Fic: Questions and Answers (Double Drabble #13)
Title: Questions and Answers
Word Count: 200
Characters: Booth, Brennan
Rating: PG-13
Story Notes: The following is a double drabble-200 word vignette-set in the future
A/N: As always, thank you for reading. All comments are cherished.
Warning: Don't read this if you're not prepared for a little angst.
Booth does not cry, scream, or beg. He sits in a pew that has borne the weight of countless human joys and sorrows and mouths one word. Then he waits, cold hands folded.
The silence carries no answer, so he speaks the word aloud this time. “Why?” It echoes through the empty church.
No answer.
Booth blinks, and sees again the small, still body, soaked by rain. “Why?”
The creaking of wood as he shifts serves as his only reply.
As he rises and wonders how he’ll tell Parker his classmate was kidnapped, tortured and left to rot in the woods, Booth doesn’t ask why He didn’t answer. Because that why doesn’t matter. The emptiness inside him is answer enough.
After quietly shutting the front door, Booth moves through the shadows until his fingers brush familiar fabric. He sits-until he can no longer differentiate between the darkness of the room and the darkness inside him.
When she joins him, they don't speak. Their breath counts the minutes...until she threads her sleep-warmed fingers through his. Her touch doesn't make it ok, but it reminds him people can live without faith.
Maybe he can learn to live without his.
