Disclaimer: They're not mine; I just borrowed them for some super writing fun! I promise to return them when I'm finished. No infringement intended.

After we left Dunbar High School, the drive to get dinner was silent. Once we arrived at the diner, we made our way inside and to our usual booth. Our meal was accommodated by more silence. After we had finished our dinner, the waitress cleared our table and filled our coffee cups with more of the steaming, black liquid. I picked up my cup and took a sip, letting the warmth of it wash down the back of my throat. It felt so good after the long and tiring day.

"Bones, what's going on? What's wrong?" He asked me gently.

I hesitated for a moment. "Nothing is wrong. I just want to solve the case."

"I want to solve it too… but we can't work around the clock. If we push ourselves too hard we'll become sloppy and make mistakes." He paused. I felt his hand on top of mine and I looked up into his dark, handsome eyes. "If we're going to convince the FBI not to split us up, then we need to do this right."

I pulled my hand away. "That's what I'm trying to do, Booth! I want to solve this case, so we can move on to the next one. If we work harder than normal, they will have nothing to use against us." I sighed and took a long sip from my coffee mug.

"Bones, wearing yourself out isn't going to make the case get solved faster."

I stood up and paid the bill, then paid the tip for the waitress. "Please take me to my car, Booth."

"Bones, please talk to me." He pleaded.

With my current mood, all he was doing was succeeding in irritating me even more. "Please, just take me to my car. I need to shower and get to sleep so I can get an early start on the evidence tomorrow." I said exasperatedly.

"Fine." He stood up and brushed past me, heading to his vehicle.

I followed after him. "I apologize. I didn't mean for that to come out so curt." He ignored me and kept walking. Booth wasn't somebody who ignored me very often, but this time it made my heart feel as if it was falling into the pit of my stomach. I silently got into the vehicle and put on my seat belt. Within moments I felt the vehicle back up and drive off.

I must have dozed off, because when I next opened my eyes, we were parked next to my car. Booth was sitting in his seat shaking my shoulder almost violently. "We're at your car now." He said flatly.

I looked over at him, giving him my best pleading look I knew how to give. "Why are you being so cold to me, Booth?"

"You won't listen to anything I have to say, so what's the point in being nice?" He stared out the windshield into the darkness.

I reached out and touched my hand to his shoulder. "I thought I had already apologized for that. I'm just extremely tired…"

He interrupted me. "That's exactly my point, Bones. You're tired, and yet you wanted to keep working. Look at us, we're both exhausted, and now both irritated because of it. How do you expect to get any work done like this? Making mistakes will not get us any brownie points with my boss." He stated.

I arched my eyebrow at him. "Brownie points?"

"Never mind, Bones. Go home. Goodnight. I'll see you in the morning." He sighed.

I touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Booth." I said softly. "You're right; we work best when we're well rested."

When he didn't respond to me I pulled my hand off of his shoulder and proceeded to extract myself from the vehicle. I'm not sure what came over me, but the moment my feet hit the pavement, tears started streaming down my face of their own volition. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't hold them back. I slammed the door of his SUV a bit too hard and winced, and then made my way to my car. I fumbled with my keys, trying to find the correct one to unlock the door, but through the wall of tears I couldn't focus on them enough to find the right key. I sighed angrily when my efforts caused me to drop my keys.

As I leaned over to pick up the keys I felt a hand on my arm. I feebly attempted to wipe the tears from my eyes so Booth wouldn't see, but failed. He turned me around and put his hands on either side of my face. My nervousness prevented me from being able to look directly at him. I was quite surprised when Booth leaned down and kissed the tears that glistened on my cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Bones. Please don't cry."

His words didn't help. Some kind of dam broke behind my eyelids, and more tears spilled forth. I couldn't believe this was happening. Never had I let myself become as vulnerable as I was now. What could cause me to be this irrational? Surely not my feelings for Booth? No. It was the feelings of my abandonment coming back to torment me because Booth had refused to accept my apology, or even acknowledge it.

I collapsed into him when I felt his arms encircle me and drag me to his chest. "I'm sorry. There's no excuse for my behavior. Let's just get some rest and start over fresh tomorrow, okay?" He kissed the top of my head and lifted my chin, forcing my eyes up to his.

As I looked into his eyes and saw what I could only describe as his affection for me, the tears instantly stopped. I had no idea what caused my next reaction, but at that moment I leaned in and placed my lips on his in a fevered, passionate kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held onto him. I almost smiled when I felt him respond to my heated kiss, with some heat of his own. After a few moments lack of oxygen prompted us to pull apart.

"Will you drive me home? I think I'm a bit too exhausted to be driving…" I asked him softly.

"Of course I will, Bones." He smiled and kissed the top of my head again.

I'll admit I had other intentions for wanting him to take me home, but I realized, a good night's sleep in Booth's strong arms would definitely do me some good. I guess, as Booth would say, my 'gut' told me to go with it. So I did.

A/N: I hope the angst wasn't too much in this chapter, too. Although you should all be relatively pleased with the way I ended the chapter. At least I hope so! Reviews are my life! So send them to me! As always I'm just teasing, but they seriously do make my day!