Finally I get to update this one! Enjoy :-)

Office work

The kiss lasted longer than Booth had expected – or hoped for. He stood holding on tight, savouring the feel of her in his arms. It felt so right, like a missing part of his life had been found and slotted into place.

Eventually Bones pushed him away and stood looking at him. He matched her gaze, absorbing every part of her as if he were seeing it for the first time: the steady blue eyes, the long glossy hair hanging over her shoulders, that adorable, kissable mouth. It was a while before either of them spoke.

Then Bones ran her tongue round her lips. Booth fought the urge to do the same. "Well," she said. Then she tried again. "I don't know what happens next."

Booth let out the breath he'd been holding. "Breakfast?" he suggested with a wry grin.

"No, I mean about us. I don't know what it means, Booth."

He smiled at the familiar phrase in this unfamiliar context. He loved it that this highly intelligent woman was so comfortable admitting she didn't know something.

He stepped forward and took her in his arms again. She put up no resistance. "It means that I care deeply for you, more than I should, and I hope you feel the same about me."

"Well yes, of course," she answered, gazing at him. "But I'm just scared."

"Why?"

"Because we have a case to work on, and all I want to do is stay here with you. We can't let it affect our work, Booth."

"It was already beginning to," he pointed out quietly. "Couldn't you feel the tension? I've wanted you so much, but I didn't want to scare you off."

She smiled, and ran her hand over his chest. "And I wanted you," she admitted. "I just don't want to get hurt over this."

He placed his hand under her chin and tilted her face up towards his. "The last thing I want to do is hurt you," he told her softly.

They kissed again, and this time he pulled away first. "But I really am hungry," he admitted with a grin. "So – breakfast?"

She nodded happily, and he pulled a tee shirt out of his bag and lifted it over his head. Grabbing up his jacket from the chair next to the bed, he indicated the door. "Shall we?"

They walked out of the door together, Booth carefully locking it behind him. As they walked across the parking lot, they met Charlie the motel man. He greeted them cheerfully. "Dr. Brennan, I see you know our new guest."

"Yes, Charlie," she replied, and introduced Booth.

"Is he a writer too?" Charlie asked with interest.

"No, actually I'm FBI," Booth answered, watching in amusement as he got the usual reaction: when people discovered he was a law enforcer they always got a strange look in their eyes as they searched their memories for anything they might have done wrong. "I'm here working a case."

Charlie nodded. "Ah, yes, sad business, that. Sad business. So young." He turned his attention back to Brennan. "How's the new novel going?" he asked. "Got much writing done?"

She shook her head. "A little. But there's the case to work on. I'm not really here to write; it just helps me relax in the evenings."

Booth smiled. He loved hearing Bones talking about her writing. He took her arm. "Breakfast?" he reminded her.

She nodded, seeming slightly uncomfortable at his touch, but not objecting. When Charlie disappeared back into the office she turned to him. "What's wrong?" he asked, suddenly worried.

"Nothing. It's just – I'm not used to this, Booth, and it makes me feel uneasy. Especially when we're supposed to be on a case. It's not – it's not that I don't like it, it's just that maybe we shouldn't make it common knowledge. Not yet. Not until we've both gotten used to the idea and know how things are going to work."

He nodded, but she didn't pull her arm out of his, and he didn't let go voluntarily. Instead, she gave him a small grin. "Of course, while we're among strangers it doesn't matter much anyway."

They walked together to the diner, where a young waitress greeted them. "I'm Sally," she said cheerfully. "Staying at the motel? Enjoying your stay?"

They explained that they were working on a case, and her face fell. "I saw something had happened over at the building site," she said soberly. "You never think anything exciting will happen where you live, then when it does you wish it hadn't."

They nodded, sat and ordered food, and waited until Sally had moved out of earshot. Then they looked at each other, unsure what to say. Booth winced inwardly. If they didn't get over this stage pretty damn quick, life was going to be difficult for both of them. He gave her what she called his charm smile. "What's the plan for today then?"

Brennan frowned, considering carefully. "I want to check they're searching the site thoroughly. I don't want them to miss anything else."

Booth nodded. "I want to sit and go through the file on the kidnap in detail, see if there's anything we've missed. And I need to keep on top of the investigation here. Then I want a chance to interview some friends of the family."

"You're investigating the father?" Brennan pushed out her bottom lip for a moment as she thought. "You said that the two deaths are likely to be connected, which would probably rule the father of one of them out, especially as they happened eighteen months apart."

"Until we have an ID and further information on the second boy, I can't rule anything out," Booth admitted gloomily. "I need to talk to people who knew the father, see what they have to say. After all, if it wasn't the father, then why did he disappear? Why didn't he report the boy missing?"

Brennan nodded. "That's a good point. Booth, I know you feel a personal connection to this case. I know that you're having problems with access to your son, and sympathise with the father, but you're going to stay objective, aren't you?"

He scowled at her, feeling hurt. "Of course."

She smiled cheerfully. "I thought so. I just needed to hear you confirm it."

Their food arrived and they ate for a while in silence, and then walked to the building site together to check in with the search team, before driving in Booth's car to the station.

Booth begged a desk and sat with the contents of the file spread out around him, ignoring the hostile glares of Ted Harvey, who really seemed to resent his presence on the case. Why did the locals always object to FBI involvement? You'd think they'd welcome the help, instead of getting so damned territorial.

Brennan sat at the other side of the desk with her laptop, reading the lab reports and chatting to her team about the findings on the second boy via the online video conferencing. Throughout the morning Booth found himself glancing up only to find Bones gazing over at him. They would both smile, as if sharing a secret, then look back at their work. Booth looked down at the file, trying to concentrate on his work, and decided to run through what they already knew. They had one dead boy, who had died of suffocation around two years ago. He'd been reported as kidnapped by his father at around the same time. They had another boy, dead only six months but also of suffocation, as yet unidentified. He rubbed his hand across his face. Whatever way you thought about it, the father of the first boy had to be important, if only because the boy was reportedly in his custody at around the time of his murder.

Booth's eyes were starting to ache from staring at all the detail in the file, and after a while he stood and walked round the desk. He placed a hand on Brennan's shoulder. "Want a coffee?" he asked her.

"Oh, hi Booth!" came Angela's voice cheerfully from the computer, and it was only then that Booth remembered the video link worked both ways and she could both see and hear him. He dropped his hand from Bones' shoulder, but was rewarded by a knowing grin from the artist. Bones turned away from the computer slightly and gave him a rueful grin, hiding her reaction from the camera built into the laptop. "Yes, please," she answered him.

"What?" He'd completely lost his train of thought, distracted both by her closeness and by Angela.

"Coffee?" she reminded him with a smile.

"Coffee. Yes. Coffee. Coming up." He backed out of range of the camera, mouthed "sorry" at Bones over the top of the screen, then went in search of the coffee machine in the hallway. He wondered how much Angela had noticed, how much she had guessed; how much she already knew was going on between them. So many people had assumed they had a relationship, that it felt like he had been the last to find out. Now there really was a link between them, it was going to be damn near impossible to hide it. He suppressed a grin. And what was wrong with that? But for now – well, although they couldn't hide it forever, they could sure have fun for a while.

Sorry it's been so long since the last update. No more interruptions, hopefully!

Please review - how did I handle it? This was the hardest part to write so far.