OOM: After the Funeral That Wasn't

[argyle_princess]

It takes a lot to surprise a girl from Neptune, California, but this does it – the sudden, disruptive arrival of . . . whoever that was, and Agent Booth's emergence from the Honor Guard, and the ensuing scuffle, and then Brennan clocking Agent Booth and storming off with Agent Booth trailing after her.

Hannah and the other no-longer-mourners stand there awkwardly, everyone clearly puzzled as to what the hell protocol on this sort of thing is, and then slowly start to drift away. Finally, with a shrug, Hannah walks over to the overturned casket and drops the white rose she’s still holding on it.

And then, because she's not sure what else to do, Hannah drifts over Tomb of the Unknowns. It's nearly deserted, since it'll be more than forty minutes till the next Changing of the Guard, and the only sound is the measured tread of the guard, puncuated by the sharp click of his heels when he turns around.

Hannah sits down on the steps that face the Tomb, smooths the wrinkles out of the black dress she had her mother Fed Ex to her (because who pack funeral wear for the first semester of college?) and tries to figure out what the hell just happened.

Comments

[paladinsuitsyou]

It was easier, with Bones. Rage, he can deal with. Angela's strangely amused detachment was tricky, because it wasn't expected, but overall, he could cope.

This dry irritation, though? There's nothing on the surface for him to latch onto, nothing to push against or deal with.

So he's quiet for a long moment, thinking.

[argyle_princess]

It's not so much irritation as it is restraint.

Hannah is still trying to process everything, she's trying to not say anything she's going to regret having said, and she's trying to do it all in a black dress and heels, standing in the middle of Arlington National Cemetary, with tourists wandering by looking for Kennedy's grave.

[paladinsuitsyou]

Sometimes restraint is overrated.

"Hey, Hannah?" Booth asks it tentatively, then pauses, not sure what should follow that.

[argyle_princess]

"Yes?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

"What aren't you saying?"

Sometimes, the only way to get a thing out is to just say it. Tact is for situations where it will get you someplace.

This? Is not one of those situations.

[argyle_princess]

"That . . ."

Hannah trails off, hesitates for a moment, and then say, "That I'm tired. And I'm confused.

"And that I have never seen Brennan like that, like she was the morning after you died or didn't die or whatever the hell the word I want here is, and I hope I never see her like that again, and I do not understand how Dr. Sweets didn't tell, but even more than that, I don't understand how you didn't insist on telling her yourself, why you left everyone else you work with to just figure it out, like they're just . . . some kind of afterthought.

"And I'm strangely bothered by the fact that there was a faked funeral here of all places."

[paladinsuitsyou]

He nods. "Anything else?"

Because she might as well get it all out, while she's at it.

[argyle_princess]

"My boyfriend is bald. And I miss his hair," she adds, and then sort of sighs, and deflates a little.

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth would point out that it will grow back, but she knows that.

"Do you want an explanation, or an apology? For everything but the hair thing. I got nothin' for that."

[argyle_princess]

That's not really the point, either.

Hannah nods.

"Yeah, I do."

She wants both, actually.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"I'm sorry. For what you went through, what Brennan and the squints went through. If I could have that - not have happened - I would. It will be something I'll never forgive myself for."

As to the explanation...

"I can't explain Sweets. No one can."

As to the rest of it...

"I wasn't given a great deal of choice in this, Hannah. My job - I get more options than I did in my last job, and that's a good thing. But occasionally, I do things I don't want to do, because it's what's best for this country. This was one of those situations."

As explanations go, it sounds lame. He realizes that. But it's all he's got.

"As to Dr. Brennan's acting ability - trust me on that. You'd have figured it out pretty quickly."

[argyle_princess]

"I think never forgiving yourself is a little excessively, really."

You can OD on guilt.

As for the explanation . . .

Hannah's not wild about anything that comes that close to only following orders.

She's also too tired to fight about it.

"Okay."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"I don't mean I'm going to beat myself up over it for years. But forgiveness is a different thing."

And yet it's the best that Booth can do. When it comes down to a judgment call, he made the choice that seemed best at the time. It just happened to be 'following orders.'

And it wasn't the right choice, when it came down to it, but there's no point in revisiting it. It's done. It's time to move on and make what repairs he can.

[argyle_princess]

"Yeah, I know," Hannah says.

"Look, can we . . . can we just get out of here?"

Because if one more passerby gives her the sort of sympathetic look you give a war widow, she's going to scream or something.

"Just . . . elsewhere, please."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Home, or coffee?" Booth asks, unsure if there's more that needs to be said here. "I can drop you at your dorm, if you need a ride. To the diner or your dorm. Or whatever."

Because he's got a black government car at his disposal. It was part of the arrangement

[argyle_princess]

"Lunch," says Hannah, decidedly.

He remembers the part where she doesn't eat when she's stressed and worried, right?

"Agent Booth? I'm still working through a lot of this, but I really am very, very glad that you're not dead. Again."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"You feeling up to a giant burger?" Because Ray's Hell Burger is to die for, and if she hasn't been eating, she could probably stand to eat 10 ounces (or half of that, whatever) of sirloin.

He touches her shoulder lightly as they walk toward the car. "I know. Me too, kiddo. And I just want to say - I made the call I thought was the right one. I'm not too proud to say I was wrong."

[argyle_princess]

"Burger sounds promising.

"Hindsight is twenty/twenty and all."

She pauses.

"This guy, the one Brennan hit with the dummy. Really, really bad guy, right?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Promise, you'll love it. Ray's Hell Burger is on its way to being a D.C. institution."

He nods. "It is."

Grinning, he adds, "Really, really bad guy. You should definitely feel safer now that he's behind bars."

[argyle_princess]

"I'll keep all that in mind," she promises.

And, yeah, having really, really bad guys locked up is good.

But at the end of the day, the part of all this that's going to make her feel safer is that Agent Booth is still around, fighting for truth and justice and the American way.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"You do that," he says, opening her car door for her. "And I think I can promise it'll never happen again. At the very least, I'll make sure to notify everyone myself, if it does."