8For those who may be interested, the movie "The Bucket List" was released in the US in December 2007 following "The Santa in the Slush" and "the mistletoe incident" on Bones (S.3Ep.9 - Ep.52 in the series).
Some of you may be familiar with and their "Six Word Memoirs" (one of my other writing addictions ;-) - the title for this story is taken from that genre.
I do not own Bones, Booth, or The Bucket List. If I did, I would be writing this on the lanai of an ocean-side bungalow on the Big Island of Hawaii (Hilo side).
Brennan was washing the salad greens for dinner when she heard the front door open and heard Booth's keys land in the bowl on the table.
"I'm in here, Booth," she called out, "How was your day?"
Booth walked into the kitchen scrubbing is hand over his face. "Not so good. Do you remember Agent Barrett? He was the one that worked with us on the Staunton case? He passed away this morning. Bones, he was only 45." He opened the refrigerator, pulled out a beer and twisted off the top.
"Oh, Booth, I'm so sorry to hear that. He was the agent with the great sense of humor wasn't he? The redhead? We commented on the way back into town what a nice guy he was and how he really seemed to care about the other agents with whom he worked. Had he been ill?"
"No, He wasn't feeling well yesterday afternoon and he'd gone home early. I guess he lay down to take a nap and woke up about midnight and asked his wife to call 911. The EMTs got there fairly quickly but they couldn't save him. He has two boys in college." Booth sat on the couch in the living room and toed off his shoes. "It's just sad. Thinking about Dennis' wife and boys and the suddenness of it all."
"I'm really sorry, Booth, is there anything I can do?" She was drying her hands on a towel as she walked into the living room.
"No, Bones. It just got me thinking, y'know. It's one of those things that when you first hear it you just can't believe that it's true, 'cause you just saw him, or just talked to him. Then as you talk with others about it, it kind of becomes more real, but even so, I guess the hardest part when it's a peer or a colleague is the reminder that life is short and we shouldn't put off doing the stuff we want to do and telling the people we love how important they are to us. Pops used to tell me that he tried to live each day as if it might be his last, because one of these days he would be right!" He looked up at her, "it's kind of a morbid thought in a way, but I know that he's right."
"When we lose someone we know so unexpectedly, it really brings those kinds of thoughts home, doesn't it. It's logical that we are more aware of the people who are meaningful in our lives, then life takes over and we go back to thinking we have all the time in the world. We are probably are more aware of that than most people. If you think about it, Booth, the remains we deal with are people who will never have the opportunity to complete their bucket lists." She reached over and rubbed his shoulders and watched as he rolled them back toward her and sank deeper into the couch.
"Bones! You know about bucket lists?" Booth looked surprised as he tipped his head against the back of the couch and looked up into her face.
"Well," she blushed as she replied, "I'll admit that Angela had to explain it to me. We'd been to the movies and there was a trailer for that movie - I couldn't figure out why anyone would have so many buckets that they would need to make a list of them." She laughed. "When we went out to dinner later, Ange suggested that we should each make a bucket list."
"Did you make one, Bones?"
Brennan laughed. "I did, Booth. But remember I was out with Ange, and we'd had a few drinks by the time we got to the list."
"Do you still have it?"
"Um, yeah."
"Do you know where it is?"
"Yeah." He could hear the trepidation in her voice and when he glanced at her face, he saw her blushing.
"Would you share it with me?"
"Uhm. Booth, this was a few years ago, you know, before you and I, well we hadn't . . . And I didn't really do it right, it was mostly just travel stuff that I was thinking about at the time."
"Bones? I'd really like it if you'd share it with me."
His curiosity was piqued as he watched her body language. He wondered what she would have on her list, she had already accomplished so much and done so many things. Maybe he shouldn't be asking her to share this. When did that movie come out anyway? 2006? 2007? Was she dating anyone then? Was he? He couldn't remember for sure. Maybe he should have just let this be. But those were different times, they were different people, and certainly their situation is different now, he assured himself.
"Okay, Booth, but remember your rule about giving some of yourself! If I share my list with you, you'll have to share your list with me." She glanced back at him sitting on the couch with that smirk on his face, "You do have a bucket list, don't you Booth?"
He gulped as she walked out of the room. As she reminded him of what he'd told her about give and take, he realized that he would have to share his list with her and wondered if he could come up with a new list quickly? He knew where he'd stashed the latest iteration of his bucket list, but he also knew that he had not changed anything on it in the last few months - and to say their life had changed in the last few months, was an understatement! As he thought about it, he remembered one of the things that he'd put on his list. Crap. This could be embarrassing. Well, they're in a relationship now; it would be okay.
She knew that she had the list at the bottom of her lingerie drawer. She had stuck it in an envelope with some pictures and a few other small mementos. As she moved the silk panties and bras aside she had the fleeting thought that if she came out wearing nothing but silk lingerie, Booth would forget all about this silly list. She didn't even know why she had saved it. Her fingers found the envelope and she opened the flap. Yes. There it was. She slowly pulled out the crumpled bar napkin and her stomach did another flip-flop as she saw what she had written.
It was times like this that Brennan wished she were a better liar. People thought she was so honest because of some principles or value system by which she lived her life, when it was really because she is as bad at lying as she is at telling jokes. She read through the list, most of which was benign until she got to the last two items on the list:
• Kiss Booth with no mistletoe anywhere in sight and as many steamboats as I want
• Convince Booth to show me how to break the laws of physics.
As she walked back into the living room she saw him getting a piece of paper out of the cigar box he had placed on one of the shelves of their bookcase. He unfolded it and she watched him smile as his eyes went over what he had written on his list. Then she giggled as she watched him blush, and she knew it would be okay.
Later that evening, using one of Booth's dress shirts as a cover-up, Bones padded into the kitchen for a glass of water. As she passed back through the living room, she picked up the two pieces of paper that had been discarded on the coffee table. Stepping over the discarded items of clothing in the living room and hallway, she returned to the bedroom where her partner was propped up against the headboard with an exhausted smile of contentment on his face.
She handed him the glass, one of the pieces of paper, and a pen and said with a mischievous grin, "Booth, I think we can each cross an item off of our lists."
Booth glanced down at the list she handed him with a smile and reflected on the other things that were on his list. He looked forward to doing the things that were remaining, especially the sports stuff with Parker. Admittedly, they wouldn't be quite as fun to complete as this one had been. With an evil grin on his face, he reached down and circled the item on his list that they had just accomplished:
Show Bones how to break the laws of physics.
As she curled up against him, he wondered if she would like to come up with a list for them to do together. Scooting down onto the pillows, with her still curled in his arms, he rested his chin on the top of her head and thought physics had never been his long suit, but if he'd known it could be this much fun . . .
Post script:
Several years ago, when I still did counted cross stitch, each member of my family received a piece to hang in their homes that read:
"If you love someone, tell them now. Eternity is time enough for silence."
While this story was written for the Bucket List Challenge, it was written shortly after we unexpectedly lost two colleagues - once again a rude reminder that "life is short" and "eternity is time enough for silence", hence the title and the post script above.