Disclaimer: Do I own Bones? How can you even ask- are you mocking me? Just so I don't get sued for being a smartass, NO I don't own anything. Thanks for rubbing it in though, I wrote this fic a while ago, and even though Brennan and David aren't together anymore, I'm too lazy to change it. So for the purposes of this story, we'll just say they got back together or something. I gave Brennan an SUV because her little sports car is just not badass enough for her, and the song on the radio is "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" by Jack Johnson. Save the comments about my music taste, but PLEASE review- I've turned into something of a junkie!
CH1
"Listen Bones, thanks for driving me around all day, I can't believe I had no gas this morning! I know it's a pain, I owe you one."
Rolling her eyes at Booth's tenth 'thank you' since lunch, Brennan smiled and said for the tenth time,
"Booth, it's fine. What are partners for?"
Booth felt a swell of pride at the sense of trust he had built with his complicated, independent colleague. Beaming as the pair climbed into Brennan's SUV, Booth asked in a sing-song voice,
"So Bones, it's Saturday night…any plans?" He playfully elbowed her as they pulled onto the highway.
"Actually, I'm meeting David at 7:30." Brennan answered.
Booth's face darkened and he crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes. Staring straight ahead, he muttered,
"I don't know what you see in that moron."
Looking annoyed, Brennan shot back,
"Well, he doesn't mind my working habits, he's smart, he's patient, and he's a pretty good kisser." She glared at him, the reddish sun filtering through her eyes and turning them deep indigo.
A vein in Booth's forehead bulged as he cranked his head to look at her. Pleased she was getting a reaction, Brennan kept going.
"We have the same interests, the same beliefs, and we don't fight about anything except you."
Booth's eyes widened, then shrank down to angry slits.
"Me? What does that little prick say about me?"
Brennan's hands faded white as they tightened around the steering wheel, anger pulsing through her. Not taking her eyes off the road, she bit out,
"He thinks you're unstable and threatening." Her voice raised a few decibels. "He said you told him to stay away from me or you'd 'find him'. You know Booth," She was yelling now. "I don't appreciate you appointing yourself my guard dog. You need to mind your own business!"
Incensed that David had tattled to Brennan about his little warning, Booth snapped,
"Yeah? Well I don't appreciate your little friend running to you whenever I say something to scare him!"
Seeing the rage pass through Brennan's eyes, about to spew out her mouth, Booth raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright Bones, look. I don't like that little twerp, but you're a grown woman and you can take care of yourself. You can…" His jaw clenched. "see…whoever you want. I'll butt out."
Calming down, Brennan gave a curt nod.
"Good."
After sitting in traffic for another twenty minutes on the Beltway, Booth read the digital clock on the dash.
"Looks like you're gonna be a little late meeting David." He made an honest attempt to sound less than satisfied.
Ignoring Booth's decidedly smug tone, Brennan replied,
"Not if I go straight to the restaurant after dropping you off."
She reached behind Booth's seat and grabbed her bag, inadvertently grazing her breast across his bicep. Booth held his breath as his whole body tensed. Wondering why Booth looked so nervous all the sudden, Brennan turned on the radio and started digging in her oversized purse.
Pulling out a black top, a pair of earrings and a tube of lipstick, she began unbuttoning her shirt. Noticing Booth's shocked stare, she scoffed.
"Don't pop a blood vessel, Booth. I'm wearing an undershirt, okay?"
Hideously embarrassed, Booth tried to turn and look away as Brennan threw her green shirt in the backseat and brought her black one over her head. Pulling up another fifty feet in traffic, Brennan pulled down her visor and began singing along with the radio over her breath. She looked in the small mirror and slowly traced sheer red lipstick over her pouting lips, oblivious to Booth's fascinated brown eyes following the soft cherry color across her mouth. Brennan slid the lipstick tube back in her bag and began fiddling with an earring clasp as she sang softly,
"Well I was sitting, waiting, wishing you believed in superstition. Then maybe you'd see the signs. But Lord knows that this world is cruel and I ain't the Lord, no I'm just a fool, and lovin somebody don't make them love you."
Booth had never heard the song before, but he was pretty sure he'd love it forever after hearing Brennan sing it while she put on red lipstick.
Finally Brennan got her left earring on, but after several more minutes of struggling with the right one, she gave up and reached to remove the one in her ear. Booth, quite amused that something like an earring clasp could frustrate his genius partner, stilled her hands, chuckled and took the earring from her. He easily undid the clasp with his large, deft fingers, brushed her hair back and slipped the remaining earring into her earlobe. She smiled a bashful 'thank you'.
If I was in your position, I'd put down all my ammunition and I'd wonder why it had taken me so long. But Lord knows that I'm not you, and if I was I wouldn't be so cruel cuz waitin on love and so easy to do.
Booth and Brennan stared intently at each other as the fiery sun set on the horizon and the song finished.
Booth looked at his partner, who still had a trace of a smile floating on her lips, and was dazed by her ethereal beauty. The sun's rays lit her hair into a red gold halo and glazed her skin bronze. He sat unmoving, lips barely parted, and heard a familiar voice in his head whisper a wish that she was going out with him tonight. A white hot stab of jealousy slashed into him at the thought of David holding her hand, kissing her…'That should be me!' Booth's mind hissed, then he quickly stashed everything he'd been thinking in his ever-growing 'Things I Shouldn't Be Thinking About Bones' thought bank.
Snapping painfully back to reality as car horns screamed behind them, Booth and Brennan ripped their eyes apart and saw that traffic had cleared. Brennan drove up and exited the Beltway, turning into the maze of side streets that led to Booth's house. As she absently navigated her SUV past houses and playgrounds, she thought to herself how perfect this neighborhood would be for a big, happy family. It vaguely reminded her of when she was a kid, before everything went wrong.
Turning yet another corner as dusk set in, Brennan reached over Booth and opened the glove box, retrieving a tiny glass bottle. Catching Booth's eye, she grinned.
"I'm not being girlie, I just don't want to smell like a science lab."
Booth smiled and nodded, subtly watching Brennan lift her hair and spray perfume on her delicate neck. The vanilla-jasminny fragrance spread through the car and Booth inhaled deeply, committing the smooth, perfect-for-Bones scent to his olfactory memory.
"I like your perfume, Bones. Nice and subtle."
His eyes were glittering in that unreadable way of his, sparking a tingling sensation in Brennan's chest. She hoped it was too dark for him to see her reddening cheeks. Her insides quivered at the thought of Booth sweeping her hair aside, his warm breath against her neck as he smelled her perfume…'Jesus Brennan, he's your partner! Bad! Bad Temperance! Think of David.'
Brennan was still fighting to conjure up a sensual image of David as she pulled into the driveway of Booth's well kept, perfect-for-a-family house. 'Stop thinking things like that! What, do you want to have his babies or something? Bad!'
They sat in silence for a few seconds before Booth murmured,
"I'm sorry, Bones. I made you late for your date."
She laughed nervously.
"He'll be fine as long as I don't tell him I was with you." She tucked her hair behind her ear.
Suddenly, Booth turned, his eyes piercing Brennan's.
"He's just jealous because I understand you better than he ever could and I'm the only man you really trust."
Booth blinked rapidly, shocked to realize that his tirade had not been released internally as planned, but out loud.
"Booth…" Brennan began slowly.
He opened his door, flooding the inside of the car with light.
"Sorry Bones, I don't know where that came from."
Not looking at her, he got out of the car and murmured,
"Have fun Bones. You look beautiful."
Booth gently shut the car door, retrieved the red container of gas from the back, and walked up his driveway, waving as he fished in his pocket for his keys. Brennan smiled and waved back as she reversed into the street and drove away.
She called David to say she'd been held up in traffic and was on the way, then spent the next ten minutes driving back across town and thinking about her partner. She could still feel his presence in the car.
Sighing deeply into the empty space around her, Brennan wondered
'Are all partnerships like this? He said he's the only man who understands me. David understands me…doesn't he?'
Replaying various conversations in her head, Brennan quickly realized that David really only understood her on a superficial level. On the other hand, she could swear Booth read her mind sometimes.
'Alright, so Booth understands me better- he's known me longer. He said David is jealous of our relationship. Well, David has admitted that before. I can't help that I spend more time with Booth, we work together.'
As her car idled at a red light a few miles from the restaurant where David sat waiting, Brennan continued to analyze everything Booth had said.
'He said he's the only man I trust. That's not true, I trust David. Well, I don't distrust him, but I trust Booth completely. Damn, everything he said is true! But why did he say all that? He told me I look beautiful…did he really mean that? Am I reading too much into this? Or not enough? Ugh, I have a headache.'
Parking in front of the restaurant, Brennan flipped down the visor to check her reflection one more time. Seeing the earring Booth had put her, she was temporarily distracted by the memory of Booth's warm skin against her cheek, his fingers in her hair-'BAD!'
Brennan exhaled in frustration and reached in the backseat for her jacket. It was then she realized there was something sitting on the edge of the passenger seat. She looked closer and recognized Booth's black leather wallet. It was lying open, displaying his badge and a worn picture of a little boy. She smiled and picked up the wallet, thinking what a wonderful father Booth was. Pulling the photo out of its plastic jacket, Brennan smiled bigger at the happy blonde toddler.
Remembering she was horribly late, Brennan went to replace the tiny picture and was met by her own face grinning back at her from the wallet. Her brain too shocked to register, she numbly slipped the picture from where it had been concealed behind Parker's laughing face. Her photo was equally as worn as Parker's, Brennan observed, felling her body temperature skyrocket. She recognized the picture as one of the very few she had posed for over the past few years- it was Saint Patrick's Day at Wong Foo's. Angela, Zack and Hodgins had been in the photo too, but Booth had cut her face out and hidden it in his wallet behind a picture of his son.
Much too confused to figure out what any of this meant, Brennan replaced both pictures in Booth's wallet, shoved it in the glove box and climbed out of the car.
CH2
Booth trudged through his doorway and threw his keys on the table. Too depressed to change clothes or make dinner, he yanked off his jacket and tie and sunk into his couch. Clicking on the TV and scanning the channels disinterestedly, his mind focused, as it did more and more each day, on Temperance Brennan. Checking the clock on his wall, he figured she was just getting to dinner. With him.
Booth growled. Deep down, he knew he had no real reason to hate David. The guy was as clean as a whistle- and he had gone through that guy's records with a fine tooth comb. And even deeper down, waaaaaay down, he knew that his hatred for Mr. Perfect PhDouchebag stemmed from pure, unadulterated jealousy.
'I have no right to be jealous. Bones isn't mine.'
This though did nothing to improve Booth's mood, and he began hitting the channel up button furiously. Since he was alone, and couldn't get Brennan out of his head anyway, he decided to take inventory of his overflowing 'Things I Shouldn't Be Thinking About Bones' thought bank. This contained everything from 'She's so cute when she's sleeping, I bet it'd be amazing to wake up next to her' to 'If David has ever touched her, I'll rip out his heart'.
Slowly, Booth's mind shifted and started sorting through his more explicit 'Dirty Things I Should DEFINITELY Not Be Thinking About Bones' bank. Like all his other Bones-related thoughts, these naughty images had been rare at first, but surfaced more and more whenever he was near her. Bones' hair spread out on his pillow as she lay underneath him, Bones in nothing but an open lab coat, Bones moaning and whimpering against a wall in her office…oh yeah, he'd thought up some real winners. His newest one: Bones' beautiful smiling face as she held their baby. That particular thought still scared the bejesus out of him, mostly because of its huge implications and intense appeal.
Booth set down the remote as his TV lit up with the final scene from "Casablanca". He smiled to himself, recalling Brennan as she tried to combat tears during this scene in his hospital room after he'd been blown up. She had cancelled a date with David to be with him then, to sit in an uncomfortable hospital chair beside him and watch old movies.
Listening to Humphrey Bogart tell Ingrid Bergman goodbye next to a waiting plane, Booth told himself,
"I could never live without Bones.'
As the concept echoed through his whole body, Booth's brain finally figured out why Brennan was just about all that mattered anymore: he loved her. It seemed so ridiculously obvious now that he actually laughed out loud. And right now, she was with that little shit that couldn't possibly make her happy.
Sighing miserably, Booth felt a familiar twinge in his heart that told him he needed to see her face. Reaching for his wallet, Booth frantically patted his empty pocket.
"Oh shit."
CH3
"Brennan."
"Bones, hey it's me. Listen, umm, I lost my wallet and…"
"Yeah I found it, it's in my glove compartment. Want me to bring it by?"
"No, you don't have to do that…Are you still at dinner? I can come by your place whenever you're done, if that's okay."
'Did she see that picture? Oh jesus…'
"I'm on my way home now. I should be there in about ten minutes, so you can stop by any time."
"Great, be there soon."
"Okay, bye."
Booth made the 25 minute drive to Brennan's in less than half that, desperate to see her, but when he came to her house, he started to panic. Would it be wrong to tell her how he felt when she was with David? Did she really have feelings for that guy? The thought made Booth sick to his stomach. He parked his SUV a block from Brennan's house and walked the rest of the distance to clear his head.
Coming up to her house, Booth saw Brennan standing at her door talking to someone-David. He walked faster across the front yard, and started running as David leaned in to kiss Brennan. Just before their lips touched, Booth grabbed David by the shirt, knocking him out cold before he hit the ground.
"Booth!!!" Brennan screamed. "Oh my GOD!"
She knelt by David and tried to shake him awake.
Booth stood unmoving as David slowly regained consciousness and staggered to his feet. His left cheek and temple were already turning blue.
"What-" Seeing Booth, David choked on his rage and rushed forward to confront the still immobile FBI agent.
Brennan quickly jumped between the two men on her porch, her crystal eyes flashing wildly.
"David, you're hurt, I'm not going to let you two fight!"
David halted his advance on Booth, who was still too irate about the almost-kiss to speak. David glared at Brennan and yelled,
"I don't want to fight, I'm just sick of this psycho trying to keep me away from you! You need to make a choice, Temperance. If we're going to be together, I want you to find a new partner. One who's not obsessed with you. Look at him, he's crazy!"
Booth took a step forward.
"Open your mouth again and I'll show you crazy." he growled.
Putting a hand on each man's chest, Brennan turned to David.
"David, Booth was wrong. He should never have hit you, but he's my partner and we do important work together. We solve murders, and we can only do that as a team." She looked at him steadily.
"I don't care!" he screamed. "Find another partner to solve crimes with, Temperance, because I can't do this anymore!"
"You know I can't do that." She said quietly, never taking her eyes off his.
"Yes you can. And I want you to decide- him," David ground out, his voice soaked with disdain "or me."
Brennan took her hands from the masculine chests they rested on and crossed her arms under her breasts.
"Don't give me an ultimatum, David." she warned.
"I have no choice! If we're going to go any further, your partner has to go."
Brennan slowly shook her head.
"No, David."
Hearing the tone of her voice, he asked softly,
"And what I said before…?"
Brennan didn't speak, but her silence and her expressive eyes gave him his answer.
David nodded his head, which was now a collage of black and purple on one side.
"Alright." he whispered. "Then goodbye, Temperance." Looking in her eyes one more time, David turned and walked away.
After she had watched David's car pull away, Brennan abruptly turned to face Booth.
"What the hell was that, Booth?!"
She shoved him as hard as she could, propelling the large man back a step.
"What's your problem?!" she shouted, pushing him again.
Booth just stood watching her.
"Bones, what did he say to you earlier?" he asked quietly.
"None of your fucking business!"
Brennan wheeled around and stamped the few remaining feet to her door, getting her keys out of her purse.
Booth followed and put his hand on the door.
"Bones, I know you're mad, but please, please, tell me what he said." He caught her eyes with his and refused to let them go.
"He said he loved me, alright?! Now go away!" She struggled to get her key in the lock. Booth reached up and covered her hands with his.
"Do you love him?"
"Get off me! I don't have to answer that!" She squirmed against his grip, but he held her hands still, his eyes burning hers.
"I know, but I'm begging you. Bones, I'm begging you to tell me."
Brennan felt her eyes stinging and knew she was losing control. Desperate to get through her door and away from everything, she tore her hands free.
"NO, okay?! But that's not the point!" Finally fitting her key inside the deadbolt, she felt safety within her reach.
"Are you sure?" Booth swallowed. "I need to know."
Tears beginning to cascade down her cheeks, Brennan laughed bitterly.
"Why, don't you already know? You always know everything else I'm thinking. What difference does it make? He's gone anyway, thanks to you."
Booth's brown eyes were pleading with her.
"Bones," He looked so desperate. "Are you sure?"
Eyes like waterfalls, Brennan burst,
"Of course I'm sure, Booth! God! I'm so sick of-"
And then she was against her door with Booth kissing her fiercely, her keys swinging in the deadbolt and tears dripping off her jaw. Their mouths enveloped one another for a long moment, and then Booth withdrew from the kiss. Brennan remained against the heavy wooden door, her face blank from an emotion that far surpassed shock.
There was no going back now. Booth laughed a little to hide his blood-chilling terror.
"I guess two guys telling you they love you in the same night is probably a bit much for you, huh Bones?"
Coming out of her daze, Brennan's brow drew together and she blinked.
"You…"
Booth's hands were shaking. He shoved them in his pockets.
"That's why I hit David. I've had…uh, strong feelings for you for a while and…it all kinda hit me tonight. Then, when I saw David try to kiss you," He looked down in shame. "I just snapped. I'm sorry."
Brennan stood frozen, mouth open, speechless.
"Bones, come on. You gotta say something."
He took her face in his hands and tenderly wiped her tears away with the smooth pads of his thumbs.
"Are you crying because you're happy or sad?"
Fresh tears fled from her eyes onto his thumbs. She stared up at him, eyes swimming.
"I don't know. I- Booth," She fought to find words. "I'm not good at this. I always ruin things. I'm not like other women, I'm messed up, and I ca-" She released a muted sob. "We can't do this," she whispered, almost too softly to be heard. "It would ruin everything."
Booth instinctively hugged her to his broad chest, the only place she felt really safe.
"Bones, you're not messed up, you're different. You're complicated. That's why I love you." Brennan clung to him so tightly Booth could feel her breath against his body.
"And I'm gonna assume that since you haven't broken my arms, you feel something for me too. If you feel something, this could work."
Brennan lifted her head and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his lips to hers. They stood on the doorstep, tongues dancing and dueling, for who knows how long before Booth slowly lifted Brennan off the ground. She instantly put her legs around him, groping behind her for the doorknob. Booth blindly turned the key in the lock and the door swung open. He carried her inside and kicked the door shut. Their mouths still entwined, Booth sat Brennan gently back on her feet.
"We don't have to do anything right now, Bones. I can wait as long as you need." The honesty and love written clearly in his dark eyes sent a shiver through Brennan's body. Pulling Booth closer, she breathed,
"We've waited long enough."
His mouth hovering a fraction of a millimeter from hers, Booth murmured,
"Good answer."
Brennan smiled and gave him a tender brush of her lips, then took his hand and led him to the bedroom. Flipping a light on, she turned to Booth with laughter in her eyes.
"Before I get too distracted, Booth, if you ever tell anyone I broke down in your arms, I'll kick your ass."
Booth stepped forward into her personal space, towering over her.
"You're more than welcome to my ass if I can have yours."
They laughed for a second, then the passion bubbled back to the surface. They kissed and undressed, inching their way to the bed.
Hours later, Booth and Brennan lay together in bed, hot and exhausted.
"Booth?" Brennan whispered softly as she lay on his chest. "Do you really love me."
He kissed the top of her head and smiled.
"Yeah, I love you Bones. More than I ever thought possible. So much I can feel all my love for you right here in my chest." He took her hand and placed it right over his heart, sliding his fingers through hers. He felt her take a deep breath.
"Okay, I haven't said this to anyone in fifteen years, but I- I love you."
In an instant, Booth was on top of her, beaming like a fool and showering her with kisses. Laughing like a kid at a carnival, he announced,
"Then it's official. We're friends, partners and lovers, all rolled into one. We're like a big love taco!"
Brennan laughed explosively from her rather enjoyable position underneath him.
"I can't wait to tell Angela you said that!"
"Bones! What else are you going to tell her?"
Playfully kissing down his neck as she ran her hands across his shoulders, Brennan teased,
"Mmmm, that you"-kiss-"hit David in a"-kiss-"fit of jealousy and then"-kiss-"seduced me."
Booth stretched out, preparing his muscles for another onslaught of activity.
"Ho ho, you're gonna pay for that…"
A long while later, as they panted in each other's arms, Booth asked,
"What time is it, hon?"
"Hon?" Brennan asked, an amused eyebrow arching upward.
Booth nodded resolutely.
"Oh yeah. From now on, I get to call you any disgusting pet name I want, angel. You made me beat a guy up and beg you to tell me how you felt about me."
Brennan shrugged, an easy smile plastered to her face.
"Fine, sexy. It's after three."
Booth's stomach growled in response. Giggling, Brennan asked,
"You hungry? I'll go see what I have… Didn't you eat dinner?"
"No, I was too busy fantasizing about you."
"Fantasizing, huh?" Brennan asked slyly, somewhere between surprised and aroused.
Booth nodded, his handsome face wearing a naughty smile.
"Yeah, but uh…since we're together now, the next time I have any creative thoughts…" He laughed as Brennan's cheeks flamed red.
"Feel free to keep them to yourself!" Smiling, Brennan rose from the bed naked and grabbed a discarded shirt off the footboard. Slipping Booth's shirt over her head inside out, she added,
"Unless you think I would be particularly interested."
Walking into the kitchen, Brennan called,
"I haven't been to the store in a while, so I don't have much." She opened the fridge. "At all." she added with disappointment.
When she reentered the bedroom, she had her arms full- a box of Cheerios, an apple, a jar of peanut butter and a can of whipped cream.
"Sorry, this is all I could find." She gave him a pitiful smile.
Booth crooked his finger at her.
"I'll forgive you if you take my shirt off and get back in bed, sweet cheeks."
Sighing exaggeratedly, Brennan stashed the food on the nightstand and stripped off Booth's shirt. Climbing back under the covers, Brennan raised an eyebrow and playfully inquired,
"Have any fantasies while I was gone?"
"Actually, that whipped cream gives me an idea…"
Several minutes later, Brennan was on her stomach, laughing uncontrollably as Booth completed the whipped cream masterpiece he'd created on her back- 'Bones & Booth 4ever' enclosed in a giant heart.
"Now comes the fun part." he told her, eagerly lowering himself down to lick her back clean.
When he had finished and was kissing her back playfully, Brennan reached for the can of Reddi Whip.
"My turn." she said with a devilish grin.
Laying an exceedingly happy Booth on his back, Brennan straddled him and shook the can. Slowly, she spelled out 'Friends + Partners+ Lovers Love Taco'. As Booth struggled to read his chest upside down, then started to rack with laughter, Brennan took her time licking off the cream.
When she was halfway finished, a sudden buzzing brought her head up with a start. 'Hotblooded' filled the room.
'Shut up." Brennan blushed as Booth poked her stomach and sang along to her cell's ring tone. Checking the caller ID before she picked up, Brennan answered,
"Angela, its four in the morning, in everything okay?" Several seconds passed.
"Ange, are you drunk?" Her lips relaxed into a grin as she listened to Angela's obviously drunken response. Looking at Booth, Brennan said,
"Well, can't get laid every weekend, can ya Ange? Maybe next time."
She stifled a laugh as Booth sat up and licked a bit o whipped cream off her nose. Scooping up a bit of the cream off his chest and bringing it to her lips, she tried to sound shocked as she said,
"What? Why wouldn't I be alone?"
Brennan scoffed and exclaimed,
"Booth? Why would Booth be here? You really are trashed, aren't you Ange?"
Booth laughed to himself and took the phone from Brennan's ear, hitting Speakerphone.
"-should really stop wasting time and jump his bones, Bones! I'm telling you right now, Booth wants you and-"
His face the picture of joy, Booth said loudly into the phone,
"Angela, you're gonna have to call back later, Bones and I are busy right now."
Slapping his arm, Brennan snatched the phone back and hit Private.
"Ange, I-"
Brennan sat listening for a minute, then blushed violently red.
"Whatever you say, Ange. Call you later."
Hanging up, Brennan clamped a hand over her mouth and Booth could see she was laughing.
"What'd she say, gorgeous?"
After controlling her laughter enough to speak, Brennan replied,
"She said she was glad you finally worked your way into my head, my heart and my pants."
END