(no subject)
Title: Thanksgiving with Bones
Author: thepinkllama
Pairing: Brennan/Booth
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Booth takes Brennan home for Thanksgiving strictly as a partner, but fate, namely his mother, has other thing in mind.
Spoilers: Takes place after 3X08, but before 3X09.
Chapter one:http://thepinkllama.livejournal.com/1275.html#cutid1
Chapter two: http://thepinkllama.livejournal.com/1441.html#cutid1
Chapter three: http://thepinkllama.livejournal.com/1619.html#cutid1
Fanfiction Archive: http://thepinkllama.livejournal.com/2059.html
The table was full of food, conversation, and laughter. Brennan couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so at home amongst a group of strangers. They’d all taken her in as a friend just because she was Booth’s partner. Not including Rachel of course. The gorgeous blonde sat seething across from Booth who hadn’t said much to her outside of the occasional nod or answer to a question. Brennan tried to repress the urge to gloat. Her dislike for the woman wasn’t completely irrational; after all she’d been nothing but short with her ever since her arrival. Brennan turned her attention to the dinner scene. Booth’s father sat at the head of the table, typical in traditional alpha-male settings and most likely where Booth got his tendencies for male dominance. She could see Booth in his father. His jaw and mouth were almost exact matches, but Booth’s eyes came from his mother. Booth’s nose though, she gazed at the people and then smiled in satisfaction. Yes, Booth’s nose came from his grandfather. His hands were his father’s, long fingers and big palms with a deep nail bed…
Booth’s hand on her forearm jolted her out of her train of thought.
"Why are you so quiet?"
"I was tracing the heritage of particular traits through your family. Do you realize you have almost all of your father’s traits except for your eyes and nose?"
Booth was giving her the look he always gave her when he was utterly confused by her. Brennan tried to elaborate.
" Well except personality wise, there you’ve inherited most of your mother’s traits. The innate sensitivity to another human being’s feelings, the ability to "read" a person through body language or facial expressions."
Booth frowned and looked at his fork.
"Um, that’s nice Bones."
"Are you being sarcastic again?"
"A little bit." Booth chewed thoughtfully on his turkey.
"Did you just call me a girl?"
Brennan looked at him, confused.
"No, how did you derive that from what I was saying?"
"You said I have a girl personality."
"I said you have the same type of personality as your mother, emphasis on type. The wildly sexist side of you is all your own."
Booth stabbed his turkey viciously with his fork and stuffed it into his mouth.
"You can be very prickly sometimes Bones." Booth whispered
Brennan scoffed
"Hardly, you’re just overly sensitive. It must be a result of an overproduction of estrogen in your system." So what if she had just pulled that last little bit out of her ass? He was starting to get on her nerves and she would use every trick in her hat to get in the last word.
Booth struggled for a moment to formulate a comeback but after a few attempts left him gaping like a fish out of water he turned back to his meal.
Sandra had been watching all of this with a sense of amusement and when Booth had finally stopped bickering with his partner she dove in for the kill.
"So, when are you planning on telling her you’re in love with her?"
Booth’s head snapped up and he choked on the turkey he was chewing. Sandra patted him sympathetically on the back.
"Turkey seems to be a bit dry," she said gleefully while pouring apple cider for her very flustered son.
"You shouldn’t inhale your food like that, it increases the chances of choking." Brennan added as a final prod.
"That and interfering mothers who know absolutely nothing about the situation." Booth muttered angrily.
"What was that honey?" Sandra asked loudly.
Booth grit his teeth and glared at his mother.
"The turkey’s not that dry."
"Oh, glad to know."
_________________________________
Booth pushed his food around on his plate, his appetite suddenly gone. His mother was just pushing for grandchildren again. There couldn’t be any truth to her statement. It wasn’t rational to… Damn it, he was starting to sound just like Bones. He turned to look at her. She was a beauty; there was no hiding that. His partner was beautiful in the way that struck you unexpectedly in the gut when you weren’t expecting to see her. He remembered when they went undercover in Las Vegas and she wore that black dress that he’d picked out for her. That dress had forever ruined his image of the scholarly anthropologist with the prickly personality. Suddenly she turned into a charming little sex kitten in a black dress that molded to every curve and enhanced a few.
Booth cleared his throat forcefully and concentrated on getting through the meal. Women, they planted a little seed in your mind that grew into those vicious man-eating Venus flytraps you saw in those old b-list horror movies. He wasn’t in love with his partner, because that would be way beyond crossing that stupid line of his. That would be like taping explosives to the line and throwing it under a fuel truck. He dared to glance at his partner again and he was surprised to see her laughing and chatting with his grandfather. The old man’s eyes were twinkling with delight as Brennan described how she could determine age, weight, ethnicity, sex, and other things just by looking at a person’s bones. Grandpa John had always been interested in scholarly topics so it was no surprise to him that he would click instantly with Bones. Booth’s breath caught in his chest when she turned to him, eyes glowing and a smile with the tiniest hint of a dimple. The corners of his mouth tugged up in response until they were both grinning at each other like fools. It didn’t go unnoticed.
"I think it’s time for dessert!" Rachel announced brightly and she scooted off to the kitchen. Brennan looked down and noticed that one of the burns Booth had gotten from dropping the potatoes into the oil earlier had started to blister. She sucked in a breath through her teeth and gently stroked the area surrounding the small blister.
"Booth you should cover that with a bandage, it could get infected."
As was typical Booth just shrugged his shoulders.
"It’s fine, it’s not life threatening."
Brennan was about to argue that it was stupid to risk unnecessary pain that would result from infection when Rachel laid a possessive hand on Booth’s shoulder.
"Come on Seeley, even tough guys need their wound’s bandaged."
Booth reluctantly got up.
"Fine, I’ll put a damn bandage on, happy?"
Rachel tsk tsk’d.
"So grumpy, come on I’ll help you." And she led him to the kitchen.
Rachel rummaged around for a bandage and when she found one she took her time opening the package.
"Rachel, I can put it on myself."
"Nonsense," she said and smoothed the bandage gently over the angry red skin.
"Thanks," Booth said and turned to go back into the dining room but Rachel caught him by the arm.
"Seeley, I’ve missed you."
Booth tried to come up with a response that wasn’t a lie, because in reality even though Rachel had been a pretty good friend of his growing up he didn’t think about her when he was in D.C. He decided on a smile and a hug, which seemed to please her.
What he didn’t expect was the kiss. The hug was meant as a friendly gesture but Rachel had grabbed him by the arms and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Shock had him freezing in place and the sound of the kitchen door opening had him jumping back guiltily. Brennan’s face was the first thing he saw and he couldn’t quite decipher her expression. Mostly shock but something else, probably embarrassment because she thought she accidentally intruded in an intimate moment. He didn’t dare look at his mother, there was nothing worse than being caught kissing by your mother.
"I’ll, um, get more plates." Brennan said and walked back out despite the small tower of plates she was already carrying.
Sandra was annoyed to say the least. Her plan had hit a bump and she decided it was best to back out now. Her son obviously wasn’t ready to admit his feelings for the woman and would rather spend his time kissing another.
Rachel cleared her throat and excused herself. Sandra noticed the slight swagger in her step and shook her head in disappointment.
"She kissed me."
Sandra glanced up at her son.
"Yes I could see that. Nice timing Lothario."
"No listen, she kissed me. She’s been a friend of mine forever mom, I don’t even feel that way about her."
Her hopes fluttered back to life.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Uh, I don’t know."
Sandra nodded and looked at the kitchen door.
"You should probably help your partner with the dishes."
____________________________________
Brennan stood frozen outside the kitchen and pretended to look for more dishes. The feeling pumping through her was as unfamiliar as it was inconvenient. Seeing Booth kissing Rachel had been awkward and … Unpleasant. She recognized the feeling now as jealousy but because she wasn’t in a relationship with Booth it was completely unfounded. No school girl crush was making her act this way, it was just fear of losing a good friend and it was completely irrational, she told herself. Booth would still be her partner and her friend even if he started dating Rachel.
"Here, I’ll get these." Booth said and whisked the plates neatly out of her hands. "And by the way, what you just walked into, that was nothing."
Brennan frowned at him.
"Booth you shouldn’t be embarrassed to admit feelings for her, she’s a very lovely woman."
Booth narrowed his eyes at her and tugged her discreetly into the kitchen.
"Believe me when I say, it was nothing okay. I don’t feel that way about her, it was just a friendly kiss."
"Looked a lot more than friendly to me." Brennan said evenly.
"You’re just trying to bug me now aren’t you? When I say it’s nothing, I mean it."
Brennan could see he wasn’t lying and she nodded.
"Okay, I believe you."
"Good." Booth sighed in relief and looked up to see his mother staring intently at the two of them. Great, just great, he really had a knack for getting himself into difficult situations.
_________________________
Soon dessert was being ladled into bowls and plates and everyone was loading up despite the enormous meal they had just ingested. Booth was staring lovingly at the pie his mother had baked and he sighed with pleasure as the first bite practically melted in his mouth. Warm cinnamon apples and a buttery crust that melted away almost before you could taste it. He closed his eyes and groaned low in his throat.
"Mom, I love you. This is amazing."
Sandra laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Seeley’s the only reason I even make pie for every holiday, the boy is so easy to please."
Brennan smiled at her partner who was shoveling pie in his mouth.
"Bones, you haven’t lived till you’ve tasted my mother’s pie, eat this."
He stuck his fork into her pie and broke off a piece.
"Eat this."
Brennan gave him a look of disgust and snatched the fork out of his hand.
"I can feed myself."
Booth shrugged his shoulders and swiped her fork.
"Suit yourself." But he watched as she took a bite.
Her eyes widened slightly and her mouth tipped up in surprised pleasure.
"This might be the most delicious pie I’ve ever eaten."
Booth grinned in delight.
"What did I tell you?"
______________________________
Soon it was time to go back home and after a long goodbye they were settled in the car and ready to go. The drive home was silent and Booth smirked in amusement when he noticed Brennan was asleep. They were only a few blocks from her apartment and he hated to wake her, sometimes he wasn’t quite sure what kept her running.
He pulled to a stop in front of her building and killed the engine. Her lips were slightly parted and her lashes brushed the tops of her cheekbones. He realized with a hard punch to the gut that he had way more than friendly feelings for his partner. If he didn’t watch himself he would fall hard for her. She opened her eyes and smiled
"Hey," she whispered.
Too late! His mind screamed at him. Booth shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Hey, you’re home."
"Oh," she stretched and Booth bit his lip at the sight of a milky white strip of skin. He jumped out of the car and waited until she had gotten out to lock his car.
They walked side by side to her door when Brennan turned around.
"You know, you don’t have to walk me to my door."
"I do what I have to do to keep you safe."
Brennan was about to argue but she let it slide, she didn’t want anything to ruin the day.
"Okay, would you like some coffee?"
Booth’s mind was screaming at him to refuse but instead all he did was smile
"That sounds great."
Brennan smiled back and unlocked her door.
_______________________________________
"Thank you for inviting me to spend the day with you Booth, I had a really good time."
Booth smiled at her.
"You’re welcome."
Brennan took another sip of her coffee and stared at the floor. Something was off. Booth seemed oddly distant and uncomfortable. He was sitting as far away from her as possible and he kept cracking his knuckles, a sure sign that he didn’t want to be there. She looked up at him.
"You can go if you want."
Booth stopped mid sip.
"What?"
"You seem impatient to leave, you won’t hurt my feelings if you do."
Booth let out a sigh.
"You’re not supposed to be good at reading people remember?" He smiled "I don’t want to leave, Bones. I’m just, my mom said some things to me, some stuff completely out of left field that, well it just it’s bothering me I guess. Kind of wondering if there is any truth in what she said."
Brennan leaned forward
"What did she say?"
Booth stood quickly when he noticed the top of her blouse dipping and revealing twin swells of pale skin.
"I um, maybe I should go, we both have work tomorrow." He hurried to her kitchen and set the cup lightly in the sink.
He jumped when he turned to find Brennan directly behind him. The look on her face was pure confusion.
"You’re acting very strange Booth."
"Yeah I know, I’m sorry." He leaned back against the counter and stared at her.
Delicate, slim hands efficiently washing the two cups and setting them on a rack to dry. She turned around, big blue green eyes that bore into his and he knew that he needed to test this theory of his mother’s. It would bug him if he didn’t and besides after he did what he needed to do he would probably get punched or slapped but then he would simply explain the situation to her and she would understand because she was logical that way. He stepped closer to her and noticed that she no longer stiffened slightly. Booth swallowed hard and lay his lips gently on hers. Immediately her body stiffened, straight as a rod but she didn’t move away. Being this close to her and touching her this intimately was completely new, yet it didn’t feel like he was committing some immoral sin. He slid a hand onto her waist and tugged her closer. She erupted like a volcano in his arms. She grabbed at his shirt and started kissing him back and all of a sudden he lost brain function.
She couldn’t get enough of him, strong arms, the slight stubble that scraped over her chin, and the very smell of him. They were plastered against each other and the low grunts rumbling through him vibrated against her chest. His hands raced up her blouse and the feel of his hands against her bare skin was driving her wild. She tugged his shirt out of his slacks and hurriedly opened the buttons; the need to be skin to skin was overwhelming. The loud ring of her cell phone pierced the air and reality fell with a thump right in the middle of them. They broke apart and stared at each other.
As he looked at his partner’s flushed face and swollen mouth only one word seemed to sufficiently sum up the situation. Fucked.
A/N: Once again I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind and helpful reviews, I really do appreciate them. Thank you for waiting for this chapter, it took me a while becuase some parts just refused to be written in a believable manner. So tell me what you think, especially about the last little bit, too sudden? Too lame? :)