She was awake again a couple of hours later. Her alarm indicated it was close to 4, which meant her night with Booth was coming to an end soon. She'd have to get up at 6, two hours left. Booth looked like he was asleep, in fact, he looked like he was sleeping like a baby, his chin on top of her head and his arms around her. She thought of how the remainder of the night could go. She could wake him and they'd have more amazing sex, or she could wake him to talk, or she could let him sleep and enjoy his company. She didn't want to talk to him, but she knew she had to. Still, she felt it was best if she relaxed and tried to get some more sleep instead. So she sighed and wriggled a bit, trying to get more comfortable. She felt him stir behind her and she froze, hoping she hadn't woken him up.
Behind her, Booth opened his eyes. He stayed still, knowing she thought she'd woken him. She had, but he hadn't really been asleep to begin with. It was more like a really deep daydream, and his heart ached remembering it. Next to him, Brennan rubbed a few locks of hair from her face, pushed her nose into her pillow and stroked the hairs on his arm shortly before she stilled. He smiled to himself, she thought he was asleep, so she could do whatever she wanted without him knowing. She had shown him that she really trusted him, just now, with the small movements she'd made. But she didn't know he'd noticed. However, he didn't care. There was hope for him yet.
'Booth. Booth, wake up.'
A soft voice penetrated his sleep. It was Bones, trying to wake him. 'It's 6 o'clock. I have to get up.'
He moaned, opened his eyes and stretched, carefully disentangling his limbs from around her. 'Already?'
'Yeah,' she answered, sitting up in the bed and reaching for her robe on a chair next to her bed. He looked at her, making no effort to get up. He could be fast so he had time to watch her now. She had her back to him, and she looked over her shoulder. 'Come on, you have to get in as well.'
'I'm really fast in the morning. I have time.'
She grinned, not at all embarrassed at her nakedness. She stood from the bed, taking the robe and putting it around her shoulders while she walked into the bathroom. 'I'm taking a shower, and you're staying out,' she called. He nodded to himself. 'Ok.'
At least she was receptive, listening to him and joking with him. She hadn't thrown him out in the middle of the night. In fact, she'd done the opposite. He stayed in her bed until he heard her shut off the water flow, then he got out and dressed quickly, starting some coffee and looking in her cupboards for breakfast. 'What would you like to eat?' he called. It took her a few seconds to respond, and he smiled at the fact that she probably had expected him to dress and leave. He hoped she wouldn't take it the wrong way.
'Toast with cheese, please, Booth,' she called back. He took the toaster and stuck two sandwiches in it. 'Coming right up.'
She emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and ready for work. She smiled at him, unsure what to say or do. He walked towards her and handed her a steaming cup of coffee. 'Here, so you don't have to run past the coffee cart.'
'Thanks,' she said, her voice soft. 'Booth.'
'Yeah?' he walked to the toaster to put two sandwiches for himself in.
'Thank you for tonight.'
He turned to face her again. 'Are you kidding me? Thank you! Thank you for letting me be with you.'
She took a plate and reached in her fridge for the cheese. 'I needed it.'
'You feel better now?'
She nodded. 'I feel.. Yes, I feel better.'
'Good,' he smiled. 'So, what are your plans for today?'
She shrugged. 'We'll have to compile the evidence, and we can start moving the Gormogon vault.'
'You sure you want to do that already?'
She frowned at him. 'What do you mean?'
He took his toast, got a cup of coffee as well and sat down on her couch, and she joined him.
'I mean, it's only been a few hours, Bones. Give yourself and your team some time to recover before you dive into that.'
She shook her head. 'But we have to, it's important.'
He put a hand over hers like he had done many times to get through to her. 'You know what? I'll start on it. You relax and spend some time with Angela and your squints. I'll call you if I need any help.
'You can use my office, if that's more convenient,' she answered quickly, not liking the idea to have to call him to hear his voice. Also, all the evidence was at the Jeffersonian, and so was her paperwork. He'd need all of that, so it was a logical offer.
He took her up on it. 'Ok, thanks.'
Her eyes brightened a little, she smiled, and she held his eyes longer than usual. She was so lucky to have him. Then, she turned sad. One night, and the night was over.
'I'm going to work, you can join me if you want to or come in later,' Booth said. She nodded, took the plates to the kitchen and got her coat. 'Drop me off at the Jeffersonian and join me back there when you've gathered your files from the FBI.' He looked around making sure he hadn't forgotten anything, lead her to the car and drove off.
They parted without many more words, just usual goodbyes. Booth was torn between showing his affection for Bones and Brennan had no intention of breaking her arrangement with him. However, she did want to tell him to keep an open mind about this recurring, but she didn't know how to tell him. He'd be back soon with the case files, she'd try to talk to him then. She had never been very good at communicating with people, but she could manage talking to Booth. She hoped.
Within the hour, Booth was back at the Jeffersonian. Brennan was hard at work, in her labcoat as usual, gathering evidence from the explosion residue and Gormogon vault to compile. She wouldn't be required to present any evidence against Zach, just for the Gormogon case in general, so she could do that without too much difficulty.
Angela had taken the day off and Hodgins supposedly was with her, Cam was with Zach and so was Caroline Julian. That left Bones alone at the lab and without Zach, she was alone. She hadn't noticed Booth come in and she startled when he zipped his card through security. 'Booth.'
'Hi Bones, how're you doing?'
'Compiling evidence has been a satisfying task, I believe we have more than enough physical proof for any judge and jury.'
He nodded. 'Good.'
She looked at him. 'Did you get the files? What do you need from me'
He showed her the box he was carrying. 'Can I put this down in your office? You just need to connect my evidence and statements to yours, that's all, we'll be done in no time.'
Brennan sighed. 'Can we talk?'
He walked from the lab platform towards her office. 'Sure.'
'About last night.'
Booth put down the box on her desk and moved to sit on her couch. 'Of course, Bones.'
His voice didn't betray any emotion, or she just couldn't read any. She tried playing neutral as well.
'Our arrangement was satisfactory.'
He smiled. 'It was.'
Brennan looked around a bit, avoiding his eyes. 'I think it is an acceptable method of dealing with my emotions when they get too difficult for me to handle.'
He nodded again. 'I would agree. And I was glad to be of assistance.'
She met his eyes and actually grinned. 'I know.'
He waited for her to say more, and when she didn't, he worried.
'So, back to partners?'
'Yes, Booth. The arrangement was, one night. I might call upon one night again, though.'
He looked at her, his eyes big.
'If that's ok with you,' she added, frowning a little.
Booth's eyes grew warm and a smile appeared on his lips. 'Anytime, partner.' He knew it was so much more than that. But she had proven to him that it was more to her too, even if she didn't know it. When he'd been awake and she'd thought he was asleep, she'd shown him the true Temperance. Dr. Brennan had been asleep, stored away to rest and prepare for daylight, and Temperance had awoken. She'd shown him who she really was, and he loved her even more than he loved Dr. Bones. So he agreed. Partners, with emotional outlets.
Because he knew it was more. And he knew she would know, too.
He needed to tell her one thing, though.
'Bones.. You know I would never take advantage of you, right? Don't feel any kind of obligation towards me.'
She looked at him, no longer frowning. Her eyes were open and clear blue, honesty and purity shining in them. 'Yeah, I know. I would never think that. The same goes for you, never feel obliged to spend the night with me when I ask. If you don't want to, that's ok. I won't feel less about you, I never could.'
He nodded, his heart warmed by her words. 'Good. You're one hell of a woman, Bones.'
'I'd like to go see Zach,' she said, out of the blue.
'Ok,' Booth said. 'But I'm coming with you.'
'No, I'd like to go alone. If that's ok with you.'
He nodded. 'Sure, fine. Meet me for dinner later on?'
She looked down 'Booth..'
'Come on, dinner like always. I'll get Thai and we can finish the case, I'll do some work on it while you go see Zach and we can get this over with tonight.'
She sighed. 'Ok, thanks.'
'Sure thing,' he answered, and sat down on her couch with a pile of paper. 'Tell Zach I'm sorry.'
'I will. Thanks again, Booth,' Brennan said, before taking her coat and walking out of her office. She looked back at him from the corridor, and he didn't see the smile forming around her lips. He wasn't even close to realizing how much she actually needed someone to help her stay strong, and for the first time in a very long time, she knew exactly that he was the only way she'd get through this.
Booth did some work on the case, like he'd promised Brennan. He made sure all the evidence was compiled and nothing was left out, but he paid extra attention to putting it together in a way that would convince a jury of the 'weak personality is dominated by a strong personality'- story, and he called Sweets to make sure he signed the psych evaluation that would put Zach in a mental institution instead of prison. This was important to Bones, so it was important to him.
He called her after a few hours, but she didn't answer. He left her a text asking if everything was ok and to meet him at the Hoover at six, hoping she'd still want to have dinner. He was planning on getting her to talk to him just a little more. He'd learned so much about the emotional side of Temperance the past 24 hours, and he hoped she'd allow him to see more of it, because he knew talking would help and because he just really fell in love with that side of her.
'I love you, Zach,' Brennan said to her protégé. 'I'll visit again as soon as I can. Don't worry, Booth and I are making sure you won't have to go to prison.'
Zach nodded. 'Thank you, doctor Brennan.' With one last look at him, Brennan left. She had been talking to Zach for nearly three hours, and it had given her some peace of mind, because it made her feel like he wasn't gone forever. She had also asked him for his reasons, he had given them, and logically, she had been able to make sense of them. Of course, murder was wrong, but she saw now that right and wrong aren't like black and white. They should be, but they aren't. She'd have to talk to Booth about that, because even though she understood, she didn't know how to encompass it in her life. To her, it had always been simple, murderers are bad, that was the end of it. Now she saw that part of why she had been so very angry with Zach was because he had distorted that balance for her. Zach wasn't bad, but he had murdered. Her logic didn't add up.
Sighing, she started her car and reached for her phone to see if she had missed something. Smiling at the missed call and text from Booth she looked at her watch: 2 PM, so she had plenty of time to drop by the lab, collect her files, head home for a bath and meet Booth at the Hoover.
In that order, she was finished at 5:30 PM, which left her with more than enough time to reach the Hoover in time to meet Booth at 6. She checked her make-up in the mirror and smoothed her skirt before heading out.
Booth was waiting for her, he had heard nothing from her since they'd parted that morning. He saw her cab arrive and smiled at the sight when she got out of her car. She'd made an effort, like she used to do when they went out for dinner somewhere after a case.
'Hey, Bones. You look great,' he greeted her. 'It's just dinner at my place!.'
She smiled and walked up to him. 'I know, I just felt like changing.'
He nodded. 'I can understand a woman's need to change. How was Zach?'
'Good, we had a long conversation. He seems to be doing ok.'
Booth opened the car door for her. 'Good, he'll be fine. Sweets signed the evaluation and Caroline made sure it's all in order. I divided the evidence into your part and mine, so we just have to go over it one last time, sign our statements and that's the end of it.'
She got in and waited for Booth to join her. 'No, it's not the end. Zach needs to see that logic isn't always the only right thing. It's strange, he taught me that but now I feel the need to teach him the things I didn't know until he showed me.'
Booth looked at her and saw tears in her eyes. 'I know, Bones. You'll make him understand. You're a great mentor.'
She looked at him and managed a smile. 'Thanks.'
Then, suddenly, something occurred to her. It scared her so much she almost forgot to breathe. If Booth could make her feel so good, both at work and at home, if he was everything she wanted in a man, if with him, she felt everything she ever hoped to feel, then why not accept it?
The thought knocked the wind out of her and Booth noticed the change, how could he not. 'What's wrong?' he asked, concerned. Brennan just stared ahead for a few seconds, then she looked at him, her eyes wide. 'Nothing. Just.. Drive.'
Booth continued to look at her for a while longer, but he wasn't able to read her so he gave up and drove. Something had scared her, and it had been a very sudden thought. He tried hard to understand but he couldn't. In the passengers seat, Brennan was having trouble as well. The whole case with Zach had caused her to re-evaluate her logic and the way she used it and somehow her body had come to this conclusion her mind wasn't ready to accept. Last night had been amazing for her and she had never wanted it to end, and now, however much she tried, she couldn't get herself to see the logic in having to restrict herself to some nights with Booth.
They drove to his place in silence and he graciously opened the door for her to let her into his apartment. She accepted and entered, suddenly feeling slightly anxious.
'Booth, one thing. We're not going to talk about Zach all evening, ok?' she said. She really didn't feel like the psychobabble she knew he'd throw at her if she didn't warn him. He nodded. 'Sure. No Zach.'
He looked at her, seeing there was something else on her mind and she was having trouble accepting it.
'What's on your mind?' he asked.
She shook her head. 'Nothing important really.'
'Come on, Bones. You really think I'm buying that? Spill.'
She looked at him, her eyes clear blue and her chin slightly shaky. 'Don't tell me what to do.'
He threw up his hands. 'Hey, don't shoot. I'm sorry.'
She shook her head. 'No, I'm sorry. I'm just confused, you know? I can't seem to explain everything anymore and that's new to me.'
He nodded. 'I get it. And on top of that you won't accept the best treatment against loneliness you can get.'
Her eyes snapped to his. 'What?'
'I'm just saying, you need someone to help you through this, and I'm right here but you won't let me. And I'm only accepting that because I know you too well.'
Her eyes turned angry, then sad. 'I'm fine alone.'
'No you're not. Come on, you may be able to survive alone but you'll never be fine. Let me help, Bones. Just for once, I promise I won't get too attached or too close. Your rules, Bones.'
She recognized his words from earlier and smiled. Suddenly she felt the need to confide in him.
'I want to tell you something but you have to promise me not to laugh,' she said, putting her coat on a hook and moving over to his couch.
'I would never laugh, Bones, you know that,' Booth said. She glared at him, showing him she was dead serious. 'Ok, I promise.'
'This.. arrangement we had. It was satisfying for both of us, and I was wondering if you would maybe consider making it more regular.'
Booth's jaw dropped. 'More regular.' All he could do was repeat the words spoken from her mouth. 'More regular. How regular are we talking about?'
'Quite regular.'
'You're not being very scientific here, Bones. I wouldn't want to get the wrong idea.'
She sighed. 'Booth.. Just.. More regular, ok?'
He continued to look at her, seeing she wasn't completely sure how regular she wanted it to be herself.
'Ok, more regular. Bones, I can't do that. Not without an emotional attachment. I'll give you your space but no polygamous relationships here, ok? And no keeping me out of personal things, no rejecting my help. If you want to keep this between us, fine, I'll be professional at work but no being ashamed of this.'
He stopped his river of words when he noticed her eyes. They were a mixture of confusion and sadness and suddenly, fear overcame him. He had misunderstood her.
'Bones, I'm sorry. Wasn't that what you meant? I'm sorry.'
She shook her head. 'No, no. It was what I meant. I'm just.. I'm so stupid, Booth. I'm making this so much more difficult than it has to be. I'm such an idiot.'
He moved towards her on the couch and put his arms around her. The struggle he had expected didn't happen, she accepted his embrace and as she buried her head in the crook of his neck he felt her tears saturate his shirt. 'It's ok, Bones. You're not stupid. It's ok.'
He held her for a little while, and when she withdrew he let her go. 'Just one thing, Bones.'
She looked at him, adjusting her smeared make up. 'What?'
'I never want it to be just sex. Ok? You can say it's just sex all you want but just admit to me this one time that it's more.'
She should have been surprised at his bluntness but she wasn't. He was right.
'It was never just sex, Booth.'
