STICKS AND BONES
Chapter Three: A Meal Shared "As each of us wants the other watching at the end, as both want not to leave the other alone, as wanting to love beyond this meat and bone, we gaze across breakfast and pretend." - Miller Williams Author's Note: A special thanks goes to the amazing Serra Tachi for beta reading this chapter! :) The frequently bustling and hectic roads of D.C. were unusually quiet in the early September morning. The soft melodic sound of birds chirping while sat upon the bare branches of trees, which had lost their leaves over the course of the last month, filled the air. The early risers of the city graced the streets with their presence as they each hurried in their own direction, eager to start their sure to be busy day. Their minds completely focused only on what the new day would bring, all thoughts of the past and the routine they had found themselves in failed to break their concentration. As is typical with city dwellers, they looked to the future, choosing not to waste their time stopping to sit on a park bench or listen to the birds, those mundane activities were for people unlike themselves, people who had time to spend fruitlessly, usually the elderly or young children. That morning, however, for Special Agent Andy Lister and his beautiful partner Doctor Kathy Reichs,was to be spent enjoying life and living in the present, reflecting on the past and what had brought them to this current moment. While they spent eight to ten hours a day as work partners, the rest of the time they spent as life partners. The beauty of having your life partner be the same person as your work partner, was that the two of you could get out of bed after hours of loving making, get dressed, and have breakfast together, before leaving for work and then spend the entire day and night in each others company. While for many spending that much time with another person would be overwhelming, for the partners, it was simply what they were used to. At the beginning, when they first begun working cases together, they had spent many hours working over time. They would arrive at work as early as 6am and stay until early hours of the next morning finishing paperwork, catching only a few scarce hours of sleep in between it all. The idea of spending less than eighteen to twenty hours a day with one another had become almost foreign, and they had quickly become a single unit, not only when they broke the laws of physics, but also in almost every aspect of their day-to-day lives. It was not long before they finally arrived at their destination: their favorite diner located on the corner of a busy intersection. In spite of the early hour, the place was already open and a few customers sat inside enjoying their breakfast while watching the early morning news on the 19-inch television, which had been carefully placed in the corner of the ceiling at an angle that allowed it to be seen from a majority of the seats. Absorbed in their own little world, the partners exited the standard government issue black SUV, made their way into the diner, and over to their corner booth in the far back. Once comfortably seated, they waited silently, each lost in their own thoughts. Her gaze was set outside of the diner, looking out of the window to her right, watching as people and cars passed by without sparing a glance in her direction. He, on the other hand, chose to busy himself with one of the many paper napkins carefully laid out on the table, mindlessly tearing is to shreds as he waited for their usual server to deliver their food. Fifteen minutes later, their usual waitress, Cindy, placed their freshly cooked food carefully in front of them before she turned and left with a quick "Good Morning" and the promise of coffee. By the time she returned, the couple were still silent, eating their food while their focus was elsewhere. However, she thought nothing of it, as the couple usually spent their mornings in this manner. It was never an uncomfortable or awkward silence, it was a comfortable silence which demonstrated the ease at which they felt with one another, neither one feeling the need to fill the silence with meaningless words or uninteresting topics of discussion. It didn't take long for Andy to polish off a full English breakfast and two full cups of coffee while she took her time with her fresh fruit, yogurt, and buttered triangles of toast. Now free of distraction, the agent turned his full attention on his partner, taking in her beauty in a manner that would suggest he was seeing her for the first time. His eyes ran over her soft features, her light blue eyes, the way her slightly wavy blonde hair framed her face. Feeling his familiar gaze on her, Kathy glanced up from her food, her eyes meeting his, causing a jolt of electricity to pass through them. Even after all this time, they both still felt that original spark. It had only seemed to grow stronger the closer they grew and the more time they spent together. It was for this reason that neither one outwardly reacted to the sensation, rather they chose to simply continue staring back at one another, silently conveying to each other what they chose not to with words. It was a well-known fact that every morning, with the exception of Sundays, Doctor Temperance Brennan could be found in the Jeffersonian medical legal lab from as early as 6am. It was also a well known fact that she was never a minute late, unless of course she had company the previous night; then she would usually arrive somewhere around 8am. However, on that Tuesday morning, Temperance Brennan was not hunched over carefully arranged human remains, nor was she in her office working on her latest book or finishing up paperwork from her last case. In fact, she was not even on her way to the lab that morning. Instead, she found herself driving in the direction of the diner with the intention of sitting down for a proper meal, one of which she would be sharing with no one. Her desire to grab breakfast before work was impulsive, but for once she did not allow herself to stop and rationalize her decision, choosing instead to take it in stride. The diner, as expected, was fairly abandoned with only a handful of people scattered around as they chewed thoughtfully on their food. Out of sheer habit more than anything, she found herself making her way over to the booth at the far back, sliding into it in a surprisingly graceful manner. It was not long before a steaming hot mug of freshly brewed coffee was placed in front of her, filling the air around her with its unique scent. Only then did she realize that she was sitting on the side that Booth would usually occupy, customarily she sat so that the window was to her right and her back was to the exit. She was so occupied analyzing her subconscious action that she failed to notice the sudden wave of people that had arrived. Thus, she found herself caught off guard when she realized how busy in fact the place had become. The loud sound of chatter filled the restaurant along with the mouthwatering smell of an assortment of freshly prepared food. "So, what can I get for you this morning?" a young waitress asked her, unexpectedly appearing at her table. Brennan glanced up and realized that this waitress was most definitely new to the job. Every other waitress at the place had her order memorized. They knew what she wanted for every meal of the day and brought it to her without a single question. "I think I'll just have some fruit," Brennan responded after silent consideration. "Would you like a variety of fresh fruit or would you be interested in a slice of our fruit filled pie?" Surprisingly, Brennan found herself ordering a slice of a cherry pie and even asking for it to be heated and topped with whipped cream. At the first taste of the dessert, Brennan found herself reminiscing of the first time she had given into Booth's constant pestering for her to try pie. It had been at his apartment; they had sat on high stools facing one another and she had finally caved and allowed him to place a single piece of his most treasured dessert into her mouth. In that moment, she had realized that she had been too quick to judge. Her taste buds had found the apple pie to be unexpectedly tasteful in spite of her constant insistence that she preferred not to have her fruit cooked. Now here she was, many months later, placing piece after piece of the single slice of cherry pie into her mouth, savoring its sweet and tangy taste almost as if consuming it entirely would somehow bring her closer to her partner. A notion that was completely irrational. Or so she thought. Without warning, every hair on her arm rose as a shiver passed down her spine. Her heart raced, her breathing became uneven, and her palms uncharacteristically sweaty. He was there, she could feel it in every atom of her existence. Daring to look up, she found herself meeting his penetrating gaze from two tables over. He was facing her, unusually sitting on her side of the bench, something he only did if someone had already taken the other side. The seat opposite him, however, was empty, or well it was. A few seconds after meeting his gaze, a flash of blonde curls went flying past her from the bathroom, towards her ex-partner. The young boy bounced up and down in his seat, always so full of energy even in the early hours of the morning. Moments had passed in which neither one had blinked nor dared to breathe. Unable to take it any longer, she tore her eyes away from his and brought them back down to the empty plate which sat in front of her. The smeared sauce, from the cherries, was the only evidence of what she had just consumed. His gaze was still on her and it was making her uncomfortable. She could feel him as if he were sitting in the seat in front of her, and not twenty feet away. She needed to escape. He was burning her without even touching her, and the thought that he could have so much power over her caused her to flashback to her reasons for running in the first place. Quickly looking for an escape, she signaled the waitress over and paid her bill. She then proceeded to gather up her few belongings and make a quick dash for the exit, making sure not to walk too close to him or meet his gaze as she passed by. She wasn't ready to confront him, not after what had transpired between the two of them, and how they had left things in the end. "Dr. BONES!" Parker's voice called out to her, his voice louder than the chatter, easily reaching her ears, causing her steps to falter slightly before she pressed on. She couldn't stop, not even to wave at the young child who had long since stolen her heart not unlike how his father had done over the years. Had she looked back, once out of sight, she would have seen the heartbroken expression on Parker Booth's face as his idol and favorite person failed to acknowledge his presence. Turning his gaze away from the diner's exit, Parker turned to his father, meeting his warm brown eyes with his own. The look of sadness so plainly etched on Parker's face did not go unnoticed by Booth, causing a wave of sadness and pain to engulfed him, knowing that he was partly responsible for that look. "Maybe she didn't hear me," Parker said quietly, his eyes downcast as they briefly filled with tears. Booth glanced away from his son for a moment, his body turning to his right as he glanced out of the window, searching with his eyes until he found the lone figure of his ex-partner heading towards her car. His heart twisted painfully inside his chest as he noticed her forcefully wiping away the stray tears that had escaped. "Yeah maybe, Bud," Booth whispered in response, his eyes never leaving her until she was no longer in sight. "Maybe," he repeated once more. Author's Note: Please take a moment to review, it doesn't take long and it means a lot :) Now for some shameless self promoting, if any one is interested I also have a youtube channel and around 15 or so Bones videos. www(dot)youtube(dot)com/PirateTillTheEnd My backup account is PirateTilThEnd (incase you get confused).
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