Away Isn't Far Enough

7. British Equivalent

"Exactly," she said with a tone that put an end to the subject.

What?

He whistled some tune for a minute, then he shouted, "Oh!" like he just had an illumination. "Have you listened to the radio since you're here? The stations here are hilarious!"

He turned the knob of the radio all the way up.

"...phone rings in the middle of the night,"

Brennan's throat shut down, her heart raced. She recognized the song instantly.

"My father yells

'What you gonna do with your life?'
Oh,daddy,dear,
You know you're still number one,"

She tried not to show anything and clenched on the fabric of her pants.

"But girls,
They wanna have fu-un,
Oh,girls,just wanna--"

Until she couldn't take it anymore. Before she hyperventilated, she turned it off.

"Hey, you love that song!" he said without thinking.

"Yeah. I did."

He concentrated on the road in front of him. She wanted her voice to sound detached, but it only made it sound even more hurt. At least to Booth.

"Your death kinda ruined it for me."

He hesitated a little before saying, "But I'm not dead."

"I know."

"And it's just a song. As you would say, it can't hold powers or whatever."

She turned to him.

"I know it's just a song, but I can still... Let's not talk about that anymore."

"Ever? About..."

"Your fake death, yeah."

"No, what were you gonna say?"

"It's gonna sound silly."

They stopped at a red light, and he looked at her. She was staring straight ahead.

"This can count as your secret if you want."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah." He paused. "But I still wanna know what's in that metallic box."

"Of course you do." She laughed softly. She took a deep breath and let it out. "I can still hear the exact moment you get shot every time I hear that song."

He wanted to take her minds off things. He wanted to make her laugh.

"Too bad I got shot before I could hear the ending, though. You sounded great."

Was that a chuckle?

He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes.

That comment wasn't even funny. It's his tone, she understood. The way he says things makes them funny.

"You really belted it out. You were... What was it that kids called it back in the day? Rad?"

Her smile grew larger. He knew she was trying to hold back.

"So rad, in fact, when I got shot, I was on my way up on stage."

"Shut up," she said, finally cracking up.

"Really! People think I took a bullet for you, but I just wanted to have fun, like the girls."

She looked at him.