Note: This is set during the episode "Queen Bee" which is the high school reunion episode. May be considered AU and OOC. Total fluff. Just me venting on the episode before Queen Bee, you know, the flashback one. Any reviews would make me grateful!

Leaving Yourself Vulnerable

Booth closed the laptop that connected him to Sweets and sighed. The motel wasn't that bad. He'd been in worse. A knock at the door pulls him out of his nostalgia. Another knock, this one lighter. He realized it was coming from the door that connected their rooms together. Booth opened it swiftly and Brenann stood there, wearing her bathrobe. The red silky one that always looked expensive and elegant.

"Can we talk?" Bones asked.

"Sure," Booth replied and stepped aside to let her in his room. "Have a seat," Booth said when he noticed Bones was shifting her weight nervously, just standing there.

Bones nodded and muttered a thank you and sat down on the bed. Her eyes drifted to the Magic Fingers box while Booth sat on the slightly uncomfortable chair against the wall, about a yard away from the bed.

"What's wrong?" Booth sounded concerned. Making it so much harder for her. "Bones?" Booth prodded when she didn't answer immediately, like she would usually do.

"I love you, Booth. More than I've ever loved anyone."

Booth blinked once. Twice. Then he swallowed.

"When I thought you were dead, the pain I felt was... I tried to rationalize it but all I felt was pain."

Guilt flooded Booth. Anger towards the young doctor Sweets at the back of his mind, tugged, but he forced it away. Sweets didn't mean to cause harm.

"If we tried... I want you to know, I would be all in, Booth. All in."

Booth reached out and put a hand on her knee when tears started to well up in her eyes. He wanted to say so many things but he knew she wasn't finished; there was more she needed to say.

"I'm afraid. If I lost you again..." Her shoulders shook and Booth jumped out of his seat and sat next to her on the bed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Bones regained some of her composure. "If you still want to. Make sure you know exactly what you want from me. Sweets was right," her tone indicated that she never wanted Sweets to know she said that, "I hide behind my ability to rationalize everything so I can distance myself from people."

Booth ran his hand down her back in acknowledgment; saying he already knew.

Bones pressed her head closer against his chest and she wasn't sure who's heartbeat she was hearing. "I don't want to distance myself from you."

The unspoken words of her insecurities rang through out her confession. She was afraid of getting hurt, of losing him, of him not liking what he saw once they started a romantic relationship, of opening herself up completely to him. Because she had never done that since her parents abandoned her. She had never loved anyone as much as she loved him and that scared her.

Booth understood all of this. It was more than just his 'gut instinct' that allowed him to read her. It was because they were... He didn't know the word for it. 'Close' didn't seem good enough.

"I love you, Bones," Booth said. "I would never abandon you. I know now that it wouldn't be a gamble. There's no way we would loose. One hundred and ten percent sure thing win."

"There's no such thing as a hundred and ten percent. Just a hundred percent." Bones said, finally moving up and looking him in the eyes. He was about to smile at her usual come back when he saw the vulnerability in her eyes.

Booth cupped her face in his hands and pulled her up while simultaneously leaning down. Temperance closed her eyes slowly, tears starting to roll down her face, just as his lips crashed onto her's. The kiss started soft, then they breathed, enough time for Booth to nibble on Temperance's lower lip. A small moan of pleasure came from her and he pressed forward, bringing the kiss into a heated, demanding kiss. Emotions clashed, tongues fought for dominance. Temperance grabbed his collar and held him in place as they kissed.

And just as suddenly, Doctor Brenann pulled away. Booth understood immediately. "I'm all in, too. I love you, Bones."

Brenann smiled, the kind of smile that she only had around Booth. They kissed again, this one much more heated than before. Niceties thrown aside.

Booth lowered Brenann onto the bed, pulling her up so they were lying on it, him on top of her, noses touching. "Wait," Brenann's voice stopped Booth right in his tracks. He looked up at her, concerned. "If we were to have sex right now, it would be more than just sex, wouldn't it? It would be making love. I've never done that before."

Brenann didn't understand why Booth was smiling at her. Sometimes she really didn't understand the man she loved.