What You Expect, a bones fanfic

What You Expect

Author: ShaViva

Rating: K

Content Warning: None

Season: 6

Summary: "I guess I'm the only one living the life I expected." Episode Tag 'The Couple in the Cave'. BEWARE, season 6 spoilers inside.

Classifications: Angst/Friendship

Pairings: Booth/Hannah

Spoilers for: S06E02 The Couple in the Cave; end of season 5 probably too.

Acknowledgements: None

Disclaimer: The Bones characters, storylines, etc aren't mine. I am unfortunately not associated in any way with the creators, owners, or producers of Bones or any of its media franchises. If I was I wouldn't be torturing everyone with Booth making kissy faces with Hannah all the time while Brennan looks on! All publicly recognizable characters, settings, equipment, etc are the property of whoever owns them. The original characters and plot and anything else I made up are the property of me, the author. No copyright infringement is intended.

What You Expect

"Your young man couldn't stay tonight?"

Temperance Brennan looked up from her contemplation of Booth's abandoned glass, still half full. Seeing it there made her lonely in a way she knew she'd have to become reaccustomed to. "Sorry?" She frowned, her blue eyes wide as she tried to place the older gentleman sitting next to her at the bar.

"Forgive my intrusion dear," the man shifted closer. "Harvey Reynolds, at your service." He smiled, holding out a hand.

Brennan shook it hesitantly as she introduced herself. "Doctor Temperance Brennan. I'm sorry – should I recognise you?"

"I've been a regular at Founding Fathers for many years," Harvey replied, "but no, I don't think you'd recognise me." His brown eyes twinkled as he leaned closer, as if sharing a secret. "Usually your attention is wrapped up in the young man I just saw leaving."

"Yes, my partner," Brennan said. "We work together," she added matter-of-factly.

"Oh," Harvey paused, looking at Temperance quizzically. "I thought ... forgive my assumption. Despite his leaving with the attractive blonde this evening, I had always assumed you were a couple."

"A couple who never had sex." Angela's words rose in her mind. "No, Booth and I were never romantically involved. Although we have always been highly compatible in our working partnership, we never shared a sufficient similarity of personal belief required for a successful romantic relationship," Brennan explained in that academic way of hers. Her eyes met the old man's, the faint wrinkling between her brows an unspoken signal that even she wasn't completely convinced by what she was saying.

"Surely the only personal belief of any consequence is a belief in each other," Harvey suggested gently.

"It doesn't matter," Brennan looked down at her glass. "Booth has found someone to share his life with, someone with whom he has functional equality. What I believe no longer matters."

Harvey put a hand over Brennan's and squeezed lightly. "I'm sorry, my dear."

Temperance raised a smile from somewhere inside – after the past few days she was getting very good at that. "Thank you for the conversation Mr. Reynolds. If you'll excuse me I must return to work. We closed a case today and there is evidence to be catalogued."

"Of course," Harvey smiled in return. "I wish you well Doctor Brennan."

Nodding, Brennan rose and quickly left the bar.

She went back to the Jeffersonian, because in the absence of anything else there was always work. It was her constant ... she understood its rules and its processes – they didn't change because she'd spent seven months away. She could be herself and they would still work as they always had.

The platform was deserted ... dark ... and empty. Clark must have catalogued the forensics before he'd gone home. Perhaps he had done so as a method of atoning for not realising sooner that their two cave victims had fallen instead of being beaten as they'd originally thought. Regardless, his diligence left nothing immediate for Brennan to do.

Standing on the platform, arms folded over her middle, Temperance acknowledged again that feeling of once familiar loneliness. She knew with utter certainty that she could stay at the Jeffersonian, work the entire night, and no one would come to urge her to do otherwise. It made no sense to feel left behind and yet she did. Doctor Saroyan had a daughter and a relationship that had still been new when Brennan had left for Maluku. Angela and Hodgins had each other and a baby on the way. Even Clark had a girlfriend, or he had the last time he'd worked as her assistant.

And Booth had Hannah.

Comforting herself that she had a fulfilling job, a successful writing career, and the admiration of those who recognised that she was at the top of her field just didn't have the same effect as it had before she'd met Seeley Booth.

With a sigh, Temperance left the platform and headed for her office. There was always work to do there.

"Bones?"

Booth's voice had her head off the desk before she was fully awake. Pushing her hair back she frowned at her partner. "Booth?"

"You stayed here all night?" Booth looked as put together as usual and Brennan found herself resenting his crisp white shirt, lively red tie, and freshly pressed suit.

"What time is it?" she asked, straightening and smoothing down the same shirt and pants she'd been wearing the night before.

"Seven," Booth replied, glancing at his watch.

"You're here early," Brennan commented, attempting to raise a smile.

"Yeah, Hannah had a Press Corps thing," Booth shrugged. "I thought I'd stop by, pick up the paperwork, get it all filed first thing." He gave her a winning smile.

Brennan felt her smile drop at the mention of Hannah and turned away before Booth could comment on it. "I see." Getting up she gathered the forensic reports, stacking them in the case file and handing them to her partner. "There you go. Don't let me keep you."

"That's it?" Booth frowned, looking at the file in his hand like he expected it to bite him.

"Yes," Brennan said simply. "I assume you'll call when we have another case."

"Bones," Booth protested. "We don't have to wait for a case to see each other."

"In the past that was certainly true, but with Hannah in your life now, everyone assures me that things will have to change," Brennan explained earnestly. "I'd prefer those changes to take place sooner rather than later."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Booth demanded. "What changes?"

"I assumed this to be the kind of thing you would understand better than I can," Brennan returned, irritated because really, was it her place to explain to Booth what his new relationship was going to do to her life?

"We're still partners Bones," Booth moved forward, taking her shoulders in his hands and urging her to look at him. "Okay? Nothing is going to change that. Hannah understands."

"Everything changes Booth," Brennan looked at him, her eyes sheened with emotion even as she tried to bring it back to logic. "Anthropologically speaking very few cultures make allowances for male female relationships outside the primary monogamous partnership."

"So you're saying I can't be friends with you because I have Hannah now?" Booth tried to decipher her meaning.

"Be practical Booth," Brennan pulled away and returned to her desk and the comfort of that barrier between them. "Many of the things we used to do are no longer viable."

"Is this because I didn't stay to finish our drink last night?" Booth frowned, trying to work out what was driving Bones.

"Yes, in a way it is," Brennan agreed. "It is not your fault Booth. I should never have allowed myself to depend on you – before our respective sabbaticals to Maluku and Afghanistan, but especially since you informed me that you had formed a serious relationship with a woman."

"I said I was moving on Bones. What did you expect?" Booth stood with his hands at his waist, regarding her quizzically. There was no challenge there - it was just a question, one anyone could have asked her, but after her conversation with Angela it cut deep.

"I expected you wouldn't declare your love for Hannah in front of me because you would see that, despite my opinions about love, it hurts."

"I expected you to realise that while everyone sees you as fortunate and happy, they look at me with sympathy and pity because they believe that I have lost you."

"I expected you to see how alone I feel."

"I expected it to take more than 7 months for you to replace me in your heart!"

The thoughts sped through her head, all there to be spoken.

"Nothing Booth," Brennan said instead. "I expected my life to be exactly what it is."

It was true. Where that once would have made her happy, now it just left her flat and empty. Harvey Reynolds had been right. All it really took was belief ... and while she'd always believed in Seeley Booth, she'd never really believed in Temperance Brennan. If she'd understood the consequences of that perhaps she would have tried harder to see the world as Booth did. But she hadn't and now it was too late.

"If you'll excuse me Booth, I have work to do." Brennan stood, arms folded, waiting for him to leave.

"Right," Booth frowned, knowing he'd missed something but having no idea what. "I'll ah ... I'll talk to you later, okay."

Nodding, Brennan stood where she was, watching him go.

It hurt to be proven right. It wasn't just chemicals that were transient – friendships, hearts, people. At the end of the day everything was subject to change without notice. That's what she'd learned from Booth going to Afghanistan and coming back a mere seven months later in love with someone new.

"Better to see that now than later, when it would have hurt more," she told herself. Taking a deep, resolute breath, Temperance focussed back on her work, deciding on Bone Storage as her next destination.

She might feel as though she were in limbo – unable to align herself with how everyone else saw the world and therefore unable to fully participate within it - but there was no need for others to remain there. She couldn't do anything about her own circumstances but she could give them closure, one skeleton at a time.

The End

Authors Note:

Yes, as you can see, I'm less than impressed with the tone of the first two episodes of season 6. Watching Brennan putting that clueless smile on her face while everyone else is all happy, happy, joy, joy just makes me feel sad. I'm still thinking about a 'Two in One' sequel – probably shouldn't have started watching season 6 because the way it's going has kind of killed my BB inspiration. I'll try to revive it but in the meantime, this was what came out when I sat down to write. It's my first Bones episode tag so please, let me know what you thought. Thank you.