Chapter Thirteen: The Glowing Bones In The Old Stone House

'Hey, what are you doing in here?' Angela asks. Jack is standing in front of his desk, arranging shrimp in patterns. 'I thought we were going to go for sushi.' She takes a deep breath in and catches a smell of the shrimp. 'Ugh, it smells like sushi in here.'

'Yeah.' He grabs Angela's arms and leads her over towards the bench, turning her so she is facing him. 'Look, Angela,' he says. 'I've been thinking. You're not like anyone I've ever known. And I don't want that to change. So I'm taking you the way you are. No strings.'

She crinkles her nose. 'And the smell?'

'P. phosphoreum.'

'Oh, the fish bacteria?'

'Close your eyes,' he replies. He lifts her hand to cover her eyes and leads her over to the desk. 'Be careful.'

'Yeah.'

'Okay, careful. Keep 'em closed.'

She sighs jokingly, but keeps her hand over her eyes. He turns to his computer and dims the lights.

'Okay,' he says finally.

She lowers her hand slowly. On a tray in front of her are the shrimp, laid out to spell three words. Be My Love. She turns to him. 'Yes, yes. Let's get married.'

'What?' he asks, shocked. 'No! No, no, no, this is- this is not a proposal.'

'I know,' she replies. Her voice is calm, completely in contrast with his.'That's why I'm asking you.'

'Huh?'

'What you said here... that we're enough... just this, no pressure for more...' Tears are welling in her eyes and her voice is on the verge of breaking. 'That's all I've ever wanted.' She looks at him, but his face is blank, too shocked to move, or to speak. 'Hodgins, say something.'

'You're insane.'

'Is that a yes?'

He grabs her arms pulling her towards him. 'Absolutely.' And he kisses her. Her lips are soft and tender beneath his, but she is kissing him a passion that he loves in her, that he wants to see in her more often. As she kisses him back, he knows that she loves him. Because, for some reason, she wants to marry him, now, when he'd finally given up on marrying her and was fine with just having her. But despite this, he feels like the luckiest man alive. 'Okay,' he says when they break apart. 'Okay, um, alright. How- how about, uh, Italy! Italy in the spring? Um, Umbria?'

'No. Right away. Next week.'

'We cannot get a wedding together in a week.'

'We have to. One week.'

'Uh...' Jack is not quite sure what to say. He'd planned this moment so many times, and this was definitely not the way he had expected it to turn out.

'I could change my mind,' she says, teasing him. 'It's up to you.'

And he desperately hopes she doesn't change her mind. 'Okay, yeah. Just a small little thing then.'

'No. Big. I want a big one.'

He shakes his head. She is impossible, but she is his now, and that is all that matters. 'Totally. Insane.'

The room was cold when they arrived, and Jack slipped through the door first to start the heater.

'What is it with you and your central heating system?' Angela laughed. Her eyes danced as she laughed, and when he looked back at her, he couldn't help but smile.

'We're in a bit of a relationship. Just engaged, actually.' He took a step towards her.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'My central heating system? You're it, baby.' He winked and took another step towards her, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off the ground. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he led her across to the couch, the two of them falling together onto the soft material.

'Whoa, Jack,' Angela murmured into his neck as they lay beside each other, now in his bed.

'Whoa, what?'

'Whoa. That was...'

'Awesome?' He raised an eyebrow as he leant on his side, facing her.

'Yeah,' she breathed. 'You've been holding out on me.'

'Is that a problem?'

'Well, it is if there's more I don't know about.'

'Baby, there'll always be more.'

'Is that a suggestion?' She ran a nail along his chest, tracing the sculpted muscles.

'It is if you want it to be.'

'Hmm.'

'Do you want it to be?'

And instead of replying, she slid her hand up to his neck, pulling her head down so she could kiss him again.

In the morning, when she woke up, his side of the bed was empty, the sheets rumpled and the dressing gown that had been hanging on the chair beside the bed was gone.

'Jack,' Angela called out, standing up and pulling one of his shirts from his wardrobe. 'Where are you?'

'Kitchen!' She slipped down the stairs and into the kitchen where he was frying eggs and bacon on the stove.

'Smells good.'

'Yeah,' he agreed. 'I thought I'd make us something special. And I haven't had bacon and eggs in a long time.' He pulled the frying pan off the stove and places it on the sink, transferring the contents to two plates.

Angela stepped up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing the back of his neck softly. He grinned beneath her touch, handing her a plate before spinning around, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to lead her to the breakfast bar. They sat down next to each other and he took a bite of his bacon, grinning as he noticed she was watching him.

'What?'

'Nothing.'

'No, seriously. What?'

'I'm just... watching you.'

'I can see that.'

'It's nothing bad.' She grinned, taking a bite of her own breakfast. Her eyes never left his face.

'I feel like your judging me.'

'No,' she laughed. 'I did that last night.'

He smiled, taking another bite. 'Yeah, you did.'

'Was it as good for you as it was for me? Coz, hell, I did a lot of judging last night, but you didn't seem to be judging me much.'

'I thought I told you this already,' he said.

'No. I asked, but you were on the verge of passing out from sheer exhaustion, so I didn't push it.'

'Oh. I could have sworn I answered. And I could have sworn that you were the one who fell asleep first.'

'Okay, yeah, maybe,' she laughed. 'But seriously. Good or bad? I have to know so I can improve.'

He smiled, putting down his fork and standing up, bringing himself a little bit closer to her. 'Perfect,' he whispered, sliding his arms around her waist. 'Absolutely perfect.'

Last chapter before I have to start putting some effort in again! Hope you enjoyed it though. Next chapter, the fail of a wedding :P

Wynnie