Created October 2013 - I don't own these characters as made famous by the TV show, Bones. Love them anyway. All the rest that follows is my feeble attempt to keep time in between broadcasts and Razztaztic, Threesquares, and Covalent Bond postings.

A/N: Noticed a scenario from Secret in the Soil that resurrected itself in Cheat in the Retreat.


"Wow!"

Booth wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was elated. Post-coital haze in full effect.

He chuckled as he thought of a juvenile phrase that he and his little brother coined during the formative years of their youth: "the reflection before the next erection." He loved coming down from an orgasmic high with the love of his life by his side. "I mean, wow!" He exclaimed again. "Bones, that was…wow!"

Brennan snickered as she burrowed into her favorite position – her naked body entangled and clung firmly to his. Her head was nestled perfectly under his chin, her cheek pressed to his chest as she listened to the rapid beat of his heart and the vibrations of his voice.

"I agree, Booth. Even though the word 'wow' conveys no quantifiable measurement, I've come to understand your lovemaking rating system. And," she chuckled, shifting up his torso to face him directly, "I accept 'wow' as an accurate metric."

She pressed her lips appreciatively to his. She tugged gently at his bottom lip, coaxing his tongue to welcome hers. Instinctively, he responded to her advance, but she could feel that his was not fully engaged in the kiss. Still attached to his mouth, she opened her eyes to find a raised eyebrow and a look of intrigued amusement on her partner's face.

"What?" she huffed good-naturedly.

"I have a lovemaking rating system?" He eyed her with mock dubiousness.

"Yes, of course." She defended, partially distracted by her want of another kiss. Her eyes darted between his eyes and mouth as she plotted her next advance.

"I don't think so." He teased. He shifted with the intent of pulling the both of them further toward the head of the bed. She sat up, separating from him to watch the contraction of his muscles in the effort. He grinned at the wanton smirk on his lady's face as her eyes gawked at his physique. Reflexively, he as well took the opportunity to admire his mate - freshly fucked - her body still pink from their romp, hair tousled, and her desire evidently not yet sated.

His love was a like a drug to her, and it had been too, too long since her last fix. Well, a 'wow' fix.

He waited for her eyes to travel back up to his. Smiling shyly she blushed at being caught in a leer, and quickly grabbed two pillows to prop up behind his back and neck. As he settled back into a more upright position, she angled her body to his, breasts lightly brushing against his left hip as she peppered kisses to his obliques, moving towards his rectus abdominus. Booth let out a contented sigh as he stroked the freckled flesh of her back. She journeyed upwards.

"You absolutely do, Booth. While you may not realize it…" her mouth nipped at his pectorals. "…you employ various descriptors…" she sucked at his clavicle "that denote your level of satisfaction." She brushed her nose against the stubble on his neck before planting a loud wet kiss at the join of his neck and jaw. "Given the significant amount of sex that we have," she whispered against his ear before biting the lobe "I've been able to organize your more common emphatic descriptors into a ratings scale."

After eight years spent with this woman, Booth was well aware of how hot Bones' squint speak was to him. From any other Poindexter, all he heard was noise. But when Temperance Brennan nerded out, she was like a Siren to his Odysseus. Especially when she coupled it with naked kissing.

Mind you, it was not lost on Booth that Bones went all "Lucy Logical" when she was nervous or uncertain, especially when it came to emotional matters of the heart. She needed to make sense of things, and emotions to Bones were like, bones to Booth: a foundational understanding existed, but Mastery was a planet too far to reach.

And so, he loved that (with a little help from a surprise and delight named Christine), Temperance Brennan had finally broke outside of her comfort zone of logic and reason to fall in love with him. In love and faithful. Unyielding faithfulness.

And, Booth hated that Christopher Pelant had made her doubt his love and put distance between them. Pelant had to be handled. He could not rest until Pelant was eliminated.

But in this moment, all Booth cared about was taking care of her. Fuck the Eagles/Skins game – his lady needed him tonight.

She was now seated beside him, happily preoccupied with kisses to his neck, cheek and mouth. He stopped her actions by leaning back. "Dr. Temperance Brennan, are you applying principles of psychometry to our sex life?" He placed his left arm around her, and his right hand came up to pull her mouth to his. He chortled at the look of shock on her face.

"What?!" she charged. "That's ridiculous! This has nothing to do with psychology, Booth. I have simply developed a hypothesis, based upon the collection of data associated with our fornication activities."

"Unh-unh, Babe. This sounds like something straight out of one of Sweets' books." He continues to peck at her lips while slipping his hand under her arm, his thumb stroking the full of her left breast. He kisses right shoulder before nuzzling toward her ear "you just said that I have a sex scale. But it's not me, it's you."

"I have constructed the scale, but it's based upon your exhortations" she protested half-heartedly, more interested in his ministrations to her neck. She leaned back further into the pillows.

"Oh yeah? What's the scale, hmm?" He placed her hair behind her ears as he further attacked her neck and clavicle.

Through much welcome distraction, she mumbled "From best to worst, there's 'Wow', 'Aww Fuck Bones', 'Whoa', and 'Mmmmm'….Oh yes, right there, Booth!" she gasped.

He watched her lips and eyes react to the action of his able hand between her legs as he pondered her so-called scale. She grabbed his lead hand – not to guide, but to encourage – his efforts.

Given how morose things had been between them lately, he couldn't help but tease. "First of all, 'Mmmmm' doesn't sound bad to me, at all Bones, and 'Oh yes, right there, Booth' doesn't really sound like anything I'd ever say…" he licked his lips at the tell-tale arch of her back and the press of her pelvis against his arm.

"Ummmmm, no Booth." She panted. "'Right there' is in response to your digital stimulation of my clitoris. God! That's feels…oh fuck! Mmmmm…."

He continued with his tease "See Bones? 'Mmmmm' doesn't sound so bad to me. You really seem to be enjoying this…" he deployed his entire hand in the effort to pleasure Brennan.

"Oh, you are so good at…oh that's nice! Don't stop, please." Her breasts further pushed toward him and he could no longer resist the temptation to sample them. The feel of his erection firming against her thigh was too much. Her legs parted as she guided his hips on top of hers. "More, Booth. Now."

He buried his head into the side of her neck. He smiled against her shoulder as he listened to her gasp at his entry. "So if 'Mmmmm' is the worst, I can live with that. I mean, why work for a 'wow' when 'Mmmmm' is fucking…." He grunted. "Awesome. Oh, Baby. You feel incredible…" Pressing his right arm into the pillow above her head, he palmed her left leg, angling it up to rest against his hip as he continued.

With Christine staying with Max for the night, Brennan did not hold back on her volume. "Oh God, Booth! Fuck. Me. Oh. Yes! That's amazing!" she nudged him to roll them so that she was astride. He gathered and turned her, their bodies still locked together. Momentarily, she remained motionless atop him, adjusting to the pleasure of this new position. A broad smile was shared between them. She leaned into him to connect their lips, her hips rocking on top of him. "Booth, ahhhhhh. You are incapable of…dialing. Oooooooh, ah! Dialing it in!" She sat up, dragging her nails against his arms and chest as she rode him.

He chuckled at her colloquial malaprop as his hands sought hers. "Phoning it in, Baby." He watched the fluid rhythm of her body, hypnotized by the beauty of her motion. "And never. With. You. Ever." He tranced at the feel and sight of her. His balls hitched at the incrementally intensifying pull of her walls around him. If he was her drug, she was his. "God, I love you so much, Bones."

She welcomed the wash of chemicals that his words brought forth. Her body tensed, then relaxed as it prepared for her fourth orgasm of the evening. Booth recognized the signs (if her mewling wasn't telling enough), and he turned her back onto the bed, changing the pace of his stroke to send them both over the edge. He collapsed briefly on top of her, listening to her soft pants and moans before he rolled onto his back in recovery.

They lay panting for a minute or so without discussion until Booth queried "Jesus! Are you trying to kill me?"

She giggled. "You use that one to convey your uncertainty that you'll be able to perform unless you're granted a significant recovery period."

After his initial shock, he acquiesced to a sheepish grin, pulling her into his arms. "Well, you're not incorrect on that one, Dr. Brennan." He kissed her forehead. She snuggled into him again.

"I've missed this, Booth." She mumbled into his chest.

Booth sighed deeply. "I know. I'm sorry, Bones…."

"Don't be sorry, Booth. I understand. Well, I don't understand exactly what's going on with you, but I know that you love me and Christine. And, whatever it is, I'm just glad that you're still physically attracted to me…"

"Huh?" he coaxed her to look at him. "You're kidding, right?" he stroked his hand against her cheek. "You're a goddess, Bones. Trust me, there hasn't been a day that I have known you that didn't require me to count saints". He thumbed her lips. "And that includes your crazy period when you were pregnant with Christine…."

She laughed softly at his example. "Booth…"

"Remember that day you threw your boot at me? You were so hormone-crazy mad at me! But it didn't matter. Your tits were all heaving and jiggly…" he teased.

"Stop it." she chided.

He smiled tenderly at her, locking eyes. "Bones, you're the Evelyn to my Bill. Never doubt that."

She returned a smile to him, stroking his side. "I love you too, Booth. You are the Bill to my Evelyn." He pulled her in for a kiss. When their lips parted, she grinned sheepishly. "Do you remember our first session with Sweets?"

Booth stared at his partner with a glint in his eye. "Really? Sweets? Now, Bones? You are definitely trying to extend my recovery period…"

She stared back in protest. "You brought him up earlier, Booth!" she squealed. "Remember, when I was trying to get you focused on the exercise?!"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, Baby. You're right. What about it?"

She frowned. Every now and then he would not immediately recollect a memory that occurred prior to his brain tumor. That he didn't not remember their first session, especially given the course of their evening, was a bit disconcerting. She had assumed his reference to Sweets related to his connection of the exercise to that appointment. "If you'll recall, Sweets wanted us to do a trust exercise…."

He searched her eyes for the scenario. She felt her whole body relax at his next words. "Hey, yeah! He made us do the whole touching-hands thing, too! If I remember correctly, you were up for doing it then too!" her lips curled into a side grin. "Gotta tell you, Bones, I like the outcome better when you lead the exercise." He matched his smile to her grin.

"Well, I've always wondered what would have happened if we had completed that exercise." She mused. "In every scenario that I postulated, we end up kissing."

"Really?" he was genuinely surprised.

She chuckled nervously. "Yes. I find that there are more than several instances in therapy that became fantasies that I had about you…"

He watched her, ever the interrogator. "Is that what tonight was? You living out a fantasy from a time before we were together, Bones?" he asked gently.

"Isn't that why you suggested Tony and Roxie for our undercover assignment, Booth?" she returned.

He hadn't really thought about it, but perhaps she was right. In fact, she was right. "Huh, I guess maybe so. Roxie is definitely more handsy than my sweet girl Wanda…"

"It's been years since we used those characters. Given their overt sexual energy, I just assumed that you suggested Roxie and Tony as a means by which to reignite our sexual chemistry."

"You really have been digging in Sweets' books, huh?" he teased. Before she could counter, he continued. "You may be right, Bones. With all that's been going on, we haven't really been connecting, and that's my fault. Maybe subconsciously, I thought that Tony and Roxie could help to resurrect out our ids…."

"You know that Freud has been widely discredited, don't you Booth?"

"So, you do believe that there are some legitimate principles of psychology, then Temperance?" she pouted. He raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry Baby! I won't tease you anymore." He took a deep breath. "And I'm sorry that we've been more 'Mmmmm' than "Wow" lately…"

"Booth, the subtleties between 'Mmmmmm' and 'Wow' are so minuscule that they barely hold distinction!" she defended, and then quietly admitted "I just enjoy the exercise of quantifying your reactions to our lovemaking. It's comforting."

He smiled at his little nerd recognizing her coping mechanism. "C'mere." She leaned into him, their noses touching. "You just don't like it when we're not having sex, huh?" she shook her head affirmatively. He nuzzled her nose as he whispered against her lips. "Then let's not stop." He suggested, pulling her into a passionate kiss.

"Perhaps we should tell Sweets that I have found this exercise to be an effective and rewarding relationship building technique." she hummed.

"No more Sweets talk for now. What other spicy little fantasies does Dr. Brennan have in mind?"

Booth grinned as he watched her delighted wheels turn.

In that moment, he vowed to end Pelant by any means necessary.

And soon.