A/N: Thanks to everyone who has left a review! Just so we're all clear: Booth and Bones are no longer blaming each other. Bygones are bygones and they are trying to rebuild their friendship (several reviewers seem quite concerned about this point). All characters you recognize belong to Hart Hanson and Kathy Reichs, all others belong to me :)
Chapter 13: Disease in the Nursery Part 2
Booth cautiously entered the large bathroom. Bones was standing in front of the counter, the bottle of somewhat slimy pink lotion sitting open in front of her. She had put on a pair of plain, loose blue pajama pants and held a towel up to cover her front, her arms crossed under her breasts, making them more pronounced than he suspected she realized. He couldn't help but stop and stare for a minute.
He felt a bit lecherous, but, despite the angry red spots coating her normally smooth skin, he found her back…well, sexy, for lack of a better word. It showed off the simplicity and beauty of her figure better than he would have expected. He wanted to caress it, feeling all of the easy curves and warm skin under his hands. The gentle flair of her hips and the roundness of her backside had always been his favorite things to admire as they worked together. A lot of times they had been the only things he could admire for any length of time.
Reminding himself that she was sick and their daughter was asleep in the next room, he pushed back his more lascivious thoughts and focused on the task at hand. As he picked up the bottle and the cotton ball she had been using as an applicator, he got a good look at her face in the mirror. Where there were once bright red pockmarks, now there were pale pink blotches. He tried really hard, but he couldn't contain a deep belly laugh at the polka-dotted sight of the great Dr. Temperance Brennan.
"Booth!" she chastised, her voice scratchy from too much coughing. "It's not funny."
He began to dab her back, making her jump a little at the coolness of the lotion, still chuckling. "Come on, Bones. You gotta admit, you do look a little silly."
He could see her fighting a smile, her dimples showing up as the corners of her lips moving as she battled with herself. After a few seconds, the smile won. "Perhaps a little. But you should not be amused by my illness."
Booth made a big show of sobering his face. "You're right, Bones. I shouldn't."
But when he fought back the amusement, the unwelcome thoughts of desire came back. Once again, he's away for the heat radiating off her body, most likely from fever. Where there aren't spots, her skin is just as smooth as he remembered. A part of him was amazed that this body that seemed so unchanged had carried his child less than two years ago. He wished he had seen it. The flicker of anger he felt at that thought was enough to get him through the lotion application without embarrassing himself.
"Alright, Bones. Give it a few minutes to dry and you're good to go," he said, clearing his throat. "I'm…I'm gonna go and do the dishes. Lily's already asleep."
"Thank you, Booth." She smiled at him in the mirror. "You didn't have to do this. Drop everything to take care of us."
Booth returned her smile, his own a bit rueful. "Yeah, I did, Bones. That's what friends do right? I…I'm glad you called me when Lily got sick instead of your dad or Angela."
"I knew Lily would want you there. She loves Dad and Angela, but right from the start she's been attached to you in a special way. She's become quite the Daddy's girl."
Booth blushed a little and shuffled his tennis shoes. "Well, I'm still glad you called."
"I'm glad you came." So was he.
A/N: I know this is short, but I wanted to at least give you something today. A bit of sexy, a bit of internal conflict and more bridge building. Let me know what you think! Part 3 will be up tomorrow (hopefully).