Booth pulled into his driveway right before Brennan did.

"Booth" she said as she got out of her car. "Am I early?" She checked her watch, 7pm.
"No, no. Bones. I just forgot I had to run to the store to get something myself." He tapped the brown paper bag he was carrying, proud he'd remembered to get paper instead of plastic.

"Oh, okay." She picked up a cloth bag. Of course, she didn't use paper or plastic. He sighed.

"But I'm glad you're here." He unlocked his door and opened it, allowing her to enter before him, enjoying the way it felt to enter his home at the same time as her, both with bags of groceries. "Let's take this stuff to the kitchen, Bones."
"What's in your bag, Booth?"
"Oh…no, not telling yet. It's a surprise, Bones." She looked at him for a moment, but seemed to accept his answer, moving to set her bag down on the counter.

"Do you have a pan I can use?" She asked him, pulling out the cheese and noodles with the other ingredients to make mac and cheese.

"Oh yeah…Bones, I can't believe you are sharing your secret recipe with me."

"It's not a secret, Booth. I just…never had anyone else to tell."

'Cautious, very cautious' he thought. "Well, lucky me, then." He placed his grocery bag in the fridge for later.

They settled into nice conversation as she boiled the noodles and he melted the cheese over a burner before putting it in the pan to bake for a few minutes. Once it was in the oven, Brennan turned to Booth.

"Now what?"
"Now…your surprise." He reached into his cupboard and pulled out two glasses, then opened the fridge to pull out his paper bag. "Go into the dining room and have a seat, Bones."

She walked through the doorway and paused at his bookshelf, looking at it for the first time.
"Where is it?"
"Where's what, Bones?" He called from the kitchen.

"Your copy of Pride and Prejudice. Why isn't it on your bookshelf?"

"Um, well…I think I threw it in a box sometime" Like maybe an hour ago. "So it's somewhere I guess. Maybe my parent's attic or something." Or, maybe, like, under his bed. He moved behind her.

'He advances inch by inch' he thought "Besides…like I said…I don't need books for that kind of thing."

She turned to look at him for a moment before moving toward the dining room table.

She sat down and he carried the bag and the glasses over to the table and sat beside her.

"Ready for this, Bones?"

"I guess."

He pulled out a pack of Oreos and she laughed.

"Booth, won't this spoil our supper?"
"We're adults, Bones. We can do whatever we want." Inch by inch…

She looked at him for a moment, then leaned back as if to encourage him to continue.

He pulled out a small pint of 2 milk.

"Oh, Booth…I don't really drink milk…I'm sorry."

He pulled out another carton of milk.

"Relax, Bones. I got you some of your nasty rice milk or whatever."
She looked at him. "You got me some nasty rice milk? I mean…rice milk?"

'Inch by inch…' he thought. "Yeah, Bones. I did."



"Thank you." She smiled at him, biting her lip.

He poured milk for him in one glass, then opened the carton of rice milk and poured it into a glass for her, setting it in front of her before opening the cookies and placing a pile in front of him, and a pile in front of her.

"Booth, Angela told me about an interesting game where you try to get people to admit things using Oreos."
"Yeah, I've heard of that. We can do that in a little bit. But first…you need to do this, Bones. Ready?"
He grinned, and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Ready."
"Okay…pick up a cookie."
"I think I can figure it out, Booth."
"Ah…not so fast. There is a science to it, and I know how much you love science, Bones."

She laughed. "Okay, okay…fine, what do I do?"
"Okay, pick it up like this, see? Between your thumb and index finger, about 1/3 of the way down. Now…dip it in the milk about halfway down the cookie, then, oh, real fast, dip your head down and…yes…you got it, Bones." He placed his cookie in his mouth and smiled at the surprised look on her face. "Good, right?" He muffled through cookie and cream.
"Oh…wow! Booth…this is…" she dipped the rest of her cookie and shoveled it into her mouth.

He smiled. "Glad you like it, Bones."

She picked up another cookie. "And 14 tons of these were all over the highway?"
He laughed. "Like I said, just waiting for a tall, giant glass of milk."

She laughed too. Then picked up a cookie. "Okay, Booth, you take one cookie, and I'll hold the other, and then we'll pull. Whoever has the most cream, well, they win, and the other person has to admit something."
"Okay" He placed his fingers on his half, liking the way his fingertips brushed against hers. "First challenge. Whoever loses has to admit he, or she, actually like Sweets."

She groaned. 'Okay."
They pulled and he lost.

"Say it…" she teased.

"Okay, okay…I actually like Sweets…especially pie…it is so good. Oh, and cake? Um…yeah…good" He joked.

"Booth! No…not sweets, like…sweets, but you know…Dr. Sweets."
"Ah, Bones…sorry…too late." He laughed, popping his half into his mouth.

She smiled and picked up another cookie. "Fine…okay next one…whoever loses has to admit he or she loves Jane Austen books."

He raised an eyebrow and accepted her challenge. This time she lost.

"Let me hear it, Bones." He chuckled.

She paused. "ilovejaneaustenbooks" she grumbled.

He laughed "Bones…you're funny." He leaned a bit closer to her…Inch by inch…

She smiled and picked up another cookie. "Come on, Booth…let's do another one."
"Okay" he thought about it … inch by inch… "Whoever loses has to admit he or she is in love with…"
PING! The timer on the oven went off, breaking the mood and indicating the food was cooked. She went to the kitchen to pull out their dinner, and he followed her, then pulled out two plates and forks as well as the salad he had in the fridge. They quietly moved back to the dining room 

and set it up, moving aside the cookies and milk. He poured them a couple glasses of wine, and they began eating, this time, without much talking.

"Booth."
"Yeah?"

"What were you going to say?"
"What?"
"Before, when we were eating the cookies. What was the challenge? Whoever lost has to admit he or she is in love with what?"

He looked at her.

'He will hazard nothing until he feels himself secure.'

"Mac and cheese. I was going to say mac and cheese, Bones. Whoever loses has to admit they are in love…with mac and cheese."

"Oh…okay." She picked up the cookie and held it out. He took a breath and put his fingers on half. They pulled and looked at their halves. Equal…hmmm.

She looked at him, then leaned perceptively closer to him.

"Booth, I'm in love with mac and cheese."
He looked at her and closed the distance even more.