A spot of resolved angst for people who want to throw coconuts at my head over 'Rekindling'...

(Based on this quote: "You know that when I hate you, it is because I love you to a point of passion that unhinges my soul." (Julie de Lespinasse))

"It's not supposed to be this hard!" she flings at him accusatorily, her eyes darkening dangerously.

He recognises the signs and doesn't care any more. "Of course it's supposed to be this hard! It's the difficulty that makes you appreciate how much it's worth when it's easy!"

"Oh, don't start that again," she sneers, viciously. "I'm a pretty clever person, I think I'm capable of assessing something's worth without a comparison!"

"Well, for a pretty clever person, you can be incredibly dense!" He know he's shouting and something in him still cares – not enough to lower his voice, though. "I can't believe what you make me do sometimes!"

"Me?! I don't make you do anything," she hisses. "I'm not the manipulative one in this relationship! I'm not the one who wants it all to be perfect, hearts and flowers or whatever it is you call it. I'm the realist!"

"You're the fool!" he fires back instantly, feeling his face heat up. "Can't you see that wanting it to be perfect is just because it's so damn important?! It's not just ime/i that I want it to be perfect for!"

"It's hardly perfect now," she spits back, advancing from the safety of the other side of her desk. "I don't even know what it iis/i now – it's turning me into someone I barely recognise."

"It's turning you into the person you've always been underneath all the protective wrapping," he exclaims, frustrated. "Just because you can't control it doesn't mean it isn't good for you!"

"I ican/i control it! I can always control it," she mutters fiercely, starting to pace the floor of her office.

He stares out across the darkened lab, wondering how many late-stayers are overhearing. "You don't have to control it, don't you see? That's the whole point. There's nothing you have to control for me." He consciously calms his tone, straightening his back to loosen the tension gathered in his spine.

"All the control is for you," she blurts out, immediately turning away from him.

He knows she is blushing from the way she swings her hair forward over her face.

He dares to touch her now; a simple hand on the shoulder, a gentle squeeze that reminds her that he has just as much invested in this.

"There's nothing you have to control for me," he repeats, softly, moving closer until he can wrap his other arm around her waist.

"This is what happens when I don't stay in control," she breathes regretfully. "When I even think about how much I need you – how much I love you – it spirals away from me and I hate you for that."

"But isn't that exhilarating? The idea that something can matter so much that nothing can encompass it?" he murmurs into her hair, his hand creeping under her shirt to caress her stomach, hot skin sliding like the brush of silk.

She shudders in disbelieving laughter. "Exhilarating? No, petrifying. I have no concept of my life without you."

Both arms tighten around her as he whispers, "You don't need a concept of a life without me. That passion – that fervour that unhinges you – that's in me too. And you never have to worry that I don't understand when it all boils over – because I feel it too, that fear that something is out of my control now."

"Sometimes I despise you," she mumbles, ashamed.

"It's only because you love me more than you know how to absorb at the moment. In a few months, it will all seems normal."

"How can you say that?"

He laughs quietly against the side of her neck. "Because I dealt with all this a long time ago, Bones. And I didn't have you to help me."

She is silent for a moment, then he feels her nod slowly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He turns her to face him and strokes her hair back from her flushed cheeks.

She smiles slightly. "I think I might have a relationship that lasts beyond the first fight," she says softly.

His expression is a calmer shadow of the teasing grin he normally wears. "I think you might have a relationship that lasts beyond a lot more fights than one."

See, I can do happy endings, honest!