Hi, guys!

I'm finally back home and started writing this right away… Hope you'll keep loving me in the next chapters…

Thanks so much for all the reviews!

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Brennan's words were lost as Booth's mouth slanted over hers. The touch was fleeting, his lips brushed hers lightly, caressing them before deepening the kiss. They were alone in the terrace and Booth felt no need to rush that moment. He waited so much to finally have her in his arms again that he didn't want it to end.

Brennan was paralyzed for a while, almost not believing it was really happening. When she felt his tongue poking to enter her mouth, she grabbed his lapels and brought him closer to her.

That was all Booth need to wrap his arms around her body and kiss her the way he longed for for so long.

Five seconds, five minutes, they had no idea how long it last, but both of them were surprised when they pulled apart to take a breath.

Booth leaned his head to look at her. She gazed up to look at him, confusion all over her face, looking like she'd never seen him before. He smiled as he kept staring at her with kind eyes and cupped her face with his hands, brushing her cheek with his thumb.

"I love you." He said, deep from his heart, no regrets, no need to add anything this time. Just the truth.

Her eyes grew wider and Booth felt his stomach flipping when she took a step back, dodging from his arms, as if she was afraid of his touch.

Brennan just stared at him for a moment, looking like a lost puppy as she scanned him body.

"No… no, you don't." Her voice was low and he noticed the hurt in her tone as she spoke.

Booth's brows furrowed. From all the things she could say to him, those words were the last ones he was expecting to hear.

"What?" He wailed. How come she could say that? He'd been loving her for almost eight-freaking-years! He stepped towards her and Brennan took another one back, hitting the wall as she moved. Trapped between his strong body and the wall, she couldn't do anything but look at him. "Of course I do!"

She shook her head and he saw the tears in her eyes.

Crap.

This was so not how this was supposed to be. Where was the sexy and resolved woman yearning to kiss him just a few minutes before? Booth didn't like vulnerable and scared Bones.

His heart sank when she said her next words.

"You don't…" She looked down, avoiding his eyes. She didn't want to let him see her crying. "If you do, you're going to be a hypocrite." She stuttered at the end of the sentence. Brennan swallowed and raised her eyes to look at him at. "And, Booth, I don't want you to be a hypocrite."

This was his turn to hop back confused.

"How loving you make me a hypocrite?" He asked her. "Enlighten me, Bones, because I'm seriously lost here."

Brennan took a deep breath and sighed, turning her back at him to look at the illuminated Washington again.

"That day, when we left Sweets office and you kissed me-" She started and Booth had to get closer to her to listen. "You didn't say you loved me, but I could see you cared a lot about me. I felt the same way about you." She turned her head to look at him when she sad that. "But when I turned you down, you told me you were like those guys who knew when they found the women they wanted to be with, who they would loved them even after 30, 40 and 50 years."

"And that was the truth." Booth said, not getting what she was trying to say. He grabbed her arms and made her look at him. "Bones, I've been in love with you since I saw you lecturing de-fleshing techniques at the American University. Well, I knew it had to be something big, because feeling so attracted by a woman talking about taking the skin off of dead people is really not-"

He was trying to humor her, but that had the opposite effected on her and his partner became furious.

"You told me you could love me for 30 years, Booth, and you go away for a few months and comes back engaged!" She spat, the tears falling loosely from her eyes. "You told me you loved me, you made love with me and came back from Afghanistan claiming to be crazy in love with someone else one year later! That makes you a hypocrite! "

Booth's mouth hanged open. So that was why she was mad?

If he remembered things clearly, she was the one who turned him down and accepted when he said he had to move on. She was the one who left him alone in his bed after they made love. And she was the one who hid her pregnancy from him.

"Wait a minute." He raised his hands and felt anger run up his body. "If I remember clearly, you were the one who told me to find another woman, because you couldn't be the one who would stay with me, that you didn't want to!"

"I was scared!" She defended herself, not noticing they had raised their voices at the heat of the discussion.

"Right, and because of your stupid fear you didn't mind breaking my heart." He huffed, his heart starting to ache again. It was the first time they really talked about everything that happened between them in the past couple of years. "Twice." He added bitterly.

"You knew me, Booth." She wasn't angry anymore. She looked sad and lost and Booth hated that. He'd rather one hundred times better to deal with an angry Bones than with a hurt one. "You know my story, you probably know me better than I know myself." She wiped her tears with the back of her hands. "You knew how I felt about love." He noticed the past tense and grew curious. "You knew I was afraid I'd lose everyone I love. When you told me you wanted to be with me, all I could think about was that if I let that happen, I would lose you. You were this perfect guy, with a huge warm heart, eager to start a family and be with someone who you could lose yourself and love." She sniffed. "There was nothing I would like more than have that with you, Booth."

Booth couldn't feel his limbs after hearing that and had to lean against the wall.

"But I was afraid I would never be enough for you, that you would be disappointed with me at one point and get frustrated and in the end, I wouldn't even have your friendship. " She continued. "I'm not good at dealing with feelings and you know that. But the moment I told you I couldn't change, you didn't say anything. You didn't try to convince me we could work together, that you didn't want me to change." She wiped her face again, thanking Angela silently for using her waterproof makeup on her that evening. "And the next thing you say is that you're going to move on."

"What did you want me to say?" He asked.

"You didn't even give me time to think!" She said frustrated.

They saw a couple approaching the terrace and Brennan took a deep breath trying to regain her composure. She didn't want the whole FBI talking about them the following Monday.

"What goes on between us should be just ours."

"We shouldn't be discussing this here." She told him with a sigh.

"You're right." He nodded and caught his lip between his teeth. "Let's go home."

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"My apartment is on the other way." That was the first thing Brennan said since they entered his car.

"I know." He said simply, not bothering to look at her.

"Then why are you taking the opposite direction?" She asked.

"Because we are not going to your apartment." He said like it was obvious and saw her confused the face. "We're going to my place."

"Why?"

"Why? Why?" He turned his head to look at her. "You think we can start a talk like the one we just did and let things like that?" She didn't say anything, so he continued. "We already waited too long for an open heart talk. We'll resolve things tonight. Everything, Bones. Everything."

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Brennan had been in his apartment tons of times since she came back from Indonesia. But when she stepped into Booth's home that night, she couldn't help feeling chills in her body. All the times she'd been there lately, Tommy was with her.

"Feel yourself at home." Booth said sarcastically. "I'll grab us a drink."

"I don't want anything to drink." She sat on the couch and folded her arms on her chest.

"I do." He shrugged and walked to the kitchen.

She sighed and looked around, suddenly feeling cold and overly exposed in that dress. While she waited for him to come back, images of the last time she'd been there alone with him started to hit her mind.

"We have to have sex."

"What?"

"It's obvious, Booth. Until we finally do it, this tension will never go away and in consequence, I hardly doubt we'll ever be able to work together again. Once it's over and our curiosities and libidos satisfied, we can be the partners and friends we used to be."

That was the lame excuse ever, she snorted. Having sex with him certainly didn't change a thing about the tension that floated around them. In fact, Brennan was pretty sure it only made things worse. She had to use all of her self control to not throw herself in his arms every time he smiled at her, or made her laugh and especially when she saw him being so amazing with Tommy and Parker.

"Because I don't believe what we have in here is only sexual tension."

Brennan leaned back on the couch and sighed. Was he right? Did they really love each other? Yes, there was nothing in the world she wouldn't do for him and she knew he felt the same way about her. And there was also the fact she never intended to have anyone's child but his. And also there was that thing that her days were so much brighter when they were together.

But if that was the truth, why did Booth come back engaged to Hannah? Was his love for her that weak?

"I was miserable." He said like he was reading her mind. Brennan didn't notice he was back from the kitchen and quickly sat back on the couch startled by his voice. He ignored her reaction and handed her a goblet of wine, even though she said she didn't want one. She accepted. "The first two months in Afghanistan were like hell. All I did was think about you every single day. How great we could have been together. How much I loved you and what could I do to make you realize we were made for each other."

Brennan chewed her cheeks. She didn't want to start crying again. Most importantly, she was yearning to hear what he had to say to her.

"I was about to come back to Washington when I met Hannah. I had just talked with Parker on the phone and I was missing home more than ever. Hannah saw me and introduced herself, made a couple of jokes and we ended up becoming friends. I was broken heart, Bones, and she was an easy and enjoyable company. I didn't have to torture myself thinking I couldn't kiss her because I might lose my best friend doing that, because damn, she wasn't my best friend. I didn't have to worry about my heart being broken again, it was already broken and I knew I would never love anyone again that way. I wouldn't allow my heart to be crushed the way it did. I knew better that time."

Brennan opened her mouth to talk, but he hushed her raising one hand. He started to talk now and she would have to listen.

"It was good feeling loved for a change and Hannah was easy to deal with. I was away from you for almost one year, Bones… and you didn't tried to contact me even once. So, one night we drank a little too much and I asked her to marry me."

"You were inebriated?" Brennan asked surprised.

He ignored her rhetoric question and continued.

"When we came back and I saw you again… suddenly all those feeling I hid inside started to come back again. And that pissed me a little, I have to admit. How much you influenced in my happiness. But I was certain I would not let things get crazy the way they were before… and then you told me about Tommy." He smiled remembered their baby. "I was pissed at first. Hurt. Feeling betrayed." He admitted and she nodded. She understood. "But I always wanted to have a baby with you, Bones. Not the way it happened, but what matters is the end, right?" He smiled sadly. "But having a little creature part me, part you… oh, that was great. And then, one day after I found out about him and I was getting used with the idea and trying to figure out what we would do about it, Hannah told me she was pregnant."

"She- she was pregnant?" Brennan gasped, suddenly feeling very dizzy.

"Will you let me finish?" He raised one eyebrow.

"Sorry." She folded her hands on her lap. "Continue."

"Well, she told me she was pregnant and I started picturing my future with her, having another child with a third different woman and I knew I couldn't do that. She took a pregnancy test and it came out negative, and I never felt so relieved in my life. I told her the truth and that she deserved someone who wasn't in love with his partner and who loved her the way she deserved." Booth took her hands on his. "Bones, I don't want another woman in my life. I told you that night and I repeat. I want you. I want to wake up next to you every day, I want to go to the park with you and the boys on Sunday mornings. I want to cuddle in our bed in a rainy day and watch a silly romantic comedy and then bicker with you after you point out every illogicality in the movie. I want to be able to kiss you whenever the hell I want without feeling I'm doing something wrong. I love you, Bones, I love all of you, with all your flaws and with all your qualities. I love you for who you are. An amazing friend, a terrific mother to our son, a person who cares so much about the others, who would do everything for the people she loves, who have no idea how big her heart is, who is so beautiful inside and out. Funny, smart and the best partner one could ask for."

And then she was crying. "What if we screw everything up? You know me, Booth, I'm a master on screwing things up."

"If something goes wrong, we'll find a way to make things up. Together." He leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. "That's what we do, right? Solve things together?"

She smiled between her tears and threw herself in her arms.

"I don't want to lose you, Booth." She sniffed in his chest. He smiled and embraced her, his heart feeling lighter and thanking God for her being there in his arms instead of running to whichever Island there might be in Asia.

"I will never leave you as long as you want me by your side." He whispered. "And well… when you are mad at, and yell at me and tell me to go away…" He cupped her face and made her look at him, smiling that way that made her heart melt. "I'll stay by your side anyway."

She chuckled and kissed him, wanting to taste every part of him.

"I love you too." She whispered against his mouth, knowing each one of those words were completely true.

He smiled, his heart beat crazily inside his chest and knowing that this time, when he kissed her again and took her to his room, they'd do things right.

Because this time, this time… nothing was left unsaid.

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This could be the end of this story, right?

But for the good or the bad, it isn't the end yet.

I hope Brennan didn't go much out of character on this… but I have a feeling she would act a bit like that when she finally let her emotions show…

Things are going to happen… *mysterious face*

Stay tuned and please review!