For Karen, who has always been kind to me in her reviews. The very least I can do is thank her with a birthday fic. As requested, some lighthearted smut for your 35th. You rock, Lady. Happy Birthday!

Bad Day


It had been a craptacular day.

Brennan would tell him that wasn't a real word.

He didn't care. It summed up the day well.

It had started with a disagreement with her over breakfast. It had started as normal bickering and had escalated into her chucking all the cereal boxes into the garbage and stomping off, mumbling about preservatives and sugar and that she would outlive him by twenty years if he didn't stop eating Cocoa Puffs and that they needed to model better eating habits for the baby. The argument hadn't started about cereal, but that's where it had ended, so he'd guiltily dumped the Cocoa Puffs down the drain and gone to work.

At work the coffee maker on his floor was broken which meant he had to go upstairs when he wanted a cup and since he'd had no breakfast he'd been thinking he'd just survive on coffee until lunch. With that option too inconvenient, he'd scrounged up a dollar in change and tried to get a bag of chips out of the vending machine.

He figured it was a sign that perhaps he really should start eating better when the machine ate his dollar and gave him no chips in return.

So he'd trudged upstairs to get his coffee, taking the stairs to avoid Sweets, whom he'd seen waiting for the elevator. He wasn't up for a discussion on resuming partner's therapy today.

Turned out Sweets wanted coffee, too.

"Hey, Agent Booth! I have some free time this afternoon. Think you and Dr. Brennan could make it in for a session?" Sweets was eating chips, which made Booth even less inclined to agree to therapy.

"Chips? At nine in the morning, Sweets?" He barbed, trying to pretend he didn't want to snatch the bag right out of the psychologist's hand.

"Normally I wouldn't, but these were just lying in the machine. Free breakfast! Isn't that wicked awesome?"

Booth glared.

"So about therapy today…"

"No." Booth turned on his heel to walk out and sloshed hot coffee all over his hand. "Ow!"

"You know, you were spinning out of here in a little bit of a tantrum, which can indicate…"

"Don't! No shrink rapping today. I'm not in the mood."

He stormed off and went back to his desk.

And promptly spilled his coffee all over his keyboard.

He would have to requisition a new one.

Which meant filling out a form.

On the computer.

Which meant he needed to use his keyboard.

Which wasn't working.

So after spending two hours attempting to requisition a keyboard without using a keyboard, he was late getting a report in to Hacker.

Which meant Hacker came for a visit, because Hacker was getting yelled at by Cullen for the late report. And neither one cared about Booth's keyboard, coffee, chips or cereal issues.

Not that he told them.

It took him thirty minutes to get rid of Hacker.

And then the phone rang.

"Booth!" he barked into it.

"Perhaps you wouldn't be so cranky if you ate a better breakfast." Brennan admonished from the other end of the phone, but he could tell she was smiling and trying to make light of the events of their morning. There was a lilt in her voice that gave her away.

"Ha-ha. What's up?" There was a smile behind his voice too.

"I can't make lunch."

Perfect. "Why?" he whined.

"The daycare called. Hadley has a temperature. I'm taking her home."

"Is she alright?" Sick kid. Wonderful.

"I would imagine it's her teeth. She's been quite unhappy."

"Okay. I guess I'll see you at home, then."

"Sweets called about therapy."

"Yeah, I told him no."

"I told him we'd come tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"We can't avoid it forever, Booth."

"Fine." It wasn't fine, but what could he do?

"Alright. I will see you at home. I'll make dinner."

Which meant tofu.

"Okay." he tried to fake cheeriness over his dinner menu. "I'll see you tonight."

He disconnected and decided that he was still going to lunch because he was hungry and crabby, but mostly because if he was going to have tofu for dinner, he'd better have a good lunch.

But there was a new cook at the diner and his burger was still half frozen and they were out of pie.

And Brennan wasn't there to steal his fries.

Half full from his less than adequate lunch and his non-breakfast, Booth hadn't been in the mood to deal with a surly suspect in the interrogation room and had been extra irritable when Sweets managed to extract a confession out of the guy when he hadn't.

"Booth!" He snarled into his phone, then felt terrible when he heard a screaming baby and the frazzled voice of his partner.

"I…is this a bad time?"

"No, sorry. Rough day. Sounds like a rough day there, too."

"Yes. She's very upset." The normally unflappable Temperance Brennan sounded very…flapped. He knew that wasn't right but the shrieking baby in the background wasn't helping his vocabulary.

"I just…can you pick up some baby teething gel on your way home? She's so miserable, nothing I do is working…"

"I'm leaving now." He promised. His work day had sucked. An unhappy baby couldn't be any worse.

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem."

He gathered his keys and his wallet, shut down his computer and turned off the lights.

When he got to his car there was a huge ding in the door and no note of confession, which was really just fitting considering the rest of his day.

The first store was out of infant teething gel and the second store came complete with a lecture from the woman behind him in the checkout line about the evils of modern medicine and how he should just put some brandy on his baby's gums and it would work like a charm. It did for all her kids…fifty years ago.

He opened the front door to the apartment expecting to hear Hadley screaming her tiny lungs out, or Brennan singing all the wrong yet anthropologically correct words of a lullaby, but instead heard only blissful silence. Not wanting to make any noise, he opted to go looking for his family rather than yelling to find them.

He crept into the baby's room first and found her sound asleep. He headed into the bedroom, and changed out of his suit into casual clothes really quickly before wandering out toward the kitchen where he found Brennan.

"Hey." He said softly. "Looks like you won."

"What did I win?"

"She's asleep." He clarified.

"Oh, yes, well, I think the tooth won. It finally erupted through the gum line. I think she wore herself out with all her crying." She looked apologetic. "I haven't even started dinner."

To himself, he cheered the very real possibility of take out. Things were looking up. To her he said "You want to just order something?"

"No, I tried taking Hadley for a walk and while we were out I picked up a few things for dinner. It will just take a few minutes to prepare it."

"Okay." He smiled. Tofu or not, the domesticity of their life together now was still an ever present thrill for him. "You want some help?"

"No, go unwind. Watch some hockey on ESP or something."

"ESPN."

"Is that also a sports channel?"

He chuckled. "Yes."

Fifteen minutes later she called from behind him. "Dinner is ready, Booth."

"That was…fast…" his mouth dropped open.

She stood next to the table in an apron and not much else. "I think we both had a difficult day. I thought maybe we could use a tension release."

"Oh, God, yes." He'd gone hard just looking at her.

"But first, dinner." She smiled and he knew she had something else up her sleeve by the glint in her eye.

He rounded the couch and peered into the bowls she had set on the dinner table and burst into laughter. "Cocoa Puffs?"

She looked pleased with herself. "Yes. I may have been…overreacting this morning. I'd been up half the night with the baby and …I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Bones. You were right. That stuff is crap."

"But occasionally, as a special event, like now, a treat is perfectly acceptable. A little indulgence now and then never hurt anyone."

He stepped closer to her and reached behind her, untying the apron from around her neck and letting it fall, exposing her naked upper body. "I think I have another indulgence I'd like to have first."

She wrapped her arms around her neck. "That would be fine. There are enough preservatives in that cereal…it will keep a while." One last dig at the cereal before she closed the distance between them, laying claim to his lips.

It didn't even start slowly. Instantly they were on fire for each other, tongues clashing, voices moaning, hands exploring.

"Bones…" he whispered into her ear in between small nips at her earlobe. "how do you always know just what I need?"

"Because I need it, too." She answered as she ran her hands over his chest, down to the bottom of his shirt so she could tug it up over his head.

Shirt discarded, she blazed trails of fire with her fingers over his abdomen and up over his chest until her hands found his hair as his mouth found her breast.

He bit her nipple gently and her back arched, pushing herself to him as her hands urged his head towards her chest. "Harder" she groaned and he increased the pressure of his bites and licks slightly. "Oh, god. Yes!"

"You taste so good. Your skin…" he moved his mouth up to her neck, leaving a trail with his tongue, "…is so soft." He wrapped one hand around her waist and pulled her closer, grinding his erection into her. "Bones, uh…I think…"

"Couch?" she suggested, reaching between them and unbuttoning his pants.

"Floor."

"But your back…" she successfully undid his pants and reached inside, stroking him.

He jerked towards her. "I don't give a fuck about my back right now. Floor's closest. I want in. NOW."

She pushed his pants down and he made short work of getting rid of the rest of her apron as they tumbled frantically to the floor.

He wasted no time. He quickly dipped his tongue into her center, checking her readiness.

"Booth!" she gasped. "I…ah….ah…" Her hips bucked and he lapped at her core, teasing with short, not quite satisfactory strokes. "Oh! I…I thought..you..wanted…in…"

His mouth left her body, leaving her aching and impatient as he brought his wicked grin up to her face. "I do, Bones. I definitely want in." He kissed her and she could taste herself on him. "But this is going to be fast and hard. I needed to know you were ready."

She looked into his eyes and he watched as her blues turned steel grey with desire and determination. "I believe…" she said, administering soft wet kisses to his neck while she kneaded his firm ass with her hands. "…that the proper colloquialism in this situation would be for me to say 'Bring it.'"

"As long as you are ready." He pinched her clit and she nearly jolted all the way off the floor. "And it feels like you might be." He was teasing but he couldn't wait much longer either. Her hands were stroking and squeezing and it was taking much of his self control not to just give in and come all over her attentive fingers.

"Please stop talking" she begged, shutting him up with a kiss that fused their mouths together in a passionate flurry of lips and tongues.

In one swift, long stroke he buried himself inside her. "God." He groaned, "Just…"

They both lay still for just a moment, enjoying the pleasure and the anticipation, but also attempting to regain some control so it wouldn't end for either of them before it really began.

It was Brennan who broke the stillness. "Move, Booth. Hard and fast. Please."

It was breathless and hot and there was no way he could deny her. Not that he intended to.

He moved nearly all the way back out of her before plunging back in, repeating the motion every time and she raised her hips to meet him, deepening the angle and their pleasure with each stroke.

"Oh, yes. Oh….Booth…"

"Bones, Baby…oh fuck! I…I…"

"Don't…stop…" she moaned and it sounded guttural to her own ears but musical to his.

"Come for me, Bones."

"You, too." She gasped as her insides began to scream towards release.

"Don't…worry about…me." He was so close. He needed her to let go so he could too.

"Booth!" She bit her lip in utter ecstasy as her walls began to spasm and she came undone around him. "BOOTH!" She was pulsing around him, massaging him with her soft, hot, inner core.

"Oh…yeah, oh GOD!" His release roared into her, and they rode out the crest of pleasure together, wrapped up in one another, tumbling over the precipice, holding on to each other.

"That was…that was…" he couldn't think, much less speak.

"More than satisfying." she answered, sated, laying underneath him with his head on her chest, peppering her breasts with tiny, appreciative kisses.

"A LOT more than satisfying."

"Hmmm" she agreed.

He rolled off her and lay next to her, spent, having only the energy to lazily trail one finger in small circles on her thigh.

"We should eat." She said after a while.

He made a face. "That cereal is probably very soggy and gross by now."

"I didn't put any milk in it." She laughed. "I knew what we'd be doing first."

"You really are the smartest woman in the world."

"One of them, yes. That's true." She rolled over onto her stomach and propped herself up onto her elbows, chin in her hands. "I'm certainly smart enough to know you're going to need to eat those Chocolate Clouds."

"Cocoa Puffs." He grinned. "And why is that?"

"You're going to need the sugar rush for round two."

~End~