'Bones, we need to talk,' Booth breathed out.
Temperance stiffened and raised her eyes to him questioningly. She bit her lip and her stare widened when she saw the bronze flash of his eyes.
'You know what about.'
Slowly, she dropped down onto the sofa where he was sitting and stared at him deeply. Seconds passed before she realised she was opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, the words becoming trapped behind her lips as wildly as they were flitting around her brain. What could she say? There was too much, so much and all of it had been carefully glossed over since that night her heart had splintered in his car. They didn't talk about these things now; they were things that had happened before; at a different time, to different people.
Booth stared back at her with intensity, and they both vocalised at the same moment.
'I'm fine, Booth, we'll - '
'Hannah's gone –'
Oh. Temperance's breath hitched in her throat as it dawned on her the reason for this talk. Booth had split from his girlfriend and needed to ventilate his feelings. This was about him, not them. She felt a sticky heat rise up from her stomach in embarrassment at her earlier assumption that he wanted to discuss the fractured state of their relationship, and condemned herself mentally for being so selfish. When had she become so self-absorbed? He was seeking sympathy from her, not the metaphorical post-mortem on their battered partnership.
'Booth, I'm so sorry,' she murmured, swallowing the lump that refused to leave her throat. Not about you, this is not about you. 'Gone where? Statistically, co-habiting couples argue an average of 312 times per annum, a fact which suggests that you and Hannah will overcome this spat and restore your relationship back to its best.' She reeled off the facts mechanically, feeling as though the statistic somehow shielded her from the sting of tears prickling her eyes.
Confusion ghosted over his face, his chocolate eyes narrowing and then widening in realisation. 'No, Bones, Hannah's gone. We're done, I ended it. I couldn't lie anymore – '
'Lie?' Temperance whispered. Booth didn't lie, he was strong and brave. Lies were for people who were weak-hearted and afraid. People who lied were not worthy of happiness or love or any of the things that Booth stood for. What had he lied about? Her throat throbbed again as she thought of her own lies. I don't have your open-heart. I'll be fine, alone.
'Lie, Bones. It's all been a lie. I couldn't do it anymore, not after – ' he took a sharp breath in. 'After that night. In my car, the rain...when you –'
Fat, hot tears spilled over her eyes and he inhaled a splintered breath and reached out a hand to her, only to pull it back again before it made contact. If he touched her he would break, and he needed to be strong to make her believe. He pulled back and opened his mouth to speak, however his words were suspended when he caught the colour of her eyes, now cerulean from the tears running silently down her cheeks. He had done this to her and the hummingbird thrum in his chest commanded him to make it right.
Temperance couldn't speak with the flurry of emotion that was coursing through her. She didn't allow herself to think about that night, with the rain...all that rain. When she had gotten home she hadn't been able to distinguish between the wetness from the sky and the wetness of her tears, and the memory of it now sends a sharp stab from somewhere in her chest. Could he be doing this now? After everything that had happened? Her body tingled with desperation to throw herself into his broad, strong chest; the part of his anatomy she so completely identified as Booth's. She wanted to sculpt herself to him and never let go. But she couldn't, he didn't deserve the hurt and so she settled for folding her arms to her own chest in attempt to stop her heart from splintering out.
He stared at her, eyes full of heat. 'I need there to be an us, Bones.' He said, boring into her with such intensity that she could have sworn he was looking at everything she was, everything she had been and would ever be. 'I need you, all of you. I need us.' He reached out to her again, this time brushing his long fingers against her wrist, curling round it until she jerked away from him. She needed the distance. Without the space between them, she knew the time would come when he would only shatter from her brokenness. He was still the one that needed protecting.
'It's not enough for you, I'm not enough.' She choked out, tearing her eyes away from his face, knowing that if she looked at him a second longer she'd probably never recover.
'No!' Booth's voice cracked, leaning forward to grasp her shoulders and lean his forehead against hers. Hot tears dripped onto her face but she couldn't tell if the wetness was his or her own. He tilted her chin up to look at him and she gasped inwardly at the pain clouding his handsome face. His eyes dropped to her mouth, wet from her tears and slowly began the descent to her quivering lips. The two seconds it took for his mouth to close over hers felt like an echo of the six torturous years of their partnership; every bicker, every piercing stare that went on a second too long, every chance for something incredible that they so recklessly threw away. Her initial mewl of refusal almost immediately gave way to a moan as he slipped his tongue into her mouth, ignoring the way her hands bit into his shoulders. His own palms slid down her arms to grasp her hands, covering them, protecting them in his as he drank from her mouth. Why hadn't they done this before? He groaned into her mouth as she pushed her own tongue against his, soft breaths escaping from her as his hands moved to tilt her head back. Their kiss became a whirl of purpose; an apology, a proposal, a declaration and raw need all surging to the surface as their mouths moved over each other.
'Is that enough for you, Bones?' he breathed out raggedly, releasing her now swollen mouth. 'I'll never get enough.'
