fic: fireside is blazing bright (bones, cam/sweets)
Title: fireside is blazing bright
Author: empressearwig
Pairing/Fandom: Cam/Sweets; Bones
Spoilers: The Beginning in the End
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2100
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all for fun. This hasn't happened. Yet. Etc.
Summary: Cam and Sweets celebrate the season.
Author's Notes: Written for the prompt "winter holiday/festival" on my schmoop_bingo card. Third in a series, though it can be read on its own. Thanks to torigates for the help.
Michelle's the one that brings up the idea of inviting Sweets for Christmas. It's two weeks before the holiday and they're sitting at a rickety table in the mall's food court, taking a break from their shopping for each other, when Michelle drops the idea out of nowhere into their conversation about the shoes Michelle wants for the Winter Formal at school.
"So, Mom," Michelle says, after taking a sip of her mango smoothie. "Is Sweets coming over for Christmas? Do I need to get him a present too? I kind of need to know so I know how much I have to spend on Jason's present."
Cam blinks and her hand shakes a little. Hot coffee spills over the edge of her paper coffee cup and onto her skin. "Damnit," she hisses, grabbing at a napkin to mop it up.
"Are you okay?" Michelle asks, and she actually sounds a little worried. "Do you need me to --"
Cam waves her other, non-coffee burned hand at her. "No, no, I'm fine."
"If you say so," Michelle says, taking another drink of her smoothie. She sounds entirely too innocent, and her eyes are sparkling with amusement, as she asks, "Was it something I said?"
"Ha ha," Cam retorts, balling up the soaked napkins. Her hand is still throbbing a little, but her bout of clumsiness had nothing to do with Michelle's question. "Don't think I don't know what you're up to, missy."
Michelle's nose wrinkles in disgust. Or maybe embarrassment. It can be hard to tell sometimes. "Missy? Really, Mom? No one under like, fifty uses that word."
"Clearly I do," Cam retorts, taking a tentative sip of her coffee. "And I can tell when you're trying to distract me from the fact that the shoes you want cost as much as your dress."
"But Mom --"
"Don't 'but Mom' me."
Michelle slumps back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest, pout on her face. "Fine. But I still need to know if your 'he's not my boyfriend because I'm too old for boyfriends, we just like to shove our tongues down each others throats at every opportunity' friend is going to be there and if I need to buy him a present."
All Cam can do is stare at her. "Let me get back to you on that," she manages to get out. Her face feels like it's on fire and she pushes back from the table to stand on wobbly legs. "Come on, you can show me the shoes." She sees Michelle's face start to light up and she holds up a hand in warning as she slings her purse over her shoulder. "I'm not making any promises."
"Of course not," Michelle says, standing up in a hurry and scooping up her shopping bags. "But wait until you see them, Mom. You'll understand."
Cam hears Michelle babble about how amazing the shoes are all the way to the store, but she's not really listening. She's too busy trying to figure out what she's going to do about what Michelle said. Whether or not Michelle planted the idea as a means of distracting her, Can has to admit that it worked.
She buys Michelle the shoes anyway. It's Christmas. And they really are spectacular.
***
Monday morning, Cam sits in her office and tries to concentrate on the revised budget in front of her, but she's still preoccupied with Michelle's question and the way that she described Cam's relationship with Sweets. It's making her wonder if maybe, finally, it's time to put a label on just what it is that she and Sweets have. She's just not sure if she knows how to do that.
The thing between them is complicated, it always has been. It started out as a matter of convenience, their own version of a lonely hearts club, well, without the hearts part. They were the ones left behind. It was what they had in common. But through lunches and movies and marathon email sessions, Cam learned that being left behind wasn't all that they had in common. She learned that they were both Redskins fans, that they both shared the same weakness for eighties action movies and pumpkin spice lattes, something that he made her promise never to reveal to another soul. Somewhere along the way, when Cam wasn't looking, Sweets became her best friend.
It shouldn't have been a surprise, then, when he became more than her best friend without her noticing. It was.
That first kiss, the night when Michelle called a spade a date and changed everything, that had also been a surprise. A good surprise -- the best surprise, Cam can admit when she's being honest with herself -- but something was still holding her back from fully embracing it, even after months of things being better than she ever could have imagined. Sweets never seemed impatient, never asked for more, but she knew he had to want to know exactly where they stood. He was too much his job, too calm and practical and analytical in his own way, to not want to know.
For the first time, Cam thinks maybe she's ready to know, too. Christmas seems like a good place to start.
She opens her email and sends Sweets a message inviting him to lunch. His reply comes less than a minute later and Cam settles back to try to focus on her job.
The butterflies in her stomach make it harder than she'd like.
***
They meet at the diner like they have dozens of times before, Cam arriving first and snagging their favorite table by the window. She accepts a cup of coffee from the waitress with a smile and thank you, and then stares blankly at the menu while she waits. This is one of those things that she thought would be easier by now, but somehow isn't. She was supposed to know how how to have relationships by now, and yet --
"Hi."
Cam startles at the sound of Sweets voice, jerking her head up from the menu. "Hi."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he says, bending down to kiss her cheek, before taking the chair across the table. "Where were you?"
"I'm not really sure," Cam lies, giving him a bright smile. "How was your morning?"
His forehead creases between his eyes, a sure sign that he knows she was lying, but is going to let it pass. "It was fine," he says instead. "A new patient was referred to me and going over his history took most of the morning."
Cam is profoundly grateful when their waitress shows up with a cup of coffee for Sweets and her order pad at the ready. "Do you know what you want?"
"Actually," Sweets starts, but Cam cuts him off.
"I'll have the Cobb Salad," she says, putting her menu back behind the napkin holder. "Thanks."
Sweets frowns at her and then turns to the waitress. "And I guess I will have the grilled cheese, please. Thank you."
Without another word she disappears and Sweets frowns at Cam again. "I wasn't ready."
"I'm sorry," Cam offers, not looking him in the eye. She pours more sugar into her coffee and starts to stir. "I was just really hungry."
"Cam," Sweets says, reaching across the table to take her hand. "What's going on? You've been acting weird since I sat down."
"Weird?" She tries for a laugh. It falls flat. "Is that a professional term?"
"Cam," he says again, and this time she looks up, looks him in the eye. "What's going on?"
She takes a deep breath, steels herself. This is it. No more hiding. "Do you want to have Christmas with me and Michelle?" she rushes out, doing her best to make it all one word. She drops her eyes again, staring at their joined hands.
"Of course I do."
Her head jerks up again and Sweets is smiling at her, his dorky, incredibly happy smile. She loves that smile. "Really?"
He nods, tightening his grip on her hand. "Were you afraid I was going to say no?"
"Well," she starts, not sure if she should tell the truth or lie. The look in his eyes makes her tell the truth. "Okay, yes."
He doesn't laugh like she expects him to, just strokes his thumb over the back of her hand. "Why?"
Sitting her, with him holding her hand and looking at her like there's no where else in the world he'd rather be, she has no idea. "I don't remember."
Now he laughs, letting go of her hand as their waitress comes back with their food. "Well, I'd love to. Thank you."
She gives him her first real smile of the day. "Thank you."
The subject is dropped for the rest of lunch, and they talk instead about the email Cam got from Angela about how much fun she and Hodgins are having in Paris, and the new exhibit at the Jeffersonian that Cam is helping to coordinate, and a hundred other things that aren't Christmas. When they leave the diner, Cam gives Sweets a longer than normal goodbye kiss, and she can feel him staring after her as she walks away.
She smiles to herself and keeps walking.
***
Sweets comes over on Christmas Eve, bearing an armful of gifts and a bottle of wine that he knows Cam loves. She's in the bathroom, touching up her makeup and fastening the last of her jewelry when she overhears him tell Michelle she can have half a glass with dinner when they get back from church, and Cam would be just the smallest bit mad about that (even if she was going to let Michelle have it anyway), but her father and Felicia are meeting them at the church and she's too nervous about that to be anything else.
He knocks on the open door. "You almost ready?" he asks. "We're going to be late."
She takes one last look in the mirror, straightening the collar of her dress, even though it doesn't really need it. She turns to Sweets with a tight smile on her face. "Ready."
He reaches out a hand for hers and she gives it to him, his palm warm and comforting against hers. "It's going to be fine."
She snorts, inelegantly, and he laughs as they start to walk towards the door, still hand in hand.
Michelle rolls her eyes at the sight of them. "Don't you two ever stop?"
Cam frowns, but Sweets squeezes her fingers and says, "You know, I'm going to be there with the two prettiest women in D.C. I must be a pretty lucky guy."
Cam and Michelle let out identical "you are totally full of it" sounds, but Cam sees the way that pleasure burns it's way onto Michelle's cheeks at the compliment. Sweets helps them both into their coats, and they head out the door, but not before Cam gives him a lingering kiss.
When she pulls away, his eyes are a little dazed and she smiles in satisfaction, wiping lipstick off the corner of his mouth. "What was that for?" he asks.
She shrugs, not able to say what she wants to. That she knows that she's the lucky one. That she's happier being there with him, with Michelle, than she can remember being in a long, long time. So she says nothing at all, just takes his hand in hers and heads for the car.
There will be time for that later and they're late.
***
Later that night, after church, after dinner, after she finally managed to convince Michelle to turn off her computer and go to bed, Cam sits on the couch in the living room, watching the lights twinkle on the Christmas tree and the fire in the fireplace.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Sweets asks, setting two glasses of wine down on the coffee table, before sitting down next to her. His arm automatically goes around her shoulders and she rests her head against his chest.
She takes her time before answering. "I'm glad you're here," she says finally, tipping her head up to look at him. "Really glad."
He smiles down at her. "I'm glad I'm here, too." He gives her a soft kiss. "Thank you for inviting me."
She reaches a hand up to cup his cheek, sliding her hand back and tangling her fingers in his curls. "Thank you for saying yes."
He kisses her again, and she leans into it, into him. When it ends, she rises and holds out a hand. He takes it and she leads him to her bedroom.
***
Christmas morning, Sweets wakes her up by dangling coffee under her nose and when she goes downstairs, there are misshapen pancakes on the kitchen table and he's standing over the stove, joking with Michelle as she chops up strawberries at the counter. It's practically Rockwellian, Cam thinks, watching them for just a moment more.
It should scare her. It doesn't.
"Merry Christmas," Cam says, stepping into the kitchen to join them.
Author: empressearwig
Pairing/Fandom: Cam/Sweets; Bones
Spoilers: The Beginning in the End
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2100
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all for fun. This hasn't happened. Yet. Etc.
Summary: Cam and Sweets celebrate the season.
Author's Notes: Written for the prompt "winter holiday/festival" on my schmoop_bingo card. Third in a series, though it can be read on its own. Thanks to torigates for the help.
Michelle's the one that brings up the idea of inviting Sweets for Christmas. It's two weeks before the holiday and they're sitting at a rickety table in the mall's food court, taking a break from their shopping for each other, when Michelle drops the idea out of nowhere into their conversation about the shoes Michelle wants for the Winter Formal at school.
"So, Mom," Michelle says, after taking a sip of her mango smoothie. "Is Sweets coming over for Christmas? Do I need to get him a present too? I kind of need to know so I know how much I have to spend on Jason's present."
Cam blinks and her hand shakes a little. Hot coffee spills over the edge of her paper coffee cup and onto her skin. "Damnit," she hisses, grabbing at a napkin to mop it up.
"Are you okay?" Michelle asks, and she actually sounds a little worried. "Do you need me to --"
Cam waves her other, non-coffee burned hand at her. "No, no, I'm fine."
"If you say so," Michelle says, taking another drink of her smoothie. She sounds entirely too innocent, and her eyes are sparkling with amusement, as she asks, "Was it something I said?"
"Ha ha," Cam retorts, balling up the soaked napkins. Her hand is still throbbing a little, but her bout of clumsiness had nothing to do with Michelle's question. "Don't think I don't know what you're up to, missy."
Michelle's nose wrinkles in disgust. Or maybe embarrassment. It can be hard to tell sometimes. "Missy? Really, Mom? No one under like, fifty uses that word."
"Clearly I do," Cam retorts, taking a tentative sip of her coffee. "And I can tell when you're trying to distract me from the fact that the shoes you want cost as much as your dress."
"But Mom --"
"Don't 'but Mom' me."
Michelle slumps back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest, pout on her face. "Fine. But I still need to know if your 'he's not my boyfriend because I'm too old for boyfriends, we just like to shove our tongues down each others throats at every opportunity' friend is going to be there and if I need to buy him a present."
All Cam can do is stare at her. "Let me get back to you on that," she manages to get out. Her face feels like it's on fire and she pushes back from the table to stand on wobbly legs. "Come on, you can show me the shoes." She sees Michelle's face start to light up and she holds up a hand in warning as she slings her purse over her shoulder. "I'm not making any promises."
"Of course not," Michelle says, standing up in a hurry and scooping up her shopping bags. "But wait until you see them, Mom. You'll understand."
Cam hears Michelle babble about how amazing the shoes are all the way to the store, but she's not really listening. She's too busy trying to figure out what she's going to do about what Michelle said. Whether or not Michelle planted the idea as a means of distracting her, Can has to admit that it worked.
She buys Michelle the shoes anyway. It's Christmas. And they really are spectacular.
***
Monday morning, Cam sits in her office and tries to concentrate on the revised budget in front of her, but she's still preoccupied with Michelle's question and the way that she described Cam's relationship with Sweets. It's making her wonder if maybe, finally, it's time to put a label on just what it is that she and Sweets have. She's just not sure if she knows how to do that.
The thing between them is complicated, it always has been. It started out as a matter of convenience, their own version of a lonely hearts club, well, without the hearts part. They were the ones left behind. It was what they had in common. But through lunches and movies and marathon email sessions, Cam learned that being left behind wasn't all that they had in common. She learned that they were both Redskins fans, that they both shared the same weakness for eighties action movies and pumpkin spice lattes, something that he made her promise never to reveal to another soul. Somewhere along the way, when Cam wasn't looking, Sweets became her best friend.
It shouldn't have been a surprise, then, when he became more than her best friend without her noticing. It was.
That first kiss, the night when Michelle called a spade a date and changed everything, that had also been a surprise. A good surprise -- the best surprise, Cam can admit when she's being honest with herself -- but something was still holding her back from fully embracing it, even after months of things being better than she ever could have imagined. Sweets never seemed impatient, never asked for more, but she knew he had to want to know exactly where they stood. He was too much his job, too calm and practical and analytical in his own way, to not want to know.
For the first time, Cam thinks maybe she's ready to know, too. Christmas seems like a good place to start.
She opens her email and sends Sweets a message inviting him to lunch. His reply comes less than a minute later and Cam settles back to try to focus on her job.
The butterflies in her stomach make it harder than she'd like.
***
They meet at the diner like they have dozens of times before, Cam arriving first and snagging their favorite table by the window. She accepts a cup of coffee from the waitress with a smile and thank you, and then stares blankly at the menu while she waits. This is one of those things that she thought would be easier by now, but somehow isn't. She was supposed to know how how to have relationships by now, and yet --
"Hi."
Cam startles at the sound of Sweets voice, jerking her head up from the menu. "Hi."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he says, bending down to kiss her cheek, before taking the chair across the table. "Where were you?"
"I'm not really sure," Cam lies, giving him a bright smile. "How was your morning?"
His forehead creases between his eyes, a sure sign that he knows she was lying, but is going to let it pass. "It was fine," he says instead. "A new patient was referred to me and going over his history took most of the morning."
Cam is profoundly grateful when their waitress shows up with a cup of coffee for Sweets and her order pad at the ready. "Do you know what you want?"
"Actually," Sweets starts, but Cam cuts him off.
"I'll have the Cobb Salad," she says, putting her menu back behind the napkin holder. "Thanks."
Sweets frowns at her and then turns to the waitress. "And I guess I will have the grilled cheese, please. Thank you."
Without another word she disappears and Sweets frowns at Cam again. "I wasn't ready."
"I'm sorry," Cam offers, not looking him in the eye. She pours more sugar into her coffee and starts to stir. "I was just really hungry."
"Cam," Sweets says, reaching across the table to take her hand. "What's going on? You've been acting weird since I sat down."
"Weird?" She tries for a laugh. It falls flat. "Is that a professional term?"
"Cam," he says again, and this time she looks up, looks him in the eye. "What's going on?"
She takes a deep breath, steels herself. This is it. No more hiding. "Do you want to have Christmas with me and Michelle?" she rushes out, doing her best to make it all one word. She drops her eyes again, staring at their joined hands.
"Of course I do."
Her head jerks up again and Sweets is smiling at her, his dorky, incredibly happy smile. She loves that smile. "Really?"
He nods, tightening his grip on her hand. "Were you afraid I was going to say no?"
"Well," she starts, not sure if she should tell the truth or lie. The look in his eyes makes her tell the truth. "Okay, yes."
He doesn't laugh like she expects him to, just strokes his thumb over the back of her hand. "Why?"
Sitting her, with him holding her hand and looking at her like there's no where else in the world he'd rather be, she has no idea. "I don't remember."
Now he laughs, letting go of her hand as their waitress comes back with their food. "Well, I'd love to. Thank you."
She gives him her first real smile of the day. "Thank you."
The subject is dropped for the rest of lunch, and they talk instead about the email Cam got from Angela about how much fun she and Hodgins are having in Paris, and the new exhibit at the Jeffersonian that Cam is helping to coordinate, and a hundred other things that aren't Christmas. When they leave the diner, Cam gives Sweets a longer than normal goodbye kiss, and she can feel him staring after her as she walks away.
She smiles to herself and keeps walking.
***
Sweets comes over on Christmas Eve, bearing an armful of gifts and a bottle of wine that he knows Cam loves. She's in the bathroom, touching up her makeup and fastening the last of her jewelry when she overhears him tell Michelle she can have half a glass with dinner when they get back from church, and Cam would be just the smallest bit mad about that (even if she was going to let Michelle have it anyway), but her father and Felicia are meeting them at the church and she's too nervous about that to be anything else.
He knocks on the open door. "You almost ready?" he asks. "We're going to be late."
She takes one last look in the mirror, straightening the collar of her dress, even though it doesn't really need it. She turns to Sweets with a tight smile on her face. "Ready."
He reaches out a hand for hers and she gives it to him, his palm warm and comforting against hers. "It's going to be fine."
She snorts, inelegantly, and he laughs as they start to walk towards the door, still hand in hand.
Michelle rolls her eyes at the sight of them. "Don't you two ever stop?"
Cam frowns, but Sweets squeezes her fingers and says, "You know, I'm going to be there with the two prettiest women in D.C. I must be a pretty lucky guy."
Cam and Michelle let out identical "you are totally full of it" sounds, but Cam sees the way that pleasure burns it's way onto Michelle's cheeks at the compliment. Sweets helps them both into their coats, and they head out the door, but not before Cam gives him a lingering kiss.
When she pulls away, his eyes are a little dazed and she smiles in satisfaction, wiping lipstick off the corner of his mouth. "What was that for?" he asks.
She shrugs, not able to say what she wants to. That she knows that she's the lucky one. That she's happier being there with him, with Michelle, than she can remember being in a long, long time. So she says nothing at all, just takes his hand in hers and heads for the car.
There will be time for that later and they're late.
***
Later that night, after church, after dinner, after she finally managed to convince Michelle to turn off her computer and go to bed, Cam sits on the couch in the living room, watching the lights twinkle on the Christmas tree and the fire in the fireplace.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Sweets asks, setting two glasses of wine down on the coffee table, before sitting down next to her. His arm automatically goes around her shoulders and she rests her head against his chest.
She takes her time before answering. "I'm glad you're here," she says finally, tipping her head up to look at him. "Really glad."
He smiles down at her. "I'm glad I'm here, too." He gives her a soft kiss. "Thank you for inviting me."
She reaches a hand up to cup his cheek, sliding her hand back and tangling her fingers in his curls. "Thank you for saying yes."
He kisses her again, and she leans into it, into him. When it ends, she rises and holds out a hand. He takes it and she leads him to her bedroom.
***
Christmas morning, Sweets wakes her up by dangling coffee under her nose and when she goes downstairs, there are misshapen pancakes on the kitchen table and he's standing over the stove, joking with Michelle as she chops up strawberries at the counter. It's practically Rockwellian, Cam thinks, watching them for just a moment more.
It should scare her. It doesn't.
"Merry Christmas," Cam says, stepping into the kitchen to join them.