A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading and for the reviews! And now...on with the fluff! Hope you enjoy...AnaG
I want to go out on a date with you! I want to go out on a date with you?
She had no idea why she had said it. And judging by the stunned expression on his face, Booth hadn't expected to hear it either. But there was no turning back now.
"What?"
"I said that I wanted to go out. With you. On a date."
"I got that part, but..."
"But you don't want to. I get it."
"No. Yes. Damn it, I..." Booth stammered as she silently appraised him.
They were both saved from whatever came next by the bleating sound of a cell phone. On auto-pilot, Booth reached into his pocket, withdrawing the phone. He groaned in dismay when he saw the name registered on the display.
"It's Charlotte. I need to..."
"Yeah, I need to go back to work." she turned and started walking into the building.
"Bones, wait!" Booth sighed and answered his phone.
"Hi Charlotte. Yes. Yes, 8 is fine. I will see you then. Bye."
He hung up the phone and sighed.
There was no way, NO WAY, that his partner of almost four years just asked him out on a date. He was attracted to her, you had to be blind not to be but he never thought they would take the next step.
They were partners, friends, despite the fact that he had numerous sex dreams about her. He looked at his phone again. Charlotte was a nice woman and he did feel a connection there. Part of him wanted to march right in there and kiss her hard on the lips, let his passion for her come out. But the other part of him knew that the ramifications would be too much.
'Yes.' he thought to himself. 'I need to go out with Charlotte.'
Try. He owed her that much. Owed himself the chance to have a little bit of happiness.
xxxxxxxx
Brennan stared at the words on the monitor, the blinking cursor taunting her.
Kathy realized that she had made a complete ass out of herself and now Andy must think she was insane.
Hours had passed and that was the only thing she had written. The sentence wasn't even grammatically correct. She groaned in frustration and rested her head in her hands. What had she done?
The smell of greasy french fries pulled her from her misery. Confused, she looked up to find a white bag sitting in the center of her desk. And Booth sitting in the chair on the other side.
"Booth! What are you...aren't you supposed to be with Charlotte?"
"Um...well, things didn't exactly go according to plan."
"You mean because of what I said before?"
"Quite the ego you've got there, Bones."
"Hey! That's not fair."
"Relax, okay? I was just...it wasn't you."
"Charlotte? But I thought she was nice. And normal."
"Seems she has this habit. Of correcting everyone. My grammar. Elbows on the table. Wine choice. You can take the woman out of the classroom, but..."
"Sorry Booth." she said sincerely.
"Eh, that's okay." he shrugged. "Listen Bones, about before..."
"Don't worry about it." she said, fussing with papers on her desk. "It was stupid and I..." She stopped talking when she felt his hand over hers.
"I would love to go out on a date with you." He said warmly.
"Really?"
She looked so vulnerable that he just wanted to reach over and hug her. He decided to do something else. Getting out of the chair, he perched himself at the corner of her desk and reached out, tilting her chin with his finger.
"Really." he affirmed, leaning down and pressing a sweet kiss to her lips. It was short and perfect and they found themselves staring at each other, unsure of what to do next.
"So..." he finally said. "Are you going to let me have some of those fries or am I going to have to starve?"
She laughed. "Starve? I thought you went out to dinner?"
"I did. But you try to eat osso bucco while having flashbacks to the third grade, wondering if the teacher was gonna smack your knuckles with a ruler again."
"You know, it's been demonstrated that corporal punishment is an ineffective means of establishing control with pre-adolescents." She said as she went about dividing the fries between two napkins she'd placed on her desk.
"Well, it sure worked on me."
"Somehow, I doubt that." She teased, suddenly feeling more relaxed than she had all night. This felt right. It felt like they were themselves again.
They passed several minutes with easy banter and a minor skirmish over the last of the fries. Before, she knew it, they were standing, Booth waiting as she gathered her things.
"So, Booth. Dinner, tomorrow?" She asked trying to act nonchalant, knowing she was failing miserably.
"Sounds perfect. And wear something nice, okay? No stuff with lab goop all over..."
"I don't..."
"Teasing, Bones."
"Oh, okay. I have another question."
"Another one? Don't you want to save something to talk about tomorrow?"
"It's important."
He raised an eyebrow, silently ceding the floor to her.
"What do I call you?"
"Um, by my name. Unless you want to go with Love God or s..."
"I meant," she interrupted, ignoring the smirk on his face, "Now that we are going on a date, it doesn't seem appropriate to refer to you by your surname, Booth. Do you I call you Seeley?"
He shook his head. "Honestly, Temperance, you can call me whatever you want."
She shivered as he said her name. "But if you are calling me Temperance and I'm calling you Booth, then..."
"I'll probably call you Bones most of the time." he admitted. He reached for her hands, his fingers entwining in hers. "Listen, we are still Booth and Bones. Nothing's going to change that."
"Promise?" she asked.
"Promise."
They headed out of the lab, side by side.
"Listen, could you not mention anything to Angela tommorrow?" she asked.
He raised an eyebrow.
"It's just she will be on my case. Yours too and I'd like to take this slow."
"Slow it is."
"Not slow in terms of sex or anything." she said bluntly. "I'd like to do that as soon as possible."
She walked a few more steps before she realized that he was no longer beside her. Bewildered, she turned to find him standing frozen, mouth hanging open as his face reddened. Feeling bolder, and the slightest bit wicked, she slowly walked back to him, hips swaying as she moved closer.
Reaching him, she slowly smoothed her hand over his chest and looked into his eyes.
"Can you handle that...Love God?" She teased a finger over his lower lip.
"I didn't say that...um, I..."
"Hey, you're the one that said I could call you whatever I wanted, right?"
