Hello my amazing readers x

Here is the next chapter (NB: It is a split of one big chapter - originally Chapter 11 was a part of it too, but I thought that the chapter would have been too big, and would have dragged on) You will get the next chapter once editing has progressed xx.

I'm a little discouraged though: I was flipping through the story archives - (as you do) only to discover that a writer named slcswimmer14, published a story yesterday (12/09/2011), and in it,copied my scene from chapter 8, when Booth and Brennan fight in the rain, at the winery. ? I'm a bit hurt. Why anyone would copy the work of a school student is beneath me. ?

Anyway, thank you all of those who support my work; this is still my first fanfic, and you have all been so supportive with your kind words. favourites and alerts!

Xx G

10. Little Details

Brennan let herself onto the platform with a swift swipe of her card.

"Dr Brennan," Clarke nodded his head upon seeing his mentor. "We haven't made any other prominent discoveries apart from the obvious head wound. I am-"

"It's alright, Clarke," Brennan assured her worried student, cutting off what sounded like a rushed apology. Pulling on a pair of disposable gloves, she moved to the slab. "It's only been a night, and I should have been here to help you. Have you found anything else, though?"

Clarke, surprised by the usually abrasive - but today patient - Dr Brennan, could only manage a slight nod.

"What did you find?" she encouraged, motioning with her hand for him to share. Her student picked up a tibia and began to explain the childhood trauma apparent in an old healing.

Hodgins, whom had witnessed Brennan's entrance from his position in the corner, tried to tame his eyebrows from their skywards position.

"I have some particulates that Clarke found...I need to analyse them. I'll be back with results," Hodgins then announced, nodding his head once Clarke's direction.

Brennan expressed no issue with that.

The ecstatic man very nearly skipped to his wife's office.

"Have you seen Brennan this morning?" he exclaimed breathlessly to his love, who was punching numbers into a program.

Angela looked up. "Bren is back?"

"Ye-heah...You should go and see her. Something has happened." Hodgins inhaled, exhaled.

His wife furrowed her brows worriedly. "What's the matter? Is she okay?"

Hodgins shrugged. "N-nothing is wrong..."

"Honey...you're confusing me."

"It's okay...it's nothing bad. Just talk to her; I can't."

Angela sat down he touch pad and strode past him, all the while giving him a strange glance, a certain matter of urgency probing at her.

After clarifying with all the found evidence, Brennan collected her notes and started off to her office to record them digitally. She started when she entered, upon seeing Angela sitting expectantly in her guest chair, arms folded over her baby-torso.

"Bren."

"Nice to see you too, Ange," Brennan chuckled, setting down her notes. "What do you want?"

"Can't we have chats anymore?" Angela seemed offended.

Her friend shrugged. "Of course we can have 'chats'...it's just that, you have that look on your face."

"What look?" she asked, standing up, then, adding as an afterthought, she said permissibly, "since when do you read 'looks'?"

"Since now. I am getting better."

Angela laughed. "Alright. Fine. What happened yesterday? You didn't come home."

"Ange-"

"Je veux savoir," Angela purred " I want to know."

Brennan shook her head, but not as a refusal. She had to smile at her friend's effort to use French with her.

"Angela."

"Yes."

"You know that I love you. Like a sister."

"Yes?"

"I can't...I won't really tell you anything that I feel I shouldn't, because that could be breaching his confidence in me, and things are that far along-"

"Oh. My god!" her best friend interrupted, ignoring the slight scowl she received. "You slept with him? Sweetie, that's amazing-"

In turn, Brennan interrupted her friend. "I didn't sleep with him."

The artist's pretty face fell. "Oh."

"Although he wanted to," Brennan revealed, a small smile creeping at the corners of her mouth. "I wanted to. But I told him that it wasn't the right place or time." Her face lost the hint of a smile, and it was replaced with a deep, calm restraint.

"When was this?"

"When the storm had started. Around eight or nine. We fought, in the rain." Brennan's eyes glazed over.

"Then what happened?" Angela gasped, still trying to grasp the concept of the two fighting in the rain. The sexual tension. The heated retorts. It would have made an epic movie scene.

"He kissed me. I kissed him back." Brennan blushed and dipped her head.

Angela gaped openly.

"You don't have to say anymore, sweetie, even though I would love to hear more," she told her friend, who was so clearly flushing at the very memory of moments that she, Angela, knew she would never hear. But that was alright. "Did it feel right, though?" she asked in addition, already knowing the answer, but also aware that it would help Brennan, if she confirmed it aloud herself.

"Yes. I mean, there are still complications and things that need to be discussed and visited...but it felt correct. I woke up next someone before they ran away, or I did. I just wish that I had stayed in bed long enough for him to wake up with me in his arms."

"Don't worry," Angela breathed, grasping Brennan's hand and giving it a supportive squeeze. "There will be plenty of those. I promise you; you have all the time in the world."

Although a logical answer crept into her mind about how much time she theoretically had, Brennan mouthed a thankyou to her friend, and embraced her instead.

-~B&B~-

Brennan woke the next morning, feeling the loss of not having his strong arms around her. For a moment longer, she pinched her eyes closed and imagined. Dreamed. He was with her, securely holding her in place, and settling her wildly thrashing heart with the consistent, steady beat of his own. His body heat sent a flush through her entire being.

She became lost in the not-so-alternate-reality, but was pulled away by the angry snooze alarm. Huffing, she stumbled out of bed and slipped under the shower briefly, hastily washing her hair, leaving conditioner a minute lesser than usual, and then rinsing that out too.

Ten minutes later, upon stepping out of the shower and drying herself, she twirled a towel around her hair, put on underwear for the day, and added her white bath robe in addition. It saw fit as the perfect breakfast apparel.

While the tea brew settled in its glass kettle, she sought about in her cupboard for her muesli. Upon finding it, she added her milk, and guiltily, a teaspoon of raw sugar. Feeling like she had committed the biggest crime in the world, she sheepishly shovelled in mouthfuls of her sweetened cereal preference between sips of tea. Emptying her bowl, running it under the tap, and stowing it an the spoon in her dishwasher, she left her tea on the bench and disappeared to her walk-in robe, dressing in a cooler apparel, given that the day was going to be an even temperature. Staring pitifully at her near-full tea cup when she returned, Brennan took another gulp and discarded the remnants down the sink, just as a loud knock sounded on the door.

Walking over to the entrance - silently cursing for not having brushed her teeth yet - she opened it swiftly upon reaching it.

"Hey Bones," Booth greeted brightly, stepping past her.

"Good morning Booth," she said in reply, closing the door behind them and following him to the kitchen bench.

"Why so formal?" he asked suddenly, setting down a paper bag.

"I...never mind." She stared into the depths of his eyes. Hardly thinking, she crossed the distance between them and met his mouth with parted lips. Although this clearly hadn't been the reply that he had expected, she felt him smile beneath her own mouth, and they relaxed against each other for a split moment, before Brennan abruptly pulled away.

"I haven't brushed my teeth," she quickly explained, covering her mouth in embarrassment. "I'm sorry." She silently wondered whether he would grasp that she was sorry about kissing him so suddenly, or self conscious about her unwashed mouth.

"Didn't seem to bother me any," he answered, grinning. Stepping back, and opening the paper bag, he looked up for a moment. "What happened to taking things slowly?"

"I'm sorry that I overstepped the reasonable boundaries, but the decision I made yesterday, was yesterday. I do stand by it, but..."

"But what...? What has changed?" Although his question was probably meant to sound serious, his eyes portrayed his light mood. He dropped his hands from the bag, and they hung by his sides.

"Yesterday I didn't wake up alone." She shuffled on her feet, but didn't look down at them.

"Didn't you like it?" he asked tenderly, brushing the length of her face, as he had done the day before in the car. He had stepped closer again, and his presence was overpowering. "Didn't you like waking up alone?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes, biting down on a grin. She felt his warm lips press against her cheek, and her heart fluttered at hummingbird speed. She was sure that he had heard it.

Almost as if he could read her thoughts – though that notion was impossible, she reminded herself – he chuckled, and throatily murmured, "I might not be able to read your mind, but I can read your pulse." He kissed her cheek again, lingering.

She sighed very heavily. "Okay, stop. Really." Almost giggling, she pushed him away. "I have to brush my teeth. We can't do this. It's bad."

Booth lifted his shoulders incredulously. "It's not bad at all. It's perfectly normal."

"No, it's not. Friends first, remember?"

"You kissed me first. You started it." He took another step back. "I will honour your request, though."

Brennan looked at him a moment, mouth twisted as she tried to hold in a smile, before walking swiftly to her room. When she came back, mouth freshened and sweet, she discovered him eating a egg and bacon muffin one-handed, with a coffee in the other.

"I got one for you too," he told her between mouthfuls.

"Booth, that's sweet, but you know that I don't eat-"

"I meant the coffee, Bones." He beamed. "No sugar. Latte. Just the way you like it. I figured that you would have already had a muesli of some sort."

Brennan looked culpable as she took one of the disposable cups, and pressed her lips to the white lid thoughtfully.

"What's that look for?" he asked, not missing a thing.

"I have a confession."

He face dropped. She sounded horribly guilty. What was it?

"I put sugar on my breakfast this morning," Brennan confessed hastily, looking away. "There. I said it. I won't do it again."

Booth snorted.

She looked at him, stunned. "Why are you laughing?"

He couldn't steady his laughs; she looked so seriously guilty, and now, surprised. The facial expression was hilarious.

"B-Bones," he gasped, setting down his breakfast. "Y-you. Wow. Ha."

Brennan frowned. "You're not making any sense."

The hand that he had had clasped around his warm coffee cup, reached out and gently smoothed her frown line.

"I missed this," he said, with an even quieter tone.

"What is 'this'?"

"Everything. You. Us."

She smiled at his simple answer, and sipped her coffee. "I did too."

:) Xx

Next chapter soon: pinky-promise!

Thank you, readers, again, for your reviews - I love reveiving them, and you encourage me to keep on writing. Support does the world of wonders.