This one is once again for jerseybones as she came back to us over on the other site AND...she gave me a crown! points happily

Thank you so much for the reviews! They make my day!

Temperance Brennan sighed contentedly as she allowed the jet of water from the shower to wake her sleepy muscles and warm her body. She had slept badly the night before and was in desperate need of caffeine.

A few minutes later Brennan was smoothing a palmful of conditioner into her auburn hair. Feeling sufficiently invigorated and ready to face the day ahead, she left the hair product in for a shorter length of time than usual before starting to rinse it out. As soon as she was convinced her hair was completely clean, she turned off the shower and allowed herself to stand for a moment in the billowing steam.

No sooner had the pounding of the water stopped than she heard a loud banging and her partner's voice calling her.

"Bones? Hey, Bones! You there?"

Cursing colourfully, Brennan slid open the shower door and groped for her towel. Once her fingers found the soft material, she wrenched it towards herself, running towards the bathroom door as she did so.

"Coming Booth!"

She streaked across her apartment, extremely thankful Booth couldn't see her. Just as she reached her front door, she managed to pull the towel roughly around herself. The aerodynamic action of her frantic run had prevented her from settling the fabric around herself while she was in motion.

She wrenched the door open and looked expectantly at her partner.

Booth's jaw was on the floor. Oh my good, sweet, divine God.

Brennan's hair was in loose, wet, dark tendrils around her face and cascaded down beyond her shoulders. The ends of the hair strands were dripping water onto the creamy skin below them. The completely soaking, glistening skin. Her left hand was holding a fluffy white towel against her chest. However, the hand was possibly exerting more force than was necessary as her cleavage was accentuated and the top of it pushed up over the edge of the towel. To make things even more difficult, she was breathing heavily.

Drop, towel. Drop

He barely had time to register the droplets of water that were running down her legs before his partner addressed him.

"Eh, Booth? You ok?"

He shook his head slightly, then seemed to think better of it and nodded. Finally he shrugged, looking at her with pleading eyes.

"You want to come in?"

He nodded mutely.

He closed his eyes and couldn't bring himself to breathe as he squeezed past her into the apartment. Shampoo and some kind of floral scent invaded his senses, making it difficult to move in a straight line.

Booth turned to face her, a goofy grin on his face as he gave her an appreciative once-over. Ever oblivious, Brennan just looked at him expectantly.

"What's up, Booth?"

Extremely annoyed at himself for not announcing the reason for his visit earlier, he held up the two take-away coffee cups in his hands. He made an attempt at a charm smile, but his poor libido was so compromised that it wasn't a very persuasive effort. Brennan didn't seem to notice though. Her eyes had latched onto the steaming cups. She took them off him and placed them on the kitchen counter.

"Mmm. Exactly what I need. Just let me run in and get changed. Wouldn't want this slipping down now, would we?" She gestured quickly at the towel with an innocent grin and turned towards her bedroom. She knew there was no possible way he felt about her the way she was constantly trying to deny she felt about him.

Booth hurriedly turned away. Even though his back was turned and there was absolutely no way she could see, he moved his hands down below his belt buckle, frantically trying to hide the obvious manifestation of his feelings. He made a feeble attempt at twiddling his thumbs, as though justifying his hands' position. He let out a loud, frustrated sigh.

"I'm sorry. Is it really that hard?"

"What?!" Squeaking incredulously, Booth spun back around, his face a brilliant ruby red.

Brennan was standing in the doorway of her room glaring at him.

"To just wait a few minutes? Look, I appreciate that you brought the coffee, but I want to get changed. I won't be long, I promise."

Nodding quickly, eyes averted, Booth managed to croak out. "Sure. Changing is definitely advisable." He swallowed audibly.

Brennan took another few seconds to scrutinise him. Sighing, she continued on into her room and shut the door behind her.

Booth stood motionless for an entire minute. Finally, willing his body into action, he decided to sit down on one of the kitchen chairs. Once seated, he attempted to cross his legs, hoping it might help his little (I really wanted to say something the complete opposite of 'little', but that's not really the way the saying works, is it? Sigh) problem. Unfortunately the poor man was so flustered that he completed the movement with far more strength than was needed, resulting in a prolonged whimper and a lot of wincing.

Closing his eyes and taking deep breaths In. Out, Booth began to slowly count backwards from a hundred.

It was going to be a long day.