A/N: You lucky sons of guns, getting another chapter not even a week after the last! Do you know why? Because it's Valentine's Day. And I lurve you. And I very very much lurve all thoughtfulness and interest and reviews that were generated by the last few chaps. Except the one that said it was boring. Ahem. Seeley Booth having a near death experience is NOT boring. Seeley Booth having a near death experience is a horrifying, traumatic experience for all womankind. So. Now that we've straightened that out.

Kidding. All are entitled to their opinions, of course. Esp. if their opinions are that B & B are soooooooooo cute and they just can't wait for the brand spanking new post-strike epis that we are gonna get! Yay! And I think that's something we can all agree on;)

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"Temperance." His voice sounded tired. "Haven't you been seeing enough of me lately?"

"I wanted to see you now," she explained simply.

"We could have talked on the phone."

"I suppose. I just thought…" She paused, not quite sure what to say. What was she doing here, miles from home? "I helped you with your publishing questions a few months ago. Now I need help with something that you might have insight about."

Jared gave a tired smile. "Quid pro quo, huh? Alright. Come on in." Standing to the side, he allowed her entrance into his home. And an impressive home it was, for a single man. Everything was expensive wood and rich colors, but to Brennan it felt just a little cold—like it was trying too hard to be perceived as valuable. Much like the man who lived there himself.

She was lead through a massive foyer into a family room that was far too neat to contain an actual family. Right now, it only contained one person: Leah, sitting primly on the leather sofa reading a (what else?) Good Housekeeping magazine. At the sight of their visitor, she was on her feet in a second.

"Temperance…I didn't know that you would be visiting today. How are you? Can I get you something? Coffee? Tea?"

As she had been before, Brennan found herself a little unnerved at Leah's eagerness to please. "Thank you, Leah, but I'm fine."

"Sweetheart, Temperance came to talk about Seeley for a bit. Could you give us some time?" Brennan hadn't told Jared what she was here for, but had apparently intuited her need for privacy. Still, she felt bad when she saw Leah's slightly confused look towards the pair.

"Suuuuure," she drew out, looking a little uncertain. "I just….will be in the kitchen, I guess. Let me know if you need anything…"

Brennan fought the urge to tell the woman to stop worrying so damn much about other people and do something for herself for a change. But she wasn't here to cause trouble, so she gave Leah a tightlipped smile as she exited the room. Jared turned towards her expectantly and gestured towards the sofa where she sat while he took a position in the matching armchair. "What can I do for you? I'm thinking it must be important, for you to have come all this way."

"I suppose." She hesitated a bit, trying to remember why, exactly, she did come all this way. It all seemed very silly at the moment…Booth was mostly out of the woods, despite having a rather lengthy recovery ahead of him, and the pins and needles that everybody had been waiting on had dissipated. But still… "I wanted to talk to you because…you know Booth."

Jared raised his eyebrows. "And you don't?"

"I'm getting to know Booth. More every day. But you have thirty extra years on me, in that department."

He smiled. "Thanks for the reminder of my rapidly advancing age."

Brennan frowned. "That's not what I meant."

"I know. Please go on."

"Do you remember what you told me in the hospital? When I became angry with you the first time you told me I couldn't see Booth."

Jared's face colored slightly. "Don't tell me. Something horrible, right?" Seeing her impassive face, which betrayed nothing, he sighed. "Sorry, Temperance. I wasn't thinking about you then. All I was thinking about was my brother. I never meant you any offense."

"I took offense at the time. You told me not to blame you for the consequences of my personal choices. It felt as though you were implying that I should have seen Booth's accident coming." She saw him begin to speak up in defense, but stopped him. "I know that wasn't your intention. And later, when I thought about it, I realized you were right."

"I was?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes. I had made it very clear to Seeley over the course of our partnership that I didn't believe in marriage. I assumed that he never pressed the issue because of that. And because of my opposition to the principle of marriage, I ignored the practicality of it. Once the dust settled in the wake of all of Booth's accident, I found myself reconsidering."

He looked at her curiously. "You aren't asking for permission to marry my brother, are you?"

"What? No. Ask permission?" She shook her head. "And people wonder why I object to the ritual."

"I'm sorry. I won't interrupt anymore."

"I asked him. I let him know that, after taking into account all the potential inconveniences in keeping our partnership the way it is, I was willing to make our relationship legally binding."

"That's what you told him?"

"Not in exactly those words, but…yes. That's the message I conveyed. And…"

Despite his promise not to interrupt anymore, Jared did just that. "Let me guess. He told you there was no way in hell that he was going to marry you."

Her eyes widened. Now she remembered why she had come to talk to Jared. "That's exactly it. But I didn't find that response as predictable as you obviously did."

Jared chuckled softly. "I suppose you do have some things to learn about Seeley. Didn't he tell you why?"

She sighed. "He told me I knew already. And I would have asked more questions, but I've been trying to not make him talk so much, since it's still difficult for him."

"But if you thought you knew already, you wouldn't be here right now."

Brennan's face scrunched up. "I sort of understand. Almost. Kind of. Not really."

"Tempe. Surely you know that Seeley Booth believes himself to be a man of principle."

"But he believes in marriage."

"Not the kind that you are talking about."

Now she felt more confused than ever. "There's more than one kind? I'm pretty sure there's only one kind."

Jared shook his head ruefully at her. For as much conflict as the two of them had experienced over the past several weeks, he still found her brilliance, in combination with a sweet naivete, to be charming. How could he explain this to her? "Temperance, did Seeley ever tell you the Space Camp story?"

"Yes. The two of you were only able to go if you got perfect marks on your report cards. He got a B in gym because he neglected his athletics, and wasn't allowed to go."

"That's right. That's the way he always tells the story. 'I didn't have perfect grades, so I wasn't allowed to go.' But he always leaves out a part that I think is important."

"What's that?" Brennan asked interestedly.

"Mom was always a pushover for Seeley. He was her baby. She saw how devastated he was; it was him who really wanted to go in the first place. I just thought it would be kind of cool, but it was his dream. Anyway, when we came home and showed our report cards to Mom, she told him that she would talk to Dad about it. He got A's in all the really important subjects, and it wasn't his fault the gym teacher was an ass. Dad was pretty strict about things, but Mom could be persuasive when she wanted to be. If she would have put her mind to it, he would have caved and let Seeley go."

"But he didn't get to go…"

"Exactly. Seeley made Mom swear that she wouldn't try to convince Dad to let him go. He had known what he had to accomplish to get that trip secured. And he didn't reach that goal. He knew that if he went to camp, he'd have a miserable time, because all he'd be thinking about was that he didn't deserve it. He wanted to go, so badly. But not that way. Not because Mom begged Dad to let him have a break. He only wanted to go if he felt that he earned it." Jared stopped.

"Yes, that sounds like Booth," Brennan mused softly. Jared didn't go on, and she looked at him expectantly. "So…what does that have to do with Booth not agreeing to marry me?"

"Because, Temperance, he only wants to marry you if he feels it's the right way, under the right circumstances. He's not going to do it because it's logical, or rational, or practical. Seeley's a man of principle. He's only going to do it if it's for the right reasons. And I can assure you that the reasons you mentioned…to him, those aren't the right ones."

They were both silent for a few moments while Brennan absorbed what Jared was telling her. It wasn't that Booth didn't want to marry her. He wanted her to want to marry him. And thinking it was a good idea wasn't the same as wanting it, in his world. Yes. That sounded like Booth. Noticing her expression, he tried to reassure her. "There are other ways to accomplish the things you are thinking of. I'm sure that as soon as he is well, Seeley will sign over power of attorney to you so that this particular situation doesn't happen again."

"Yes. I know," she said thoughtfully. They had already discussed it.

He looked at her curiously. "This isn't a personal rejection, you know."

"I know that, too."

"Okay. It's just…you look disappointed."

"Yes, well." She smiled a little sadly. "I suppose I'm just not used to him saying no to me anymore." At least not off the job. She still didn't have a weapon approved by the F.B.I.

"Ah. Well. That's not a surprise. The man is stupid in love with you." She couldn't quite decipher the expression on Jared's face. "But that doesn't mean he can't be one stubborn son of a bitch when he really believes in something."

"It's one of the things I admire about him, I guess. Even when it drives me crazy."

Jared studied her, and she didn't truly expect the next words out of his mouth. "I apologize for the way things have been with us in the past few weeks. I think I had lost sight of how important my family is to me, and realizing that in the face of Seeley's accident sort of threw me. My…uh…tendency towards self-absorption prevented me from recognizing that you might have been going through the same process. The fact is, Temperance, ring or no, you are family now. So." He gestured to his surroundings. "Welcome to our dysfunctional little world."

She laughed, a little embarrassed. "Trust me, Jared. You certainly haven't cornered the market on dysfunctional families." Maybe, someday, when they had more time, she would tell him the tale of her outlaw parents and her tumultuous childhood. But right now, she had more important things to accomplish. "We were all going through an emotionally difficult time. Hopefully, come next crisis, we'll be able to cope more efficiently."

"Hopefully there won't be any more crises."

"Touche." She smiled, and stood. "Thanks for your help."

He stood, as well. "That's what you came all this way for? I thought you were going to ask me something hard."

"I think I may have needed the drive to clear my mind."

"Thinking will get you nowhere but trouble, you know."

So she had been told before, but it was one lesson she might never fully learn. Even having more insight about Booth's reaction to her proposal, her mind was still churning. Mostly to understand why, knowing full well that Jared was right and the rejection wasn't personal, her feelings still felt a little hurt.

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She arrived at the hospital early the next morning, before visiting hours began, and found Booth in his room chatting remarkably well with a giggling nurse. "This is nothing," he was telling her. "You should have seen the windshield. That's what you should feel sorry for." The two glanced over when Brennan pushed her way through the door. "Bones," he said, pleased. "You're a sight for sore…everything. Everything is sore."

The nurse laughed again. "You're a trip, Seeley." She patted him lightly on the shoulder. "I'll be back in a few hours to change your bandages and give you your meds, okay?"

"Sounds great, Gracie. Thank you."

"No problem." She walked briskly past Brennan and out the door, closing it behind her, and Brennan watched her before she joined her partner by his bedside.

"Now I see how you are getting all those special privileges," she told him.

"Jealous?"

"About this much." She showed him a space of about an inch between her thumb and forefinger.

"You know that all my special privileges are used to get time with you."

"That's why only that much." She demonstrated the inch again. "Your voice sounds much better today."

"It is. My throat seems to be about the only thing making a speedy recovery."

"I think you are healing remarkably fast."

"Maybe. But I'm ready to get out of this bed."

"Booth. You can't even sit up without help right now."

"Well. I shoot for the stars." She smiled at him. "I missed you yesterday afternoon and evening."

"I'm sorry." She pulled up the chair next to his bed. "I had something I needed to accomplish."

"Come in here with me," he told her, gesturing to the miniscule space beside him on the bed.

"There's not enough room. And I'll hurt you."

"It'll only hurt for a second. I want you in here."

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"Bones." His head tilted and he looked at her critically. "Are you pouting?"

"What? No!" She exclaimed, just a little too indignantly.

"I think you are. I think you are pouting because I said no to you."

"Well," she responded sulkily, "you weren't very nice about it."

"Sorry, Bones. I don't respond very well to pity proposals."

"It wasn't a pity proposal. It was a well-thought-out, rational choice."

"Please stop with all the romance. It's going to make my teeth rot." He couldn't quite manage a full-out grin on his still-healing face, but he made a quirky smile.

"Stop making fun of me."

"Okay. But stop being a baby. Come here. You know I love you." He held the covers up beside him. After scowling at him for just a second, she relented, insinuating herself one limb at a time, as gently as possible, next to his body. It took some work to get his arm around her and he winced in pain a few times, but kept a brave face when she looked at him concernedly. When all was said and done, she was finally snuggled next to her partner the way she had been longing to be for weeks on end. "See? Isn't that nice?"

It was. Almost unbearably so. It was a struggle not to squeeze him too tight, not to bury her face into his skin and eagerly inhale him, not to wrap her legs around him so that he couldn't get away. As if he could get very far right now. "Yes."

"Best medicine I've gotten since I came to this place." He gently kissed the top of her head.

"Booth? Do you think you missed out on anything by not going to Space Camp?"

She felt his lips still on the top of her head. "Now what made you think of that?"

"I was talking to Jared."

"Was he gloating because he got to go and I didn't?"

"No."

"Hmm. Well. I suppose if I would have gone, I would have had new experiences and learned new things about the world and myself. But…no use having regrets. It wasn't meant to be."

But it could have been, she thought. Just not the way you wanted it. Stubborn son of a…. She stopped short of reflecting Jared's words.

"Hey Bones. Have you thought about me in the past couple weeks?"

She looked up at him disbelievingly. "What kind of question is that? Of course I've thought about you. It's been hard to think about anything else."

"No, not like that. I mean…have you thought about me." The suggestive note wasn't lost on her.

She had to suppress a laugh. "Booth, I've been concerned with your recovery after a major accident and major surgery. Sex hasn't been first and foremost on my mind. Believe it or not."

"Ah. Too bad."

Shaking her head, she replied, "Why? You ready to start swinging from the chandeliers?"

"No. But it hasn't been so long that I've forgotten how good it makes me feel to make you feel good. Besides. I was thinking that we could use this opportunity to our advantage."

"I fail to see how anything about your current condition could be an advantage to our sex life."

"Well maybe…." His lips lowered to her ear and she shivered lightly at the breath that was blown across her… "Maybe this gives us an opportunity to do a little bit of time travel."

"What are you talking about? You know very well that time travel is physically imposs…"

"How about you let me recall a little memory I have. With a few adjustments that I thought of in my spare time, lying here all day. And you can feel free to do whatever feels natural."

She settled back in his arms, curious to see where he'd take this. And just a little amused that even with a broken body, these were the things that occupied her partner's mind. "Okay. Will I share this memory?"

"Maybe. It's of the first day we met." Well this could be interesting. "Do you remember?"

"Yes. You made me watch that horrible video with all the F.B.I. cadets."

"I didn't make you. You hadn't had experience handling evidence according to F.B.I. protocol, so you needed to watch the procedural video with everyone else. That's just standard practice. As I recall, I only stayed with you to be nice. I thought it would be a friendly gesture to someone I was being forced to work with."

"Fine. Go on."

"You came into the J.E.H. building and I don't think you even noticed everyone staring at you. We don't see women who look like you walk through our doors very often. I knew you from your books. I walked up and introduced myself. Told you who I was, that I would be your liaison for the F.B.I. That I was looking forward to working with you. Do you remember what you said?"

"No."

"You asked me, 'Why do I have to be here?' Those were the first words out of your mouth to me."

"Oh. Sorry. I was probably busy."

"Yeah, probably. But you looked at me, up and down. I could read that look. Part of it was sizing me up, trying to decide if you could bully me into getting what you wanted, if I would cave under your brusqueness. But I caught something else. You were also looking at me like a woman looks at a man, when she's figuring out whether or not he's worth her time."

"Are you insinuating that I was attracted to you from the first moment I met you?"

"I'm insinuating that when I saw that look, that's what I hoped it was. Because that was the first time that I started to fantasize about you."

That gave her a chill. "Oh really?"

"I promised the video wouldn't be too long, and I offered to stay and watch it with you. You looked disappointed. I think you were hoping you could skip out on it. But I was going to make it worth your while."

"I don't remember it being worth my while."

"That's where the time travel comes in. Give me a minute."

"Ah."

"There were those long desks, filled with rows of cadets in uniform, and then there was you and me. I led you to the last row, where there was no one else, just in case you had been noticing the guys ogling you and it bothered you. That, and I wanted to be the only one ogling you. I sat close to you. I didn't even realize it, I don't think, but I was testing you seeing how close you'd let me get. And you didn't back away. Not one bit."

"I couldn't let you know that you were getting to me."

"Of course not. The lights dimmed, and the film began. The material of my suit was brushing your clothes. I could feel how warm you were, underneath. I wanted to feel more of it. I knew there was more than that distant, dismissive exterior. I was going to inside of it."

"And how exactly were you going to do that, Agent Booth?"

"You're the one who gave me the opening. You were writing something in your notebook—something completely unrelated from the film we were watching, I'm sure—and you dropped your pen."

"You picked it up and gave it back to me."

"Yes. But that's where, in my mind, I start to change history. I told you I'd get it, and you looked at me with those ice-cold eyes. I leaned down, under the table, and saw your legs…they seemed to go on for miles, and were so perfectly smooth-looking. It didn't look like you were wearing pantyhose, and the skirt you had on barely covered your knees. I decided you must be torturing me."

"You thought I was dressing for your benefit? That's a little presumptuous."

"Maybe. But I couldn't resist testing more. I picked that pen off the floor and started straightening up. But I did it slow. And I ran the outside of my little finger from your ankle, to your calf, up to the inside of your knee. When I got up, I offered you the pen and looked straight into your eyes. And you studied me. Probably trying to decide if I did it on purpose or not, and if principle required that you punch me in the face. I could hear your breathing. It was just a little faster. I was getting to you."

He was getting to her. Something about his voice, still a little gravelly in his recovery. Her breathing increased in time with his words.

"You decided not to punch me. In fact, you thanked me, softly, while you took the pen back. And it gave me the balls to do what I did next."

:"Which was?" She asked breathily.

"Under the table, I put my hand on your knee, right where your skirt ended. I felt you jump and gasp, just a little bit. Maybe you thought about getting up, pushing me away. But you didn't, and you hesitated, and that's when I knew that you weren't going to stop me. You were going to let me do what I had to do. God, your skin was so soft right there, Temperance. I rubbed it, lightly, pushing the hem of your skirt up just a little inch."

Her hand went instinctively to the skin of her thighs. "In that room, with all those people? That's very, very bad of you."

"But it was keeping you quiet. And you weren't complaining. In fact, you opened up your legs for me. Just a little. I took that invitation, trailing my fingertips up over the top of your leg, then along the inside of your thigh. My hand was getting hotter and hotter. I had never been so hard in my life. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw you glance over at me, your eyes saying 'How far are you really going to take this, Agent Booth?' But I stayed staring straight ahead at that damn movie that I had seen a hundred times, and you had never seen because you were too stubborn to think it was important. But this was more important."

Now, she was really starting to feel the fact that she hadn't been sexual in any way, shape, or form in the past month. It had been the last thing on her mind. But now….

"Don't think I wasn't being affected. I was. I was aroused, and I was terrified. Imagine, being caught feeling up my new partner in a public place. It could ruin me. I was aware of every chance I was taking and it didn't matter. Especially not when you took my hand in yours and moved it up even further. Your inner thighs were as soft as goddamn flower petals, and suddenly I didn't even know where we were anymore. We might as well have been in some shady porno theater, and all that mattered was getting my hand into your panties."

"You sure I was wearing panties?"

She was gratified to hear his sharp breath. "Of course you were. What kind of a woman wouldn't wear panties on her first trip to meet her partner?"

She smiled lightly. "Just checking."

"They are silky. My little finger gets there first, pressing just a little, and you make a little noise in the back of your throat. I'm surprised the material there hasn't caught fire, it's so hot. Maybe it's because they are so wet. I can feel how damp you are, and I want to get my fingers in that wetness, bring it to my lips and taste it."

A moan left her lips now, and she knew what he had meant when he had told her to do whatever felt natural. Right now it felt that the only thing left to do in the universe was bury her face into his neck and bury her hand in her crotch.

"I draw my finger up and over you…soft, soft, soft, and then I find it, that hard little bud that has just got to be throbbing by now, screaming for me because you can't. I run my fingernail up and down over the silk there, tickling, teasing, making you jerk a little. I can smell you, all perfume and sex, and you are letting me touch you like this because you want me too, I know you do, I knew I couldn't be as hot for this by myself. When I take my hand away you practically hiss, but you don't have to worry, I haven't gotten enough yet. I use my thumb to push that ridiculous scrap of material aside, and there we go…bare skin, lush, soft, swollen for me, and I'm like a greedy little boy. My middle finger slides inside of you, hard, and I see your eyes slam shut while your hips arch under the desk. Thank God for that desk. If anybody saw…but they didn't, their eyes are all glazed over as they watch the film, having no idea that I'm behind them trying my damndest to get my new partner to come on my fingers."

She was rubbing herself more frantically now in the hospital bed, wishing desperately that it was his fingers pleasuring her. His fingers, or better yet…

"You're doing pretty good at being quiet, but I have to move slow so those wet sounds of my fingers in you don't drift to the others. I rub the heel of my hand against your clit while I fill you with my finger. You're grinding against me, and your hand on the desk is squeezing that pen like you are trying to strangle it. You had asked me why you had to be here today? This is why. Because you need this too. You need it bad."

"I need you," she agreed, mumbling, practically lost to everything in the room and everything else that was happening. There was her, in his arms, and nothing else.

"You are so fucking hot. I knew it, the second I saw you. I knew there'd be something with us. You're squeezing my fingers. Your eyes are slammed shut. I move my fingers faster. It's driving me crazy. It's driving you crazy. I'm about ready to say fuck all these people, and throw you on the desk, to hell with being quiet, being private. My hand feels like it's on fire…it feels like it's going to explode along with you…God I want you to…

And she didn't let him continue because she lost it against her own hand. Whimpering, her body spasmed and she bucked, with what was left in her consciousness trying hard not to jar his body too much in the process. He pressed his lips against her hair as she came, riding it out with her, pulling strength from his continuing ability to affect her this way, even as he lay there mostly helpless. Although, if anyone were to walk in right now and interrupt them, he might just get up from the bed and kill them, broken bones or no.

"That's my girl," he whispered. "Did you like how I changed the story? I rather like the additions, myself."

"Hmm?" she asked, thickly, her muddled mind wrapping around his words again.

"The story."

It took her a second to realize that somewhere along the way, she had stopped listening to the words of his narrative. They didn't seem important. There was his voice…his scent….his skin….his body….and all of it had wrapped around her and made her love him and turned her on and gave her the most incredible sense of satisfaction and peace. What was wrong with her? Never before had she been so unable to distinguish between love and lust and intimacy and commitment. It was all a tangled ball of feeling. It felt scary. It felt right.

"You didn't even let me finish it."

"Sorry. Was the end important?"

"Yeah, the most important part was coming up."

"What was that?"

"That we fell in love. And lived happily ever after."

She laughed a little breathlessly. "From such humble beginnings…" He smiled back at her. "Nobody told me that happily ever after was going to include near-death experiences and having my marriage proposal shot down."

"That's really bothering you, isn't it?"

"Your near-death experience? Yes. Yes, it bothered me just a little."

"You know what I mean." She shrugged. "You know why I had to do that, right?"

"Because you don't believe that legal, social, and economic stability alone is a legitimate reason to marry."

"No. I had to say no because you do believe that."

She looked upwards at him curiously. "Alright, then. What do you believe?"

He was quiet for a moment before answering. "I believe that we make our own meaning of things, Bones. Believing in things makes them true…not in the world at large, but for us. And I would much rather be in a relationship with you that you believe is based on love and trust and choice, than a marriage that you believe is based on something as practical as legal stability. Like it or not, what we are together or what we feel for each other isn't practical or logical or rational. Pretending like it is…" He shrugged… "pretending like it is takes the magic away."

"So you want me to believe in magic?"

"No. I want you to believe whatever you believe. But I want you to let me believe in magic."

As she laid in his arms, she contemplated this. And she wondered, not for the first time, what a person who didn't believe in magic was supposed to do when she was continually confronted with a love that defied logic.

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A/N: Next chap will have more of Booth's thoughts and motivations, promise. But aren't you glad that this one doesn't end with you wanting to torch my house? Well, everybody except for Goldpiece. She's prob. is like "Whatevs. Get back to the angst, ya big fluffy baby." The Jared heart-to-heart is for her, btw. Always interested in people's reactions to that guy. And likes always, thanks to KJ, my bff/looker-over/missing piece of my puzzle.

Next up: V-Day Edition of Happy Holidays by NekkidBoothInc! And a particularly amusing Scene from a Hat. Loves!