There seems to be a problem with the site and I'm reposting this.

Chapter 4: the story starts to unfold and our amazing characters start to struggle with their emotions. I should be able to post chapter 5 soon. Enjoy the reading.

A/N: thanks for the nice reviews and the response to the first chapters.

A/N: I do not own Bones.

Thank you Gregg.

CHAPTER 4

He found her in the small library, alone. Sitting by the window overlooking the beautiful garden he knew, by now, she dedicated a part of herself to. He stopped to look at her. One thing he could never get tired of...

She was aware of his presence behind her the moment he opened the door and her heart skipped to a higher beat. She didn't turn and he didn't move. Silence almost defeaning them. She raised her head from the register on the table, fixed her eyes on the window and sighed.

Booth heard her and chose that moment to move. He took a chair and sat next to her. She turned to him.

"I wanted to show you this..." he said giving her a small plastic bag.

She reached out and as she took hold of it their fingers brushed. Softly. She withdrew immediately.

He stilled and lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry." he said, his voice low, almost a whisper. He placed the evidence on the table.

"We found it in the victim's right hand. Just this."

"It's not hers. This is a man's ring." she stated looking at the golden jewel.

"Hers?" his eyes widened with surprise.

"Yes, the skeleton belongs to a woman, quite young... I can't tell you her age nor the cause of death... yet."

"Would you like to see the corpse before we leave? - he suggested - "the team's almost done with it."

"I can't." she replied the moment the bells rang announcing it was time for the Vespers.

"I see... I'd better go then."

He stood and headed for the door. He turned and their eyes met once again. "We're shipping the remains together with some samples of the soil to the Jeffersonian..."

Her smile was more precious than all the words she could have said and he felt his heart swell.

"I guess I'll see you there?"

She nodded.

B&B

All her sisters were already there and she hastened to occupy the only vacant seat left in the small church. Hers.

Sister Catherine started to recite the introduction to the Vespers.

O God, come to my aid.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

Hands joined Brennan looked at the Crucified Christ above the altar as her lips moved to say a prayer she had recited so many times enveloped by the peace of the little chapel. She raised her left hand and placed it on the little silver cross just below her neck.

She felt her heart beat suddenly increase in her chest.

Instinctively she turned toward the small windows which separated her from the world outside. Her lips stilled and her mind drifted away... to the people about to leave... to him.

Cleanse us, O God, we humbly plead,

From sins of thought and word and deed.

She closed her eyes and tried to shut out his image and the musky scent of his skin she had inhaled a few minutes before out of her mind, joining her sisters who were now reciting the Hymn. But she could not.

She turned back to the windows, and her gaze lingered there once more, eyes lost in the fading of the day.

And she was silent again.

B&B

Booth woke up covered with sweat, his heart thundering in his chest.

What the hell was he doing? he thought, reaching out to his night stand, trying to grab the alarm clock. He knocked it over and it fell to the floor.

"Jesus!" he yelled.

As he leaned down to pick up the clock he felt nauseous, his head about to explode. He pressed the snooze bar.

Two o'clock! And it was Sunday!

He let himself collapse back in bed and let out a long painful sigh. He had barely slept and when he had finally dozed off his tormented sleep had filled his mind with images of... her.

Of her eyes... of the soft brushing of her fingers... of...

"I'll be damned for this!" he cried. He knew, oh he knew so well what images of her had ravaged his dreams. What he had seen underneath those clothes. "... and I will rot in Hell!"

Definitely there was no use in tossing and turning all night long. He got up, grabbed a beer from the fridge, switched on the tv and dropped onto the couch. Finding the sports channel, he tried to concentrate on the hockey game.

Yeah, he thought, that would do. Ice, skaters, sticks... nothing better than some physical, fast-paced sport to take his mind off... her.

Just the image of her face forming before his eyes made his body shiver and he looked desperately at his lower belly stirring to life.

"Never!" he shouted "ever am I going to touch my body dreaming of her!"

And how could he pretend to walk into church and confess such impure thoughts? Way too much! That would make a mortal sin no priest would ever give him absolution from. He was not going to do this, not to her.

He was driving himself crazy. He got up and headed for the shower, turned on the cold water, took off his T-shirt and pants, and shoved himself under the chilly spray.

"Oh God!" he cried. "Why are you doing this to me?"

A/N: did you like it? still more to come. thanks to all the readers for the amazing figures I'm getting to most of my stories. That really makes my day and keeps me going. Lilly