Remember the steamy looks between B&B on the courthouse steps after Max Keenan's trial? And that heartfelt embrace Angela interrupted? Let's take a trip back in time to see what happened later that night after The Verdict in the Story (3x13)...
THE HEART IN OVERDRIVE
Booth's pulse hammered as a loud knock cut through the dimly lit, late night silence of his apartment. His mind and heart had been running on overdrive for the last few hours since the trial and, standing on the other side of his front door knocking steadily, was sure to be the one and only cause for his dissonance.
He wanted to see her (like he wanted to breathe) but seeing that heart side of her today had swept up every thought and feeling he'd ever had for his partner and sent it flying into a tailspin and he'd needed time to adjust… to work out which way was up, which way was down and to re-paint that almost invisible, Temperance-worn line.
Booth exhaled resignedly, placing the sweating glass of iced scotch on the coffee table before opening the door and welcoming Brennan in to his living room.
...
Brennan thought there had been something slightly amiss with Booth today… he hadn't said much but all day he had been… different… intense… like he'd been silently studying every nuance of her body language, just waiting, hands at the ready, waiting for her to crack, waiting for her to crumble.
Yet, as she took him in – standing in his living room, all masculine and casual and smiling warmly, that niggling observation dissolved and Temperance suddenly comprehended what it really was. All day, in fact, all week - he had been completely and utterly unguarded and open with her.
Temperance was not particularly fond of using idioms but, had she been required to choose one, she would say, in that moment, with his scruffy hair and welcoming chocolate eyes that Seeley Booth was, most certainly, wearing his heart upon his sleeve… and the thought of it sent a visceral flush of warmth through her body causing her knees to weaken.
As if buoyed by their interrupted, unfinished embrace on the steps of the courthouse, Brennan responded to his open posture and stepped into him, slipping her arms around his torso as if it were just a natural, everyday thing to do as partners.
...
As his partner wrapped her arms around him, it was as if a key slipped in to his soul and all the locks tumbled into place... All of the anxiety, all of the questions, all the emotions instantly settled down to a warm simmer and his world turned right side up again.
Booth rubbed her back tenderly as she tucked her head into his neck, "How's it going Bones?"
She took a deep, calming breath, breathing him in to the full and then let it out on a quiet hum, "Good now, thank you."
Swaying them both slightly, he smiled, "So, what's it feel like to have your Dad home?"
"It's still a little awkward I guess… we ate… and talked… about nothing in particular, just reminiscing and then he excused himself early, attributing his tiredness to his still being on "prison time" but…" she pulled back slightly to look him in the eyes with a pained expression on her face, "Booth, is it… is it wrong that it feels so right?"
His breath caught over a tender smile, tucking an invisible hair away from her face, "No, Bones, not at all. Just enjoy it, OK? You deserve it."
She nodded, closed her brimming eyes wondering why she'd been so emotional today, and tucked her nose back under his bristly chin.
Unable to let her go, he held her tighter, "What you did today though… God, Bones, I don't know how to feel about it... honestly, it killed me being up there on the stand implicating you… You could've been charged, Bones… I could have played a part in sending you to jail… you've gotta know what sort of predicament you put me in. I would have… I was gonna lie, Temperance… under oath…"
She sniffed tearfully, "I do Booth, I do know. I'm… I apologise. I'm so sorry I put you in that position… but…" she paused, contemplating whether to continue but then dove in, "…at some point after dinner and between coffee, memories and snickerdoodles I decided that I'm not sorry I did it…" she sighed dejectedly, "I helped persuade a jury let a cold blooded killer walk free and I don't…" she sighed, "Booth… my conscience is clean… I'm just as bad! Doesn't it scare you that I'm capable of rationalising something so immoral?"
He shook his head, "Bones, didn't you just hear what I said? I would have lied for you today, under oath, in a court of law! You know I've stolen evidence for you... I've threatened gang leaders for you… I'd kill for you…"
"You what?"
"Look, nevermind, the point is, you love your Dad and love makes us do things we wouldn't normally do and it justifies certain things and, yeah, it's scary, but it's OK 'cause it's all relative and it's a part of what makes us human and human is good OK? You're human Bones… with the biggest god-damn heart I've ever seen… it's OK to have your Dad back and it's OK that it feels right."
An involuntary shiver shot through her and she pressed herself closer, swaying him through a long, silent moment, before murmuring shyly, "Booth, is it… is it wrong that this feels so right?"
Booth let out a frustrated growl and pulled her impossibly closer, his nose seeking the delicate scent of her throat, "God, Bones, I don't know, I've been asking myself that lots lately."
The slight waver in her voice belied her nerves but she pushed on, "Because you love me?" His momentary silence and sharp intake of breath prompted a rushed explanation, "It merely seemed… logical, based upon your reasoning about Max and Me, one could only conclude that perhaps… I don't know..." she finished on an uncertain whisper, "Perhaps you love me?"
He sighed, pulled back and cupped her face tenderly, his mouth a solemn line, his onyx eyes burning sincerely into hers, "Does that scare you, Bones?"
Her lips twitched into an almost undetectable smile, "It did, a little…" she smiled then, "…but then I popped my heart into overdrive and it all just started to become clearer…" with sobriety she added, "I'm not scared Booth."
Booth's eyes glinted with genuine surprise, "Really?"
She laughed, "Yes, heart and brain, Booth."
Booth's hand slipped into her hair as he pulled her lips to his and kissed her solidly. She opened and responded with as much heart as she could muster as his other hand snaked under the hem of her top, eliciting a shiver from both of them.
Lips wet and busy, Booth landed skilfully on the couch, pulling Brennan to straddle his lap never breaking contact, deft hands hungrily pulled at the buttons of his shirt. Brennan moaned in pleasure and Booth's eyes smiled proudly before they squeezed shut as she ground into him causing him to bite her lip gently on a growl.
Pushing his shirt off his shoulders, Brennan pulled him forward and freed his arms, kissing him with wild fervour.
Finally managing to pluck his lips from her, he begged breathlessly, "Bones, Bones, wait a minute… I can't… I can't go back once we cross that line… you need to be sure. You need to be sure that's what you want."
She looked at him, brows furrowed and frustrated, "You're the one who drew that line Booth, after you dated Cam. I've always known what I want… even if I don't show it in the way society expects of someone in love. I know what I want." She picked at the stitching on the lounge suite uncertainly, "Are you? Sure, I mean. Are you sure this is what you want?"
He smiled, caressing her cheek softly, "Are you kidding Bones? There's nothing I want more…" and on a gravelly purr he whispered, "Let me prove it to you 'kay?"
Brennan nodded sweetly then yelped as he effortlessly picked her up and walked her resolutely to his bedroom, kissing her tenderly along the way.
...
Hours later, Brennan collapses on his heaving chest – gasping for air yet laughing at his breathless profanities, "That was… wow!"
He winks, "God, you don't do things in halves do you Bones?" Catching his breath, he rolls them to their sides, wrapping her naked body in his, placing his hand over her strongly beating heart, "I love your brain Bones, I always have… it's as sexy as hell... and now your body?" he hums his approval, running a finger down her sternum, "Mmm, so hot, Bones..." kissing between her breasts, "but, this heart… I'm so in love Temperance."
She smiles, resting her head on his chest, "I think I am too, Booth… I think I am too."
"You love your heart too?"
Her eyebrow raises in amusement, as she pokes him playfully, "You know what I mean!"
He smiles and sends up a silent prayer of gratitude. They lay in sated silence until a thought causes Booth's heart to skip ever so slightly, "So, Bones, now that you're back living with your Dad, do ya think he'll insist on a curfew?"
She looks up at him, offended by his out-dated ideals and ready to spout some anthropological take on the archaic, antiquated societal rules of dating but her response is stolen from her lips, and her thoughts turn to cloud as he kisses her deeply, erasing any evidence of a line and forever inscribing his name on her heart… metaphorically of course.
Thank you for reading! If you leave a review I may be motivated to write some more trips down memory lane (If you're 18 or over, check out my other story PLUMBING for DUMMIES for a season five flashback).