Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them. I have, however, met some of the coolest people who have become dear friends through this little show called Bones. Thanks, Hart Hanson and Company.
Author's Note: This is for doctorsuez and she'll know why.
He should have already been at the Hoover, but Seeley Booth just had one simple stop to make that was quite unnecessary. A smirk played at his lips as he paused in the doorway of Bones' office and he was glad that it was still early enough that the lab wasn't teaming with squints.
She glanced up and smirked back at him, rolling her eyes just a little because he was most definitely not wearing his 'we have a case' look on his face. "Booth, what are you doing here?" Not that it was unusual for him to come by the lab, they did work together after all, however, she knew he had a meeting with Caroline Julian and the woman did not appreciate tardiness.
His smirk pulled into a rather mischievous smile as he sauntered over towards her desk. "You left something at my place."
She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him.
"And I thought you might need it." He stopped in front of her desk and tried to give her his best concerned look.
"What could I have possibly left that couldn't wait until after work?" Really, the man was sexy as hell, but someone was going to find out far sooner about the new development between before they really wanted to let the dog out of the kennel.
"These." His tone was full of sing-songy innocence that was anything but innocent as he pulled something out of his pocket that was lacy and very tiny.
She let out a soft laugh and tried to keep the color from creeping into her cheeks as she pulled the fabric out of his hand and quickly stashed it in her top desk drawer. "This could have waited." She glanced up to find him with both palms resting on her desk and leaning in towards her.
"You're not going commando are you?" It was a sort of sexy wolfish grin he was wearing now at the idea that she'd left a pair of sexy underwear behind.
She quirked her eyebrow at him again. "No. Are you?" Clearly he'd fabricated a reason to stop by and see her and while she wasn't about to complain about the opportunity to see him, they needed to attempt to keep things professional while they were working.
"No. Laundry is all clean." He leaned in a little further, just enjoying the way she was looking back at him.
"That's good to know." She found herself leaning in a little closer, her mind trying to rationalize that it was too early for anyone to notice that she wasn't alone or that the one man that everyone thought she should be with for years was just a hairsbreadth from her. She quickly amended her earlier thought to 'mostly professional' while they were at work.
Booth leaned in that last little bit and softly kissed her, feeling her smile against his mouth right before he felt a yank at his neck. He mumbled. "Tie, Bones."
"Mmmhmm." Yes, his tie was a very good anchor to keep him fastened to her lips. She had gotten up far too early to work on something important, but right at the moment, this seemed far more important than the murder case they were working on.
He could get a new tie. It wasn't like this was anything special or extra flashy. He hoped he had a spare at the office just in case her grip had wrinkled it beyond belief. Now if he could just figure out a way to get this pesky desk out from in between them.
"Oh, Lord, have mercy." Caroline Julian's voice was clear as a foghorn on a cloudy day. "Please don't tell me that Max Keenan killed someone else, because that mistletoe kiss was a one time deal."
The not just partners anymore broke apart, Brennan leaning back into her chair and Booth attempting to straighten out his tie, neither one of them making any apologies whatsoever for what they'd just been doing.
Caroline raised a suspicious eyebrow. "This isn't about Max is it?" She was a trained litigator and she knew when something was afoot. This was something big.
"No. It's not about Max." Booth flashed his best charm smile at Caroline. "Now don't we have a meeting?" He made a move to try and usher the United States Prosecuting Attorney towards the door.
"You just wait one minute, Seeley Booth." Caroline leveled one of those looks at him that would make the most innocent man plead guilty. "The whole reason I came over here was because you weren't in your office and I figured you were just giving your partner a lift to work. Seems to me you were giving her a whole lot more." The last part of her statement was a vague attempt at speaking under her breath.
"Booth was simply returning a personal item." Of course as soon as those words came out of the mouth of Temperance Brennan she realized that her brain was not functioning at genius speed and that perhaps saying nothing at all would have been more appropriate.
"Like your tongue?" Caroline might be able to stare down the most hardened criminal, but she had a soft spot for these two.
"Bones and I were just…" Really there was no way he was going to talk himself out of this one, and really, he didn't want to.
"I can see what you were just doing." Caroline looked smug and pleased and way too giddy for a woman who made a living of putting bad guys away.
"Kissing." Brennan smiled. It seemed that no one wanted to state the obvious, but there was no denying it.
"You might call that kissing, Dr. Brennan, but from where I'm standing, that wasn't a simple steamboat kiss, it was more like the entire U.S. Navy sailing by." Clearly a major development had occurred and she only hoped that it wasn't going to jeopardize any of their current cases. She made a mental note to check into the legal implications just in case.
"I did rather enjoy it." Brennan gave Booth one of those looks that there were a few other things that she rather enjoyed as well, but those were better left for when they were alone.
"Thanks, Bones." Booth puffed his chest out a little bit and attempted to smooth his tie out one more time.
Caroline rested one hand on her hip and then poked Booth in the chest. "Look here, we can't have the two of you fawning all over each other in public places like this." Her tone was both indignant and protective. "What you do in your personal time is one thing, but try and stay professional when you're working on my murder cases." She knew what she was talking about, her ex-husband was often the defense attorney representing the schmucks she was trying to put away and they'd managed to raise a daughter together and be congenial even after the divorce.
"We're always professional." Another charm smile and maybe he could shuffle her out of Bones' office.
"Yeah, like what I walked in on was professional." Caroline scoffed. "The next thing you're going to tell me is that you and the good doctor are already in the family way."
"I don't know what that means." Brennan assumed that it was a phrase that referred to a family unit, but they were still working out the details of what this relationship between them was going to look like.
"She means pregnant, Bones." As soon as he said the 'P' word, he regretted it. His eyes widened, he felt panic followed by pride and a welling of joy and there was no way his face didn't reflect all of those things.
Brennan whispered a little too loudly. "How did she know that? She's not a doctor or a forensic anthropologist."
"Oh, dear Lord, have mercy." Caroline's eyebrows shot up. "You are, aren't you, Cher?" She was shocked and as the shock started to wear off she couldn't keep her smile to herself.
"She didn't know until you just confirmed it for her." Booth wasn't at all mad; in fact he was over the moon that someone else was in on their joyous soon to be no longer a secret.
"Actually, I believe you just confirmed it." Brennan's smirk one upped him and she stood and made her way around the desk to stand beside him before facing Caroline.
"Do the two of you have any idea how much trouble this is going to cause me?" If it was going to be any trouble at all, it didn't show on Caroline's face. "I'm going to have to call in favors and promise more favors to make sure you two can still work together."
"What about our meeting?" Booth could sense that Caroline was about to spin into a hurricane of activity and that it might just be a good idea if they stayed out of her way.
"That can wait." Caroline gave them both one of those 'don't you dare question me' looks. First she pointed at Brennan. "You just make sure you eat right and take care of that little bundle of baby Booth." Then she pointed at Booth. "And you, try not to get yourself shot at. That child is going to need his or her daddy." She offered a satisfied smirk. "As for me, first thing on my agenda is collecting my winnings from the Deputy Director himself." With that she turned and purposefully made her way out of the lab and pity the person who got in her path.
Brennan looked at Booth with concern. "Do you really think that they'll split us up?" She knew it was a possibility, but it was something she had hoped that they could put off as long as possible. Either way, the fact that they were together and having a baby was something that no one could take away from them.
He had an earnest expression on his face. "They might." It was true. It was something that they'd both been thinking, but hadn't really wanted to talk about, what with the news of having a baby still sinking in. "But being with you and having this baby with you, that's more important to me than anything else."
"Yeah?" There was that soft vulnerable break in her voice as she turned to look at him and found herself being pulled into his arms. She nestle her head in the crook of his neck and just relished the moment.
"Yeah." He smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head so thankful that although it certainly wasn't happening exactly the way he'd imagined, his dreams finally really were coming true.
The End