Bones Ficlet: Lessons (#9 in Into the Fire)

[only_more_love]

Title: Lessons
Characters: Booth, Brennan, Hodgins (kind of)
Series: Into the Fire
Series Summary:  This is a series of oneshot 300-word ficlets about Booth and Brennan crossing the line over and over again.
Prompt: #20 (Writer's Choice)
Prompt Table: Sex
Written for:  drabble123
Word Count: 300
Rating: T
Timeline: November 2009
Spoilers:  Through Aliens in a Spaceship and an oblique reference to a bit of dialogue from Death in the Saddle. 
Disclaimer: Bones and its characters belong to FOX, not me. This story is purely meant to entertain. No copyright infringement is intended.
Feedback: is always appreciated. Thank you very much to all who comment!
Note:  I've put up multiple posts today.  Hopefully that isn't annoying anyone, but if it is, please look away.  I have stuff that wants to get out. :)

Click here for fic index.
Click for the other ficlets in this series.

Lessons

It’s the third anniversary of their rescue from the bowels of the earth. Time has loosened memory’s hold on her, but it doesn’t take much for Brennan to recall the thin air and the despair that had tightened her lungs and been reflected in Hodgins’ haunted gaze.

She and Hodgins commemorate their rescue with lunch. Though it’s an unusual occurrence for them to dine without anyone else, no one questions them on this day. But Booth insists on driving them to the restaurant and picking them up when they’re finished.

“I’m gonna grab a sandwich from Max’s Deli,” Booth tells her as she and Hodgins exit the SUV, but she has examined his face from too many angles and heard the thousand cadences of his voice too many times to be fooled by the lie; she knows he will sit outside the restaurant and keep watch over them both.

She could fight him. She could disarm his irrationality with the weapon of logic. She could argue she doesn’t need his protection. But he needs to offer it – even if they both know it is a comforting illusion at best. And this, she’s learned through being with him, is a necessary part of a relationship – knowing when to let the other person’s needs supersede your own.

Not an easy lesson. Not one she’s mastered. But since he needs to be her paladin today, she lets him. Just as she lets him take her back to his place that night, where he shows her again that sometimes two people can come close to breaking the laws of physics.

As sleep claims her that night, Brennan thinks that she would never have learned these lessons had Booth and the others who have become so much more than colleagues not found her and Hodgins.

Comments

[dabhug.livejournal.com]

I am waiting for the show to revist and examine the aftermath of AiaS, I hope I do not remain disappointed.

Another lovely glimpse and more of your words. Thank you.

[lerdo.livejournal.com]

♥

Thanks, honey, for your kind words. I couldn't tell you WHERE I saw it, but I believe I read somewhere that Bones will be picking up the Gravedigger thread again. *crosses fingers*

[dabhug.livejournal.com]

Then I have hope.

Thanks for the info.

[heather-berry78.livejournal.com]

What an incredible idea - and well executed. I adore the thought of Hodgins and brennan sharing this experience and acknowledging it, and I equally love Booth being her paladin again.

*Just as she lets him take her back to his place that night, where he shows her again that sometimes two people can come close to breaking the laws of physics.*

Swoon!

[binkii822.livejournal.com]

I love that they are mature enough in the relationship now for her to let him be the protector, even she she thinks it is pointless. Also the anniversary lunches with Hodgins are such a lovely touch!

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I love the personal growth that Brennan shows here and how she acknowledges it's all due to Booth.

And of course he'd wait outside the restaurant.

[caitlinsici.livejournal.com]

Two pieces of writing from you in one day; It's like Christmas!

I love the other on and this one, just so you know ;)

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

wow awesome :)

[ggjunkie33.livejournal.com]

Lovely portrayal of the anniversary-I love that Hodgins and Brennan do something together to recognize that fact. Booth's reaction (needing to watch over them) is so Booth, and I love that you show that he needs to do something to protect her, and Brennan acknowledges that and allows it.

Would love to see them use this on the show-we need some Gravedigger closure (and luckily, I think if I'm remembering correctly, we're going to re-visit it this season!).

[makd.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's no way he wouldn't be outside, waiting.

Great fic! (as usual)

[tempertemper77.livejournal.com]

Oh, read this last night, thought I'd commented *the shame!*

And this, she’s learned through being with him, is a necessary part of a relationship – knowing when to let the other person’s needs supersede your own.

Not an easy lesson. Not one she’s mastered. But since he needs to be her paladin today, she lets him.

Beautiful, real, emotional stuff :)

♥

[melissa-pbfan.livejournal.com]

I love it!

[aynohyeb.livejournal.com]

I love your juxtaposition that it's "a comforting illusion" but a "necessary part of a relationship"

[mistletoe54.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you see the depth the series tries to ignore. There better had be follow up on the Gravedigger after they dropped the ball on the Gormogon arc. Too many loose or badly tied ends tend to piss off the viewer.

[sb158.livejournal.com]

Wow! Disturbing thought. Lovely fic, as always. Nice to see her realizing how much she's grown over the past few years.