A/N: Since this is the moment you've all been waiting for, I won't keep you long. Lemme just say - thanks. You guys rock. Boreanazes are in the mail. More Boreanazes are forthcoming, for those who review. Other members of the cast available upon request.

And now, the real deal: Booth and Brennan and physical contact. Enjoy!


Thursday, March 25, 10:27 pm.

She kissed him fiercely, violently; he could feel that she was proving a point by the force alone. But like it or not, his body reacted before his brain could and he was kissing her back just as brutally, his hands grasping her hips and dragging her closer. His senses were overwhelmed by her, consumed with her – the warm taste of her lips (laced with a hint of beer), the sweet scent of her skin, the silky smoothness of her blouse and the sound of her short, gasping breaths in between each meeting of mouth to mouth.

It was fantastic.

And then Booth wasn't sure when, but at some point, the kiss stopped being about their argument and started being about – kissing. Maybe it was when she moved her hands from his face to the back of his head and neck; maybe it was when he slid his hands from her hips to her waist. But for a minute, they weren't just trying to eat each other alive; they were really, truly… connecting. He stumbled backwards a bit (to be honest, he was feeling a little weak in the knees), and felt the backs of his legs bump against the couch, and he suddenly got an image of falling into the sofa and Bones having her way with him, and he was more than happy with that possibility.

And it seemed like things really were heading in that direction until Bones stopped to come up for air, and realized what she' d been doing. What they were in the midst of doing. What it was becoming quickly apparent they were about to do. She blinked, grabbed her purse, said, "Good night, Booth," in her perfectly professional squint voice, walked to the door, and left.

Booth gaped, stared at the door for a second, and then came to his senses. He ran out into the hall. "Bones!"

She spun around, startled.

"You can't just – just leave!" he stammered. "Let's, uh, let's talk about this!"

"What is there to talk about?" Bones asked, the slightest smile teasing at her lips.

"What is there – what is there?" Booth was beside himself. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Well, how about that kiss, for starters?" I mean, I know why I enjoyed it, but you on the other hand…

Now she put on her most innocent, oblivious face. "You challenged me to make you stop smirking," she explained matter-of-factly. "I accepted the challenge. I believe I won."

He marched down the hallways towards her. "Oh, c'mon, Bones. I know you and I are both pros at denial, but even you can't pretend nothing happened just now."

Bones nodded. "You're right, Booth. That kiss was… abnormal."

"Abnormal?" he exclaimed. "Jeez, way to make a guy feel… Look. Bones." He tried to convey the seriousness of what he was about to say (I can't believe I'm about to say this) in his eyes, looking directly into hers and refusing to let go. "I felt something. I feel something. For you."

She seemed to understand what he was trying to say, and she returned his concentrated gaze with the same intensity, captivating him just as much as he was trying to captivate her.

He took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his throat. Past the point of no return. "And I need to know: do you feel something too?"

She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She cleared her throat. "In all honesty, Booth…"

He waited, unable to even breathe.

She closed her eyes momentarily. "I felt… something. I feel something. I'm not – I'm not a robot, you know. I have these emotions but I just – I simply don't let them get the best of me. Most of the time. It's not that I don't feel these things, I just use my better judgment and… quash those feelings."

"Then stop," he told her bluntly.

She stared at him, amazed. "Booth. We've been partners for five years. I'm not going to jeopardize that for some fleeting sexual satisfaction, and it's very foolish of you to suggest doing so."

"This isn't about that, and you know it," Booth growled, surprising even himself with his intensity. "My feelings for you run a lot deeper than my libido, okay? And if yours don't, that's fine, but I don't think that's the case. 'Cause I think if it was, it would be a lot easier for you to walk away right now."

She made a snort of disbelief, but he could see the uncertainty in those shining blue eyes.

"That hesitation you're feeling right now," he continued, "that doubt? That's your heart, telling you that I might be right. There's more between us than 'just partners', Bones, and there's more than a little unsatisfied sexual tension. It's worth fighting for. We're worth fighting for." He stepped in closer to her, and lowered his voice to a hoarse whisper, forcing himself to say the words before he chickened out. "I've been waiting and waiting for the right moment and that moment is now, Bones! Most people spend their whole lives looking for something we've already got!" Don't say the L-word Don't say the L-word Don't say the L-word – "The fact is, Bones, I love you."

Her face was frozen, expressionless, unreadable. She seemed oddly –not surprised. But something else – what was that in her eyes? Almost the look of someone teetering on a precipice, wobbling and uncertain.

He swallowed hard, choking back his fear and trepidation. "And frankly, I'd never forgive myself if I didn't at least ask you – if there's even the slightest chance that you love me back, I'm begging you. Give me the benefit of the doubt. Give us a fighting chance!"

For one heart-stopping second, they were suspended in silence, eyes locked together, the tension almost a physical presence in the narrow hallway.

And then her mouth was on his again, and his heart started beating again, and the world started turning again, and he let himself get lost in the sheer bliss that was Temperance Brennan.


EDIT: This chapter was posted a couple of months before the 100th episode aired and, I must say. I was friggin' PISSED because it basically played out just like this, in which Booth takes a risk, begs her to take it with him, and calls her out on her excuses. Except, of course, on the show IT DIDN'T WORK. This is why we have fanfiction, people. Because Hart Hanson is so, so cruel.