'and maybe you can save me,' bonesfic, angela/sweets, pg
title: and maybe you can save me
author: allthingsholy
fandom: bones, angela/sweets, pg
notes: spoilers for 4x25; written because there is NO Angela/Sweets fandom and they are quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of “Bones.”
----
She finds him in the stairwell, head down and hands clasped between his knees. He looks up as he hears the door click shut, and she folds her arms over her chest and cocks her head and waits. He breathes in long, runs his hands against the back of his neck and musses his hair with his fingers, nails hard against the back of his head. He finally settles, hands again between his knees, and Angela has never seen him so undone in all the time she's known him.
"I'm not usually so ... frazzled," Sweets says, tapping his heels against the floor. "I just don't do well with illnesses, you know? The waiting." Sweets runs his hands over his thighs and grips his knees, knuckles whitening.
Angela still stands, arms crossed, mouth closed. Sweets stares at her, eyebrows up, waiting, curious, but he is not prepared for the thing that she says. "Do you think they're in love?" Her eyes soften and her hands go to her back, bracing herself just behind her hips.
Sweets pulls himself up taller, then dips his chin, looking away. "If I thought there was a romantic component to their relationship, I would have to recommend the partnership be terminated, so their work would not be compromised." He hardens his jaw, clasps his hands in front of him, and Angela remembers--which she so infrequently does--that Sweets is a man, not the boy she and the others usually treat him as. She thinks of what she knows about him, what she's learned or overheard, and there is a nobleness, a stoicism in his eyes that she doesn't find surprising. He is silent, clenching his jaw, but she is not finished with this yet.
"Professionally, I get that that is your opinion." Angela turns, seats herself beside him, a quick brushing of their elbows and knees. His eyes are bright as she finds them again and asks, "But don't you--don't you think they're in love?" There's a lift in her voice as she hopes it true, for Brennan's sake, and for Booth's. She's known them together for years, seen the distance they've come and how close the job has made them, the terrible things they've gone through together. She thinks if they could find love, or happiness, that there would be a balance to this that she could live with.
Sweets looks away, over her shoulder and out the large, bright window behind her. His breath is light as he says, "Yes, I do," meeting her eyes again, continuining on, bolder than before. "And I don't say so because I don't think it compromises their work, I think it makes them better at what they do." He drops his gaze, again looking at his hands clasped tight between his knees. "And I know he's never said anything--thinks he can never, ever say anything--and knowing Dr. Brennan might never know--"
"She knows." Angela's voice is quick to interrupt and reassure, and Sweets looks at her with eyes so wide and honest, she can't help but lift a hand to his shoulder, comfort him with the feel of her fingers warm against his skin. She knows what Daisy sees in him, the earnest, serious set of his eyes and strong, reaching grip of his hands. She knows there is scarred skin between her fingers, Brennan always willing to discuss others' pain so much more freely than her own, and for a moment, she is Daisy, soothing him with soft skin and warm kisses, laying touch to all the places on him that are frought, or worried.
She comes out of her head with a start, finds her eyes locked on Sweet's lips, not so far from her own. She gives his arm a squeeze before she pulls away, fixing her eyes on her shoes. She makes her voice light when she speaks again, saying, "We women always know when men are in love with us."
Sweets sighs out half a laugh, a quick, sad breath of a smile on his face. There's something about the set of his jaw as he turns to her that sets a buzz in Angela's stomach, a tight, warm feeling spreading wide in her chest.
"No, you don't," he says, voice even and calmer than when she first came upon him. She takes a heavy breath, the weight of his gaze lining her face and widening her eyes. She thinks she feels him start to lean in when suddenly he is on his feet, straightening his tie as he says, "We should go check on Booth."
Angela cranes her neck to find his eyes, and his face is open and still as he extends his hand to help her up. She pauses a moment, hand clenched tight, gaze locked on his. She thinks she sees something there in the creases around his eyes, something far away and fading fast. She breathes in slow, and reaches out, and as she finds her feet below her, his hand is warm in hers.
----
author: allthingsholy
fandom: bones, angela/sweets, pg
notes: spoilers for 4x25; written because there is NO Angela/Sweets fandom and they are quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of “Bones.”
----
She finds him in the stairwell, head down and hands clasped between his knees. He looks up as he hears the door click shut, and she folds her arms over her chest and cocks her head and waits. He breathes in long, runs his hands against the back of his neck and musses his hair with his fingers, nails hard against the back of his head. He finally settles, hands again between his knees, and Angela has never seen him so undone in all the time she's known him.
"I'm not usually so ... frazzled," Sweets says, tapping his heels against the floor. "I just don't do well with illnesses, you know? The waiting." Sweets runs his hands over his thighs and grips his knees, knuckles whitening.
Angela still stands, arms crossed, mouth closed. Sweets stares at her, eyebrows up, waiting, curious, but he is not prepared for the thing that she says. "Do you think they're in love?" Her eyes soften and her hands go to her back, bracing herself just behind her hips.
Sweets pulls himself up taller, then dips his chin, looking away. "If I thought there was a romantic component to their relationship, I would have to recommend the partnership be terminated, so their work would not be compromised." He hardens his jaw, clasps his hands in front of him, and Angela remembers--which she so infrequently does--that Sweets is a man, not the boy she and the others usually treat him as. She thinks of what she knows about him, what she's learned or overheard, and there is a nobleness, a stoicism in his eyes that she doesn't find surprising. He is silent, clenching his jaw, but she is not finished with this yet.
"Professionally, I get that that is your opinion." Angela turns, seats herself beside him, a quick brushing of their elbows and knees. His eyes are bright as she finds them again and asks, "But don't you--don't you think they're in love?" There's a lift in her voice as she hopes it true, for Brennan's sake, and for Booth's. She's known them together for years, seen the distance they've come and how close the job has made them, the terrible things they've gone through together. She thinks if they could find love, or happiness, that there would be a balance to this that she could live with.
Sweets looks away, over her shoulder and out the large, bright window behind her. His breath is light as he says, "Yes, I do," meeting her eyes again, continuining on, bolder than before. "And I don't say so because I don't think it compromises their work, I think it makes them better at what they do." He drops his gaze, again looking at his hands clasped tight between his knees. "And I know he's never said anything--thinks he can never, ever say anything--and knowing Dr. Brennan might never know--"
"She knows." Angela's voice is quick to interrupt and reassure, and Sweets looks at her with eyes so wide and honest, she can't help but lift a hand to his shoulder, comfort him with the feel of her fingers warm against his skin. She knows what Daisy sees in him, the earnest, serious set of his eyes and strong, reaching grip of his hands. She knows there is scarred skin between her fingers, Brennan always willing to discuss others' pain so much more freely than her own, and for a moment, she is Daisy, soothing him with soft skin and warm kisses, laying touch to all the places on him that are frought, or worried.
She comes out of her head with a start, finds her eyes locked on Sweet's lips, not so far from her own. She gives his arm a squeeze before she pulls away, fixing her eyes on her shoes. She makes her voice light when she speaks again, saying, "We women always know when men are in love with us."
Sweets sighs out half a laugh, a quick, sad breath of a smile on his face. There's something about the set of his jaw as he turns to her that sets a buzz in Angela's stomach, a tight, warm feeling spreading wide in her chest.
"No, you don't," he says, voice even and calmer than when she first came upon him. She takes a heavy breath, the weight of his gaze lining her face and widening her eyes. She thinks she feels him start to lean in when suddenly he is on his feet, straightening his tie as he says, "We should go check on Booth."
Angela cranes her neck to find his eyes, and his face is open and still as he extends his hand to help her up. She pauses a moment, hand clenched tight, gaze locked on his. She thinks she sees something there in the creases around his eyes, something far away and fading fast. She breathes in slow, and reaches out, and as she finds her feet below her, his hand is warm in hers.
----