This story is from a challenge over on the Boneyard. Booth+Brennan+a puppy, but no Parker allowed...

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"Booth" he barked into his phone

"Booth" he barked into his phone, pulling onto his street. What a day. He could not wait to get home and forget about it.
"Booth, it's me…I have an emergency."
"Bones? Where are you?" He flipped on his siren, ready.
"I'm at my house. Please Booth. I need you."

"Okay, Bones. I'll be right there."

He closed his phone and picked up the radio. "Dispatch, 22705."
"Read you 22705"

"Request for backup at 25 Elmworth."
"Received 22705."

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Booth raced there, and pulled into her driveway, glad to see the EMT right behind him, also thankful there were no flames, at least not visible. He didn't want to wait for the elevator, so he pulled out his gun and conquered the stairs, two at a time. He got to her door to see it closed, and without hesitation, raised his foot and kicked it in.

"BONES!"

She was sitting in the middle of the floor of her living room, looking at a box.

"Get back Bones." He pointed his gun toward the suspicious package.
"Booth…stop, what are you doing?" She stood between him and the box.
"What? What? Bones…get out of the line of fire."

"Booth…stop."

The EMTs rushed in and quickly ran to her, one of them running his hands down her arms to check for injuries.
"Booth…please."
"Stand back, team."
He looked at her.

"What the hell, Bones?"

She could see he was steamed.

"What do you mean, Booth?"

"Well, you said you had an emergency."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh…so I called for backup, and sped here, AND ran up the steps, and…" he stopped as he noticed the previously offending box scoot an inch across the floor. "What is that Bones?"

"It was outside my door when I got home."

He stretched out his arms, gun cocked as he moved closer to it. Very carefully, with one foot, he inched the lid off the box.

"You've got to be kidding me, Bones."

He was as angry as she'd ever heard him, somehow cold and fired up at the same time. She stayed quiet.

He turned and looked toward the EMT.

"I'm sorry, you are free to go." He walked them to the door, and shut it, as best he could, now that the lock was busted. He stood facing the door for a couple of moments, trying to cool off before turning to face her, pressing his hand against it, trying to force tension into it.

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She could almost feel the rage rolling off of him in heated waves, and she wisely continued to keep silent.

"Bones…" his voice a cool steel in contrast to the tension in his shoulders. "Do you have any idea what a waste of resources that was?" He took a deep breath. "Those EMTs could have turned down another call to be here."
"You're the one who called them, Booth, not me."

He whirled around and stalked over to her, coming close enough to cup her chin in his hand, lifting her eyes to his.

"You called me Bones…you said you had an emergency, and…you needed me."

"Booth…" she whispered. "You're hurting me" she continued through clenched teeth, the result of his intense reaction.

He released her immediately and turned away from her, trying to breathe deeply. He heard her take a step back, then another.

"I'm sorry, Bones. I didn't mean to hurt you." He couldn't look at her though.

"I know." She'd just experienced firsthand the full force of the righteous anger of Seeley Booth, and it had stunned her. She had seen it displayed toward others, both for good and in revenge, but she'd never had it turned toward her, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I wasted the time of the EMT. I would never want to do that."

He ran a hand through his hair, keeping his back to her. "I know, Bones."

After a couple of minutes, she took a step closer to him. "Will you look at me, please?"
He turned and she was surprised to see anger and shame and pain in his eyes.

She took another step toward him, putting her close to his body, but not touching.

His jaw clenched, and she reached up her hand to cup it. He jerked his head back. "Too much" he rasped, leaving her hand in mid air until she placed it against his face again, this time, not letting him pull back. He closed his eyes against this emotion.

"Booth…I'm so sorry." She whispered.

He opened his eyes and she could see that he was embarrassed. Embarrassed that he'd basically torn the town apart to 'save' her from a tiny puppy in a box. She moved her other hand to the other side of his face.

"Thank you, Booth."

He pressed his forehead to hers, sending thoughts from his brain to hers. He'd thought she was dying or being attacked or…even his thoughts couldn't describe what emotions he'd felt at the sound of her voice on the phone. He moved his arms to her shoulders, steadying her, and she realized she'd been shaking from the adrenaline.

They stayed like this for a few moments until he thought he could handle it.
"What happened, Bones?"

"Well, I got home, and…today was bad, you know?"

"Yeah." Another domestic case they'd solved, where even the 'victory' usually meant pain for almost everyone involved.

"And well, when I got home, there was this box outside my door. I brought it in, and put on gloves, and opened it up."

Booth removed his hands from her shoulders and walked toward the box. Bending over, he picked up the tiny pug.

Brennan stared at the way the now sleeping puppy fit perfectly in the palms of his hands.

"This is an emergency?"

"Booth…I've never had a dog before, I didn't know what to do, so…"

"You called me."

"Yes" Now she was the one embarrassed by her reaction. She turned away from the sight of him, now a tender image, but still intense. "I'm sorry, Booth."

He walked toward her couch and sat down, then looked up, his eyes encouraging her to join him.

She sat next to him, facing him with her legs underneath her.

Now that she was close, he couldn't quite meet her eyes, and he turned back toward the sleeping pug.

"Bones…"

She took a deep breath at the uncertainty in his voice. "I know, Booth."

She did know. They were both scared of the depth of emotion they'd felt. But like a moth to a flame, she was unable to resist his heat, his intensity. She was only sorry to have worried him, and, she was embarrassed to have used up the valuable time of the emergency response team.

"Booth, do you want me to file a report with the EMT tomorrow?" She could at least do that for him.
"No, I'll take care of it." He sighed, his eyes on the puppy.

And that was it. She knew.

"I love you" she whispered.

His eyes, dark with confusion, flew to hers.

"What?"

She could feel her face flaming, and she couldn't get the words past her throat. He was holding that puppy in the palms of his hands as if he held her heart, and…she couldn't speak for the emotion choking her. This man, a man who had kicked down the thick door to her apartment had also busted through the door to her heart, and…she loved him.

"I love you" she repeated.

He couldn't speak, she could see. It was still too much, and that was okay. She moved her head to rest on his shoulder, settling her body next to his sitting one, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Never in her wildest imagination would she have imagined that she'd be the first to tell him she loved him. She'd always imagined that he would say it to her, she'd dreaded it actually, because she'd never been sure of how she felt, and, she knew, she'd known that if he'd told her he loved her, and she hadn't been able to return the sentiment, that it might have destroyed them.

They both sat silently for awhile, until the tiny puppy rolled over in Booth's hands, stretching, his tongue slipping out in search of something.

Brennan reached out with her hand and rubbed its head.

"It's okay" she soothed.

Booth caught her fingers in his and squeezed them together and sighed.
"Yes." His voice deep with emotion, "Everything's going to be okay."

He placed a kiss to the top of her head, then moved them so they were laying on her couch, her back to his chest, the puppy, now awake, sitting on her, looking at them.

Booth wrapped his arms around her and moved two fingers to lightly stroke the puppy's head, encouraging him to fall back to sleep on her chest. The puppy whimpered a bit, but soon relaxed, his tiny weight against her heart.

"Booth…"
"Shhh…go to sleep. We'll talk tomorrow."

She pulled his hands into hers.

"Okay, Booth. Tomorrow."
"Yes, Bones. I'll be here." She closed her eyes as his words washed over her. "I'll be here."

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Okay, so the next three chapters are alternate scenarios to what happens next. I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so I'm posting all three. Let me know which one you like best!