37Happy Valentine's Day. This is the last chapter in my entry in the Secret Cupid Challenge for cmol8806. She was looking for fluffy (no angst), Brennan and Booth, with a secret Valentine (gift or person).
Disclaimer: I do own Bones. But only on DVD.
Thanks to nattylovesjordy, razztaztic, and mendenbar for read throughs, suggestions, ideas and general moral support.
Chapter 5 – Home Run
After fastening and positioning her Bump Belt over her ever-expanding belly, Dr. Temperance Brennan reached between the passenger seat and the door for the control and slid her seat farther away from the dash and tilted it back a bit as well. Looking wearily over at her partner in the driver's seat, she sighed. "I really appreciate your willingness to drive me to and from work, Booth. I really like my car, but I'm so huge that it's uncomfortable for me to drive and I get tired so easily these days." Reaching down she cupped her hands over her rounded abdomen. "But then everything's more challenging for me these days!" She chuckled. "I never thought I would say this, but I'm looking forward to my maternity leave in a few weeks!"
"You know I love doing this," Booth moved his right hand from the gear shift to cover her left hand, "for both my girls," he smiles. "Did you get your nap this afternoon? I heard you wake up again last night, Bones."
"I know. I took a short nap on the couch in my office. I just have so much trouble getting comfortable. My back aches, I have leg cramps, and it seems like I have to get up every ten minutes to pee. Really, I'm not complaining." She rubbed her belly and smiled as she felt her daughter kick. "But I have to say that I am really ready for this baby to be born! I think she was dancing the tango on my kidneys last night."
"I wish there was something I could do. It won't be much longer." Booth looked at his partner and once again found himself overwhelmed with the knowledge and gratitude that he was really looking at Bones. There were still times when it seemed unreal that after all this time they were together, having a baby, and renovating their old house. Before he got overly emotional, he asked, "Do we need to stop on the way home, Bones? Do we have dinner at home or should we stop and pick something up?"
"No, I think we're fine. We have sauce for pasta and there are some veggies in the crisper. Does that sound like enough for dinner? There's dessert in the bag that we put in back." At his nod, she continued, "I know there are the same number of hours in every day, but today just seemed to take longer. The lunch and gift exchange was a nice interlude in the middle of the day, though, wasn't it? It actually turned out to be more fun than I expected." Brennan smiled at her partner.
Glancing over at her, Booth returned her smile. "Well, it was interesting, I'll give you that! I still cannot believe that Daisy thought it was a good idea to give Sweets a shoulder holster!"
"You don't think that you were perhaps a little overly tenacious when you took it away from him, Booth? You were quite forceful." She glanced at her partner with a slight smile. "Not that I usually mind when you are forceful, but it was just a holster. It's not like she gave him a weapon, too."
"Aw, c'mon Bones. You know what that shoulder holster means, don't you?" Booth looked at her with horror on his face. "They're pretending they're us again, Bones! That's just yucky, Bones. Yucky, yucky, yucky. It's yucky!"
Brennan laughed at the look at Booth's face. "Yucky, Booth? It is a bit disconcerting when you put it like that," she agreed. "You don't really think that they . . . they wouldn't . . . do you really think they - ?" She cringed. "Well, I think you should speak to him about that, if you haven't already. When you do, would you mind addressing something else with our baby duck? I know I can no longer go out in the field with you but I would appreciate it if he would remember to return this seat to its original position after he rides with you."
"I think I can do that." Booth chuckled.
Hoping to change the subject, Brennan continued, "I was very surprised with my Secret Cupid gift, Booth. It's very odd that we had the same idea for gifts and that we drew each others names. How do you think Angela arranged that?" She raised her eyebrows as she watched him concentrate on rush hour traffic.
Booth smiled and, ignoring her question, responded, "I think Angela arranged the whole Secret Cupid gift exchange just so you and I would get these snuggies for each other, don't you?" he asks. "I really love mine, Bones."
"I could tell, Booth! And it looked very good on you, too. You surprised me when you put it on to model it for everyone!" She laughed remembering how the snuggie looked on her partner and wondered if he'd seen her snap a picture with her phone.
"They were all jealous that they didn't get one! I'm guessing that at least a couple of them googled snuggies this afternoon! It's great, Bones! Great! Parker will love it, too. He'll want one of his own!"
Brennan smiled at his response, anticipating his surprise when she gave Parker the Green Lantern snuggie later this weekend.
"I never knew they were out there. I'm not even sure that I want to know how Angela found them or what kind she might have purchased for her and Hodgins!" He suggestively raised his eyebrows with a smile on his face. "I'm hoping that you'll model yours for me this evening? That is part of my Valentine's Day gift, isn't it Bones?"
"I'm very pregnant Booth. I'm not sure that they had my size in mind when they said one size fits all!"
"Baby, you are beautiful to me." Sensing what was coming, he continued. "I know. My progeny reflected, blah, blah, blah. That's fine, Bones. I love you and I think that you look beautiful. Please just accept that whether or not you see yourself that way, that is how I see you." Pulling into the driveway, Booth pulled the vehicle around to the back of the house, parked and hurried around the SUV to help Brennan out.
"I love you, too, Booth. Angela says that when you give me a compliment I am just supposed to say thank you. So, thank you, Booth." As he reached to help her out of the SUV, she continued, "Booth, I'm pregnant, I'm not helpless."
"Thank you, Bones. Just say thank you," he grinned. "I know you're not helpless but I also can see that you're really tired this evening." Leering at her, he continued, "Maybe I just want to see you in your new snuggie, baby. If you repeat this to anyone, including Angela, I will deny it, but I've been thinking about a pregnant Wonder Woman ever since Angela helped me order it a couple of weeks ago. C'mon baby, let's get you into the house!"
With his hand on that spot in the small of her back that he now claimed exclusively as his, Booth guided Brennan down the hall toward the master bedroom. "Why don't you slip into something more comfortable," he smiled, "and I'll get dinner started. If you want to try out your Valentine's present, I'll help you with the socks."
Smiling back at him, she responded. "I don't know why you think you want to see a pregnant Wonder Woman, Booth, but since you are willing to get dinner started, I will go change."
She smiled as she took the snuggie out of the box. She had been a little nervous during Angela's Secret Cupid gift exchange, but when she saw Booth's familiar handwriting on the card she knew that it would not be anything that would embarrass her in front of her colleagues. She had previously suspected that Angela had a plan from the beginning with this Secret Cupid exchange, but it wasn't until she opened her gift that she knew for certain that she and Booth had been played. There had been whistles and whoops when she opened the gift, but she refused to take the snuggie out of the box and try it on in front of them.
She laughed out loud as she remembered Booth's response to the Superman snuggie and his willingness to model it for the group of co-workers and friends. What had also surprised her was the number of her interns who apparently knew the theme song for the old Superman TV series. She made a mental note to look for DVDs of the original black and white show for Booth's man cave collection.
Looking at herself in the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door she thought, "Maybe that wasn't such a bad date after all!"
Pushing her swollen feet into her slippers she moved out toward the kitchen. She heard Booth starting dinner and knew that he had probably already peeked into the bag he'd carried in earlier and found the apple pie she'd ordered from the diner.
Booth looked up as she made her way into the kitchen. She laughed when she saw him in his Superman snuggie and he smiled back at her. He raised his hands in the air and in his best imitation of an old fashioned radio announcer, said, "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound - Look! Up in the air! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"
He crossed the kitchen and wrapped her in a hug. She had never looked more lovely to him. He raised his eyebrows as he asked, "So is this what Wonder Woman looks like after a wild party with members of the Justice League of America?"
She laughed as she raised her chin up to give him a kiss. "Booth, you know you're the only one for me. I don't need those other super heroes. You're my metal man."
"Man of steel, Bones. Man of steel," he replied, laughing.
Reaching down she caressed him and could tell he was only wearing his boxers underneath his Superman snuggie. "Oh, that's right." She smiled up at him and gave him a gentle squeeze. "My man of steel."
Fade to black.
.
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Happy Valentine's Day to all, especially my Secret Cupid cmol8806 – I hope you enjoyed this fan fic! Also, a very happy Half Priced Off Chocolate Day on Tuesday to EVERYONE! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and PM'd me on this story. It was fun to write.
I've been a fan of Superman since the 1950's TV show (with George Reeves) in the 1950s. My brother and I both read DC Comics and, of course, how could I not be a fan of Wonder Woman? So, when my friend Wendi sent me a link to a gift a friend had purchased for her father, I had to get one for my own Dad. The Superman snuggie really was the perfect gift for my 92-year old Dad (and I love the picture of my (very handsome, younger) brother wearing it!) Although I held similar beliefs to both Brennan and Booth about snuggies, thinking that it is just a robe worn backwards and really kind of foolish looking, these snuggies really are the most fun!
If you want to see what they look like (remove all extraneous spaces in the following URLs), you can find Brennan's Wonder Woman snuggie here tinyurl 87re54b, you can find Booth's Superman snuggie here tinyurl 6m7lfbq. Because these snuggies do not have feet, you can find Brennan's socks here tinyurl 6ljydwg, and Booth's socks (no stripes, but perfect for Valentine's Day) here tinyurl 7pnfz2z Parker's Green Lantern snuggie can be found here /tinyurl 735mq67
When Brennan thought about ordering DVDs of the 'Adventures of Superman,' I was curious. I googled the original 1950's version in black and white (with George Reeves, Phyllis Coates (Lois Lane in the first season; Noel Neill played Lois in the later seasons), Jack Larson, John Hamilton, etc.). It IS available on DVD. You can find it here / 4yosf7b (yup. I ordered one for my Dad! ;-)
The Wonder Woman/Superman "bad date" from Mummy in the Maze can be found on youtube here watch?v=jD6yk40KS4s