FicWad

Disclaimers: I do not own nor make a profit from this. Rightful owners are Josephson Entertainment and Far Field Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television.

Author's Notes: Spoilers for "Aliens in a Spaceship". Missing scene that takes place after the rescue but before the ending scene.

The Now and the Not Yet

"Where are we going?"

"We," Booth began, arching a brow at his weary partner, "are taking you home, and then I'm going to my place to catch some sleep."

"What about that partial toll tag? Have you seen it yet? Put a trace on it? Identified it?"

"Bones, Bones, simmer down. It's late. Besides, Hodgins has it. We'll trace the piece of that bumper sticker tomorrow." He reached over and patted the top of her hand. "We will find out who the Grave Digger is."

Brennan forced a smile but felt an icy chill run the length of her spine as the memories and haunts of the abduction and confinement in a buried car flooded back to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a couple of concerned glances from Booth but remained quiet, concentrating on trying to remember anything else that she hadn't told Booth.

"Hey. You okay?" Booth asked, interrupting her thoughts and touching her hand again.

"Hodgins says I have faith," Brennan blurted out.

"What?"

"Faith," she answered then added, "in you."

"I'm not God, Bones," Booth stated, giving a half laugh and wanting to nip the topic of religion in the bud before it started. Of the million things that they could talk about, over the recent weeks, she had become increasingly determined to talk about religion. He removed his hand from the top of hers and ran it through his hair.

"You get things done. I knew you wouldn't let us down. I knew you were working hard to find us. That's not faith. That's knowledge. That's fact."

"First of all, Bones, that is faith. You believed in me. Trusted in my ability to get the job done. Secondly, everyone worked hard to find you two. That message that was sent to my cell phone was decoded by Zack not me. I was just..." He stopped mid-sentence and refocused on the road, trying not to look at the anthropologist sitting beside him. His mind started to remind him that she always sat there and how he wouldn't be able to imagine any other partner sitting in that spot. And yet, it almost happened. He felt a lump growing in the back of his throat and swallowed hard.

"You were just what, Booth?"

"Nothing, Bones. You're safe now."

Brennan turned slightly in her seat, pulling her left foot up slightly and tucking it behind her right knee. "You were just what?" she repeated.

"Persistent, aren't we?" Booth countered, laughing to hide his true feelings.

"You were going to tell me something, and I want to know what it was."

Booth knew it was no use arguing with her. "Okay. I was going to say that I was just really worried. I was frustrated. I couldn't call your cell phone back. I had no clue what that code meant. And time had run out." He sighed heavily. He hated the feeling of helplessness but had felt it today.

"But you did find us. You saw the puff of air from the airbag explosion and pulled me out."

He looked over at her sincere face. "Look, Bones, you and I have a special relationship. You're my partner. You're my..."

His hesitation allowed Brennan to guess, "Friend?"

"Friend. Yes, friend. We're a great team. You and I and our squints." Booth shifted his eyes back to the road. She was more than a friend or partner, but he couldn't tell her that. Not yet.

"We are," she agreed. She wanted to tell him that their friendship was definitely something special, and perhaps it was a little more than a friendship, but unlike all of her other ways to connect relationships anthropologically, her feelings for Booth had manifested into something that she wasn't ready to risk their partnership for. Not yet.

As the silence crept in again, Booth changed the subject. "So Bones, where did you learn to hotwire?"

"/MacGyver/."

Taken completely off guard and unable to hide his surprise, he asked, "You? /MacGyver/?"

"Sure, I watched TV when I was a kid. My dad and Russ liked the show. I liked to listen to them discuss how probable it was for the MacGyver guy to actually free himself from whatever predicament he was in."

"And they just so happened to have a show where MacGyver hotwired a car horn to his cell phone in order to send one last text message."

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Cell phones didn't exist back then in the same capacity that they do now."

"Just checking," Booth smirked.

"Well, they did have," she began but Booth cut her off, "Bones, I don't need a history lesson in communication devices."

Brennan felt the car slow and looked at her surroundings. "Booth, this isn't exactly the way to my place."

"I know, Bones. I need to make a stop," Booth explained. He remembered their earlier conversation as he pulled off the road and into a parking lot. "I was too harsh the other day. I'd like it if you accompanied me inside."

Brennan looked at the large church, her eyes following the brick structure, pausing at the beautiful stain glass window, and then continuing all the way to the top of the steeple. "Now?" she questioned. Seeing his nod, she answered with a smile, "Yeah, I'd like that."

The corners of his mouth turned upwards before he added, "Just one stipulation."

She flashed him a knowing glance as they walked up to the doors of the Catholic church. "I know. I promise that I will try not to disrespect your God in His house."

"That's good enough for me, Bones." /Good enough for me/, he repeated to himself.