A/N: Do not read this if you have not seen the series through season 5 finale. Major spoilers from episode 100 and finale.

This is just part of one of the big stories I have in the works. I am posting this section as a one-shot for now. I am trying to re-work the big story, but I just cannot seem to get it just right. May not ever be posted as a whole piece.

Disclaimer: Don't own them. To be honest not sure I want to. I don't want the type of threats Hart Hanson probably receives from band-wagon fans. True fans, who have been around since the beginning know. Everything happens eventually.

First a Dream

"Nothing happens unless first a dream…"

-Carl Sandburg

Booth and Brennan turned to walk away from each other. They both turned around for one last glance at each other. It was almost as if they wanted to drop all belongings and run into each others' arms. Then slowly each turns away again to begin their year apart. Her in the Indonesian Islands, and him in Afghanistan.

As she is boarding the plane she has a realization. He essentially went AWOL to come say goodbye to her. There was only one other person who he would do that for, Parker. Parker was his world. She knew that she was important to Booth. She was important enough to take a gamble on, and then back down for her sake because she wasn't ready. He knew he had pushed her too hard without her being ready. Was she as important to him as Parker? This thought played in her mind for a few hours, until she finally fell asleep.

~B&B~

Booth and Brennan were walking out of the Hoover building. They had just come from Sweets' office. They were telling him of their actual first case together. As they walk down the stairs something was looping over and over in Booth's mind. Something Sweets said was nagging him. "You. It's got to be you. You're the gambler."

Booth trails off from his current thought about his father and grabbed Brennan's arm to get her attention.

"…I'm the gambler. I believe in giving this a chance. Look, I wanna give this a shot."

"You mean us? No, the FBI won't let us work together."

"Don't do that. That is no reason."

He kissed her. He poured his whole heart and soul out into that kiss. And for a second, so did she. But just as quickly as it began, it ended, with her pushing him away.

"No! No!" she exclaimed, slapping his chest.

"Why? Why?" he asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"You, you thought you were protecting me, but you're the one that needs protected."

"Protecting? From what?"

"From me. I, I don't have your kind of open heart."

"Please just give it a chance. That's all I'm asking."

"No, you said it yourself. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different outcome."

"Well then let's go for a different outcome here. Alright, let's just…hear me out alright? You know when you talk to older couples who, you know, have been in love for 30 or 40 or 50 years, alright, it's always the guy who says, 'I knew.' I knew. Right from the beginning."

"Your evidence is anecdotal."

"I'm that guy. Bones, I'm that guy. I know."

30, 40, 50 years... What was he saying? He knew that I didn't believe in long term monogamous relationships.

Then she paused a second to realize that he was telling her that she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The only one. No one else. He was her partner, best friend. He had drawn a line before that their partnership was only going to be just that.

So, why now did he cross that line to kiss me? Did he really love me? Could he love me? How could he love me knowing that I don't believe in marriage or his God as he did?

She had come to realize a while ago when Jared returned home from India with a fiancé that there had to be something to this love thing other than just a chemical reaction in the brain and body. She was fond of Booth, her partner and best friend.

Could I ever love him? Do I already love him?

She impulsively kissed him. This was not a side of Brennan that Booth had ever seen. She was not the affectionate type. This kiss had the feel of passion and love. She was the "let's-just-get-down-to-business-and-fulfill-our-biological-urge" kind of person. He didn't really know what to think. She was kissing him with a kiss that didn't just display lust.

Does that means she loves me and would also like to spend her life with me?

He pulled back slightly, "Bones..."

She grabbed his lapels and pulled him back into a kiss not unlike that of the one in her office under the mistletoe. He gave in and kissed her back he tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth seeking access into her mouth. She gave it to him. They embraced each other for several heart pounding moments.

Finally releasing each other for oxygen, he spoke out of breath, "Bones, what does this mean? Do we have a chance here? You know, to be together, us?"

"Booth, I don't know—I don't know how love feels, but if I were to guess, then maybe what I feel is love. I can't be certain. I don't have anything to compare these feelings to. I know I am not the passionate kind, and I don't anticipate ever being anything other than me. Can you handle that? Because—" she paused for a second, and grabbed his shoulders with both hands and slid her hand down his strong arms to grasp his hands in hers." Because, I do want to give us a chance. I do, Booth. My only concern is that we will jeopardize our friendship. I don't handle change well, but if you can help me through this than maybe we have a chance. I don't know about long-term. I'm afraid that this could end badly for both—"

"Bones, I know. I'm scared too. I am. I probably would have never had the courage to tell you I want to spend the rest of my life with you if Sweets hadn't played off of my past gambling addiction by saying that it had to be me who broke the stalemate because I'm the gambler. Look, Bones, I want to give this—us a shot. We don't have to talk about long term. We can take it one day at a time. I have waited five years to tell you I knew the first time I saw you that you were more than just another pretty face. I fell in love with you for who you are. I don't need you to change for me to love you. All you have to do is open up to me, and accept my love for you."

Again she kissed him, this time she sought entrance to his mouth as he instantly gave it to her. They were locked onto each other, both reluctant to break the kiss. "Bones, we can't do this here we need to—"

She had him back in her embrace, and then released him and finished his thought, "go to your place."

"Yeah—but, Bones, I do not want to go just go have sex like a horny teenager. We have plenty of time. We do not have to rush into anything."

"Booth, there is nothing wrong with being aroused and wanting to have sex with me. I have never been kissed like you just kissed me before. I am having certain biological urges as well."

"But I don't want this to just be about biological urges that need to be released. I don't want to just have sex with you. I want to make love to you."

"Booth, I have said before that I don't know what love is, but based on everything you told me about how love should feel I think I am in love. I go weak in the knees around you. I have butterflies in my stomach, well, not literally, but you know what I mean. You are my best friend. We spend so much time together. You know me, and accept that I am socially inept. I know you think with your gut, and I accept that because you have shown me that it can be just as effective as concrete evidence, and sometimes more. Most of all, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you, Seeley. I trust you."

"I love you too, Bones." Even if she couldn't say it to him in those exact words, he knew she was trying to tell him she loved him. They walked to his SUV in each others' arms.

They arrived at his apartment and ran inside. They were deep in heavy kissing when Booth reluctantly pulled away. "Bones, are you hungry?"

"What kind of question is that, Booth? I am very hungry." She said in a very teasing seductive tone.

"No, are you hungry for dinner. Bones, we haven't eaten, yet. We could fix dinner together, eat off of each others plates, and then put in a movie we never intend to watch. It sounds like a perfect first date. What do you say?"

"But if you think about it we have been doing what could be considered the ritual of going on dates for almost five years now."

"I know, but this is different. We are now acknowledging our feelings for one another." He took her hands and brought them to his lips placing a nice soft kiss on the top of each one. "This is official Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan togetherness." He pulled her in closer, hugged her, and kissed the top of her hairline as he took a deep breath of her in.

Her head lay in the space between his neck and shoulder, she turned to place her face on against his neck, breathing in his manly scent of spice and leather, and she kissed his neck and rubbed his back and sides with her exploring hands. She took a breath and asked, "Booth, what's for dinner."

"Well, could we make your macaroni and cheese? It's my favorite!" he said with his cheesy boyish grin that had always melted her heart.

"Sure. Help me?" she said with a teasing helpless tone. "I know I could do it myself, but I might need some help finding things in your kitchen." She knew that was a lie. She knew where everything was, but for some reason she felt it necessary to let herself need him. She was willing to play coy to allow him to give her the attention she not only needed, but found, to her surprise, she also wanted.

"I know you know where everything is, Bones, but yeah I'll help you," he said playfully as he picked her up and carried her to the kitchen. Once there he set her down and tickled her side gently. "Although, if I do we may never get done making dinner," he said with a sly wink as he turned to face her as he was putting water in a pot to boil.

"We have to finish, Booth, or you won't have enough strength or energy to keep up with me."

"Are you calling me a wimp, Bones?"

"I don't know, are you Seeley?" Hearing her call him by his first name always sends shivers down his spine. Mostly no one else did. It was always just Booth or Agent Booth.

"Hey, I think you need evidence that proves otherwise. Okay, for starters, I was a sniper. That alone is enough to debunk the whole wimp idea, but if that isn't enough, the government would not put wimps in the FBI?"

"No, I suppose not, Special Agent Seeley Booth. Okay, now that you have a valid claim, maybe you want to demonstrate your abilities for me. You know, for empirical confirmation."

With that he practically jumped across the kitchen island and rushed into her arms and whispered, "Count on it," just before taking her mouth in his, each matching stroke for stroke. He had her backed up to the refrigerator door before she knew it. Inching back slowly, but not really wanting to stop she pulled away just enough to say, "Booth, the food."

"Bones—Bones, it will—take—time to—boil," Booth managed to say with each word nearly being cut off with a kiss before it began. With that they explored each other very excitedly and passionately until it was time to drain and put the cheese in the noodles.

Booth started to stick his fingers in the food and lick them, only to stick it back in and do it all over again. Then he glanced at Brennan who looked amused and almost disgusted at his plying with the food. Leave it to Booth to act like an excited six year old about something as simple as macaroni and cheese. He reached his fingers in one last time, but this time reached over to Brennan who still looked on in amazement and offered her some off of his hand. To his surprise and delight she took him up on it. She grabbed his hand gently and slowly sucked and licked his finger clean.

Once it was mixed up into one giant bowl he grabbed a spoon, and they walked over to his couch hand-in-hand. He set the bowl down to browse his movie selection. He grabbed one he knew she never even heard of because of the fact that she doesn't really watch TV or see movies. He knew of only a few old classics she had seen. That aside, he knew they weren't going to be watching the movie anyway.

He sat down next to her. To make herself more comfortable she shifted slightly sideways, and rested on his side. They took turns taking bites with the spoon Booth had grabbed, even feeding each other at times. Every time Booth fed Brennan a bite she would respond just as he expected she would. "Booth, I am not a baby. I can feed myself."

"I am trying to be romantic. I know you are not a baby, Bones, but you are my baby. My Bones. I love you so much. I cannot believe I waited so long to tell you."

"I love you too, Seeley." There it was again, his first name, but even more enchanting to his soul was the fact that she had actually said she loves him, too, and this time without dancing around the word love.

He gazed into her very twinkling ice blue eyes with his deep brown eyes, and the macaroni was abandoned and quickly forgotten. The bowl was almost carelessly tossed to the coffee table. They leaned in closer to each other, and shared a sweet light kiss that just seemed to only gather momentum. He had already at some point taken his shirt off before even sitting down to eat dinner. Her hands were traveling his rock hard body as it only seemed to get more tense with each passing second.

His hands were also doing a little exploring reaching up the back of her shirt and sending shivers down her spine and causing her to breakout in goose bumps. Booth pulled her tank top up, and only broke the kiss to take the shirt over her head and immediately resuming the activity.

She reached down and grabbed his cocky belt buckle she adored so much because of how 'Boothy' it seemed to her. Realizing she had a hold of his belt buckle he chuckled and smiled from ear to ear. He also took the opportunity to rid her of her skirt while the kiss was temporarily on hold. Once it was free from his waste she held up the belt buckle telling him, "This is so true."

He responded with another gleaming thousand watt smile that more than acknowledged that her comment was indeed true. He didn't have to say a word, but he did, which even further proved her comment. "You know it." He paused for a brief moment. "Hey, Bones?"

She had already dug back into him, burying her face into his neck and raking her fingernails into his back. "Hmmm."

"Should we move to the bedroom or just continue here. It isn't that I wouldn't want to make love to you on my couch, but I think we would both be more comfortable there...you know my back. Also, I would like our first time to bed a little bit more enjoyable than it would be right here." She was still practically attached to Booth like baby to a pacifier. She reached up slightly and nibbled on his ear and then let out a whisper that sent shivers down his spine and lit a fire in his gut. "I'll take you anywhere Seeley Booth."

With that he picked her up once again, and carried her to his room. He was now in his boxers, and she was in simple white cotton bra and panty set. They continued to take turns undressing each other as they approached the bed in a fury of anticipation of breaking the laws of physics, trying to become one.

~B&B~

Brennan was brought out of her dream state with the enthusiastic shaking her shoulders endured from the overly excited intern. "Wake up, Dr. Brennan. We are about to land. Oh, I cannot wait. This is just going to be the most exciting dig. I cannot believe I am a part of this; just think...EEEKKK!" Daisy shrieked as the entire plane of passengers look on displaying their annoyance toward the young anthropologist.

Daisy was actually still talking, but Brennan didn't hear much after she realized that she had just awoken from the most real dream she had ever had. Everything was clear, vivid, and she could hear every bit, she could feel it, and she could taste it. She was so enamored by how real everything felt she completely forgot about what the dream was actually about until after several minutes had passed by.

That was so real. Why would my brain fantasize in that way about Booth? Am I feeling guilty for rejecting his gamble? That could be it. Certainly, I don't actually feel this way towards him. What? No. Do I? Do I love him? How can this be? I am a scientist. Love is psychology. I don't believe in psychology. What is wrong with me?

Brennan was so wrapped up in her thoughts she was unaware of the plane landing.

Sure, I am somewhat attracted to his alpha male tendencies until they control what I do, and he is pleasantly symmetrical. I have always liked the way he looks. I must be kidding myself! This has to be just biological urges, but why, why would I feel like this about my partner. If anything he is my best friend. He just…happens to have superbly defined bone structure and symmetrical features that suggest he would be a very viable mate. Hmmm…

The plane had landed and passengers were already starting to gather their belongings as she still just sat there.

We do know everything about each other, even the troubles in our childhoods and Booth's past as a sniper and how much it troubles him at times. The dream. I loved him in the dream. When Booth first realized he loved me, he was in a coma. Is there something to this dream that is trying to tell me that I love him? It felt so real; so right. I must be; there is no doubt about it. I—I am in love with Seeley Booth.

Daisy quickly chimed in after she noticed her boss still sitting there, "Dr. Brennan we are here and we have landed. You can get your things now. We are getting off of the plane. Hello?—" She started to gently shake her shoulder to get her attention. "Dr. Brennan? Are you okay? Oh, do you have motion sickness. We can wait a few minutes if you need to, and I have some medicine that will settle your—"

"No, Daisy. I'm fine." Brennan was not fine, but she wasn't going to admit that to her giddy mouthy grad assistant. She just realized that she may be in love with her best friend and needed more than just a few minutes. "Really. Let's just get off, and find out where our shuttle is going to pick us up." More than anything Brennan just wanted to get to a place where she could sit in privacy to call Booth. She needed to tell him. Sure, she wanted to do it in person, but there was no way she was going to wait an entire year to tell the love of her life that there was no more "just partners" bull shit.

Daisy nodded in confirmation, but didn't say anything because she knew she had just been lied to, and she could also tell that it would be wise to not ask where there was little privacy. This was perhaps one of the only instances Daisy didn't say something that was out of place and none of her business. Perhaps Daisy wasn't going to be such a horrible person to be around after all. Maybe over time they could be close enough to talk. Still, it was going to be a long year.

Yes, episode 100 and season 5 finale were discouraging, as are the spoilers for season 6, but I think it is all building up to something great. While I am not spoiler free, this story is. Lets keep reviews spoiler free so that season 6 does not get ruined for those who do not wish to know anything. Please review.