Lauwy (noticing you're usually one of the first few to review, thanks), RobinAngelena, mphs95, 554Laura (the flawed and deluded reasonings of an addict), LoveShipper, GalaxieGurl (love your clever use of those idioms), FaithinBones (he was definitely kidding himself), Vmf447 (agree, that's how they think), jsboneslover (lol how true), Phyllis, mendenbar (I used to think it was very out of character too until I re-watched the episodes a couple more times and came to that conclusion below), Annarita, ZinaR. Thank you for your reviews, I've enjoyed reading your take on Booth in his state of denial.

I think we all like to think of Booth as this perfect guy but I think it was brave and a very interesting storyline for the show to allow him to be less than perfect. It had been a hard year for him, being wrongly incarcerated and losing Sweets, though one can argue a stronger man wouldn't have succumbed. The fact that they showed him overcoming it further allowed us to see how human yet super-human-like he was. Made his character though flawed, more appealing, in my opinion. Feel free to disagree and PM me if you like, I'd love a good discussion on the show I miss so much.

Anyway, something a lot less angsty this time. This is chapter 50. I didn't mean for the 50th chapter to coincide to this occasion though I did intend to write a one-shot for it just like I did last year. Posting it a little in advance of the actual date.

Fairy-Tale

"Tell me a bedtime story Daddy." Christine said as she climbed into bed, making herself comfortable under the covers.

"Which book would you like me to read tonight Pumpkin?" Booth asked.

"I don't want you to read from a book, I wanna hear a story, from you."

"From me? I think you must've gotten us mixed up. Your Mom's the writer, not me."

"I wanna hear a story from you. Please Daddy?"

"Okay, okay. Once upon a time…" Booth began, sprouting the famous opening words from many books he had read to her. He settled onto the edge of Christine's bed, trying to come up with something worthy as a bedtime story for his little girl. And then an idea came to him. He looked over to Christine and smiled.

"Once upon a time, there was a handsome knight. He was big and strong and he rode a white stallion. He fought monsters and dragons and evil wizards and sometimes ugly ogres, protecting the villagers from harm. One time, he had some trouble catching an evil wizard. He tried really, really hard for a long time but he couldn't. The handsome knight had a friend who was a smart and kind witch. She told the handsome knight that he could get help from a princess to catch the evil wizard. She said the princess was very, very smart and she would definitely be able to help. The handsome knight liked to fight monsters by himself but he figured since he was running out of options, he'd go look for the smart princess and see if she could help."

Christine giggled and Booth looked at his daughter. "What?"

"Nothing Daddy, it's a good story, What happened next? Did the handsome knight find the smart princess?"

"Yeah he did. It turned out she was really, really smart, just like the friendly witch had said. And not only that, she was beautiful too." Booth's expression turned dreamy. "She had these beautiful blue eyes, and smooth dark hair… she was really, really beautiful."

He paused as if recollecting, before continuing.

"And so with the smart princess' help, they managed to catch the evil wizard. The handsome knight and the smart princess began to work together. You know, fighting monsters, ogres, trolls and all the bad and scary things that wanted to hurt the villagers. They worked well as a team and became really good friends. After some time, the handsome knight realised he was in love with the smart princess. But he couldn't tell her he loved her."

"Why not? Did they kiss?"

Booth laughed. "Yeah they kissed but it didn't work out so well."

"The princess didn't love the knight back?"

Booth shrugged. "I guess she did, but maybe she didn't know it at the time."

"How can you not know? I know I love you and Mommy. And Parker and Hank too."

"Yeah love between grown-ups can get a little complicated sometimes. You know what I mean?"

"No."

"You know what? You're too little to know now and I hope you won't have to find out how complicated love can get when you grow up."

"Why not?"

"Sometimes, finding out doesn't feel so nice."

"What happened next? Why didn't the handsome knight tell the princess he loved her?"

"The handsome knight was kinda scared."

"But I thought he was brave and fought monsters and dragons and other bad things?"

"He was brave when he had to fight the bad things but when it came to the smart princess, he was scared she didn't love him back and they couldn't be friends anymore."

"I don't understand." Christine looked at her father quizzically.

"See the smart princess had it rough when she was growing up and that made her scared too. Scared to love another person."

"That's sad."

"Yeah, it is."

"Do they get to live happily ever after?"

"You'll find out if you let me finish."

"Okay."

Booth grinned at his adorable little girl. He wrapped an arm round her and she snuggled into his side.

"So the handsome knight kept it all to himself until one day a not so smart wizard dared the handsome knight to tell the princess that he loved her. And so he did. But that didn't turn out so well either. The smart princess said she didn't know how to love but the handsome knight knew otherwise. The princess said she didn't want to be together with the knight, and it made him very sad."

Christine took her father's hand as if suddenly saddened too.

"The two of them went away from each other for a time to different villages far, far from each other. But the villagers from home still needed protecting. So they decided to fight dragons and monsters together again. The handsome knight did some pretty silly things to make things hard for them but they did became good friends again. With time, the handsome knight knew that he still loved the smart princess and she now knew she loved him back. And then one night, something sad happened. The smart princess was upset and the handsome knight kissed her to make her feel better."

"I believe they did more than kiss." Brennan's voice interrupted Booth's story.

Both Christine and Booth turned, looking towards the door.

"Yeah well… she doesn't need to know the details Bones."

Again Christine giggled. "Finish the story Daddy."

"After they kissed, the handsome knight and the smart princess got married, and they had a precious little princess of their own. They still continued fighting monsters and dragons and all the other bad, evil creatures but to answer your question… yes they did live happily ever after."

"That's a good story Daddy. Maybe you can tell it to me again tomorrow night."

"Sure. Anything for my little girl." Booth stood up from her bed and planted a kiss to her forehead. He then moved aside, making space for Brennan to give their daughter goodnight kisses too.

As the couple started to leave Christine's bedroom, Christine yawned, then said cheekily, "Goodnight handsome knight and smart princess."

Booth chuckled. "Goodnight my little princess."

Brennan laughed along. "Goodnight Christine."

Together the couple moved across the hall to Hank's bedroom. Brennan waited outside while Booth went in to kiss his already sleeping son. The couple then made their way to their bedroom.

Booth started to pull off his jeans and shirt, before retrieving a dark blue shirt from the closet, the one he knew his wife liked. Pulling it on, he glanced at Brennan who had also started to undress. She reached into the closet, pulling out a shimmery blue dress.

"Wow." Booth whistled. "I haven't seen you wear that in awhile."

"I was saving it for the occasion." She slipped it on and turned her back to him. "Zip up please."

"With pleasure." Booth made his way to her and she could feel his hot breath on her shoulder as he let his fingers linger on her back, longer than necessary as he slowly pulled the zipper upwards.

"We have reservations Booth. You can undress me slowly after we get home later."

"I know. I'm just workin' up my appetite." He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. She turned to face him.

"Leave the top buttons undone." She said as she ran her hands along his wide shoulders and then down his chest. "I think you look really good that way."

"Sure. Anything for my wife." Booth grinned, repeating the words he had used with Christine a short while ago.

She tip-toed to press a light kiss to his lips before moving to the dresser to retrieve a necklace.

"Your gift from last year."

"I'm glad you still like it."

"We're exchanging gifts when we get home?"

"Yeah. And since I know you don't have any fancy underwear on, I'm thinking you got me something else this year."

"Yes. You'll find out later." She smiled a sultry smile at him before changing the subject. "You know you got the story wrong."

"What?"

"The knight and princess got married after they had their little princess."

"Yeah I'll correct that tiny detail in my story when she gets older. I didn't think she'd figure out I was telling her about us."

"She's very perceptive and intelligent, why wouldn't she have figured it out?"

"Yeah I guess you're right." Booth said as he pulled on a pair of black pants. He stood admiring her as she tied her hair up.

"There are a lot more details we can fill her in on when she's much older." Booth continued.

"So we're like a fairy-tale?"

"Yup. Like a dream come true. And we're living happily ever after, just like in my story."

Brennan made her way to Booth, wrapping her arms round his neck. "We are."

"You're happy."

"Yes. As are you."

"I'm very happy with the life we've built together."

They shared a smile before Booth pulled her flush to him, pressing himself against her as they kissed passionately.

The doorbell rang and the couple slowly broke the kiss.

"That'll be Aubrey." Booth said, breathing heavily.

"You should go get the door. We don't want to be late. I just need a touch of make-up."

"You know you look amazing to me with or without make-up right?"

"I know."

The doorbell rang again.

"He has the key, why doesn't he use it?" Booth said a tad annoyed. "He's gonna wake the kids."

"Given the occasion, he probably didn't want to risk walking in on us having sex on the couch."

Booth chuckled. "I'll wait for you in outside."

As Booth entered the hallway, he turned, calling out to her. "Bones."

She turned and the image of her looking back at him filled him with so much love for her he thought his chest might burst. "I love you."

"I love you too Booth." She smiled the smile he loved. "Happy Fifth Anniversary."

"Happy Fifth Anniversary Bones."

The necklace Brennan wears is mentioned in my previous anniversary story, Chapter 17: Gifts. The day has come round again, October 21st. Here's wishing the best tv couple ever, Booth and Brennan a very Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary. Thank you to everyone still reading the fics and still loving the show, keeping the show alive in their own little ways.

As to the rest of my one-shots, I think I'll continue on with just this one volume and add on more chapters here. I intend to write sequels, hopefully, to some of my one-shots in this collection and it's easier, just like in this one to reference back. Again, thank you again for your tremendous support for my writing.