Warmhearted

Aug 11, 2011 13:10

 Warmhearted
Author: enigmaticblue
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters; too bad, so sad.
Pairings/Characters: Booth/Brennan
Spoilers: Through 6.22, and for 1.05, “A Boy in a Bush”
Word Count: ~550
Summary: “You’re one of the most warmhearted people I know,” Booth insists.
A/N: Written for the 
hc_bingo  prompt, “undeserved reputation”.

Booth’s favorite time of day is the brief period before his alarm goes off, when Brennan is a warm and heavy weight in his arms. Brennan likes to cuddle, which would probably surprise most people, but it works out nicely for Booth.

He presses a hand to her gently rounded abdomen, feeling the same bolt of pleasure and pride he has whenever he thinks about having another child. He’s hoping for a little girl, although he hasn’t said anything to Brennan about that. He wants a girl with her eyes and sharp mind.

“Booth?” she queries.

There’s a strange note in her voice that makes Booth hold her a little more tightly. “Yeah?”

“Do you think I’m a cold person?”

Booth frowns. “What brought this on?”

She pulls away from him. “Do you?”

“No,” Booth replies with some heat. “Of course not.”

Brennan twists to look Booth in the eye. “Then you don’t think I’ll be a bad mother?”

He catches the phrasing. It’s not would she be a good mother, but whether she would be a bad one. “You’re going to be a great mom. Bones, what brought this on?”

“I overheard some of the other scientists at the Jeffersonian,” Brennan admits in a low voice. “They said I was cold.”

It’s on the tip of Booth’s tongue to say that eavesdroppers never hear anything good, but that’s not going to help her right now.  “Temperance,” he begins, and watches her withdraw emotionally, clearly bracing herself for his next words.

The problem, Booth thinks, is that Brennan thinks in concrete terms, and he’s hard-pressed to think of a way to explain that she’s anything but cold.

“They don’t know you,” he finally says. “Not the way your friends do. You’re one of the most warmhearted people I know.”

Brennan shakes her head, clearly disbelieving, and Booth tries again. “Do you remember one of the first cases we worked on? The one with the foster kids?”

“Shawn and David Cook?” Brennan asks. “Their little brother, Charlie, was killed.”

“See? The fact that you remembered their names proves my point.”

Brennan shakes her head, apparently not seeing his point.

“I didn’t remember their names,” Booth replies. “You wouldn’t have remembered if you didn’t care. You got that kid-”

“Shawn.”

“You got Shawn to talk when no one else could, and you didn’t do it by being cold.” Booth presses a hand against her cheek. “You see so much, and you never lose sight of the victims. You have to distance yourself sometimes, just so you can do your job. People who don’t understand might think you’re cold, but they’re wrong. You have to distance yourself because you feel so much.”

Brennan blinks and looks away. “Thank you.”

“It’s the truth,” he says. “Come here.”

Booth pulls her close, kissing her forehead, and then her mouth. She kisses him enthusiastically, and Booth knows that if those idiots could see her now, if they had kissed Temperance Brennan, they wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking her cold.

He’s grateful that he gets to see this side of her, though. He loves that he’s one of those who can see past her defenses, that for him, she’s open, no longer impervious, as warmhearted and passionate as he knows her to be.

hc_bingo, bones, shorts, warmhearted

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