A.N. This is an odd piece I came up with. Not entirely sure what to think; I haven't worked with someone else's characters in a while (Check it out, I just combined a disclaimer and an author's note. Very economical.) Hope you like it, please let me know even if you really don't.

Once upon a time there was a line in the sand. It stretched along the desert for as far as the eye could see, straight and unchanging. Anyone passing by would think it truly impassable, so deeply drawn it was.

Then, one day not much different from any other day, two people found themselves walking straight towards the line. He was handsome, she was beautiful, though they didn't even see that at first. She was hurting, heart closed off through scientific thought and abandonment. He was hurting, wary from a list engraved on his heart and mind.

Time and circumstances contrived to bring them to the here and now at just the right moment. Gradually they became aware of the crunching footsteps of the other, and grew curious about this stranger growing closer and closer.

They lifted their heads, hair blowing in the arid wind, and were surprised at what they saw. A FBI Agent with dark, sad eyes, and an Anthropologist with eyes like the sky.

Shying away from how close they had grown without realizing, they stood rigid. Neither wanted to step closer, but they couldn't step away. They were caught, lost together without understanding.

After a time, they reached an agreement over the black of the line. The pair took steps sideways, eyes never leaving the other, feet skittering over coarse sand and sharp pebbles. They were moving in perfect unison, traveling along the line together but apart.

Sometimes their paths would grow closer. They would swerve together as shoes meandered near, only to take hurried steps back to preserve the status quo of the line. There was a line, they both knew this, and they couldn't cross it. It would be too…dangerous.

When one of them faltered, they supported each other. Small touches on the arm, a palm gently cupping an elbow to break a fall, but no more than that. Each touch was dangerous, electric as they just brushed the line, but the partners found it hard to mind.

As the heat poured down, the two sank into symmetry gradually, gradually, as their eyes and breath and thoughts melded together in uneasy harmony. The partners moved along the line, she working her way inside his heart, he making his presence known and felt in every compartment of her mind.

The trust was nearly absolute, but still they kept their distance. What if it went wrong? What if by becoming closer they destroyed the strange energy that bound them, that made them work? These questions began to fill up their once comfortable silences, slipping out in long looks and touches that lasted just a little too long.

Yet gradually the pair realized their truth. It is possible that the man realized first, or perhaps she just hid the knowledge better. This truth was this: They were each other's gravity. No matter how they tried to slide around that simple fact, they tethered the other to the ground. That was something that couldn't be destroyed. One without the other was nothing.

When they both acknowledged this to themselves, it didn't seem so terrifying anymore. He smiled. She beamed.

And suddenly the line vanished. A man and a woman were left there, wrapped in an embrace that was definitely not a guy hug. They were complete.

Then, hand in hand, Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan marched towards the horizon. Together.