One chap to go after this! Thank you for all the reviews, I was blown away at the support for the last chapter! Keep them coming, I love to hear back from people.

Booth heard the front door open and slam shut, and quickly glanced towards the garage door, expecting that Brennan would have come to visit him.

His instincts proved right, as he saw her standing dead still in the entrance. The setting sun framed her body, and normally he would have only had eyes for how beautiful she was. But at that moment, he was more concerned with the deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face.

"Hey, Bones. How was shopping?" He asked cheerfully, a little worried at the fact that she hadn't blinked in over a minute.

She jumped at his voice. "Yes, fine," she said, the tone of her voice off. "Um."
And with that, she turned and bolted from the garage.

Booth looked after her in bewilderment, before turning to his brother and father. "What the hell was that?"

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Brennan immersed herself in the familiar process of preparing Mac and Cheese, thankful for the reprieve from her dizzying thoughts. For the first time in her life, her analytical skills were failing to discern a rational explanation for the way she was feeling – and that scared the hell out of her.

She heard footsteps behind her, alerting her to the presence of someone else in the kitchen. She took a deep breath and continued stirring.

"Bones."

She stopped stirring.

"Hi, Booth." Brennan left the pot and moved to where the plates were kept, busying herself by collecting crockery and cutlery, suddenly cursing the simplicity of her chosen meal.

"You need help?" he asked, jumping up to sit on the bench next to her.

Brennan shook her head. "It's Mac and Cheese, Booth, not gourmet Italian. I think I can handle it." Her voice emerged harsher than she intended.

Booth observed her for a moment, noticing the way she was rushing around and refusing to meet his eyes. He tried to pinpoint why her actions seemed so familiar.

"Did you pick up any awesome bargains?" he asked brightly.

Brennan returned to stirring. "No. Lexie forced me to buy this," she touched the necklace sitting on her chest. "But that's about it."
He waited for some logical reason that Boxing Day sales weren't really discounts, or for her to begin a rant about the expectation for women to enjoy shopping. He had heard both before, and was even more surprised when he didn't get a rerun.

"Are you OK?" He asked bluntly.

She flinched. "Fine." She hunched her shoulders, completely blocking him out.

Something clicked in Booth's mind. Last night, after he had realised… how he felt about her, he had been unable to make eye contact, unable to remember how to hold a normal conversation with her.

Was it possible that Brennan had come to a similar conclusion?

Stunned and slightly hopeful, Booth simply watched as she continued to cook.

As she began running water into the sink, Booth snapped to his senses. This could be his chance to put things right.

"Hey, uh, Bones?" He cleared his throat nervously.

"Mmm?" she replied.

"D'you… do you remember when I, uh, told you about the line? Between co-workers?"
Brennan froze, suddenly feeling like she was trying to breathe underwater. "I… yes. After Epps."

Booth took a shuddering breath. "Well, I was thinking…" he jumped lightly off the bench and stood behind where Brennan clutched at the edges of the sink. "Maybe, if it's right… that line doesn't have to exist."

Brennan's hands slipped from the sides of the sink, plunging into the shallow water and grazing her knuckles over a sharp knife. "Ah! Ouch," she exclaimed, yanking her hand out of the water while the other reached for paper towel.

Launching in to action, Booth quickly snatched the paper towel from her grip and ripped off a section, taking her injured hand in his and wrapping the towel tightly around it. It was the first time that night that she had actually faced him.

He looked up to meet her eyes.

"OK?" he asked softly. She nodded, trembling a little. He rubbed the back of her hand gently. Slowly, Brennan lifted her face to meet his eyes.

In that moment, Booth knew that everything would be all right. She was terrified, confused, worried… he could read all that a second. And he knew that she was going to have to take the lead now, because if he pushed it any further, she would run in the other direction. But maybe, if he just waited, she would come to him.

Just for now, he was going to have to be the guy patching up her wounds and waiting for her to work out what it was she needed.

What she wanted.

Brennan withdrew her hand from Booth's, left reeling at their moment of silent communication. She felt like an idiot, treating Booth like he was contagious just because she had some sort of epiphany. Looking into his eyes, she just saw the same old Booth – rescuing her from one danger or another. In this case, the evils of kitchen utensils.

Brennan gestured to the pot simmering on the oven. "Do you mind?"

Booth shook his head. "I'll sort it out. Go ask Jared to patch that up for you, he's got some first aid training."

Brennan nodded and exited the kitchen, leaving Booth to serve the meal and clean where her blood had spilled on the floor.

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"Well, I've got to say it – and you know how much I hate admitting this – Seeley was right. This is the best Mac and Cheese I've ever tasted." Jared said with finality, throwing his serviette down on his plate. Allison rolled her eyes at his dramatics.

"You'd better enjoy it," Mike said. "Tempe bled over this."
They all chuckled, sending Brennan red. "It's Seeley's fault. He distracted me."

Allison's eyes glittered mischievously as she looked to her son. He frowned warningly.

"Why don't we clean up?" Shelly offered, poking her husband.

Brennan began to object. "I can -."

"Nope," Booth said, shaking his head at her. "You cooked. You don't clean. And anyway," he smiled at her bandaged hand. "I'd like to see you washing dishes with that."

Brennan scowled.

"Come on," Booth said, pulling out her chair. "Let's go watch Finding Nemo with the kids."
Brennan's eyebrows knitted together. "Who's Nemo? Why is he lost?"
Booth rolled his eyes. "It's a Disney movie about talking fish, and if you dare analyse it…" He escorted her through to the lounge where the three kids were already lying on the floor, waiting for the film to start. Booth pressed play before joining Brennan on the couch.

He found it surprisingly easy to act like everything was normal between them. With his arm slung along the back of the couch and Brennan sitting closer to him than perhaps necessary, Booth realised that they had been pretending for a long time. They were well practised at acting like there was nothing more than friendship between them.

Booth shook his head. Enough. Just enjoy the movie, he told himself sternly.

"This is ridiculous!" Brennan whispered, leaning over to him. "How are children expected to develop an accurate understanding of the world if-."

Booth promptly cut her off by wrapping his arm around her and clamping his hand over her mouth. "Shh. Just enjoy."

He left his hand there until the shock receded from her eyes and was replaced by annoyance. With a smirk, he moved his hand from her mouth to her shoulder, scooting closer to her so that she fit perfectly under his arm.

Brennan almost sighed with relief. They could still be normal.

She snuggled subtly against Booth's side, finding a comfortable position in which to enjoy the ridiculous movie.

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"… and they all lived happily ever after," Brennan finished, closing the book and resting it on the bedside table. Lexie had begged her to read Cinderella before they went to sleep – despite the fact that it was way past the children's bedtimes – and the boys had for some reason decided that they wanted to listen too.

The three children huddled in the double bed that the twins had been sharing, sleepily listening to the end of the story.

Brennan couldn't hold back a smile at the peaceful children. She had grown quite fond of the three of them over the last few days.

"Tempe," Ben said huskily. Brennan stood up and walked to his side of the bed.

"What is it, Ben?" She asked, smoothing the blankets over him.

"Are you and Uncle Seeley going to get married like Prince Charming and Cinderella?"

Brennan blinked. "Uh, no, Ben. Your uncle and I – I mean…" she trailed off helplessly.

"Do you love my uncle?" he continued sleepily.

Brennan bit her lip. "Yes," she whispered.

"And he loves you," James added from next to Ben, suddenly awake.

"So why don't you get married?" Ben finished.

Brennan forced a smile. "Goodnight."

She shut the door quietly behind her, leaning heavily on the frame as she considered the wisdom of 6-year-olds.