Just back from a lovely holiday in Morocco and in a new role at work. Busy times, but I always try to get my BB fix! Thank to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited, it is really appreciated. This didn't go exactly as planned but I think it works.

Thanks as always to Jenmacun. x


"Thanks Seeley, I appreciate you letting me in so early."

"No problem, Tessa. How are you?" Knowing she was coming over after a brief text conversation the night before, Booth had ensured he was already showered and fully dressed to prevent any awkwardness or misunderstanding of intentions. His heart was somewhere else.

"OK, thanks. You know... early deposition this morning, I figured you'd be back by now, thought I'd I'd just pop by on the way and get the rest of my stuff. I'm sorry we didn't work out. No hard feelings?" Tessa chattered nervously at Booth. For his part, Booth shrugged his shoulders and broke into a smile.

"Hey, that's life. We just weren't meant to be."

"Guess not. So, how was Jamaica?"

"It was fine, thanks. Bones came with me."

"Really?" Tessa was a little surprised but perhaps, in some way, not that shocked. She raised an eyebrow at him anyway.

"Just companionship, you know. Partners and all," said Booth, ever the diplomat.

"Sure." Smiled Tessa knowingly. "I guess I should go and get my stuff. I bought a suitcase."

"Please. Go ahead." And with that Tessa walked into Booth's bedroom with the cabin-size roller case and efficiently proceeded to empty out the drawer of clothes she had had there. She took one last look and smiled sadly, before coming back out into his hallway. She opened the front door to leave before calling out to Booth to say goodbye.

As she turned to go, Tessa was confronted with the sight of an extremely focussed Brennan marching towards Booth's front door.

Brennan stopped sharply and stared at Tessa, not seeing the suitcase behind her. After the split second she took to process the information in front of her, she turned on her heel and marched off as quickly as she'd arrived. Tessa was confused. She'd not even had a chance to say hello.

"Seeley?"

"Yeah?" Booth called from his kitchen.

"I think I just saw Doctor Brennan."

"What?" Booth appeared next to her.

"She was walking this way but when she saw me she stopped like a rabbit in headlights before she turned and ran. Did something happen in Jamaica, Seeley? Did you two...?" Before Tessa could finish her sentence, Booth had already grabbed his shoes and was running down the hall after her.

Brennan broke into a trot, and then a run as she turned the corner, moisture pricking in her eyes. Why had she even bothered? Booth was clearly just as fickle as she'd expected him to be, typical male. As she ran down the flights of stairs to her car, the tears began to flow fully and the pain of heartbreak flooded her brain with emotions and hormones she could not fight.

She got straight back into her vehicle and before Booth could get close enough, she had already roared off, tyres screeching as her Prius stormed off in the direction of the lab. Booth stood in his shirts sleeves and shook his head. He could not work her out at all. Unless... unless she had gotten the wrong end of the stick and was jealous! Bones, jealous?! That would never happen, unless she had... feelings... for... him... after... all... Booth's brain walked through the logical progression of the thought process of his on/off whatevershewas and it took little time for him to work out that her reaction was in the long term, a very, very good thing.

All that said, there was no point in chasing after her like a lunatic right now. She would be completely irrational. They would end up fighting. He needed a plan; a plan that would ultimately have her back in his arms by the end of the day and keep them together from that point on.


Brennan sat in her car in the Jeffersonian car park, trying to compose herself. Breathe, she ordered her lungs to co-operate. She took several slow breaths before shutting her eyes to put herself into something resembling a mediative state. It did enough to calm herself down to at least generate a facade of normality underneath her crushed heart. Compartmentalise, Brennan. She climbed out of her car and walked reluctantly to her office to start what would be a long day.


When Booth reached the Hoover Building he found an email from Angela with some useful forensic evidence from herself and Hodgins, and another from Caroline with leads to follow. He hesitated for a moment before calling his partner, but that's what they were - partners, and it should continue to be the most natural thing in the world for them to work a case together, whatever their entwined personal circumstances. Somehow he needed to work things so she could understand she was the only one for him.

He picked her up from the lab once again, this time to check out the leads they'd been given. Again the car journey was very quiet. Eventually Booth plucked up the courage to speak.

"So, Tessa came over this morning."

"That is of no interest to me," said Brennan, icily.

"She said she saw you. She said you were heading to my apartment like you were on a mission and then when you saw her, you bolted."

"It wasn't me. Tessa must have been mistaken." Brennan lied terribly.

"Oh, maybe she was. Of course, she only met you a few times."

"That is correct. I mean, what would I be doing at six-fifteen AM in your apartment, Booth?"

"I didn't mention what time it was." There was stone cold silence as Brennan realised Booth had called her out. "She was collecting her stuff, Bones. Did you not see her suitcase?"

"What suitcase?"

"The suitcase she had in my hallway. The suitcase she'd packed with all her stuff in it that she'd been keeping in my apartment when we were, um, together."

"Oh."

"She contacted me last night, arranged to come by first thing this morning on her way to court. You wanna see the text?"

"No. That won't be necessary." Brennan looked out the window wishing there was a way she could be swallowed up by an scientifically unlikely but serendipitously passing Tyrannosaurus Rex, or a randomly appearing sinkhole, even though they were not terribly common in the Potomac region.

"Was there something you wanted to tell me this morning, Bones?" Brennan said nothing, preferring to look petulant instead. "Because if there was, Temperance, I would be very ready to listen." She maintained her silence as Booth drove on.

And so, once again, they reached their destination and for the second day running, they slipped into work mode. Suspects and contacts were interviewed. It was all efficient and business-like. Notes were taken. Calls were made. However, all the time, just under the surface, Brennan was thinking. Thinking hard.


A couple of hours later Booth dropped Brennan back at the lab. The journey had been a little lighter. The case had been discussed, next steps agreed. Two clear suspects had emerged, the question was whether they were working together or if only one had committed the crime alone. They had even managed to joke a little. As she got out of the car she looked across at him and for the first time for days, she gave him a look of genuine warmth.

"Booth?" He looked back at her. "I may have been somewhat rash in my assessment of... recent events. May we talk this evening?"

"Sure Bones. Would you like to come to my apartment again tonight? I promise, no unpleasant surprises this time." She paused. If she made any comment that would be an admittance of her placement right outside his apartment that morning, but screw it, she had been there and there was no point in lying anymore.

"OK. That would be good. Thank you Booth."

"Eight-thirty? Gives me time to finish up at the office? I'll cook us something." Brennan said nothing further, but smiled and nodded.

Booth started whistling as he drove off. Suddenly everything seemed better. There was promise in the air.


Showers were taken. Make-up applied and clothes chosen. Last-minute adjustments were made.

Eight-thirty two. A rap on the door. There she is. Booth had gone to town, laying a table with napkins, table cloth, flowers, his best cutlery. Whilst he knew that she would probably tell him that it was all completely unnecessary, he also knew that to win her heart on a more permanent basis, he need to make some grand(ish) gestures this evening and making an effort with dinner was just one of those required.

As he opened the door she was standing quite nervously, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Hi."

"Hi! Won't you come in?" Booth was as welcoming as he could be. He urged her to take off her coat and she handed it to him, hung carefully in his closet. He ushered her into his kitchen-diner.

"Booth, this is completely unnecessary," exclaimed Brennan as she saw the table in front of her.

"I wanted to. I just thought that we could discuss the case... and other stuff, if you wanted to. Look, I made you vegetarian Bolognese. I asked at the whole-foods supermarket and they gave me some tofu mince. He rattled the pot in front of him to emphasise.

"That's very thoughtful, Booth, but what about you?" Booth rattled another pot next to it.

"This is mine, top quality American beef... and there's meat in my Bolognese too, ha!" Brennan rolled her eyes. She understood the innuendo.

Booth served up their food with a side of salad (mainly for Brennan's benefit) and garlic bread. They sat, ate, chatted about the case. Booth made a point not to bring anything up relating to them. When she's ready...

"This is delicious, thank you."

"You are most welcome."

"Booth?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you mean what you said?"

"Said what?"

"After we had intercourse." He paused before looking her straight in the eyes, a smile forming as their gazes locked.

"When I told you I loved you? Yeah. Of course I did. I don't screw around with this stuff, Bones. I think I made myself clear several times over."

"I don't really... know how to deal with this, Booth."

"Don't 'deal' with it, Temperance. Just feel it."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense." He reached across the table and without breaking eye contact, took her hand. She felt herself respond immediately. "What are you feeling right now? Actually, let me rephrase that: what responses is your body giving right this second?"

"My heart rate has increased. My pupils are dilated and I believe I am blushing."

"Good. Anything else?"

"I am releasing hormones associated with my sexual attraction to you, that leave me..." she hesitated for a moment, "...Anticipatory for intercourse."

"All appropriate responses considering our current proximity and recent history. But how do those responses make you feel, Temperance?"

Brennan sighed. If she said what she really felt at that moment, she would be bearing herself to him completely, and the associated pain and distress that went with emotions. But then, what did she really have to lose? A portal had been opened that gave her an opportunity of happiness that if she let herself fall through it. The risk was huge, but through the all the thoughts she had considered in the last couple of days, she was starting to realise that all roads led to the man in front of her.

"I feel..." she looked down at her hand in his once again and they were joined again like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I want to be part of something with you, but I have no idea how."

"I know how to do this, Temperance. You need to worry less about fixed expectations. We can just take a day at a time. We don't have to move in together, or do anything crazy... I just want to be with you, you know?" He stood up and moved around the table, her hand still in his and pulled her up so she was standing in front of him. with his free hand he stroked her cheek. He gazed even further into her eyes. "I love you. And I'm gonna keep saying it."

"I can't say that back to you right now. I don't know what that means. Not yet anyway."

"OK, OK," he chuckled gently. "The point is that we want each other and we can both make that happen. Just let yourself fall and I will catch you, and you do the same and catch me. And maybe at some point in the future you will work out what it means and when that day comes, you will tell me. In the meantime just enjoy the ride."

"I will try, Booth. I am a very quick learner. And I see what you did there. You made a pun of the ride of being in a relationship and our sexual congress."

"That's good enough for me. And yes, that's what I meant," and they grinned at each other.


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