DOUBLE DATE

"Good morning Bones!"- He entered her office smiling and carrying two coffees. He was smiling because she was at the lab and it was only 7.50 am and that probably meant that her date had been as bad and horrible as his date.

"Hey, good morning Booth." She smiled back and took her coffee. It was early and he looked fresh. She hoped that it meant his date finished soon because he didn't like the girl.

He asked first.

"So, how was it?" - He raised his eyebrows; he didn't want her to notice how much he needed to know. This whole dating thing ("damned dating thing" for him) was a deal they agreed to do. Things between them were becoming hotter and hotter; touching every time they could, staying together late at night, having dinner together almost everyday, spending weekends together and even felt asleep together in her couch. This was the most disturbing for Brennan. She slept so well that she got scared about how right and good it felt sleeping with him. They thought (mostly Bones thought, anyway) the reason was that their "biological urges" weren't being satisfied so finding a suitable mate would make everything all right again.

"You aren't listening to me!" She almost yelled at him, moving her fingers in front of his eyes

"Yeah, I'm listening". He searched his brain for a moment, trying to remember what she had said. "You said it was boring!"

"Soooooo boring, Booth!" she sighed "Peter spent the entire dinner talking about his hobby: stamps" She sighed again and then, trying not to sound too interested, asked "What about yours?"

"Uhmm" he narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his nose "soooo boring too. Mandy was able to change the subject of conversation every minute. I tried to focus but I only got a big headache" Inside Brennan she was smiling. This was the second date for both of them since the whole dating thing ("damn deal" for her) and they'd gone horribly wrong. She knew it was her idea, but she couldn't help it she felt relief when he told her about the failed dates. He asked her if she was going on another date with this guy.

"With Peter? I don't think so; I already know enough stamp stuff. Are you going to ask" she hesitated while her brain was searching the name "Mandy to go out with you again?"

"No way, Bones. I'd rather be at Limbo with you…" and God knew he didn't like that place at all "than going on a date with this woman again." Their eyes meet, their smiles matched and they looked one into each others eyes, feeling relieved with the news on their respective dates. The spell was broken by a phone rang. She couldn't believe it when the security guard told her Peter Smith was there. Her jaw dropped and a soft pounding started on her brain. "Hello headache!" she thought.

"Good morning Temperance" Peter entered the office, without looking at the other man in the room, stopped a few inches from her and leaned close. A very disappointed and surprised Dr. Brennan took a step backwards, effectively avoiding his kiss.

"Well, I see you're a shy girl. This is for you" he gave her a stamp with a flower pictured on it.

She looked puzzled.

"Thanks?" - She looked from Peter to Booth, who could hardly stop a fit of laughter. "You're dead man" he thought, Peter had tried not only to touch but to kiss her. "Well, she's going so to kick your ass and so quickly that you don't even know what happened."

An awkward silence filled the room and Booth decided that was the right moment to introduce himself. They shook hands.

"What's this? A social event?" Brennan shouted, looking mad.

"Hi!" a blonde, dressed in tiny girl's clothes said, stepping into the office "my boss sent me with documents for Dr. Saroyan and I saw you here, so I said to myself go there and say "hello" to Seeley" she was grinning, staring at Booth and recovering her breath.

"Morning, Mandy" he sighed, a little disappointed "meet my partner Dr. Brennan."

"Hi Dr. Brennan, I've heard a lot about you! "She looked at Peter "are you Dr Brennan's boyfriend?" Booth almost passed out and Dr. Brennan yelled

"No! He is not my boyfriend" Brennan replied almost at the same time as Peter put his two cents in:

"We're dating"

"Lovely! Seeley and I are dating too. Maybe we could go on a double date?"

"Oh! Excellent" said Peter, eager to get involved in the conversation "I'm sure Temperance will love it too. What about you, agent Booth?"

Before he could answer, Mandy had already arranged all the details.

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Ten minutes later. . .

"OK, can you just tell me what happened here? " Brennan was really mad, but she knew it was not his fault. Peter and Mandy had arranged the double date in such a way that he wasn't able to say anything, Brennan was waiting for his answer, but she already knew it.

"It seems like we had a double date tonight. They think that it's great that today is Friday because we can go out today, being the weekend and all" sarcasm dripped from his voice "as Peter can't pick you up, because of his meeting, I will, and we meet him and Mandy at the restaurant "that is really, really close to my place" Booth was mimicking Mandy perfectly, drawing a smile from Brennan's upset face.

Brennan stared at Booth, narrowed her eyes and sighed "I can't believe we let them do this to us."

"I Know!" he nodded "I'll pick you up at 6.30 pm" he was walking toward the door "you need to dress up, Bones, don't forget."

She looked at him puzzled

"You know, beautiful dress, high heels, make up . . ."

"I know what it means, but why?"

"It's a fancy restaurant. I've got to wear a suit and tie" he replied annoyed.

"I'll call Peter and I'll tell him I'm not going" Dr. Brennan blurted out, really upset.

"You can't do that, Bones, you can not leave me alone again with her, we're together in this" he was getting mad and pointing her with angry "this whole damned dating thing was your idea so you can not quit now!"

"Ok! Don't get mad at me" she knew he was right, this was her fault "don't be late" she surrendered.

"I'm never late" he replied now smiling again "bye Bones"

"Lunch together?" She asked nonchalantly

"Sure Bones, I'll pick you up" he waved his hand and walked to the exit of the lab.

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Dr. Brennan walked into her best friend's office trying to look relaxed.

"Hey Bren, what happened?" Angela asked hugging her.

"Nothing" she had narrowed eyes and was pressing her lips making them thin.

"Aw, come on, something is bothering you, it's written on your face."

Brennan sighed and thought that one way or another, Angela would know about it, so it would be best just to explain it all to her. She could even help her with what to wear.

"Well Bren. The "damned deal" was your idea" Angela giggled "so just dress up and go, have your dinner and find a good excuse for Booth and you to leave."

"You're right Ange. Thanks. Ahh, can you help me with another thing" Angela nodded encouraging her to go on "I don't know what to wear and" she couldn't quite finish her sentence as Angela was giggling and squealing.

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"She will be there" Booth was thinking happy while he dressed up for the date.

"You're not dating her, man! But she still will be there. I'm picking her up as if we were having a date". He was happy; he wasn't even bothered by wearing a tie out of work. It was time to go, but before leaving he had another look at the mirror, he was wearing a dark grey suit with a black shirt and a black tie. He looked great and he knew it. He hoped Bones, would think the same.

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At 6.20 she was almost ready. She had followed Angela's advice and was wearing a dress that they bought together. It was a black silky dress, with a halter neck that left her back bare and showed off her legs nicely. She had her hair up in a bun and a light make up that brought out her eyes.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked good and she allowed herself to hope that Booth would like it. There was a knock on the door. She knew it would be him. During the last years she had learnt the way he knocked. She knew he would knock again before calling her. She heard the second knocking and then:

"Bones, it's me, open the door" his voice like a kid, singing

"Coming" she replied with a smile and opened the door.

He stared at her, his feet rooted to the floor, unable to take his eyes from her.

"Booth! Come on in!" She almost yelled at him, while moving aside allowing him in.

"Yeah, uhmm, sorry" He tried to utter a consistent sentence without success.

Brennan was giggling looking at him; he looked good, sexy, hot.

"You look good, Booth. Really ho . . . . handsome, I mean" she blurted

"You too Bones. More than good, well I mean that you're amazing, I didn't expect you to be so hot" "Did I say it aloud?" he asked himself. "Well if she doesn't kick my ass right now everything will be OK." He heard her laughing with a hint of shyness.

"Well Booth thank you. I'm ready to go" she was smirking because of his embarrassment.

"Aren't you missing something?" He asked. "I'm not the only one who gets embarrassed."

She looked at him puzzled. He loved the look of confusion in her face and how without words she asked him for help.

"You forgot your shoes."

"Oh. . . " she took a glance at her feet "it's true". A mischievous thought went trough her mind "I didn't know which pair to choose. Why don't you do it for me?" "If there's a hell I'm going to it" Brennan thought.

"You want me to choose your shoes?" Booth was amazed with her request.

"Yeah, I've tried to do it for almost half an hour and I couldn't make up my mind" she explained untruthfully, knowing he would see through it "if you don't we'll be late."

He didn't need anything else, he walked towards her bedroom and found four pairs of black shoes in her closet. He knew exactly which kind of shoes she should wear, he was thinking Roxy now. He picked up a very Roxy Like pair of shoes. They were patent leather shoes with an almost 5 inch heel. He wasn't a shoe fetishist but he liked these ones. He came back, knelt down and helped her with the shoes. She sighed nervous and excited, missing a similar sigh coming from him. When she stood up they were caught in each other's eyes. This was not their date, they were dating other people but none of them could help feeling nervous and anxious.

"Let's go Bones"

She turned her back to him, offering a full view of the back of her dress or rather, the non existing back of her dress.

"Oh. My. God" he said astonished

"What happened? " She teased him.

"Are you aware that half of your dress is missing?" "She is really killing me" he thought as they walked out of Brennan's place towards the elevator.

They were silent in their way to the SUV, thoughts racing trough their minds. He had placed his hand in the small of her back, her bare back actually, when leaving her apartment and let it rest there enjoying her skin. She could feel the warm of his hand in her back and didn't dare to move or even to speak just not to break the spell. She was enjoying the increasing sensations of his touch, and she would almost swear he was making little circles with his thumb. She immediately missed the warmth when he had to let go to open the door for her and enter the car himself.

They remained silent, not awkward but nervous, feeling like teenagers on their first date. Booth felt a little unease, he kept on stealing glances at her, but she was looking out of the window. He did not realize it, but she too was looking at him through the corner of her eyes.

He turned on the radio, just to fill the air between them: "coming up, a song for the hopeful, a, beautiful song by Tony Braxton "Always" The DJ announced,

He smiled broadly knowing the song would fit them perfectly and openly looked at her. She was listening to the song, concentrating on the words, pondering their meaning and staring at the street. As the words sunk in she turned her head, looking into his chocolate brown eyes and smiled, without fear.

When they got to the restaurant, Peter and Mandy were waiting by the bar. She was wearing a little red dress that left almost nothing to imagination and a little too much make up. Booth couldn't help but comparing the two women.

In a couple of minutes they were led to their table. Booth allowed Mandy and Peter to sit then pulling out a chair for Bones and sitting between his partner and Peter. She smiled thankfully, "no more stamp stuff" he mouthed and she smirked.

The meal was ordered but the conversation flowed uneasily between the four. Quickly Booth and Bones gave up on Mandy and Peter effectively leaving them out of the conversation by talking about cases and sharing little private jokes. Brennan sipped her wine and tasted the delicious pasta daisies she'd ordered feeling them melt in her mouth.

"Ummmm, Booth this is delicious! Try this! " and delicately fed him from her fork.

"Wow, really good! " He filled his forked with mac and cheese and offered it to her, the sensuality of the gesture obvious to all but them.

"Ummm! We have to come back to this place, Do you think they do take away?"

"I'll ask the waiter."

As dinner progressed, Mandy and Peter felt increasingly frustrated as they tried, unsuccessfully to join the conversation.

As they finished their food a waitress came by.

"You'd like to order your dessert now?"

"Oh! I'm sorry " Brennan said " It's getting late and we've got to work tomorrow, so we can't really stay" and not giving Peter or Mandy any time to argue she added "maybe you" looking at Peter and Mandy "should stay and enjoy a dessert" she grabbed her purse, took her wallet out and in a quick movement placed her credit card in the waitress' hand "Please charge everything on it."

She motioned Booth to keep going but it took him a moment to process what had happen. Before leaving he asked Peter to walked Mandy home. Then, he moved quickly behind Brennan. She was by the bar signing for the bill. He opened the door for her and they walked towards the SUV. He started the car and looked at her with a funny smile.

"Wow, Bones! " His voice filled with amusement " I can't believe you did that. I can still see Peter's face when we walked out. Mandy will never talk to me again. We stood them up, Bones, that's not nice!"

"Do you regret it?" Maybe she was wrong and he was enjoying his date, but he'd barely talked to Mandy, "Or, maybe I didn't let him talk to her." She was now really confused. She'd thought he didn't want to stay.

Booth was smirking, she looked puzzled.

"Bones, listen" he interrupted her train of thought " I don't regret it, I was trying to find a way out, so thank you." she nodded, relief washing over her. "Now, we didn't have dessert…would you like some ice cream? I know the best place in the city." He let his best charm smile shined, he didn't want to take her home now that they were all alone, as it should had been from the beginning.

"Sure. I love ice cream"

"I know" he thought "and chocolate is your favourite".

He laid his jacket in the floor near the tree trunk and sat down. . They were sharing the ice cream, a big chocolate one.

"You were right, this is the best chocolate ice cream I've ever tried" She shivered a bit, a mixture of excitement, night air and ice cream.

"Are you cold? " He saw the goose bumps on her skin.

"Just a little. Well, I am missing half my dress! I guess there's not enough fabric to keep me warm" she teased him.

"Come here" he opened his arms and showed her the space between his legs and arms.

She shifted her position and moved to the little shelter his body offered her. She could felt the heat emanating from him and only for a moment she allowed herself enjoy being in his arms. He had started rocking her, hugging her to keep her warm and was loving that she'd curled up to him. Brennan filled the spoon with ice-cream and fed him, then she took another spoonful of ice cream and let it melt in her mouth. She couldn't help thinking of kissing him, would he taste of chocolate?

He still had her wrapped in his arms and, unless she asked he was not going to release her. He opened his mouth to another spoonful of ice cream and his eyes met hers. She looked to his lips as he engulfed the chocolate and licked the remaining from his lips. That was more than she could take, She leaned into his lips to confirm her hypothesis "Well, I am scientist, am I not?" She didn't hesitate and licked his lips, and when he finally reacted an opened his mouth to her she continued her investigation.

Booth couldn't believe she was kissing him. He needed to react before she thoughts he didn't want this. She was licking his lips, not in a tenderly way but hungrily. He opened his mouth to her and let his tongue dart out and touch her. She moved around to face him so she could kiss him properly and this allowed him to caress her back. She felt his full hands on her skin, his mouth kissing her neck and let a moan escape that encouraged him to kept kissing and touching. He was making a big effort not to place his hand under her dress, and she was making a great effort to not undress him right here in the park.

She breathed deep and stopped her caresses. He looked at her, afraid that she'd regret the kiss now and would want to stop and forget.

"We should go to my place" she was afraid that he would regret the kiss and wanted to stop and forget.

"Sure, unless you want us to make love right here, right now."

"Well, it's not that I don't like the idea but for our first time I think a bed would be better" she smirked " but we can give the outdoor scenario a try some other day."

Inside his mind he was yelling out loud "YES, YES, YES!!!!" She had said that was going to be the first time so it implied there was going to be a second, a third, a fourth. . .

The end