Bones: Of Love and Hopscotch
Author: ilerya82
Title: Of Love and Hopscotch
Word Count: 2152
Prompt: 1 - Hopscotch
Fandom: Bones
Pairing/Genre: Booth/Brennan - Romance/Fluff
Rating: 14A for innuendo and sexual references.
Disclaimer: Though I would love it, Bones and all it's lovely characters do NOT belong to me, I'm just playing with them for a while. I promise to put them back in their packaging when I'm done with them. No money has traded hands in bringing you this fic, only a lot of sweat and elbow grease (or is that carpal tunnel and anxiety?).
Author's Note: You can find my table for the lottery here as well as many other miscellaneous fandom offerings at my lj. Enjoy!
Of Love and Hopscotch
The late afternoon sun filtered through the thick maple and oak foliage of the park, casting the walkway in an iridescent glow. The soft glow and shadowed edges was peaceful and soothing. For a moment, all the world seemed at peace. The birds chirped, the sun shone, and the soft breeze carried the sound of rustling leaves punctuated by the distant laughter of children at play. Their laughter was like tinkling bells in nature’s languorous melody, colouring the park and its patrons in a relaxed and carefree light.
Scattered along the winding pathway were benches upon which a weary visitor could rest their bones, catching a brief moment of respite surrounded by nature’s splendor. These benches were adorned today by parents who kept watchful eyes on their frolicking offspring, amorous couples lost in passionate glances and embraces, the city’s office dwellers who sought refuge from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind, and out-of-breath pet owners seeking a moments repose from their playful canine companions. For most it was just another peaceful day in the park, but for Dr. Temperance Brennan there was something more profound to sitting in the park on this warm August afternoon. For Dr. Temperance Brennan it was the act of sitting in the park itself, surrounded by other humans and being able to watch how they interacted that appealed.
She was seated on a bench beneath on of the few Weeping Willow trees along the pathway with a perfect view of the seated patrons, the soccer fields and baseball diamonds, and the children’s playground. Shifting her weight on the bench, Temperance raised her coffee cup to her lips and drew the sweet nectar over her tongue as her eyes registered the scene before her. There was always something about study that relaxed her, and people watching had anthropological merit. Her shaded eyes sought an amorous couple several benches away and she began to observe. A normal person would feel some sense of embarrassment at intruding on such a private moment, but normal was not Dr. Temperance Brennan!
They were young, by her estimation he would be in his early twenties and she would be eighteen or nineteen, and both had eyes only for each other. Through the lenses of her sunglasses, Temperance watched each movement from the couple and evaluated it scientifically as a knowing glance into their relationship. The way his hands caressed her skin. The way her body shuddered beneath his touch. Their movements told a story, one that she could recognize easily, as the older male and the inexperienced younger female overrun by hormones and guided by lust rather than knowledge and experience. It would end badly, but it would be a wild and pleasurable ride until the end. Smiling slightly, she averted her eyes to her next behavioural sampling, moving up and down the row of benches until she’d studied them all and finished her coffee in the process.
Temperance played with the rim of the colourful Venti Starbucks cup, rolling it up and down between her fingers as she thought. All of her examples had been happy couples; this caused a twinge of sadness seeped in to her observational thought and began to cloud her judgment. Temperance was alone. This afternoon in the park had made her painfully aware of that, and she had never really given her romantic status a second thought in the past, but there was something now as she grew older that kept telling her that monogamous relationships weren’t the anthropologically archaic forms of commitment she had once thought them to be. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even notice when she was joined on her bench by a familiar smiling face and continued to play with the rim of the cup and chewing on her bottom lip.
************************
Special Agent Seeley Booth could tell she was deep in thought. He’d noticed it from across the park, even though her beautiful azure eyes were hidden behind fully tinted, large rimmed sunglasses. They’d been partnered so long that he could recognize the mere subconscious movements that signaled Bones was lost in a world all her own. He had thought about calling out to her, but then it struck him that catching her off guard might be a little bit more fun.
Now that he was closer to her, Seeley thought better of shaking her from her reverie. His impish grin retreated to a concerned smile as he took in her form. She looked sad… Small… Alone. There was something vulnerable about the way she fumbled with the rim of the cup, the way she tugged at her bottom lip. It was heart breaking. He knew his feelings, he was sure of them, but he wasn’t sure of hers. That was what stopped him from pulling her into his arms and kissing away the tears that he was sure were hidden behind those deep lenses. He settled for rabbit punching her arm playfully.
“Whatcha ponderin’, Bones?” He tried to make his tone as light as he could.
“Hmm?”
As she tilted her head towards him, he knew she was still not fully out of the fog that had descended upon her brain. Moments like this called for his playful side. That and an enormous amount of patience for the explanations that would no doubt need to follow whatever simple, everyday occurrence had her puzzled. Bones was anything but ordinary! But then, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You’re lost in thought,” he said as he goosed her arm again, “I was just wondering what had you so far away that you didn’t notice me sneak up on you.” But he wasn’t anywhere near prepared for her response. Her words shocked him so much that he had to shift his weight on the bench to keep from falling off.
“Relationships. Marriage. Sex.” Her voice was soft, almost a whisper, but it was laden with emotion.
What could he possibly say to that?
“Umm,” he tried to start a sentence, something - anything - to try and give her comfort but he couldn’t quite get the words out. He knew she could sense his discomfort, but she had never been anything but completely truthful with him so why should he expect her to start now.
“I’m sorry,” she was still whispering but he could see the hint of a smile on her lips as she continued, “I should have lied.” She glanced around quickly, trying to find something, anything that she could use to take away his discomfort.
“No- no, I want to help,” he managed to choke out. Suddenly, his airway felt tight as though he couldn’t get enough air to voice everything he so badly wanted to say.
“Really? Because if you’re uncomfortable with this particular subject matter I could always-“
“No! No, it’s fine.” He quickly cut her off, but he almost wished he had let her change the topic. He didn’t know how objective he could be if faced with discussing a relationship that Bones had with some one else. She was his Bones; it would be incredibly hard to think of her with someone else. “Bones, I thought you didn’t believe in marriage?”
“From an anthropological standpoint, marriage is almost useless with 83% of historical societies choosing to live a polygamist lifestyle. It’s just common sense to see it as archaic!” Her tone was slightly defensive and he knew he’d hit a nerve.
“I’m sorry I said anything!” He chuckled a little in retort. “Please, do go on.” Two could play that game. She pursed her lips and scowled a little, but soon relaxed back into an easy rhythm of conversation. Or as easy as a conversation between a super smart science geek and an action orientated FBI agent could be. Booth thought it amazing that despite their differences, they still found a way to have a connection. At least he felt it was a connection, and he was pretty sure she did too.
“Booth, I-“ she started, but then stopped. Dr. Temperance Brennan was never at a loss for words, something was desperately wrong. She pulled the sunglasses from her face, as though pulling down a barrier, but avoided his gaze. They were moist with tears, so unlike his Bones, she didn’t show her softer side often.
Without thinking, Seeley slipped her hand into his and gave it an encouraging squeeze. He had to make her feel more at ease, give her the chance to open up to him. If he made himself available, she just might see that he was here, that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Hopscotch,” her reply was so low, Seeley almost thought he hadn’t heard her right.
“What?”
“Hopscotch. I was thinking about playing hopscotch with my mother when I was a little girl,” her voice shook a little and he wondered if she were avoiding the real issue because she felt that he couldn’t handle it or because she couldn’t handle it herself. She motioned towards a group of girls on the playground hopping from square to square, taking care not to step out of bounds. A single tear escaped her as she leaned her head back, staring up at the boughs of the willow as they swayed in the breeze.
“You were thinking of marriage, sex, relationships and hopscotch? I mean, c’mon Bones, they don’t really go together!”
“They do,” she said softly, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear with her free hand, “if you’re me and you’re indulging in a moment of self-pity. I was sitting here, drinking my coffee and observing human behaviour when I realized that 90% of the people I was observing were couples. Happy couples, angry couples, insert any adjective and there was a couple that fit the modifier. I was surrounded by couples and that made me feel - alone.”
He debated whether to tell he she wasn’t alone, the atmosphere tense with that pregnant pause. Was there anything that he could really say or do at this moment, besides being a shoulder she could cry on? Seeley settled on the easiest answer and gave her hand another squeeze as his thumb began to rub soft circles unconsciously on the back of her hand.
“When you’re alone, the world is full of possibilities…”
He kept his gaze fixed on their fingers that had somehow intertwined. He was breaking the cardinal rule here, he’d sworn he couldn’t date some one he worked with and yet here he was, entertaining that notion. Fantasies of more than just this camaraderie that they’d developed flashed before his eyes. He tried in vain to shake the images from his mind, so he shifted his gaze over towards the children in brightly coloured uniforms that had begun to fill the soccer field. They sat in silence, hands clasped, thumbs stroking in tender circles, for what seemed an eternity before he brought his eyes back to hers.
“Booth - Seeley - I.”
The words caught in mid sentence, not because she wasn’t ready to say them but because he had silenced them by claiming her mouth with his own. Their tongues explored and tasted with a mutual hunger and desire that had been repressed for too long. He brought his right hand up to cup her cheek, drawing her in closer to deepen the kiss. There would be no going back now, not that he would ever want to now that he had his Bones.
His Bones whose tongue was sweet, hot and pleading against his own.
His Bones who moaned softly under his touch.
No, there would be no going back; there was only desire, passion, need, love, and that was all he needed. As the kiss broke, he held her face in his hands and rested his forehead against hers. He watched a smile spread across her lips through heavy lidded eyes. A contented sigh escaped her lips and something that sounded like a giggle.
“I think I like the possibilities,” she said, her voice husky with desire.
“Mmm,” he stroked her cheek with his thumb as he watched her chew upon her lower lip. He knew she was trying to restrain herself from losing control right here in the middle of the park. He was fighting it as well, and it was a battle he was slowly losing.
“C’mon, Temperance,” he said softly as he forced himself away from her and up onto his feet. He pulled her up alongside him, despite the confused look that befell her expression. “Let’s get out of here. We can’t be playing hopscotch in front of all these strangers.”
The innuendo in the metaphor was lost on her.
“Hopscotch?” Inquisitive eyes met bemused ones as the meaning of his words sank in. “Oh! Hopscotch!”
“What’s the matter, Bones? Never played hopscotch before?” Seeley winked at her and chuckled as he took her hand and guided Temperance Brennan towards a brighter future for the both of them.
Title: Of Love and Hopscotch
Word Count: 2152
Prompt: 1 - Hopscotch
Fandom: Bones
Pairing/Genre: Booth/Brennan - Romance/Fluff
Rating: 14A for innuendo and sexual references.
Disclaimer: Though I would love it, Bones and all it's lovely characters do NOT belong to me, I'm just playing with them for a while. I promise to put them back in their packaging when I'm done with them. No money has traded hands in bringing you this fic, only a lot of sweat and elbow grease (or is that carpal tunnel and anxiety?).
Author's Note: You can find my table for the lottery here as well as many other miscellaneous fandom offerings at my lj. Enjoy!
Of Love and Hopscotch
The late afternoon sun filtered through the thick maple and oak foliage of the park, casting the walkway in an iridescent glow. The soft glow and shadowed edges was peaceful and soothing. For a moment, all the world seemed at peace. The birds chirped, the sun shone, and the soft breeze carried the sound of rustling leaves punctuated by the distant laughter of children at play. Their laughter was like tinkling bells in nature’s languorous melody, colouring the park and its patrons in a relaxed and carefree light.
Scattered along the winding pathway were benches upon which a weary visitor could rest their bones, catching a brief moment of respite surrounded by nature’s splendor. These benches were adorned today by parents who kept watchful eyes on their frolicking offspring, amorous couples lost in passionate glances and embraces, the city’s office dwellers who sought refuge from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind, and out-of-breath pet owners seeking a moments repose from their playful canine companions. For most it was just another peaceful day in the park, but for Dr. Temperance Brennan there was something more profound to sitting in the park on this warm August afternoon. For Dr. Temperance Brennan it was the act of sitting in the park itself, surrounded by other humans and being able to watch how they interacted that appealed.
She was seated on a bench beneath on of the few Weeping Willow trees along the pathway with a perfect view of the seated patrons, the soccer fields and baseball diamonds, and the children’s playground. Shifting her weight on the bench, Temperance raised her coffee cup to her lips and drew the sweet nectar over her tongue as her eyes registered the scene before her. There was always something about study that relaxed her, and people watching had anthropological merit. Her shaded eyes sought an amorous couple several benches away and she began to observe. A normal person would feel some sense of embarrassment at intruding on such a private moment, but normal was not Dr. Temperance Brennan!
They were young, by her estimation he would be in his early twenties and she would be eighteen or nineteen, and both had eyes only for each other. Through the lenses of her sunglasses, Temperance watched each movement from the couple and evaluated it scientifically as a knowing glance into their relationship. The way his hands caressed her skin. The way her body shuddered beneath his touch. Their movements told a story, one that she could recognize easily, as the older male and the inexperienced younger female overrun by hormones and guided by lust rather than knowledge and experience. It would end badly, but it would be a wild and pleasurable ride until the end. Smiling slightly, she averted her eyes to her next behavioural sampling, moving up and down the row of benches until she’d studied them all and finished her coffee in the process.
Temperance played with the rim of the colourful Venti Starbucks cup, rolling it up and down between her fingers as she thought. All of her examples had been happy couples; this caused a twinge of sadness seeped in to her observational thought and began to cloud her judgment. Temperance was alone. This afternoon in the park had made her painfully aware of that, and she had never really given her romantic status a second thought in the past, but there was something now as she grew older that kept telling her that monogamous relationships weren’t the anthropologically archaic forms of commitment she had once thought them to be. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even notice when she was joined on her bench by a familiar smiling face and continued to play with the rim of the cup and chewing on her bottom lip.
************************
Special Agent Seeley Booth could tell she was deep in thought. He’d noticed it from across the park, even though her beautiful azure eyes were hidden behind fully tinted, large rimmed sunglasses. They’d been partnered so long that he could recognize the mere subconscious movements that signaled Bones was lost in a world all her own. He had thought about calling out to her, but then it struck him that catching her off guard might be a little bit more fun.
Now that he was closer to her, Seeley thought better of shaking her from her reverie. His impish grin retreated to a concerned smile as he took in her form. She looked sad… Small… Alone. There was something vulnerable about the way she fumbled with the rim of the cup, the way she tugged at her bottom lip. It was heart breaking. He knew his feelings, he was sure of them, but he wasn’t sure of hers. That was what stopped him from pulling her into his arms and kissing away the tears that he was sure were hidden behind those deep lenses. He settled for rabbit punching her arm playfully.
“Whatcha ponderin’, Bones?” He tried to make his tone as light as he could.
“Hmm?”
As she tilted her head towards him, he knew she was still not fully out of the fog that had descended upon her brain. Moments like this called for his playful side. That and an enormous amount of patience for the explanations that would no doubt need to follow whatever simple, everyday occurrence had her puzzled. Bones was anything but ordinary! But then, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You’re lost in thought,” he said as he goosed her arm again, “I was just wondering what had you so far away that you didn’t notice me sneak up on you.” But he wasn’t anywhere near prepared for her response. Her words shocked him so much that he had to shift his weight on the bench to keep from falling off.
“Relationships. Marriage. Sex.” Her voice was soft, almost a whisper, but it was laden with emotion.
What could he possibly say to that?
“Umm,” he tried to start a sentence, something - anything - to try and give her comfort but he couldn’t quite get the words out. He knew she could sense his discomfort, but she had never been anything but completely truthful with him so why should he expect her to start now.
“I’m sorry,” she was still whispering but he could see the hint of a smile on her lips as she continued, “I should have lied.” She glanced around quickly, trying to find something, anything that she could use to take away his discomfort.
“No- no, I want to help,” he managed to choke out. Suddenly, his airway felt tight as though he couldn’t get enough air to voice everything he so badly wanted to say.
“Really? Because if you’re uncomfortable with this particular subject matter I could always-“
“No! No, it’s fine.” He quickly cut her off, but he almost wished he had let her change the topic. He didn’t know how objective he could be if faced with discussing a relationship that Bones had with some one else. She was his Bones; it would be incredibly hard to think of her with someone else. “Bones, I thought you didn’t believe in marriage?”
“From an anthropological standpoint, marriage is almost useless with 83% of historical societies choosing to live a polygamist lifestyle. It’s just common sense to see it as archaic!” Her tone was slightly defensive and he knew he’d hit a nerve.
“I’m sorry I said anything!” He chuckled a little in retort. “Please, do go on.” Two could play that game. She pursed her lips and scowled a little, but soon relaxed back into an easy rhythm of conversation. Or as easy as a conversation between a super smart science geek and an action orientated FBI agent could be. Booth thought it amazing that despite their differences, they still found a way to have a connection. At least he felt it was a connection, and he was pretty sure she did too.
“Booth, I-“ she started, but then stopped. Dr. Temperance Brennan was never at a loss for words, something was desperately wrong. She pulled the sunglasses from her face, as though pulling down a barrier, but avoided his gaze. They were moist with tears, so unlike his Bones, she didn’t show her softer side often.
Without thinking, Seeley slipped her hand into his and gave it an encouraging squeeze. He had to make her feel more at ease, give her the chance to open up to him. If he made himself available, she just might see that he was here, that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Hopscotch,” her reply was so low, Seeley almost thought he hadn’t heard her right.
“What?”
“Hopscotch. I was thinking about playing hopscotch with my mother when I was a little girl,” her voice shook a little and he wondered if she were avoiding the real issue because she felt that he couldn’t handle it or because she couldn’t handle it herself. She motioned towards a group of girls on the playground hopping from square to square, taking care not to step out of bounds. A single tear escaped her as she leaned her head back, staring up at the boughs of the willow as they swayed in the breeze.
“You were thinking of marriage, sex, relationships and hopscotch? I mean, c’mon Bones, they don’t really go together!”
“They do,” she said softly, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear with her free hand, “if you’re me and you’re indulging in a moment of self-pity. I was sitting here, drinking my coffee and observing human behaviour when I realized that 90% of the people I was observing were couples. Happy couples, angry couples, insert any adjective and there was a couple that fit the modifier. I was surrounded by couples and that made me feel - alone.”
He debated whether to tell he she wasn’t alone, the atmosphere tense with that pregnant pause. Was there anything that he could really say or do at this moment, besides being a shoulder she could cry on? Seeley settled on the easiest answer and gave her hand another squeeze as his thumb began to rub soft circles unconsciously on the back of her hand.
“When you’re alone, the world is full of possibilities…”
He kept his gaze fixed on their fingers that had somehow intertwined. He was breaking the cardinal rule here, he’d sworn he couldn’t date some one he worked with and yet here he was, entertaining that notion. Fantasies of more than just this camaraderie that they’d developed flashed before his eyes. He tried in vain to shake the images from his mind, so he shifted his gaze over towards the children in brightly coloured uniforms that had begun to fill the soccer field. They sat in silence, hands clasped, thumbs stroking in tender circles, for what seemed an eternity before he brought his eyes back to hers.
“Booth - Seeley - I.”
The words caught in mid sentence, not because she wasn’t ready to say them but because he had silenced them by claiming her mouth with his own. Their tongues explored and tasted with a mutual hunger and desire that had been repressed for too long. He brought his right hand up to cup her cheek, drawing her in closer to deepen the kiss. There would be no going back now, not that he would ever want to now that he had his Bones.
His Bones whose tongue was sweet, hot and pleading against his own.
His Bones who moaned softly under his touch.
No, there would be no going back; there was only desire, passion, need, love, and that was all he needed. As the kiss broke, he held her face in his hands and rested his forehead against hers. He watched a smile spread across her lips through heavy lidded eyes. A contented sigh escaped her lips and something that sounded like a giggle.
“I think I like the possibilities,” she said, her voice husky with desire.
“Mmm,” he stroked her cheek with his thumb as he watched her chew upon her lower lip. He knew she was trying to restrain herself from losing control right here in the middle of the park. He was fighting it as well, and it was a battle he was slowly losing.
“C’mon, Temperance,” he said softly as he forced himself away from her and up onto his feet. He pulled her up alongside him, despite the confused look that befell her expression. “Let’s get out of here. We can’t be playing hopscotch in front of all these strangers.”
The innuendo in the metaphor was lost on her.
“Hopscotch?” Inquisitive eyes met bemused ones as the meaning of his words sank in. “Oh! Hopscotch!”
“What’s the matter, Bones? Never played hopscotch before?” Seeley winked at her and chuckled as he took her hand and guided Temperance Brennan towards a brighter future for the both of them.