Chapter 14 –

Bones heard Booth on the phone talking to Charlie and then room service so obviously he wasn't leaving. Going over their argument she realized he was right about everything, if she would have trusted him enough to give him a chance when he asked they would have never departed and Hannah wouldn't be an issue. She said no, so he was free to do whatever he wanted, with whom ever he wanted. So why did it hurt so bad? Because I finally admitted to myself that I was in love with him. Is this how he felt every time I had a new man in my life? He said I was always out of his reach, I don't understand what that means.

Booth was still sitting on the couch flipping through the channels looking for something to watch when he heard a knock at the door. Getting up from the couch he glanced out on the balcony to see Bones still sitting in her chair, walking to the front door he pulled it open and let in the attendant with their food. Once everything was set up he went to the french doors and said, " Bones, come inside and eat." Booth walks back inside and doesn't give her a chance to protest.

He had the table already set up for their lunch when she entered. She sat down and they began eating. Sneaking glances at one another as they ate, Bones cleared her throat and said, "Thank you for ordering lunch. It was very considered of you given the circumstances." She looks back down at her plate and continues to stab at her tomatoes.

Booth looks up at her while she's speaking then waits for a moment after she finishes to see if she continues to go on. When she doesn't he says, " No matter what is going on between us, I'll never stop wanting to take care of you." He takes a few more bites of his burger before he says..."

"Bones"

"Booth"

"I'm sorry please go ahead Booth, what were you going to say?"

Desperate to know what's on her mind he says, " No,no go ahead Bones, what's on your mind?"

Contemplating how to begin she says, " I don't want to fight with you Booth. I have been thinking about what you said and your right. I can accept my part in all of this. It was wrong of me to lay all the blame on you. I will admit that I have been scared to cross that line with you. Scared that if I gave my heart to you metaphorically of course, you would leave me like my family or lovers in the past. Every one who ever claimed to care about me left at some point in my life. They either just wanted sex or would tel me I'm to dedicated to my work and cold and unfeeling. Booth, you were more than just my best friend and my partner. I didn't know how to define exactly what it was. Yes, I did have a lot of relationships in the past, it became easier not to expect any thing long term. But what you were offering at the time, I couldn't see that for myself. You only know one side of me how I can trust you to stick around if you find that I'm unlovable, cold, distant like the others. If you ended up hating me because I couldn't give you what you wanted what you needed. I couldn't handle not having you in my life." Tears fill up in her eyes.

Booth gets up from the table and takes her hand and says " Come On Bones." He walks them over to the living room where she sits on the couch and he sits on the coffee table directly in front of her not letting her hands go and says, " Bones – Temperance, I need you to listen to me very carefully. I'm going to do what I should have done the fist time so pay close attention to what I'm saying and keep an open mind OK? Looking at him and preparing herself for what's to come she nodded her head that she understands what he's asking. Booth then continues, "Six years ago I walked into a lecture hall looking for what I thought was going to be an old frumpy woman but what I found left me breathless. You, Dr. Temperance Brennan turned around and looked up at me and I swear, one look into your eyes and I couldn't remember to breath. I was absolutely floored by your pure natural beauty. I have seen beautiful women before but seeing you there was no comparison. I have never encountered someone with the most captivating eyes that was just drawing me in. You were beyond gorgeous, sexy and brilliant but you had an air of confidence that set you apart from others. When you were walking towards me after the end of your class, my next thought was damn I want this woman in the worst possible way. As we began to work together during that first case, you put off this distant, cold, arrogant know it all, better than you ego and it drove me up the wall. Baby you were getting under my skin in every possible way and yet I found myself trying to find reasons to be around you. Even though I felt out of place around you, I wanted to spend more time with you. I knew there was more to you then you allowed others to see. Outside that pool hall when I said I feel like this is going somewhere and we shared our first kiss, I knew there was more to us. I felt it then and I wanted to e the one to discover who the real Temperance Brennan was under that title and cold exterior. I wanted to discover the woman you tried to hide from others. The more we worked together and formed a friendship, I could see the walls slowly coming down and the more you allowed me to see of "you", I was constantly amazed. I have spent the last six years getting to know the different parts of you that you keep under lock and key, outside of my self only the squints are privileged to see the woman behind the doctor. Bones, I have seen the good, bad and the ugly, but I have also seen the compassionate, loveable, selfless amazing woman you are and I've never been disappointed. And I have had to watch the woman I love more than anything date loser after loser knowing what their intentions were and knowing they were never going to know the real you. I've seen you doubt your capabilities to relate to human interactions and see you thrive at it just the same. And its only made me want you more...to love you more. I know how dedicated you are to your work because I'm right there beside you, where I always want to be. Baby I couldn't do what I do without you. I don't want to give up what we have I want to add to it. I want you to allow me to openly love you like your supposed to be loved. I want to show you the difference between just having sex and making love. When I asked you for 30, 40, 50 years, that doesn't mean I want to change what we have. It means I want to add to what we already have. Babe we are a couple in every way with out the sex if you think about it. Bones, I want to wake up to you each more and go to sleep with you cradled in my arms every night after I show you how much I love you and am grateful that you are in my life. I want to share it all with you, do you understand that? I know who you are inside and out and I don't want to change you in anyway. I fell in love with you just the way you are, all of your attributes, your faults, your classlessness baby all of these things you find a negative about yourself make up the woman I want to be with, its the woman I have loved and protected all these years.

Bones had tears streaming down her face at this point while listening to his confession. She has never heard anyone talk about her this way. Her first instinct is to run but she feels compelled to listen to him.

You have been analyzing our history for the past six years, how many times have I walked away from you -given up and left? How many times have I been there through it all and stuck it out no matter how hard and heart breaking it may have been? I'm the man that stayed while everyone else came and left. She looks down at this because she knows he's right. He has never abandoned her not even when he was with Cam. She knows there are times he has chosen to be with her instead of Cam.

He gently lifts her chin up so that she is looking into his eyes when he asks, " What is it have I asked you for that you can't give me?"

Bones sucked in a breath...she wasn't expecting him to ask her this. She tries to turn her head away but he says, "No Temperance, I have a right to know that pressure I'm unknowingly placing on you, what am I asking that you can't do?"

"You want more children, marriage, a house with a white picket fence...a family." I, I can't..." She was interrupted by Booth, "Correct me if I'm wrong Bones, but not to long ago you asked me for my sperm correct?

"Yes"

"So are you saying you don't want to have a baby now Bones?"

"Booth I haven't given it any more thought since your tumor. I can't say for sure how I feel about it at this point." Deep down she knows she still wants to have a baby...his baby.

"Bones I know how you feel about marriage and I don't remember proposing. When I said I know you and accept everything about you, sweetheart that includes your beliefs. If I felt marriage was the deal breaker here, I would have never asked you to give us a chance. I can live with the marriage what I can't live without is you."

She searched his eyes and found nothing but sincerity.

"No more tip toeing here, no more running, and no more assuming or making choices for the other person. Right here – right now Temperance, What do you want?" Booth holds his breath as she slides her hands out of his and moves away from him.

Bones walks back over to the balcony and Booth closes his eyes to muster up the strength to take another rejection from the woman he just laid his heart out for.