The Boy Who Saved Brennan

By CooperTrooperSG1

Rating: T (for language, just to be safe.)

Summary: After Zack goes to the institution, Booth convinces Brennan to come with him on vacation with Parker.

Spoilers: Up to the Season 3 finale.

Author's Note: This is sort of like a prequel to my Christmas and New Year's stories. I actually started writing it a really long time ago, after the Season 3 finale, but I never finished it. I think posting it will encourage me to finish it. I have more than half of it done, I think. Also, it's only a quasi-prequel, because if it were a true prequel, a couple of conversations in my other stories would be redundant. But I didn't want to take them out of this story, where they originated in the first place. Thank you for reading, and I hope you like it!

Ch 1

Temperance Brennan was not happy with the past few months of her life.

First she had been forced to confront feelings that she openly acknowledged existed on a societal level for the propagation of the species but had been lucky enough to largely avoid encountering on a personal level for most of her life when she and Booth had been left in charge of the baby Andy for several days. Then of course she had to deal with the sense of loss she felt at their separation, even though she was genuinely happy that Andy had ended up with his new parents and felt confident that they would give him the wonderful home he deserved.

Then there had been her father's murder trial, which she was still avoiding thinking about whenever possible because she simply did not approve of the conflicting feelings that the trial had caused. She was confident that she had done the right thing under the circumstances. Ninety percent of the time, at least.

Then, she had watched her partner get shot because of her.

She had thought he was dead for two weeks.

Sweets and everyone else thought she had dealt with the situation rationally and moved on. But they were all wrong. The truth was, she was still in shock two weeks later. At the funeral all she felt was numb, like there was no way this was actually happening to her because she just didn't have the right equipment to handle the situation. She went through the motions of life that everyone expected of her on autopilot, numb from head to toe.

Then suddenly there he was, in uniform at his own funeral. And all sorts of feelings came back.

Before she had time to really begin processing that as well, the lab blew up and they had the first, horrifying disaster with Zack.

Then the second, worse disaster with Zack.

How had she not seen that? She had felt closer to Zack than almost anyone she knew, on one level. Emotionally she was much closer to Booth and Angela, but as far as sharing similarities she had always felt that Zack had the closest personality, mental wiring, and outlook on life to herself. That he had killed someone because he had been duped into Gormogon's false belief system… what did that say about herself? And what did it say about herself that she hadn't seen it happening to Zack? That she hadn't recognized that he needed something from her that she wasn't providing?

She felt more responsible for what had happened to Zack than she had ever thought she could possibly feel responsible for someone else's actions.

She didn't know what to do. Being at work felt wrong without Zack there. It wasn't comforting her like it usually did. It was like learning the truth about Zack had tainted that place. She hoped it wasn't a permanent stain, but tonight she had been forced to go home.

Not knowing what to do there and not in the mood to write, she had decided to take Angela's long-standing hints, which seemed reinforced by her recent discovery that Booth took baths as well, and decided to try taking a bath.

So, she was sitting in a scalding tub of bubbles made with shampoo instead of bubble bath because she had never bought bubble bath in her life. She had a book, a glass of wine, and had lowered the lights in the room to a level more conducive to relaxing. But so far she couldn't read. All she was doing was sitting in water naked while thinking about everything, instead of sitting somewhere else dressed thinking about the same things. The bath idea didn't really seem to be working.

She was debating giving up and getting out when her bathroom door opened quickly and her partner entered. "Booth! This is a really juvenile way to get back at me for entering your private space uninvited!"

To her extreme annoyance, he smirked. "Sorry."

"No you're not."

"No, I'm not. But I didn't really do this on purpose, Bones."

"The symmetry would seem to suggest otherwise," she replied. The bubbles were covering her, she knew. Still, she felt more comfortable once she sat up a bit and hugged her knees to her chest.

"I know," he said, setting the towel she had on the closed toilet lid on the counter instead and sitting down.

"Hey," she objected.

"I called all your phones. You didn't answer. I got… concerned."

"Booth, you shot Gormogon yourself. Nobody is in danger anymore."

"I know… I know that. I just don't feel it yet."

She knew what he meant. With the revelation about Zack, she had been feeling very paranoid herself lately. She nodded.

"I knocked on your door and you didn't answer but your car was here. I just had to make sure after that. Sorry. I'll go."

"Why did you want to talk to me in the first place?" she asked, waving away his offer to leave. The initial surprise over, she quickly realized he was becoming more uncomfortable seeing her in the tub than he had been when the situation was reversed. That seemed to indicate that he was more uncomfortable with the possibility of seeing her naked than in her seeing him naked. Interesting… she would have to dissect that concept more fully later. For now though, it was interesting to see how he would try to extricate himself from this situation.

"I just… I was thinking. I know Cam offered you some time off away from the lab."

She nodded. "It's not necessary."

"Then why is everyone else taking it except for you?"

"I don't need it. They do. They need some physical distance to emotionally recover from recent events. I understand their need but I don't share it."

"I share it," Booth admitted quietly, not looking at her.

The way he said it, and his body language, suggested that he thought she would think this was a weakness. He believed he was admitting to a weakness. "That's normal, Booth."

"Gee, thanks."

"I meant… I don't know what to say. I'm sorry."

"I wanted… the reason I was trying to call you was because I wanted to ask you something."

"That stands to reason."

"Can we please not talk about reason for a while?" Booth asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.

She nodded, for once not arguing or saying anything. She understood that it had been hard for him to watch her reason Zack into his confession. It had been hard to do too, because it was scary to think how well she understood why he had done what he had done. But she could respect Booth's need for temporary avoidance. She might actually need the same thing, if only she could figure out how to get it.

"I… I want to ask you something and I want you to think about it before you answer. It might seem overwhelming at first but… sometimes when things happen, big things… you might have to react in a bigger way than you wanted… I'm not trying to rush you or push you or anything so…"

"Booth – would you just say what you want to ask me to do first before you assume I'm going to say no?" she interrupted, seeing that he was about two seconds from leaving without even asking her. And if he did, that it would take her a while to chase him down, since she was currently naked in the tub.

"Parker knew," Booth said. "I… he was on the list. Sweets didn't screw that part up at least. Rebecca told him I had been hurt, but I was getting better, but that I had to go undercover for a little bit and couldn't come to his basketball game… he never thought I was dead but he was still upset that I couldn't contact him, and that he didn't get to actually see that I was okay after being shot."

Brennan nodded. That at least explained Rebecca. When she had tried to call to see if Parker was doing okay, Rebecca had been very abrupt. Brennan had assumed Rebecca blamed her for Booth's death, since the obsessive woman had been trying to shoot her, and hadn't tried to contact her again.

"Anyway. Rebecca said I can take him for a week. I want to take him to the beach… a quiet beach, not a loud one. After everything that's happened, I think it'll… help. I just think it will help."

Brennan nodded. She didn't necessarily know how much it would help Parker, but she was certain that spending time with Parker was always good for Booth. "That's a good idea, Booth," she said, when he didn't say anything else.

He hesitated a moment and then added quickly, "And I think it will help if you come too."

"Doesn't Parker want to be alone with you?" she asked, confused.

"He likes you. And he never thought I was dead. Bones… I think we need time to talk about what happened… without Sweets eavesdropping, without terrible things interrupting. I just… don't want to go another week without seeing you. No matter what you think, I did want to call you, Bones. I wanted to explain the situation to you myself. I wasn't given the option to do that, so I did the next best thing. It never occurred to me that Sweets would do what he did. I didn't even know it would be his choice to make, and I am really, truly sorry that it happened the way it did. Even if you don't forgive me you have to believe that I'm telling you the truth."

"I know you're telling me the truth, Booth." She thought for a moment about how she'd been feeling before he came in – like her sanctuary for when things like this normally happened, the lab, had been contaminated. Maybe the beach was the answer. And, despite the fact that she was still mad at him, she also didn't want to go another week without seeing him. Not after those terrible two weeks. "Okay," she said.

It took a minute for him to hear her. "Okay? As in… okay?"

"I'll go with you. Where and when are we going?"

"Wow. Thank you. Seriously, thank you. Okay, um, where and when… I didn't think you would agree this fast, if at all, honestly, so um, I'll have to sort out the details and get back to you…"

"Can I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"If you want a quiet beach… my publisher has a beach house in Florida – Anna Maria Island. I've gone there before, to work on my first book. It's got a stretch of private beach, the other houses are far away, it's big enough… I think it sounds like what you're looking for. I could call her and ask if it's available."

"That sounds perfect." He sat there smiling at her for a few moments before he re-realized that they were still in her bathroom and she was still in the tub, naked. "Um, I should go." He got up awkwardly.

She tried not to laugh and asked, "Have you eaten?"

"No."

She realized he very well might have already eaten, but by her asking she had just told him she hadn't, so of course he said no. "Do you want to order pizza?" she asked.

"Sure. That sounds great."

"Good. I'll be out before it gets here. Then I can call my publisher."

"Okay. I'll go call." He flashed another smile and hurried out of the room.

She waited a few seconds, until she was fairly sure he wasn't going to come back in because he forgot to ask her something. She quickly finished her bath, drained the tub, and got out. She dried herself off, put on her robe, combed out her wet hair, and went into her bedroom for some clothes.

"That was fast."

"Why are you on my bed?" she asked.

He was lying across the foot of her bed like a large dog, staring up at the ceiling fan, until she came in. "It's really soft."

She rolled her eyes and went into her closet, leaving it open enough to talk. "Sweets thinks we have boundary issues. I see why he thinks that now."

"He thinks YOU have boundary issues."

"Well, he thought that because I barged into your bathroom. You just did the same thing. It's logical to assume that he would make the same conclusion about you."

"Yeah but… whatever. Do you think we have boundary issues?"

"It depends on what you mean by issues, I suppose," she said. "I mean, we definitely do have boundaries. The fact that they don't always conform to what society normally sees as appropriate boundaries between co-workers and friends of the opposite sex doesn't necessarily mean that there's an "issue" there, in my opinion. We are not normal people and we do not lead normal lives. So to me, it would be more indicative of an abnormality or an 'issue' if we WERE still just like everyone else."

"Yeah," Booth agreed. "That's what I think too. I just think it… simpler."

She laughed and pulled her favorite sweatshirt over her head. That, with some old yoga pants, was her most comfortable outfit. She went back into the bedroom to get some socks from her dresser. "Anyway, we do still have boundaries. It's not like we were in the bathtub together!" she said dismissively as she sat down on the bed, next to his head, and pulled on her socks.

He turned sideways and was face to face with her foot. "Your socks are boring," he informed her, eyeing the solid light blue things with obvious disdain.

"No they aren't," she objected. "Just because they don't have a pattern or a cartoon character on them, and just because they match each other, doesn't make them boring! Feel how soft they are!"

She pressed the sock she hadn't put on yet against his cheek. "Hey, that is soft. I mean, ew!" he recoiled belatedly.

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "It's a clean sock, Booth. Just because it's a sock doesn't make it any less clean than any other piece of laundry when it comes out of the dryer."

"Still… just keep your socks off my face, please. Let's just make than another boundary."

"Fine," she said, putting the offensive sock on. "Anyway, they're slipper socks. I don't wear them with shoes."

"They're still boring."

"You just wish they made them in your size."

"No I… wait, they don't?" She shook her head. "Not fair," he mumbled. The doorbell rang. "Pizza!" he declared happily, hurrying off to get it. Smiling to herself, she followed.

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