(The Truth in the Myth)
A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've been editing some of my older stories lately because my muse wasn't cooperating with this story.
I don't own Bones.
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Booth didn't know why it was important to him, but when he'd told his partner he'd seen a Yeti in Nepal, he'd wanted her to believe him. He wanted her to trust him and believe he was telling her the truth.
From experience, he knew that Brennan was logical (most of the time), super smart, in fact she was a polymath and relied upon facts when the world made little or no sense to her. She was literal and found it hard to believe in things that were unproven. She didn't believe in ghosts or aliens from another planet or yetis, but Booth wanted her to believe him when he said he'd seen a yeti. He wanted her to trust that he was telling her the truth and not disbelieve him because science said he was wrong.
She'd told him he was ridiculous. She thought he'd been hallucinating when he'd been Nepal and seen the yeti.
He wanted her to believe that he'd seen what he'd seen, but no matter how much detail he gave her, she wouldn't accept the possibility that he'd actually seen a Yeti.
Disappointed, he'd shut down the conversation and drove in silence.
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At first, Brennan had assumed that her partner was joking with her when he'd claimed he'd seen a Yeti. He had told her about being in Nepal at a secure training base. Booth had been involved in a training exercise and before he'd rejoined his platoon, he'd seen what he called a Yeti.
She was certain that he couldn't have seen such a thing, because they don't exist. The more he explained his encounter the more she was determined to make him see that it had been a hallucination. He had been surrounded by ice and snow, in unfamiliar territory and he'd seen something that made him think he'd seen a Yeti, but since Yetis didn't exist, he couldn't have seen it.
She knew she'd upset him, but she wasn't sure why. He had asked her to trust him and she wanted to do just that, but myths aren't real and as far as she was concerned, he hadn't seen what he thought he'd seen.
His silence told her that his feelings had been hurt and she hadn't meant to do that. Once more, she had stumbled into a situation that made her feel inadequate. She knew she was inept when it came to personal relationships and social settings and she wasn't sure how to fix that. She tended to take things literally and most of the people she knew and dealt with on a regular basis weren't literal at all.
Booth claimed he believed in Yetis and he wanted her to believe in them too. If this was a matter of trust, then she needed to find a way to make him see that he could trust her and she trusted him. She needed to think about it. In the meantime, she would avoid talking about Yetis with her partner.
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Unwilling to let her partner believe she didn't trust him she had researched various scenarios that may have occurred while Booth was in Nepal and she felt she had found an explanation that would clarify what he'd seen.
Eager to share her research with her partner, Brennan waited until the next time she was with Booth and presented her findings. "I did some research." They were on the way to interview Terry Bemis and she felt she had time to talk to Booth about his yeti sighting. "The tracks you saw in the snow in Nepal are easily explained. I believe they were the tracks of smaller animals that had widened in the afternoon sun."
Surprised that Brennan had thought about his sighting of the yeti, Booth shook his head. "I didn't just see the tracks. I saw the Abominable Snowman himself . . . He looked at me and I looked at him."
Unworried, Brennan opened a folder she had in her hands and smiled at her partner. "I believe you saw what you say you saw."
Confused, Booth glanced at his partner then back at the road. "But you believe it was a hallucination."
Slowly shaking her head, Brennan knew she needed to explain further. "No, I actually believe you saw it."
His confusion growing, Booth began to wonder if she was just trying to humor him. "A yeti?"
"No." Brennan held up a photo that had been in her folder and waited for Booth to look at it. "What you saw was Ursus arctos isabellinus. They're usually red or sandy in color, but the one you saw was covered in ice."
The pink haired bear seemed an odd thing to substitute for a yeti. "A seven-foot tall bear covered in ice?"
"Yes." Brennan was pleased that Booth wasn't denying the possibility. "Ursus arctos makes a sound much like a human being grunting."
Impressed, Booth knew his partner had put a lot of thought in what he had claimed to have seen in Nepal and he appreciated her effort. "You did a lot of work on this."
"Yes, I believe you saw exactly what you say you saw, you're simply calling it by the wrong name." She placed the photo back in the folder.
"Thanks Bones. I appreciate you giving me the benefit of the doubt." The fact that she trusted him enough to research what he might have seen in Nepal and not just dismiss it meant a lot to him. She trusted that he had been telling her the truth. She wanted to believe him and she had found a way to do that. This conversation meant more to him than she would ever know.
"You're welcome." Brennan had wanted to believe that Booth was being truthful to her and after she had done some research and discovered that there was a bear in Nepal that could be mistaken for a large white creature like the yeti, she knew he had been honest with her when he had talked about his adventure in Nepal. He had mistaken the bear for a yeti, but it had been a natural mistake and easily understood.
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Booth knew that as a couple, they didn't make sense. Brennan was a genius and a scientist who believed in verifiable facts and he was more inclined to trust his instincts and his gut.
She didn't believe in the unseen like God and angels and he did. That alone should have been a barrier between them but it wasn't.
He worried that if they ever became romantically involved, she might see that he wasn't what she needed in her life. He couldn't name all the bones in a skeleton and he had no idea how you could tell a male skeleton from a female skeleton. He was a regular guy with average intelligence and education and he didn't see what she saw in him.
Confident that he could make her happy if she would allow him to, he wasn't sure that what he could offer her would be enough in the long run. They were polar opposites and by rights they shouldn't get along let alone be friends, but over the years that is exactly what had happened. He considered her to be his best friend and he never wanted to lose that friendship. It worried him that if they started a personal relationship, he might disappoint her and eventually that would destroy their friendship.
He trusted that they were right for each other, but did she?
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Booth had fascinated her since they day they had met. She had never met anyone quite like him. He claimed to be of average intelligence, but she knew that wasn't true. He had a degree in criminology and had risen through the ranks of the FBI rather quickly. She'd witnessed him solve cold cases with her help and believed he was much smarter than he let on. She often wondered why he pretended to be stupid, but Angela assured her that he was a genius when it came to fooling people around him. She said he used that stupidity as a shield and that allowed him to fool criminals. They underestimated him and he counted on that to allow him to prove their guilt.
He was a puzzle she found hard to solve, but wanted to try.
By rights, they probably shouldn't have been friends, but Booth was different than most people she knew. He wasn't afraid of her intelligence. He often said he admired how smart she was and he considered her his standard. He was religious and she wasn't but he didn't try to convert her or force her to believe in mythical beings. Of course, she knew he worried about her soul, but he had also told her in the past that his God would welcome her with open arms into heaven when she died. She knew there was no God, but she appreciated that Booth cared enough about her to want the best for her even after she died.
He allowed her to do her job her way and usually didn't interfere. Booth counted on her ability to examine remains and determine cause of death. She was the best forensic anthropologist in the world and she knew he was proud of that fact.
The most endearing thing she liked about her partner was the fact that he never tried to change her. He accepted her for who she was and didn't expect her to adhere to social norms. She knew she aggravated him sometimes when she insisted she do things her way, but he never seemed to use that aggravation against her.
They made an odd couple, but she was confident that their friendship was strong and it would protect them when they were having personal issues. She trusted him and she knew that they could have a strong personal relationship if they attempted to have one.
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Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.