Bones: Fic - I Need You So Much Closer (7)
“I think that you should ask her to dinner,” Brennan remarks casually.
“Excuse me?”
“I think that you should ask her to dinner,” she repeats, carefully annunciating each word.
“I heard you the first time, Bones, I just don’t know what you are talking about. Or who, for that matter.”
Brennan looks up from her coffee, tossing him a smile that normally suggests he’s being a bit dim. Usually he spots this look in the lab, though, not the diner. And usually it’s because they’re discussing greenstick fractures on the clavicle, not his love life.
“Missy Edelsten,” Brennan says, “She was very impressed by you. I could tell by the way she watched you.”
“The victim’s boss?” Booth chokes a little on his pastry, “She was a suspect!”
“She isn’t a suspect now. And she made a special effort with her appearance when you called in her for interrogation.”
“I am not asking Missy Edelsten out on a date,” he says, hoping she’ll let the subject drop.
“Why not?”
Booth sighs, knowing it was too much to hope for, but wishing that she knew (or at least respected) where the line of personal came into play. It’s his own fault, really, because somewhere along the way their lives intertwined, twisting together in such a way that neither one of them had anything private to hide from the other.
Except that one thing, and even that’s out in the open now.
“Because I am not interested in her.”
“I know; you are interested in me.”
And apparently, Brennan finds it fair game and up for discussion. Booth sinks in his seat, not sure how to proceed.
“But I do not want to go to dinner, and Missy Edelsten does. So you should ask her.”
There is something behind her matter-of-fact tone that irks him, a note of something that he cannot quite identify.
“I’m not asking her, and that is that. Okay?”
“Okay,” she agrees, frowning slightly, like he’s presented a puzzle she needs to work out.
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It takes a while for her to get the message. She puts forward numerous suggestions, and, like a good scientist, she provides him with a list of logical reasons to pursue a relationship with any one of them.
“She works at a school, Booth, she’ll be very well acquainted with the social development of children for Parker.”
“Her solid understanding of difficult emotions will make her a good candidate to share the complicated feelings you have toward your past.”
“She’s very beautiful.”
“Beautiful? What is that going to get me?”
“You rejected most of my more logic-based criteria, so I thought I would try a different approach.”
“Ah.”
“Plus, you are a very attractive male, so it seems reasonable to assume you would want a partner of comparable good looks.”
Eventually, she stops making suggestions. That’s when she starts watching him with cautious eyes, and Booth cannot decide which is weirder: listening to her try to help him get over her, or watching her worry that he isn’t going to.
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In the end, Booth fails to take Brennan up on any of her suggestions. But he doesn’t find his eyes meeting someone else’s across a crowded room either. She’s just the friend of a friend, and they hit it off over a casual dinner.
Booth waits until after the fourth date to introduce them. He’s not sure who he’s trying to spare, because he knows that Brennan knows he’s been seeing someone (she’ll have taken note of his absence in the lab at all hours at the very least). And Anna, well, he knows that she knows Brennan is important to him (she’ll have taken note that the lady scientist features pretty prominently in some of his best anecdotes).
Brennan smiles graciously when Anna compliments her dress. She does not explain any kind of biological reason for wanting to create a spectacle, nor does she toss in a comment about the values of different societies. She invites Anna to come and see the lab sometime.
Booth wonders who this woman is, and what on Earth is she up to?
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He catches her with her head in her hands, leaning on the railing outside her office. Briefly, he considers coming back later, but the words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop himself.
“Everything okay?”
She looks up, startled out of her reverie. He hasn’t got a clue as to what could be troubling her; they haven’t been together much lately. It’s an uncomfortable revelation.
“Everything is fine,” she says, pausing for a moment before adding, “Is Anna still coming by this afternoon?”
“Yeah, you’ve got her all excited about visiting.”
Booth stands apart from her, an oddly formal space stretching between them. She nods, and he clears his throat awkwardly, turning to go.
“Booth?”
“Mmm?”
“I know…that things are going to change. I knew that they would when…it’s logical, that things cannot stay the way that they were.”
Brennan locks her eyes with his, because she’s always faced her challenges head-on.
“I was just wondering,” she says, holding her voice even, “if you would please keep calling me Bones?”
“Of course,” he says, “It’s who you are to me…Bones.”
“Thank you,” she almost-whispers, turning back to look out over the lab, her eyes glazing over, “Just come and get me when Anna arrives, and we can start her tour in my office.”
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(fin.)
I rewatched some season one yesterday, so I hope this isn't too too retro on Brennan dialogue. She sounds so different, then to now.