A/N: Ahh, its been forever! Hart and I truly apologize, although technically its all my fault! Thanks to all the reviewers, you really make our day!

Brennan felt like the world had finally started spinning again. Booth's kiss, his lips, they were like rain in the desert. She couldn't remember ever wanting something so much, or needing it so badly.

In an instant her hands were in his hair, hungry, searching, wanting to feel everything in a rush while at the same time wanting to go torturously slow, making the moment last. All she felt was him, all she smelled and tasted.

Their kisses were never dull, on the contrary they were always marked with passion and electricity. But those other times their lips had met were nothing compared to now, it had never been like this.

Booth felt relief flooding through him, she smelled so good. Felt so good. He almost couldn't believe he'd deprived himself, and her, of this for so long. He wanted to stay like this forever. He never wanted to stop touching her, stop holding her. And yet, still, even in the back of his fuzzy mind he knew he had to be careful.

As Brennan grew hungrier and more aggressive by the moment, Booth became more and more careful, almost awkward in his movements. She would push herself closer and grind her hips against him and his hands would immediately move to her lower back, only to be pulled away in the same instant. He was so nervous about hurting her that he couldn't focus on kissing anymore. It was on the second time he bumped his teeth against hers that Brennan finally frowned and pulled away, short of breath and studying him.

"What are you doing?"

Booth, whose eyes were already open, stopped moving. "What? Are you alright?"

Brennan rolled her eyes and stepped back from him.

"Yes, Booth, I'm fine. In fact I was better before you started being afraid to touch me." She scolded, hands on her hips.

Booth swallowed and averted his eyes, not wanting to admit to her that that had been exactly what he was doing.

"No…I just…"

Brennan shook her head to silence him before reaching forward and giving him a small shove. Booth hadn't anticipated this and he staggered backwards and ended up with his back up against the bedroom door.

She stepped forward, pressing her body up against his so he couldn't move away.

"This is how you kiss." She said quietly before leaning up to capture his lips. Her lips were soft and at first the touch was light. She ran her tongue along his bottom lip and nibbled gently until he moaned into her mouth. Seizing the opportunity, her tongue parted his lips and entered him, teasing and touching his tongue with hers until she could tell he was no longer thinking about anything other than her. Her lips, her touch, her body.

Booth literally thought he saw stars. He was by no means a bad kisser, but when Brennan took the lead, she had a way of kissing him until he couldn't see straight.

Any and all thoughts he had, fled and he caught on quickly, returning the kiss fiercely. He took hold of her hips and pushed her backward toward the bed, where she lay below him, feverishly clawing at his clothes. Booth straddled her hips and, without breaking contact with their lips, managed to reach down and help her unbutton his shirt and pants.

When he was almost free of his own clothes they set to work on her nightgown. Pulling the silky garment up over her head was more than a little difficult in their current position, so Brennan pushed on his shoulder and rolled them over so he could pull it off her.

Both were so caught up in loving that neither noticed the blood seeping through the bandage on her stomach.

Booth's hand roamed up her body, pulling the thin silk material along with it. His hand brushed the sensitive skin and pain accompanied the sensation.

Brennan's eyes flew open when Booth's lips released hers and began kissing down her neck. She bit her lip, trying to hold in the cry of pain that wanted to escape, afraid he would stop if he thought he was hurting her.

Knowing he would.

But when he started laying gentle, tender kisses down her chest, his hands instinctively tightened on her hips and she shut her eyes, whimpering quietly. She didn't want it to stop, didn't want him to stop. She'd waited so long for this; she would not allow 'the incident' to rule over her existence anymore.

Booth continued his ministrations, completely unaware of Brennan's struggle to distinguish pleasure from pain. He turned her over so she was lying on her back and slowly descended down her neck, her chest. He gently kissed around her bandage, his fingers leaving feather light trails of fire behind them as he pulled off her last remaining garment. His eyes were squeezed shut as he reveled in the sensation of her body underneath him. He continued tasting her, his tongue moving down her chest and eventually to her inner thigh.

When she felt him, she couldn't help the way her hips bucked off the bed, sending coursing pain like she'd never known radiating through her.

At first he didn't recognize the cry as pain, but the whimpers that turned to sobs afterward quickly clued him in. Immediately he stopped moving and looked up at her. She was biting her lip, attempting to blink back tears that were soon streaming down her cheeks. In an instant he was at her side, hands shaking with fear.

"Temperance. Baby are you okay?"

She nodded, but didn't speak and he didn't believe her for a second. His eyes roamed down her body and landed on the bloody bandage.

"Oh God, Bones I'm so sorry." He jumped off the bed and ran down the hall to the bathroom to retrieve her bandages and antiseptic. He returned only moments later and began carefully removing the old bandage and cleaned her up before putting on the new one. The entire time he apologized for how much pain she was in, wanting to hit himself for being so selfish.

When he finished he watched in the darkness as she slowly curled into a ball, bowing her head to her knees, attempting to protect herself from the pain, as curling into the fetal position usually does. But he could tell by the way she squeezed her hands into white knuckled fists that the action was causing more pain than comfort.

Like a freight train the helplessness hit him, splattering him all over the windshield of guilt as he watched the woman he loved attempting to get a grip on a pain that was so intense she couldn't even speak.

He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been. He should have known better…he did know better.

Brennan took a deep breath and reached for him. He'd kissed her, so she figured he'd earned the right to comfort her. Besides, she needed him to.

Booth saw her reach out and hesitated, finding he'd been unconsciously backing toward the door and was now halfway across the room from her. She looked up and saw him, far away, pulling away just like she knew he would.

"Booth, please. Don't go." She said weakly.

Immediately Booth sat down beside her and pulled her toward his chest, kissing her hair and whispering soothingly while internally he felt himself slipping away.

He couldn't control her pain. He couldn't control Parker's nightmares. He couldn't control the investigation. And now, he knew, he couldn't even control himself.

Brennan hiccupped, attempting to calm down.

Booth gritted his teeth. He'd failed. Again.

She wrapped her arms tighter around him, wanting to tell him it wasn't his fault, but the words stuck in her throat.

He stroked her hair like he always did, wishing the black dread that had seeped into every day would just go away and leave them alone.

He had no control.

He had nothing.