17DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me (as much as I sometimes wish a certain one of them did), and instead belong to FOX and all of those people. Unless that changes, this will remain here.
Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth had just finished a case, and the former wanted nothing more than to get something to eat.
After catching the culprit, Brennan had called Angela to ask a question, and they ended up agreeing to meet at the diner for dinner. Booth, however, kept accidentally (although it didn't seem like an accident) messing up her plans.
First, he insisted on driving her to the diner.
"Booth, I don't understand why you won't let me just take a taxi." She said, even as she was stepping through the passenger door of his car.
"Because Bones," He slammed her door closed and went around to the driver's side. Once he slid into his own seat, he continued (he knew that if he didn't, she would pursue the matter much further than necessary, so he spent the time traveling around the car to come up with a good reason). "I'm sure you would be ever so graceful hailing a taxi and all, but it's just not presentable for a woman of your stature. And what if the driver is an insane fan of your books? Besides," he added. "I'm going in that direction."
Why she still continued to argue even as Booth began driving, he didn't know. "But Booth, I'm perfectly capa-"
He rolled his eyes at her. She was being difficult. "I know you're perfectly capable, Bones. But like I just said – I'm going that way anyway."
She grumbled and if Booth didn't know her as well as he did, he would have expected her to begin pouting. But he knew better than to expect Bones to pout.
Brennan began to realize, after a few minutes, that they were going in the opposite direction. "Booth! I thought you said you were going toward the diner!"
He glanced over at her for a second before returning his eyes to the road and the car in front of him. "I'm sorry Bones, I just remembered that I left something at my office this morning."They arrived at a red light and he looked at her again for a few moments longer. He truly looked apologetic, and Brennan considered smiling at him to show that she wasn't mad. But this spurt of politeness was short-lived; the smile quickly turned into a scowl. Booth looked away, but Brennan thought she saw a smirk on his face.
They drew closer to the FBI building, and Booth saw Bones glances down at her watch more than once. He, however, was taking his sweet time. Her impatience amused him, and the fact that she was becoming even more annoyed amused him even more.
Finally, they parked. Booth stepped out of the car and locked it before turning to Bones. "You know I'm just going in for a second, right?"
"Someone has to make sure you don't die while you're inside. The FBI building is a dangerous place, you know; what if you get shot in there?" She was smiling a little half-smile, and Both knew that she was making a joke. He smiled back, relieved. If she was making a joke, it meant that he was forgiven for being a protective pain.
As they made their way to his office, a few people stopped to talk to him. Most ignored Brennan, and only spoke to Booth for a few moments. The only one who seemed to even notice that Brennan existed was a woman that she had not previously met.
"Oh, Seeley, who's this?" the woman asked, looking at Brennan standing at Booth's side.
"This is my partner, Bones." He said, throwing his arm over her shoulder. They looked at each other at exactly the same time, and Brennan saw the glint in his eyes that always seemed to be there when he voiced her name. Or, rather, his nickname for her. She groaned when she realized this, a few seconds too late, and stepped out of Booth's grasp to extend her hand and say, "My name's Temperance Brennan." She said, smiling a bit.
The woman raised her eyebrows at Booth, but took Brennan's hand and shook it, saying "I'm Agent McDonald." She looked at Booth as she removed her hand from Brennan's again. "What brought on the name 'Bones'?"
Now this was where Booth had to think. He couldn't remember what exactly made him call Bones, well, Bones. All he knew was that he had started at some point, and now it was what he generally thought of her as (generally… But let's not go into detail here). But what he eventually decided on was, "Bones works at the Jeffersonian. She's a forensic anthropologist… So she tends to work with bones a lot. She started working with us and dealing with bones even more. They just happen to have been… alive more recently."
Brennan saw something change in Agent McDonald's face, and she opened up her mouth to say something else. Brennan, however, said, "Booth, Angela is probably wondering where in the world I am. Can we hurry this up a bit?"
"Oh, I have an obligation to rush off to anyway. Congratulations on catching your serial killer, Booth." She said, already making her way to the elevator.
They continued on the way to Booth's office. He rifled through the files in the drawers of his desk. Meanwhile, Brennan walked around and looked at the pictures he had around the room; he had added more since the last time she was in his office, including one of him with Parker in which Parker had his arms wrapped around Booth's neck and covering his eyes. They were both laughing, although the fact that the happy, full-of-life appearance that was usually in Booth's eyes was not in view because of Parkers hands. Brennan could imagine it, thought, and she smiled at the thought.
Finally, Booth located the file and rose from the floor, which he had been previously kneeling on. "Okay Bones, let's g-" He never finished the sentence, though, because the sky outside had caught his eye. Bones was looking at him, confused, but Booth was too busy thinking to notice. Why not show it to her? She would probably like it. "Bones, can I show you something?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not going to get to the diner tonight, am I?"
He laughed. "No, probably not. I think you'll really like it, though… Perhaps you should call Angela and tell her?"
She sighed. "Yeah, wait a minute."
Booth waited patiently beside Bones as she explained t o Angela that she wouldn't be able to meet her. She said something that made Bones scowl and roll her eyes, and Booth couldn't help but wonder what it was. But when she hung up, she smiled at him, so he returned the smile and led her out of the office, putting a hand on her back to lead her.
They didn't go back in the direction of the elevator, which made Brennan wonder where they were going. She looked up at Booth questioningly, but he ignored her, obviously thinking.
After walking through an area where most of the agents were already gone, they reached a door that said something about restricted access. Booth pushed it open. Instead of questioning him (it was restricted, after all), she followed him through the door and up a long set of stairs. They climbed for quite some time without saying a word. But as they continued, Brennan got a feeling that she knew where they were going to end up.
Her feeling ended up being correct. At last they reached a second door that Booth guided her through, and they were on the roof.
"Why'd you bring me up here, Booth?" she asked.
For a moment, Booth considered not saying anything. He almost just pulled her over to his favorite spot, behind the emerging spot that the door was built into. But he decided to say instead, "Follow me," and grinned in a way that might have been described as mischievous. He walked around to the other side and Bones stayed closed behind.
"Wow." She gasped. The buildings in Washington D.C. looked fantastic against the sky, in which t he sun was setting. "How did you ever discover this?"
He grinned. "Those cubicles that were passed right before entering the stairs are for the newest agents on our floor. When I was there, mine was right next to the door. How could I not see where it led?" He looked away from Bones and up at the sky. "I come up here to think now, for the most part. Gotta do it somewhere, right?"
Brennan smiled and looked at the sky again. "Yeah. Yeah, you do." She leaned against the wall behind her, as Booth did the same. They stood there for some time, watching the sun sink lower and lower beneath the buildings. Suddenly something Angela asked her months ago entered her mind again, for the first time in a long time. 'Have you ever noticed how much more special a sunset is when you're watching it with someone you care about?' At the time, she had said no. But now she knew. She smiled to herself. "Now I know." She whispered.