Thank you so much for all you lovely reviews for my last stories, i am a bit behind on replies but will get there - it is so encouraging!
I don't own Bones!
A bit of softness...
Please enjoy!
It was rare for Temperance Brennan to be examining a crime scene without being kitted out from neck to toe in the standard Jeffersonian jumpsuit but here she was, sitting back on her heels, running her critical gaze over the bones in a pair of low cut jeans and a white tank top.
Brennan dictated the particulars to Booth who, between writing, was able to sneak looks at his casually clad partner.
She was rather distracting. What would normally have been a navy polyester waistband was, at that moment, a velvety glimpse of vanilla skin. The fact that said skin was merely millimetres above that deliciously round part of her body only ever touchable in his dreams was a screaming diversion from scribing duty.
As Brennan bent further over the remains, it rewarded Booth with a half an inch more flesh, revealing quite a lot more than she had intended.
"Oh ho ho! Bones!" Booth laughed in complete disbelief, waiving his pen at her back.
Immediately conscious of her spilling posterior, she abruptly stood, spun and adjusted her belt nervously.
"What?" her tone was clipped as she eyed his shoes.
"Bones! You have a tattoo! Let me look at that!"
They spun around each other a couple of times like a dog chasing its tail – Booth trying to rotate Brennan to get another glimpse and Brennan rigidly orbiting Booth in an effort to thwart his view.
"Booth! Stop it! Let me go! We are at a crime scene!"
"Show me!" He laughed; his hands lightly tickling her sides.
"Booth!"
"What did you get inked! Lemme look!"
"NO!" Brennan threw her hands up to his chest with a slight push and it was only at the moment when her tear rimmed eyes met his that he understood she was serious.
Immediately sobered, the smile fell from his face, "Bones, I'm sorry."
"Just... let me just get back to work Booth." Her pained features put him promptly in his place with no other option but to concur.
"Ok. I'm sorry..."
She swiped at her tears and turned back to the body.
"Bones?"
Brennan nodded in silent acknowledgement and resumed her bone side scrutiny, both of them burning red under the recently acquired attention of the surrounding investigators.
Four days later - after the case had been bagged and tagged, without so much as a word directly uttered from Brennan, Booth was beside himself with curiosity and concern. He was itching to know what had upset her so much. He'd only had the briefest of peeks. From what he had seen - it appeared to be four or five characters but, with only the very tops visible, it was impossible to tell.
The only discernable and obvious fact was that it was personal.
It had taken many, many months after Hannah's departure for Booth and Brennan to salvage their relationship – to get some sort of semblance of their previous partnership back. And Booth was determined to not let something as small as a little ink ruin what they had worked so hard to recover.
It was that thought that had him at her door, paperwork in one hand, bottle of red in the other, waiting with nervous anticipation.
"Hi Booth, come in." She seemed welcoming enough.
"Hey" his smile was genuine and warm.
Booth sat himself down on her sofa – trying to get a gauge on her mood as he placed the bottle onto the coffee table.
Returning with two Bordeaux glasses, she handed Booth a corkscrew and he served their drinks with practiced flair.
Brennan took a good three gulps of liquid before gaining the courage to speak...
"Booth... I... I'm sorry for overreacting on Tuesday, I..." She took a deep breath, released it then drained her glass before continuing, "You know I have always believed that love is a passing emotion."
Booth sighed and nodded. He did not like where this was going.
"I insisted, despite your protests that love was simply chemical, fleeting... ephemeral and not something designed to last."
"Yeah, Bones, I was there – I haven't forgotten."
"Well, when I decided to leave for the Maluku Islands – it was my last effort to either prove or disprove that theory. The evidence that supported the short lived nature of love was dwindling with every moment I spent with you, Booth, but I had to be sure. I couldn't gamble on us – it had to be foolproof to risk our friendship. After all, 'truth' is merely theory without empirical evidence and tangible proof."
Booth nodded. He hadn't even counted on making it through her door, let alone jumping straight into a Bones initiated D&M. "Did you find your proof Bones?"
"Yes."
"And what was your conclusion?"
She hesitated, "That love... real, unselfish love is permanent."
Booth smiled wistfully and looked down at his glass, "And then you came back to DC and your conclusion was blown apart when I came back with... someone else."
"No."
He looked up, "No?"
"No, Booth." She paused, considering her words carefully, "It wasn't about you..."
His brow crinkled with ill-concealed offence.
"I mean to say. I was confused as to the existence of permanent love. That was what I was trying to figure out. Despite all my efforts and the complete isolation, I could not change the way I felt. I still haven't and so my conclusion stands undefeated. Your actions did not compromise that Booth. It simply proved to me that, either you didn't love me in the first place or you never stopped. I would assume that if it were the latter, you would have said something by now given that you are aware of my regrets but it still doesn't disprove my conclusion."
It took a few moments for the cogs in Booth's brain to tick over and process what she was admitting to.
Before it fully sunk in, she continued, "I got my tattoo in Darwin on a three day break over the holidays..."
His jaw dropped and a hint of a smile crept into his eyes, "You got a tat of my name across your butt!"
"Of course not! Booth, your vanity is excessive and by no means an endearing quality. "
He chuckled, "Don't lie, Bones, you love it!"
A smile tugged at her lips. "Yes... I do."
With their playful banter reignited, his confession slipped out over an easy smile, "I never stopped loving you, Bones."
The smile that had been pulling at her lips a minute before suddenly washed over every feature of her face – leaving her eyes sparkling with a shy yet radiant happiness, "Really?"
Booth took her hands in his, "Really. Bones, I'm sorry I stuffed it up. I didn't do it right, we missed our chance too many times. But I want this more than I have wanted anything and we can't get it wrong. We have proven that there is nothing more right than this."
"Despite the hyperbolic nature of that statement, I concer..." and with a husky tone she added, "vehemently"
They spent the rest of the night showing each other how right it was, offering the other tangible proof of the truth that was once just a theory but holds so much more merit now that it is a certainty.
In the warm glow of morning – he slipped the sheet over her body revealing the permanent symbol of what was there all along.
Booth trailed his finger reverently over each of the inked letters...
L O V E
Too corny? Please let me know...
Take care, till next time!
Kate :)