Ok, here's the latest addition to TFTW -especially for jerseybones and sarali1983 'cause your reviews make me grin like a fool . Hope you like what I've done with it, plus there's a question for you to answer when you finish reading. I admit this was slightly hard to write, but I hope it turned out well. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones, Fox does. I have started plotting DB's abduction but somehow I don't think it will help.

The steps that led Booth in the Jeffersonian three days later were heavy. Every inch of his body burned with the need to see her, but his heart ached at the thought.

Yesterday he had stopped counting the beer bottles on his kitchen counter and he couldn't really remember a completely somber minute in the last few days. He hadn't gone to work drunk of course, but he had preferred a beer instead of eating lunch more than once and even replaced dinner with a couple of bottles last night. Not that it did any good but he refused to drink anything stronger. The slight blur in the edges of his awareness that beer brought to him was enough to chase away the guilt. It was like drinking too much coffee really.

He had avoided Cullen at all costs for the first day, but then the man had decided to announce to Booth that his paperwork time was over and soon he would be assigned any case that happened to come in. Booth's lack of focus didn't go unnoticed by his boss though, who offered him a few days off which Booth refused. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay in his house all day with nothing to think about or stare at and not think about Bones. Even thinking of her name caused a pang inside him, damn it.

Even so, every night when he turned off the light on his bedside, in case he could lure sleep to come to him, he failed. He always thought of her, ending up falling asleep at the crack of dawn only to wake up an hour later. At first the fall seemed endless. He thought there was nothing he could do to make everything right between them. The next day he couldn't stop thinking of ways to get her back but everything seemed too little, too late. Last night he had decided on what he should do.

Giving up had never been an option but now the only way he could think of getting her back was just a step higher than that as far as his ego went. He was ready to beg, do whatever he had to do to make her understand that they belonged together, that nothing was lost. At least he hoped so.

Walking through the sliding doors, he eyes the platform quickly, noting that Bones was nowhere in sight once again. Never pausing his stride he turned towards her office and finally spied her sitting behind her desk and talking on the phone. Knowing he was out of everyone's line of vision and more importantly hers, he took a few minutes to study her. Her body was straight and tense as a cord and her free hand was rubbing slow circles just above her brows. The conclusion that she wasn't any better than he was shouldn't have pleased him as much as it did, but he felt so nonetheless.

Taking a deep breath, he braced himself and walked into her office, closing the door behind him. The moment her eyes shot up to his, her body tensed even more, and she straightened in her chair, her hand dropping from her head. Weariness and anger clouded her eyes as she quickly ended the phone conversation and turned to him.

"Is there a case?" she snapped, folding her arms in front of her in a defensive stance.

"No," he replied, quietly, stepping farther inside the office and sitting on the chair in front of her desk.

"I'm not talking about it anymore." She leaned back on her chair and regarded him.

"Yeah, you've said a lot last time, right?" The question came out without a trace of disdain, and he was glad for that. He didn't want her thinking that she had made a mistake in saying the things she had. No matter how much they still hurt him, those words needed to be said between them. His mistakes needed to be pointed out to him.

She turned her head away, hints of self-derision and impatience on her features. "I shouldn't have opened my mouth," she muttered and then turned to him in determination. "What I said…it doesn't matter, and really I'm fine with it now. I'd prefer if we just forgot about this whole thing and went back to working."

He met her stare evenly, weighing carefully his words before he opened his mouth. "Bones…you haven't listened to a word I said the past days, have you?" he asked gently. "Don't take what you said back…I feel it, too."

"Apparently, you're the one you wasn't listening," she retorted, a little bit of the anger he had seen three days ago returning in her eyes and he winced at that.

He stood up and circled the desk, turning her chair towards him when he was in front of her. Deciding this was his once chance to make it right, he went all out and kneeled in front of her chair keeping eye contact. "I did listen, and now it's your turn to listen, and listen good, okay?" He put his hands on either side of hair, not closing in so she wouldn't feel threatened. "I thought I had it worked out between us." He took a deep breath and plunged on. "That if I denied everything it would be okay and my excuse was that you weren't ready for what I wanted for us. And yeah…I underestimated you, and I'm really sorry for that. Even if somehow I felt I was doing something wrong, I just reasoned that you didn't feel that way for me so I wasn't hurting you." He watched as she swallowed and looked away. "But now I know I did, and it hurts me even more. I just hope I haven't completely messed up."

Her head lowered as she looked at her hands, now resting on her lap. "I don't know," she said quietly, and for the first time since their problems had started, he could hear the fear in her voice.

"Bones…just tell me we'll work it out," he pleaded, knowing he was just short of begging her and not caring in the slightest.

She looked up once again and searched his face, for what he didn't know. "What are you asking, Booth. For us to be friends again or…?"

"We're still friends, always, no matter what happens," he replied, certain his features conveyed his confidence in what he said. He searched his mind for the best way to say the next words. "Besides what you said the other day…loving is forgiving too, Temperance, and I know I've been wrong." He shook his head, impatient with himself, knowing his words weren't coming out right. "I know you were right in what you said, but I― I love you… and maybe that's more than enough to make everything alright. Just think about it, okay?" He let his eyes show how much he meant what he had just said, not caring whether his confession had come in a way he never had imagined, or whether she now could see the desperation in his eyes. He was desperate for her to understand that if they loved each other and accepted it, they could make it work. He knew they could.

"What do you want me to say now?" she asked, seeming genuinely confused as she looked back at him.

"Nothing, but if you want to say something then how you feel right now would be a nice subject for conversation." He tried to lighten the mood with a small smile.

"Rationally…I shouldn't feel like this," she trailed off, looking uncertainly back at him.

"Like what?" he asked anxiously, knowing that her next words could be an end or a beginning.

"Afraid, uncertain, doubtful." His heart broke at the low-spoken words and it must have showed on his face because she reached out to touch him. Not wanting her compassion, he lowered his head, but her hand still found the side of his face. "I had reached a conclusion, Booth. I thought everything you did pointed out that you only wanted me as your friend, and I tried to repress everything and now…"

His eyes shot up to hers as the meaning of what was saying sunk in. She wasn't sending him away. "I know you're scared," he whispered locking gazes with her, hope igniting in his chest. "Hell, I am scared, and I'm supposed to be good at this." He grabbed her chair and moved it closer to him. "Just say you'll work with me on this one, okay? We'll take it one thing at a time and we'll figure it out."

He waited for what seemed like hours, but probably was only a few seconds until she nodded with a small smile. He returned a full-blown grin, a nervous sigh leaving his lips, conveying both his elation and his nervousness. Reaching out he laid his hand on both of hers in reassurance.

"So how do we do this?" she asked, glancing down at their hands and then back up at him.

"Uhm…okay, what do you say right now we go some place we can talk about everything?" he asked nervously, having no idea what he was doing. He hadn't thought this far actually.

"We are talking right now," she pointed out with a small smirk, and he laughed thinking that this was the first glimpse of the 'old Bones' he had gotten in weeks.

"I mean talk about everything, Bones. You know, from this point on," he replied now in a serious tone, but rubbed his thumb across her knuckles, letting her know that it wasn't a bad thing.

"Okay." Her lips curled in a small smile and they stood up together. She turned to grab her coat, but his hand still holding one of hers prevented her.

"Bones?"

She turned around and understanding the question his eyes were asking, slowly stepped towards him in acceptance and moved her face closer to his. Joy spread like fire inside him at her permission and slowly he lowered his lips to hers, feeling the exact way her mouth fitted his, letting the sensation of their kiss wash over him. Their first kiss might have been everything he had imagined and more, but this…this was heaven; a shot of pure emotion, affecting him all the way down to his soul. His thoughts scattered as he tilted his head and took a deeper taste of her, steering all his feelings towards his lips, to pour out in her. To make her understand.

They broke apart a while later looking dazedly at each other. Slightly dizzy, Booth stood there for a few moments longer, staring down at her. He had never felt like this; literally dizzy with elation, but he guessed that's what the real thing felt like. The hand he had placed on her waist now shook and he still hadn't let her hand go. Slowly exhaling he finally moved, lightly shaking his head with a smile of pure happiness.

"We still need to talk," she muttered and he nodded at her.

"I know, but it's a start. Let's go." He tugged at her hand, when she picked up her coat and they both walked out of her office, unaware of the four figures that had been standing around the corner for quite some time.

AN2: So, what do you think? Was it good? Ok, the question now: Do you think I should add more chapters to this or leave it as it is, making this the last chapter? If you want this to go on I have a couple more chapters in me, but it won't be longer than that. (BTW I plan on updating TFTW and my other story 'Squinty Sleepover' in turns from now on. So a chapter for one story and then the next update for the other one, just thought you'd like to know, in case you guys decide I should continue this) :) At this point I really want to thank everyone for their kind words. The fact that you guys like it, makes me really happy. Love ya all, so much!