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Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or song lyrics here. But the characters and the non-couple romance both inspire and frustrate me!
This is a new story but a continuation of the same tale. If you'd like to read the entire story you should start with "Merry Christmas, Bones" for chapters 1-7. In between chapters 7 and 8 there is an 'M' rated story "Merry Christmas, Booth", but either can be read alone and still make sense. This story picks up after Chapter 8.
It had been a long but very good week. Three days in bed with Temperance Brennan, flu or not, was a great week. She had gone back to her place two days ago. As soon as she felt well enough to work she dove right back in first from the comfort of his couch and then home to her own. Apparently it was not conducive to work for him to keep interrupting her like he had. He smile to himself at the memories. He had slept alone last night and while that gave him unlimited pillow access he was damn sure that did not make up for having her by his side.
Seeley had it all planned for tonight. The dinner, the show, the wine chilling at his place - it was to be their first real date. It was Friday and he hoped to have her to himself again for 3 days. They had both begged off work until Monday. The machine guns firing questions, Cam and Angela, could wait just a few more days.
Temperance was nervous. It didn't make sense but she knew it to be true. Despite spending days in bed with Seeley, and having known him for 3 years this date scared her. There was no pressure for them in his bed. It was just Seeley and Temperance, a man and a woman, making love. What he had described in that diner was completely true. The act of love bound them in ways that speech could not. They may spar with each other verbally but there they melded completely. It wasn't to say they hadn't talked and shared with each other in non-physical ways during that time. But what is said in afterglow is comfortable and relaxed and without imposed constructs. This date had so many societal strings attached that it terrified her and acknowledgment of that fact annoyed her immensely. This was not her first date and she definitely knew him yet she still felt like she was standing at the edge of a precipice, unable to stop her fall.
He picked her up at 7 and could instantly tell something was bothering her. He leaned over to kiss her before pulling out and she returned the kiss warmly, relaxing slightly. He picked up her hand as he drove off and could feel her tension. It relaxed as they moved but never totally dissipated.
She chattered about the latest case and an argument between Zach and Hodgins for a few minutes before trailing back into silence.
"Temperance, what's bothering you? Don't say bone abnormalities."
It annoyed her more that he had noticed. With a mental sigh she relented. "Seeley this whole thing just makes me nervous. I don't know how to act, don't know what to say. I'd like to think that nothing much has changed as far as our interactions go but logically, of course things have changed."
"Sure it's changed, Bones. But only in the good ways. We can still disagree, I can still pick a fight with you just to see your eyes flash and that wonderful brain flip into overdrive, we can still scare the hell out of each other with the daily dangers we face as we catch murders. But on top of that we can be there for each other in more ways than ever before. We can hold hands, say sweet nothings, make love. Temperance this isn't a different relationship now. Well it is, but not at the core. We've been together for a long time now we just never took that final step."
"Okay, well that makes sense. I guess. But what about you? Don't you worry about any of this at all?"
"Sure I do. I just worry about different things. I worry that I'll lose you to some crazed madman. I worry that the FBI will bust us up when they find out. What I don't worry about is you and me. We committed to each other a long time ago and now that we've made it official it's only going to get better, babe. It sounds cliche but what happened this week, that means something. Two people can't make love like we did if they don't care about each other completely. We'll be fine and I meant what I said earlier - everything else will fall into place from that. You be Bones, I'll be Booth. We work in Temperance and Seeley and soon enough we won't even remember this middle place between the two."
He parked and turned to her, smiling. Raising her hand before him, he kissed it gently then looked into her eyes. "I love you Temperance. I loved you a long time ago. I loved you when I tore out of a hospital bed after being blown up so I could come find you and save you. I loved you when I flew to New Orleans and I pocketed your lost earring from a murder scene because I knew in my heart you were innocent, no matter the evidence. I loved you when I followed the leader of a murderous gang who had a hit on you into a deserted alleyway to make it very clear to him that if anything ever happened to you I would personally kill him. I loved you when I held you in Vince McVickar's farm, when I gave you Jasper and Brainy Smurf, when I brought you Chinese in the middle of the night and you worried we were going to get fat. I've loved you forever Bones. And I'm not going to stop. Put your fears aside for a bit and let yourself enjoy it and let yourself love me back in the same measure."
His words had poured out, completely from the heart, and it took him a moment to realize that he had just imparted a few things she didn't exactly know before now. He hoped the love part side tracked her enough to cover that up but one look at her face told him otherwise.
"Booth!"
He grinned at her sheepishly. "Come on. Lets go have our date. You'll have plenty of time later to tell me all the reasons I should not have done any of those things."