For some reason my brain came up with this diddy for you all. I think it something that would and could happen, hopefully sometime soon, but alas such things aren't up to me.

As for owning Bones, Christmas has come and gone and santa forgot to give me the rights so I'm only borrowing the characters and making them do what I want for once since HH can't seem to. (not that I mind)


It Means You Can't Leave

"Marry Me?" And she stuck another bite of her salad in her mouth and watched me waiting for my response.

Meanwhile I choked on the bite of burger I'd taken before she'd said the two words that no one would have ever fallen from her lips in a long term let alone while we were sitting in a booth at the Founding Fathers grabbing dinner before I took her home. "Excuse me." I managed to stutter.

"Marry me." She said leaning back in her seat, taking a sip of the wine she'd ordered.

"Bones… we're not even dating…" Yes, I do love her and her absolute resolution when she makes a decision is one of the reasons that I love her, but this was a little out of the blue.

"So that's a no." She looked disappointed for a moment before reaching for her phone and pretending to check something. "I have to go… um… work on my book." She stood to leave.

I grabbed her hand and she sat back down in chair looking at me, "Bones it's not a 'no' it's a why on earth did you just ask this. I'm having flashbacks to when you decided to have a baby and then asked me for my sperm in the span of five seconds. I'm being to wonder if the scans were lying last week that said they were clean." I smiled at her trying to reassure her.

She let a smile smile grace her face, "It's not a no but it's not a yes?" I nodded. "…You want to know why I'm asking."

"Well yeah."

She took a deep breath and began in her teaching tone, "In the last three years I've analyzed both my behavior and your own. With your help I've come to recognized that at a very minimum my reactions, emotions, reliance, and what I can only deem as a necessity for your presence in my life would be classified as love. Moreover, I hypothesize that you feel much the same about me, and while my evidence seems to support that theory, you've yet to tell me as much. But then again I've never told you, so it is only rational that you've never told me."

"So basically you're in love with me and you think I'm in love with you?" She nodded "Well the famous Dr. Brennan is never wrong." I squeezed her hand. "But that still doesn't explain the question."

She looked puzzled for a minute before plunging onward, "While we've never kissed excepted when forced, I must admit that I've contemplated it multiple times and believe you have as well…" She paused while I paid the bill and was quiet as we walked out to the car but as soon as the doors were closed, she carried on, "I also realize that we've never been on an actual labeled date, but we go out all the time and many would consider our outings to consitute dates." It was like listening to her stream of conscious behind her reasoning, I'd never witnessed her vocalizing her thoughts before she processed and yet here they were literally falling from her lips. "I love Parker. I love spending time with him, listening to him, teaching him, and even cleaning up after him. And while we've never had sex I'm sure we would be extremely sexually compatible."

"Whoa there Bones. Two topics that should never be next to each other in a conversation: My son, whose mother wouldn't marry me, and sex."

Her stream of though continued uninterrupted, "I realize that there is the possibility that you've never acted on your romantic feelings for me because you want a wife, a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence, a dog, and lots of children running around, and thought that I couldn't provide you with that and would refuse on principle. However, while I can't promise you any of that I could probably handle a townhouse, Parker, and a self-sufficient cat, as long as it was with you." The final words tumbled out of her mouth and I realized that she'd been thinking about this for a while and this was the prepared list of arguments that she had to convince me, composed of every reason she could think of.

I opened the car door and walked around to escort her up to her apartment, as we strode into the building, I broke the silence that had settled since the reasons had ended. "Bones those are all great reasons for why we should be a couple and one day get married but you Bones are the queen of there being no need for marriage so tell me the reason for the sudden change of heart." I asked turning to look at her as the elevator doors closed.

"Because it means you can't leave without a fight… It means that you can't leave without at least trying to make it work first." The reason came out as barely a whisper, but there it was in black and white she'd finally realized that marriage meant you were tethered to the person; that they couldn't just leave her as so many others had.

The elevator doors opened and she walked quickly to her door fiddling with her keys seemingly unable to get them in the lock. I caught up with her just as she managed to slide the key in. I caught her chin in my hand and turned her to face me, "That goes both ways Bones."

"What goes both ways?" She said without taking her eyes from mine.

"We get married Bones that means you can't just pick up and leave you have to fight to make it work first. We get married Bones and there's no easy way out, no lies about feelings, no getting up in the morning and deciding that it's too much effort and it's over. It means waking up knowing its effort and doing it any way." I tried to tell if she understood what I was saying but her eyes had gone the glassy blue grey that occurs when she's found the answer to a case.

On a breath, "That's a yes." Fell from her lips.

I stepped closer forcing her back against the wall. "That's a yes. But there are a few things I want to do first."

She opened her mouth to ask another question but I captured her lips in a kiss refusing to let her questions ruin the moment. When air became a necessity I pulled back. "There's a few things that I want to do before we can get married the first being that we should acknowledge that we're a couple for a little while, the second being that I want to take you to bed and make love to you over and over again for a few weeks, and then when I'm ready I want to ask you with a ring properly."

She nodded her head slowly, "I guess that would be reasonable. I did spring it on you rather suddenly."

"Suddenly is an understatement Bones. You came out of nowhere, trained snipers can't keep up." She smiled catching my joke and she kissed me again pulling me into her apartment.

Some time later we were tangled in bed and the early sunlight began to fill the room when she spoke, "Booth don't wait to long."

"I won't Bones, don't worry."

Hours later in the middle of the forensic platform as everyone was discussing the latest cases, interns scurrying, techs typing madly, Hodgins talking about dirt Angela, telling him it was all gross, Cam trying to keep order and Bones looking at Bones I got down on one knee with my grandmother's ring and asked, "Temperance Brennan. Bones. Will you marry me?"

She sighed and gave me that look that said she didn't understand that or she thought I was being stupid, "You couldn't wait one whole day?"

"You're the one who told me not to wait to long."

She nodded resolutely, "You're right I did." Silence in the lab. I could almost her Angela's inner monologue or outrage and missing everything and happy dance that we were together. "Of course I will." Bones voice filled the lab.


I hope everyone's holiday season is going as well as mine is. A little crazy but good.

Thank you to all of you that reviewed on the last one the email alerts litterally make my day. So if your inclined to make my day feel free to leave a review.

Baby rose