Universe 2 (April 2010)
Brennan sat at her desk looking at the pair of tickets that had been couriered over to her from her publisher. She would have loved to attend the concert featuring Itzhak Perlman, but she would be away from Washington DC that weekend. Her publisher wasn't concerned and told her to gift them to someone who could make use of them. She wavered back and forth. Maybe she should just cancel her trip - she never really wanted to go in the first place. But Angela had talked her into going to her 15 year high school class reunion. Brennan had never had any desire to attend class reunions - especially to her old high school where she was either ignored or bullied because her scientific curiosity made her classmates think she was odd. Angela pointed out that she should return and show them all that she had become a successful forensic anthropologist and a best-selling author.
Brennan had recently felt like she was sleepwalking through life. She hadn't dated in quite a few months following the David and his cult debacle, and she was starting to feel like her career just wasn't giving her the same satisfaction that it had in the past. Angela decided that Brennan just needed to shake up her life a little bit and convinced her that revisiting her hometown for the reunion would be a good reminder of where she came from and how far she had traveled. She had to admit that Angela had a point, so she picked up her phone and called Andrew Hacker to offer him the concert tickets. He was thrilled to hear from her and excitedly accepted her offer of the tickets. She said she would be leaving the lab in the next hour and would stop by his office to deliver them.
When she delivered the tickets, he encouraged her to sit and have a catch up. Hacker told her that he would be taking his girlfriend to the concert. They had been together about 6 months, and he was thinking about proposing to her. Brennan was genuinely happy to hear his news and wished him well. He asked what was happening in her life and she confessed that she had found herself in a rut. She explained the reasoning that Angela used to convince her to attend her reunion and Hacker agreed it would be a good wake up call for her to see how far she had come from her school days. "Temperance, I really think you just need to put yourself out there instead of hiding in the lab all day and night. If you just open yourself up, the universe will bring you what you need." Brennan scoffed at the idea, but he reminded her that she wanted out of the rut, so why not just be open to whatever comes toward her? She told him she would consider his advice, gave him a hug and headed to the elevator.
She was alone in the elevator when the doors opened on the 4th floor, but no one seemed to be waiting. Just as the doors started to close, she heard a voice, "Hold the elevator?" and she stuck her hand out, just catching the doors before they closed completely. A man appeared in the standard dark FBI suit, with his jacket slung over his arm. She looked up into a pair of warm brown eyes, a charming smile, and her first thought was how devastatingly handsome he was. Then she noticed the broad shoulders and a body that obviously spent regular time in the gym. Lastly, he was wearing a red belt buckle that said "cocky". She internally rolled her eyes and decided he wasn't quite what she wanted from the universe. A cocky FBI agent was not what she needed in her life, but the rest - the eyes, smile, physique - she decided that she had just identified her "type".
Booth was wrapping up the paperwork on his desk, preparing to leave for the day when Sweets ambled into his office and sat down. "Daisy and I are going to a club on Friday, and we were hoping you would join us." Booth looked at him with suspicion. "Daisy has this friend…" Booth jumped up behind the desk. "No, no, no! No more setups from Daisy and her friends. Do you remember that last friend she set me up with? Not a chance Sweets." Sweets sat back in his chair and tented his hands in front of his mouth like he often did when analyzing Booth's behavior. "When was the last time you went out on a date? What happened to the idea that you were going to find the love of your life this year? I know you haven't forgotten what the psychic told you." Booth scoffed. "Yes, she told me that the cards said I would meet the woman of my dreams in the next year. You know I didn't really take her seriously, don't you? But I do believe in fate, so I have kissed a lot of frogs this year. I've decided to stop trying so hard and let fate do the heavy lifting for awhile. If it's meant to happen, it will happen. Now I'm going home to watch the game." Sweets just shook his head. "Well Booth. Just remember to stay open. You don't want fate to throw her in your path and have you just walk around her." Sweets rose from his chair, followed Booth out of the office, and said he was taking the stairs down. Booth breathed a sigh of relief and headed for the elevators. He saw the doors open on one of the cars, and saw it start to close as he hurried over. "Hold the elevator?" A slim arm shot out and just caught the doors before they closed completely. Standing alone in the elevator was a stunningly beautiful woman with waves of auburn hair.
A smile lit up his face, a response to her beauty, but also thanks for holding the elevator. As he walked into the car, she fumbled with her earring and it slipped from her fingers to the floor of the car. Booth jumped into action and squatted down to retrieve the piece for her. As he started to stand up, he read her visitor badge. "Temperance Brennan." It was like a lightning bolt going through his head. When Avalon, the psychic, read his cards that day, the first card she turned over said "Temperance". The next card had something to do with him finding the love of his life. He handed her the earring while listening to the refrain in his head. "Don't let her go. Don't let her go." Sweets had just told him to stay open and not to miss whatever fate had in mind. He put on his best charm smile. "So, what brings a beautiful woman like yourself to the FBI Headquarters? I hope you aren't a suspect, or a witness of some kind." He hoped his smile conveyed to her that he didn't imagine either of those propositions were likely. She was fighting similar internal battles. Maybe the gentlemanly gesture of pouncing on her earring cancelled out the cocky belt buckle? She hoped so, because she was finding herself surprisingly drawn to him. And didn't Andrew just tell her to be open to what the universe brought to her? A mantra started in her brain. "Don't let him go. Don't let him go."
"I was just dropping off some tickets to a friend of mine. Do you know Andrew Hacker?" Booth wasn't quite sure what to think about that piece of information. "Hacker's my boss." Thankfully she didn't keep him in suspense. "I had tickets for a concert I couldn't attend, so Andrew was happy to take them for himself and his girlfriend." She didn't think it was possible, but the man's smile widened even more. He extended his hand. "Special Agent Seeley Booth." She smiled as she accepted the handshake. "Temperance Brennan." She immediately wondered why she didn't add the "Doctor" before her name like she always did when meeting someone new. Before she could get to the answer, he responded. "Temperance. What a beautiful name." The cocky belt buckle by now had faded into irrelevance, because she wanted to know more about this man. They reached the main level and the elevator doors opened to the lobby. Unbeknownst to each other, they were both in a slight panic.
He spoke first. "Temperance, I feel like fate put us into that elevator together. If I hadn't asked for you to hold the door, and you hadn't stuck your arm out, we never would have met. Do you believe in fate?" She scrunched up her nose. "Absolutely not. Ludicrous." He was undeterred. "Well, fate or no fate, I feel that I need to know more about you. Do you like coffee?" She smirked. "I do like coffee." He suddenly turned playful and stuck his right elbow out, inviting her to take his arm. "May I escort you to the coffee shop around the corner?" She didn't understand her response because she usually didn't respond well to whimsy - she preferred serious conversation. But there was just something about this man. She put her arm through his, smiled at him, and was charmed by his matching smile. As they walked to the shop, he tried to entice her. "I think I could even talk you into a slice of pie. They serve a great warm cherry pie." There was her nose scrunch again. "I don't like pie." He was taken aback. "Who doesn't like pie?" "I don't. I don't like my fruit cooked." He stopped and looked at her, intrigued. "Okay. Now I really need to know more about you. I'm fascinated." That brought another laugh from her. When was the last time she had laughed this much? She couldn't help but be fascinated too.
They sat at a small table in a quiet corner of the shop, Booth with his coffee and slice of cherry pie, and Brennan with her coffee and a croissant. He leaned toward her with a smile. "I want to know everything about you." She laughed. "Well, that would take way too long." He quickly responded. "I have all night." They both laughed now. "Okay. How about we both hit the highlights?" She nodded and began. "Well, you already know my name. Actually, I'm Doctor Temperance Brennan. I'm a forensic anthropologist at the Medico-Legal Lab at the Jeffersonian." His eyebrows shot up. "I have two friends who work there. Cam Saroyan is a longtime family friend and Wendell Bray is a teammate on my hockey team." Brennan shook her head. "What a small world. Cam is my boss, and Wendell is one of my interns." She continued. "I spend a lot of time in the lab and my best friend is always trying to get me to find more of a life outside of work. I know she's right, but my work gives dignity back to the people I examine. I try to give them a name. I try to find the cause of death. Many of them died hundreds of years ago, but there are also more recent cases that were never solved and have been sitting in bone storage for years. They're not just a collection of bones. It's important work." Booth could see the passion in her eyes and it was just one more thing in a growing list that was drawing him to her.
Booth had an epiphany. "Wait a minute Temperance. I never knew your name, but now I think you might be the forensic anthropologist that Cam has been trying to pair me up with for years!" Brennan had a puzzled look on her face. "Why would she want to pair us up?" Booth looked toward the ceiling with a chuckle as he shook his head, then looked across at Brennan. "I always resisted her suggestion, but you say that you can identify bones from people who have died years ago, and you can find cause of death? From just the bones? Wouldn't you need the fleshy parts and the organs and all of that?" Brennan shook her head with a smile. "All the important indicators are written in the bone if you look carefully." Booth leaned across the table. "What if you could help me with my murder investigations? Wouldn't it give you even more satisfaction to identify the victim, determine the cause of death, AND help catch the perpetrator?"
A thoughtful look crossed Brennan's face. It was a tempting offer - not only professionally, but also personally. She really wanted to get to know this man better - there was just something about him. His thoughts mirrored hers. He should have listened to Cam long ago and at least met this beautiful and intelligent woman. Maybe he could talk her into a trial run to see if Cam's idea had merit. And it would give him an excuse to spend more time with her. "Would you consider giving it a trial the next time I have a murder case? I would love to see what your skills could bring to the investigation. And since Cam is your boss, I'm sure she will approve because she's been suggesting just this idea for years." Brennan slowly nodded her head. "I think I would like to explore that. The only problem is that a recently deceased person still carries their flesh, and I need clean bones to do my work."
Booth thought about it for a moment. "Well, we do often have cases where we find just the bones. Some are people who died long ago and were just found. Others were in a place where animals or insects stripped the flesh. But, with a recent death, we could have the bodies shipped to the Jeffersonian to have Cam conduct the autopsy and you can work with the bones when she's done. She often does handle our autopsies, but then the bodies are shipped back to the FBI techs. It would make more sense to leave them there for you to examine." Brennan was feeling more and more intrigued. "Why don't we have a meeting with Cam next week and discuss it with her?"
Booth tried, but couldn't control his big grin. "You know. It was six years ago that Cam first tried to get me to work with you. If I had taken her up on it, we could have already known each other for six years." Brennan looked at him with skepticism. "That's impossible. Cam only came to the Jeffersonian four years ago." Booth shook his head. "No, she recommended you even though she didn't know you. She was the New York coroner at the time and you were impressive enough that she made the recommendation based on your reputation. Now that I've met you, I'm also impressed." She grinned. "As you should be." That made them both laugh.
Booth decided to be bold. "Well, I know I'll be seeing you next week when we meet with Cam, but I want to see you again before that. Tomorrow's Friday. Do you have any plans? I'd love to take you out to dinner." Brennan was thrilled, but she tried to keep her expression neutral. She failed miserably. "I would love to go to dinner with you." A big smile broke across her face and Booth's smile mirrored hers. Booth reached across the table and took her hand. For the next minute or so, there was no conversation - just the two of them grinning at each other. Booth finally broke the silence. "7:00?" "Sounds perfect."
She gave him her address, they exchanged phone numbers, and they walked back to the FBI parking garage. He walked her to her car, gave her a kiss on the cheek, held the door for her and then closed it after she was in. She started the car and rolled down her window. "See you tomorrow." As she drove away, he stood in the middle of the aisle watching until she was out of sight. As she drove away from him, she was staring so hard into her side view mirror she almost missed the turn. 'Oh, that would be great. Crash into a parked car because you can't take your eyes off of him. What's going on? You have never been so superficial as to be interested in a man just based on his looks. There's just something about him. But he's also a damn fine specimen of a man.' She couldn't help chuckling to herself as she drove home.