"Honey, I'm home," Booth sang out as he entered her apartment at 6:10 pm. Brennan had dropped him off and picked him up for the last three days, but today, he had gotten the SUV back and they had come home separately.

"You're late," she called from the bedroom. He wandered down the hall to see what she was doing.

"I know. I'm sorry. The guys at the motor pool are slow as molasses." Whoa. The sight before him stopped him in his tracks. He leaned against the doorframe, crossed his arms and ankles and enjoyed the view. Brennan was down on her hands and knees looking for something under the bed, that phenonemal bottom in the air, clad in a pair of bule tap pants and matching bra. Her head was on the floor as she peered under the bed and her arm was making sweeping geatures as if she were feeling for something, making all sorts of interesting parts wiggle and sway. She glanced over at him, saw where his gaze was fixed and rolled her eyes at him before going back to her search. He smiled when her butt gave an extra little shimmy just for him. He pushed away from the doorframe, walked over and squatted down beside her.

"Whatcha doing, Bones?"

"I'm looking for something, Booth." Her tone added obviously. Surprised by her tone, he reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong, Baby?" She turned her head to look at him and he could see tears shimmering in her eyes. She quickly sat up facing him, legs crossed, indian style. Before he could vocalize the question again, she answered.

"I can't find my mother's earrings." Her voice was a little choked up. He leaned forward, cupped her face in both hands and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. He understood the snippiness now. Her mother's earring were very, very precious to her and she took good care of them. It wasn't like her to not know exactly where they were.

"Okay, now I can help you look. When did you last wear them?"

"Yesterday, Booth." Little snippy there, Bones. It's not like it's my fault that you lost your mom's earrings. His eyes widened. Okay, maybe it's a little my fault. She nodded that she, too, thought it was his fault.

"Exactly. If you hadn't pumped me as soon as we walked in the door, I would have had time to take them off and properly store them. You know that they always come off in bed." Oh, what to address first about that statement?

"It's jumped you, Bones, not pumped you (but there had been quite a bit of pumping going on later). And I did not jump you as soon as you walked in the door, plus.." She was incredulous and her voice was rising.

"Yes, you did, Booth. You started ripping my clothes off before the door was even closed. I found two buttons from my shirt in the hallway this morning." Well, okay, maybe he had been a little eager, but he hadn't been the only one.

"I seem to recall you doing a little ripping of your own," he countered.

"You're right. It was my responsibility to make sure that they were secured. It wasn't your fault. It was mine." She brought he knees up to her chest and rested her head on them, her posture a picture of dejection. He reached over, picked her up and plopped her into his lap, attitude and all. Giving her a fierce hug and a kiss on the cheek, he just enjoyed them being together at the end of the day.

"It's not anybody's fault. It was an accident. Now tell me where you've already looked and let's get this search party started. It shouldn't take long to find them. After all, I am an FBI Special Agent." She snorted at his last statement, then turned and threw her arms around his neck. And he completely forgot about lost earrings, search parties and pretty much anything else that didn't involve a warm, nearly naked Bones in his arms. His mouth latched onto hers and he had her laid out on the floor in less than a minute.

Putting her hands on his chest, she used her arms to gain enough leverage to push him away and gasp, "Earrings now, me later." He latched right back onto her mouth. It was his way of negotiating and his offer was, You now, earrings later. Brennan had always been one to examine all sides of an argument, so she considered his point and decided to accept the offer. After all, it wasn't as if the earrings could leave the apartment unaided. They would still be there when they got around to looking for them.

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They found the earrings an hour later after searching less than 15 minutes. Brennan must have taken them off just as she was falling asleep and tried to lay them on the nightstand. They had fallen to the floor slightly behind it. She treated them like the crown jewels, taking them from Booth and almost reverently placing them in her jewelry chest. Booth watched with a soft smile.

An hour later, they were sitting on the sofa eating takeout and watching some mind numbingly boring (in Brennan's opinion) game show on TV. After finishing her food, Brennan sat her empty plate on the table and leaned her head against Booth's shoulder. Although he was still eating, he smiled down at her.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"It was….interesting." She sat upright and her eyes narrowed at his tone.

"I don't know what that means," He laughed and setting down his own plate, pulled her back up against him, urging her head back down on his shoulder.

"It means that Cullen came to see me today." Brennan popped back up.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Booth laughed and hauled her back to her previous position.

"Not really wrong. Seems that Perotta paid him a visit on Monday." Brennan was up again and looking at him with fear shining in her eyes.

"Did she tell him about us?" There was fear in her voice as well.

"Yep. She told him about the hospital and about you yelling for me to come back to bed that night." Booth laughed again as Brennan hid her face in her hands.

"It's not funny, Booth. What did he say? Is he going to split us up?" She whispered the questions through her spread fingers. Booth reached out and pulled her hands away from her face. Taking a firm hold on her chin, he tilted her head up and looked directly into her eyes.

"No, Baby, he's not going to split us up. He didn't even ask me if it was true. He said that it was our personal life and nobody else's business and that the FBI non-fraternization policy is unenforcable with outside contractors, which would be you." He finished with a light tap under her chin. Brennan was speechless. For about five seconds, then she let out a squeal worthy of Angela and launched herself at him. She ended up straddling his lap, nibbling his neck after peppering quick kisses of happiness all over his face. He knew he had to tell her the rest of it before he got completely distracted and carried her to bed.

"Bo…ah..," He let out a little moan and shifted underneath her as she hit a particularly sensitive spot. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Bones?" She continued her ministrations to his neck and her hands had worked up under the hem of his t-shirt.

"Hmm?"

"Cullen said that he thought Perotta was expressing an unnatural interest in our relationship and he made her go to see Sweets." There was just a hint of glee in his voice as he announced the last. She stopped kissing him, collapsed against his chest and her whole body started shaking. He tipped up her chin and looked into laughing blue eyes.

"You think that's funny?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile of his own.

"You don't?" she countered with a raised brow. Well, yeah, he thought it was hilarious that Perotta had to see Sweets. He had just expected Brennan to be more upset by the entire situation.

"You're not upset?" She sat up straighter and looked him directly in the face.

"Why would I be upset, Booth? It's not like she's dangerous. Is she?" Her face and tone were now serious.

"Cullen said Sweets doesn't think that she's dangerous, she's just…" His voice trailed off as he tried to think of a phrase that wouldn't get him in trouble.

"Hot for your bod?" Brennan shot him an impish smile and fluttered her eyelashes at him as she channeled her inner Angela.

"Bones, you have got to stop hanging out with Angela so much. It really freaks me out when you do that." And it did freak him out when her body was seemingly taken over by Angela's personality, especially when she was straddling his lap. She laughed and cupped his face in her palms.

"Booth, Perotta is a minor inconvenience. Nothing more. It stands to reason that Cullen will no longer be using her to work with the Jeffersonian." He nodded at her raised eyebrow then elaborated.

"Cullen also said that he ordered her to stay away from both of us." A grin of pure delight overtook her face. She leaned in and brushed her mouth over his.

"So what can she possibly do to us with those constraints in place?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and traced the seam of his lips with her tongue. He was having trouble holding onto his thoughts.

"Yeah, Baby, I guess you're right." His hands went to her waist and started sliding her t-shirt up to expose her belly and the fact that she hadn't put her bra back on earlier.

"Are we done talking about Perotta now?" She took her tongue out of his mouth long enough to ask the question. Gaining his feet, he held her against him as she wrapped her legs around his waist and started toward the bedroom.

"Absolutely." They were so done with Perotta, It was just too bad that she wasn't done with them.