To make up for the cliffhanger, this chapter is a few pages longer than the others have been. I tried to keep them all the same length, but there just wasn't a good stopping place. Thanks for all the reviews!

Chapter Four – The Date

If looks could kill, Angela Montenegro would be on her way to the morgue right now. Brennan was looking at her with an 'I-can't-believe-you-did-this' glare while Booth waited patiently outside the door.

"Can I, uh, come in?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Of course, Booth," Brennan said, shutting the door behind him. "Excuse us a minute. Make yourself comfortable."

Brennan walked out of the room and into her bedroom. Angela smiled at Booth and slowly followed her best friend.

"Sweetie…" Angela started, shutting the bedroom door behind her.

"Angela!" Brennan exclaimed. "He's my blind date?" Angela paused.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Why would you do that? I mean, I expected this to be ridiculous, but…"

"It was his idea, Bren," Angela said, interrupting her.

"What?" Brennan asked.

"He asked me to let him be your blind date when he came to talk to me Tuesday morning," Angela explained. Brennan paused as she thought about what Angela had just told her.

"Why would he do that?" Brennan asked. Angela chuckled.

"Because he's crazy about you! He likes you, sweetie."

"So why didn't he just ask me himself? Why did he feel the need to be sneaky? He must have known I wouldn't react well."

"He was afraid you'd say no," Angela explained, sitting on Brennan's bed. "Something about a line he drew…or something."

Brennan nodded and joined her on the bed. "That's right. He told me that people who work in high-risk situations like our jobs required shouldn't enter into romantic relationships with one another, that there had to be a line."

"Well, whatever it was, he wants to cross it. He was just afraid you wouldn't be with him," Angela said. "So he asked me to help."

Brennan and Angela sat in silence for a moment as Brennan thought about what was going on.

"So what do I do?" she asked. Angela smiled.

"Go out with him. See what a date with Seeley Booth is like. I think you like him more than you realize," Angela said.

"What if it goes badly? You were afraid to date your coworker," Brennan countered. Angela nodded.

"But I took the chance anyway, and look how happy I am with him now," Angela said, smiling. "I want that for you, Bren, and I think, if you let it happen, you could have that with Booth."

Brennan took another minute to think it over. Her mind was telling her no, but her heart was telling her to go for it. She sighed, trying to decide which internal voice she should listen to, and looked at Angela.

"If you two ever do something like this to me again…" Brennan started.

"We'll suffer endlessly, got it. Does that mean you're going?" Angela asked.

Brennan took a deep breath. "Yes," she said. Angela squealed.

"Okay, I'll stay in here until you leave. Go have fun!" Angela said.

Brennan walked out of her bedroom and joined Booth by the front door.

"I'm sorry about that," Brennan said.

"No, I'm sorry. I should've just asked you out myself," Booth said.

"This is fine, Booth," she replied.

"Are you sure?" he asked. She nodded. "These are for you."

He held out the daffodils, and she smiled as she took them from his hands. She raised the yellow petals to her nose and sniffed them. "Thanks," she said.

Booth looked her over from head to toe as she admired the flowers. Her hair was pulled up, her makeup was flawless, the purple dress looked amazing on her, and her silver heels made her just about even with his height.

"You look…really pretty, Bones," he said.

"You look very nice as well," she said. He was wearing a black suit with a bright, light blue tie.

"Thank you. Shall we go?" he asked.

"Yes. Angela can put the flowers in water for me," Brennan said. She laid the flowers on the counter and grabbed her bag. "Let's go."

Booth led her out by placing his hand on her back, like always. This time, however, his gentle touch sent shivers up her spine. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice.

The ride to the restaurant was quiet. When Brennan looked at Booth, she noticed that he looked unusually tense at the wheel.

"Booth?" she said.

"Yeah, Bones?" he asked.

"You're acting kind of weird," she said bluntly.

He laughed nervously. "I'm sorry. I know. I'm…nervous."

"Why?" she laughed.

"Because…I'm on a date…with you," he explained.

"I make you nervous?" she asked.

"Yeah, Bones. This is new territory for us. You're telling me you're not even a little bit anxious?" he said.

"Maybe a little," she admitted with her own nervous giggle.

"I knew it," he smiled.

"Do you think we can forget about this new social context and just be us?" she asked. "I don't like this awkwardness between us."

"Sure," Booth said. "Just us."

They started off dinner by talking about their recently wrapped up case, but the conversation quickly turned more personal. They chatted about her family and the recent renovation to his apartment buildings. The awkwardness was gone, and they were just them. Just Seeley and Temperance.

"How's Parker doing?" she asked after their food had been delivered.

"Oh, great. He's so excited to be out of kindergarten and starting first grade in September. He really wants to learn how to read. He can do it with some help, but he wants to be able to read on his own," Booth replied with a smile.

"Do you get to see him much during the summer?" she asked.

"Yeah, quite a bit. I'm actually taking him to Disney World in three weeks. He's never been before, and I decided to actually use some of my vacation time."

"I'm glad you get to spend time with him while he's not in school. I know how much you miss him sometimes," Brennan said sympathetically.

"Yeah, I do," Booth agreed. "So how's the new book coming?"

"Good," Brennan said. "Although, it's kind of difficult to write."

"How so?" he asked.

"You're not getting story details," she said.

"Come on, Bones!" he exclaimed.

"No," Brennan said, holding her ground.

"Please?" he asked again, putting on the charm smile.

"I decided to base Kathy's new case on the Gormogon case," she revealed.

"Really?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes. I haven't done a conspiracy story like that yet, and it certainly was a fascinating case."

"Yeah, with a crappy ending," Booth said.

"Hence the difficulty with writing it," Brennan said.

"What about Kathy and Andy, huh? What are they up to?" he asked, a grin on his face. She smiled at him and shrugged.

"I guess you'll find out when the book comes out."

"Bones…" he protested.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked.

"You just did," he smiled.

"You set this thing up with Angela on Tuesday, right?" she asked, ignoring his smartass response.

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"Is that why you basically avoided me for two and a half days?" she asked.

"Maybe," he admitted. "I wasn't sure how to act since I knew what was being planned, and I knew you didn't. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I understand. I just wanted to make sure," she said.

They left the restaurant around nine and climbed back into his SUV.

"What now?" she asked as he turned the car on.

"Ice cream?" he asked.

"We could've had dessert in the restaurant," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but they don't have good ice cream," he said.

"Okay, ice cream sounds great…but I'm paying for dessert."

"Deal," he smiled and began to back out of his parking space.

Twenty minutes later, they sat at a table outside an ice cream parlor. Brennan was licking at a simple strawberry sugar cone, while Booth had a mixture of chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, brownie bits, and a dessert cherry in a gigantic chocolate-dipped waffle bowl.

"All that sugar is going to make you sick," Brennan said as Booth placed another large spoonful in his mouth.

"Want some?" Booth asked, holding out his spoon.

"I've got my own, thanks," she said, holding up her cone. "Is this what you meant by the good ice cream?"

"Yeah. Fancy restaurants don't normally have sprinkle, brownie sundaes," he said. "Come on. You sure you don't want just one bite?"

She giggled. "Okay," she agreed.

She allowed him to feed her a bite of his chocolate concoction and almost coughed at the intense sweetness that filled her mouth once he pulled his spoon away.

"Well?" he asked.

"It's all yours," she said, going back to her own dessert.

Booth chuckled and started eating again. After a few bites, a bit of chocolate syrup dribbled onto his chin, eliciting another giggle from Brennan.

"What?" he asked.

"You've got some chocolate…" she said, gesturing to her own chin.

Booth used his finger to try and clean the chocolate off his face, but after missing twice, Brennan reached over and used her index finger to wipe up the spill. Booth immediately dropped his spoon into his ice cream and caught her wrist with his hand, dragging her finger into his mouth. Brennan's breath hitched as she felt Booth's cooled tongue swirl around her finger. His eyes remained locked with hers as he licked the chocolate off her finger and sucked on the digit for another moment longer, tasting her skin. He released her finger from his mouth and rubbed his thumb against her wrist before releasing her arm as well. She automatically smiled in response, and they finished their desserts in silence, watching the clouds travel across the full moon above them.

"Booth," Brennan said as they climbed back into the SUV. "Why is there a cooler in your backseat?"

"That has a bottle of wine in it," he revealed.

"For tonight?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "It's time for Phase Three of date night."

"Which would be?" she asked.

"Wine and DVDs at your place," he revealed.

"Why my place?" she asked.

"Because you finally broke down and got that flat screen, so you have a better TV than I do," he said.

"Fair enough," she said. "You rented movies?"

He turned and grabbed the Blockbuster bag from the backseat. He pulled out a copy of the 1941 film, The Maltese Falcon.

"Since you said you've never seen it before, and it's a mystery classic," he explained. He then pulled out The Wizard of Oz. "And this since you told me you loved it as a little girl."

She smiled and took the DVDs from his hands. "I can't believe you remembered that. We talked about this movie months ago."

"I remembered," he smiled, starting up the engine.

They walked in to her apartment around nine forty-five. Angela had placed the daffodils in a clear vase and wrapped red and pink ribbons in a bow around the glass.

"Do you mind if I go freshen up a bit?" Brennan asked, pointing to her bathroom.

"Not at all. Are the glasses in the same place?" he asked, holding up the bottle of red wine.

She nodded. "I'll be right back."

When she returned, Booth had already settled on the couch and had the first DVD loaded and waiting. His jacket and tie lie on the arm of the couch, and he had poured each of them a glass of wine. He looked over at her to find that she had taken her hair down and removed all her makeup and jewelry. She slipped her shoes off and walked over to the couch.

"What?" she asked when she caught him staring at her.

"You took your makeup off," he said, smiling slightly.

"Yeah," she said. A look of realization crossed her face. "Oh, should I have left it on?"

"No! You look beautiful," he said truthfully. "I don't think you should ever wear makeup if you look like that without it."

She rolled her eyes. "Flattery will get you nowhere with me," she told him.

He chuckled. "I know…but you do look beautiful. Sit down."

She sat close to him on the couch but far enough away so that they weren't touching. He handed her a glass of wine and started the film.

About twenty minutes later, he glanced over at her to find that she had her arms wrapped around her stomach and her legs drawn up close to her body, her feet resting on the couch. Little raised bumps covered her skin, and he realized she was cold. He grabbed his jacket and slipped it around her shoulders. His touch startled her, but she slipped her arms into the sleeves and laced his fingers with hers, moving a little bit closer to his place on the couch.

"Thanks," she mumbled softly.

"Looks good on you," he replied, slowly dragging his thumb over the soft skin on her hand.

It didn't take long for Brennan to scoot even closer to him. He reached his arm around her body and held her, and she cuddled up to his side, resting her head on his shoulder. The room was dark except for the television, and the wine lay long-forgotten on the table in front of them. Booth rested his feet on the table, while she stretched her legs over the couch cushions.

Brennan felt safe as Booth held her to his body. She couldn't remember when she had last felt this calm and relaxed, especially around a man she was dating. Sometime throughout the night she had realized that Angela was right. She did like him a lot more than she ever realized. She also considered the fact that Cam was right as well. If Booth and Brennan had left it up to themselves, they might never have gone on a date. It took a friend to get them to see what they couldn't see themselves, at least in her case, anyway.

While Brennan was feeling safe and content, Booth was still as nervous as he was at the beginning of the evening as he wrapped his arm around Brennan. He didn't want this to be a one night occurrence. He wanted to take her out again, be her boyfriend, and he didn't know what she was thinking or how she felt about the situation. For that reason, he was also fighting the urge to tilt her chin up slightly and kiss her softly on her mouth. As he was contemplating just how he could work a kiss into their date that night, he felt her pick her head up and tap his shoulder lightly.

"Yes?" he whispered, turning his head to look at her.

"I just wanted to thank you for a really…lovely evening," she whispered, smiling at him. "I haven't had that in a while."

"I'm glad you're having fun, but I don't want this to be our only…lovely evening," Booth said. "What do you think?"

"I think…" Brennan said, pretending to mull it over. "That we've finally found something we won't bicker about."

He chuckled as she continued to look at him. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before they slowly moved together, eyes drifting shut. Their mouths met in a soft and hesitant kiss. Her lips were warm against his, and Booth curled his hand around her cheek, opening his mouth beneath hers. She followed his lead and sighed when his tongue brushed her lips and curled around her own tongue.

They kissed throughout the ending of the movie, arms tangling around one another. Their kisses grew in intensity until they were wet and deep, allowing Booth and Brennan to pour three years worth of hidden feelings into them. The DVD on the screen had taken itself back to the main menu, but the couple on the couch didn't notice and continued to lose themselves in one another.

He rested his forehead against hers after they finally pulled apart. He stroked her cheek, and her eyes remained closed, soaking in the feeling of his skin against her face. She finally opened her eyes to look up at him, and they shared a smile and another quick kiss before Booth got up to change the DVD.

When he returned to the couch, she kissed him again and lay down across the couch, laying her head in his lap. He chuckled and began playing with her hair and lightly stroking the skin on her neck. Booth thought about how glad he was that she was comfortable enough with him to act like this, and he slowly caressed her arm as they started watching the second movie.

One more chapter left after this!

So what'd you think of their date? Good? Bad? Please review and let me know :-)