Disclaimer: I own nothing, and only borrowed the characters for a little while.
Temperance Brennan was surprised at herself as she checked her watch for what irrationally felt like the thousandth time that minute, but was in reality only the twenty first time since the second hand had passed the minute marker.
Twisting the jewellery, she desperately scanned the crowd. Turning her body slightly, she confirmed for the seventeenth time that she was in fact standing next to the reflecting pool by the coffee cart at the Mall. Looking down at her watch for the twenty second time that minute, she saw that time had barely moved.
Time stopped altogether when she looked up and saw him.
He looked more world weary, but she could see the pride resonating from within him. He looked a little older than when she had last seen him, but he was still Booth. Her Seeley Booth.
Her partner.
She would analyse her behaviour later on as totally irrational, but in that moment, in that time, in that space, nothing else mattered.
A sob escaped her as she suddenly moved. He saw her then and the smile that she knew so well and had missed so much graced his features. She noticed a slight limp in his left leg as he also made a move toward her, but all scientific thought flew from her mind the instant they were within arm's reach of each other.
Two bodies came together without any need for communication, coming together to fit in the only way they could. Arms tight, neither letting go, they savoured the moment. The sensation of holding the other close.
Easing back, words were ready to be spoken, but were temporarily put off to another moment in time as their lips met. Her fingers were burrowed in his short hair as she pulled herself closer to him. His fingers slipped under her jacket, splaying across her lower back as he reciprocated her actions.
Tongues duelled, the heat spread within and there was only them.
Finally parting, neither wanted to be far from the other. The face of the forensic anthropologist was only millimetres away from the returning Sergeant Major as she spoke, her breath warm on his lips. "We're back," she whispered.
"We're back," the agent promised, his hands pulling her lower body impossibly closer to him as the eyes of the woman he loved glistened.
"I don't know why I'm crying!" the emotional woman protested through her tears. "There is no logical reason for this!" she continued as Booth's hand clasped her cheek and his thumb brushed the traitorous tears away.
"I love you Temperance," said Booth seriously, his eyes intent on hers. "I came back for you Bones."
When her breath hitched and she halted, making a miniscule backing away movement, he feared the worst. His eyes never left hers as he struggled to ascertain what she was feeling, and thus he was startled when her hands gripped his wrist. "Don't leave me."
"Never," he promised, bracketing her cheeks as he drew nearer and prepared to cover her lips with his. She held herself back slightly as she bit her bottom lip and eyed him fearfully. "As much as this doesn't make sense, and plays into my deep fears that I'm not enough – that I can't do this – and as much as I've been fighting the notion..." She took a deep breath and rested her hands on his chest. She almost came undone as his thumb brushed her cheek once again. "I love you too," she rushed out.
With the words that warmed his heart forevermore Bones-style, Booth smiled softly and kissed her.
Bones would remark later that this coming together had unreasonably sounded like fireworks exploding, but as she would later find out, their intimate conversation for two had drawn a large crowd in the Mall, including the newly arrived Angela and Hodgins, a knowing Sweets and a relieved Cam, and all were clapping loudly. Bones knew that the "happily ever after" of movies was nonsense, but she thought that perhaps she was going to achieve the closest thing possible...
Partners in every aspect.
Author's Note: