Author's note: An AU multi-chap post-ep for Stargazer in a Puddle, it starts with B/B eating at the diner after the almost wedding, I was going to start it with them at the reception but every time I tried it came out as one big fat cliché! So I changed course  Hope you enjoy it! I know I should be working on Bring on the Wonder but this wouldn't leave me alone! Reviews make my day 

Spoilers: Stargazer in a puddle

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones, if I did B/B would be hitting the sack at least once an episode.

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"How can you possibly still think that marriage holds any kind of value, Booth? Angela is married to a man who she doesn't even remember, yet she's with Hodgins. More evidence to the fact that a piece of paper and a ceremony in no way solidify or represent commitment or love, marriage is an anti-''

"Antiquated ritual that has no place in modern society." Booth finished. "Yeah, I got it Bones." He said, violently squirting more ketchup on his hamburger. Brennan silently observed him, confused by the tense clench of his jaw.

"You're angry." Brennan stated, sipping her milkshake.

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No Bones, I'm not, okay? Just drop it."

"Fine, but if you told me what your angry about then maybe I could help." Brennan said with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

Booth looked at her and she could see in his eyes the internal struggle, deciding whether or not to tell her the truth. Finally the truth won out and he leaned toward her like he always does when he's trying to make a point.

"Fine Bones, you wanna know what I'm angry about?" He asked dropping his hamburger on his plate. "I'm angry because I'm tired of you dismissing anything you don't understand as scientifically incorrect or irrational or any other of your other lame-ass excuses. You're scared by the thought of committing yourself to one person so you close off any possibility of more by filing it away as an antiquated ritual. And it pisses me off."

Somewhere inside her Brennan knew what he was saying was true, and she was disturbed by the fact that he knew her so well. But she wasn't anywhere near admitting it anyone, especially to Booth.

"None of that is true, Booth. I'm not scared of lasting relationships because there is no such thing as a lasting relationship." She said and as the words left her mouth she found that she regretted them. For reasons that she did not understand, she wanted Booth to think that she was capable of maintaining a relationship, that she believed in all the things that he believed. She just couldn't bring herself to say the words, saying it felt like a betrayal to the person she has been all these years.

"Fine, Bones." Booth said his voice a mixture of frustration and sadness. "Forget I said anything, you ready?" He said, standing up and dropping a few dollar bills on the table.

The ride to her apartment was filled with silent tension. Brennan suspected Booth was still angry about what she said, his knuckles were turning white from gripping the steering wheel. She leaned her head back against the headrest and winced as the pins holding her hair up into an elegant bun poked her in the skull. She pulled them out and gently shook out her hair, only to look over and see Booth's grip on the steering wheel tighten.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"What, what?" He asked looking at her, then looking back at the road.

"You're body language became increasingly tense over the course of the last five seconds. That would indicate that something that happened in the last five seconds bothered you enough that you would-''

"Enough, Bones. I got it. And it's nothing, okay? I'm just anxious to get this tux off that's all." He said.

"Even I know that was a lie."

Booth sighed and ran his hand over his face as he pulled up to Brennan's building.

"Are you still mad at me about my views on marriage?" She asked.

"I was never mad at you Bones." He said.

"You seemed mad."

"I wasn't I was just, ya know, frustrated. That's it, okay? I'm not mad at you." He said smiling a little.

Brennan smiled back. "Do you want to come up for a drink? We never got that open bar we were promised at the reception." She said, her small smile turning into a full blown grin.

Booth couldn't help but smile back, not when she was grinning at him like that. He was powerless.

"Sure, Bones. But just one."

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4 drinks and one abandoned bow tie later, the pair were on Brennan's living room floor with a bottle of scotch between them. Booth poured them another shot as Brennan scowled at him.

"That doesn't count Booth, take it back."

"You asked me how many times I had been shot Bones, and I told you. You don't get to decide what counts and what doesn't! I was the one getting shot , so case closed. No changies, no take backs." Booth said, grinning at her smugly as they clinked their glasses together and downed another shot.

"It was an accident Booth, and it was only a flesh wound. I don't see why you're being so sensitive."

"You shot me! And I'm not being sensitive, you asked me how many times I had been shot and I answered, the fact that your one of the shooters is not my problem Bones."

"You dropped me on my head."

"Well if I ever ask you how many people have dropped you on your head, feel free to include me in that list."

"It's a short list, you're the only person who has ever dropped me on my head."

"New topic, please." Booth requested as Brennan reached for the bottle and sloppily poured them both another shot, drops of liquid decorating her hardwood floors.

"Oops." She said and attempted wiping up the spilled alcohol with the heel of her hand.

Booth couldn't stop a full fledge laugh from escaping his lips. "You okay there, Bones?" He asked.

"Fine. My hand is actually quite absorbent." She said, stumbling a little over the word absorbent.

He laughed again and leaned in to grab the scotch bottle, she was still trying to mop up the scotch and their foreheads bumped a little. They both flinched at the sudden contact, two foreheads burning where skin had met skin. "Sorry." Booth mumbled before pouring them another shot.

"What do you think Angela and Hodgins are doing right now?" Booth asked, looking for a topic that would distract him from the fact that his lips had been inches from Bones. Inches. If he had leaned in just a little bit more he could have….

"Probably having sex." Brennan said calmly.

Booth's eyes widened. She just had to say sex didn't she?

"Bones." Booth hissed.

"What? It's true." Brennan said, chuckling at Booth's obvious discomfort.

"I know but still." He said shaking his head a little, trying to clear away certain mental images.

"You're a grown man Booth, you know you're allowed to say the word sex right?" She asked leaning closer to him to grab the scotch bottle, her fingers grazed his and his stomach clenched.

"I know Bones, can we get off this?" Booth asked nervously. His judgment was already impaired from the alcohol the last thing he needed was to be talking about sex with Bones to make him even more impaired.

Brennan chuckled again. "I don't see how you ever go on dates if you're made this uncomfortable when someone says the words sex. You're a prude." She said pointing at him and grinning before swallowing another scotch. She made a face afterwards, the alcohol burning as it slid down her throat.

"I am not a prude Bones, okay, trust me. Seeley Booth is the furthest thing from a prude." He said poking himself in the chest and then knocking back another shot.

Brennan laughed. "Whatever you say." She said, meeting his eyes and smiling. He smiled back and held her gaze.

Before he knew what he was doing he leaned in and lightly pressed his lips against hers, it was barely a kiss, just a touch. Just his need to be closer to her, have a part of them physically connected.

The electric pulse he felt as soon as their lips touch, he expected. The frenzied need to have his lips on her everywhere, he expected. The sureness that he would never be able to think of anything else but the softness of her lips, he expected. What he didn't expect however, was her reaction.

She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her, parting her lips and inviting his tongue into her mouth. He couldn't escape the moan that resonated deep in his throat when her tongue ran along his bottom lip. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her into his lap, both groaning at the sensation of the friction between their bottom halves.

Booth, knowing full well that this could be his only chance to experience everything that was Temperance Brennan, dragged his lips away from her and pressed hot open mouth kisses all down her neck before lightly sucking on the delicate curve of her jaw.

"Booth." Brennan sighed, scratching through the hairs on the back of his neck, using her grip to pull his face back up to hers, sighing contently when their lips met again.

Brennan's hands traveled down Booth's shoulders, He has very well developed triceps, she thought, How did I not notice that before?

Her hands finally landed on their destination, and she hurriedly unbuttoned his shirt, accidentally ripping one of the buttons. "Careful Bones, it's a rental." Booth grinned against her neck before kissing her just below her earlobe.

Brennan pulled his shirt off and tossed it across the room, her head falling back against the couch as Booth pulled down on of the straps of her dress and kissed her all across her now bare shoulder.

Booth moaned against her skin as Brennan's hands found their way to his belt buckle.

He wanted this. God knows how long he has been waiting for this exact moment, how long he has waited for her to be ready, for her to see him. But he always pictured there to be declarations of feelings and slow passionate kisses before, not shots and bickering. He thinks they need to wait, they need to do this right. But the alcohol coursing through his veins and her hands undoing his belt buckle said otherwise. He didn't trust himself when it came to her, to make the right decision for her, for them. So he would leave it up to her.

"Bones." He said grabbing her hands and holding them in his own.

"What?" She asked, her voice breathy and hushed, meeting his eyes for the first time since he kissed her. His heart stopped. Her eyes were a shade of blue he had never seen before, they were dark and cloudy with desire. Desire for him.

He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, that next to his son she was his whole world and that he didn't want this to be just sex, that he lo- cared about her too much for that. But that look in her eyes wouldn't let his mouth form the words.

"Are you sure?" Is all he could muster.

A small smile spread across her lips as she stood up, pulling him with her and pressing her lips to his.

"Always."