A/N: thanks for all the kind reviews. They are appreciated. If you have time to review after reading this chapter, that would be great.
And now...a pleasant Sunday afternoon...
Delicate tendrils of pale November sunlight filtered through the curtains of Brennan's bedroom late Sunday morning. Booth lay quietly, listening to Brennan's deep rhythmic breathing as she slept next to him. He stared at the ceiling, thinking about how enormously his life had changed just within the last day. It wasn't merely the fact that he and Bones had made love together for the first time last night, although making love with the beautiful woman lying next to him was just as wonderful as he'd always dreamed it would be. This feeling went far beyond the physical union between the two of them. While he had to admit that the sex itself had been spectacularly fulfilling, there was so much more to it than that. This was also the union of two hearts and souls as well, although, as Booth acknowledged to himself with a soft chuckle, his favorite anthropologist would chastise him severely if she knew he was thinking about her in such abstract metaphysical terms.
I love Bones, and she loves me. After all these years, it's actually true. I finally get to say that out loud...He inhaled deeply as he felt a deep sense of peace flood his whole being. It was hard for him to fathom the depth of his awe at what had happened between them last night. Bones knew everything about him...she knew about all the guilt he'd carried from his past as a sniper...she knew how he felt when he had to kill someone in the line of duty...she knew all about his personal demons...his abusive father...his gambling addiction...she knew about his relationship with Hannah and how it had caused so much pain between the two of them...she knew all about his many quirks and faults...and she loved him anyway, completely and unconditionally. It was the most amazing sensation he'd ever experienced. To be loved that way by this wonderful woman, just for being himself...for who he was, in spite of his myriad imperfections...was too marvelous a sensation to be expressed in words. He knew he'd never felt as intimately connected with any other woman as he did with his Bones. And yes, whether she liked it or not, she was now his Bones, and he'd never let her go. He could imagine Brennan's disgusted eye roll as she chided him for being a stereotypical alpha male, but he didn't care. She was going to belong to him as long as he lived, and nothing would change that.
That sort of complete physical and emotional connection to another human being was what he'd been searching for all of his life, and now that he had it, he knew he'd never be able to live without it again. He sighed sadly, clenching his fists under the sheet, still frustrated when he thought about what might've occurred between himself and Bones seven months ago if Hannah hadn't lied to both of them. I guess we can't do anything about that now. No use in living in the past, is there? Not when the future looks so bright. He was thrilled about the change in his relationship with Bones, and it made him even more determined to complete his project for the Army quickly so he could come home to her open arms without delay. He mused over the operation's details one more time until he felt Bones shift slightly next to him. Turning toward him, she sighed contentedly as she yawned, rubbing her eyes as she gave him a sleepy smile.
"Good morning, Sleepyhead." Booth grinned as he bent down to give her a kiss. "It's about time you woke up. I thought you were gonna snooze the whole morning away."
Brennan stretched and then reached over to embrace him. "What time is it?"
He picked up his phone from the nightstand, grimacing slightly as he realized he'd missed a call from an unknown number. "Eleven." He chuckled as she snuggled down back in the sheets. "Are you gonna go back to sleep?"
"No…" Brennan giggled as she tickled Booth's ribs and gave him a quick kiss. "I'm not planning on sleeping right now. Are you?" She stroked his bare chest lightly with her fingertips as she smiled demurely. "I have other activities in mind…"
"Jesus, Bones!" He shuddered in mock horror, pretending to pull away from her before giving her a dimpled grin. "You're gonna have me so worn out I won't be in shape for my job with when it's time for me to go overseas…"
A sudden look of sadness passed over Brennan's face. "I wish you didn't have to go…" She threw in a pouty lip for good measure. "Are you sure you can't change your mind? Maybe someone else can take on the project, and you can stay here with me…"
"We've been over this, Bones…" Booth propped himself up on his elbow as he gently caressed her cheek. "You know that I don't want to leave you, but I have to do this job. When I come back, I'll explain everything, and I know you'll understand, and you'll know I did the right thing. I promise..."
She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "I know, Booth. I'm sorry that I'm being so selfish…" She kissed his lips gently. "Let's not talk about that right now. We're going to be too busy to talk much anyway…"
Oooooooooo
It was almost one in the afternoon when Booth, clad only in his boxers, strolled into the kitchen, hungrily searching through the cabinets and opening the refrigerator, wondering if Brennan had something for him to eat besides tofu and rabbit food. He sighed as he realized the cupboard was almost bare. "Bones...what were you planning to eat for lunch today? There's nothing in here fit for a grown man to eat…" He pushed the spinach and kale aside in disgust as he looked for some masculine sustenance in her refrigerator before turning to rummage through the cupboards once again. "Don't you have any sliced cheese or even some peanut butter? Maybe some bread that doesn't taste like cardboard? Jesus...I'm gonna starve..."
Brennan was pulling a tee shirt on over her panties as she entered the kitchen behind Booth. "Wheat bread is an excellent source of nutrients and fiber, Booth." Rolling her eyes as she brushed past him, she reached into the refrigerator and pulled out half of an egg carton. "Here...this is my carton of emergency eggs. I usually keep them on hand in case you're here and want something 'normal' to eat." She opened the lid and showed him the contents. "Four eggs. You can have some of these, and I'll eat the rest of my grilled vegetable sandwich from yesterday…" She removed her half eaten meal from the day before and pulled the wax paper away from it. "That should be enough for my lunch…"
"Okay, that'll have to do for now. I guess we can go out for dinner tonight. I don't have anything to eat at my place either." Booth cracked two eggs into a bowl and stirred them briskly before pouring them into the small skillet sitting on the stove. "I've completely emptied my fridge. I didn't wanna come back to six weeks worth of grossness if I left something in there by mistake."
Pinching her lips together, hoping to sound nonchalant, Brennan tried to make conversation as she warmed up her sandwich in the microwave. "Is someone going to stay at your apartment while you're gone?"
"Nah...I've paid the rent in advance until the end of the year, and I hired a cleaning service to check on the place once a week. I'll still get some pay from the FBI since I'm on leave from them as a military reservist, so there'll be enough money for the basic utilities. Those bills are automatically drafted from my checking account. I'm gonna give Rebecca a check for three months of child support on Tuesday."
Brennan's brow furrowed with confusion as she thought through Booth's plans. "I thought you said you'd only be be gone for six weeks…"
"That's what I'm planning on, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared in case things take a bit longer. I'm supposed to be home before Christmas, if everything goes according to the script." Scraping his scrambled eggs onto a plate, he turned away from her and shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "If I'm delayed a little longer than the end of the year, maybe you can pay my rent for me?" Grinning sheepishly, he concentrated on adding salt and pepper to his eggs. "You know I'm good for it. I guess I should list you as someone who can sign checks on my bank account, but I'm not sure I'm gonna have time to do that tomorrow..."
"Of course I know you're good for the money, Booth…" Brennan studied her sandwich, trying to avoid eye contact with him, afraid she'd begin to cry as she considered what his leaving meant to her now that they were together. "I do think it would be a good idea for you to add me to your checking account, if you have time to go by the bank tomorrow. That way, if I needed to, I could write child support checks for Rebecca…" She tried to blink back her tears at that thought. "...if you want me to, that is…"
Sitting down with his lunch, Booth reached across the table and covered her hand with his, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. "I'm gonna come home as soon as I can, okay? And then me and you are gonna start a new life together..."
"Well, as you said, Booth, it doesn't hurt to be prepared for the worse case scenario." Brennan tried to smile as she looked across the table at him. "Don't worry. I won't spend your money frivolously…"
"I know…I trust you...and it's not like there's actually that much extra to spend in my bank account anyway. You might be able to buy an extra tank of gas, or maybe a cheap bottle of wine..." Booth tried to grin back at Brennan as he moved his eggs around on his plate. Suddenly he wasn't nearly as hungry as he had been just a few minutes ago. "Okay, I'll go by the bank first thing in the morning and see what I need to do to add you to my account. I'm also gonna go by the Pentagon to make sure the Army changes my paperwork like we talked about yesterday, alright? They've got an expert in the Judge Advocate General's office who specializes in that sort of thing...she can fix it while I wait, and then I can get it witnessed and notarized, all nice and legal, while I'm there..."
Nodding in agreement, Brennan took a bite of her sandwich. "Yes, that's fine. If I have to sign anything for them, I can go do that later this week."
"Good. Now, let's talk about something else, okay? I want to talk about something more pleasant." Booth got up from the table and rinsed his plate. "What do you want to do for the rest of the day? Do you want to go for a run, or maybe take a drive somewhere? I guess we could go to a movie if there's something you want to see. I'd like to get out this afternoon since we stayed in almost all day yesterday..."
"A drive might be nice. Maybe we can find some nice fall foliage somewhere. It's a nice day today." Brennan smiled happily as she thought of another possibility. "Oh, I have a good idea! Why don't we go over to Rock Creek Park for the afternoon? It has several hiking trails and a nice nature center, and I'm sure the fall foliage is beautiful at this time of year."
"That does sound like a good idea. Maybe on the way home we can go to Rigoletto's for dinner, alright? You can have some eggplant parmigiana and I can have some veal marsala or mussels marinara…"
Chuckling at Booth, Brennan shook her head as she stood with her hands on her hips. "Do you always plan your days around what you're going to eat, Booth?"
"Yeah, of course...what I'm gonna eat, and who I'm gonna spend my time with. Having a tactical plan for what I'm gonna do for the day makes things more efficient." Booth moved to embrace Brennan as he gave her dimpled charm smile. "We can have a nice dinner and come back here for some dessert…"
"An excellent idea…" Brennan gave Booth a kiss and smiled as she looked down at her thin tee shirt and skimpy panties. "I'll go get dressed…"
"Yeah, me too." He sauntered into the bedroom after her, trying to figure out where his jeans had landed after they'd quickly undressed the night before. "Wow...I guess we were in a hurry…" He looked under the bed for one of his socks. "I don't suppose I have a sweatshirt over here, do I? Maybe one that you stole from me sometime in the past?"
Brennan batted her eyelashes at him innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about, Booth...I never steal your shirts…"
"Yeah, right...of course not." He gave her a sarcastic smirk. "C'mon, Bones. Even Hannah commented on how many of my shirts you seemed to have acquired from me over the years as we've worked together…" Jesus! That was stupid! Wishing he'd kept his mouth shut, Booth cringed as he saw the flicker of annoyance run across Brennan's face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring her up again…" He reached out to take Brennan's hand, but she pulled away from him.
"It's only natural that you should talk about Hannah from time to time, Booth." Turning away from him, Brennan sighed softly as she looked through the clothes hanging from the closet rod. "You were intimately involved in a very intense relationship with her for several months…" Avoiding eye contact with Booth, she took a black FBI sweatshirt out of her closet and handed it to him. "Here. I think this is yours…"
Walking over to the closet door, Booth embraced Brennan tenderly and kissed her pout away. "You know what? Hannah also used to make sarcastic comments about how much I talked about you and about how I wore a silly smile whenever I looked at you, and about how I went out of my way to check on you and to take care of you, even though you're a responsible adult and quite capable of taking care of yourself. I guess she realized I wanted to be intimately involved with you even though I was in a relationship with her, and it really made her angry. I think that's the main reason she left me...she figured out that you'll always be first in my life, you know?" Grinning broadly, Booth chuckled. "And now that I finally am intimately involved with you, I'm pretty sure I'm the happiest man in the world…so will you forgive me for mentioning her, Bones?"
"I suppose." Brennan smirked as she grabbed her clothes and shoes from the closet. "I'm sure you know that there's no way to actually quantify happiness, Booth…" Brennan grinned at him, knowing that he was expecting her to say something scientifically sound. She pulled a grey Army sweatshirt over her tee shirt as she continued. "However, I find that I am also extremely happy right now."
Booth twitched an eyebrow at her. "That was definitely the right answer, Bones. Ready to go?"
She nodded as she took Booth's hand in hers. "Yes. Let's go…"
Oooooooooo
They spent a couple of hours hiking in the park, enjoying the fall colors and each other's company. As the sun was beginning to set, they sat on a bench in front of a small pond which was rimmed with copper leafed maple trees. Wanting something to capture the memory, Booth used his phone to take a picture of the scenery. Waving at a passing couple, Booth called out to them. "Hey, could one of you take our picture?"
"Sure…" One of the people took the phone from Booth and took their picture with his phone and then with Brennan's.
"Hey, thanks…" Booth smiled as he saw the picture that had been taken. "This is a great picture…" He held up his phone and took a picture of Brennan. "I'm gonna look at this picture of you everyday while I'm gone…"
Brennan giggled as she saw the pictures on Booth's phone. "I think I have a better picture of myself if you want it. I look rather disheveled in this one."
"Nah...I like this candid one...this is my Bones. This is how I think of you...beautiful smile, cute ponytail, a couple of freckles on your nose..." Booth chuckled as he saw her slight grimace at his description of her. "But if you want, you can give me the other picture for my wallet, okay?"
"Alright." The sun was setting and the air had taken on a slight chill. Brennan shivered slightly in the shadows of the trees as she rose from the bench. "I'm getting cold. Are you ready to go have dinner?"
"Yeah. I'm getting hungry." Booth stood up and pulled Brennan close so he could kiss her. "Thanks for spending the day with me, Bones. We made some great memories today, didn't we? I love you so much…"
She hesitated slightly, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the feeling of his strong arms around her. "I love you, too, Booth…"
Oooooooooo
They laughed and talked through dinner, lingering over their wine as they enjoyed their meal. It was late when they got back to Brennan's apartment. Brennan turned on the light as they entered the living room, still talking about their meal. "That was an excellent dinner, Booth. I'm glad you suggested that place. The eggplant parmigiana was wonderful."
"Yeah, Rigoletto's is one of my favorite restaurants. Giorgio is a great guy. His family moved to DC from Sicily a few years ago, and he still uses his grandmother's recipes." Booth plopped down on the sofa, pulling a giggling Brennan down next to him. "Listen, I think I'm gonna go back to my apartment tonight. I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality, you know? I don't wanna wear out my welcome..."
"Oh…" Brennan was clearly disappointed. "Is something wrong? Did I upset you somehow?"
"No, of course not." He smiled as he put arm around her. "It's just that I've got a lot of things to do tomorrow, and I need to get an early start. I think if I stay here tonight, I'm gonna be tempted to be lazy and stay in bed with you all morning long tomorrow…Ow!" He pretended to grimace as she playfully poked him in the ribs. "So I think I'll do my running around early in the morning, and then, if you don't have any other plans, Dr. Brennan, I'll come over tomorrow evening and spend some quality time with you before I spend the day with Parker on Tuesday…"
"I understand, Booth…" Brennan's hands began to roam purposefully over Booth's chest as she moved onto his lap. "...but you don't have to leave at this exact moment, do you? You can stay a few more hours with me, right? I think we can enjoy each other's company this evening if we use our time wisely. After all, Booth, you did promise me dessert for later this evening, remember?" She giggled as he nibbled her ears and kissed her throat. "In fact, if we start now, I think we can accomplish quite a bit…" Brennan reached down and grabbed the hem of her sweatshirt, pulling it up over her head. She then removed her tee shirt and undid the clasp on her bra, throwing all of her clothing items on the floor. "Are you sure you can't stay tonight? I'll set my alarm for very early tomorrow morning…" She gently nipped his lower lip before she pulled him close to kiss him deeply. "Please, Booth...stay with me…at least for a few more hours..."
Booth groaned softly as he began to caress Brennan's breasts while she straddled his lap. "Bones...I gotta go...home…" She swiveled her hips over his groin as she pulled him close and kissed him again. "Jesus, Bones…" He sighed deeply, wishing that he was stronger, knowing he'd never be able to resist her if she wanted something from him. "Hmph." He broke away from her kiss and nodded in agreement. "Okay, okay...I'll stay...but you have to be reasonable, alright? I'm gonna need to get some sleep tonight. I need to get up at six tomorrow morning…"
She chuckled softly. "I'll be sure to set the alarm, but I don't know how reasonable I'll be…"
"Hmmm…" Booth moaned as Brennan reached under his tee shirt and ran the back of her hand along the fine hairs on his abdomen down toward the zipper of his jeans. She grinned at his pained expression as she ran her fingers across his navel and under his waistband. "Bones, c'mon...that's not fair…"
Giggling, she kissed him again. "Of course it's not fair…" She ran her fingers in a gentle tickle across his abdominal muscles. "But it is very effective…"
"Definitely effective." He quickly turned them so that Brennan was lying on her back on the sofa with him on top of her, looking down into her beautiful blue eyes. "Now I'm gonna show you just how effective it was…"
Brennan licked her lips as she arched her eyebrow at him. "I can't wait…"
Oooooooooo
It was 5:30 the following morning when Brennan crawled out of her bed quietly, trying not to wake Booth. Pulling on her robe and tying it haphazardly around her waist, she gazed with pleasure at his wonderfully masculine form as he snored softly. Glancing at the clock again, she decided to start the coffee so it'd be ready when Booth got up at six.
Brennan wasn't normally an early riser, but the emotional roller coaster of the last two days had left her acutely conscious of her inner turmoil...turmoil she'd often had when she'd thought of Booth in the past, but now there it was even more evident. Now she was quite aware of her own feelings as well, and those feelings had kept her awake most of the night. She shuffled sleepily around her kitchen, making some tea and toast for herself as the coffee brewed.
Sitting down at the kitchen table, she studied her teacup as she absentmindedly broke off a corner of her toast. Falling back in love with Booth over the last two days had been ridiculously easy...so easy in fact, that Brennan doubted that she'd ever stopped loving him to begin with, no matter what had happened since he'd returned from Afghanistan with Hannah in tow. Brennan had thought she'd adapted to Hannah's presence marvelously well, having pushed her feelings for Booth aside as she tried to move on to living a life without him, but it appeared that it had just been a mirage. It was obvious now that she had never adapted...that she'd never stopped loving him.
Chuckling to herself, she imagined what Angela would say if she knew about the present situation. The two friends got together every Friday while Brennan was on sabbatical to share lunch and to stay in touch. This coming Friday might be the last lunch before Angela gave birth, and Brennan had to decide just how much to tell her about this new aspect of her relationship with Booth…
Angela had often plotted ways to remove Hannah from Booth's life after they returned to the States, and she'd also tried to school Brennan on ways to make Booth jealous enough to leave the interloper behind, but Brennan had always resisted getting involved in those imaginative plots. Now that she and Booth were on the verge of a committed relationship, she wondered if Angela would think she'd caved in to Booth's charms too easily. Brennan realized she hadn't made Booth work very hard to earn her love again…she hadn't made him beg for forgiveness for his supposed transgressions, and she hadn't made him squirm uneasily by pretending to no longer care for him. She had decided that subterfuge wasn't necessary to prove her point to Booth. She felt that she was as much to blame for their time apart as he was. She had been too scared to take the chance on loving him when he'd asked her to do so, and she'd regretted what she considered to be the largest mistake of her life many times over during the many months they'd been apart.
But he still loved her. She found she still hadn't grasped the wonder that went with that statement. He loved her just the way she was...socially awkward, unsure of herself in relationships...and he still loved her. It was incredible. As an anthropologist, she knew that a loving bond was necessary for the continuation of human society, but to actual participation in that sort of relationship had always seemed to be out of her reach, until now. Now she had Booth, and she planned on keeping that loving bond intact as long as she possibly could.
Shaking her head, Brennan took another sip of her tea. In reality, it didn't make any difference what Angela or anyone else thought about the two of them being together. Now that she and Booth were finally on the same page, Brennan was determined not to take the chance of losing him again. After years of wanting to cross Booth's damn imaginary line...after sitting in her tiny hut for all those long months in Maluku, wishing she'd been strong enough to take a chance on them loving each other...after months of watching Booth being happy with Hannah, wishing she'd said yes to him that night in front of the Hoover...she wasn't going to risk it. She didn't have time for silly games that might leave her intentions towards him in doubt. As a grown woman, she knew exactly what she wanted. Booth had offered himself to her, and she was going to take him up on his offer, and she found that she didn't care what anyone else might think about their relationship. All that mattered was that they were happy together right now.
As Brennan broke off another corner of her toast, she thought of a novel she'd read in high school. She'd hated the silly story that was told by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice, but she'd always remembered one paragraph in particular...
"Perhaps I did not always love him so well as I do now. But in such cases as these, a good memory is unpardonable. This is the last time I shall remember it myself."
And now that she and Booth were finally in a romantic relationship, this was most definitely one of those cases...and hopefully, it would be the last time she would have to remember the sadness of the past months.
