Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: I got this idea in Church the other day, yes I was paying attention, and it wouldn't leave me alone. As a Christian I don't think this will offend anyone, but if it does then I apologize, I'm not making fun. Hope you like it! Oh, and the passage is from 1 Corinthians 13.

Temperance Brennan closed her eyes and listened to the music that rang through the hallowed halls of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. She had finally prevailed upon her partner to bring her with him to a service, albeit not without copious amounts of pleading and the making of more promises than she could count. What it boiled down to basically was that while in the presence of God, Brennan was forbidden to utter a single syllable. It was that or be left at home and Brennan desperately wanted to find out what Booth saw in all this mishmash of ceremony and liturgy.

It wasn't that she didn't respect Booth for what he believed in, because she did. She respected anyone who was consistent in their belief system and took the time to understand it in order to ably defend it. Booth may not like the debates that he referred to as harassment on her part, but she appreciated the time he took to try and dispel her negative opinions on the subject.

Pulled back into reality but a nudge from Booth, Brennan realized that she had zoned out for a while. In all fairness she didn't know any of the hymns, nor did she understand the significance of the various readings and ceremonious actions taken by the Priest. She turned her attention back to the Priest speaking at the front, fully expecting to hear him pontificating on some issue of morality or telling a Bible story like in the Sunday School classes she had been forced to attend for a few weeks with a Christian foster family.

What she did not expect to hear was the Priest announcing that this week's message would be about love and would the congregation open to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter thirteen. Bones was intrigued. Of course she knew that the feeling described in romance novels as love could easily be explained by science, but she was interested to hear what Booth's God had to say on the topic.

"Love is patient."

Patience she mused to herself. She glanced at her partner. He was the epitome of patience when it came to dealing with her. He put up with her scientific language which she used at times simply because she knew he wouldn't understand and once again would require an explanation which she wouldn't fail to give, complete with a condescending glance.

He was patient in teaching her how to interact with people. He slowly explained the intricacies of the human psyche and emotions, but in a gentler way than she usually explained things to him. He patiently explained how one dealt with grieving parents or devastated spouses. Who knew that they didn't actually want to hear how their loved ones suffered?

He was patient when waiting for her to open up to him, something he knew she would inevitably do in most situations. He waited until she was ready to talk about her experiences in foster care or open up about how she felt when she was trapped underground.

"Love is kind."

She once had asked Booth why he was so nice to her. He had explained, but in truth, she still didn't understand. It's not like she was really kind to him very often. She didn't do 'nice' all that well.

He brought food to her apartment and sat up with her late into the night listening to her talk about her family. In fact, he had done that on more than one occasion.

He let her hug him whenever she was afraid or lonely. She blushed as she recalled the feeling of being in his arms.

"It does not envy."

Booth made less money than her. Booth wasn't as intelligent as her. He was often in her shadow when they were out in public. Case in point being their visit to Carly's restaurant, somewhere he had been attempting to make reservations at for years. He didn't envy her success, her bigger paycheck and he simply took her genius in stride and complimented her on her ability to do her job.

"It does not boast. It is not proud."

Lord knows . . . oops, sorry God, that Booth had a lot to be proud of. As an unbiased observer and a woman, she couldn't help but notice his handsome features and perfect muscular definition. He had no trouble attracting attention she noted as an unwanted feeling of possessiveness invaded her senses before she shoved it away.

He was brilliant at his job, but never undervalued her part in the process. He knew people like she knew bones, and she knew bones pretty darn well.

He was one of the most modest people she knew. Sure he wore the cocky belt buckle and yeah, he did take pride in his ability to do his job, but that was the accessories were for show and he should take pride in his job.

But he had saved lives, he had put away more criminals than she could count, and he had raised a beautiful little boy; yet never brought those qualities up.

"It is not rude."

Booth was the antithesis of rude. He was actually the perfect gentleman. He held open doors for her. He picked up the tab at the restaurant. He stood up when she did and he always moved aside allowing her to proceed first whenever they walked anywhere. Sometimes she wished he would be rude, maybe then she wouldn't feel so guilty about how often she was rude to him.

Why are all these elements of love reminding me of Booth? Every one of these virtues caused her to think of her partner, more specifically the way he treated her. She didn't like where this was going, but she couldn't seem to stop her mind from wandering into forbidden territory.

"It is not self seeking."

This kind of fell under the heading of proud, but it was true that Booth never took advantage of a situation in order to benefit him. She knew there were times when she was vulnerable that he could have taken advantage of and the night they had gotten drunk together in his office came to mind as well.

He was the opposite of self seeking; he was one of the most generous people that she knew. He continually gave of himself and never seemed to expect anything in return. Well in her case he did demand that she quit whining about the fact that he always drove, she never would, but inside she knew that it was a small price to pay for all that he did for her.

"It is not easily angered."

This one she could overlook considering the fact that she took every opportunity to provoke him. More often than not though, he would refuse the bait. She would begin an argument while driving to some destination, being together in small enclosed spaces seemed to bring out the worst in them, and he would simply focus on the road refusing to rise to the occasion.

"It keeps no record of wrongs."

And thank goodness for that! She had lashed out at him, she had rudely brushed aside his chivalrous actions, she had flaunted her relationships in front of him, she had questioned his ability to do his job and the list went on. Still he put up with her. Why? She was beginning to have some idea and the thoughts running through her mind were making her dizzy with their implications.

"Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth."

That was Booth to a T. Booth fought evil. He abhorred it and she knew the painful reason why. He felt he had once been part of it. She knew his past haunted him and his actions drove him in his fight against evil. He did everything in his power to ferret out the truth. He said that she had a mania for the truth, but she knew that he sought after it as much, if not more, than she did.

"It always protects . . . "

How many times had Booth insisted that it was his job to protect her? He had shot Kenton for her. He had pushed the squints on even when she and Hodgins had technically run out of time. He had chased after her when she had gone to see her father, but in all fairness she hadn't know it was him. He had interrogated David, but she suspected that there were other motives behind that one. He seemed to take pride in designating himself her official protector.

These revelations about her partner were adding up and the sum could only equal one thing. The next words from the Priest drove home her epiphany.

"always trusts . . ."

Oh . . .

"always hopes . . . "

my . . . .

"always perseveres."

God! . . . . Oops, sorry again.

When Booth shot a glare at her she realized that she had whispered those words out loud. Thank God they hadn't been as loud as they were now currently resounding in her head. This time she actually did mean to thank Him. . . . if He was there of course, which He wasn't.

B B B B B B

Booth shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Brennan had been staring at him throughout the entire service. He knew it was a bad idea to bring her, but he had thought she would simply protest the illogical ceremonial aspect or attempt to engage another member of the congregation in a debate, not make it so that he didn't hear a single word that the Priest said.

The Priest was talking about love; at least he had gotten that much out of it. Hearing the Priest describe love made him think about Brennan, his gorgeous, yet unattainable partner. He had long ago reluctantly acknowledged his feelings for her; he had thought it would be much easier than denying them. It wasn't. Now that he knew what he wanted, the knowledge that he would never have it was slowly eating away at her. 'Love', the Priest repeated the word so many times that Booth just wanted to cover his ears. He glanced Heavenward, Way to rub it in!

"Oh . . . my . . . God!" he heard whispered beside him. There were times he wondered at the irrationality of his feelings for her and this was turning out to be one of them. He shot a glare at her and she blushed and smiled apologetically. Wait a second, Bones didn't blush.

The service finally came to an end and Booth ushered his partner out of the Church before she had the chance to go and ask the Priest to systematically explain his entire theology and answer her multitude of questions. As they walked out though, he was awed by the fact that she didn't even try to resist the pressure from his hand on her lower back as he moved them quickly toward the exit. And as if that wasn't enough, she was still staring at him with this confused, yet frighteningly confident look in her eyes.

When they reached his SUV he turned to look at her, he needed to know what the heck was going on and what this stranger had done with his partner. Where was the woman who protested the guidance of his hand on her back or attempted to begin a debate after every situation involving religion?

He turned to face her, but before he could say anything he felt her soft lips lock with his. It was short, but sweet and left his head spinning as she pulled away and smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Booth's face was a mask of confusion. "For what Bones?"

"For being you. For loving me."

"Wait, how did you . . ?" He realized that he had given himself away with that answer. Oh well, it was too late to go back now. "How did you know?"

"Call it divine revelation" she said as she moved her arms around his neck and smiled enigmatically.

"But…." Booth shrugged, he didn't really need an explanation, all he cared about was that Bones knew that he loved her and had not kicked his ass. He put his arms around her waist, leaned in and kissed her deeply. They stood locked in an embrace until they had to pull apart to breathe.

Booth continued to grin until he saw the concerned look on Brennan's face.

"Booth," she questioned slowly. "Is it against your religion to make out in a church parking lot?"

Booth chuckled. "No Bones, it isn't and thank goodness or I'd be in Confession for a week!" Once again his lips claimed hers and Brennan decided that maybe she should give the theory of miracles another chance.

"And now, these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love."

Please, please, please review, I'll be terribly disappointed if you don't. The only thing that would console me is Booth and he's fictional. Yes, I recently found out and was absolutely devastated. So since that dream was crushed, will you make my other dream come true and review this story!! Please, please, please!! (I"m going for a record, most pleases in an AN.) Please.