Disclaimer: Seriously.. do you really think those two would still be just friends, if I'd own them?! I mean... seriously?!!

Spoiler: takes place right after the box fight in 2x08 „The Woman in the Sand" and goes on like I think it should ;)

A/N: I wrote the story for a fanfic-challenge on a German board, but because I didn't wanna stop writing at 2.500 words, which was the limit, I translated it and continued.. that's what came out. English is not my native language so there could be some mistakes in it, please r&r!

For the like 47th time in the past thirty minutes Special Agent Seeley Booth eyed the old digital clock, which was placed on the cheap nightstand beside the bed and which's bright green numbers were the only illumination in the hotel room. His fingers toyed with a blue token and his right leg twitched nervously. He forced himself to remain calm and let his legs fall down from the bed, so he could sit up and put his elbows on his knees. Another gaze to the digital clock told him that time went by way too slowly. With familiar moves Booth let the token wander from one finger to another, when suddenly the door opened and Dr. Temperance Brennan walked into the dark hotel room.

"Geez… finally! What took you so long?"

With a quick move Booth jumped off the bed and made a step towards Bones, only to wince shortly after and sink back down on to the bed with pain written all over his face.

"You should be more careful, that guy beat the hell out of you." Bones replied calmly while she placed a small, white bag with a red cross on it on the bed. She opened the bag ignoring Booth's sarcastic "Thanks for the info" before she turned around and went back to the door to turn on the lights. Then she came back and started to rummage in the First Aid-bag. After getting a little bottle, a few cotton pads and a band-aid she sat down beside Booth and turned to him. Carefully she opened the little bottle, in which Booth could make out a dark fluid, and dripped some drops on one of the cotton pads. Her eyes found Booth's as she whispered quietly: "This could hurt a bit…"

Bones started to disinfect a cut above Booth's left eye and rather felt than heard, when her partner breathed in sharply. His eyes were closed and his forehead was covered in wrinkles while Bones was slowly and carefully cleaning the small wound. Her hand lay on Booth's cheek a second longer than necessary enjoying the warmth that radiated off the strong agent, before she lowered both her hands and gaze and took the band-aid, that lay on the bed beside her.

"Thanks Bones… for everything." Booth mumbled while the young anthropologist was putting the band-aid over the cut above his eye. Softly smiling, Bones turned back to her First Aid-bag before returning her attention to Booth. Her fingers were closed around a roll of bandage as she hesitatingly pointed at Booth's muscular abdomen.

"You'll have to…" she stammered before she saw the look of incomprehension on her partner's face and added: "Your shirt… you'll have to get out of it." Her eyes were still directed at Booth's abdomen and as he still wasn't moving, she continued explaining with a smile on her lips: "You contused your costae spuriae." If possible at all Booth's expression got even more confused and Bones explained once again: "Your rib!"

Finally Booth understood. Carefully and slowly he grabbed the hem of the white shirt he was wearing and tried to pull it over his head. When Bones saw pain written all over his face, she leaned in and took the hem of the shirt herself. Her eyes glanced at Booth's to be sure that she wasn't overstepping an invisible line, before she freed him of his shirt. Her eyes were constantly fixed on his, which were dark with desire since the moment he felt her hands on this body.

The bloody shirt was thrown away carelessly and landed behind the king sized bed on which they were sitting. Bones admired Booth's muscularly abdomen until she realised what she was doing and forced her eyes to look away. Her thoughts still lingered with the good looking agent who was also her partner; her fingers softly touched his skin while bandaging the contused chest. Bones knew that she enjoyed the feather light touches way too much. Booth was her colleague, they had to work together… she didn't even know whether the FBI would allow any other kind of relationship between two partners than the one that was based on work.

Bones finished bandaging her partner's chest and immediately stood up to get some space between the two of them. These kinds of thoughts were way too dangerous! With her eyes fixed on the Band Aid-bag she tried to think of something else and more importantly she tried not to watch the well build agent beside her, who still was shirtless.

"Could you hand me a new shirt?"

Booth tried not to look at Bones, as he pointed at his suitcase, which was lying a few feet away. Bones nodded before she bent down to look for a fresh T-shirt. With a big smile on her face she turned around a few seconds later, holding a "I ♥ New York"-T-shirt in her hands. The seriousness and the tensions have vanished quickly… like every time when something was about to happen between the two of them.

"What?? Parker gave that to me when he returned from his summer holidays." Booth explained immediately when he saw the wide grin on Bones' face. He caught the shirt when Bones threw it in his direction and managed to pull it over nearly without any pain.

Soon Bones had finished repacking her Band Aid-bag and stood next to the king sized bed watching Booth, who had started to toy with his token again. She sat down beside him and closed her hand around his.

"Booth, you shouldn't…" she started with a caring voice, but shut her mouth soon. She knew how hard it must be for Booth to be back in Las Vegas, working a case surrounded by hundreds of casinos, having to stay in a hotel, which has its own casino. She admired his strength to resist the "city of sins" and its temptation even more since she knew that he had had a former problem with gambling. Her eyes found his as she whispered softly: "You shouldn't get to close to the games." Her thumb began to caress softly over his palm, to tell him, that she cared for him, that she was there whenever he'd need her.

"That's easier said than done, Bones." he answered returning her gaze intensely. Bones could see his inner struggle, how difficult it was for him not to think about games, cards, dices or tokens. All day long he had been distracted by the case, the undercover mission, the fight… but now there was nothing left to distract him from the ringing slot machines and the sound of coins falling down when someone hit the jackpot.

A small smile crossed her lips when she told him: "All you need is a little distraction!" Her smile grew even more when she saw surprise crossing Booth's face and she wondered if he heard the hidden ambiguousness. Soon Booth relaxed and grinningly replied: "And what, Dr. Brennan, are you thinking of?" His eyes glowed with desire as he stared at his friend challenging, wondering and hoping that the ambiguousness was intentionally.

"Of alcohol of course!" the young anthropologist grinned winking before she left the bed for the bar cabinet and again ruined the tensions between her and the FBI-agent. She swung open the small fridge, which was standing next to a wooden cabinet, and inspected its contents.

"Okay, you have to choose between Vodka, Martini, Tequila, orange juice and Bacardi." she listed before she looked at Booth, who still was sitting on the king sized bed. After he had chosen Vodka-orange, she grabbed the Vodka, the orange juice, a small bottle of Martini and a bottle of Bacardi before she kicked the door of the bar cabinet to close it and came back to her partner. In the meantime Booth had seated himself on the far end of the bed in order to have enough space for Bones and the alcohol. While he was leaning against the wooden head of the bed, which was padded with cushions, he handed Bones another cushion, so she could also pad the headboard with it. While the young doctor was arranging her cushion, Booth started to fill two cups with the cold alcohol and soon both of them were sitting comfortably next to each other holding a glass of alcohol.

"To us!"

"To us… Bones agreed smilingly as she clinked her glass with Booth's and a soft Bling could be heard. She took a sip of her Martini, which was awfully burning down her throat. Her face was covered in wrinkles for a few seconds before she recovered and relaxed again. She forced a smile on her face and took another sip. They drank in silence and it didn't take long till the glasses had to be refilled.

Two refills for both of them later, Booth broke the silence. "How about we spice things up a bit?" He opened the bottle of Martini and refilled his glass, then took the Bacardi and did the same with Bones' glass. "Bones, do you know how to play 'I never…'?" He turned to his partner with a wide grin on his face while closing the bottles and when she shook her head no, his smile grew even bigger and he continued euphorically: "Well... its easy, really. One begins by saying 'I never' and then continues the sentence with a true fact about himself. Now, if the other also never did what the first said, it's his turn to make a statement about himself. But if he already did it, he has to take a sip of his drink before continuing. For example... I could say: 'I never slept with a guy.' Now you would have to take a sip, of course. Loser is who first finishes… well let's say five glasses of alcohol."

His eyes were glowing and a challenging smile had appeared on his face, which had grown with every word he said. His eyes had that typical "Come on, Bones, don't be a spoilsport!"-expression and it worked as always. The young anthropologist thought for a few seconds, then started smiling and nodded approving.

"Okay.. why not. Sounds funny." she grinned and indicated that Booth should start the game: "You begin!"

Booth thought for a few moments, then a wide grin crossed his lips and he said: "I never kissed a man." He looked very satisfied with himself as Bones showed him her tongue and took a sip of her Bacardi. As soon as she lowered her glass, she replied with a statement about herself: "I never proposed to someone." This time it was Booth's turn to raise his glass and take a sip of his drink, which burned cruelly in his throat.

For a minute he was silently thinking, then his expression changed and he stated: "I never slept with my college professor!" Immediately Bones narrowed her eyes and responded wildly: "Not fair! You never even attended college!" Nevertheless she took a sip of her drink to not disturb the fun of the game. Soon she countered: "I never stole anything." Curiously as to how Booth's reaction would be, she watched her partner, who sighed a few seconds later and raised his glass to his lips.

It hasn't taken them long to ask every 08/15-questions they could think of. Now it took them longer to think of some good things they never did, on contrary to the other one and when they couldn't find any truths anymore, they tried a new strategy: they tried to get each other to admit things they always wanted to know or to tell things they never knew.

After about an hour of playing, Bones had learned that her partner ran over a dog once a few years back and 20 minutes later she admitted that she already bungee jumped once or twice. Another eight minutes later Bones told the truth about her piercing a little child's balloon and a few minutes after midnight Booth admitted that he once slept with the girlfriend of his (ex-)best friend.

"I never… hm… I never had sex with both a man and a woman at the same time." After a few moments of thinking Booth finally found something he could state. Bones was already having her fifth glass of alcohol and only a few more sips remaining before she would loose the game. He wasn't thinking that this fact about himself would take him a step closer to his win. Even more surprised was his expression, when his young partner lifted the Vodka-filled glass and took a sip while a wide grin was playing over her lips. Luckily Booth didn't have much time to let his thoughts drift into dangerous areas, because immediately after lowering her glass, Bones replied grinning: "During sex I never thought of someone else than the man I was together with at that moment."

With an honest smile on his lips, Booth shook his head no. He looked at his glass and realised, that he – just like the young doctor – was nearly finished with his fifth glass of alcohol. They'd both need only one more sip to loose the game. With his eyes fixed on his drink, Booth finally gave his last statement: "I never fell in love with my partner."

When Bones heard these words, the smile on her lips disappeared and her expression and posture became serious. For just a moment she considered, whether she should lie or end the game. Instead she took a deep breath, before she looked at Booth and waited, till he returned the gaze intensely. When their eyes met, Bones only hesitated for a second, before she emptied her fifth glass with a big gulp. On Booth's lips appeared a soft smile and he raised his glass to take the last sip of his drink for the lie he just told. For a long moment the both of them just looked at each other as they both tried to realise what just happened.

A second later Bones jumped off the bed and started to collect her things without looking at her friend: "I should go… we'll see each other tomorrow at the airport." she rambled and turned to leave the hotel room.

„Bones…"

When she heard Booth's voice, she stopped. Never had she heard him say her name with such tender and love and she knew that she couldn't go. Slowly Bones turned around and her eyes found his.

"Don't go." the agent demanded with a bidding tone in his voice, before he continued softly: "Please… stay with me tonight!"

The tension that filled the room could nearly be seen as Bones starred at her partner, obviously undetermined what to do. She saw the loving eyes of the man she had loved for years now and finally gave way for her feelings. With slow steps she went back to the bed, where Booth had already pulled back the blanket. Without another word they both slipped under the blanket, where Bones lay in the arms of the strong FBI-agent. Booth gently kissed her forehead, before he wrapped his arms around her body to pull her even closer.

TBC

ok.. that's it so far. I'm already writing the next chapter, but I won't post it till I got a few reviews ;) plz let me know what you're thinking!