They still don't belong to me, although I keep asking nicely. Maybe for my birthday?

And I'm still making no money from any of this, sadly.

Chapter 7 The aftermath

Brennan let herself in her motel room, and shut the door gently behind her. She rested her head on the door and felt the anger prickle behind her eyes. It wasn't fair! She was just feeling comfortable with Booth. She had begun to convince herself that she was ready to take things further, then when he made the first move she froze up and acted as though he was trying to attack her.

She heard a bang from next door, as if Booth had thrown something. The bang felt like a physical hurt to her. She walked over to the bed, looked at her laptop resting on the table next to it, and pondered whether to try writing before bed, or to have another read through the preliminary results the squint squad had sent to her earlier.

She sat down on the edge of the bed. Or she could stop hiding behind work or her writing and go and see Booth and apologise, and see if there was any way of reviving their partnership after her behaviour, she scolded herself.

Brennan stood up and moved towards the door, but as she did so she heard the slam of another door. Peering out of the window she saw Booth leaving his room. Her heart sank as she thought for a moment that he was going to get into his car and drive away. But he moved past the car, and as he moved under the light of the office she saw that he had changed into running clothes. She moved back and pulled the covers off the bed. Kicking off her shoes, she arranged the pillows around her back and sat staring into space, wondering what to do. The rational side of her insisted that he would try again, that he knew she was attracted to him and that she had simply panicked. Another small voice in her head told her that he'd have to be crazy to try anything around her again and risk another rejection.

She stood up, having made a decision. She found a piece of paper and wrote a message on it. Then she pushed it under Booth's door, where he would find it when he got back from his run. She sat up on the bed intending to wait for him to return. And she found herself still sitting there, fully dressed, in the morning.

When Brennan woke up she remembered immediately what had happened the night before, and she groaned aloud. How could she have been so stupid? How did Booth feel about her this morning? She remembered the note she had left him. She had intended to go and speak to him when he got back, once he'd read the note, but falling asleep had prevented that, and now she had no idea how he felt about her.

She stood up and stretched, trying to work the kinks out of her back. She stared over at the window, but was too scared to go over to it. What if she looked out and Booth's car wasn't there? What if he'd come back and gone straight home? What if he'd read her note and then gone home?

Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She picked it up. "Brennan."

"Sweetie, it's me."

She smiled. "Hi Angela, it's good to hear from you."

"Are you all right? You sound kind of strange."

"I'm fine. Just – I didn't sleep well last night."

"And how's Booth? Did he sleep okay?"

"Angela!" Brennan could not help laughing. "You're incorrigible, you know that, don't you?"

"Well, I have to try. Listen, we've got more results on the first body for you. The second body just got here half an hour ago, Hodgins and Zack are just squabbling over who gets first go."

"Okay, good. Listen, tell me the news then." She listened carefully.

When she had finished talking to Angela, she looked at the phone in her hand. It was no good postponing it, she had to go and face Booth sometime, and the longer she left it the worse she would feel about it. Summoning up all her courage while she had a shower and changed, she then headed next door.

She found Booth already up and half-dressed. "Come in," he invited her. She hovered on the doorstep, nervously.

"It's all right, I won't bite," he reassured her. "I won't even try to kiss you without your permission again, okay?"

She gave a small smile. Looking around the room, she spotted her note sitting on his bedside table. He followed her gaze, and smiled. "You write well," he commented. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since you've written a best seller and all."

"I always did express myself better on paper," she admitted. "I'm really sorry about last night, honestly I am."

"No problem. I've told you, I'm happy to wait until you feel you're ready."

"Thank you," she said quietly. "Angela called."

"Oh. Anything interesting?"

"They came up with more about the first body. Do you want me to tell you the details?"

"Only the condensed version, please. I don't need all the scientific minutiae. I don't think my head could take that this morning." He gave her a wry grin. "I was just about to shave. Mind if I carry on?"

"No, of course, you go ahead." Brennan followed him to the doorway of the bathroom uncertainly. When he realised she was just behind him, he indicated the bath.

"Take a pew on there and talk to me while I work, if you like."

Brennan sat down gingerly on the edge of the bathtub and watched as Booth carefully squeezed shaving foam onto one hand and smoothed it over his face. He turned to her. "Well?"

"Sorry." She saw him grin in amusement as he turned back to the mirror and took up his razor. Summoning up her recollection of the facts Angela had given her, Brennan tried to put them in some sort of order for a report to Booth. All the time, she was desperately trying not to be distracted as he gently pulled the razor over his cheeks and round his chin, angling his face to get a proper view in the mirror as he worked, and carefully washing the foam off the razor in the sink after each stroke.

When she lost her thread for the third time, he turned back to her, laughing. "What is the matter with you, Bones?"

She looked straight at him, her face serious. "Booth, you know that anthropologically, the father plays a large part in the raising of his male offspring. For example, I'm sure Rebecca would not be able to do anywhere near as good a job of teaching Parker to shave as you would."

He laughed out loud at that, then he wiped a last bit of foam off his chin with the towel. "Temperance, you said last night you didn't want me to kiss you because you were afraid I only wanted to do it because I was drunk and upset. If I were to try again – now – would you let me?"

"Do you know," she said softly, "I think I would."

So he did.

Well that seems a good point to pause while I go on vacation for a week :-)

Thanks for all the reviews, more always welcome. Did you like the end of this part? Too much? What about the shaving scene? For some reason watching a guy shave has a strange effect on me ;-)

Next update as soon as I can, I promise.