Title:Prayer of Innocence

Pairing:Brennan/Booth

Rating:M

Disclaimer:I own nothing. Brennan and Booth are owned by FOX. Sadly Booth is not mine.

Chapter Thirteen

Brennan rested against the wall of muscle which was pressing against her back. How long she rested there she didn't know it could have been minutes, it could have been hours. For the first time in a long time she was exactly where she needed to be and she wasn't willing to do anything that would make it stop. She knew though, that she was only delaying the inevitable. She couldn't live in this dream world forever. It wasn't who she was. Living a life full of fantasies, Brennan lived in the real world and asides from a little slip every now and then, she continued to keep her head out of the clouds. Brennan's thoughts were interrupted by the small kisses being placed on the back of her neck. She tilted her head to the side allowing easier access to length of her neck, sending shivers all the way down to the pit of her stomach. Brennan didn't want to turn around, if she did she would be forced to face the truth of her actions and selfishly she wasn't ready yet.

Kisses continued to be placed down her neck as hands came around and slowly but surely unbuttoned her shirt. The warm hot mouth slowly moved down past her neck and onto her collar bone.

"Please"

Brennan didn't even realize that she had spoken until she was she was suddenly facing the man skillfully producing so many pleasurable sensations from her body. They looked at each other, breathing heavily. Large hands cradled her face as his head moved closer towards her. Brennan closed her eyes as his lips descended upon hers. His tongue slowly swept across her lips requesting access to the sweet delights held inside. Brennan sighed as she opened her mouth. For the first time in her life she was going to go with her gut and not rationalise this to herself. There was no way she could argue with the feelings that were sweeping through her, no way she could even think about trying to deny her body the pleasure she was feeling. Brennan didn't even realize that her hands had started winding themselves around the toned torso kneading the muscles as she went.

Brennan pulled herself away from the tight embrace and held out her hand. He placed his hand in hers and she lead him into her bedroom to continue what they had started. Brennan turned and looked at the man who had been haunting her dreams and opened her mouth to talk.

A finger was placed over her mouth before she could verbalise her thoughts.

"No words. Just feelings"

Brennan nodded understanding this is what they both needed. They both needed to feel the other, to know that they were there together. Together the outside world faded away and all that survived was them and their passion and need for each other. Without breaking eye contact Brennan reached towards him and began unbuttoning his shirt. Reaching down she began to kiss the skin which was slowly being uncovered. They slowly moved towards the bed and removed the barriers which kept them from being together as one.

The partners spent the night reaffirming life, believing that the only way that they could both survive this was to do it together. No matter what happened, nothing and no one could come between them now. Brennan lay cocooned in the strong arms and she knew that no matter what happened she would be safe. Brennan didn't know if she could trust herself to speak. The communication between them had been flawless up until this moment. Why was she nervous now? They had just become as close as two people could be and now she didn't know whether to speak or whether to sit there in silence and just enjoying being together. This was one of the reasons Brennan's prior relationships had failed. Inside the bedroom she never had any problem but outside she just never seemed to be able to connect with the other person. It only took a few awkward scenarios for the relationship to deteriorate. Brennan knew that this was something that she would have to work on but for the moment she didn't want to ruin one of the most beautiful moments of her life by saying or doing the wrong thing. Brennan closed her eyes and snuggled back into the warm body behind her as an arm tightened around her stomach.

Brennan awakened to the sound of her mobile ringing.

"Brennan"

"Hey Ange. My Goodness I can't believe I slept in." Well she knew that she had been tired but this morning she felt more alive than she had in years.

"Okay I will be in as soon as I can. Call me if anything comes up."

Brennan looked over to the other side of the bed already resigned to the fact that she would have woken up alone. She was right. She wished he had woken her up so she could have said goodbye or so that she could have enjoyed just the feeling of them being together for a few more moments. She didn't know when she would see him again.

Chapter Fourteen

Booth sat in his car unable to make himself drive away from her yet. He looked at himself in the rearview mirror. For the first time in a number of years he was no longer sure of whom he was looking at, Ex-sniper for the US rangers, gambling addict, FBI agent, father or the man that loved Dr. Temperance Brennan. Recently all these aspects of his persona had started to blur into one.

Booth gazed at Bone's apartment looking up into her window. Having to leave her bed this morning, before she woke, had been one of the hardest things he had ever done. Giving up gambling was a piece of cake compared to dragging himself away today. He had wanted nothing more than to stay there and watch her while she was lost to this world. Booth had never seen Bones look so relaxed and peaceful, he wanted her to enjoy it for as long as possible. Although he knew that she would be infuriated that he had left her, he couldn't risk being seen leaving her apartment. He also knew he couldn't provide her with the answers she would want to everything that had been happening.

Booth slammed his hand against the steering wheel. He never should have agreed to get involved in this. He should have realized that Bones wouldn't have left it alone. He could only imagine the conversation that she would have had with Cullen when this had all hit the news. She would have been in a temper and would have been frustrated by the lack of information and co-operation that the FBI would have provided. He had hoped that Bones would have been so angry that she would have refused to continue her relationship with the FBI, but no, of course not. Bones never left anything unfinished, especially when it came to their work together. It probably didn't help when she realised the connection between their last case and his family, yet another reason for her to be angry at him. Bones had been through so much in the past few months he had not wanted to bother her with the things which had been happening in his life. He was the one who had forced the whole partner relationship and he was the one hiding things from her. Booth knew that it would be hard rebuilding the trust between them but he hoped that he would be able to make her understand.

Booth had been involved on the sidelines from the very first moment that his brother-in-law had been missing. He was not allowed to be directly involved in the investigation due to the family connection but that hadn't stopped him keeping abreast of the situation and any leads which had been followed. Although the case was still considered open, the leads had all run cold and Booth's sister had begged him to look further into it. The deeper Booth had begun to dig the worse the situation had become. It seemed as though his brother-in-law had been working with some underworld figures. More specifically a small family crime syndicate. Booth had begun to investigate the family and their workings. As Booth learned more and more he knew that he could not do this alone and that he would need to inform the FBI of his discoveries.

Although Cullen had been extremely angry of Booths rouge investigating, the department which specialize in organized crime was thrilled. They had been looking for information to try and bring this particular family down and it seemed as if Booth was going to be the man to help them. That is where the whole idea for the corruption story had come from. It seemed to be the easiest way to not only get the people in his life to stay away from him but also to provide him with a little credibility within the family. They would have eventually found out his history and it would be better to be upfront about the whole thing and have a widely publicised suspension from the FBI. Booth had argued the merits of explaining the situation to his partner but Cullen wouldn't have it. Although in his heart he knew that Bones would not have accepted the situation and would have wanted to be involved. Booth had been trying to protect her from it all but he really should have known better. She was bound to end up involved and in trouble whether or not she knew the truth.

His "boss" had sent him to the good doctor's apartment with instructions to find out if she had desisted her investigation. Booth was sure that Bones now understood the situation. He looked up again towards the window, his eyes widened as he saw her looking straight back at him. How long they stared at each other he wasn't sure but he knew that he needed to leave before he ran out of the car back to her apartment. He watched as Bones gave him a small smile and nodded at him before moving away from the window. Booth closed his eyes and gave a silent prayer of thanks. Thank you for letting her understand. He knew this wasn't finished but he needed to complete his assignment before he could see her again. He wanted to be free to see if there was any chance to rebuild the trust between them that had been destroyed. Booth knew she would find the note he had left behind for her and hoped that it would be enough for the moment.

Booth started the car and began to pull away from the street. He looked back at her apartment for one last time.

"I love you"

Chapter Fifteen

Brennan couldn't help the tears that trailed down her face as she watched Booth drive away from her apartment. She had been staring out at the street before she had even realized he was still there. It had taken everything within her not to run out of the apartment and demand he tell her what was going on but as she watched the different emotions pass over his face she knew that she couldn't do that to him. She knew Booth. There was no way he would have left if there was anyway he could stay. She knew that this meant more to him than just sex. Brennan realized that Booth had noticed her looking at him and summoned all the strength she had within her to smile at him and nod.

Brennan breathed in deeply and forced herself to get moving. She was already running late and knew that everyone would know something had happened if she delayed any longer. Especially Angela. There was no way she was ready to talk to anyone about this yet. Telling Ange about the kiss had been one thing but this? Ok Brennan get your ass moving. As she was walking towards the bathroom she heard a knock at her door.

"Temperance. Are you in there?"

Sully. What was he doing here? She was sure they didn't have any plan to meet up this morning. Brennan wondered if she should pretend she wasn't home and just get ready for work. The pounding at her door continued. Sighing Brennan walked over towards her door knowing that he wouldn't give up and would resort to breaking in if required.

"Morning."

Sully stood there with his hand held mid knock.

"You are home. What took you so long to open the door?" He walked past her not waiting to be invited in.

"I didn't sleep well last night and slept through my alarm. I already told Ange I was on my way into the office. We weren't planning to meet this morning so why the worry? I was just about to get into the shower when you started trying to breakdown my door."

What was he doing? He had only been back a few days and was already trying to become her protector. Didn't her know she could look after herself? The little things like this were part of the reason she could never have left with him. He kept casting her into the role of helpless female. He needed her to need him and she didn't. The only man that she needed had spent the night with her and knew her like no other.

"Cullen wants to see us. He wasn't too happy to hear about your little investigation yesterday afternoon."

Brennan turned and looked at him.

"The only way he would have heard about it is if you told him. No one else knew where I had been."

She couldn't believe that he would have done that to her.

"Tempe. I am sorry. I don't want you getting mixed up in anything dangerous and if I need to inform the director of your actions to do so then I will."

Sully was looking at her as if she was crazy. Brennan shook her head at him and walked away.

"I am going to get ready for work. You can see yourself out and I will meet you at your office in an hour. Please pass on my apologies for the delay to Director Cullen. I am sure you can see yourself out."

"Tempe"

"Just go."

Brennan didn't bother waiting to watch Sully leave, although waited to hear the door slam before she turned on the shower.

She couldn't believe what Sully had done. How were they meant to work together if she couldn't trust him? Booth had taught her how important trust was in their partnership and although he had defiantly pushed it to breaking point, he would never have sold her out to his superiors, not even for her own good. He would have defiantly been pissed at her and maybe not visited for a few days but he would never go behind her back.

Brennan stepped out of the shower hastily getting herself organized to leave the apartment. She had to calm down. She knew there was no way Cullen was going to let her off lightly for this but if she wanted to continue to be included in field work she knew that there was no point getting angry. Yes she had to admit that it had been stupid for her to have gone investigating without any back up. Booth had always told her to wait for back up. Well luckily in the end he had been her back up.

Brennan picked up her handbag and looked at the bible which Booth had left there still with Parker's painting marking the page. She still hadn't decided what she was going to tell Rebecca, she needed to see her today though and at least let them know that their faith in Booth was not misplaced. As Brennan walked through her lounge to pick up her car keys she threw her bag over her shoulder, knocking the mantel behind her. Not bothering to see if she had knocked anything over, she walked out her door, never seeing the note that tumbled to the floor.