A/N: Look! Alive! Me! Woo! Okay, so now that you've all hopefully recovered from your shock, check this out – new chapter! Here's my excuse for not updating this sooner: my original intention was to have these be random one shots, but they're pretty much reading as chronological order of a relationship! Not what I wanted, but apparently, my muse doesn't give a crap what I want. So. From here on out, it's pretty much relationship development. Questions, comments, concerns about life? Let me know!

"The most eloquent silence, that of two mouths meeting in a kiss."

Unknown

Temperance Brennan wasn't what most people would call a romantic. Romance wasn't logical, and as her partner Seeley Booth might tease her, it sure couldn't be measured in a beaker. It wasn't tangible and she couldn't see it. But when she walked past the large windows facing the garden at the Jeffersonian Institute, even Dr. Brennan had to admit there was a somewhat romantic quality about the softly falling snow outside.

"Kinda romantic, huh?" the aforementioned partner asked, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms securely around her waist.

"What did I tell you about… what's it called?"

"PDA, Bones. PDA."

"Yes. Public displays of affection at work, Booth?"

"Aw, c'mon, I see my girl lookin' all wistfully out the window and I'm not allowed to sneak up behind her and kiss on her a little bit? Gah. You suck all the fun out of everything," he teased.

"Number one, I'm fairly certain, I was not looking 'all wistfully,' and number two…" she turned in his arms and delivered a wicked smile. "Maybe you can kiss on her a little bit."

Seeley chose that very opportune moment to not point out to Brennan how she hadn't even included the fact that he'd referred to her as 'his' girl in her bullet points. He was wearin' her down. He smiled back at her as she wound her arms around his neck and scraped her short fingernails through his hair.

His lips came down to hers and as she prepared herself for some serious PDA, she was surprised when he just gave her one quick, soft kiss. She gave him a questioning glance, but recognized the gleam in his eye as 'Seeley Booth with a plan.'

"What?" she asked.

"C'mon. Let's go outside."

Knowing full well that arguing her full schedule was going to be futile; she rolled her eyes and smiled. "Let me get my coat." She couldn't help but smile to herself as she went to her office and grabbed her black pea coat off the hook. Since she'd started seeing Seeley, she'd found herself relaxing a little more easily. She still pushed herself as hard as she always had (and always would), but when she was with Booth… it was hard not to play just as hard as she worked.

"What are we doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"It's a surprise."

"A surprise?"

"Bones. Have I ever let you down before?"

She pretended to think about it for several moments. "I guess not," she finally concluded teasingly.

"Gee, thanks. C'mon," he responded, taking her now-gloved hand in his and pulling her out the large double doors that led to the courtyard.

"I can't believe we've gotten all this snow in the last two hours," Brennan commented easily. "It was fifty-five degrees when I left the house this morning. If I'd known it was going to snow and you were going to drag me outside, I'd have put on tights!"

"I'll keep you plenty warm," he promised with a wicked grin. At his vow, Brennan could feel a definite warmth building in her belly. She punched him lightly in the arm. "What? I was just trying to be nice, Bones!" he laughed.

She rolled her eyes. "Right."

He laughed easily again and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Like this."

"Uh-huh," she said disbelievingly.

"Fine, you don't want me keeping you warm? I'm outta here," he teased, striding a few steps ahead of her.

Brennan took advantage of this fact to surreptitiously scoop up a handful of snow once they hit the yard. "Seeley?" she asked sweetly, knowing it would get him to turn around.

"Yeah, babe?" He turned just as she had expected and she tossed the white fluff lightly in his face and laughed.

"Nothing," she responded.

"Oh you think so, huh? I'll show you nothing, Dr. Brennan," Seeley threatened. He turned and lunged for her, grabbing her up against him and kissing her deeply.

Pulling back a moment later, she was gasping for breath and wiping the water off her face that had transferred from the snow she'd smashed into his. "That didn't feel like nothing, Booth," she grinned, moving to kiss him again.

Seeley glanced over Brennan's shoulder right before her lips met his and spied something that made him grin devilishly. She must have caught it because she regarded him suspiciously.

"Booth?" she asked.

"Nothin'," he answered nonchalantly, bringing his lips down to hers. He kissed her slowly, skillfully (he hoped distractingly), the whole time backing her up to the giant mound of snow he'd seen over her shoulder. When he'd arrived at the Jeffersonian, the groundskeepers were running around in their plows scooping the snow and trying to keep the sidewalks cleared. Apparently they'd decided the effort was worthless as the snow continued to blanket the city. What snow they had managed to clear up, they had dumped in huge mounds in a back corner of the courtyard. A verysecludedback corner. From the building, no one would even know the snow in these piles existed. Seeley moved toward them as a plan began to formulate in his mind. They were only a few feet away now… closer… just a little closer… he grabbed her around the waist and spun her, falling to the ground so his back was in the pile of snow and she was straddling his hips, her bare knees landing thankfully on the open coat that had billowed beneath him.

"Sneaky," she grinned.

"Hey. I coulda dumped you in the snow. But I'm a gentleman," he grinned.

"For which you shall be rewarded mightily," she swore, and brought her lips down to his.

Seeley reveled in the sensations coursing through his body; the freezing cold snow at his back, and the amazingly hot woman in his lap. He would never tire of kissing her, touching her, hell; he didn't think he could even ever get bored of being in her presence. She opened her mouth on a sigh and he took the opportunity to sweep his tongue inside. She slid her tongue against his and balanced her hands against his chest. Breaking their kiss, she kissed a wet trail to his ear. "Guess what?" she whispered huskily.

"Hmmm?" he replied, trailing his hands up the soft skin of her thighs.

"I think I might have forgotten to put panties on this morning."

He groaned deeply and bit back a curse. "You're kidding."

"Mmmm, no, I'm pretty sure I forgot. Maybe you should check."

He groaned deeply and swept his fingers under the black a-line skirt she was wearing. Sure as shit. No panties. "Honey," he began.

"Yes, dear?" she replied with a smile.

"It would seem," he said, brushing his thumb over her clit eliciting a hiss from between her teeth, "that you forgot to put on panties this morning."

"Mmmm," she groaned, rocking back over his cock. "I was pretty sure."

"So tell me. Were you planning on getting ravished by a handsome FBI agent today?"

"Well, I was, but I guess I'll take you since you're here," Brennan teased.

"You don't think I'm handsome?"

"Meh. You're okay I guess."

"Then tell me, Dr. Brennan," he paused dramatically before slipping two fingers inside her heat. "Why are you so Goddamn wet?"

Brennan's head dropped back as her partner slowly tortured her in the snow. "If you were me," she gasped, "and knew you were about to havethis inside you," she continued, rubbing him gently through his pants and leaning down to whisper in his ear again. "You'd be wet too."

"Holy fuck, Temperance," Seeley cursed. "How do you get me so worked up with so little effort?"

Brennan smiled gently at the compliment as she continued caressing him and he her. "Seeley," she began, slipping the metal button of his jeans through the hole, "it's getting cold out here," she continued, having moved on to the zipper which slid down with a soft metallic sound.

He growled deeply and gave her a wolfish grin. "Lift up," he asked, removing his hand from her body. She lifted to her knees, giving him just enough room to slide his jeans and boxers down a little. She grasped the heat of him in a tight grip, sliding her hand up his penis and swiping her thumb over the head. Her head fell back again as sliding down on him seemed to push all the breath out of her. "Warm me up," she begged in a whisper.

Seeley hardened farther than he had thought possible at her request. Grasping her hips tightly, he thrusted up into her as she rocked back and forth over him. He mentally added "making love to her in the snow" to the list of things he'd never tire of doing to Dr. Brennan. He nearly lost his mind when he glanced up at her and saw her pink tongue dart out to lick her bottom lip. Her eyes closed in deep concentration, she grasped at her own breast with one hand while the other traveled down between them to stroke her clit. While one part of him wanted to slap her hand away and tell her to let him do that, the other part of him was about to go off like a rocket from the sight of her touching herself.

Her eyes still closed, she reached to her hip and took his left hand in her right and dragged it to her clit. "Touch me," she groaned. Doing as she asked, he massaged quick circles around the bundle of nerves, bringing her right to the edge of her orgasm.

"Open your eyes, Bones," he requested. She dragged her blue eyes open and stared at him like she could see into his soul. He thrusted up once more, hard, and pinched her clit at the same time.

"Oh my…" her voice trailed off as her eyes widened and she bucked wildly against him.

"Thatta girl," he complimented, loving the site of her flying apart, the snow falling softly around them, landing softly in her auburn hair. As she slowly came back down to earth, she leaned down and kissed him softly.

"Now how did we not just melt this entire pile of snow?" she asked huskily.

He laughed against her mouth. "I have asked myself that about you on a fairly regular basis this winter – I never meant it quite so literally," he grinned and kissed her deeply.

"It's getting dark. Maybe we should go back inside," she suggested, not wanting either of them to catch their death and have to explain to their friends 'oh, you know, we were screwing around (quite literally) in the courtyard in the snow for too long and got hypothermia. Weird!'

"Probably," Booth agreed, pulling his boxers and jeans back up after Brennan climbed off his lap. He took the hand she offered and let her pull him to a standing position. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, like he had when he'd seen her looking 'all wistfully' out the window in the hall. "Kinda romantic, huh?"

She leaned back and kissed his chilled lips gently. "Yes, you are."

--

A/N: Well? Was the smut worth the wait?