A/N: Hi All! This is a post-Hannah one-shot about our favorite pair of crime fighters. Thanks for reading!

FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth and his Forensic Anthropologist partner, Doctor Temperance Brennan were question a person of interest in their latest investigation. Booth had a vibe about the man, but was unsure if it was because he was involved in the murder or just a weird guy. He was stunned, then, when he saw his partner's hand jut out and slam her palm with serious force up into the man's nose. As he doubled over, she swept her leg out, catching the suspect behind the knees, slamming him down on his back.

"What the hell, Bones? What are you doing?"

Brennan looked up from her stance over the man curled up on the floor, surprised at Booth's tone.

"You can't just go around hitting people, you need a reason!" Booth continued. He went on a little quieter, almost to himself, "Damn it, another assault charge."

"Booth, I had a reason! I could see him shifting his center of gravity, lowering it and tensing his muscles for an attack. He was about to rush you and possibly disarm you. My strike was preemptive."

They both glanced down at the prostrate man before them as he groaned, "Dude, she nailed that."

"I am trained to see this type of thing, using my background in kinesiology and martial arts."

"Yeah, Bones, I get it." Booth motioned the local LEO over to take their now prime suspect into custody.

As soon as he could, Booth stormed out of the suspects home, Brennan hot on his heels, "Booth!"

"Bones, you can't just hit people, even if it is 'preemptive!' You have to communicate with me, I am your partner! Gun goes first, remember?"

Reaching the black SUV, Brennan slammed her hand against the driver side door, preventing Booth from pulling it open, "I don't know why you are so upset, Booth. I could have just saved all of our lives in there. There wasn't time to warn you. If I had, it would have taken your focus away from the suspect and allowed him to possibly disarm you. It was the only rational course of action!"

"Rational?"

Standing toe to toe, the two partners squared off in one of their epic battles. Both could feel, however, that this went deeper than the surface issue. Brennan, her anger rising, poked Booth in the chest with her index finger, "Yes, rational, Booth. Do you have a problem with me being rational?"

Booth took half a step forward, moving Brennan back against the SUV, "Yeah, you know what, Bones. I do."

As Brennan looked up into the coffee colored eyes before her, she saw them darken, almost imperceptibly and her body responded almost involuntarily. She hadn't been this close to him in months and taking advantage of that closeness, she inhaled deeply, filling her nose with his unique scent. She slowly closed her eyes against the penetrating depth of his gaze, feeling that he could see all the way through her metaphoric soul.

"This, Bones! Don't you feel this? Can't you be irrational for once and just admit that you feel more than just friendship between us?"

"Irrational, Booth? My irrationality is what got us into this mess in the first place. So don't you speak to me about irrationality."

"What do you mean? What mess?"

"That night, at the Hoover, had I been a 'normal' woman, rationally, I would have said yes to you. The man I love just told me that he 'knew' from the beginning that we were going somewhere and he promised me 50 years. That is what any girl dreams of. Rationally, I should have said yes. I wanted to say yes. But I got scared, scared that we would lose what we had and I allowed my irrational fear to take over. We ended up losing what we had anyway. We abandoned each other and we abandoned our work and the victims to go to opposite sides of the world, me for my own selfish desires. You, you were the noble one, still out saving people. And since we've been back, nothing has been the same. All because in one instant, I was irrational."

Brennan moved to swipe a tear trailing down her check, but Booth was faster. With a tender touch, he smoothed away the tear and cupped his hand around her jaw, gently pulling her eyes to his again.

"No, Bones, this isn't your fault! I should have seen that you were just scared, I should have fought for you. I should have never said that I had to move on, because, let's face it: I couldn't and I certainly don't want to, especially since you just told me that you love me!" Booth began to smile as he realized that they were finally getting somewhere, finally moving out of the painful place they had been in for months.

Brennan returned his smile, still tearful but feeling laughter bubble up from within, "That's the one thing you pull out of this conversation?"

"Well, I have been hoping to hear it for six years, so yeah. Bones, we can make this work. We have years of friendship and trust, a rock solid foundation to build our love on. So, rationally thinking, my next question should be..."

"Booth."

"Don't worry, Bones. I was just going to ask what you're doing Friday night. Can I take you on a date?"

Pressing a soft kiss to his check, Brennan nodded and said, "Yes."

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my first Bones fanfic! I am a huge Bones fan and while this season is heart crushing, I am enjoying the ride. Please review if you can, what you liked, didn't like and how I can improve. Thanks again!

~Cindy