Author's Note: This is the chapter that gives the story the M rating! I wanted to go into a little more depth than a T would possibly allow me so to be on the safe side I gave it an M. I don't think it is particularly explicit but it is pretty descriptive so just be warned if this might offend you!

Pausing outside the door to Booth's apartment, Brennan took a steadying breath. His SUV was parked outside, so she knew he should be here. She would have tried calling him, but her cell phone that she had found in her jacket pocket was dead and she was unsure if he would even answer her call anyway. The only question now was, now she was here, would he entertain talking to her or would he demand she leave? She couldn't envisage Booth ever sending her away, but then again, she had never hurt him as much as she knew she must have last night.

She slowly raised her hand to knock before pausing once more. A flood of emotions filled her torso as she experienced a feeling of déjà vu, almost like she was replaying the last time she stood here feeling nervous like this. The night she decided to be impulsive and take a chance on the man she trusted more than anyone she had ever trusted before in her life.

Finally, she knocked, rapping just twice on the old mahogany door. She waited, her heart beginning to beat faster as more and more seconds ticked by without him answering the door.

She was just lifting her knuckles to knock again when the door opened. Brennan swallowed a sigh of relief as she absorbed the sight of the man she loved standing in front of her looking stony faced and dishevelled. In yet another similarity to that day when it all began between them, he was dressed in dark coloured sweatpants and T-shirt. However, she recognised these particular garments as ones he wore to sleep in. His hair was messy, his T-shirt was crumpled, and he was barefoot which was unusual for Booth. The pain in his feet from the torture he had endured when he was captured whilst in the army meant that he usually always had something on his feet. Brennan realised he had obviously been in bed which explained why he had taken so long to answer the door, and she briefly wondered if maybe he genuinely had got a migraine. But as her eyes came to rest on his face, she knew he wasn't sick. He wore a look on his face that she knew well. She recognised it because it was almost an exact replica of the expression that had stared back at her in the mirror for two long weeks. It was a look of grief and sorrow.

The knowledge that she had contributed to him looking and feeling this way felt made her stomach plummet and a prickle of unease spread over the surface of her skin. His usually tan complexion instead looked sallow, and his eyes were rimmed red and puffy. Booth rarely ever cried, but she knew that he must have been crying for his eyes to look that way. What she didn't know though and what he'd never admit to, was that he had been crying, curled up in bed, holding the pillow she used when she slept at his place. Trying to take comfort from the last remaining traces of her scent.

Booth made no moves towards her and gave no indications that he was going to allow her into the apartment. He simply stood there in the open doorway, carefully trying to keep his expression neutral to disguise the pain, but Brennan could still see it there in the tumult of his brown eyes. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't find the words that would make it better, to explain how she felt. Instead, she followed the instinct that had only begun to fully surface in her since connecting with him on such a deep level. She quickly stepped closer to him then threw her arms around him, holding herself close to his chest, resting her cheek against his neck.

She felt him exhale a shuddering breath as she made contact with his body before he drew his arms up and around her, holding her tighter than she could ever remember him holding her before. Brennan didn't know how long they stood there just holding each other. Was it seconds or minutes? She didn't care. All she knew was that she didn't want him to ever let go. She had been so foolish. She had believed him to be dead for two weeks. During that time, how often had she longed to feel him hold her like this again? Wishing for him to be with her just one more time? Instead, when the impossible happened and he came back, she had pushed him away.

Overpowered by everything that had happened in the last two weeks, by all the emotion, surprises and trauma, Brennan broke down in Booth's arms. Sobbing hard, clinging onto the back of his shirt as he continued to hold her tightly, never once easing his grip on her.

The amount of time she spent crying was as indeterminate as the amount of time they'd spent holding each other. She had never been afraid to cry in front of Booth. He had always allowed her to be herself without judgement. Even now, even though they were both hurting so much, she felt safe enough to let go.

Eventually, her tears eased enough for her to say three very important words. Words she previously believed to be meaningless but now held so much power over her it was terrifying. "I love you."

Booth eased his hold on her just enough so she could lift her head, allowing her tear-filled cerulean blue eyes to meet his chocolate browns. "I love you too, Bones" he said quietly, his voice rough with emotion.

His words filled Brennan with hope, but she couldn't help but feel that maybe they came with a catch. They were still stood in the open doorway of his apartment, and she wondered if maybe she had hurt him too much, that maybe he had changed his mind about her being worth the risk and he was going to tell her to leave. She needed him to know without doubt how she felt so she lifted her hand and placed it on his cheek, feeling the roughness of his stubble under her fingertips and wiping away the dampness of a stray tear with her thumb. She leaned in and brushed her lips against his, feeling her body sag in relief when his anticipated rejection of her never came and his mouth responded to hers.

"I'm so sorry, Booth." Brennan whispered after their lips parted. "I made a mistake. This is right for me. You are right for me. You were correct when you said that what we have is worth the risk. I see that now. Even though I know it is an impossible assertion, I know I will never stop loving you and I'm sorry that I hurt you when I was trying to make sense of it all."

"Temperance…" Booth started, his voice still hoarse "I'm sorry too. You don't have to explain, I understand, okay? I should never have walked away from you last night, and I should've come find you today when you didn't answer your phone instead of just waiting and assuming the worst. I just… when I thought you didn't want me anymore, I just kinda lost it. Y'know?"

"I understand." Brennan whispered before pulling herself back close to him, nestling into his shoulder and inhaling deeply, breathing in his familiar scent, her body still trembling with the aftershocks of her sobs. She did understand. Completely. Losing all control of your emotions was something she unfortunately had very recent experience with.

One of Booth's hands slid from her waist up to the nape of her neck, his fingers winding into her hair, securing her head in place on his shoulder. He held her as her trembling ceased, feeling his own body relax as it seemed to finally sink in that Bones was here, in his arms. He thought the two weeks he had just spent in isolation were hell, but they had nothing on the past twenty-four hours.

Voices in the hallway outside his apartment prompted Booth to remember they were still just standing there in the entrance with the door wide open. Maintaining his hold on Bones, he shuffled them both sideways a little then kicked the door shut behind him, not wanting an audience to this private moment.

Booth unquestionably regretted his actions last night, but he had just been so damn angry and upset that thinking clearly had been almost impossible. He also regretted confronting Sweets this morning, but it was easier to feel forgiving towards the young shrink now that Bones was back in his arms.

"Are you alright Booth?" Bones' voice sounded soft and uncertain, muffled by her mouth being pressed to his shoulder.

"Never better Bones." He replied before kissing her hair and nuzzling his nose into it, reacquainting himself with the essence that was the woman he loved, that he had missed so desperately. The only physical contact he'd had with her since his faked funeral the other day was when she had punched him. Every time he had tried to touch her since then, she had shied away. He had longed to hold her for those two weeks he was shut away, especially when he was still in the hospital. It wasn't the first time he had gotten shot. Hell, it wasn't even the worst gunshot injury he'd ever had. But recuperating alone without being able to see his partner, the woman he loved enough to give his life for, to reassure her that he was alive, that he was going to be ok was torturous. Booth knew now though that what he had gone through had paled in comparison to what Bones had experienced. He couldn't even begin to imagine how she had felt when she thought he was dead.

He felt her begin to pull against his embrace so he loosened his arms so she could turn her head to look at him. She raised an eyebrow at his response, clearly doubting the sincerity of his words. "I'm sure that isn't true Booth. While I admit that there is an improvement to my disposition now that I am here with you, I find I am still feeling a great deal of anger and remorse."

Booth huffed a short laugh, amused by her typical blunt way of putting things. God, he had missed her. "I meant it, Bones. Now you're here, everything feels better. There's nothing I can't handle when you're with me."

"I'm sorry Booth." Brennan said, her eyes sliding shut, pain etched on her face.

"Stop apologising, Temperance. You have nothing to apologise for. I told you, I understand. You were only doing what you felt you needed to do to protect yourself after everything you've been through. It's me who should be sorry. I know you; I know how your mind works. I should have given you time instead of jumping off the deep end."

Her eyes which had snapped open when he told her there was nothing for her to apologise for now looked adorably confused. "When did you find time to go swimming, Booth? I thought you had a migraine?"

"What?" Booth asked, also confused until it clicked what she meant. A broad grin spread across his face and he leaned down to place a brief kiss on her lips. "It's an expression, Bones. It means I got crazy and irrational. And I didn't have a migraine. It was just the excuse I used to get out of work. I couldn't stand being there. I was a mess. I couldn't concentrate and I knew I was a liability staying there in the state I was in, so I came home."

Booth felt Bones tense up and grip onto him even tighter when he admitted how he had felt that morning. After a few moments she relaxed back into his embrace and an almost inaudible sigh escaped her lips as she pressed her face back into his shoulder. There was comfortable silence between them as they were content just holding each other, feeling the peace of the fact that at that moment, everything was alright.

Eventually the coldness of the hardwood floor under Booth's bare feet began to cause him some discomfort. Realising he needed to move from their current position, he reluctantly relaxed his arms. But instead of releasing her, he slid his hands up her body, over her slim waist and the curve of her breasts making a delicate shiver run up Brennan's spine. One hand remained on her shoulder while the other angled a finger under her chin, forcing her to lift her gaze to his.

"Bones, d'you have to go back to the lab?"

Brennan was confused, a question was not what she was expecting. Not after the way his hands had swept up her body and how his eyes now seemed to be smouldering like hot embers. "I neglected to inform anyone I was leaving. I imagine they will think I am in Bone Storage where I have been working consistently recently." A frown crept onto her features as her words reminded her of why she had been down in Limbo so often. She also observed a brief flicker of pain appear in the tightening of Booth's eyes. "If I am to believe Angela, no one expected me to be at work today anyway, so in answer to your question – no I don't have to go back to the lab. Why?"

"Because I was wondering if I had time to show you just how much I love you and how much I have missed you." He said as he began placing soft kisses down her neck. He desperately wanted her to say yes. He needed this. He needed to be completely certain that she would have absolutely no doubt about how he felt about her.

"Oh!" Brennan said after a moment, distracted by the direction of his kisses that indicated definitively what he meant. "Yes, we have time." She said as a rush of warmth made her skin tingle as it spread through her body before settling low in her belly. She could see the need in his darkening eyes and she realised she needed this too, to be one with him again, where she belonged.

Booth lifted his mouth from her neck and smiled softly before he brushed his lips over hers. Brennan's lips parted on a soft moan and Booth's tongue immediately took advantage, slipping into her mouth and reacquainting himself with her taste in much the same way as he had done with her scent. He kissed her hard and deep, his tongue twisting with hers, savouring every second. There had been a point earlier that day when he had been convinced he would likely never see her again, never mind get to hold her, or kiss her or make love to her again.

Brennan's hands finally eased the unyielding grip they had on Booth's T-shirt and began caressing his body, lifting the fabric at the hem of the shirt and tracing the smooth lines of his torso, feeling his firm skin under her fingertips. She felt him shiver as her touch drifted lower, her fingers tracing the flesh under the waistband of his pants. She groaned into his mouth as he mirrored her actions by slipping one of his hands into her pants, his fingers finding their way to where the heat that was enveloping her body had pooled between her thighs, caressing and stroking the sensitive area, making her want to cry out.

Their lips parted for a moment as they both gasped for breath, Brennan whimpering as Booth continued the sweet torture with his fingers. "Bones…" Booth whispered raggedly "here or the bedroom?" He wanted to make love to her properly, take his time, but it was becoming abundantly obvious that they were both about to be overcome by desire.

Her propensity to initiate intercourse pretty much wherever they were at that present moment led him to believe that she would choose to remain where they were. After all, it wouldn't have been the first time they had ended up having sex on the couch or even the floor. But instead, Brennan surprised him by whispering huskily "Bedroom."

Unwilling to allow any loss of contact between them, he held her close and kissed her again as he walked her backwards all the way into the bedroom until the backs of her legs touched the edge of the bed and even then, Booth didn't release her. He laid her down across the bed, his body following in parallel to hers, their lips never parting. They continued this way with barely an inch of space ever between them, only allowing a bigger gap when removing their clothing.

Despite the almost painful ache in her core and the feeling that her skin was being exposed to an open flame, Brennan wanted the same thing as Booth - to take her time, to refamiliarize herself with every inch of his body, to make damn sure that this wasn't a dream. She writhed on the crumpled sheets of Booth's bed as he proceeded to kiss what felt like every inch of her skin, driving her wild, fanning the flames heating her epidermis. When his lips finally reached the flesh that he had previously tortured with his fingers, she erupted, her climax claiming her, momentarily disconnecting her senses of sight and sound and erasing every coherent thought.

When she eventually came to, she opened her eyes to find Booth laid beside her, his face close to hers and his hand carefully retracing the path his lips had taken previously. Brennan lifted her hand to trace his features, feeling the structure underneath. Outlining his mandible, maxilla, zygomatic, and frontal bone underneath the muscles and connective tissue. Feeling how each one curved and dipped, how they connected and combined to make him who he was. Memorising each bone so that she was sure that if the unthinkable ever happened and she was to be faced with identifying his remains, she would know it was him from the skull alone.

Booth knew what Bones was doing. He was enjoying the sensation of the caress that he had missed so much, but he also knew the purpose of her methodical touch. She was mapping his bones. Memorising every detail so that she knew him like no one else ever could or would. When her fingers brushed over his lips, he couldn't help but pucker them to kiss her hand. She grinned at him as her hand wound to his nape, pulling him towards her until his lips were touching hers.

She reached between them with her other hand and took hold of him, moving her hand rhythmically, her actions rewarded with a low growl emanating from deep in his throat. Swiftly, and without warning, he shifted and pinned her beneath him. Their eyes met, their gazes locking together as their most intimate parts connected. He immediately began to move, drawing soft moans from her as he pushed her closer to the edge, her climax building once again.

Booth couldn't take his eyes off the beautiful woman laying beneath him. She was perfect to him in every way. He knew he had begun to take what they'd had for granted before. A mistake he was unlikely to ever make again. He watched as her eyes darkened and colour rose in her cheeks thinking he had never seen anything more beautiful. He could feel a sheen of sweat spreading over his skin with the exertion of making love to this extraordinary woman, and he wished he could freeze this moment in time, to spend longer being here in this place, feeling just like this. But he could sense Bones was close to the edge again and his own release was building to the point of no return. His movements increased in intensity, and she gripped onto him, her nails digging into his back as he pushed them both off the precipice together.

Breathing raggedly, Booth rolled to the side and pulled Bones close to him, not ready to release her, not yet. Brennan was not opposed to his need for her proximity, and she promptly laid her head on his shoulder, her arm draped over his chest as Booth pulled the covers over their rapidly cooling bodies. They held each other, savouring the moment, feeling thankful for regaining something that they both thought was lost forever.

0-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-0

A short while later, Brennan abruptly propped herself up on one elbow. Booth, who had been dozing slightly after their love making, opened one eye, curious at her sudden movement. She was gazing down at him, one hand still resting on his chest, her fingers not far from the bandage that still covered his bullet wound.

"What's wrong, Bones?" He asked, seeing the distress that was apparent on her face.

"Does it hurt?" She asked quietly, her fingers tracing the edge of the adhesive on the bandage.

"Not really, not anymore. I mean, it's sore sometimes but it's nothing." He grabbed her hand as it was making another pass around the bandage and threaded his fingers through hers before bringing her fingers to his lips.

"I… I killed her, Booth." Brennan confessed softly. The anguish she felt at taking a life flaring in her eyes.

She didn't have to explain who she had killed. Booth knew she meant Pam Nunan, the woman who had shot him. "I know." He said kissing her fingers again.

"She was aiming for me, but you… you jumped in front of me. She shot you. She was going to…" Brennan felt like she had to justify her actions, but she couldn't complete the words.

"Hey, I know." Booth reassured as he lifted a hand to caress her cheek. "I read the witness report Bones. She was aiming the gun at you. You had no choice." Needles prickled his skin as he remembered reading that report. It was after he'd been in the safe house for a couple of days and he had been brought some case files to sign off on, the Tommy Sour case and Booth's subsequent shooting being among them. Up until that point, he'd had no idea that his partner had killed Pam Nunan. He vaguely recalled maybe hearing another gunshot after the one that had taken him down, but he had been rapidly losing consciousness at the time and most of his recollections of that evening were indistinct. He had felt a strong sense of hopelessness when he had realised that he hadn't been there to support Bones. He had confessed to her after they had been working together a few months that he felt that when you take a life, a little piece of yourself dies too. She had such a reverence for life that the thought of her killing someone and losing that little piece of herself, of having to bear that weight alone was painful.

Brennan abruptly sat up in bed, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. "It should never have happened." She whispered as she rested her cheek on her knees.

Booth scooted upright too and shifted closer to her. At that moment, she looked frail, defenceless. All her bravado stripped away, exposing the vulnerability underneath. He hesitantly placed his hand on her shoulder, afraid that she might reject his touch. But to his relief, she leaned into him as he stroked her bare skin soothingly.

He knew Bones didn't just mean shooting Pam Nunan as what should never have happened. None of the things that happened that night and since that night should have happened. "You're right, Bones. It shouldn't have happened. But it did and we have no choice now but to try to move past it."

She turned her head to look at him, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. "We should have told people, about us. If Pam Nunan had known, she might not have tried to kill me in the first place. If Sweets had known, he would have been obligated to tell me the truth."

Booth pulled her closer. "I don't know about Pam Nunan, Bones. That woman was crazy. She only suspected you were my girlfriend and that was enough to set her off. But you're right about Sweets, and everyone else for that matter. We shouldn't have kept our relationship a secret."

Brennan nodded and a few tears spilled from her eyes as she bit her lip, desperately trying not to cry again. The implications of revealing their true relationship with each other were profound. "We have to tell the FBI, don't we?"

"Yeah, we do."

"Will they split us up?" She asked, trying and failing to keep the despair from her voice. Their partnership was the second most important thing to her with Booth himself being the first most important.

Booth's heart gave a little squeeze when he saw how upset she was at the prospect of their partnership being severed. "I honestly don't know. Obviously, I hope they won't. But, y'know, maybe I can get Sweets to convince Cullen that seeing as we've been together for months with no one knowing and we still managed to work together fine, that there's no reason we can't continue."

At Booth's mention of Sweets, Brennan recalled the last conversation she'd had with the young psychologist. Something he'd said before he left her office was bothering her. He'd told her it had been a pleasure working with her and even to Brennan's untrained ears, it sounded very final. "Will Sweets still be working with us, Booth?"

Booth paused for a moment, a little embarrassed at having to admit his outburst earlier that day. "I might have some apologising to do first."

"Why do you need to apologise to him?"

"Because I, um, I might have threatened him a little bit this morning."

"What did you say to him?" Brennan said, getting that look on her face that told Booth he was in trouble.

"I might have told him, that he was done with us and that if he interfered again, he was a dead man." Booth was ashamed of how he'd threatened Sweets. He had been, and was still, so angry at him, but it still hadn't justified the threat he made against him.

"Booth…" Brennan said in that disapproving tone that told him he was indeed in trouble. "How are we supposed to convince the FBI that we can still work together without Sweets? They will want to bring another psychologist in to talk to us and we will have no chance of retaining our partnership!"

Booth knew she was right. They had managed to subvert Sweets enough between them that he had finally agreed to sign off on their partnership. They had trusted him and worked so closely with him this past year that he had almost become part of the team and had actually been integral to solving some of their cases. A new psychologist analysing their partnership wouldn't be privy to the dynamics of their working relationship and it was likely they would never get approval to continue working together. "I don't know! I wasn't thinking clearly when I went to confront him! I was too angry. I had just found out he was responsible for not telling you and I was so mad that he had ruined everything. I know I shouldn't have, but I took it out on him. I never considered that we might need him because at the time I didn't know if you would ever speak to me again."

The disapproving expression on Bones' face suddenly disappeared and was replaced by guilt. They had both had a part to play in the events of the last couple of days and she really couldn't blame Booth for how he had treated Sweets.

Booth studied her for a moment, waiting to see if she was going to chastise him some more. When she didn't, he said "Look, I've got an idea and we need to do some damage control. Fast. Get dressed. I'm gonna make a call."

He pushed himself out of bed and grabbed his cell phone from the nightstand. He dialled a number and stalked out of the room, still completely naked. Brennan opened her mouth to protest that he couldn't order her around, but she had a feeling if they were going to have any hope of saving their jobs, she had better do as Booth had said.

She gathered her clothes and began to dress with a sigh. She would have much rather have spent the rest of the day in bed with Booth, making up for lost time like Angela had said. But that would have to wait. It was time to go see Sweets.