Author: mulderbabe77
Summary: Pure fluff. Brennan gets her period on their way home from interviewing a suspect. She feels like crap, Booth helps her feel better. Some cute conversation and caretaking. Nothing but fluff really. Sorry!
Length: 2174 words
Classification: Fluff, Caretaking, Sickfic
Rating: G
Spoilers: None really, as long as you’ve seen season 1, this is set around early season 2 sometime
Has not really been proof read very well, just kind of threw it together as it was running around my head.
Dr. Temperance Brennan shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat of the SUV for the sixth time in just a few short minutes. Something that did not go unnoticed by her partner, Seeley Booth, as he drove. In fact, he was now keeping a mental tally of how many times she squirmed in her seat since they started driving.
She had been unusually quiet the last hour or so, as they ate lunch and drove home from questioning a suspect in rural Virginia. They were still a couple hours from home.
She shifted in her seat again and Booth’s eyes flitted over to his partner.
“You ok, Bones?”
“Of course,” she replied, though he could swear he detected a slight grimace on her face and an edge to her voice that he had never heard before.
Booth and Brennan had been partnered together now for a little over a year and though they certainly had their moments here and there of getting on each others nerves or disagreeing, this was certainly unusual behavior for her. She wasn’t one to give the silent treatment, usually preferring to speak her mind, quite loudly and quite forcefully. And he couldn’t think of anything she would be angry about, they hadn’t argued and he didn’t think he’d done anything that would upset her.
She turned to the backseat and pulled her large messenger style bag into her lap and began digging through it.
“Damn,” she muttered to herself after a few minutes of frantically looking and finally coming up empty-handed. She tossed her bag rather haphazardly into the backseat and leaned her head heavily onto the passenger window, closing her eyes.
Booth glanced to his partner again, then back to the road. Something was definitely up and his curiosity had been piqued. He stole a few more glances at her - she didn’t look well. He hoped she wasn’t getting sick.
In the 13 months that they had worked together, he had never seen her sick. She had never taken so much as even one sick day. Not even a sniffle or sneeze, save for this past Christmas when they were quarantined in the lab, and she had surprised him with those two quick sneezes and nearly gave him a heart attack thinking she had valley fever. Other than that she was always healthy as a horse. Always. He suspected she had a very strong immune system.
“Bones, are you sure you’re ok? I think I know when something is bothering you. What can I do to help?”
She gave him a small smile, appreciating his perceptiveness.
“I need painkillers,” she sighed.
“Something like that.” He wasn’t sure what to think of that response.
“Want me to pull off at a gas station? You can grab some Tylenol,” he offered.
“I’m afraid that won’t cut it.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” He felt the beginnings of panic begin to creep around his heart, worrying that she was about to tell him something horrible was wrong.
“It’s fine, Booth,” she reassured. “I’m merely experiencing dysmenorrhea,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Dysmenorrhea, also known as painful cramping brought on by the monthly shedding of my uterine lining.”
He still gave her a puzzled look. “Layman’s terms, Bones?”
“Oh. Sorry Bones. You going to be ok?”
She pressed a hand to her abdomen and grimaced as another cramp ripped through her.
“Yes, although I usually take prescription medication, but I seem to have forgotten it at home today,” she sighed. “The pain can get quite intense and we’re still a long way from home. It’s possible I may vomit if the pain gets bad enough. Please be prepared to stop the car if that happens.”
Even though she explained everything very matter of factly, Booth still noticed a hint of blush to her cheeks and she looked out her window as she spoke, instead of looking at him, almost as if she was embarrassed. He’d never seen her embarrassed about anything before.
“Sure Bones. I’m sorry you’re in pain,” he said, reaching his hand out and giving her forearm a gentle yet reassuring squeeze. “You don’t need to be embarrassed, you know. It’s natural.”
“Logically I know that. Women have experienced menstruation since the beginning of time, Booth. Though I have no idea how prehistoric women survived without modern day painkillers. Still, it’s not something I usually discuss, especially with the opposite sex,” she looked towards him for a minute before turning back to look out the window.
“I get it. I’m just saying, I’m not going to get all weirded out, ok? You’re a woman, and it’s a natural bodily function. We’ve been partners for a while now so I know you have periods, obviously but I’ve never seen you like this before Bones,” he said, and their eyes met and locked - his shining full of empathy for his hurting partner. He was truly worried about her and this stirred something deep down in her heart. Something she’d never felt for a man before. She shook her head, trying to quiet her thoughts before answering.
“I’m intentionally very discreet. Plus I usually always keep my prescription medication in my bag. It really helps. I must have run out and forgotten to refill it. I don’t know how I could be so careless.”
“We’ve been really busy lately, it’s understandable,” he noted. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Anyway, please tell me if there’s anything I can do to help.”
Bones nodded, “Thanks,” and gave him a small smile. “I’m going to try to sleep for a little bit, sometimes that helps.” She rested her head against the window and shut her eyes.
Booth drove on and Bones did eventually drift off to sleep.
They were still about an hour away from home when Bones started to lightly moan in her sleep. Her brow was creased and he could tell she was in a lot of pain.
Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she leaned forward holding her stomach.
“Stop the car, I’m going to be sick,” she held a hand over her mouth.
He was already prepared for what she was about to say.
“Stopping, just one sec,” he said, pulling off the road quickly, into some gravely dirt. They were on a nearly abandoned country road.
Brennan jumped from the car the second it came to a stop, stumbling a bit on the gravel and falling to her knees just a few feet from the car as her stomach violently emptied itself onto the ground.
Booth jumped out of his side of the car and hovered nearby, close, but not too close as to make her feel uncomfortable by invading her personal space.
Brennan retched again before trying to climb too quickly back to her feet. She swayed a bit and Booth stepped up from behind and grabbed her elbow before she took a tumble.
“Whoah, take it easy, Bones. Just breathe for a minute.”
He handed her his handkerchief from inside his suit jacket which she gratefully accepted and wiped at the corner of her mouth.
“I’m sorry, Booth. I’m humiliated,” he heard her voice crack on the last word and then saw the tears begin to fall.
He pulled her into a gentle embrace, “Temperance, it’s fine, you’re human. People throw up.”
“I don’t,” she hiccuped into his shoulder, feeling like a complete fool, not only for throwing up in front of her partner, but now also for crying about it. “I don’t get sick, Booth. And I certainly don’t usually cry about it.”
She pulled away and wiped her nose with the handkerchief, trying to compose herself, smoothing out her suit which after the whole ordeal was looking quite a mess.
“Everyone gets sick now and then, Bones and I would never think any less of you because of that. How are you feeling now?”
“A little bit better, but still in pain. Maybe we can find a gas station for some Advil and a bathroom?”
“Sure thing, Bones,” he said, guiding her by the arm over to the car and opening the door for her.
“Thank you,” she gave him a small smile and climbed into the SUV. Once inside she folded herself up into the seat and pulled her knees up to her chest.
Booth kept his eyes peeled for the closest gas station but they were still in the middle of nowhere, so he knew it might be a while before they found one.
Brennan has curled herself up into a little ball in the seat. He couldn’t help but think how tiny and helpless she looked there, all curled up, face still scrunched up in pain. He would do anything to take that feeling away for her. He pressed his foot down a little harder on the gas pedal.
He thought she had fallen back to sleep when her tiny voice floated through the air.
“This used to happen to me in high school. Before my parents disappeared,” she sighed, thinking back.
“Every month when I would get my period it was like hell for me. I would feel awful, be in so much pain crying on the bathroom floor at school. My dad,” she started, and he could hear her struggling to get the words out, fighting back tears as she said his name. “My Dad would come pick me up from school every time it happened. He would bring me home, bring some Advil and a glass of water and tuck me into my bed. He never talked about what was wrong, knowing I was too embarrassed to talk about it. But he would pull the blankets up to my chin,” a tear streaked down her face and she quickly swiped it away, but he saw. “And then he would kiss me on the cheek and say ‘Sleep sweetheart, you’ll feel better soon’ before he left the room,”
“He sounds like a great dad, aside from the whole criminal secret life thing, of course,” Booth noted and Brennan laughed out loud.
“He was,” she smiled. “I’ve never had that feeling since. That feeling of being really cared for…. not until I met you,” she said the last part so quietly he almost thought he imagined it.
“I’ll always be here for you, Bones. I promise.”
“Hey look, a gas station!” she pointed up the road, interrupting their moment rather abruptly.
He filled up the tank while she went inside to use the restroom and grab a bottle of Advil.
It was about an hour later, and the sun had already set when they were pulling up to her apartment. He helped carry her bag inside along with some pieces of scientific equipment she had brought along to collect evidence.
“I think I’m going to lie down, I’m still not feeling great.”
“Come on,” he said pulling her hand towards the bedroom. “I’ll tuck you in.”
She kicked her shoes off and climbed under the covers, not even caring that she was still wearing her dress clothes. Booth disappeared in the bathroom for a minute and returned with a glass of water and two more Advil.
“Here,” he said, placing them on her nightstand, “In case you need them in the night.”
“Thanks Booth,” she smiled sleepily and then let out a yawn.
He pulled the covers up to her chin, leaned down, kissed her on the cheek and said, “Sleep, you’ll feel better soon,” before letting himself out of her apartment.
She fell into a mostly pain free sleep and when she woke in the morning, she felt much better. Ready to face another day with her partner.
