you want from her?"
Booth's heart skipped a beat. He was so close to her. "I want to talk to her. She's... an old friend of mine. Can I come in?"
"If she's your friend, then tell me something about her." Russ shrugged. "Anything." Russ looked at the man in front of him. Good-looking. In shape. Elena's eyes...
Booth's eyes narrowed. "Look, I don't know who you are, but I just want to talk to an old friend. Is she home or not?" God, what was it with people today?
"You're talking to Tempe's family, sir. I have her best interest in mind. Who are you? Why are you here?"
"I'm Seeley Booth. Like I said, I'm an old friend and I am here to talk to her."
"Listen, Seeley Booth. I protect her. She's not home right now. The two of us need to talk, first. I need to know who we're dealing with. You understand, right? Protecting your family?"
"Family? Who are you? What's your name?" Booth asked. He knew that it wasn't the smartest idea to go into this blindly, but this was the woman who had occupied his dreams for four years. He didn't have the patience to gather all of the information first. He wanted to see her. Talk to her. Explain.
"My name is Russ Brennan. I need to know what you want with my sister. Right now, she's hanging in there, but she has a lot on her mind. She'll be graduating in a few months, hopefully. You can't take that away from her; she's worked too hard," Russ tried to reason with this stranger.
"I am not here to take anything away from her. I just want to talk to her. Now, is she here or not?" Booth was starting to lose his patience and yet, he felt relieved. The man she was living with was her brother. Not her husband, not her lover. Her brother.
"She's not here right now, no. Listen. You don't know all that happened, but your showing up here out of the blue will cause a lot of emotional turmoil for my sister. I need you to be mindful of that. Is there any way you can prove to me that you're a decent man, despite sleeping with my sister and then disappearing on her?"
Again! What right did these people have to give him the third degree about disappearing? "I took care of my sick grandfather for four years. You want me to call him up, huh? Humiliate an old man by forcing him to admit that he needed my constant care and presence to recover from a stroke? Or do you want bank statements listing all of the pills he needs to use on a daily basis that I have provided him with trough the years? Or maybe you'd like to see the photos of my graduation at the police academy? Or my registry there? Where I studied during the day, so I could provide care, medication and housing for my grandfather?" Booth snapped, really starting to lose it.
Russ relaxed his stance a bit. Now he was being honest, Russ could tell. Russ gave the man a nod. Before he could say anything, though, he heard his sister's voice. 'No! Tempe! Not now!' he thought, but it was too late. She was here. He was here. They were both here.
Brennan had met Amy and her girls at the playground. The girls had been playing wonderfully together, and Brennan and Amy sat on a bench watching them and talking. Suddenly, Amy had mentioned what a wonderful idea it had been to meet here. Brennan said she thought it had been Amy's idea, but as it turned out, Russ had told Amy the opposite. Confused, Brennan had asked Amy to watch the girls so she could ask Russ what this was all about. She walked down the street and saw Russ standing outside their door, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was talking to someone. A black SUV she'd never seen in their street before was parked behind the strange man. "Russ?" she asked her brother as she was still a small distance away from them. The strange man looked up at her, a look of devastation mixed with relief on his face. It scared her a little, it was as if she should know him.
Her voice. It was her. His Captain. Booth turned around to look. Just her. So she hadn't been pregnant. But then why would Angela have made those remarks? Probably to make sure he felt guilty enough.
"Mommy!"
Brennan turned around and Elena came running towards her. She caught her little girl. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"
Elena nodded. "Don't leave me, Mommy."
Brennan shook her head. "Never, honey." Brennan kissed Elena's cheek and took her hand. They turned back to Russ and the strange man. "What's going on, Russ?"
Booth had been about to take a step towards her when suddenly, a young girl - around four - came running around the corner. His Captain caught the little girl and kissed her cheek. He couldn't hear what they were saying. His heart started beating faster when the young girl looked at him. Familiar brown eyes. He swallowed. That was his daughter. The four-year-old girl he had never seen. Oh God...
Elena was watching the strange man. She could feel something important was going on, but she didn't understand what. "Mommy, who's that?" she asked and pointed at Booth.
A lump formed in his throat and it became harder to breathe. His own daughter. His little girl. The baby he had dreamed of, four years ago, and she didn't even know that he was her dad. He wanted to speak up, but realised that he was frozen.
"Temp, take her inside. I'll tell you later. He was just leaving," Russ cut in.
"Is he a bad man?" Elena asked her mother.
Brennan took a few steps forward, trying to remember his face. Elena was gripping her hand tightly. "Who are you?" Brennan asked. She felt she should remember him from somewhere. Russ looked pretty distressed.
"Temperance. Go inside. Please." Her brother was too late, though.
"Hey Captain," Booth spoke softly. "Long time no see. Four years to be exact."
Brennan turned pale. His voice... she recognised it. She was looking at her Zorro, Elena's father. Elena was looking at her father and she didn't have a clue. She resembled him so much. Brennan didn't know what to do. What would be best for her daughter? She didn't know. She took a shaky breath. "What's your name?" she asked him, her words barely a whisper.
"Seeley Booth." Booth had so much to say to her, but he couldn't find the words.
Russ watched his sister turn pale and he carefully, but determinedly, manoeuvred himself between them. "Come on, Temp. Let's get both of you inside, huh?"
Brennan continued to look at the man... Seeley Booth... her daughter's father. "Russ," she focussed on her brother, "I'm not feeling well. I - I don't know what to do." She couldn't handle the situation. Not with Elena here.
"Come on, let's go inside. He can come back later." When she didn't respond, Russ added softly, "Inside, Temp. Trust me."
Booth was still frozen. He had a daughter. One who was focussed on her mother and looking at him wearily, clearly distrustful of him.
Brennan thought about it. All she knew, was that Russ had been there for her all this time, and Zorro hadn't. "Should I ask for his phone number?" she whispered, her body feeling unstable, her heartbeat fluttering.
"No." Russ looked at the guy over his shoulder. "He knows where we live. Please do yourself and Elena a favour and get inside." Russ gave her a gentle push and then he turned back to this Booth person. "Next time, I expect a call." Russ handed him a business card. "If you come here again unannounced, I won't hesitate to call the cops." With that, Russ turned around and closed the door behind him.
Booth sighed as he clenched the note in his fingers, battling back tears. He didn't even know whether to be happy about it or give in to the grief and loss he was feeling.
Once inside, Brennan was completely distraught. She sat down on the couch, dropped her face in her hands and started to cry. She felt deep, deep grief, sadness, anger, confusion, and then a spark of excitement. But wasn't it all too late, now? Soon, she was sobbing uncontrollably.
"Elena, darling, please go to your room." Russ grabbed his phone and called Amy, asking her to come over. A few seconds later, the doorbell rang and Amy, Emma and Hayley entered. "Hey girls, you can go play with Elena in her bedroom."
Amy sent them on their way and then walked over to Temperance. "Russ what happened?" She wrapped a comforting arm around Temperance's shoulders as Russ sat down on her other side.
Elena had been watching her mother with big eyes. She knew her mother was crying because of the man outside, and it made her angry with the man. He shouldn't make her mommy cry! She was sent to her room, but then she was angry with Russ, too, because she didn't need to go to her room, she needed to comfort Mommy. Elena decided to find out for herself, and snuck back into the hallway, placing her finger against her lips to signal Emma and Hayley to be quiet. She opened te door and stepped outside to see if the man was still there.
Booth was in shock when the little girl peaked her head out of the door. He sank to his knees, so he was at her eye-level. "What's," he had to clear his throat before he could continue. "What's wrong, sweetie?" God, she was so beautiful. And she was his.
Immediately, Elena pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You! You're wrong! You made my mommy cry!" she said angrily, glaring at him. "You're bad."
"Mommy's crying? I'm sorry, sweetie, I didn't want to make your mommy cry." Booth spoke to her softly. She was a fierce little thing and reminded him of himself. His younger self, when he would protect his brother from their father. All of a sudden, it became too much and a tear rolled down his cheek. How had he turned into the one thing he never wanted to be? A bad father. Just as bad as his own had been.
"And now you're crying," Elena told him severely as she put her hands on her waist. "Are you sorry, mister?"
"Oh, you have no idea how much, little one. Why don't you go inside and let mommy know that I'm sorry." Booth stood and pushed the door open. "Russ!" He called out, knowing that the man would take his daughter inside, but he couldn't leave this little girl out on the street, in danger and vulnerable.
Russ got up and marched to the front door. He frowned when he found the man in the doorway, Elena in front of him, while Emma and Hayley were sitting on the stairs. "What's going on here, Elena?" he asked his niece, trusting her word more than Booth's.
"I'm angry because he made Mommy cry," Elena told her uncle. "But he says he's sorry and he even cried. I think we should let Mommy know that he's sorry."
"You can go tell her, princess. And you two," he turned to Emma and Hayley, should go to Elena's room. She'll come up to play." When the girls were all gone, Russ turned to Booth. "And you, have to leave. Now. You've done enough for one day."
Feeling numb and confused, emotionally exhausted, Booth nodded. "I am coming back, Russ," he promised the other man, then got into his car and drove off, once again distancing himself from the woman of his dreams.
So this was it - they met again after four years. We hoped it wasn't what you expected it to be, because we aim to surprise! Now, the fact that we love reviews doesn't mean that we're cruel, because we couldn't stop writing at this point and you probably won't want to stop reading here. That's why we'll upload the next chapter today. (But we'd still appreciate the reviews on this all-important chapter!)