DISCLAIMER: Same old, I own nothing, woe is me.
A/N: It's 3 am... so really, what the hell am I still doing up?
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He was anxious to talk to her, but unfortunately they had each taken their own cars to his apartment the night before. And Cullen kept him in his office up to his neck in paperwork, so he knew he could only talk to her if he called her at lunchtime.
Of course, he should have known she'd be avoiding him. The line rang and rang, and he finally resorted to leaving a message on her machine.
"Look, Temperance, I don't really understand why you got so angry at me for leaving that key. Is it so weird to think that we could move in together? You're at my apartment almost every night, and your clothes are here… I just want you to move in with me." He sighed audibly. "Call me when you get this, please, Tempe." And then he hung up.
Brennan was working through lunch as usual, so she was in her office when Booth called. And of course, she screened his call. She sighed in exasperation as her prerecorded voice began telling him to leave a message, dreading what he was about to say.
"Sweetie, why aren't you taking your lunch break?"
The voice that had spoken was not Booth, and it was coming from only a few yards away. Angela was leaning against her doorway, arms crossed and with a determined look on her face. But as she was about to speak again, Booth's voice came from the answering machine on Brennan's desk.
"Look, Temperance, I don't really understand why you got so angry at me for leaving that key. Is it so weird to think that we could move in together? You're at my apartment almost every night, and your clothes are here… I just want you to move in with me. Call me when you get this, please, Tempe."
Brennan winced, knowing what was coming next.
"He asked you to move in with him?!!" Angela shouted, storming forward to the desk.
Brennan looked up at her friend, and said meekly, "Yes."
"Well, sweetie, why didn't you accept his offer?" Angela asked, gently pulling Brennan up by the hand and leading her to the couch.
Brennan sighed. "I just- I don't know why we should."
It was Angela's turn to sigh. "Let me put it to you in a way you'll understand it, since apparently a hot FBI agent isn't a good enough reason for you. In logical terms, you spend almost every waking minute together, and then you spend the night together. Um… you could save money on rent if you're sharing a place, you could spend less on gas by carpooling." She sighed again. "And sweetie, he loves you. And you love him, right?"
"Yeah," Brennan replied quietly. "I think I do."
"So then what the hell are you waiting for? Don't you think moving in with him makes sense now?"
"Yeah, I guess it does," Brennan said, a small smile on her face.
"Good." Angela said contentedly, her work for the day now complete. "And since you just decided to move in with him, I'm not even going to bust you for working through lunch." She grinned at her friend and sauntered out of the room.
As the day wore on, Booth still hadn't heard back from Brennan. And despite himself, he was starting to get a bit pissed off. She had opened up to him so much since the start of their relationship, and now it seemed like all of their communication had been lost. But had he rushed her into this? He hated to think he was forcing something she didn't want.
All of his stressing had gotten him distracted from the casework piled on his desk. He finally decided to head out around 7, unable to stew in his office any longer. He got into his SUV and drove home, alternating between mentally berating himself for being so hasty and being annoyed at her for not talking to him. He tried turning on the radio, but that only got him more annoyed, just because he hated listening to the disk jockeys bantering on. All in all, he was pretty steamed as he pulled into the parking spot in front of his apartment.
And there, sitting on the front steps, was Brennan. She just looked at him as he stepped out of the car and made is way over to her. Soon, he was standing in front of her, and she still just stared at him. The silence grew deafening, and he finally just stepped back and started pacing, trying desperately to release the tension in his body. He paced back and forth until he felt her hand on his arm, and he finally knew what he wanted to say. Brennan gently released his arm as he turned to face her.
Booth's eyes met hers, and he breathed out in anger.
"I am Seeley Booth, an ex-sniper and special agent. I am a professional and more than that, I am a good and kind person. I am a person that cleans up behind myself. I am a person that cooks well. And you, you are an insufferable know-it-all. An over-confident, self-involved anthropologist. I am Seeley Booth. And you, you are the most competitive, most guarded, most challenging person I have ever met. And I love you. What the hell is the matter with you that you won't just let me?"
Brennan gazed right into his eyes, and said, "I gave up my apartment twenty minutes ago."
He paused, almost in shock as he searched her face in disbelief. But as his eyes met hers again, he saw the look in her eyes, the one that let him know just how much she cared.
And so he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him and muttering, "Well, alright then." And he captured her lips in a deep kiss that told her she had made the right decision.
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Hope you enjoyed this! It was fun to write, although I'm not quite sure if i went in the right direction... I had only written the last paragraph before I started. Let me know!