Disclaimer: though I do own bones, my own206 bones to be exact, butI do not own the serie Bones in any way, they belong to the lovely Kathy Reichs and all those lucky bastards...

Tango of denial

Chapter One
A date?

"Booth! I'm not going, stop asking!" Brennan exclaimed, looking up from the corps she had been examining and give her partner, who was leaning against a cupboard filled with expensive material, an agitated glare

"Oh, come on, Bones, you need a night out" Booth said and Brennan let out an angry grunt. Why did this man find it so difficult to except that she had declined his offer? What part of the word 'no' didn't he understand? "The body isn't going anywhere" he added sarcastically

"Why can't you just take your new girlfriend? What's her name... Linda?" Brennan asked. She had met the girl Booth had been dating a couple of times now and though the girl had been nice, Brennan couldn't help but feel suspicion about the pretty blonde that her partner went home to at night, though she had just shaken it off by telling herself that she was just looking out for her partner and friend

"Lydia" Booth sneered, He had noticed the hostility Bones had for his girlfriend, and worse, Lydia had noticed it too and he had to witness several crying sessions of the woman, being very vulnerable and weepy, the direct opposite of his partner. He still wondered whether he loved or hated that about Lydia. He had to confess that the only reason he had asked Lydia out in the first place was because of she was the exact opposite. Well, that and to prove his colleagues that he didn't have the hots for his partner. Lydia was sweet, caring and expected all the romantic little things while they were together, while Bones was stubborn, kickass and would mock him for trying to be the possessive, overprotective Alfa male. He could debate and fight and shout with Bones, to then just burst out into laughter because they both forgot what they were fighting about, while Lydia wouldburst out into tears and scream hysterically that he wanted to break up whenever he would raise his voice

"Because..." he began annoyed, rather because Bones had brought Lydia up in the argument than because she had pronounced her name wrong "...It's for FBI-agents only" he said

"Maybe you forgot this during your daydreams about 'Lydia'" Brennan began, making a face at the name "but I'm not an agent either"

Booth inhaled deep as he decided against a heated debate with the extraordinary woman in front of him over the possibility that he had daydreams about a woman, knowing that it would probably end up by him confessing that Bones was the only woman he dreamed about, day and night, much to his own annoyance

"Well, Cullen said I could, since we work together." Booth grinned and decided to let out the part that he begged his boss to let Brennan come, telling him that she was his partner and she did go undercover like a real agent and he wouldn't come unless his partner was by his side

"Then I'm sure you don't mind if the rest of the squints go in stead of me" Brennan began as she stared back at the examination table and missed how Booth's face fell "I've still got a lot to do and they'd only be in my way, and I'm sure they'd have a great time"

"Oh, come on Bones, what do you want me to do? Get down to my knees and beg?" He asked, relentless to get his partner out of the lab

She dismissed the idea, though she couldn't keep a smile from forming on her face and blush slightly as she visualized him kneeling down for her and ask her "Well... I'd appreciate the offer, but..."

Before she could say anything more, Booth knelled down on his one knee and took her hand in his so tenderly that the soft caress with his thumb made goose bumps leave their mark over her arms

"Would you..." he began, his voice a low, an indelible hunger growling through his words "Temperance Brennan... give me the pleasure to accompany you to this event that, to me, will be awfully lonely without you?" he asked, not a hint of a joke noticeable in his voice, and those brown eyes, filled with desire and meaning, staring at her as if she were the most astonishing and attractive woman on earth

"I uhm.." she said, trying to concentrate on what he had just said,instead of gettingutterly lost in those chocolate brown orbs "I would love to" she said before she could even think about it

They heard a shriek come from the door and the both looked up immediately. Angela stood there, a face with both shock as joy on it

Bones pulled her hand out of his grasp and walked over to her overenthusiastic friend "Hi Ange" she said and then saw the happy grin on the woman's face "It's not what you think" Brennan said immediately, knowing that Ange was probably thinking of the most unlikely scenarios between her and Booth

"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea" Angela said, a know-full smirk plastered on her face

"Oh, really, then why don't you inform us" Booth said, one of his eyebrows raised

"Well... you dumped Linda-" she began

"Lydia" he said, not knowing where the automatic response came from to correct these women over a name, rather than to his relationship with the woman

"Whatever" Angela said, raising her hands in a way that said she didn't care "... now, you told Brennan this, you told each other you're madly in love with one another and have to keep yourselves from jumping each other. You..." she said, pointing at Booth "..Asked her to marry you, she said yes and now you're going home and you're gonna have hot sex and will never, ever want to leave your bed" she said with a grin

Booth burst out into laughter and Brennan raised her eyebrows amused "First of all..." Booth began, after catching a breath "I didn't ask her to marry her, because Bones doesn't believe in marriage" he said, and surprised himself when he said the last part "Second of all" he added quickly "we didn't tell each other that we're madly in love with each other..."

"Because we aren't" Brennan added a little bit too quickly

"Yes, because we aren't" he repeated "and we aren't going home to have amazing, hot sex" he said, though he had to admit to himself that he didn't really hate the idea as much as he should

"Right, and besides, Booth didn't dump Linda" Brennan said, not knowing what else to say

"Lydia" Booth corrected again, much to his own annoyance

"So, then tell me, why was he kneeling down? You sure he wasn't about to pop the question?" Angela asked, smirking at the face Booth made

"I don't know what that means" Brennan said, frowning

"It means that I asked you to marry me" he whispered in her ear, walking up behind her

She shivered and closed her eyes as she realized how close he was standing behind her, she felt how he placed his hands on her hips and she wondered what the hell he was doing. She walked away from him and his magical, strong hands and cursed herself as she felt how her cheeks got flustered. "Worse..." she began as she thought back of Angela's question "He asked me out"

"A date?" Angela asked with big eyes and she shrieked again

"Not a date" Booth scowled, "More like a business meeting" he grumbled

"Yes, and besides, you're coming too" Brennan said quickly

A smirk came over the woman's face as if she had a plan and she started dragging Brennan out of the room "Ange, what are you doing?" Brennan asked, gazing over at Booth helplessly

"We're going shopping. And no buts!" Angela said as she saw Bones open her mouth "What kind of clothing should we be wearing?" she asked Booth, ignoring Brennan's annoyed expression

"We're obliged to dance" he said

"Booth, you didn't tell me I had to dance!" Brennan began and Angela started pulling her harder "I'm not dancing" she warned her partner

"Everyone's dancing, sweetie" Angela said, giving her arm another pull

"I'm not a good dancer" she said quickly

"Then I won't look like a total idiot after all" Booth joked and finally got Brennan out of the room with much protest

"Tell me why I am doing this again?" Brennan asked annoyed as she stared at the guy next to her, driving the car

"Because..." Booth began, flashing her one of his charming smiles "I asked you to"

"I think the word you need you use is Beg, Booth... you begged me to" Brennan said with a cocky grin, making him scowl at her, though she could see by the sparkle in his eyes that he didn't really mind the fact that she made such a comment

Booth glanced over at Bones yet again, she was wearing a longjacket that came to her knees, just a bit lower than her dress, so he couldn't see anything of her dress. He could still hear Angela's voice saying 'You aren't gonna be able to keep your eyes off her... or your hands for that matter' and he had to admit, he was curious of what was lying underneath that layer of brown material

"So Bones..." he began, tightening his grip around his steering wheel "Whatcha wearing?" he asked and tried to sound casual

"A dress" she said, pissed off about the fact that Angela had made her go shopping all day for it "The perfect dress, if you believe Angela"

"Aw, you didn't have to do all that for little old me" Booth said, smiling at her

"Why would you think I would do that for you?" Brennan asked, confused

"Well, you'll be dancing with me, so I assumed..."

"Who said anything about dancing with you, Booth?" Brennan asked and Booth wondered whether she was just annoying him or being serious

"Well... I just assumed that-"

"That I wouldn't be able to get anyone else to dance with me? Is that it? That I would be sexy or, or beautiful enough?" Brennan asked heatedly

"No! No of course I didn't mean that... I just thought that..."

"Well you thought wrong! I don't need you..."

"Hey, I never said you needed me!" Booth cut in

"But you insinuated it!" she shot back

"Yes... I mean no.. I mean..." God, since when was it so hard to talk to this woman? "I just thought that you'd prefer to dance with me... since we're partners" he restrained

"Just shut up and drive" Brennan said, "I don't need any help" she mumbled softly, looking out the window asBooth stared at her, knowing perfectly well what she did and did not need

"Fine" he said sharply

"Fine" she repeated

"Great!" he said in a faked enthusiasm

"Better than great" she said in the same sarcastic tone. 'God, she always wants to have the last word' he thought to himself and a little voice in the back of his head told him that that was yet another reason that he liked her so much

Booth downed yet another drink and gave his partner a look that could kill. Or, to be more specific, the back of the guy's head she was flirting with. Ever since they had arrived she had been flirting furiously with every guy who looked handsome enough, just to make it clear to him that she didn't need him. She did it to annoy him, anger him even.
It wasn't the fact that she was turning on his colleagues that made him into this jealous kind of man, but rather the fact that she'd flirt with someone else than him...
He knew itwas absurd. He knew he shouldn't be thinking like this. But he hated it so much to see how she flirted with anyone but him, and in a not as subtle way as she did with him.

The way her bare leg brushed against his underneath the table, the way her hand played with one of her locks at the height of her breasts, the way she looked at the man seductively... suggestively even. Booth had always assumed that her flirting techniques would be at the basics, limited to the things that Angela had taught her, that she would stumble over her words and use scientific babble or even offend him and his manhood in some way.

He had been wrong. So terribly wrong.

Temperance Brennan was deadly. She was everything you need to make a man go mad, for the better or the worse. And he knew that this man she was talking to wasn't too far away from the edge to insanity. And neither was he.

Though, she made one tiny mistake, whenever the man she was with would be a little bit distracted and look away, she would gaze over at Booth and smile a bit brighter as she saw what effect all this had on him. And that reminded him why she was doing this. She didn't like this guy at all. She wouldn't go home with him tonight, wouldn't have a quick fuck with him in the closet. She probably didn't even like the guy in question, she probably hated that she had to lower herself to make him think that she was just some dim-witted woman he could easy get, or else she wouldn't look at Booth all the time, right?She did this for him, and only him. To show him she was right.
She was always right

He saw how she played with an ice cube from her drink and pressed her lips against it, sucking it slowly. Another one of her tricks. A good one he thought to himself as he felt how rage build up inside of him, though he couldn't bring himself to dislike her, but rather to hate and envy the man who had the pleasure to experience a flirt with this magnificent woman. He saw how her other hand played with the dark blue strap of her dress. Oh yes, the dress. Angela had been right, he had seen how stunning she looked in the dress, and – much to his disliking – so had the other men he had to call his colleagues. It was a navy-blue dress – with a rather low décolleté if he might add – that ended just above her knees. There was a chocolate brown sash wrapped around her waist tightly, showing off her well formed body and underneath the brown decoration the pleats ran down and he could just imagine how the blue fabric would fly up if he twirled her round, revealing her gorgeous legs..

He froze as he heard her laughter. Though the room was crowded and he had thought that she'd be too far for his hearing, he could hear her voice clearly, hear the faked enthusiasm that only he could distinguish from her real laugh. He looked at her. He saw her stare over the guy's shoulder – though he was sure the man didn't notice – right at him. Her eyes penetrating him. Shining with pleasure, lust and... something else. She noticed that Booth was staring at her, he just knew it. And then, as if she knew it would outbalance him completely, she winked at him slowly.

That's it! He thought to himself. He got up and walked over to the two in a fast pace, not even caring that people were watching his every – infuriated – move.

"Dance with me" He said firmly when he finally reached them, and without waiting for an answer he pulled her up her feet and made his way over to the dance floor, guiding her with his hand on the small of her back

"Booth, I was having a really interesting conversation" Brennan said in protest, though she followed him and didn't even look back at the guy Booth had pulled her away from

"I. Don't. Care" He said and, though he knew she was trying her best to look mad at him, he didn't miss the triumphant smile appear on her lips

They stopped in the middle of the dance floor. And, as Booth took Brennan's hand in his and held it tight to make sure she didn't run, they heard how a tango was introduced. He moved his partner over the music, tried to guide her on it, and he realized that the music was filled with anger, passion and domestication. Just like he was.

He led her further, and as the music advanced to a wild rhythm with fire and passion, so did enhance their dancing from a dance that only showed their love/hate relation through the fire in their eyes to a dance of lovers, fire and aggression in every movement they made. She walked a few steps away from him to taunt him, but he got he hand and twirled her back to him, making her skirt fly up as he had imagined, until she was pressed against him. He pushed his arm around her back, their eyes fighting as they stared into each other's and they were so inflicted with one another that they didn't even notice that everyone else had stopped dancing to watch them

"I thought you said you couldn't dance?" Booth stated with a roar before releasing her and letting her make an eight and then a twirl before pulling her back into his tight embrace violently

"I could ask you the same thing" she said. Her voice was rough, and as that rumble, barely above a whisper, filled his ears, he realized how close they actually were. He could feel her breath against his skin, and their noses brushed against one another from time to time as they took another step and her legs brushed against his as they were slimly placed next to his. And her lips, oh her beautiful red lips, were only inches away from his. If he would lower his head, only just a little, then he could catch them with his own

She backed away from him again, he got her wrist, twirling her round and then he made her lean against his arms as he bent forward, their noses touching as she had to rely on him completely or she would fall on the ground. "One of my former girlfriends tried to teach me the basics of Argentine tango..." He got them back up and they danced further, again as close as before "What's your excuse?" he asked growling

"two of my foster parents were dance instructors. They learned me a trick or two.." she said, and as if to prove her point she did a spin with her right leg high, until it rested against Booth's side and he took it, putting his arm underneath her knee. She seemed to understand what he was about to do and she lay her left arm around his neck, which made their foreheads rest on one another, he heaved her over the floor, her foot being dragged over the floor then pulled her up into a lift before dancing further

"You're pretty good at this... why did you stop?" Brennan asked, sounding intrigued

"I couldn't stand the fact that my partners kept stepping on my feet" he said with a smirk

"Oh?" she said and looked at him devilishly before stepping on his foot hard, making him winch
"Oops, sorry" she said innocently

Two can play that game he thought. He halted Brennan's movement with his foot, twirled her round, swept her off the ground with one swift movement and made her sit with her right side of her body on his left upper leg, the right half of her back resting against his chest, before placing her back on her feet. He smirked at the startled expression on her face, but she recovered quickly, pushing herself in his tight embrace again

"That was mean" he heard her say in a low whisper near his ear, making shivers run down his spine

He grinned at her and twirled her around one more time and then held her tightly again, bending her over, shoving his one leg backwards to keep his own balance and then the lights faded and the music ended

When the lights went on again he realized that everyone was looking at them and he quickly pulled his partner, who looked just as shocked and embarrassed as him, back on her feet. He went with his hand through his hair to cover up his discomfort until suddenly Hodgins yelled from across the room "Alright! G-man!"

Everyone started clapping and cheering for them, patting him on the shoulder and telling him that that was great and he was rather satisfied with all the comments, though he felt quite a lot like a parrot, continuously telling all his colleagues they were 'just partners', though he couldn't help but gaze at his partner and smile as she was currently constricted in one of Angela's deadly hugs and looked over her friend's shoulder, right at him

Cullen sighed as he watched how one of his best agents and his partner was getting strangled in one of the squints tight hugs. He should have never agreed on letting him bring them, he could've know that they would catch this woman's eye. Of course he had thought that they didn't know anything about ballroom dancing, or at least not the anthropologist. Oh, he had been so wrong, so deadly wrong...

"Are you certain about this?" He asked the woman, standing next to him, her glass of wine firmly in her hand as she watched the two of them steal glances from one another

"Getting cold feet, Cullen?" she asked, her French accent clearly noticeable

"No... no of course not" he said sighing "but, are you certain you want those two? They're quite..." he looked down at them and tried to find to find the right word to describe them "...difficult"

"Cullen, you told me I could have whoever I wanted, I want them" the aged woman said and then raised her eyes "Don't you remember what you said?"

"I know what I said..." Culled mumbled "but I didn't know she was coming then"

"She is not an agent... is she?" she asked with a knowing smirk

"Dr. Brennan? No" he said in an air that left no room for doubt

"Ah oui, the girl from the novelles mystère, je suiscorrect?" she asked

"Yes" Cullen said sighing

The woman got up "Make sure she's at my office this samedi" she said

"She could decline my offer, you know, and I can't exactly threaten her that I'll fire her" Cullen said

"Je suis sûre that you'll find something to convince her..." she said with a smirk before leaving

This is gonna be one hell of a ride Cullen told himself as he stared at the partners who were now happily conversing as if their passionate dance and argument had never happened One long ride...