Part 11

Booth read the letter and looked at Bones. He wanted to put his arms around her and to tell her to ignore the letter but he wasn’t sure why she was crying.
Bones: “Does that letter mean what I think it means.”
Booth: “Bones it seems so wrong that why now after all this time.”
Bones: “It has only been four months and te read the letter.”
Booth looked at the letter again and saw the written words

Dr. Temperance Brennan
Mr. Seeley Booth

This notification was delayed due to the recente cutbacks in staffing in the State of Maryland and we regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

We need to inform te of an error in your marriage certificate. The pastor who performed the ceremony was no longer licensed to perform marriages in the State of Maryland as his license had scaduto two weeks prior to the data of the marriage. As a result, the marriage is not valid and therefore is null and void.

“Bones te know this does not mean anything.”
“Booth it means we are not legally married.”
“Bones it does not change my Amore for te o my promise to you. te have always detto that a marriage certificate is not needed to prove one’s commitment”

Bones looked at Booth and realized that even though they are not married he has no intension of leaving her and that her fear of him leaving was unjustified. But something still was bothering her and she could not put her finger on it. It then dawned on her that she had not made cena yet and she knew he was hungry. Booth could see that she had been upset about the letter and was now composed that he was not leaving. He also knew he was hungry and so he said. “Bones let’s go out and eat at your preferito restaurant and forget about the letter.”

Later that night as she lay successivo to Booth, Bones thought about how much she depended on Booth and what he meant to her when he called out her name in his sleep. She didn’t want to wake him but she could tell he was having a nightmare when he started to call out. “Bones where are you? Bones I need te don’t leave me.”
She wrapped her arms around him and spoke softly into his ear. “I’m right here Booth. I’ll never leave you.” She could tell da the way he relaxed that the dream was gone and he was again sleeping peacefully.
She and Booth had decided not to let anyone know about the letter because there would be all sorts of domande and suggestions about what to do. They wanted to just go on as if nothing has changed but something had changed though neither of them would admit it. Booth feared that any minuto Bones could change her mind about her commitment and push him away like she has done to others in the past.

Bones also started to have some discomfort especially when someone addressed her as Mrs. Booth. One night, a week after the letter had arrived; she was washing dishes and had taken off her ring. When she went to put the ring back on it dawned on her that she was no longer entitled to wear it and she broke down crying. It was a good thing that Booth had to work late that night, because she did not want him to see her crying again.

The successivo giorno at work she was checking her calendar for an upcoming appointment when she noticed that the computer was warning her of a missed data in fact there were at least two missed dates. She leaned back in her chair trying to absorb this information and realized that there may be a più scientific reason for her emotional state. If her supposition is correct she will need to verify it.

She did not say anything to Booth about her hypothesis until she was certain so for the successivo ten days she tested and retested to prove her theory. It was on the last giorno of testing that she was sitting in her office looking at the results when Angela walked into the room to find her staring at her last test with tears streaming down her face.

“Sweetie what’s wrong? I’ve never seen te cry before.”
“Oh, Angela, I don’t know what to do.”
“Tell me. Maybe I can help.”
“Booth and I aren’t married and I don’t know how to tell him this.” Brennan then showed Angela the test result.
“Brennan what do te mean your not married. Both te and Booth have detto te got married. I don’t understand.”
At that point Brennan related the whole story of the accidental marriage, what they decided to do so they could work together, the ring and Booth’s promise, the letter and now this.

Angela just sat there and looked at Brennan. This was awkward, so awkward. There has to be another word for awkward but all she could think of was awkward. She looked at Brennan and the test asking. “What is it that te want? Do te want to be married to Booth?”
Brennan looked at her best friend and answered. “Yes, I want to be married to Booth in the worst way but I want him to want to be married to me but I don’t want him to think he has to be married to me.”
“Brennan don’t te think he wants to be married to you? That man is so in Amore with te can’t te see it?”
“But what if he feels he is being forced. What if he doesn’t ask me? When we got the letter telling us we weren’t married he made no mention of getting married o remarried. What should I do?”
At that moment Cam entered the office and saw Brennan’s face and asked what’s wrong.
Angela looked at Brennan who was starting to tear up again and related the whole story to Cam. Cam who knew how Booth felt about Dr. Brennan told her. “Dr. Brennan te should have no fears of Booth not wanting to be married to you. He has been in Amore with te for quite some time. te are the only person in this office who has not noticed it.”
Brennan: “Then why hasn’t he detto anything about getting married again?”
Cam: “My guess is that he is scared that te will say no and te will leave him.”
Brennan: “Why would he think that?”
Cam and Angela looked at each other before Angela said. “Sweetie, te have always pushed people away who get to close and he does not want to lose you.”
Cam: “He also knows how te feel about marriage.”
Brennan: “Booth knows how I feel about him.”
Angela: “Are te sure? Have te told him that te Amore him?”
Brennan heard that word again. The word she has so much trouble saying. She knows she told Booth once she loved him when he returned back to work after his brain surgery but that was only when he detto he loved her as his partner. She has never detto she truly loved someone in the sense that Angela is talking about.
Brennan: “What should I do?”
Angela: “You need to tell him that te Amore him.”
Brennan: “What if he still does not ask me to marry him?”
Angela: “Then te ask him.”
Brennan: “What if he asks why?”
Cam: “Believe me he will not ask why.”
Brennan: “Or worse he says no.”
Cam and Angela detto together. “He won’t say no.”
Hodgins who had just walked into the room looking for Angela asked. “Who won’t say no?”
Brennan now realized that Hodgins needed to be told just uttered. “Booth is going to kill me.”
Angela quickly filled in Hodgins on what was going on while Cam looked at the test in Brennan’s hand.
Cam: “First thing first is that we need to make sure this test is accurate. It could be just another false positive.”
Brennan looking at the three of them answered. “A false positive on seventeen separate tests is unlikely.”
Cam: “Still te need to call your doctor for an appointment preferably today. Meanwhile none of us will say anything to Booth. Dr. Brennan rest assured the big guy will always come through.”

That night over cena Bones asked Booth about their latest case and what had he discovered in his research of the suspects whereabouts at the time of the murder. Booth who was not really listening to the domanda thought she had asked about his research into their marriage. He looked at her and wondered how she found out what he was doing these past couple of weeks. When she asked the domanda again he relaxed. He told her that not only was their suspicion correct but the culprit was already in custody.
He had not told Bones yet about his research into their marriage because he wanted to have all of his ducks in a row. The letter had thrown his whole attention to resolving his worry about Bones leaving. He recalled the nightmare he had that night where Bones had left him because they were no longer married. Not only was that bad but it became più of a nightmare when he dreamed that she left him for Hacker.

The giorno after the letter arrived, Booth had put his attention to finding out what had happened. His first reaction was to ask Bones to marry him again but what if she detto no. He could not fathom how the minister did not know his license had expired. So he started to do some checking. It took him a few days to locate the minister and his wife who were on a vacation. The wife confirmed that yes each anno they had to renew their state license and she had sent in the paperwork. According to the minister and his wife the marriage should have been valid. They had no idea of what had happened.

Booth then turned his attention to the states records department, but he had to be careful in not letting Bones know where he was going o what he was doing. The couple of times he had to go to Maryland, he had told Bones that he had to work late so she would not domanda him when he got home. His efforts have finally paid off and he was guaranteed that he would have the proper documentation tomorrow at the latest.

Bones liked that they had solved another case and now she needed to solve o resolve the domanda about their marriage and to tell Booth about the results of the test she had just taken but she wanted to do it with her Friends as support. So she thought about having a small gathering of their Friends at the Founding Fathers when Booth said. “Bones we need to celebrate another case closed. Maybe we can all get together tomorrow night. What do te think?”
“Booth I was just thinking the same thing. We should all get together and celebrate. I’ll ask Angela, Cam and Hodgins to unisciti us as they did help with the case.”
“Good idea, Bones. I’ll clean up tonight te look a little tired.”
“Thanks Booth. I am a little tired. It has been a long day.”

The successivo giorno Brennan asked Cam, Angela and Hodgins to unisciti her and Booth at the Founding Fathers to celebrate the solving of another case. When she told them to meet with her and Booth at the bar, they all understood it was going to be più than just to celebrate the solving of a case.

That night as they all gathered in the bar. Bones was not sure on how to approach Booth with the idea of getting married again when Cam and Angela came to her rescue.
Angela: “You know we never did get to celebrate your wedding.”
Cam: “That’s right I would have liked to have been there.”
Angela: “Maybe te could get married again so that we can witness it.”
Hodgins: “Yeah and this time I can be your best man and Angela can be your maid of honor.”
Bones: “So Booth do te want to get married again to me?” She was hoping that he did not hear the tremble in her voice when she asked him.
Booth: “Bones your making a joke.”

TBC