You Need Me Less Than I Need You

[plazmah]

carmen_sandiego was talking about unrealistic B/B fanfic wherein Brennan is all babies and rainbows, so I wrote her a little something! Thought I might as well post it here too.


Brennan has had to reject a countless number of men over her lifetime. They mistake her distant nature as being coy, approach her at another bar Angela has dragged her to, classmates and colleagues who think that just because they agree on the origin of culturally accepted body modifications amongst the people of the Ukok Plateau during the second millennium BCE, that it's enough to initiate a relationship with her. There are prerequisites when it comes to being with Dr. Temperance Brennan, mostly of the uncomplicated biological urge fulfillment variety. She doesn't care for the trials and tribulations of romance and monogamy that so many people jump through hoops for. So she turns them down, calmly and firmly, explaining her rationale and moving on before whoever he is has a chance to protest.

Rejecting Booth, however, is nothing like that.

She feels bad about the entire thing. Worse than bad. Brennan is almost certain that the English language doesn't have a word for the emotion she feels right now, a mess of guilt and embarrassment and the sensation that a black hole has materialized somewhere inside her chest. He was so earnest, and she let him hold her while he spoke, admitting to herself that she did like it when he touched her. But she knows better, knows what she has to do before he even finishes what she knows to be a carefully planned speech. And when he's finished, she tells him what she told all the others who came before him, watching the incomprehension cross his features then slowly fading away into disappointment. Brennan never watches their reaction, but she feels obligated to hear him out, obligated to challenge each of his arguments. He's stubborn, but so is she. And she has logic on her side. She will win this fight. She always does.

"You're making a mistake."

Her smile is sad as she squeezes his hand and walks away.

---

And here's another little Bones ficlet I wrote because I had a moment where I remembered how fucked up the human race can be. As a scientist, Brennan should have faced these issues in her life and I wanted to explore how the hell she manages to deal with such things. Warning, this one's kinda serious and depressing. And please excuse any geographic/historic inaccuracies, I wrote this on the fly.


She almost broke, once. Almost.

She had been a grad student for almost two years when she was offered the chance to go to an anthropology seminar in San Francisco. Of course, she jumped at the chance. It was an opportunity to learn and make connections with other eminent anthropologists in the field. There were a number of speakers at the event, men and women from all over the world discussing the selected topic: The Cultural Prevalence of Bodily Alteration due to War, Politics, and Gender. There was this woman she was talking to, a quiet lady from Zaire, who spoke firmly and calmly about the pressure of female circumcision in the village she had come from. Then there was the man from Kosovo, who was missing his left arm. He pulled out a picture of his son for those around him, talking about how his boy had run off one day to the very field that had claimed his own arm. The landmine tore off his son's foot. In the picture, the child's brown hair was mussed but his eyes still smiled.

There were a million other stories to be told, a million other tragic tales of hardship and intense suffering unlike anything she had ever experienced as a privileged member of a developed nation. Flying back to Washington, her heart had felt heavy. Allowing the humanity of each story to seep into her skin was something she tried not to do. She was a scientist; objective, logical, rational. Even without the scientist aspect, she had been that way since she was a child. It was an asset, that she could look at a 2000 year old skeleton and not imagine the horror of being murdered by your tribesmen, or the inevitable terror of dying in childbirth. She wasn't empathetic, it wasn't who she was.

Sometimes she suspected that losing her family had accentuated that part of her.

But here she was, sitting on an airplane, staring out the window and valiantly struggling to stop herself from crying. In this day and age, how could people do such horrible things to other people, all in the name of some subjective belief system that defied all rationality?

When I grow up, I'm going to bring people like this the justice they deserve. She decided, forcing the tears away with a steady breath. She still thought in terms of 'when I grow up' every now and then; youth was on her side, and she knew that she had more than enough time to figure out where she was going and how she could make the world a better place.

---

Comments

[blienky27.livejournal.com]

Wow....those were very good. You captured Brennan's character very well, which is hard to do. Very well done!

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you for the compliments!

[shadesofkate.livejournal.com]

YAY for realistic Brennan!
The marriage and babies B&B fics annoy me too.
I liked!

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

The worst is when they take a perfectly good B/B fic, add Parker and turn Brennan into a wibbling maternal figure. Seriously, wtf? Brennan would NOT be like a mother to Parker! She's treat him like an adult because she doesn't know any better, and then Booth would freak out that she talks to Parker about dead bodies. :P

/siderant

[shadesofkate.livejournal.com]

Totally with ya there! One I'm working on has Parker(kinda) in it. But there's definitely no mother figure in there, but Rebecca. Oor she'd start talking about the differences between apes and humans again, lol

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha, nice. Now I want to write fic where Booth leaves Parker with Brennan for a few minutes, and she gets into a conversation with the kid where it becomes very clear that she is not good at talking normally with children. :P

[kashiichan.livejournal.com]

You should. :P

[shadesofkate.livejournal.com]

Do it!
That'd be great!

[silver-p.livejournal.com]

Wow, these are great! I especially enjoyed the second one, because it's refreshingly romance-free. You gave us such a great insight into what's really the most important thing in Brennan's life, her desire to bring justice to the world and help other people who are unable to help themselves. I especially like the use of "when I grow up" because sometimes I catch myself thinking like that still.

Great stuff, I love it!

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :D

As much as I love the fluff, there really needs to be more fic that explores Brennan character without tossing Booth into the mix. She's a tough woman, she can stand on her own, and the fic should reflect that too, dammit!

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

Great work :) I'm a huge sucker for fluff and the romance fics and such but usually wind up thinking what you put into words while I'm reading, which is that it's probably not technically IC, sad as it is. Nicely done.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

[threnody.livejournal.com]

I hate babyfics as much as the next canon thumper, but I hate you for that ficlet. You make me all depressed with its believability. ¬.¬

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha! Believe it or not, I take your words as a huge compliment. ;P

[threnody.livejournal.com]

They were meant as such, albeit in a very backhanded kind of way. :P

[khitie-ethrin.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I like the baby/Brennan factor, but that's because I like to read nice fluff that doesn't make me think, or feel... but wow. I'd have to say your ficlets made me do both, not that that's a bad thing. But seriously... wow.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! Most of the time I like fluff too, but there is a fine line that many writers easily cross that results in me rolling my eyes and hitting the back button on my browser. :P

[khitie-ethrin.livejournal.com]

*nods* I know what you mean.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

I only read the first one but it was lovely, in-character and made me all woe. :( HOW DARE YOU BREAK UP B/B?!?!?!?++

Just kidding. ;P I've not read all that much Bones fic but even then I've run into some some very OOC rainbows/babies fic. It always kind of gets to me when fans try to force a pairing into a mold of fluffiness that doesn't fit them. Like with R/Hr, the 3 babies & marriage scenario is possible, even somewhat likely. But B/B? Not at all.

I need Bones back. I almost borrowed a Kathy Reichs book from the library yesterday. :D

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, thanks!

OMG, I've been that desperate for Bones before too! Almost picked up a Kathy Reichs book during the summer hiatus. ;P

[carmen-sandiego.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like that 2nd one! Very nice with the streak of justice - I definitely believe that about Brennan.

Just watch, one day I'll end up writing babyfic and I'll have to eat my words.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

one day I'll end up writing babyfic and I'll have to eat my words.

HAHAHAHAH! That would be the pinnacle of irony. ;)

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

That second one is a great look at Breenan's thoughts.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

[kelei87.livejournal.com]

oooo the first one. i hope that doesnt happen. i coudlnt bare to see booth that sad *tear*

second was good, though i think i need to re-read lol

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it would tear me up to see something like that, which I guess is why I try to prepare myself for something so tragic. ;)