Femslash 07 Fic: Office Romance Bones Brennan/Angela
Title: Office Romance
Author: maekala
Recipient: soft_princess
Fandom: Bones
Pairing: Brennan/Angela
Rating: PG
Word count: ~2000
Disclaimer: Bones is owned by Fox. I gain nothing from writing this except a plot bunny off my chest.
Summary: When Hodgins asked Angela out in "The Girl With The Curl," there was more about her rejection than was stated.
Author's Notes: I have only seen to "The Girl With The Curl," so if there was more about their relationship after that, I haven't seen it. Besides...I like my way better. ;)
Temperance almost didn't notice Angela sitting alone in her office, all the lights off and the younger woman keeping still. But Angela spoke and Temperance was not sure what to make of the admission that Hodgins had asked Angela out. And the knowledge did little to help her focus on the case at hand. She loved Angela; she wanted her to be happy. But in the back of her mind-the place where the logical centre didn't exist and she believed that maybe mating for life wasn't such a bad thing after all-she had always hoped that Angela would turn her way again and the two of them would continue their relationship.
The longing had started four years prior, when both women had been reeling from upsetting relationships. Angela had sworn that she was in love with some new woman and that they were going to move in together, get married (once it was legal) and have five children running around the house, playing with fingerpaint and getting messy. Temperance hadn't been sure that that was such an idyllic scene, but Angela was smiling every day and that was all that mattered.
Temperance had not had such a stirring relationship, but she had found a woman who listened to her prattle on about bones and didn't get upset when she pointed out that the woman at the counter possessed one of the best structures in her hips that Temperance had ever seen. It was never meant to be taken as a wandering eye, but every one she had attempted to date, both male and female, had assumed that she was only pointing out what they didn't have and so had moved on. It was something of a character flaw that Temperance could never be more sensitive to another's feelings, but she honestly didn't mean the comments as anything more than the anthropological observations that they were.
But even that relationship had to end when the woman received a better job offer in New York. The relationship had been good, but Temperance's job at the Jeffersonian was the best she would ever get and so was the job in New York, so they had shared one last night and then said their goodbyes. When Angela was depressed at work the next day, Temperance had made her usual attempt to cheer the woman up, but she did not understand why breaking up with someone was causing Angela such pain, especially when compartmentalizing any pain she did feel was so simple.
That night they had gone to a club to relieve the tension and to allow Angela a chance to find someone to take her mind off her sorrows. Little did Temperance know that she would turn into the perfect distraction. The sex had been fantastic, as one might suspect. Angela had been doing it long enough to be quite skilled and Temperance had picked up a few things along the way as well.
But the most important thing about that night was not the sex or the feel of Angela's arms around her as they slept, but that Angela had continued to call her "Brennan" even in the throes of passion. The way she had murmured the name and twisted it with her curious accent-Temperance had never allowed any one else to call her "Brennan" during intimate encounters because she didn't want the memory to be tainted. It was Angela's name for her and each time the younger woman had said it in passing around the lab had made Temperance's longing for her grow.
The next morning, they easily decided that they what had happened was not so much a mistake as too much alcohol and a need to feel something. Neither woman was ashamed, but neither would they try to start something else. Their jobs were important and rebound relationships were always destined to fail. Luckily, both women had something of a liberal view on sex, so they weren't violating that strange idea that two friends giving comfort to one another was somehow cause for embarrassment. Saying the words had been torture for Temperance but she carried on, wanting what was best for Angela.
It was a silly infatuation, but one that continued. And now, with Hodgins asking Angela out and Angela actually considering it…she didn't know what to tell her closest friend. She, of course, wanted Angela to be happy, but she couldn't help but feel a little selfish too. She was ashamed to admit that Cam had rescued her from her indecision, though she had not expected such advice from the other woman. Why would you date someone to prove that it was a bad idea? The idea was absurd. And if Angela did sleep with Hodgins? And liked it? Then where would she be? She knew exactly where: Angela would be happy and Temperance would be left to pine from a distance. But Temperance could compartmentalize and she would and she would move past these feelings that should have been buried the moment they surfaced.
So she put on a happy face and agreed with Cam as much as she could but also gave examples of office romances actually working. But there was a hidden agenda to it all. And she wondered when it was she had gotten so devious.
***
The next day Hodgins was beaming and Angela seemed dejected. When asked what had happened, all Angela would say was that the date had gone, "better than expected." Temperance was distracted even more. Why would Angela be depressed if the date went well? Was she using one of those phrases that said one thing but meant another? What, exactly, was going through Angela's mind?
She thought about asking Hodgins what the two of them had done on their date but if Angela wasn't talking about it, then would asking be considered going behind her back? But what could she really gauge from the information, anyway? She had never been one to understand the dynamics of a good date. If two people clicked, then why waste time with dinner and a movie when they could just continue with a good time? And if the conversation was good, then dinner was an added bonus for the second date.
She asked Booth what he thought, but the man had been incredibly unhelpful. And he had given her stranger looks that were not precipitated by one of her observations, so she didn't understand it. Could he not understand that she was concerned for a friend? After a few minutes he had dismissed the subject, mumbling something about not wanting to know about Hodgins' sex life and the quirks therein.
***
The second time she found Angela sitting alone in her office, the lights off and the woman utterly still, she was equally surprised. Perhaps more so. But this time she was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery and since they had just wrapped the case, she had all the time in the world.
Temperance put her files on her desk and sat in front of Angela, her face warm and curious. If Booth called her for another case now, he would not survive the experience. She gripped Angela's hands between her own and squeezed the slightly.
"What happened?" she asked, hoping her frankness would get Angela to talk.
A moment passed before the black haired woman took in a deep breath and started, her eyes looking somewhere beyond Temperance's shoulder. "It was perfect," she said, a silent tear sliding down her face. "He remembered that I said I hadn't been to a swing set in years so he took me to the park and we sat on the swings. The feeling was just how I remembered it-that feeling that you can go anywhere but the ground still holds you and won't let you go too far." Temperance had never experienced such a feeling while on the swing set, but she held her tongue. "We were talking," she continued, "and he kissed me."
Temperance squashed the jealousy that threatened to interrupt their moment. "Was it bad?" she asked, a morbid curiosity forcing the question out.
Angela's eyes found her own and the threat of more tears made the brown orbs glitter in a dance that almost mesmerized Temperance. "No," she admitted, a small smile playing along her lips. "But…" Angela paused and her eyes lost their focus as she considered her words or the night before or something else entirely. When the focus returned, it was with a vengeance. The way she was looking into Temperance's eyes, it was like her gaze was boring down to her very soul, begging that she understand. "It was the wrong person."
Temperance was speechless for a moment as the thought that there might be someone else vying for Angela's attentions ran through her mind and her heart fell. Her brows arched in confusion as she tried to think who else Angela had spoken of-who else might take that precious heart for their own and either drive Angela away from Temperance or crush such a gift and leave Temperance to pick up the pieces.
"I don't understand," she finally said, her naturally raspy voice covering up any hesitancy there might have been in the statement.
"I told him office romances never work out and there's always awkwardness when the break up happens." Angela was looking even harder into Temperance's eyes, trying to make her understand something that she just wasn't seeing.
"You took Cam's advice; how does that lead to the wrong person?"
"I told him that so I didn't have to break his heart." She paused again, letting the information sink in. "I lied, Brennan." Angela rolled her name across her tongue, putting that small bit of inflection in the two syllables and making them so much more than how they had started life.
"Why would you do that?" She asked the question and started to pull away, needing some sort of distance so that she could try to understand what Angela was saying without the distraction of her touch.
But Angela tightened her grip, effectively trapping Temperance where she sat. "Because," and her eyes shone such fierceness that even Temperance realized that this was important, "he's not the one in the office I really want to be with."
Temperance closed her eyes and shook her head, comprehension escaping her normally quick mind. Maybe she should really let Cam deal with this. The woman certainly seemed-
All thoughts flew from her mind when a familiar pair of lips pressed against hers. Eternity passed as the initial effect of shutting her up wore off and she began to respond with first lips then tongue then wandering hands. When they finally broke apart, Brennan dimly realized that she had somehow made it to the couch, but was more concerned with enjoying the continued closeness of their foreheads pressed together and their entwined hands.
As they caught their breath and looked in each other's eyes, gauging their reactions, Brennan began to realize that maybe Angela might still feel something from that encounter those short years ago.
"I want to be with you," whispered Angela, confirming Brennan's blossoming suspicions.
Brennan reached up to pull Angela's face down the last few inches, agreeing with Angela's idea the best way she knew how. Another eternity passed before they once more broke for air.
"Come home with me," suggested Brennan, trying to project her need for closeness through her eyes. She was terrified of saying too much and not enough and losing this seemingly impossible chance to hold her dreams in her arms and revel in Angela's passionate embrace.
Angela searched her gaze again, finding the answers she needed, seeing what Brennan could never voice before nodding, a mischievous smile brightening her face.
Author: maekala
Recipient: soft_princess
Fandom: Bones
Pairing: Brennan/Angela
Rating: PG
Word count: ~2000
Disclaimer: Bones is owned by Fox. I gain nothing from writing this except a plot bunny off my chest.
Summary: When Hodgins asked Angela out in "The Girl With The Curl," there was more about her rejection than was stated.
Author's Notes: I have only seen to "The Girl With The Curl," so if there was more about their relationship after that, I haven't seen it. Besides...I like my way better. ;)
Temperance almost didn't notice Angela sitting alone in her office, all the lights off and the younger woman keeping still. But Angela spoke and Temperance was not sure what to make of the admission that Hodgins had asked Angela out. And the knowledge did little to help her focus on the case at hand. She loved Angela; she wanted her to be happy. But in the back of her mind-the place where the logical centre didn't exist and she believed that maybe mating for life wasn't such a bad thing after all-she had always hoped that Angela would turn her way again and the two of them would continue their relationship.
The longing had started four years prior, when both women had been reeling from upsetting relationships. Angela had sworn that she was in love with some new woman and that they were going to move in together, get married (once it was legal) and have five children running around the house, playing with fingerpaint and getting messy. Temperance hadn't been sure that that was such an idyllic scene, but Angela was smiling every day and that was all that mattered.
Temperance had not had such a stirring relationship, but she had found a woman who listened to her prattle on about bones and didn't get upset when she pointed out that the woman at the counter possessed one of the best structures in her hips that Temperance had ever seen. It was never meant to be taken as a wandering eye, but every one she had attempted to date, both male and female, had assumed that she was only pointing out what they didn't have and so had moved on. It was something of a character flaw that Temperance could never be more sensitive to another's feelings, but she honestly didn't mean the comments as anything more than the anthropological observations that they were.
But even that relationship had to end when the woman received a better job offer in New York. The relationship had been good, but Temperance's job at the Jeffersonian was the best she would ever get and so was the job in New York, so they had shared one last night and then said their goodbyes. When Angela was depressed at work the next day, Temperance had made her usual attempt to cheer the woman up, but she did not understand why breaking up with someone was causing Angela such pain, especially when compartmentalizing any pain she did feel was so simple.
That night they had gone to a club to relieve the tension and to allow Angela a chance to find someone to take her mind off her sorrows. Little did Temperance know that she would turn into the perfect distraction. The sex had been fantastic, as one might suspect. Angela had been doing it long enough to be quite skilled and Temperance had picked up a few things along the way as well.
But the most important thing about that night was not the sex or the feel of Angela's arms around her as they slept, but that Angela had continued to call her "Brennan" even in the throes of passion. The way she had murmured the name and twisted it with her curious accent-Temperance had never allowed any one else to call her "Brennan" during intimate encounters because she didn't want the memory to be tainted. It was Angela's name for her and each time the younger woman had said it in passing around the lab had made Temperance's longing for her grow.
The next morning, they easily decided that they what had happened was not so much a mistake as too much alcohol and a need to feel something. Neither woman was ashamed, but neither would they try to start something else. Their jobs were important and rebound relationships were always destined to fail. Luckily, both women had something of a liberal view on sex, so they weren't violating that strange idea that two friends giving comfort to one another was somehow cause for embarrassment. Saying the words had been torture for Temperance but she carried on, wanting what was best for Angela.
It was a silly infatuation, but one that continued. And now, with Hodgins asking Angela out and Angela actually considering it…she didn't know what to tell her closest friend. She, of course, wanted Angela to be happy, but she couldn't help but feel a little selfish too. She was ashamed to admit that Cam had rescued her from her indecision, though she had not expected such advice from the other woman. Why would you date someone to prove that it was a bad idea? The idea was absurd. And if Angela did sleep with Hodgins? And liked it? Then where would she be? She knew exactly where: Angela would be happy and Temperance would be left to pine from a distance. But Temperance could compartmentalize and she would and she would move past these feelings that should have been buried the moment they surfaced.
So she put on a happy face and agreed with Cam as much as she could but also gave examples of office romances actually working. But there was a hidden agenda to it all. And she wondered when it was she had gotten so devious.
***
The next day Hodgins was beaming and Angela seemed dejected. When asked what had happened, all Angela would say was that the date had gone, "better than expected." Temperance was distracted even more. Why would Angela be depressed if the date went well? Was she using one of those phrases that said one thing but meant another? What, exactly, was going through Angela's mind?
She thought about asking Hodgins what the two of them had done on their date but if Angela wasn't talking about it, then would asking be considered going behind her back? But what could she really gauge from the information, anyway? She had never been one to understand the dynamics of a good date. If two people clicked, then why waste time with dinner and a movie when they could just continue with a good time? And if the conversation was good, then dinner was an added bonus for the second date.
She asked Booth what he thought, but the man had been incredibly unhelpful. And he had given her stranger looks that were not precipitated by one of her observations, so she didn't understand it. Could he not understand that she was concerned for a friend? After a few minutes he had dismissed the subject, mumbling something about not wanting to know about Hodgins' sex life and the quirks therein.
***
The second time she found Angela sitting alone in her office, the lights off and the woman utterly still, she was equally surprised. Perhaps more so. But this time she was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery and since they had just wrapped the case, she had all the time in the world.
Temperance put her files on her desk and sat in front of Angela, her face warm and curious. If Booth called her for another case now, he would not survive the experience. She gripped Angela's hands between her own and squeezed the slightly.
"What happened?" she asked, hoping her frankness would get Angela to talk.
A moment passed before the black haired woman took in a deep breath and started, her eyes looking somewhere beyond Temperance's shoulder. "It was perfect," she said, a silent tear sliding down her face. "He remembered that I said I hadn't been to a swing set in years so he took me to the park and we sat on the swings. The feeling was just how I remembered it-that feeling that you can go anywhere but the ground still holds you and won't let you go too far." Temperance had never experienced such a feeling while on the swing set, but she held her tongue. "We were talking," she continued, "and he kissed me."
Temperance squashed the jealousy that threatened to interrupt their moment. "Was it bad?" she asked, a morbid curiosity forcing the question out.
Angela's eyes found her own and the threat of more tears made the brown orbs glitter in a dance that almost mesmerized Temperance. "No," she admitted, a small smile playing along her lips. "But…" Angela paused and her eyes lost their focus as she considered her words or the night before or something else entirely. When the focus returned, it was with a vengeance. The way she was looking into Temperance's eyes, it was like her gaze was boring down to her very soul, begging that she understand. "It was the wrong person."
Temperance was speechless for a moment as the thought that there might be someone else vying for Angela's attentions ran through her mind and her heart fell. Her brows arched in confusion as she tried to think who else Angela had spoken of-who else might take that precious heart for their own and either drive Angela away from Temperance or crush such a gift and leave Temperance to pick up the pieces.
"I don't understand," she finally said, her naturally raspy voice covering up any hesitancy there might have been in the statement.
"I told him office romances never work out and there's always awkwardness when the break up happens." Angela was looking even harder into Temperance's eyes, trying to make her understand something that she just wasn't seeing.
"You took Cam's advice; how does that lead to the wrong person?"
"I told him that so I didn't have to break his heart." She paused again, letting the information sink in. "I lied, Brennan." Angela rolled her name across her tongue, putting that small bit of inflection in the two syllables and making them so much more than how they had started life.
"Why would you do that?" She asked the question and started to pull away, needing some sort of distance so that she could try to understand what Angela was saying without the distraction of her touch.
But Angela tightened her grip, effectively trapping Temperance where she sat. "Because," and her eyes shone such fierceness that even Temperance realized that this was important, "he's not the one in the office I really want to be with."
Temperance closed her eyes and shook her head, comprehension escaping her normally quick mind. Maybe she should really let Cam deal with this. The woman certainly seemed-
All thoughts flew from her mind when a familiar pair of lips pressed against hers. Eternity passed as the initial effect of shutting her up wore off and she began to respond with first lips then tongue then wandering hands. When they finally broke apart, Brennan dimly realized that she had somehow made it to the couch, but was more concerned with enjoying the continued closeness of their foreheads pressed together and their entwined hands.
As they caught their breath and looked in each other's eyes, gauging their reactions, Brennan began to realize that maybe Angela might still feel something from that encounter those short years ago.
"I want to be with you," whispered Angela, confirming Brennan's blossoming suspicions.
Brennan reached up to pull Angela's face down the last few inches, agreeing with Angela's idea the best way she knew how. Another eternity passed before they once more broke for air.
"Come home with me," suggested Brennan, trying to project her need for closeness through her eyes. She was terrified of saying too much and not enough and losing this seemingly impossible chance to hold her dreams in her arms and revel in Angela's passionate embrace.
Angela searched her gaze again, finding the answers she needed, seeing what Brennan could never voice before nodding, a mischievous smile brightening her face.