Hey everyone and welcome to a new crazy challenge presented to me by the two greatest people I know, my very good friends Angela and Sam. So, here's how this is gonna work. I have a list of the 100 most beautiful words in the English language. I'm going to make a one-shot out of each of those words, in no particular order. I'm going to try to have a basic storyline running through these, but we'll see how long that lasts. :P I can't promise a chapter every day like I did with One Fluffy Month, but I'll try to make them as frequent as I can. So, let's do this. Starting with:

Incipient – Beginning, in an early stage

"Hey, Bones," Booth greeted into his phone cheerfully as he drove to the Hoover. "What's up?"

"I…" Brennan hesitated, feeling entirely ridiculous. Booth's brow furrowed at the uncertainty in her voice.

"Bones? Everything okay?" he asked gently.

"Yes, everything's fine," she promised. "I just… I feel rather silly about this."

"About what, Babe?" Booth chuckled at the exasperated sigh the pet name elicited from his partner.

"You know what? Forget I called. I'll see you later, Booth."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Booth was now utterly confused. "You aren't getting off the hook that easy. What's going on? Why did you call?"

"I don't have a practical reason to call, Booth," she admitted reluctantly. "I just saw you less than an hour ago. I have nothing of importance to tell you. I just… wanted to hear your voice."

"No April rain, no flowers bloom, you just called to say you love me." Booth laughed at his own joke.

"I didn't realize that would be a humorous reason to call you," Brennan said self-consciously. Afraid she would hang up on him out of embarrassment, Booth rushed to correct her.

"No, Bones, that's not a funny reason to call. It's a song. You know, Stevie Wonder." There was no response, so he put on his best Stevie Wonder impression and sang, "No April rain, no flowers bloom. No wedding Saturday within the month of June. But what it is, is something true. Made up of these three words that I must say to you. I just called to say I love you. I just called to say how much I care. I just called to say I love you…" Booth suddenly realized that he had been singing for an inordinate amount of time, and Brennan was letting him. He trailed off and cleared his throat embarrassedly.

"Oh." A slightly awkward moment passed before Brennan spoke again. "I'm scared, Booth." The sincere admission made every hair on Booth's arm to stand on end.

"Scared? Of what, Baby?" he asked softly. There was only silence on the line for an agonizing few seconds.

"Of feeling this way," Brennan decided to say. "I've never… needed someone this much. I've never had a desire to call someone just to hear their voice before."

"We're in a new relationship," Booth pointed out. "It can be pretty intense right at first. You don't have to be scared. You just have to let go. You know I'll be right there to catch ya." Booth nearly visibly winced. When did he become even more of a cheese ball than usual?

"I thought I was ready. But I… I love you very much and it terrifies me. Sometimes the emotion is overwhelming and I worry that one day I'll wake up and it won't be the same." Booth could hear that she was getting choked up, but knew she was trying to hide it from him.

"I'm not going anywhere. You and me? This is it. I promise."

"You can't…" she began to protest.

"I can," he insisted. "I can promise that."

"I'm just not used to this. My happiness is very much dependent on you and this relationship. I'm not impervious anymore. At least not to you. But I'm afraid that I allowed myself to be vulnerable before I realized how difficult it would be to be involved in this type of relationship. You're the only one who has the ability to hurt me in a way I'm not certain I could recover from."

"I'll never hurt you." His promise was sincere and heartfelt, which just caused the tears already pooled in Brennan's eyes to fall.

"I know you won't hurt me on purpose," she assured him. "But you can't guarantee that you won't hurt me by mistake. Neither of us is perfect."

"If I ever hurt you, Bones, tell me and I'll fix it." She hesitated once again and Booth waited patiently for her to continue.

"What if you can't fix it?"

"You kidding me, Bones?" he asked playfully, trying to lighten the mood. "Me and you? We can fix anything. I mean come on, we're Booth and Bones!" Booth heard her laugh under her breath and he knew she was smiling. He paused, not sure what else he should say to make her feel better. "Tell you what. I'll swing by lab with lunch at about noon. That sound good to you?"

"That sounds perfect."

"Okay, see you in a bit, Bones," he told her cheerfully.

"Booth?" she called just as he was about to hang up.

"Yeah, Bones?"

"I love you." Booth grinned and barely even noticed that he had gotten to the Hoover.

"I love you too."

Booth arrived at the Jeffersonian and after a quick hello to the squints; he walked into Brennan's office and found her standing with her back to him and her nose buried in a file. He put the bag of food he had brought on her couch, being careful not to rustle the bag. He smiled sneakily and tiptoed up to her, snaking his arms around her waist. She jumped in surprise, but quickly relaxed into his embrace. "You're late," she said without looking up from her file.

"How'd you know it was me?" he whispered in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. She smiled and turned around to face him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and eyed him mischievously.

"Booth, what a surprise. I was expecting someone else," she said with a sly grin. Booth glared at her playfully.

"Funny, Bones." Her smile grew and she tightened her grip around his neck.

"Yes, I can be quite amusing."

"That you can be," he agreed and gave her a quick kiss before releasing her. "So, I brought you lunch from that vegetarian place," he told her as he picked the bag up off the couch and brought it over to her desk. "I even got something for me from there just to prove my undying love and devotion." He took the food out of the bag and began dividing it between the two of them.

"You just didn't feel like driving to two separate locations," Brennan pointed out as she took a seat at her desk.

"But I picked the vegetarian place instead of Thai, didn't I?" he said with a bona fide charm smile that earned him an eye roll. They settled into their respective seats, Brennan at her desk and Booth in a chair pulled up next to it, and began eating in companionable silence. "So…" Booth ventured after a moment. "Everything okay?" Brennan looked up from her food and gave him a quizzical look.

"Yes," she said skeptically, studying his face. "Why?"

"Well, just because of what we talked about earlier." Booth tried to sound as casual as possible. "You're not thinking that… this was a mistake or something, are you?" His face already looked heartbroken and she hadn't even said anything yet. She felt instantly guilty for making him worry about her own insecurities.

"I shouldn't have told you," she said apologetically. "I didn't mean to burden you with this. I'm sorry." Booth reached out instinctively and covered her hand with his.

"Hey, Bones," he said soothingly, "If you're having second thoughts…"

"No, Booth," she responded a little too forcefully. "I'm not. I want this. I just… I don't want to ruin it. I'm not used to being in this sort of romantic relationship. They only time I ever came close was with Sully and look at the mess I made of that."

"That wasn't your fault, Bones," Booth promised and began caressing the back of her hand softly. "Sully was an idiot for sailing off without you."

"He wanted me to go with him," Brenna pointed out.

"He should've stayed. I would've stayed if I were him. You don't want to go off sailing for a year? Fine, then we stay right here. I mean, even if I really wanted to go sailing, I'd stay behind if that was what you wanted." Booth suddenly realized that this conversation was rapidly turning into a metaphor he didn't quite understand. Brennan seemed to pick up on it too.

"Are we still talking about Sully?"

"…I'm not sure," he admitted. "Anyway, Bones, I don't want you to worry about messing up. If you're ever not sure about something, just talk to me about it. We'll find a way to get through it. I don't want to screw up either, you know? We're in this together."

"Partners," Brennan finished the thought. Booth smiled.

"Right. I'm not gonna let this go down the tubes," he promised. "So, new rule. Starting now. When it comes to us, we have no secrets. If one of us is worried about something, we tell each other. No matter what we think the other is gonna say. Then we talk it out and fix it. Deal?" Brennan thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Deal." She offered her hand to be shaken and Booth took it with a chuckle. He pulled her in closer and planted a kiss on her lips. They broke apart slowly and Brennan smiled contentedly, exploring his chocolate brown eyes with her own. She caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye and shifted her gaze to the door. Angela was standing in her office doorway with a goofy grin plastered on her face.

"Did you need something, Ange?" she asked her friend who was still beaming at the pair of them.

"Um," Angela stammered, "I just wanted to let you know that I finished the facial reconstruction and I'm running it through the missing persons database now." Brennan's brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Informing me of that is not required, Angela. I only need to know if you're able to confirm identity. You should know that by now." Angela smiled sheepishly and hurried out of the office. Booth laughed once she was out of sight and Brennan shook her head in disbelief. "I'm not certain if we suggested that she watch when we have intercourse that she would turn down the invitation."

"Bones!" Booth exclaimed and blushed fiercely.

"What? We're sexually active, Booth. I don't understand why you think that's so shameful."

"It's not shameful." He struggled to find the right way to say this. "I just like being discreet, that's all." Brennan chuckled at his obvious embarrassment and her heart swelled with emotion. Her smile faded as she thought about their recent conversation.

"I don't want to stop loving you, Booth," she said with a hint of desperation in her voice. Booth took her hand in his and lifted it to his lips. He kissed each knuckle softly.

"Then don't," he said simply between kisses.

"It's not that simple," Brennan insisted. "I can't choose to love you any more than I could choose not to." Booth released her hand and sighed. "I don't want you to stop loving me either."

"Look Bones, just calm down, okay? We're not going to stop loving each other. You wanna know how I know?" Brennan nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. "I know because through everything… kidnappings, shootings, broken hearts, it's always been you and me. We've been through it all, Baby. But still, here we are. So whatever else they can throw at us? I say bring it on. We can handle it." Brennan allowed herself to smile and ran her hand up Booth's arm to rest on his shoulder.

"Promise?" Booth noticed that her tone was no longer worried and desperate, but light and flirty. He leaned in closer, not even noticing that his elbow was sitting in his plate.

"Promise." Their lips met and Brennan once again caught Angela with her nose practically pressed up against the window of her office. She sighed in exasperation.

"I wish she would stop doing that every time we so much as make eye contact." Booth looked behind him and gave Angela a friendly wave. She returned it and lingered at the window a moment longer before rushing off. He turned back to Brennan and gave her another tender kiss.

"Believe me, Babe. This is just the beginning."

So that's the first chapter! As I said these will be able to stand alone, but there will be a thread connecting them all. 1 down, 99 to go! Tell me what you thought! Reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.