Summary: AU. Brennan stopped Booth from drawing 'The Line'. Now they have to face the morning after... B/B.
Disclaimer: "Bones" is the property of H and H, Kathy Reichs, etc. and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. Another Disclaimer down...
-o0O0o-
"The Sexy in The Scientist"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'
-o0O0o-
Secrets could be dangerous, embarrassing or even liberating. Men had a secret; smart women were sexy. Men had another secret; smart women were even sexier when they were smart enough to know better and would still do something anyway.
FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth had his own secrets; his partner was the smartest woman he knew; his partner was the sexiest woman he knew; his partner was smart enough to know better, he had even told her not to, and she still did it anyway... and he thanked God she had. He thanked God because in doing so, she had most likely kept him from making a mistake that had a good chance of making his gambling addiction look like something as simple and mundane as forgetting to take the wrapper off a sandwich before eating it. He had tried to draw a line and she had refused to let him do it.
Thank God she had, because now he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to know what life would be like with that invisible wall between them. Something now told him that if she had let him put it there, that wall would have eventually turned into a wedge, forcing them further and further apart, and he wasn't sure he wanted to think anymore about what his life would be like if she was not part of it. He wasn't sure that he'd even be living if that happened, only merely existing. It was all the little things that made her the best part of his life; insisting on the correct terms for things while at the same time understanding almost no slang, her enthusiastic desire to carry a gun, every sentence that ever started 'From an anthropological standpoint', and all the other little things she did and said, and the thought of being without it, without her, scared him. He needed her, and whatever it was between them, he needed it too. As much as he needed it, he wanted it and even more than he wanted it he wanted everyone to know about it. Even if 'everyone' couldn't know about it, or shouldn't know about it, he still thought that the people closest to them needed to know...
And it wasn't just because the thought of what Angela might do to them if she ever discovered that they were a couple and keeping a secret from her could give him nightmares worse than his time in the Rangers. No, the reason was because he didn't want their relationship, especially in the new form it was taking, to be built on any lies or secrecy; he'd seen what that had done to matters between Bones and her brother and father, how the lies, secrets and escapes always hurt her and he never wanted to be the cause of that himself. He'd much rather openly declare that he would stand beside her forever, anywhere... even in front of a judge or priest if she ever changed her mind about marriage. Actions, though, were known to speak better than words and he had already decided that he was going to let his actions speak for him.
-o0o-
"Mm... Booth?" Doctor Temperance Brennan moaned as she shifted in bed and didn't feel anyone next to her.
The absence of a second heat source and bed companion caused her to begin rousing, listening to hear if he were in the shower or the kitchen and concluding that he was not before she opened her eyes. It only took one look around for her to confirm two things; his clothes were gone and there was a flower laying on the pillow which he had used the night before. Automatically, she noted two things; one, that the flower itself was a daffodil, her personal favorite; and two, that the stem of the daffodil was threaded through two holes in a piece of paper. Carefully closing a hand around the flower and note, Brennan picked them up as she sat up in bed, reaching out with her other hand to turn on the bedside light so that she could read what had been written.
Bones.
This had actually been scratched out and replaced.
Bren. (After all, you're always saying you don't want me to call you 'Bones'.)
Before you start going into a mental spiral of what ifs and maybes about last night being a mistake or anything like that, stop. Right now. Stop thinking. Stop worrying. Stop. The only way last night could have been a mistake would have been if you had let me finish drawing that line between us. I know I'm not there right now, but I don't regret anything we did. I would have loved to have just spent the day laying in bed with you in my arms. Unfortunately for romance, cases never wait. I'll see you at the Jeffersonian later.
I love you, (and ha! you can't give me an anthropology lecture on it right now!)
Booth. (And if I'm going to start calling you 'Bren' instead of 'Bones', you're going to have to find something to call me other than 'Booth'.)
Instinctively, Brennan smiled faintly at just how completely Booth-like the note was as she pulled it free from the daffodil and carefully laid both on her bedside table.
-o0o-
It was a little over an hour later, granting time for morning ablutions, dressing and driving, when Brennan walked into the Jeffersonian Institute's Medico-Legal Lab. The first thing she noticed was something quite obvious; there was music playing. It wasn't an entirely unknown occurrence; other members of the lab's team had done similar at times for various reasons which she never completely understood. It did bother her slightly that she couldn't place the song that was playing, partially because only the melody and not the lyrics could be heard. It did not, however, strike her as too odd to be worth more than merely a passing mental footnote; at least until she reached the platform in the middle of the lab. When she had read in Booth's note that he would see her at the Jeffersonian later, she had assumed - mistakenly, it seemed - that he would come to the lab later in the day, not that he would be waiting there when she arrived. That he would start singing the lyrics that accompanied the playing melody when he saw her approach the platform had never even entered her mind as a possibility.
As soon as Brennan had looked towards the platform and seen him standing there, Booth's eyes were firmly locked on her's, even as he sang, "There's girls at the office that guys always notice when they walk by... but you're not the type. They don't know what I know, because some things just don't show through tailored tweeds... and that's fine with me. Let them all think what they want to; as for me, when I look at you..."
"I see you in a different light, with your hair falling down, with love in your eyes. In my mind you're a beautiful sight and I see you in a different light..." Booth almost whispered the next words, "Just the way I saw you last night."
When an instumental section began, Booth descended the platform steps until he was standing right in front of Brennan as the lyrics picked up again.
"Baby, it's you - in a different light - with your hair falling down and love in your eyes. In my mind, you're a beautiful sight and I see you in a different light... just the way I saw you last night," Booth held the last word for a few beats before letting it go with a smile. Looking at Brennan, he shrugged slightly, "I heard it on the way here and I thought it fit... maybe a little too well; what did you think, Bren?"
"While I appreciate the sentiment of your performance, Booth, I thought we had a discussion about terms of endearment like..." Bones wrinkled her nose in distaste, not realising how cute the action made her look to him, "'Baby'."
Booth's eyes twinkled mischieviously as he responded, "Sure thing, Bones."
Brennan was slightly surprised by the reversion from 'Bren' to the other nickname, "What have I said about-"
Any further comment was cut off as Booth pressed his lips to hers and, wrapping his arms around her, leaned her backwards into a dip.
-o0o-
Watching smugly, Angela held her hands out to either side and laughed lightly as her coworkers placed money in her palms.
"I told you that sooner or later they'd break down," Angela remarked as she stacked the money together and stuck it in a pocket. "So, anyone want to double or nothing on weddings or babies?"
"What about them coming up for air anytime soon?" Jack Hodgins asked in response.
"That's an even-money bet," Angela shook her head. "Now if you want to put anything on if Bren remembers anything but his name when they do..."