B47 A/N: Hey, hey! We are back in business baby! This chapter is centered around a particular fantasy I had that pertained to the "Woman in Limbo" episode. Hope you all like.

He'd felt her kiss. Seeley Booth was many things, but one of them wasn't a heavy sleeper. Just in case she'd realized what she'd done and opened her eyes, he kept his own glued shut and pulled her tighter into his frame.

The close proximity might have felt odd if they were conscious or if he had the strength to be rational and say something like this was a no-no. All it did was pull him deeper into his own subconscious to be greeted with a new notch to add to his dreamland belt.

* * *

Booth leaned back against the comfortable material of his partner's couch. He played with one of the piece of paper that had been crammed inside the fortune cookie he'd had a few minutes ago. Brennan sat next to him, poking at the fried rice that was left in the bottom of one of the containers.

"If you keep bringing Chinese food in the middle of the night, we're both gonna get fat." she pointed out as she dropped the white cardboard onto her coffee table, not letting herself take another comforting bite.

He smiled lightly, coming to the same conclusion after a little thought. "Yeah." He mulled over the permanent look that had etched itself into her eyes. That lost little girl look that he could hardly even glance at without feeling his chest crushing from the inside. "I know what you've been thinking about."

"I doubt it." she retorted as she focused on his relaxed form that was both calming and somewhat rigid at the same time.

"You're thinking that you're family's made up of liars and criminals, and that makes you feel lonely." he stated the obvious. Temperance Brennan was such an open book to him, it was almost creepy.

She confirmed his thoughts by averting her gaze down towards his feet that rested on the edge of her coffee table.

"There's a story we don't know here yet, Bones." he reassured her as he continued to play with the small piece of paper.

Brennan breathed and returned her eyes to his. "Like what?"

"Bones, 'don't know' means it's a mystery." he stated that he really had no idea what was going on, but was just trying to take some of the burden off her shoulders.

"What were your parents like?" she asked.

Booth straightened his back a little. "My parents? Uh…my dad…he drove Thuds and Phantoms in Vietnam. Those are fighter jets."

She nodded and closed her eyes, surprised a little at how dumb he thought she was when it came to things that didn't involve science or bones.

"After that, he was a barber in Philadelphia. And my mom, she wrote jingles for a local advertising company." He laughed a little as he played the invisible and inaudible piano that floated in the air.

"So they didn't go out at night after you were asleep and rob banks?" she asked sarcastically.

Booth thought about how bad she must've been hurting, now knowing that everything she'd thought her childhood and her life was before her parents left was all a lie. "Listen Bones, you know, parents have secret lives. If they didn't, they wouldn't be parents."

She seemed to consider his words, and looked down to pick at one of her fingernails in nervous habit. "I knew there would be things that my parents never told me, things they didn't think I'd be able to handle, but…"

"You were a kid. You wouldn't have been able to handle the fact that your parents were out at night breaking laws." he reasoned.

"I know." she whispered as tears started to spring up to her eyes. Brennan chuckled despite herself. She'd cried more this week than she'd ever thought possible in her life. "I'm not sure I can handle it now."

"Hey…" Booth rubbed her back in large, soothing circles with his left hand while his right hand held her own. "You're going to be alright. We're going to figure this out." he pulled her into a half hug as her head fell against his shoulder.

"I don't really understand what I'm feeling right now, either. It's all a mess of grief and confusion. I…I can't…" she trailed off and rubbed her forehead and dabbed at her eyes with the pads of her fingers.

"You don't have to. I'm gonna be here with you all the way. Anything you need, just let me know." he whispered and nuzzled her hair, enjoying her fresh, clean scent a little too much.

"Anything?" she asked.

"You name it, I got it." he confirmed.

Brennan didn't say anything for a few minutes, her tears drying. She sat up straight after a while and stared him dead in the eyes, wondering if his words were as true as he mentioned. She didn't expect what happened next.

She knew she felt like crap. Her mother was dead, her father had basically dropped off the face of the Earth, and her brother was still the guy that abandoned her when she was fifteen with no one else to turn to. It had to have been the curiosity mixed with her own loneliness that made her kiss him.

Booth was certain she was just acting out of her own sorrow, looking for a way to feel even slightly better. He wished he'd pushed her away sooner and not given himself the opportunity to kiss back. He did though, and would face the consequences once he'd leaned away.

Her eyes nearly doubled in size as he broke the connection. "I-I'm sorry." she whispered before got up and paced towards her kitchen.

"Bones, come here. Let's talk about this." he called.

"There's nothing to talk about! I kissed you, I shouldn't have, and it's getting late! You should get going." she roared as fresh tears trailed down her eyes, then whimpered, "Just leave me alone."

Booth shook his head. "I can't do that."

"Why?" she cried.

"Because what just happened on that couch is all I've been able to think about for the last year. Now you can throw me out if you want, but like I said, I've got your back. Whatever you need." he said quietly, just loud enough for her to hear him.

When she simply froze, not responding in any way, shape, or form. He went back to the couch to retrieve his coat when she materialized at his side.

"Seeley,…you're the only one I feel I can trust. I…I just wish that all of this would go away, even if only for a minute. I just want something to alleviate this weight that's on my shoulders." her voice was a combination of whimpers and whispers.

"What can I do to help with that, Temperance?" he asked.

"One night…please? That's all I ask. Just to take away some of this ache." she wrapped her arms around his slim waist and rested her head against his chest. It was a surprisingly intimate gesture for her, but Brennan just wanted to feel close to someone. More so, needed.

It was Booth's turn to stand non-responsive. She felt his hesitation in the way his body stiffened, but then relaxed as his own arms wrapped around her. And when he kissed her, she'd gotten her answer.

Booth swept her up and set her down on the couch quickly. In another place and time, he might've walked with her into the bedroom, but he knew she didn't need him being proper or sentimental right now.

He didn't break their kiss as he climbed to hover above her. Her hands were fast, skittering over his shirt-covered torso and his waist, desperate to pull it out and meet skin on skin.

Booth pulled her up into a half sitting position to slide off both her sweater and her top two swift movements. His shirt had come off somewhere in the mix, but he couldn't tell when.

He attacked her neck then and she sighed as she fell back to the couch. His hand delved into her hair as he explored the newly exposed skin. Her back arched when his fingertips ran down her spine.

Her own fingers reached down between them to the overly ornamental belt buckle. He knew she could feel his arousal along the inside of her own leg. Booth was ecstatic when she gasped at how big he was.

He unclasped her bra at that point, something he'd been hesitant at doing. Booth rolled each nub between his fingers before tracing his finger's movements with his tongue. Her moans and pants only served as purpose to spur him on.

Brennan's hands that had been working on his pants finally found purchase between his legs. The effect was just as what she'd expected. He gasped and buried his head in her shoulder, chanting her name as if it were a sacred prayer.

It was the first time Booth had heard her laugh in weeks.

He got up suddenly and pushed his pants, along with his boxers, the rest of the way down his legs. Booth pulled her own from her body so they rested with his on the floor. When he returned to his previous position, he paused at her damp entrance.

"Are you sure, Temperance?" he asked. He had to make sure it was what she wanted. Giving her an out, should she choose to take it.

She looked at him blankly. "Are you kidding me?" she pulled his head down to kiss him and wrapped her legs around his waist, sending less than an inch of him into her. They both whimpered at the contact. "Please, Booth…I need you."

They were probably the sexiest words Booth had heard in his life. He plunged into her, completing them. The pressure was intense, but his strokes were achingly slow. Each time he increased the speed, it was only by miniscule, hardly discernable increments.

"What the hell are you doing to me?" her voice was husky with lust, so he didn't take her comment to offense.

"You said you wanted me to take some of the burden off. Just be patient." he instructed. Booth's thrusts became more forceful, but his speed still only increased bit by agonizing bit.

Brennan clenched her teeth, "Booth, I'm close. Really…oh…close." she whimpered.

"That's okay, Temperance. Just come…" his speed picked up dramatically, as well as his force, as if he wasn't already pounding into her. "Just come as hard as you need to."

"Oh, Booth…" she buried her head into his shoulder, on the ledge that would lead her down into the abyss.

The moment was perfect. The second she climaxed, he thrusted with the remaining strength he had, and emptied himself into her. Brennan's supple lips went wide in a silent scream as he held her body close to his, riding out the aftershocks with her.

* * *

Booth awoke to the absence of her in his arms like he'd remembered falling asleep with her. A small piece of paper rested on the nightstand next to him along with a large mug of coffee touched with the faintest hint of cream and no sugar, just the way he always had it.

Booth picked up the paper and unfolded it to the sharp scrawls of his partner's handwriting.

"Had to go into the lab early to identify anomalies that were found on the ribs of a limbo skeleton. Made you coffee and you know where everything else is, should you need it. See you at lunchtime. ~Bones"

He sat back and rested for a few seconds reveling in the faint scent of her perfume that had persisted through the night on the pillow next to him. Booth was starting to wonder if he'd ever sleep without his partner again.