#bones sweets

The warmth was such a contrast to the icy memory of your dream it was searing. Your eyes shot open, your body jerking upwards, Lance’s arm falling from around your waist to your lap. Your breathing was rapid and heavy, sweat coating your forehead. You searched the floor for the nearest piece of clothing and grabbed Lance’s shirt, buttoning it as you slowly moved his arm from around you and stood up, walking towards the kitchen.

But as you passed the mirror on the bathroom door, you paused. His dress shirt covered less than half of your thigh, leaving your abundance of new scars out in the open. The pale lines ranged from thin to thick, running up the length of your legs, separating your skin like pieces of a puzzle. You ran your hand over them, feeling every bump and crevice they created. You can never be rid of me.

You flinched, pulling your hands away from you legs and continuing to the kitchen, grabbing a coffee mug and pouring scotch in instead. You’re hands were shaking so much that the glass slipped out of your fingers, shattering on the floor.

Lance woke holding nothing but a bundle of blankets. Much like he had two weeks ago the morning you were taken. This can’t be happening. He sat up quickly, the apartment’s darkness unnerving.

“Y/N!” He called out in panic. He clawed at the blankets, crying out. “Y/N!” You rushed back to the living room, careful not to step on the broken shards. His eyes were frantically looking around the room. You put your hands on either side of his face to focus his gaze on you.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m right here. It’s okay.” He threw his arms around you, hugging you so tightly it was hard to breathe.

“When I woke up, you were gone and my mind automatically-”

“I know.” You interrupted. You ran your hand up and down his back in attempts to sooth his panic as his heart rate returned to normal. “I’m sorry. I got up to get a drink and I dropped a glass. That’s what woke you up.”

“Oh.” He looked down at your shirt. “Is- isn’t that mine?” You played with the sleeves.

“It’ was the first thing I grabbed. Why, do you want it back?” He shook his head and smirked.

“Actually it’s kind of hot.” You smirked and leaned in for a kiss but he stopped you. “But it is really late and I have to get up in the morning.” He pouted. The FBI was giving you four more days to adjust to coming home before making you come back, but Lance started working again the next day.

“I forgot about that.” You sighed, laying back down on the couch next to him, his arm returning to it’s previous spot. “Should I go pick up the glass?” You could feel him shake his head.

“I’ll get in the morning.” He whispered, holding you tightly to him, as if to keep you from ever leaving his side again. “Let’s just stay like this for a while.”

And so you did. For the rest of the night, neither of you said a word and you fell asleep to the sound of each other’s breathing. The moment’s peacefulness was a stark comparison to your lives for the past few days. Plus is was nice to get some sleep that wasn’t drug-induced.

Of course the moment had to end come morning, when Lance got dressed, cleaned up the glass in the kitchen, and kissed your forehead when he said goodbye. It took you nearly two more hours to finally make yourself get up and make yourself a cup of coffee. Afraid to turn on the TV again, you grabbed one of Lance’s books off of the shelves. Psychology; Book One of Thirteen. It was going to be a long day.

“Sweets!” Booth called after him before Sweets could close his office door. Booth gave him a pat on the back and followed him into the office. “So how is she feeling?”

“Better.” He replied with a nod. “A lot better. I think she’s glad to finally be able to come home.”

“Well tell her that it’s just chaos here without her.” Booth chuckled. He plopped down on the couch and Sweets sifted through the papers on his desk, noticing a new email on his computer. It was an audio file.

“Huh.” He hummed, hitting play.

“I am going to enjoy this…” The voice on the file started. “Nice and slow.” His words were followed by the most gut-wrenching screams Lance had ever heard. Y/N’s screams of pain completely took over his senses, becoming the only thing he could hear. She called out his name, apologizing and saying how much she loved him. The sound of a knife slicing skin added to the cries.

“Sweets!” Booth reached over him and slammed the laptop shut, silencing the sounds of Y/N’s torture. “How the hell did that get on your computer?” Lance just stared blankly at his desk, the screams still ringing through his mind. Booth waved his hand in front of Sweets’ blank eyes, welling with tears. “Hey.” Booth spun his chair around, leaning over the younger man, forcing him to look at him.

“I should have found her sooner.” Sweets whispered, his voice cracking. Booth knelt down in front of him.

“Hey, what happened wasn’t your fault.” He assured him. “And if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have found Y/N at all. You saved her, Sweets. Don’t you dare start telling yourself differently.” He started to unplug Sweets’ laptop. “I’m going to take this down to tech to figure out how that got to you, okay?” Sweets just nodded wordlessly. Booth sighed. “I’m serious Sweets. We’re lucky that you noticed those wound patterns. You saved your fiance’s life. You saved my partner and you helped catch a man who killed four innocent woman. You’re a hero, Sweets.” With that, he left to go find the tech guys.

Lance ran his hand over his face, wiping away the tears that had fallen. He couldn’t get the haunting sounds of the tape out of his head, no matter how much he tried to focus on Booth’s words. He may have gotten to Y/N before Marty killed her, but she had still been tortured for at least a few hours. She had nearly bled out in his arms for god’s sake. How was he supposed to just forget that?

You had spent most of the day reading, avoiding anything that might bring up the news of your kidnapping or Marty’s demise. Your whole body was itching to do something, but the doctor said that you should get plenty of rest. That, and you weren’t sure if you were ready to enter back into the world just yet.

It seemed like every time you walked past your reflection, you felt the need to tug down the sleeves of your sweatshirt, or you could see the scars through your pajama pants- which you never bothered to change out of. Every time you took a shower, or wore a dress, you would be reminded of what he did to you. Part of you feared what Lance thought. Your once smooth skin was ridden with jagged, harsh lines. Would he look at you the same way?

You leaped from your spot on the sofa as the door clicked open. Lance stepped inside.

“It’s okay, it’s just me.” His exhausted expression brightened when he saw you. He crossed the room to place a firm kiss on your lips before moving to his room, taking off his suit jacket and tie. “How was your day?”

“Nothing interesting.” You shrugged. “You?”

“Nothing interesting.” He lied, memorizing the sound of your voice to replace your screams in his head. He came back into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. You laid your head on his chest, listening to the sound of his beating heart, focusing on it, making it the only thing in the world that mattered.

For a long time, neither of you said a word. You just sat there as the sun slowly drifted behind the horizon, the sky painting itself a symphony of oranges and pinks. After everything that had happened, you had feared that there was no beauty left in the world. But you felt the emotions stir in your chest as you longingly watched the sunset, wishing that it would remain like this forever.

“I’m scared.” You blurted, breaking the quiet. Lance pulled away to look at you. “Even though he’s dead and it’s over, I’m still scared.” You could feel the sobs slowly creeping up your throat as you spoke. You expected him to say something shrinky- to tell you that it was just the trauma and that it was going to take a while to get over. But he didn’t. Instead, with a shaking voice, he whispered.

“Me too.” He leaned back against the couch, his eyes distant and quickly filling with tears. “I lied. Something happened today.” You furrowed your brows in concern and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What are you talking about?”

“Someone sent me…” He took a deep breath. “Someone sent me your tape.” You closed your eyes, remembering how you screamed until your throat was sore.

“Lance…” You started, unable to think of what to say.

“Y/N, I couldn’t breathe.” He cried. “It felt like I was losing you all over again.”

“It was like I couldn’t escape.” You whispered. “He was everywhere I looked. Every time I looked in the mirror, he was in these scars. I could hear his voice every time I turned on the TV and saw the news. He’s always going to be here, Lance.” You tapped your finger against your temple. “I’ll always be trying to get away from him. My own skin is just a reminder of what happened to me. ”

“Hey,” He wrapped his arms around you as you started to sob. “He can’t hurt you anymore. No one is ever going to hurt you again so long as I’m here.” He rubbed circles on your back trying to sooth you. He wanted so desperately to make everything go away. He ran his hands over your legs, pointing out every line. “These are a reminder that you survived, Y/N. You survived and Marty’s dead. He can’t hurt you now.” You breathed deeply to calm yourself down and turned the attention back to what happened to him.

“Do you know who sent you the email?” You asked and he shook his head.

“Booth thinks it’s probably a hacker, but I don’t understand how they knew about the tapes.” He had been thinking about it all day, cancelling all of his appointments so he could focus on the hacker. Whoever it was, had to have known about the tapes before hand, and had some sort of vendetta against him or the FBI.

“I can’t think of who would be sick enough to do that.” You muttered, placing a tender kiss to the side of his head. You started to feel the silence creeping up and decided to change the subject to something light as opposed to the seriousness of the one before. “Do you know what my favorite part of going back to work is going to be?” You twisted one of his curls around your finger.

“What would that be?” He hummed, glad to be able to talk about something else. You pressed your lips to his passionately, the tension of the last conversation fading away, but not disappearing completely.

“Telling everyone that I am going to become Agent Y/F/N Sweets.” You grinned, earning a bright smile from him.

“It’s so weird to think about us getting married. But somehow, it doesn’t feel weird.” He looked at you intensely. “It feels right.”

“Did you get that from one of your shrink books.” You snorted and he laughed.

“That was all me.” He shot you a goofy grin and you threw a pillow at his face. In response, he tackled you against the couch cushions trapping your body underneath his. “We’re going to get through this.” You wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to yours, moving them together with small smile. When you pulled away, the smile remained and you nodded.

“I know. And I couldn’t think of better person to go through hell and back with.” Your heart filled with love towards him and it took over your mouth before your mind had time to react. “Let’s get married.”

“I thought we were.” He snickered.

“That’s not what I mean.” You explained and his face morphed with understanding as he realized what you were suggesting. “I mean let’s get married now, Lance.”

“Y/N…” He began, trying to think of how to respond. He wanted more than anything to marry you, but he wasn’t sure if you were thinking clearly.

“Don’t think. Let’s just get in the car and go, Lance. I want this. You want this. Why wait? After everything that has happened, I don’t want to wait another minute to be together.” You stood up and tugged on his sleeves, urging him to come with you. He watched you, his eyes showing the thoughts going through his mind. But then, he smiled and nodded.

“Okay.” His smiled grew, filling you with a wonderful sense of just pure happiness. “Let’s do it. Let’s get married.”

You had both decided that you wanted your friends to be there. It was getting late, but you knew that Angela would have your head if she didn’t get to go the wedding, so she was the one you called first. You hoped that she would bring Hodgins with her.  Lance invited Booth and Dr. Brennan and you called Cam as well. Within an hour, you were all standing in front of the courthouse. Lance gave your hand a squeeze and Angela wrapped you in her arms for one of her famous bear hugs.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” She squealed, jumping up and down like a schoolgirl. From the corner of your eye you noticed Hodgins, lovingly smile at her antics. You made sure she wasn’t looking before you caught his attention.

“You’re next.” You mouthed, pointing your finger between him and Angela. His eyes went wide and you gave him a wink.

“I mean, I would have expected this from Miss Spontaneous over here,” Booth started, jutting his thumb towards you before patting Lance on the back. “But I must say, I’m surprised you agreed, Sweets.”

“Once she has her mind set to something, how am I supposed to say no?” He shrugged, leaning over to place a kiss on your cheek. “I can’t thank you guys enough for being here.”

“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Cam gave the two of you a bright grin and you all walked up the steps of the courthouse. Your heart pounded as Booth opened the door and the crowd entered.

Lance explained everything to the woman at the desk and she was more than happy to help. She called to the justice and ushered you into the courtroom, checking both of your documents and placing them on the table. The justice entered and you took a deep breath. This was really happening.

“Oh, wait!” Angela exclaimed digging around in her purse. “I got you guys these.” She handed you a small plastic bag with two rings inside. One had the face of a penguin on it and the other had a bright, bubblegum pink unicorn. You and Lance couldn’t help but laugh.

The process wasn’t really anything elaborate. You both signed a wedding contract after the judge reviewed your papers. But you felt a childlike giddiness every time Lance looked at you. Electric sparks shot up his arm whenever your hands touched. You had requested that you have traditional vows, and the judge was more than happy to oblige. The two simple words sprung to your lips before he even had time to finish.

“I do.” Your heart lept as Lance said the same.

“I do.” You watched each other for what felt like hours when the judge said.

“I believe this is the part where you kiss the bride.”

And that’s exactly what he did.