In The Kitchen

There hadn't been a case in a few days and for some reason, Booth felt compelled to make up a reason to stop by Bones' apartment and check up on her. Truthfully, he did have some paperwork that she needed to sign off on, but she hadn't been at the Jeffersonian and that fact alone had prompted him to go check on her. So here he was at seven on a Thursday evening knocking on her door having completely forgotten the paperwork in his SUV.

Surprise registered on Booth's when Bones wasn't the one who answered the door.

"Agent Booth," Russ Brennan opened the door wide and gestured for him to come on in as if he wasn't at all surprised that Tempe's partner had shown up unannounced; they did after all spend nearly all of their time together.

"I didn't mean to interrupt a family thing," Booth glanced around and noticed that Russ wasn't the only one there, Amy and the girls were too and just when he thought that maybe Max Keenan had skipped this little gathering, he emerged from the kitchen with a handful of silverware.

Max offered Booth a welcoming smile and spoke over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen, "Tempe, Booth is here." He glanced back at the FBI agent as he put the silverware down on the table, "I'd better go get another setting."

"That's not necessary, I'm obviously interrupting," Booth didn't want to take away from this family moment for Bones; she'd had so few of them that the fact that she had her entire family over was pretty remarkable. And he noticed she had finally bought a TV sometime in the last few days because Hailey and Emma were completely engrossed in some Disney movie that he vaguely recalled was about a rat learning to cook.

"You're not interrupting anything," Amy insisted, "Russ and I got engaged a few days ago, we're just celebrating. Stay, you're practically family." No matter how much denial Tempe and Agent Booth wanted to live in, she could tell when two people cared about each other and that caring had nothing to do with just a work partnership.

"Booth," Brennan emerged from the kitchen and offered him a pleased smile. It had been a couple of days since she'd seen him and she was glad for the surprise visit. The truth was she'd been caught in a paradox of wanting a case to work on and not wanting there to be a crime committed that her services would be required for because of the victims and their families.

"You weren't at the lab," Booth stumbled a bit with his words even as he felt a smile start to spread across his face at the sight of her.

Brennan's brow furrowed, "Do we have a case?" Even though there was food in the oven, she was ready to hand it off to Russ or Dad or Amy if it was necessary.

Booth let out a soft chuckle, "Uh, no...just some paperwork to sign, but you weren't there and it was early..." He was about to say that he was worried, but somehow he knew that she would launch into some sort of explanation about how she was very capable of taking care of herself and with an audience he sure as hell wasn't going to make that admission. Booth was about to fumble his way out of the room so that she could enjoy the time with her family.

Brennan smiled; both her and Booth seemed oblivious to the smiles being exchanged between the other occupants of the living room, "Do you want to stay? I'm making macaroni and cheese."

With those simple words, a grin spread across Booth's face and any inclination that he'd had to go home and indulge in pizza and beer went right out the proverbial window. His voice had the same quality that a small boy might have upon discovering that he'd just gotten a puppy for Christmas, "Mac and cheese, Bones. I love mac and cheese."

She had remembered just how much he'd loved it and when she was considering what Hailey and Emma might be willing to eat when she was planning tonight's meal she had remembered that Booth said macaroni and cheese was Parker's favorite – a perfect meal to serve to both children and adults. She couldn't help but smile a bit wider at his enthusiasm.

Max had a knowing smile on his face as he disappeared into the kitchen, "I'll just go get another place setting."

It occurred to Booth that the entire reason that Bones had a houseful was that they were celebrating an engagement; he glanced over at Russ who seemed to have a rather knowing expression on his face despite the best FBI stare he shot back, "I think congratulations are in order. When are you two tying the knot?"

"Thank you, we haven't set the date yet," Russ answered and at the same time the thought occurred to him that he was glad he wasn't as oblivious as his sister and Booth or he might never had found the kind of happiness he'd found with Amy and the girls.

Max emerged from the kitchen and gestured over his shoulder, "Honey, I think you might want to check on what you have in the oven...I'm not very handy in the kitchen." It was a bold face lie, he could manage just fine in the kitchen, but given Booth's reaction to the news about what was being served for dinner he thought that it would be far more interesting to get the meal moving forward. Maybe one of these days Tempe would wake up and see what he and Russ had seen a long time ago – she was in love with Booth and he was in love with her.

"Thanks, dad," Brennan turned and headed back into the kitchen with the sense that someone was right on her heels. She didn't need to look back to know just who it was.

"Mac and cheese," Booth hoped that maybe he might just get a preview of the luscious dish before it was actually served and he followed as close as he dared.

Brennan rolled her eyes, but felt a swell of pride that he was so excited about a simple dish. She recalled that he'd said he wanted to be in a room alone with the plate of macaroni and cheese the first time she'd made it for him and then she realized that it was also the only time that she'd made it for him. As she opened the oven to check on it, she smirked and tossed out a comment, "You do realize that you're going to have to eat this with the rest of us; you can't be alone with it."

Booth looked at her oddly and then let out a low chuckle as he realized what she was referring to, "So what you're saying is that I need a mac and cheese chaperone."

That elicited a snicker from Brennan who pulled out the large dish of macaroni and cheese which was bubbling and had just the perfect hint of browning on top, "Yes, you do." She was sure that he was going to try and sneak a taste and so as she placed the pan on the counter and shut the oven, planning to ask him to grab some extra napkins as a diversion. What she hadn't planned on was Booth sneaking his arm around her so he could pluck a bit of macaroni out of the dish, burning his fingers in the process.

"Ouch!" Booth had been shot, beaten, tied up, and any number of other painful things as both a sniper and an FBI agent, but at the moment he seemed to squeal more like a little girl.

Brennan regarded him with a stern glare as she took grip of his hand to get a closer examination of the burn, "You're going to be fine." Of course that didn't mean that he didn't need a little first aid and she spun around with him in tow and pulled him towards the sink so she could run a little cold water over his fingers. As she held his fingers under the water, she glanced over and realized that they were standing awkwardly close and she also noticed that he had a smudge of cheese at the corner of his mouth. Without thinking she reached up and tried to brush it away only to find that he had a look in his eye that she hadn't really seen before. The words were out of her mouth before she realized it, "Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?" She had meant it to tease him, but her voice was a bit huskier than she'd intended and she was looking at his lips, not his fingers.

"Yes," Booth wasn't sure how everything had shifted in these last few moments, but he wasn't about to throw away the opportunity, especially when she didn't run away and instead he found her face drifting closer to his, her eyes fluttering shut in anticipation.

Brennan could taste a hint of the macaroni and cheese he'd managed to sneak as she pressed her lips against his, softly at first and then a bit more insistently as he eagerly returned the kiss. She was still holding Booth's hand under the faucet when they broke apart grinning like idiots. She cleared her throat and held up his hand, "Feeling better?"

"Much," Booth was sure that the water had nothing to do with it and he was about to lean in for another kiss, when he heard Russ calling out and moving towards the kitchen.

"Tempe, is it ready? We can all smell it out here and we're hungry," Russ rounded the corner into the kitchen to find Booth with his hand under the faucet and Tempe with the pan of macaroni and cheese in hand and a look on both of their faces that seemed very suspicious.

"Booth burned his hand, I was just helping him make it feel better," Brennan brushed past her brother oblivious to the perma-grin on her face.

Russ regarded Booth carefully and whispered conspiratorially as the FBI agent shut off the faucet and dried his hand, "Don't break her heart or I'm going to have to hurt you."

Booth quirked an eyebrow and wondered just how much Russ had seen, "Are you threatening a federal agent?"

Russ smirked and let out a chuckle, "No, I'm threatening my sister's boyfriend, or soon to be boyfriend, so don't even try and deny it." He clapped Booth on the back and they made their way out to where everyone else was already sitting down, pleased that Booth had only chuckled in response.

There was no nearly about it; Booth was already family.

Ok, so you'll just have to wait until the next installment to see where our happy couple goes next...and thanks to all of you readers and reviewers – you are greatly appreciated.