A/N: Uuuummm...so remember that thing about us saying this would be a two-shot? Make that a three-shot. We are wordy:)
But we do promise that you'll get the next chap much faster. Since it's almost done:) And, we also promise that we think you are awesome. Esp. if you review:-D Enjoy!
--
The door swung open with a creak and Seeley groaned as cold, damp air hit them in a rush. His heart sunk as he saw the rain cascading in dense sheets from the clouded sky. The truck was across the yard, tucked next to a low-hanging tree out of the sight of any neighbors. By the time they reached it, they'd be soaked.
His partner let out a frustrated breath beside him, and he glanced over at her to see her eyes settled on the vehicle across the yard.
"Why on earth did you have to park so far away?"
Feeling defensive, he scowled. "I told you – I didn't want anyone to know we were here."
"Fine, fine," she muttered. "We're going to be soaked down to our underwear."
For some reason, despite the impending misery of being soaked to the bone, her words caused a shiver to run up his spine. He'd never seen her that way – it sounded…new, sexy.
"Ready? To run for it?" she asked impatiently. "Do you have the keys out?"
He pointed the remote and the taillights flashed. "Already open."
She took a deep breath. "Alright…. Let's go!"
And he followed her into the downpour, instantly battered by sharp, freezing rain as they raced across the mud. The water ran down the neck of his jacket and soaked his t-shirt instantly, and he blinked rapidly to keep more from leaking into his eyes and obscuring his vision.
When they reached the truck, they both wrenched the doors open and lunged upwards into the seats, breathing heavily.
"I am soaked," she moaned next to him, holding her hands out to the sides, giving him a disparaging look.
He nodded at the state of her clothes, plucking at his own drenched t-shirt when she suddenly unzipped her jacket and his eyes snapped back to her body. She was attempting to peel the now nearly transparent cotton of her shirt that had suckered itself to her damp skin back from her chest, and he found himself mesmerized. Oh, god.
"Are you going to start the car?" she grumbled, not looking up from her clothes. "We could use some heat, I'm freezing."
Embarrassed, he snapped the headlights on and jammed the key in the ignition and turned.
Nothing.
His eyes widened, and he turned the key again. There was a slight sputter from the engine, but it stubbornly refused to turn over.
"No, no, NO," he chanted. "No way, no!!"
His partner turned to him, her eyes wide as saucers. "No??" she said sharply. "What does that mean??"
He cursed under his breath, snapping out his arm to open his door again and grimacing as he dropped back into the downpour, stalking towards the hood of the car and wrenching it up, digging his flashlight from his pocket. What the hell?
Bones was suddenly next to him, the rain plastering her hair to the sides of her face, the wind whipping cruelly at both of them. "What. Is. Wrong?" she demanded.
"I don't know yet!" he snapped back. "I've been out here two seconds longer than you!"
"This is unbelievable!" she groused. "Whose stupid idea was this, anyway?"
When he glanced up at her, she was glaring at him, her eyes flashing.
"YOURS!" he bellowed, turning away from the engine and towards her. "Your dare, remember?? You said –"
"Fine, fine!" she said, throwing her hands up. "It was my idea! You're the one who suggested we do it tonight. Did you even check the weather report??"
She was unbelievable. This was his fault?
He was about to express this exact thought rather… colorfully, when a huge crack of thunder suddenly ripped towards them and she shrieked loudly, leaping into his arms, her hands searching and tugging for some kind of purchase. Her whole body shook, and he grabbed her tightly as lightning flashed and lit up the engine. He could hear the fierce pounding of her heart against his own, and her breasts heaved against him.
"Get back in the car," he ordered loudly, his voice muffled by the thundering of rain. "I'll figure this out, alright?"
She nodded, and pulled from his embrace slowly. Her eyes met his and for an instant, lightning crackled again, only it never illuminated the sky.
--
Well, it may not have been his fault, but she knew very well that she didn't sign up for this particular little cliched version of hell, with its haunted house and its dark, stormy night and its engine problems. She was cold and wet and had nearly had the life scared out of her, so naturally, her annoyance turned to the person for whom's life she had feared. And she could not seem to stop herself from projecting everywhere into the night, even when it meant she had to leave the relative safety of the car to continue yelling at him about the engine issues. She reminded him in detail of his part in this whole mess. Had he never heard of the weather channel??
Thunder sounded and lightening clapped, loudly. All the neurotic anxiety inside of her, leftover from their mad chase inside the house, was lit up in flames at that second. Throwing her body up against his hard, masculine, equally wet one was an instinctive reaction. She would have had to have been tied up not to follow through on it.
To Booth's credit, he ignored the abuse she had been giving him just prior to the sudden surge of affection, and held her tightly, like she needed to be. Thank God he was alright.
"Get back in the car. I'll figure this out, alright?"
She could have gone on a diatribe about how sexist it was for him to assume she was any less capable of determining the cause of their engine difficulties. However, any of those inclinations had dissolved against the wetness of his shirt, and at the fierce protectiveness she saw in his eyes when they parted. She returned to the car, where she sat shivering with her eyes closed. It was vaguely disturbing, she thought, just how much she was wishing for him to return to her side and hold her, warm her.
It couldn't have been too long before she heard the hood of the car slam down, and the rush of wind that came in as he opened the door and sat, dripping, next to her. She watched interestedly as he turned the key. A brief sputter...and then the engine turned. Oh, Thank God. He turned the heat up full blast, before turning and looking at her. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she said, reaching over thoughtlessly to swipe at the plentiful raindrops dripping down his forehead and into his eyes. "Just...drive."
But there was a problem. He wasn't moving. They were just sitting there with the engine idling.
"Booth. What is it now??"
"Well..." He hesitated.
"What?"
"The kitty..."
Her eyes turned disbelieving. "You're kidding me."
"Nothing other than rats and spiders should be living in that awful house, Bones. And I'm already wet...it'll just take a second..." His face looked pleading. She wasn't sure if she were disgusted or endeared. Whichever it was, she found she couldn't say no.
"Stop explaining and just go get the damn cat," she said, eyes rolling.
"Thank you, Bones." He flashed her a smile that made her freezing cold body feel temporarily warm.
"Booth!"
"I'm going, I'm going."
Warming her hands by pressing them directly up against the heating vents, she found herself waiting for him. Again. She was never going to forgive him for making her worry again. Ever.
Unless she found herself needing to be warmed up again.
--
A puddle dipped onto the shining hardwood around his shoes as they waited in the front room of the Bed and Breakfast. Shivering, he stood close to his partner in front of a large oak desk, and the short, squat man who had answered the door hustled back over towards them with a small ledger.
"Yes, we have one room available," he said quickly.
"Thank god," she muttered.
She was quaking with the cold, and Booth wrapped an arm around her, and rather than tucking slightly closer, she turned instantly into his body and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his neck and pressing into his body heat.
He locked eyes with the man over her head. "How many beds?"
The man frowned. "Well… one." He glanced at the two of them, locked in an embrace. "Did you and your wife need more than one bed? Do you have a child with you as well?"
We have a cat in the car, he thought desperately, wondering if that could be used as an excuse. He shook his head. "No, no. We aren't –"
"We'll take it," Bones announced in a muffled voice from where her face was buried against his throat.
He felt his heart quicken at the thought. Glancing back at the owner, he saw him waiting, pen poised above the ledger and nodded. "We'll take it," he repeated hoarsely.
While the man filled out the quick paperwork and hunted for a key, he found himself rubbing slow circles on his partner's back under her jacket, trying to warm her. She really was cold, her teeth chattering and her skin covered with gooseflesh.
"Here you are," the owner said finally, holding out a key attached to a gold, oval disc. "You're on the second floor, first room on the right."
Bones suddenly pulled quickly from his arms and snatched the key from the man's hand. "Thank you," she said breezily, grabbing her purse and heading immediately for the stairs.
He turned to offer the man an apologetic look. "She's… she's very cold. She just needs a hot shower," he muttered.
The owner looked unaffected. "Do you need any help with your luggage, sir?"
"Luggage?" He blushed. How was he supposed to explain why they had no luggage? "Oh, no… we. We'll get it, thank you," he said quickly.
Nodding, the man turned away to file away the form and credit slip Booth had signed with Bones still in his embrace.
He glanced at the stairway where his partner had disappeared in her hurry to get to their room. Their room, one they would share. Together. Alone.
He gulped. Now he was scared.
--
This was not good. Any of it. While this setting was distinctly less horrible than their last, there were problems. For one, she couldn't seem to get the water temperature in the shower past lukewarm. This was a problem because she felt to be rapidly approaching hypothermia, the rain having (just as she predicted) soaked her through to her underwear. Problem two was that until said clothes and underwear dried, she had little else to cover her. And the tiny white robe provided by the bed and breakfast seemed insufficient when she actually needed a parka.
Problem three was that she was becoming just a little too comfortable with hugging her partner when she was cold or scared or just mildly inconvenienced. She really needed to get that under control before they decided on their sleeping arrangements for tonight.
Emerging from the bathroom to complain about the tepid water, her words faded on her lips, and she crossed her arms and smirked slightly. "I'm pretty sure that goes against the policy of this place."
Her partner looked up at her guiltily from his position prone on the bed. He too was wearing one of the robes (a larger one, thankfully). Lying across his chest, happily kneading the bare skin of his chest where the robe gapped, was their new friend, looking completely content as Booth scratched him behind the ears. "I couldn't just leave him in the car. That can't be good for the upholstery. Besides, I needed to dry him off." Two balled-up towels laid beside the bed.
Her amusement turned to jealousy. The cat looked warm and dry. Which was more than could be said for her. "It'd be warmer under the covers, you know."
"I didn't want to disturb Fraidy."
"You named him. Fraidy."
"Last name 'Cat,'" Booth told her sheepishly. "It seemed appropriate."
Again, she felt something that oddly bordered between frustration and affection. She had to admit, there was something just ridiculously...adorable about a grown man making such concessions for this tiny creature. Very grown, her id commented to her, taking in the skin that was reddening under Fraidy's ecstatic attentions. A shiver hit her suddenly at the thought, and she wrapped her robe more tightly around herself, beginning to shiver again as the air chilled her damp skin and hair.
Booth looked at her concernedly, his hand stilling on the cat's head. "Are you okay? Did you get warmed up?"
"No. The water wasn't very warm."
"Oh my God, Bones. You should have said something right away." He nudged at the cat, who let out an indignant 'meow' at being displaced onto the floor. "You have to get under the covers."
Despite how attractive the thought sounded, she hesitated. They had laid in the same bed before, when they were undercover on assignment. At that time, they were wearing considerably more clothes.
Thunder crashed outside, rain blew against the window, and an involuntary squeak left her. She had never felt so on edge in her entire life. "In bed," he commanded. This time, she didn't hesitate. Climbing in, she curled into a fetal position.
Dropping the sheet and blanket across her shoulders, he tucked the edges in around her slightly trembling body. His arm wrapped around her from behind, and she could feel the warmth of his breath tickling the back of her neck, which made her shiver harder. "Is that better?" he asked softly. He was still outside of the covers...trying to make her less embarrassed and more comfortable, likely. She wished, for just a moment, that he'd stop being such a damn gentleman.
"Still cold," she murmured, backing her body up against him as much as she could.
He sounded helpless. "What can I do to help, Bones?"
Her near-hypothermia spoke for her. As well as, perhaps, something a bit less innocent. "Get under with me."
There wasn't a response for a few seconds, and she felt colder. When the words had come out, she hadn't realized there was any part of her that feared his rejection. Finally, she felt him move. The bed beneath her and the covers above her shifted, and then, his gloriously warm body was pressed against her back. She could feel the heat of his chest, warmed by the cat earlier, making her back glow, and his bare legs nestling into the crooks of hers. His hand rested directly overtop the knot of her robe. And overtop, the butterflies in her stomach.
How was it possible to feel so safe and scared at the same time?
--
His hand stilled, hovering above the cat on his chest when the door to the bathroom opened a his partner emerged. Her hair was still damp and starting to curl around her face, and the small, white robe that matched his that she'd pulled on to cover herself stopped at mid-thigh. She looked smaller and softer with her clothes off, with her hair down and her face scrubbed clean and bare. And beautiful. Her legs looked like they were a million miles long.
Oh, crap.
He replaced his look of shock with one of guilt quickly, scrubbing behind the cats ears, claiming that he couldn't have just left the little guy in the car, babbling on about the upholstery. She eyed the cat warily, and something flickered in her eyes he almost missed. Was that... jealousy? No way.
"It'd be warmer under the covers, you know," she pointed out matter-of-factly.
He found himself again blathering on about the kitten, blurting out the first name that came to mind, feeling clever until he saw her eyebrow arched delicately in response.
And then she shivered, and he forgot about his own ridiculousness in his worry for her, his hand pausing from where it stroked the cat nestled against his chest. "Are you okay? Did you get warmed up?"
She shook her head, claiming the water had never gotten warm and he sent the cat to the floor with one not-so-subtle nudge that made it let out an irritated yowl. Tough shit, kitty.
She hesitated when he suggested she climb in bed, and he waited to see what she would do. He was still quite chilly himself, but he thought remaining on top of the covers while she climbed underneath would be the gentlemanly thing to do.
A loud clap of thunder made her jump and let out a squeak, and he lifted the edge of the blanket and commanded that she join him. He'd never seen her so on edge before, and as she crawled in next to him, she snapped instantly into a fetal position, shivering wildly.
He scooted towards her immediately, curling his body around hers as he tucked the blankets tightly under her chin. "Is that better?" he whispered, worried for her. He wanted to get closer, to offer her more heat, but didn't want to be inappropriate. And having the blankets between them might be a good thing. This whole night had gotten completely out of hand, and he'd never expected for it to end with him in bed in some tiny romantic inn with her up against him.
She pushed her hips backwards towards his own, tucking closer, and he fought back a groan. "Still cold," she managed, her whole body shaking beneath the flimsy robe.
He felt torn between trying to hold onto his own sanity and keep some bit of distance, and the need to comfort her. "What can I do, Bones?" he asked. He felt helpless.
"Get under with me."
Her words stopped his breath. Get under with me. The moments ticked by, and she shivered again, not speaking, simply waiting for him. And what could he do? Tell her no? Say, No, Bones. I couldn't possibly. Because I've dreamed about this moment more than once. And I have a few ideas about how to really warm you up?
He'd probably leave this place with one less testicle if he shared those feelings. At least.
But she continued to shiver, and he took a deep breath, shifting his hips to pull the covers out from underneath him. And then he was pressing against her, the curve of her hip fitting perfectly against his pelvis, the narrow breadth of her shoulders locking like a puzzle piece against his chest. He slowly wrapped an arm around her waist, his hand resting on the knot of her robe -- the only spot that left his hand unable to feel her beneath the thin terry cloth. Already, he could feel his body responding to the feeling of her against him.
That haunted house had been nothing. He was terrified.
He tilted his pelvis away from her slightly, but she only followed, and he stifled a groan, shifting to cover up his embarrassment. She let out a soft sigh, her shivering having subsided somewhat, and he could smell her skin at the nape of her neck, fresh from her shower. Above his forearm, her breasts pillowed against the front of the robe, and he was just about to suggest cocooning her in blankets to keep her warm instead of this when she suddenly tucked her feet back against his legs and he let out a hiss.
"Bones! My god! Warn a man!"
"Sorry," she mumbled, making no move to remove the blocks of ice from his calves.
He tried to escape her and she only followed. "Your feet are freezing!" he groused. "Have a heart!"
"If you don't share your body heat I'm going to have to have toes amputated, Booth," she shot back. "How would you like to be responsible for that?"
"Oh, give me a break," he said, rolling his eyes. "My feet are cold and you don't see me trying to send you into cardiac arrest!"
She was about to snap back a retort when two paws and little black ears popped up on the edge of the bed. Before he could warn her, the cat suddenly bounded up next to his partner and started purring loudly, rubbing the side of its cheek against hers.
"Hey!" she whined, her hands trapped under the covers. "Booth! Get your cat away from me!"
He ignored her for a moment, enjoying her irritation after having to deal with her arctic feet. He stretched his neck to peer over her shoulder in time to see the cat lick the tip of her nose and she squirmed underneath the covers in his arms. "Oh, yuck. That cat just killed a mouse! That's disgusting!"
He chuckled. "You have to be kidding me. You dig through corpses -- you're grossed out by a cat tongue?"
"My corpses don't lick me," she countered grumpily. "And you're the one who wanted to take home the damn cat. It should be licking your nose."
"It's probably cold too, alright?"
As if God wasn't trying to torture him enough, the cat suddenly decided to burrow under the covers, cuddling up between her breasts.
Lucky cat.
"Aren't animals supposed to only like people if they like animals?" she muttered. "This cat probably has fleas, Booth."
"You don't like animals?" It surprised him, and he rested his chin on her shoulder, peering at the cat as its nose peeked out from under the blanket against her chest. He had to admit, it was incredibly cute to see an animal snuggled so close to her, wanting her attention.
She was silent for a moment. "I don't dislike them. I just... don't know this cat. Or... where it's been."
He was about to say something when she suddenly let out a yelp, rolling over towards him. "Oh my god, that tickles!"
He propped himself up on his elbow and leaned his head down to look at the cat, and she turned hers at the same time.
And suddenly he was staring into her eyes, their faces only a breath apart.
"Oh," she said on a breath. "Hi..."
His heart was pounding, and he hovered above her for a moment before reality hit him and he pulled back a few inches, glancing back down at the cat. "Was it his whiskers?"
"Huh?" she asked, her lids at half-mast, her cheeks suddenly flushed.
"That tickled you," he managed.
She suddenly yelped again, and her hands flew out from under the covers, scrambling for the cat. "Oh my god! Booth! He's digging his claws into me! Get him off!"
Awkwardly, he reached for the cat where it was nestled between her breasts, attempting to pull it off of her when the cat decided to be difficult, digging its claws into her robe, latching on. As he tried to detach the upset kitten, she continued to moan and complain, squirming as much as the animal, and he was starting to feel like his head was going to explode.
"Bones, hold still, dammit -- and stop bitching at me!"
"Get if off of me! This is your cat. You're the one who wanted to take it out of the damn house!"
He tried to tug the cat again and it stubbornly held on, letting out a squeak, and as he pulled, the gap in the front her robe got bigger, revealing inch after inch of her tantalizing skin and he clenched his eyes shut.
"I swear to god, if you don't get this cat off of me in two seconds --"
"I'm trying --"
"If this thing scratches me and I get some sort of infection --"
Overwhelmed and desperate for her to stop shouting at him, his hands full of squirming kitten, he did the only thing he could think of to shut her up.
He kissed her.
Her initial shock wore off in seconds, and he expected her to give him a hard shove, but instead her mouth opened slightly in her surprise, and after a moment, he felt the brush of her tongue.
Oh, god. She was kissing him back.
The cat let out a yelp as he finally managed to yank it free from her robe, his mouth staying firmly planted on hers, and she followed him with her body as he lifted up and his arms sent their new pet sailing off the bed. It was only on their way down back to the mattress that they broke apart, and he suddenly swallowed thickly at the sight of his partner beneath him, wide eyed and chest heaving.