BOOTH

Yeah, I knew why. The chase is finally over. I'm not saying what's ahead will be easy, I laugh to myself, but we'll be doing it together, whatever it is. The sex we'd had, had been… primal. I'd given her all of myself, leaving nothing on the table and she'd done the same for me. It had been hands down the best sex I've ever had and to think it was only the beginning? I can't even begin to imagine what it will be like when we've been together longer, know each other's bodies better… have uncovered all of each other's secrets.

Stepping out of the shower, I sling a towel around my hips then, leaning over the bathroom counter, I wipe the steam off the mirror and consider my morning beard. Nah, I'll leave it. The thought earns another pleased laugh. I hadn't missed how Bones had reacted to my whiskers softly scraping against her sensitive skin. Far be it from to take away any of her pleasure. Still, shave or not, I need my shave kit from the duffel where I tossed it somewhere into the living room when we'd arrived last night.

"Bones," I called out, as I left the bathroom. "Bones!"

"I'm right here, Booth," she says in that disappointed teacher tone, "You don't have to yell." If I'd had a teacher that looked like her in school I'd never have gotten any work done.

"Do you have any idea where my bag is?" Dropping her bra on the back of a chair with the rest of our clothing, she leaned down and held it up.

"By the front door where you dropped it."

"You mean where you attacked me." I can't help teasing her. If thought I'd set her off-balance again, I couldn't have been more wrong. The look she gives me is pure cat-who-at-the-canary.

"You didn't seem to mind." With a bit of a swagger in my walk, I approach her and take my bag from her hand.

"I didn't," I admit, staring down at her, intently. "Feel free to take advantage of me anytime." I have to give it to her, she wasn't backing down. Instead, she takes a step closer and her eyes meet mine.

"Feel free to return the favor." Instantly, my body heats up and I feel myself harden. Another step and we're nose-to-nose.

"Is that a dare?" She smiles up at me.

"Maybe." I drop my bag on the chair where she's hung our clothes and move in for a kiss…

And find only air where she'd been. Her soft laugh follows in her wake as she walks to the kitchen while my eyes shift from side-to-side. What just happened?

"But right now, we have to get ready to leave," she tells me, as she casually grabs the coffee pot and pours two cups. Of course, we do. In Bones' eyes, seeing Leishenger's grandparents is work – which is the only thing she's ever on time for. With a loud sigh meant to show my amused frustration, I join her in the kitchen and accept the cup of coffee she offers me. I take a sip then grimace, openly, at how bitter the coffee is and without ceremony take both our cups and turn towards the sink.

"Booth! Booth, stop!" she protests when she realizes my intent, lunging towards the cup as I easily keep them from her reach.

"Sorry, Bones, but I took an oath to serve and protect," I joke, earning a frown.

"What are you talking about!?" she asks, annoyed, then takes another stab at rescuing a cup from me. I easily hold it out of her reach.

"Letting either of us drink this would be the same as witnessing a poisoning and doing nothing to stop it." She freezes and then breathes out a short laugh.

"It's not that bad," she defends.

"It's drain cleaner," I shoot back. She tries to pretend she's still irritated but the way her lips slightly purse and her eyes light up say otherwise. She's happy. I dump out the coffee cups slowly, my eyes never leaving her face then close in on her, locking her in my arms with a hum and sealing my lips to hers.

But it's more than just happiness. It's unguarded happiness. She hasn't stopped to consider if what she was feeling was happiness, if she should allow herself to show the emotion and if she did, what was the right way. This type of happiness comes from somewhere deep within her, the part of her that trusts me so much that she was willing to lose the last of her imperviousness and open her heart to me.

To me.

I can't explain what that does to me, at least not in a single word. It makes me proud. Humble. Relieved. Thankful. Honored. My pulse races, my blood pounds, a shiver passes through me. I've never seen this look on her face with anyone else. Just me. It stirs up that alpha male in me she was talking about last night, makes me want to haul her back into bed and make love to her until neither of us can move from sheer, sated exhaustion. It makes me feel like the man I've always wanted to be: A good man, an honest man… a needed man. It reminds me that…

"I knew."

Which makes me a little… smug.

Yeah, I said it. Smug. Bones might be the brains of this outfit, but I'm the one with the gut.

I knew.

"That was the last of the coffee." She speaks the words around the kiss. I smile against her lips and slide my arms downward so they now encircle her waist. I lean back and smile. I can't seem to stop smiling. The ever-practical Bones.

"We'll stop by the diner on the way" I answer. I can't resist kissing her again before she steps out of my embrace.

"We'll be late," she forewarns, walking towards the bedroom.

"I'll speed," I call back over my shoulder as I grab my bag then follow. When I step into the bedroom, Bones has already put on a modest pair of white panties and is putting on an equally modest white bra. Pulling my shave kit out of the bag, I disappear into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

"Nearly twenty-five people a day are killed in speeding related automobile accidents," she calls from somewhere in the closet. "What about your oath?" I slant my eyes towards the bedroom then forward again. Bones can be quite the smart ass when she wants and I feel like I've just been given a little tit-for-tat for my thoughts on her coffee. Then again, it could just be Bones being Bones, pointing out the error in my thinking. I finish the task at hand, tap the brush on the sink to dry it, then return it to my bag before joining her in the bedroom.

I often find it safest to go with the confused, slight pout at times like these. If she's being a smart ass it allows her to feel I've been properly chastised and if she was just correcting, it makes her feel she's accomplished her mission.

"But… speeding's a part of the job," I match my tone to the look on my face, while grabbing a fresh pair of boxers from my bag and pulling them on. She watches without apology and, if I'm not wrong, the look she's giving me is one of admiration. "They give you a siren and everything." As I reach for a crisp dress shirt she disappears into her closet.

"You aren't working today," she points out in a tone that suggests that shouldn't have to be explained. Tugging on my shirt, I watch as she reappears in a tan skirt and buttoning a simple short-sleeved white blouse.

"I will be when I'm speeding." Her fingers stall on the last button for a second and she looks at me as though I've lost my mind.

"That doesn't make sense." Without warning, I grab her around the waist and, with a dive, take us down to the bed, pinning her partly beneath me.

"Booth!" she protests. Laughing and flattening her palms against my chest, she tries uselessly to push me off.

"Not everything makes sense, Bones," I tell her in a teasing tone. "Look at you and me. We shouldn't make sense at all… except somehow we do." She stills for a second, considering what I've said. She palms the back of my neck with a hand.

"We do make sense." I smile so wide at her answer that I'm pretty sure I look ridiculous. This type of happiness has to be illegal somewhere. When she lifts her head and kisses me, I'm a willing participant, still I can't resist the urge…

"We'll be late." I can feel her smile against my lips as her hands slip under my shirt and eases it down over my shoulders. No hint needed. I shrug it off the rest of the way then toss it to the floor.

"So, you'll speed faster."

"That doesn't make sense…"