Disclaimer: They are not mine.
Author note: Okay folks this is the last T chapter (M looms on the horizon), please let me know what you think as the crowds have been rather quiet lately. REVIEW! I just like to know that someone is out there and my words are not spinning endlessly into space. Thanks.
"I'm intrigued Bones, I thought you didn't play any games. This is another thing I didn't know about you." He was looking at her surprised.
"Actually there are games I find worth my time, not too many but a few."
"You don't have to tell me what we're doing today but name some other games you play. We'll pick up our questions while we finish lunch."
"In cards I play poker, euchre, cribbage and pinochle. I didn't learn too many board games, Scrabble and Monopoly, but I think Monopoly drags on too long. I learned Yahtzee and some dice games we made up from my brother. I can play chess but no one in my family could beat me so I stopped when I was nine or ten. That was about it from my childhood but there were interesting games I learned while traveling, from people all over the world, none of which were ever commercialized so you can't go buy them in a box. What games do you know Booth?"
He was amazed at her list, several of them workable for the two of them but how could he tell her that as a child he had played an endless list of games. They had almost every commercial game made, they played all kinds of card games, outside games, organized sports, games on their bikes, games in the pool, they played like children at his house, all the time. Her childhood had been different and even under the most normal of circumstances she had been a different child. He didn't want to answer, didn't want to hold his childhood up against hers so the differences would be visceral. He thought that would be painful for her and on a selfish level he didn't want to crush the good mood she was in now. He dodged the big picture by focusing on the things they had in common.
"Well, I'm a little intimidated by your statement about chess. My dad taught me to play, any game that was helpful in learning strategy my father believed to be useful and besides, his father taught him so it was sort of a tradition in the making. I play well because I had a lot of practice, I never competed or anything but it has been a lifelong enjoyment for me. I'd love to play a game with you, see your methods and find out if I can learn to beat you." He was squinting at her as though studying her for a moment and smiling at the same time.
"I haven't played in a long time, I have no idea if I would still be good at it and I would need to look at it for a moment to remember how every piece moved but I would play you, as long as there are no hard feelings if I win." She was teasing him with that last part and he knew it.
"I don't think you'll win every game Bones but I admire your confidence. Now I'm finished with my lunch so what's this game we're going to play?"
"First we should work off our lunch." She reached into her bag and pulled out a Frisbee, "let's get back into the water."
"You know how to throw a Frisbee Bones, now I am impressed." He eagerly got up from the table and followed her toward the water.
"I did have a brother Booth, and he was in touch with the world so there were things he brought home and taught me how to do, this was one of them. We used to play in the yard and at the beach, whenever we went on a trip; Russ always had one with him." She was talking over her shoulder, having reached the water she had waded in and within a few steps she dove out and under, disappearing for what seemed to him a long time. He stood at the shore watching as her head popped up a good 20 feet from where she disappeared. "Come on Booth." She pushed herself up, out of the water and with a snap of her wrist the Frisbee came sailing at him. He snatched it out of the air, grinning at her. At that moment, standing in the water, calling to him to come and play, she was so beautiful it made his heart ache in his chest. He walked out, tossing the Frisbee at her as he moved. She grabbed it out of the air with ease. She was so graceful in her reach that he wondered if it was her comfort in the water or just being able to relax and be herself. He was grateful they had ended up alone here today; it had given them some much needed space with each other.
"Nice throw and a nice catch, you're good at this Bones."
She look at him perplexed, "did you think I was lying?" The Frisbee sliced back through the air, directly to him.
"No, not at all, it's just you have never mentioned it before and I am a bit surprised." He tossed it back to her and she quickly grabbed it. He dove into the water then, moving out parallel to her. The disk came flying, a little high and he had to jump for it but he caught it and grinning, shot it back at her. She was quick once again to return it to him, it was high again and this time he really had to leap to reach it, but he successfully caught it.
"Bones I know you think a lot of me, but I'm not that tall." When he looked at her she was laughing and he grinned at her. "What's so funny?"
"I just like watching you jump for it," she was still laughing and blushing now.
"BONES!" He was turning red himself and he flipped the Frisbee back at her, well above her head. Instinctually she went up and grabbed it, realizing even as she did that he had turned the tables on her. When she came back down she was shocked to see the lake in front of her empty but even as she was figuring it out, she felt his hands grab her from behind and take her under. She twisted out of his grasp and surfaced, coming out of the water at the same time he did. She tossed the Frisbee toward the beach and turned to him.
"That was a mistake Booth." She was smiling but there was a look in her eyes and suddenly all his senses were on alert. She was going to attack, he could see her eyes darting, assessing his stance, planning her next move.
"Now Bones, this is all in good fun so let's not get carried away here." She was quick, he had to give her that, her long leg shot toward him to swipe his feet out from under him but in the water the move didn't work as well. He grabbed for her leg as it went by but missed it and while he was bent she closed in and thrust up on his torso, sending him off balance and under the water. He popped immediately back up, wiping the water from his face and slicking his hair back.
"Okay, we're even, right?" He was grinning at her, his hands held up in a gesture of surrender as he moved toward her. "Truce, let's just call a truce okay because I could see us drowning one another trying to prove who is the toughest." He had reached her and brought his hands down, sliding them around her waist he pulled her to him. It still surprised him that she didn't resist. She felt wonderful against him and he leaned down and kissed her, gingerly touching his lips to hers, sliding his tongue over her bottom lip, tasting her.
She tightened her arms around his neck, moving closer against him and he could feel her breasts pressing into him in the wet suit and the warm flesh of her abdomen against his. He ran his hand up her back to the nape of her neck as the kiss became more intense. He broke away, looking at her with a small smile, her hand sliding from his hair to his shoulder. She watched a line of water slip down his neck and start over the curve of muscle and she suddenly leaned forward and captured it with her mouth, just next to his nipple. He inhaled sharply and she traced her tongue slowly back up the path to his neck where she bit into his skin before releasing her mouth. She wanted to do it again, drop by drop quench some thirst that had nothing to do with the water and everything to do with his skin. She looked at him and his eyes had gone almost black.
He bent to her neck and kissed her, sucking in the flesh and moving across her shoulder and back up her neck. She was moaning softly against him, her hands gliding over his shoulders, nails trailing her touch. He moved down, kissing a path to her cleavage, darting his tongue in and out before placing his lips around her nipple. His breath was like fire coming through the thin fabric and he paused, then clamped his lips down, flicking his tongue firmly over the tight bud. She cried out and he felt her hips lurch in the water, her back arching toward him. Suddenly he stopped, standing back up he pulled her against him in a crushing hug.
As her surprise subsided she heard him whisper in her ear, "we have to stop, we can't do this here, not like this Temperance, not the first time." She was holding him just as tightly and at his words gave him a squeeze, wanting him to know she understood but unable or unwilling to form words just yet. He could feel her leg twitching against his and he continued to hold her until it finally felt like it stopped.
"Come on, I'll race you across the lake and back and I'll even pretend to make it close." She saw him nod and they plunged into the water. In the end it was close and Brennan realized that over a long distance he probably would beat her but she was never going to tell him that. Right now they both had plenty of energy to expel.
They retrieved the Frisbee and played and raced until they were both tired. They walked together to the beach and stretched out on the towels, the warm sun welcome on their skin.
Temperance took a deep breath, letting the sun warm and dry her, she was trying not to think, but as usual her brain continued to churn. On one hand this felt natural and right, but on the other it was frightening. The feelings she was allowing herself to feel for Booth were much larger than she thought and even with the sex aside, she was unsure how she was going to manage them. It felt so strange to her, to have all these impulses firing that she could not control or shut down. How did other people do it? Had her parents felt this way about one another? When her mother told her she would grow up and meet the right type of man is this what she meant? Would her mother have liked Booth? There was so much in her head, so much that remained unanswered. Her mother had told her she was unique in the world and that most people she met wouldn't understand her but as she got older the differences between her and other people would become less obvious and less important. Temperance could not imagine that happening, she felt as though all the children around her spoke a different language. They watched programs she thought were a waste of time, had conversations about things she thought trivial, played games that appeared pointless and engaged in a social communication filled with subtle rules she just didn't comprehend. She had no friends, she spoke to no one, always feeling awkward and unsure in the popularity driven school system.
After her parents disappeared she went into foster care and communicated even less with the outside world. No one cared if she ever went to a school activity, no one cared if she did anything at all. She turned inward, holding her grief at night and getting through the days by staying emotionally unavailable.
Her mother was right about her age, as she grew older and entered college and then the graduate programs she met more people that understood her intelligence. She found she could ask questions, debate theory, argue logic and actually have others respond to her in an intelligent way. It helped her to open up a little and through her room mates she slowly learned some basic social skills and would sometimes go out with them. She started defense classes her second year after a series of date rapes on campus and found the strength, power and adrenaline addictive. She learned to dance and had her first sexual experiences but still kept her emotions secured. For the young Temperance sex was another type of physical exercise and pleasure but nothing more. She experimented some, read extensively and was always the one in control.
She had learned to enjoy the limited company of other people, had seen them come and go from her life but had poured all her energy and passion into her education and then her work. She was proud of what she had accomplished and yet it seemed more often than not a hollow victory, not that she didn't understand what she did for the families of the victims she identified, but on a personal level.
Temperance knew that since the beginning of time people had come together as couples, families, villages and communities. Man was not meant to be a solitary creature and as much as she enjoyed her time alone there was that nagging sense that she didn't have any one to really share her life with, whether good or bad. Her parents were con artists and bank robbers and still had each other, they understood each other and were witnesses to the success and failures of each others life. Who was there to share and witness her life, to understand and encourage her endeavors?
That answer had walked into her office with an FBI issued gun and badge. Is that what she was doing, choosing him as a mate, for life? What made him feel so different to her? Was she already in love with him? If she had never been in love before how was she supposed to know if that's what this was? It made her chest ache to think about it. Will she be able to open up to him, to tell him all these things she's thinking?
She looked over at him; he was sleeping beside her looking as sweet and innocent as a child. He had taken the time to get to know her, her fears, her issues, and her boundaries. He had slowly moved past each of her walls until he had found her center, not only making her feel but making her want to feel and letting her know it was fine to be afraid. She trusted him. He was going to have to work on the overprotective thing though, even if his intentions were good. She turned on her side and lightly touched his hair and watched him turn toward her hand in his sleep. He had been so patient with her, waiting this year for her to see what he had known for so long. She noticed he was getting pink and leaned over and gently kissed him on the lips. He stirred and she kissed him again, smiling against him when she felt his arms come around her.
She perched on her elbow and looked at him, "your nose is getting pink, I thought you should be getting up before you ended up with a burn. We should probably both get out of the sun for a while."
Something about the way she was looking at him was different but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. She stood up, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet. They gathered the towels and beach items and Brennan went to the table and began folding and putting things away while Booth put the resort items back in storage. Their easy domestic rhythm did not escape him.
"Hey I thought you had a game for us to play. What happened?"
She blushed slightly, "we can't play that right now Booth, maybe later."
"Why not now Bones?" He had that trouble making look. He pulled out a container, took off the lid and placed it between them on the table. It was filled with cold grapes which they both began eating, their huger from the busy day creeping back up on them.
"You sounded like Parker just then but I'll answer you anyway. We can't play now because it involves physical contact and we don't have very much control in that department so we have to play later." Her cheeks were red, beyond the flush from the sun and he was chuckling wickedly.
"I just wanted to hear you say it." He was laughing outright now. She threw a grape at him, bouncing it off his forhead.
"Hey, you could have taken my eye out."
"Not with a grape Booth." He tossed the grape then, a gentle loft that pitched and landed in her cleavage."
"SCORE!" He was laughing and slapped the table.
"Just remember Booth we aren't in the water now, I could drop you like a house." She was trying to be angry but couldn't make it stick.
"It's like a tone of brick or a hot potato, but not a house."
"I don't know what you mean." She had the perplexed look he loved so much.
"Your phrase, it should be 'I could drop you like a ton of bricks' or you could say 'I could drop you like a hot potato' but not like a house, you don't drop a house."
"I couldn't drop a ton of bricks either, I couldn't even lift a ton of bricks, although I get the hot potato."
"Bones, I don't make these things up and actually I have no idea who does, I'm just telling you what the accepted versions are so you can use them correctly." Even as she rolled her eyes at him, he thought she was attractive, he wanted to kiss her. She looked at him and was amazed for what felt like the hundredth time that day how just his expression could make her body respond. She wanted to look away, but couldn't tear her eyes from his. At that moment she made a decision and once she had she knew there was no turning back. In her head she could almost hear the click of the safety bar in the car on the roller coaster, locking her in for the ride.
"Seeley, let's go home." She saw his eyes flash an instant of surprise and then deepen as her meaning registered.
"Are you sure, I thought you wanted to take this slow?" His voice was so low she could hardly hear him.
"I do, so when we get there, go slow." He didn't speak, couldn't speak. He got up from the table without another word and began to pack their belongings, his hands trembling as he tried to regain his composure. He wasn't thinking about which home they would go to because in his mind there was only one word that defined home and that one word was Temperance.