Spoilers/Timeline: Reference to 2x16 The Boneless Bride in the River / Set in future.
Disclaimer: I've begged and pleaded, but Bones is still not mine. Title from the Counting Crow's song Four Days.
He moved in the hard chair, trying to flex his fingers without waking her. Pins and needles shot down his already numb arm and he sighed. It was no use. The only way he'd get feeling back was to wake her up and he wasn't about to. It had been a long trip and she deserved a break from it.
Resigned to the feeling, he leaned forward to look out the window again. The snow had finally stopped, but it looked as though it was now hailing. Perfect. They were never getting back to D.C. Not for the first time, Booth wondered why the Bureau couldn't have put them on a direct flight from San Francisco to Washington. He was sure it had something to do with expenses. If only the Jeffersonian would pay for more of their trips; they'd be in first class on direct flights every time they'd have to travel. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and, now, here they were stuck in Chicago.
Against him, she sighed, moving as close as the armrest between them allowed. He couldn't believe they'd been stuck in the airport for over eight hours. The first couple had passed quickly; both of them getting up every ten or fifteen minutes to check and see if anything on the departure board had changed. Once it became clear that they weren't going anywhere, they'd tried to get comfortable, relax a bit. By hour five, she'd given up all pretense of reading - the screaming kids around them made it hard to concentrate - and tried working on her latest novel. That didn't last long as she found she was writing more about Kathy and Andy's relationship than she was about the gory murder that had occurred two pages before. He teased that it was because the real life Andy Lister was sitting next to her. She glared, shut her laptop, and sulked in her chair before falling asleep on his shoulder.
He closed his eyes for a moment. Hey, his arm was asleep, why shouldn't he be? Idle thoughts of how they'd look to fellow stranded passengers - her head on his shoulder, his arm draped across hers - prevented sleep from completely overtaking him. It would definitely appear as though they were more than partners; the thought filled him with a lightness that made him forget his numb arm entirely. Things between them were changing - they had been for a while - and he knew she knew it, too. Lately, when he found his hand pressing into the small of her back, he felt her leaning in, closing what little space existed between them. From anyone else it might have been an unconscious reaction. From her, it meant more than probably even she realized.
"Booth?" She lifted her head, letting her eyes drift across his face. His eyes were closed, but she was positive he was awake.
"Yeah, Bones?"
"Why did you let me sleep for-" She paused, looking at her watch. "an hour and a half?"
"It's been a long day." He opened his eyes positive he'd find her sitting up and stretching. If they were in her office back in D.C. it would certainly be her next course of action. Instead, she pushed down the armrest and leaned into his embrace. "Hey, I didn't know those moved."
"I noticed it earlier. I didn't plan on falling asleep or I would have put it down then."
"I'm not going to apologize for letting you sleep."
"I didn't say you should."
"Tone of voice, Bones, tone of voice."
"Well, I just don't understand." Now she did sit up a bit, causing the blood to rush through his arm once more. "That could not have been comfortable for you. Why didn't you just wake me up so you could move?"
"Maybe I enjoyed it, ok? Maybe, just maybe, I like being able to take care of you every once and awhile."
She muttered something that sounded a lot like 'alpha male' as she crossed her arms. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"You think I don't know that, Temperance?" His eyes met hers, willing her to understand. "I just think it's nice for you to not have to all the time."
She nodded, a soft smile lighting her face. Yes, things were definitely changing. His eventually was right around the corner and he grinned as his everything laid her head against his chest and fell back asleep.