She walked into her apartment and slammed the door shut. She was fuming. She was trying to push him away, not that he'd take a hint. At first, she'd been going about it subtly, by just answering his questions. She wouldn't initiate a conversation unless it pertained to a case. But he really didn't get it and he had almost kissed her tonight. And what was worse, she had almost let him. She could feel his breath fanning lightly across her lips, and the scent that was the essence of Booth invading her senses. But, her mind snapped her back into reality and she'd pushed him away. I guess he got it now. Nothing subtle about "stay away from me."

She sighed. She'd been doing that a lot lately, sighing. See, this is what happens when you let people get close Tempe, she told herself. You need to rebuild those walls that you so carefully constructed oh so long ago. She sighed again, her body sagging a bit. That little spat with Booth had really taken a toll on her. Not right now, tomorrow she'd start construction on the walls around her heart. Now, she needed a rather large glass of wine, and a hot bath.

She walked into her bathroom and turned the faucet in her bathtub on. She felt the water, making sure it was the right amount of hot and cold. Reaching under the sink, she grab a big bottle of lavender scented bubble bath. The warm water, the lavender and the wine would totally calm her nerves. She'd sleep fine tonight. After she'd added a liberal amount to the rising water, she walked to her room and shed her work clothes. She grabbed her satin bathrobe, tossed her hair up into a messy bun on her head, and made her way to the kitchen. She searched high and low for that damn bottle of wine she swore she had just bought. Not finding it, she settled for some of that beer Booth insisted on bringing over.

Finally, she was ready. She'd lit some candles, turned off the harsh overhead light, and sunk into the gentle waves. She could feel the muscles in her back and legs relax, lulling her into a light doze. The beer left forgotten on the corner of the tub. She never heard the quiet knocks on her door. She never heard her nickname called softly through her apartment. She most certainly didn't hear him walk into the bathroom.

"Shit, sorry Bones." She woke up with a jerk. What the hell? She twisted her head in time to see him trip over her robe as he basically threw himself out of the bathroom. She grinned with silent satisfaction as she heard his shoulder connect with the door frame and his cruse that followed. She braced her hands on the side of the tub as she tried to haul herself out.

"What are you doing in here Booth!?" She yelled at him. She couldn't believe it. She'd outright told him to stay away from her. She had gotten one foot under her when her hands slipped off the edge of the tub. She couldn't do anything to stop herself as she fell back into the tub slammed her head off her abandoned beer bottle. She heard it smash off the tile, and fall into the tub.

"God dammit!" She grabbed the back of her head with a little more vigor than she had intended and winced. She hissed out her breath when she brought her hand around. She tried not to move. She didn't really want to have to go get glass surgically removed from her ass. She'd been embarrassed enough today.

"Bones, are you alright?" He'd slipped back into the bathroom when he heard her fall.

"Yes, Booth, I'm fine. Contrary to popular belief I can take care of myself. As a matter of fact, I've been doing it since I was 15. So, if you'd mind stepping out of my bathroom for a second, I'd like to get out of this damned tub and not wound myself in the process." She looked up at him from her position in the tub. He eyed her curiously.

"What?"

"Ummm, why would you wound yourself?" He asked innocently. God dammit! She hated the way that even though she was extremely angry at him, the quirks of his face could still make her knees a tad weak. Not that she'd ever admit that to anyone. It just didn't make sense, that a single look could make the muscles in your legs stop working.

"Because, when you so rudely interrupted my nap, I slammed my head off a beer bottle and it smashed into the tub. So, if you'll please excuse yourself, I'll get out." She shot him a look that would've buckled the knees of a lesser man when she say his shoulders start shaking with silent laughter.

"Okay, I was just checking." However, before he left, he flashed his award winning smile and leaned down close to her face.

"Just so you know, I find your lack of puritan modesty very refreshing." And with that, he swept out of the bathroom. She stared into the empty space that he'd just occupied, then looked down. Well, she wasn't ashamed of her body.

She grabbed the handle on the side of the tub and carefully lifted herself out of the lukewarm water. She toweled herself off a bit as the water drained, leaving the shattered brown glass scattered up the length of the tub. Wrapped in her robe, she picked all of the pieces out and carried them to the kitchen, not even looking at Booth.

"Bones. Uh… yeah, I'm here because…" He stopped. And then all of the sudden he was behind her, pressing her into the counter. "Hey! You're bleeding!" He grabbed the towel off the stove handle and held it gently to her head.

She didn't really know what to do. Here she was, pressed to the counter by this amazing, yet infuriating man, whom she was trying ever so hard to push away. He's not making this easy on me is he, she asked herself. What is he doing, trying to make me see what I'll miss if I do? She pushed off the counter and spun, ready to throw a few words in his face before she stormed off to her room. However, all coherent and rational thought flew her mind when she found his face about two inches from her own.

"Booth.." was the only word her mind would form as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. God, she had thought that the mistletoe kiss was mind blowing. This one couldn't even be described by any adjective that she knew. And she knew a lot of adjectives. She felt her body begin to buzz as his lips moved against her own. She sighed softly when she felt his tongue ever so lightly trace her bottom lip. He took advantage of that and began lightly dueling with her tongue. When lack of oxygen became paramount, they broke apart, chests heaving. Her brain slowly began to register what had just happened, and she brought her hand to her slightly kiss-swollen lips with a small gasp.

"Why did you do that?" She looked at him, vulnerability pouring from her in waves. She couldn't believe that she'd let him kiss her, and she was angry with herself for showing any type of weakness.

"Well, to be honest…" he trailed off, seemingly searching for the right words. "It seemed like the right thing to do. Although in retrospect…" God, he certainly had the knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. She felt the fury from early begin to build back up in her body. And, to her utter horror, tears began to cloud her vision. She would've turned away, but he still had one hand on the back of her head, holding the towel over her wound.

"I can't believe you!" She was almost screeching. Calm down Tempe, you don't screech. She took a deep breath, and continued. "You are one of the most dense people I know. What I've been trying to get through that thick alpha-male skull of yours is to stay away from me. And, I thought I had made that pretty clear earlier tonight. You really can't take a hint, or even a direct statement! I'm not letting you back in Booth, not after what happened last time." She clapped her hand to her mouth. Dammit! She glanced at his eyes, and saw them cloud with sudden anger.

"You're not going to let me back in? I know that I got shot Bones, and I know that I didn't tell you. Even thought I tried. But no, you won't forgive me. You forgive Sweets for choosing to let you believe for two weeks that I had died because you could supposedly compartmentalize…"

"I can compartmentalize!" She yelled back at him.

"You can stop right there. Don't lie to me. Don't you think I know you better than that. I talked to Angela okay. So you can stop with the charade. Oh, and by the way, don't you think that it might've hurt my feelings a little when you said that my funeral was a waste of time?! When you said that… You know what, I don't even know how to describe how it felt. Suffice to say that it hurt like hell. Kind of like that bullet I took for you. You seem to forget that pretty easily." He'd dropped the towel and had gotten in her face. "And you know what Bones, if you had died, I would have never forgiven myself. You dying would have torn me apart. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I'm sorry that I made your life hell for two weeks." His voice had softened. He reached up and cupped her face in his hands. "I don't know what else to say, or what else to do to make you believe me."

"You're sorry that you made my life hell for two weeks? Hell? Hell doesn't even begin to describe what I went through Booth. Hell would've been a fucking picnic compared to the two weeks I cried myself to sleep at night. You know what I did when I got home from the hospital? I saw your blood all over my body. It was all over my hands, my shirt, my pants, even my face. I ran to the bathroom and threw up. Do you know how many times I've thrown up because of blood? Exactly zero times. Then I laid on the floor of my bathroom crying harder than I've ever cried before." She took a shaking breath as the emotions from that night flooded back over her body. Her hand began to quake as she remember running around her apartment shoving things that reminded her of Booth in a suitcase. A suitcase that was still on her bed. She hadn't moved it since that day. She couldn't control her body anymore, and she hated it. She was sobbing and tears were pouring out of her eyes of their own accord. She felt her knees give out as her whole body was wracked with sobs. This time, it was different though. This time, someone caught her.

She felt herself being lifted up by strong arms and borne to the couch. She felt him sit in the corner and cradle her, softly stroking her hair as she sobbed on his chest. She could hear him mumble small words of comfort as he gently rocked her, trying to calm her down. The gentle rocking motion, his caresses and his soft words eventually stopped her crying. As her mind began to grow hazy with sleep, a thought popped unbidden into her head. Here she was, trying to rebuild her walls to block everyone out so she could get on with her life and be dependent on only herself. Yet, she was curled up in Booth's lap, his steady heartbeat and breathing matching her own. She began to wonder when she had ceased to be Doctor Temperance Brennan, and become that girl. The kind of girl that needed a man there. She chuckled silently at her lost thought before sweet oblivion took her, maybe for the first time in her life, she was seeing just Tempe, and not Doctor Brennan. And, she thought, as sleep stole quietly across her mind, she didn't really mind that fact.