**A/N: So, to my followers...I'm back! Momentarily, anyways! I've been SO freaking busy...I transferred jobs, moved, working a summer program with 50+ horrible future-juvenile-delinquents...aaahhh the life of a case manager! Regardless, I just found this on my computer and figured, hey...it's not too bad.

To my new readers...hey yall! :)

This story is post Booth-Hannah break-up...about a month after, actually. And of course, this story is going to have some mushy stuff in it. Why? Because I am apparently just flat out unable to write a plain ole action/drama story. However, it'll take a little while to get to that point. So...enjoy! :)

Don't own them...

Moving quietly through the small apartment, she clung to the wall like a shadow. Tip-toeing down the hallway in her silk pajama pants and tank top, she heard the noise again. The noise that woke her up from her deep slumber was a quiet, creaky noise like someone walking across an old wooden floor. She gripped the baseball bat tighter in her delicate hands as she approached the intersection where the hallway met the living room.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling softly, Brennan drew the bat behind her as she flipped the light switch with one hand and rounded the corner. Letting out a noise resembling a battle cry, she pulled the bat back further as she saw the back of a tall man in her living room.

He spun around with eyes wide and hands up. "Bones! Stop!" Booth pleaded. Right before she swung the bat, she realized that the man in her living room was not, in fact, a burglar.

"Booth? What the HELL are you doing here?" she yelled as she dropped the bat. Making a 'ting' as it hit the hardwood floor, it rolled and eventually stopped as it hit Booth's shoe.

With a racing heart, he took a deep breath and let his hands fall to his sides. "Jesus, Bones. You were going to kill me!"

"YOU broke into MY apartment, Booth!" She yelled back and crossed her arms in front of her. "I'll ask again…what the HELL are you doing here?"

"Well, Bones…" he started, nearly hatefully. "First of all, I didn't break in. I have a key, remember?" he said holding up the small piece of metal in his hand. Brennan raised an eyebrow at her FBI partner. "Secondly, we have a case. And before you say anything, I tried calling and texting. You didn't answer."

"You know that I turn my phone off when I'm actually trying to get some sleep. That doesn't give you the right to barge in here," she huffed. Brennan ran a hand through her messy hair as she glared at Booth through sleepy eyes.

"Bones, this came straight from Senator Kimbrough. He wants us to solve this, so…come on," Booth said as he clapped his hands together twice. "Get dressed and let's go."

Rolling her eyes and sighing loudly, Brennan stomped off to her bedroom, slamming the door behind herself. She threw on a pair of jeans with a t-shirt, pulled her hair into a ponytail, and grabbed her messenger bag. "Let's go," she said sternly as she walked out the front door. Booth, dragging behind, had to take a couple of extra steps in order to keep up.

Once they reached Booth's SUV, he opened the passenger door for his partner. Knowing that she hated when people did things for her when she was perfectly capable for doing them herself, he rolled his eyes as she stopped by the vehicle, her hand on her hip. "Booth…" she started in on him.

"Just get in, Tempe…we don't have time to argue," he nearly pleaded as he stared into her stone cold gray eyes. Taking a deep breath, she conceded and climbed into the SUV. After shutting the door behind her, Booth ran around to the driver's side of the vehicle and climbed in.

As he started the engine and began driving, he looked over at Temperance. He knew that she couldn't have had any more than three hours of sleep, but he couldn't quit thinking about how beautiful she was. Despite the even-more-than-usual pale skin and the dark bags under her eyes, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

It had been a month since Hannah had shattered his dreams of marriage, and the first time in a long time that he actually took the time to notice how stunningly gorgeous Bones was. His Bones.

Catching him looking at her, Brennan snapped. "What the hell are you looking at, Booth?" He knew she was furious, but he couldn't help it. He would have loved to give her more time to sleep but the governor had asked for their help.

"Nothing, Bones," he replied quietly and refocused his eyes back on the road, slouching down in the driver's seat.

The entire way to the crime scene was in deafening silence. Not only was Brennan exhausted, she had been furious with Booth for a month. Ever since that night in the bar, he hadn't acted the same towards her. He had been rude, pushy, and arrogant enough to kill something. She could put up with a lot of stuff, but not with him acting this differently. She had even tried to convince herself that it was just his defense mechanisms kicking in and "fight" was his choice against "flight." Psychobabble was most definitely not her favorite subject, but regardless…she needed something to make herself feel better.

Once they arrived to the apparent middle-of-nowhere, Brennan stepped out of the vehicle and pulled on her work-jumpsuit. She snapped on rubber gloves and took off to where the rest of her squints were.

"What do we have, Bones?" Booth asked, keeping a safe distance. After shooting him a glare to kill all other glares, she squatted down by the mangled body.

"Male, age 25 to 30 . I can't do anything else until we get the body back to the damn lab," she barked. Cam's eyes widened as Brennan pulled her gloves off and started to retrace her steps back to the SUV.

"What the hell did you do, Seeley?" she asked and turned towards Booth, her eyes bigger than usual.

He grimaced as he put his sunglasses back over his eyes. "Woke her up at 3 in the morning and drove four hours to the middle-of-nowhere to look at a dead guy that she can't figure anything out until we get back to the lab which is four more hours in a vehicle with me. THAT is what I did," he spat out, shoving his notebook back into his pocket.

Cam's eyes got wider than before as Booth snapped his fingers at some crime scene squint. "Get over here," he commanded. Hodgins approached the body and stopped by Cam.

"What's going on?" he whispered, noticing something wasn't quite right. Cam just shook her head and shot her eyes over to the FBI agent. Taking a hint, Hodgins nodded and bent down to look at the body.

"Get the body back to the lab. Dirt, grass, rocks, anything and everything near this body," Booth commanded. The intern that had been summoned narrowed his eyes. "I'M NOT KIDDING. MOVE IT. NOW."

"Ye-yes sir," the young man stuttered. Booth rolled his eyes behind his dark sunglasses and began down the trail that Brennan had made.

Once he climbed back in the SUV, he sighed as he saw Temperance sitting conservatively with her hands in her lap, her head straight forward, and her mouth sealed tight. "Bones…" he spoke softly.

"Just get me back to the lab, Booth," she directed.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell is wrong with you?" he quipped back as he started the engine.

"The only thing wrong with me, Agent Booth, is that I haven't acquired a sufficient amount of REM sleep in over 96 hours. Now, get me back to the lab so I can identify this body and go home." Her eyes never wandered away from looking out the windshield. Her answer was as scientific…and cold…as usual.

Putting the vehicle into drive, Booth began their journey back to Washington, D.C. During the long four-hour ride, all he could think about was her. He knew that he had screwed up, and he knew that she wasn't going to be easy to win back.

When Hannah moved her things out of Booth's apartment, he completely broke down. He just knew that she was the one that would marry him. The one that wouldn't reject what he had to offer. 'So much for that shitty idea,' he thought to himself. He was so lost, he had even considered talking to Sweets.

After they eventually got back to the Jeffersonian, Brennan retreated to her office. "Let me know when the body arrives," she called behind herself as she shut her office door. Booth stopped in the middle of the lab as his head fell towards the floor.

He picked it back up as his heart broke a little bit more. He could he have hurt her so bad? Treated her so badly? He had ignored her for a month. After knowing her, loving her, for six years. As he sat on the couch on the walkway above the lab, his phone started ringing. "Booth," he answered and leaned back.

"Booth, it's Angela," the woman on the other end of the line informed him.

"Hey, Ange. What's going on?"

"Um…" she started. "Brennan just called me."

His eyes narrowed. "Okay? Is that supposed to mean something?"

"She was crying, Booth. Crying isn't even a good word for it. She was bawling. I couldn't understand what she was saying aside from 'Booth' and 'he hates me'…"

His heart dropped. "Oh…uh…" he stuttered, his heart breaking even more.

"Before I could ask any questions, she hung up on me. I just woke up, so it'll be an hour before I get to the lab. But I need you to go check on her," Angela told him.

"Okay, Ange. Thanks for calling and letting me know."

"Booth, what's going on?"

As he stood up, he took a deep breath. "I need to go check on her, Angela. We'll talk later." He snapped his phone shut and nearly sprinted down to Brennan's office.

Softly knocking on the door, he didn't hear a response. "Bones?" he called out. He reached for the doorknob, but it was locked. "Bones," he called louder as he knocked more heavily on the large door.

She flung the door open as she ran a hand across her own cheek, wiping a final tear. "Is the body here?" she asked quickly.

Booth shook his head. "Angela called me, Bones…" he spoke softly.

"Inform me when the body arrives," she repeated and stepped back into her office, pushing the door back towards its frame. Before it could shut, Booth intercepted it and took a step into her office.

"Bones…I think we need to talk," he walked slowly towards her desk where she was sitting.

Typing furiously at her keyboard, Brennan shook her head. "No. No we don't."

"Something's wrong, Bones. I've known you for too long and I know when something is wrong." He leaned against her desk, her eyes not straying from the computer screen.

"I'm fine, Booth. Now if you don't mind, I need to work on my book."

"I do mind, actually," he said and spun her chair around to face him. He knelt down in front of her and stared into her reddened gray eyes. "Tempe," he said with a sigh. "You have to tell me what's wrong so I can fix it."

"NOTHING IS WRONG," she spat back through gritted teeth.

Booth's head drooped. "Please tell me, Tempe…" he asked softly.

"How many ways can I say it, Booth? I'm tired, I'm exhausted, and I'm ready to get this damn case over with."

Nodding, Booth stood up. She could see the pain in his eyes, but it was no different than the pain he had been causing her. "Okay," he replied softly, knowing she wasn't going to budge. "I'll leave you alone."

"Finally," Brennan huffed and spun her chair back towards her computer. Booth stood by her office door with his arms crossed.

"Dr. Brennan, the body is here!" someone called out. She stood up, slid her lab coat on, and walked right past Booth without a second glance, leaving him with a bowed head as he leaned against the door frame.

"Mr. Edison, please prepare the body for examination," Brennan instructed as she stepped onto the platform.

"Yes, Dr. Brennan," he replied, quickly going to work.

Booth turned his head to pier out the office door, his heart fluttering as he saw her begin her examination on the decaying corpse. She was in her element, and, while being completely surrounded by nasty, dead things, she was absolutely everything he wanted. And it hit him like a ton of bricks. He had to have her.