Brennan heard the coyotes howling from her bed in the hotel room. She yelped, a little to loudly, she realized, whenever Booth stirred, turned around in his bed, and looked straight at her. "You okay?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Yep, Fi-" she heard the coyotes again and her voice went up two octaves on the "-ne!"

"C'mere."

"I'm fine Booth! Re-" again, the coyotes howled, and again, her voice went up for, "-ally!"

"Fine, I'll come to you," he clambered out of bed and walked around hers. He climbed in and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "Scared of coyotes, are you?"

She admired how he pronounced coyotes, like "kai-oats". She found she admired the strangest things about him. "Yes," she whispered.

"Why?"

"Once my brother," she yelped as a coyote howled, "went hunting. He came across a coyote, and it nearly killed him. My dad saved him, at the last minute. They never," she gasped as another coyote sounded, "went hunting again. Russ is still terrified of them."

Another coyote cried, and Booth noticed her tense against him. "Would it be easier if you turned to face me, or pressed your face into my chest? You know I'll fight anything off that wants to hurt you."

In response, she turned and hugged him tightly, with her face buried in his neck. He rubbed her back gently, and soon she went to sleep. He carefully tried to slip away, but she grasped onto him tighter.

"Oh Bones," he sighed as he settled on the bed.

"Hmm?" she muttered quietly.

"I didn't mean to wake you…"

"It's fine."

He laid on his back and let her wrap her arm around his abdomen, while resting her head on his chest. She heard a nice, solid heartbeat, and his bare chest was warm against her cheek. She let a few tears escape from her eyes. She realized she was never going to be able to run to him like this when she was scared.

"Hun, what's wrong?"

"Nothing…"

"Don't even pretend with me. I can feel tears on my chest. Tell me what's bothering you."

"…just realized how lonely I am."

"Right now?"

"No…every night I don't have you around."

"You have other boyfriends frequently, you realize?"

"Yeah, but Booth…they aren't you. No guy has ever just held me like this…no guy has ever let me fall asleep in his arms like his…no guy…no guy ever really cares about me."

"I care about you. And you were sleeping in my arms. Quite peacefully if I may add, until I was an idiot and tried to get away because we're 'just partners'…and what do you mean no guy is me?"

"You're…you're you. You have well defined muscles," she ran her fingers lightly over the muscles in his chest. "You have very pretty eyes. You are quite the good kisser, from past experience, and you've got a very nice personality. It's really hard to find a guy to really want to be with when the best guy you've ever met is your partner. Oh, and you're quite attractive."

"You really think that?"

"I have for a long time."

"Oh…"

"Ugh my back hurts!" she exclaimed as she shifted.

"Lay on your stomach."

"Why?"

"Just trust me."

"Okay," she replied as she laid on her stomach. Soon, she felt his warm hands gliding over the top of her tank top, pressing with just enough force to be really, really soothing. "Booth," she moaned.

"Feel good?"

"Yes…it'd feel a whole lot better without the stupid tank top."

"You're welcome to…remove it…if you'd like," he said awkwardly.

"Only because my back hurts, and we're partners," she slid off the tank top, exposing entirely bare flesh. "Totally partners."

"Plus I can't…see anything anyway."

The coyotes were still howling, but Brennan hadn't noticed them since she fell asleep on Booth, and she definitely wasn't about to notice them now, not when what he was doing to her felt so good she could barely see straight. He continued to rub her back for nearly half and hour, then his hands got tired, and he had to stop.

"In the morning…you can have another in the morning."

She slid on her tank top. "Can't come soon enough."

"We can cuddle right now…if you want. I know it's not a back rub, but it's better than nothing, plus it'll keep you warmer."

"Only to stay warm."

"Only for warmth," he restated.

So she laid back down on his chest, and let him wrap his arms around her.

"Hey Bones?"

"Yeah?"

"You do realize you're a horrible actress. You're about as afraid of coyotes as I am of holding a gun."

She chuckled and hugged him tighter.