Title: Chemistry Experiment

A/N: Hello. This is my first fanfiction in a very (very) long time. It's just a fluffy little piece that's been running around in my head. I do hope that you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own BONES. I do own this plot line.

Chapter One:

Hypothesis

***

Booth ran two wet hands over his face, and then let his head drop back on the wall behind his tub. Water dripped down his face and, as he closed his eyes, droplets fell from his lashes. Bones, he started, sure does have some odd facts. He gave a chuckle, now that was an understatement. He let his mind drift back to their conversation early that night. "We all had two heads and four arms," Brennan had told him. Soul mates. Booth snickered at the thought. There was a time when he believed soul mates, a time when he knew, just knew that there was somebody out there for him. Someone that would complete him. Now he wasn't so sure. There had been a few over the years that felt right, but boy was he off on that. His gut normally didn't lead him astray but when it comes to love…damn! Booth let out a deep breath that came from the deeps of his soul, scrubbed his hands over his face again, then stood up.

Water ran down his body and as he reached for a towel his cell phone buzzed alive. A cuss fell from his lips. Booth bypassed the towel, and reached for his phone on the counter. "Yeah, Bones, what's up?"

"I know it's late and all, but you busy?" Both looked at himself in the mirror and couldn't resist teasing.

"I'm just standing in my bathroom completely naked and dripping water," he purred into the phone.

"This is no time for jokes," Brennan's sharp voice snapped.

"Okay then, Bones," Booth began, reaching for his towel. "What's up?" He balanced his cell phone between his shoulder and ear and tried to listen and dry at the same time.

"I need you." The phone slipped away. Booth reached for it, juggling it in the air with one hand before letting the towel drop. He caught the phone and brought in back to his ear.

"Excuse me?" he questioned.

"I said I need you to go on a date with me. Are you feeling alright, Booth?"

"I may be wrong," Booth began, leaning back against the bathroom counter, trying to get his heart to beat regular again. "But people normally don't ask their parent to go out on a date with them. Unless, that is, you need me to shoot somebody."

"Well, it's not really a date and there shouldn't be any need for pulling your gun," Brennan said, and then added as an afterthought, "unless something illegal happens, that is."

"Bones," Booth began, as he finally left the bathroom, walking naked through his room and then out into the hall heading for his kitchen. "It can't be a date and not a date at the same time." He stopped at his refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of beer and then continued his path back toward his bedroom.

"It's more like a meeting," Brennan tried to explain. "Oh, forget it Booth. This whole idea is a mistake."

"Just tell me what it is you need." He flopped down on his bed and brought the bottle to his lips to keep from adding to the sentence.

"I'm meeting someone I went to college with."

"Wow," Booth interrupted. "Never had you pegged as the reunion type."

"I'm not," Brennan said. "That's the problem. I have no idea what to do. I don't even want to go."

"Then why are you?"

"It's a long story, Booth. One that I don't have time to tell you right now. Are you dressed yet?"

"Dressed?" Booth questioned. "Umm, why?"

"Because I'm at your front door."

"My front door," he repeated.

"Haven't you been listening? I need you to go out with me."

"Tonight?" Suddenly Booth was nervous. He jumped to his feet and put down his beer. "Why didn't you say that?"

"Why else would I be calling?"

"Just give me five minutes," he said.

When Booth opened his door seven minutes later, Brennan was impatiently tapping her foot. She was dress in a form fitting black dress that stopped mid-thigh, and a plunging neckline. It was simple with no glitter or sequins, but Booth thought it was breath taking. Her hair was down framing her face and she wore a simple gold chain. "It's about time," she said, striding in past him.

"Sorry, it was kind of short notice." He closed the door and turned to look at her. "Is this okay for our date?" Booth held his arms out slightly to his side and Brennan let her eyes slid over him. Black suit, pale blue shirt, dark blue tie, and, of course, his cocky buckle.

"It's acceptable," she said after her inspection. "Now can we please go? We're going to be late."

Late for what, Booth wasn't really sure. Brennan drove, leaving him time to watch the city go by and when that got to be boring, he turned his attention to the lady to his left. He studied her face, then let his eyes wonder down her neck, over the curve of her breasts, slid across her bare arms. "Booth?" The single word question tore through his thoughts, bringing reality back into focus.

"Uh? What?" Brennan threw him a smile.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," he answered, sitting back in his seat and turning his eyes forward. Brennan shook her head, but didn't say anything else. "So, um, about this date thing."

"It's not a date," Brennan interrupted.

"Fine. About this meeting with an old college buddy that you can't do without me," he paused, and when she didn't add anything, he went on. "Do you care to explain any more about it?"

Brennan took a deep breath and than begun. "Well, I wouldn't call Jamie a buddy. We went to school together, had some of the same classes. Unfortunately, we worked of some projects together."

"If you and Jamie weren't buddies, then why the hell are you two meeting?"

"My editor thought it would be good to…what's the phrase…network."

"Network?"

"Trust me, Booth, this is the last thing I want to be doing on a Friday night." Brennan pulled up to a restaurant. "Trust me." She put the car in park as a valet opened her door and extended a hand. Brennan traded her keys for a numbered paper and then took Booth's offered arm.

In the restaurant, Brennan told the hostess her name and who she was meeting, and they were lead through the main room. Soon they approached a back table and Booth took in the two people sitting there. "Jamie," Brennan said, extending her hand.

"Temperance, so nice to see you." Booth was surprised when the blonde female stood to take her hand. "Temperance Brennan, this is my fiancée, Charles Simon." Brennan shook his hand as Booth pulled out her chair.

"Very nice to meet you," she answered, sitting. "This is my partner, Seeley Booth. Booth, Doctor Jamie Lowder." Booth shook both their hands before taking the seat next to Brennan.

"Partner?" Jamie questioned. "What an unusual term to describe relationship."

"Oh, no, not unusual," Brennan began. "That's normally what people who work together are called."

"Work?" Charles asked. "Are you an anthropologist too?"

"Booth?" Brennan chuckled.

"FBI," Booth clarified. "Bones and her team assist the FBI in solving murders."

"How interesting," Charles replied, and the evening was off.

The two couples talked about Jamie and Brennan in college. Charles told them about a recent case he had and Booth filled them in on a mission he had back when he was a Ranger. As the dinner plates were cleared, the two females excused themselves to the restroom, leaving Booth and Charles sitting in an uncomfortable silence. "So, um," Charles started. "How long have you and Temperance been seeing each other?"

"Oh, no, we don't go beyond partners," Booth said.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Oh, I was just, I mean the way you two," Charles quickly took a drink of his Southern Comfort. "No disrespect," he said after a moment. "The two of you just seem very…at ease with each other."

"That's what happens when you're partners. You learn to be comfortable with each other."

"You're more than comfortable," Jamie said to Brennan as they stood in the ladies room washing their hands. "I see the way he looks at you."

Brennan dried her hands before saying, "I trust Booth with my life. He's one of my best friends."

"All I know is that he looks at you like you're a rare jewel and that's hard to come by. Don't get me wrong, I love Charles to pieces, but I'm not sure even we have what you have with that partner of yours."

"So tonight wasn't too bad, right?" Booth asked, once he was settled into the passenger seat of Brennan's car once again.

"I guess not," came the answer.

"What's wrong? Didn't have a good time? Did Jamie comment on my physical appearance and make you jealous?"

"What? No, of course not." As the silence drug of Booth's mind drifted back to his conversation with Charles. He was very at ease with Brennan. She was the one person he could be himself with. Granted, she might not understand his jokes, but she was always there for him. And that meant a lot. As his apartment building came into view, Booth realized that he wasn't ready for the evening to end. "Want to come up for a drink?" he asked.

Booth was surprised that she had said yes. Had bee surprised when she again took his offered arm and let him lead the way. The apartment was quiet and still as they entered. Booth flipped on the light, and then headed to the kitchen. "Can I ask you something?" Brennan began as Booth handed her a beer and sat down beside her.

"You know you can ask me anything." Brennan gave a weak smile, and then took a drink from her bottle.

"Why do people mistake us as a couple?" The question caught him off guard, and Booth choked on his swallow of beer. He put the back of his hand up to block the coughing.

"What brought on that question?" he asked around a cough.

Brennan lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Jamie asked in the restroom," she told him. "And she's not the first person. Everybody seems to think that we are more than partners."

"We are," Booth said. "We're friends."

"Beyond friends," Brennan added. "We don't act like we are a…couple. Do we?" Booth took a drink of his drink to give him time to think.

"I don't think so," he finally answered. "Do you?"

"I'm not sure." The answer shocked Booth. He had been expecting Brennan to deny anything that could link them in something other than a purely professional relationship. "I mean, we have kissed before." Booth let his mind travel briefly back to standing under the mistletoe and how he had ended up with her gum. Her comment also brought back memories of his- their- other life. The life he woke up from his comma remembering. The life he was told was nothing but a lie. They had kissed in that life. They had made love in that life. Sweets had told him that his feelings for Brennan was nothing but a hangover from his comma dream, but Booth knew better, yet he still wasn't ready to take that next step. Or was he?

"That mistletoe kiss was a dare, Bones. Dare kisses don't really count." He prayed that his voice sounded as convincing as he was trying too.

"Maybe," she answered, and he could tell that her mind was racing, turning something over and examining it. "If this was a problem in the lab, I would say that we need to run an experiment."

"We don't have to get Hodgins involved, do we?" Booth teased, even though he wasn't sure where Brennan was going in her train of thought.

"No," Brennan said, setting her beer on the coffee table and turning toward Booth. "Kiss me." Booth had the beer bottle halfway to his mouth when he stopped. Slowly he turned to look at her.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm a scientist, Booth. I need to treat this like an experiment."

"But a kiss is not an experiment," he said.

"Yes, I know," Brennan began. "Well, it kind of is. What I mean is that there has to be a reason why people consider us a couple. Why they think there's more than just our partnership. We must put something out there."

"And a kiss is going to prove what?"

"It's going to prove if there's anything to it. As Angela would say, to see if there's chemistry."

"Of course there's chemistry, Bones! We're partners. We're friends. Two people don't work as closely as we do and not have chemistry."

"Oh, come on, Booth," Brennan said. "It would make you King of the Lab?" Booth had to laugh at that thought and what Hodgins would have to say about that. He looked over at Brennan and it pulled his heartstrings.

"This is a bad idea," he said. Brennan gave a heavy sigh, then she took his beer and sat it on the table next to hers.

"Kiss me," she said again, leaving no room for argument. "And not just a peek, a real kiss." Booth took a breath trying to steady his heartbeat, and then turned his body toward her. He looked briefly in her eyes, before letting his glaze fall to her lips. They were slightly parted- waiting. Booth swallowed hard.

Remember, good people, that reviews feed my soul. TBC...