Spoilers: No.
Disclaimer: Self-assessment homework tasks suck.
Author's Note: I don't actually know if Brennan hates taxis, but it made things a lot easier...This is the fourth chapter and I hope you all enjoy it tremendously!! Leave reviews and I'll reply, I promise! I'll also update more.
She looked at him for what seemed to him like the longest time, her mouth open, saying nothing. Speechless, he thought, I've made her speechless. Fantastic timing, Seeley, he mentally scolded.
She looked at him for a very long time. At first she wasn't sure if his comment was directed at her, but the more she looked, the more she was sure it was. Her chest tightened, and she found it hard to breathe normally, to keep control, and the familiar butterflies wormed their way into her stomach, making her repulsed by the food in front of her.
She was scared.
More than that, she was terrified. This was the feeling she got when she was in an enclosed space. This was the 'moment' between her and Booth that she had been dreading. She had known it was coming; she really did, against all better reason, listen to Angela. But they were friends.
"...I..." she stammered. They were more than friends, really. They always had been.
She shoved her chair out, and sprinted out of the diner. Maybe if she left the room she could push it all away, or pretend like it was nothing. She couldn't do this in there, with Booth's questioning eyes reading her mind.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, Brennan, she lectured.
She stopped when she got to the car, just around the corner. She knew Booth would come after her, but she also hoped with every fiber of her being that he wouldn't. But she knew him better than that. Of course he would come. He was Booth.
Booth was shocked when she left so abruptly. He wasn't sure she'd even pick up on his comment's subtext. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he cursed himself. Of course she would! This was His Bones. She wasn't good with people, but she knew him, she could read his mind as well as he could read hers, though she didn't know it.
He may as well have just blurted out, "I love you." Even if that wasn't his intention, he realized the way it must have come across to her, and he swore at himself again as he left the diner, slapping a bill on the table as he did.
He knew she couldn't have gone far. After all, they'd driven there together, and he knew she didn't like taxis. Not that he believed she would, though he wouldn't put it past her. His Bones didn't just run away from things like normal people.
She was special.
As soon as he rounded the corner he saw her, leaning against the car, arms wrapped around herself tightly. She looked cold, and he fought the urge to take his jacket off and give it to her; that would just alarm her more, and that was not something he was willing to risk. Besides, it wasn't a cold day.
He knew her stance wasn't temperature related.
She looked up. He was standing at the corner, looking at her from a distance. She was glad he hadn't come any closer. He knew she needed time, and he'd respected that, but he'd still come. And that meant a lot.
God, she was so confused. She was irritated that Booth had said what he had, frustrated that she couldn't handle it, happy that he'd 'said' what he didn't. But she was still terrified. She was sure they could never take things back to the way they were before. Not now. Of that, she was sure. This had changed everything; this thing that Booth hadn't said.
But she'd liked them the way they were before. They both knew they were attracted to the other, but this line they'd put up, this stupid, proverbial line had made things clear. They couldn't act on this. Hell, they couldn't speak of it. And this was why.
He looked at her from up the street. Because of the time of day, the street was almost deserted, and he could see her clearly, against the black car, he couldn't help thinking how beautifully pale her skin was.
Slowly, she pushed herself away from the car, like a cautious animal. They each took a step closer. She really didn't want to do this, but she knew she had to. For both of them. For them. It seemed like an ironic time for that thought, and she almost laughed at herself.
He saw her smile, and he wondered what she was thinking of. Why was she smiling now? After she'd run out on him, he had the horrible thought that he'd never see her smile again. He smiled, too, cautious. After all, he wasn't sure if she was smiling at him.
She saw him smile, and she wondered why; then she realized she was smiling, too. She looked up at him, her smile widening. He grinned as wide as seemed physically possible. He looked ridiculously like a child, and she burst out laughing at exactly the same time he did.
They stood like that, two metres apart, laughing at nothing in particular, except maybe themselves for what seemed like five minutes. It was, in fact, only a few seconds, until he ran to her and grabbed her waist, swinging her around in a circle like she was five years old.
He stopped, holding her just off the ground, his arms wrapped securely around her waist and back. She looked down at him, still smiling, but still slightly nervous. He was grinning through to his eyes, looking intently at her. No, she wasn't scared anymore.
They were both still smiling when he kissed her, ever so lightly, on the mouth.
When he pulled away, she was looking at him earnestly, a whisper of a smile still on her face. He placed her on the ground skillfully, still holding her firmly, not losing any of the contact that they shared.
He placed their foreheads together, nudging her nose with his, making her laugh nervously.
"No, Bones. I changed my mind. I most definitely want to," he said with a smile as he kissed her again.
Tell me what you think!! I need reviews to keep going!! Or else I'll...fizzle out! It'll all go "POOF!!" like a magician (But probably less gracefully...)
This'll be the last chapter, I think. I know the ending is a little...odd. But I mean, it's fan fiction. We write it because it'll never actually happen on the show, don't we?
Ah, the powers of coffee...