The Other Bones

The Conversation

Once Seeley had collected the spoons he walked back into the living room passing a spoon to Mia before sitting down.

"Joining me?" Mia asked, lifting the duvet. Seeley obliged immediately. He wanted to be closer to her and the offer of part of the duvet was an olive branch in her world. She was less angry and upset at him.

"I'm sorry" he whispered to her before holding out his hand in the hope that she would at least take it. If she took it then it meant that she accepted the apology. Slowly Mia accepted the hand while still eating her slice of the chocolate cake. He gently began rubbing Mia's knuckles. It was his comfort.

"What else?" Mia asked, knowing from the way Booth was rubbing her knuckles there was something else on his mind.

"I'm going to Washington" Seeley said with a sigh. There was a lot more he needed to say to her but the simple four words were all he could manage right now.

"And..." Mia said knowing there was something else that was on Seeley's mind. It was an unspoken rule that Mia did not analyse Seeley psychologically.

"There's someone there that I'm close to" Seeley continued tightening his grip on Mia's hand knowing she would immediately assume the relationship was romantic. He needed her to know that he and Bones were not romantically involved. "I'm close to them in a platonic way but I want you to meet her and her team" Mia nodded as Seeley finished the sentence.

"But..." Mia continued to prompt him.

"I need to ask them first and I'm worried about what will happen when you meet her" Seeley finished "Next time you can come too hopefully"

"What's making you so anxious?" Mia asked, hoping Seeley would be honest with her this time.

"It might upset you" Seeley said, gauging her reaction very carefully.

"I'm strong enough" Mia said, remembering the things that she had already been through. Nothing could destroy the life she had built.

"I think I found your sister" Seeley stated matter of factly while still watching Mia's face for a reaction.

"You found Joy? Does she know about me?" Mia asked, tensing up immediately. Seeley squeezed her hand to help her ground herself.

"Yeah I think so and no she doesn't. I haven't spoken to her about it. I told you first. Her brother remembers his last name used to be Keenan" Seeley explained carefully, knowing that it could bring back all sorts of memories Mia might not need.

"What's their last name now?" Mia said, trying to calm her breathing.

"Brennan" Seeley replied standing from the couch and then kneeling in front of Mia "Just breathe, in... and out..." Slowly Seeley talked Mia through her panic attack. He recognised the signs but it usually only happened when she started thinking about her past.

Pretty soon Mia was laughing again at Seeley's jokes as if the past hour had not happened. But the thoughts about her family were still swirling under the surface and Booth could see that. All he wanted was to make it stop. 

"I'll talk to Dr Brennan and we'll talk about her when I get back, is that okay?" Seeley asked, smiling at his friend.

"Yeah" Mia replied returning the smile before pulling the duvet further up "We should get some sleep"

"Yeah, let me just lock the doors" Seeley replied walking out of the living room leaving Mia snuggled alone on the couch. As you can imagine Mia was no longer awake by the time Booth had locked the doors and checked the house was completely secured. So the logical thing for Seeley to do when I saw the scene in front of him was to slide back under the unused half of the duvet and settle in for the night. Seeley would pretend that he was doing it to make sure that Mia didn't have any nightmares. But it was so he could keep pretending that they had a life together.