He opened the front door and walked into the place that felt more like home than any apartment he had occupied in the last 10 years.

He slid off his shoes and his jacket, leaving them by the front door and made his way through the dark apartment to her bedroom.

He all but had to have security escort her from the hospital after he had gotten shot. He knew he had made her angry but he was planning on making that up to her. The fact was seeing her all banged up with the bandage across her forehead, he couldn't focus, he couldn't think about anything else besides holding her and never letting her go.

They were standing so close to each other, if the suspect had angled his gun an inch to the left it could have been her. How could she not understand it could have been her.

He entered her bedroom and let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Being in her presence always brought relief. Sometimes it was brought along with anger, frustration, arousal, happiness or at times all of the above but he always felt relieved when he was with her. Like everything was the way it should be.

He took off his jeans and pulled his t-shirt over his head, wincing when the motion aggravated his freshly bandaged gun shot wound. He smiled when he took her in, she had fallen asleep reading the Journal of Forensic Anthropology. Then again he could understand why that put her to sleep.

He turned off her bedside lamp and gently moved her reading material to her nightstand then climbed into bed next to her slinging an arm across her waist and threading a leg through hers. He was secretly pleased when he felt her stir awake, he was exhausted and knew both of them needed their sleep but he wanted to make sure she wasn't still angry with him.

"Hi." He whispered in her ear as he placed a kiss on her neck and buried his face in her hair.

"Hi. How's your shoulder?" She asked sleepily, shifting around so she was resting her chin on his chest.
"Good as new." He said, a shiver ran down his spine as she traced the outline of his bandage with a delicate finger.

"That is physically impossible." She said, placing a kiss underneath his bandage.

"I'm sorry you got shot Booth." She said quietly, her voice cracking a little.

He couldn't answer for a moment. He hated himself for being the reason she had to kill another person. This was the third time she shot someone for him.

"I'm sorry you had to shoot someone." He said softly, running his fingers through her hair.

"He shot you and was possibly going to shoot me. I was merely reacting rationally to the situation. I did the right thing." She said. She was talking to him but it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.

"I know. You did good Bones." He said.

She sighed and placed a kiss on his chest and then another one on his neck before lingering on his lips.

His tongue traced her bottom lip as he deepened the kiss, desperately trying to taste every inch of her mouth. His hold around her waist tightened and he pulled her tighter against his chest, wincing as the muscle contraction sent pain shooting through his body.
Brennan felt him stiffen and pulled back. "Booth!" She scolded, her voice still scratchy and low from sleep.

"You were just shot and have a gun shot wound to your left deltoid. You should rest." She said rolling off of him and swatting away his hands when he tried to pull her back on top of him. He groaned in annoyance. "Shouldn't the fact that I was just shot and have a gun shot wound in my left del-whatever be a reason that I should be rewarded, like ice cream when you get your tonsils out or getting to stay home from school when you have the chicken pocks?" Booth asked. "Wait, am I the ice cream in your scenario or the tonsils?" She asked. He sighed. "You are the ice cream Bones." He said kissing her neck. "Only you taste much, much better." He said, grinning into her shoulder. She fought a smile but kissed him back when his lips met hers. She threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to her. She wouldn't allow herself to think about how close she was to losing him today. Not when he was so alive here in her arms.

END