The rest of the morning seemed to pass by in a blur as Brennan was soon discharged and the two partners made their way back to the hotel. Her fever was down but her body was still combating the effects of the flu so Booth tucked her securely into the hotel room's bed despite her protests and made another quick call to Cam to let her know they would not be returning to DC that day.

"Booth this is completely unnecessary," she sniffled into a tissue, "I've been discharged and no longer require bed rest."

"I'd believe that if you didn't sound like you smoked three packs a day and could longer than two minutes without coughing or sneezing," he said holding out a glass of water and two TherFlu tablets.

"The timbre of my voice has nothing to do with whether or not I need you to treat me like I'm incapable of taking care of myself," she said crossing her arms across her chest.

"I don't think you're incapable," he sighed feeling like he had just gone back two days in time, "I know you're more than capable. I like it I like taking care of you. Make this stage one of the experiment. Let me do this for you. If you don't like it, then that part of the experiment wasn't a success and the Florence Nightingale routine will stop."

"I don't know what that means," she said with the same confused expression she always wore when the familiar phrase passed through her lips, "But I'm willing to give it a try for the sake of the experiment."

"A sucker for science," he chuckled, "You know it's probably not going to be as hard as you think. I've been told a little TLC never killed anyone."

"You can't possibly prove that," she sniffed.

"How much do you want to bet?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows in the way he knew infuriated her.

"You're a reformed gambling addict Booth," she chastised him, "I'm hardly going to make a bet with you."

"I think I can handle it," he said, "Besides I'm positive I'm going to win this one."

"You can't be positive," she said, "The very nature of gambling insists on there being a degree of chance."

"Come on Bones," he said, "Take the bet."

"What are the terms?" she finally sighed slipping down further on the bed as the TheraFlu began to take effect.

"You let me give you a little TLC and if you're not dead within the next," he checked his watch, "Six hours then I win, if you are then you win."

"How can I win if I'm dead," she asked.

"Dunno," he shrugged, "I don't make the rules."

"That's incorrect," she spluttered, "You were just making the rules."

"What do you say," he asked loving the way her face coloured with her infuriation, "Shake on it?"

"You still can't prove your conclusion with this experiment," she said as she shook his hand, "The variables are too extensive and the test area to small to provide an infallible conclusion."

"Too late," he said pulling his hand back in triumph, "You shook on it so therefore the bet has commenced."

She shook her head in amusement at his actions and Booth thought for a moment how much he had missed her smile in the last couple of days. Over the course of their partnership he had come to know her better than anybody, and had come to recognise that she had exactly five smiles. The first was stiff, and clearly false to those who knew her well enough to notice. This was the one she plastered on to conceal what she was really feeling on the outside and sadly the one most of the world saw the most. The second was triumphant and made her eyes gleam, used mostly when she finally got to the bottom of a case. The third was wistful, her eyes would take on a faraway look as the corners of her mouth turned up and she got lost in a happy memory which were few and far between. The fourth was mesmerising and would light up her entire face as her clear eyes would sparkle in delight. This was reserved for when she was truly happy and only a special few had been granted the gift of seeing it. The fifth was the one she had just displayed, where the corners of her eyes would crinkle in amusement and her head shook a little as she bit her lip which had split into a small smile. She would do this whenever he did something she found amusing, catching herself before she actually laughed out loud, like she would be giving him too much of herself if she did so. He loved those smiles because they were only for him. He loved that he had his own smile, even if it meant she was still so unsure of how much of herself she could really show, he brought them out and for that he was glad.

He watched as her expression changed as she was deep in thought and he took that opportunity to kick his shoes off and get onto the bed next to her. He had always found an excuse to touch her, a hand in the small of her back, or the frequent 'guy' hugs he gave her, but that was as intimate as they got. He had always longed to touch her face, to feel the silky smoothness of her porcelain skin under his fingertips, to run his fingers through her auburn hair. Such a touch would have been too intimate for their partnership but now with her permission to conduct an experiment Booth found his fingers starting to brush through her silky locks.

"Booth, what are you doing?" she asked as his movements startled her from her thoughts.

"I'm following through with the terms of our bet," he said running his hands through her hair like he so often did with his son. It soothed Parker whenever he was sick or sad and as he continued to do it to Brennan he could see her whole body start to relax.

"S'nice," she said some minutes later as her eye lids began to droop.

"Do you want me to stop?" he asked suddenly hyper aware of just how close he had gotten to her and how nice it felt to run his fingers through her long silky locks.

"No," she all but slurred, the flu drugs and his ministrations having the desired effects, "Don't."

"I'll be here when you wake up Bones," he whispered as her breathing slowed and deepened, "And I'll be ready to collect on that bet."