A/N: Any guesses where the inspiration for this one came from? It's a long, well a longer one, and it's also the last chapter. Thanks for reading everybody!

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I created this hell for myself, now I have to live in it. I am still not sure what possessed me to make me think I could do this without losing a little bit, OK, a lot, of my dignity. Now I am laying here, feeling miserable, hoping she doesn't call me on my . . . indiscretion that is pressed up against her bare hip.

I was so wrapped up in the lies that I told, and the justifications that I made, that it was the truth to me. She was just my partner. There is no reason I shouldn't be able to offer a little bit of my spare body heat to keep my partner from freezing to death. Why should I feel guilty about that? Aside from the fact that my body presently wasn't really offering that much warmth. All of my blood flow has been redirected to another region of my body. I don't think she has noticed what this situation was doing to me, not yet anyway.

The rental car had broke down miles from our destination. None of this would have happened if it wasn't so damned cold out in the first place. Global warming, right, not in Minnesota, in January. She blamed it on me, of course, for picking out the wrong car, and chose to ignore the more logical explanation. The temperature had been hovering all day on the wrong side of zero, and only getting colder as night fell. She was right about the car being a piece of junk. The fuel line froze up solid, leaving us parked on the shoulder of a deserted dirt road. And, as expected, when your car gives up on a deserted dirt road, the cell phones don't work either. We were stuck. We could have died out there.

So, this was a better choice than death, right? A cabin, unfortunately, a cabin with no working furnace, but it did have a fireplace, and that's what we needed, a fire. A fire would feel great after the mile long hike through snow and ice and freezing rain that stung as the frozen crystals pelted our faces. It would warm us right up, get our limbs working again, and dry out our crispy, frozen clothing. A fire would be great, if there was dry wood, or matches.

Bones was pale and shivering. Her hair was tangled with sleet and ice pellets, and everything she was wearing was soaking wet. She stopped harassing me about my mistakes and my lack of respect for the elements half way to the cabin. That's when I started to worry about her. I watched her staring at the empty fireplace, and saw her blue lips quivering. She was bouncing in place stiffly, trying to create some body heat out of nothing.

I searched the nearly empty cabin for whatever I could find that would help our situation. I found clean sheets and blankets, some towels, and a down filled comforter that's cleanliness was questionable. At this point, the need for warmth surpassed my fear of microscopic organisms and who knew what else that may have been taking up residence in it. I gave the bare mattress on the bed a few good whacks to check out it's dust content, and quickly covered it with a sheet, coughing at the dust particles thickening the air.

"Come on, Bones. You need to get out of those wet clothes." I dragged her by the hand to the bed, where I started removing the cold frozen layers one by one.

"Bbbooth. Just ggive me a bbblanket. I'll be fffine."

"Then your clothes will thaw out onto the blanket, and you will just have one more cold, wet layer on." I looked at her coat as I pulled it off her. "You did know that we were going to be in Minnesota and not Florida, right?" I threw the flimsy coat on the floor, and quickly rid her of her boots, followed by her pants and socks, and then her sweater. Her skin was freezing cold to the touch and covered with chill bumps. I made a last ditch effort to have her remove her underwear herself. I hoped it come through as calm and jokey, not pleading and desperate. "Come on, Bones, off with the rest of it, and into bed." I was finding myself completely spell bound, at the most inappropriate of times. Although I had the best of intentions, and I knew what I was doing was necessary, a little voice in the back of my mind was screaming that it was crossing a line. This was too much of what I wanted, and not enough of her willingly consenting.

I was pretty sure as I said it that her frozen fingers and limbs would not comply. I don't even think she processed my request. She stood there practically naked, shivering violently. In a determined haste, I hooked my thumbs in the sides of her panties, and pulled them down to her ankles, lifting her feet one at a time to help her step out of them. I reached behind her and unfastened her bra, dragging it down her arms, and tossing it into the wet pile. I guided her down onto the mattress, and she immediately turned to her side and curled up in a ball. I piled on the dry blankets and towels and topped it off with the comforter. She buried her face under the covers, breathing in the warmth, but tremors were still racking her body.

I stood there for a moment, having an internal debate over my motives. Was I considering this because her body temperature was dangerously low, and sharing some of my body's heat could help warm her faster, or did I just want to have a damn good excuse to feel her naked body pressed against mine. As I was undressing, I figured that since I was standing here thinking about her naked body, it was more than likely a little bit of both. I thought to myself, as I slid in bed next to her, and wrapped my arms around her, that I was definitely going to hell for this.

I pulled her trembling body tightly against me, her back held tightly against my chest. I curved my body around hers. The top of her head fit perfectly under my chin, her cheek resting against my shoulder. Every nerve ending was responding to her being so close, invading all of my senses. Something that felt this good, had to be a sin.

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7. When I start to believe my own excuses and justifications, it makes me forget that it is a sin to lie, even if it is yourself you are lying to.