Sabbaticals - 14 weeks
Booth and Bones had been a long distance couple for two weeks now. Mary and Angela were thrilled at the results of their tutelage and, in the evenings when they sat together, Mary shared strategies to help her cope with the distance. Brennan told her about the "phone sex" and how it was helpful because she had never seen Booth's erect penis, and he had never seen her naked. Mary got a kick out of that and ruminated over the idea that it was unusual for a long distance couple to have never seen each other naked in person. And Mary assured her that "phone sex" was a normal part of being in a long distance relationship. She and her husband indulged themselves fairly often.
The couple decided on a schedule of calls on Wednesday evenings at 11:00PM Maluku time, and on Saturday evenings at 1:30AM Maluku time. One thing they took from the masturbation call was that they were more comfortable lying on their beds rather than sitting at their desks. It just felt more intimate - like they were lying in bed talking about their day.
When they hit the two week mark, Booth decided that he wanted to tell Parker their news. They talked about it Saturday night because every Sunday evening Booth had his video call with Parker. There was an even larger time difference between Booth and Parker, and they had settled into a routine for their calls. 11AM for Parker and 7:30PM for Booth. Adding Bones to the call meant it would be midnight for her.
They decided to surprise Parker with Bones joining the call, so Booth initiated the call. After the two Booths greeted each other, the elder Booth said he had a surprise. He clicked a few keys and conferenced her in. When her face appeared on the screen, Parker shouted, "Bones!" He was so excited to see her, and they spent a few minutes catching each other up with what they had been doing for the last three plus months. She described a little bit of what they were doing in Maluku, and told him what it was like living in the jungle. He told her all about his winning baseball team and how he was the best pitcher on the team. Brennan was very excited to hear about how much progress he had made from the previous summer when she attended several of his games.
Booth finally jumped in. "So, Parker. There's an exciting reason that Bones joined our call today." The boy looked a little puzzled. His dad continued. "Well, the thing is, Bones and I are now girlfriend-boyfriend." Parker's eyes got really big and he jumped out of his chair and shouted. He settled back down. "Really? Like you kiss each other and everything?" The two adults both laughed and Brennan decided to take that one. "Well, yes. But we are thousands of miles away from each other right now, so we have to wait until we see each other." Parker had another question. "So, do you like, love, love each other?" Booth chuckled. "Yes, Parker. We love, love each other." Parker's head bobbed up and down. "Dad. I could have told you that a long time ago!" Booth eyes showed skepticism. "C'mon dad. I saw you two look at each other all the time just like those people in mom's mushy movies look at each other." Booth sputtered. "Really?" Parker shot back. "Really! Even mom noticed!"
Just then, the aforementioned "mom" walked into his room. "What are you shouting about Parker?" He turned to her and indicated the laptop screen with Booth and Brennan's faces. "Dad and Bones are boyfriend-girlfriend!" Rebecca's eyebrows raised. "Really? Well, it's about time!" Booth covered his face with his hands and then peeked one eye through his fingers. "Did everyone know?" Rebecca laughed. "Pretty much. I'm very happy for you both. Hi Dr Brennan. How are you?" Brennan smiled and responded. "Good to see you Rebecca. I'm doing great. But under the circumstances now, please call me either Brennan or Temperance. Whichever you feel comfortable with." Rebecca smiled back. "You got it Temperance."
Rebecca left the room so the three of them could continue their call. About thirty minutes in, Bones said goodnight to her two boys because it was late and she had to be up early for work the next morning. After she left the call, Parker told his dad that he was really happy that he had fallen in love with Bones because they both looked so happy. "Thanks Bub. I am really happy. When we're back home next year, the three of us will do a lot together. Don't worry though - we'll still have plenty of 'guy time'." Booth was thrilled to see the megawatt smile on his son's face. "So, dad. Will you and me and Bones be like a family?" Booth's heart soared. "Yeah, son. There are all types of families. You and your mom and Brent are a family. And you and me and Bones will be a family too. You're a very lucky boy to have two families."
Sabbaticals - 16 weeks
It was late on a Monday evening, and Brennan had returned to her room after spending a few hours with Mary. She decided to catch up on some paperwork before bed and was working on her laptop when a video call came in from Booth. She quickly clicked on the button to accept the call and Booth's face appeared on the screen. "Booth! What a nice surprise!" He had a big smile on his face. "Hi sweetheart. I was hoping you'd still be awake."
She rolled her eyes at the "sweetheart" moniker but decided to let it go this time. And he laughed, knowing he had gotten away with it. "What's going on Booth? Everything okay?" He gave her a slight leer. "Yes…very possibly…very okay." She had a bit of a skeptical look on her face and he continued. "Okay. What would you say to us spending Christmas together?" Brennan gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "What? Where? Did you get permission to fly to Indonesia?" He shook his head and continued with the big smile. "Well, not really. But I was granted leave so I could fly home and spend Christmas with Parker."
She looked thrilled. "Oh, Booth! That is so great! Wait. Are you thinking I could fly to DC for Christmas also?" He nodded. "Well, couldn't you? Are any of the people working there taking time off for Christmas?" He could see the lightbulb go off in her head. "Yes, we are shutting the complex down for two weeks, but I just assumed that it would be impossible to see you. I had decided to stay here and possibly fly to Paris for a couple of days to visit with Angela and Hodgins. But, oh! There's no reason I couldn't fly to DC. Oh Booth!" She looked shellshocked. Her hands were shaking. "Could this really happen?" Booth smile grew even wider. "Oh, it's happening Bones. Oh my God. It's happening."
They just stared into each other's eyes for almost a full minute. Brennan held up her hands. "Look Booth. I'm shaking." He looked lovingly at her. "Who knew that I could stagger the brilliant Dr Temperance Brennan so easily?"
"Okay. Let's try to game this out. I have three weeks' leave and it would be so great if you could get those same three weeks. That way we could fly there and back together. Do you think you could wangle the extra week out of Mary?" She pondered the question. "Well, I'm the co-lead, so I don't necessarily need her permission to take time off. But I would need to make sure she didn't mind handling that extra week on her own." Booth leaned toward the screen. "Do it Bones. Just do it. Here. Write down these dates and check with Mary to see if you can work it out. I fly out of here on Thursday, December 16th, and fly back here on Thursday, January 6th. If you could get those same dates off…"
Brennan stood up from her chair. "Just a minute." He watched her walk over to the window and pull the curtain aside. She returned to her seat. "I see Mary's lights are still on. Let me walk over there and talk to her. I'll call you back as soon as I get back here." Booth stared at her, "I love you Bones." She stared back. "I love you Booth."
Brennan knocked on Mary's door and Mary was surprised to see her. "What's going on Temperance?" She invited her in and they sat down. Brennan told her about the call from Booth and handed her the paper with the dates. Mary was thrilled that her friend had the opportunity to spend Christmas with the man she loved so much. "Of course. You take off all the time you need to get every second you can with that man. It will just be a couple of days before we shut down, and the first couple of days when we are starting up again. I can handle that in my sleep." Brennan's heart started to race. "Oh Mary. Thank you so much!" She stood up and pulled her friend into a fierce hug. When they separated, Mary put both of her hands on Brennan's shoulders. "Oh, Temperance. I'm so happy for you. I just know this will be the boost you need to get you through to next May when you can finally start your lives together."
Brennan smiled at her and turned toward the door. "I have to go call Booth." Mary responded. "Go, go go." She stood at the open door watching her friend sprint to her quarters. She could barely contain her excitement for Temperance. Just to think - it was just a month ago that she and Angela had given her that gentle shove toward her destiny. Toward her future. She knew how excited she was to see Nigel in London at Christmas. She couldn't imagine how much larger the stakes were for this couple.
Brennan sat down at her desk and immediately made the call to Booth. She could tell he was sitting there waiting for her because he accepted the call immediately. When his face appeared on the screen, he could see her excitement. He silently raised his eyebrows in question. "We're all set Booth. I can fly out on the 16th and fly back on the 6th." They both let out a long breath and within seconds, they both had tears running down their cheeks. Booth finally spoke first. "Just think about it Bones. We will be seeing each other in just three months. And then, when we return back here, it will just be four months until we'll be together - for good." He laughed and stuck his index finger up in the air. "I'm going to start a countdown calendar for December 16th!" She laughed along with him.
They began discussing logistics. Booth said that Parker would still be in school that week that they were leaving, so why not take a few days for themselves before flying to the states? The idea of a couple of days of privacy to start their lives together appealed to both of them. So, they settled on each of them flying to Paris, meeting at the airport, and then staying in a nice Parisian hotel for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. He suggested they get together for a meal with Angela and Hodgins one of those days. Brennan loved that idea and was excited about seeing her friend, but she knew Angela would want to let them have their private time for most of the time they would be there.
So they would arrive in DC on Sunday afternoon and have two full weeks there. Brennan insisted that she wanted Booth and Parker to spend a few of those days on their own. She would have lots of things to do at her apartment while the boys were doing boy things. And they would have lots of days for the three of them to all be together. And, every night, whether it would be in his bed or her bed, would be theirs. Booth reminded her that Rebecca would also want some days with Parker over those two weeks. So there would be days for just the two of them.
Parker started back to school on Monday, January 3rd, so they decided to finish their vacation with some private time again. They settled on London this time and they would book a hotel there for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. Then they would travel to the airport together and Brennan would board a plane bound for Indonesia, while Booth took one to Germany. He would board a military plane from a base there to get him back to Afghanistan.
Booth did a quick calculation. "92 days Bones." He wrote the number down in large letters and held it up to the camera - "92".
They both had the soundest sleep either had gotten in the last four months. Both of them dreamed about their lives together. And when they woke up the next morning, there was no confusion about whether it was real or not. The first whispered words from both of their mouths were, "91 days."