He loved the way her nose scrunched as she woke up. There were many things you could say about Temperance Brennan; most would say calculated, logical, genius, Booth was one of the few who would say cute. He figured it was because he was the only one who was privy to this side of her. She sighed contentedly as she stretched languidly and Booth's eyes followed the contours of her body of their own accord. The whole bed bounced as she sneezed and his eyes returned to her face in time for her to meet her bleary gaze.

"I win," he said.

"What?" she coughed clearing her throat.

"You didn't wake up dead so I win the bet," he said happily wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"That doesn't make sense," she said, "How can somebody wake up dead?"

"Whatever," he shrugged, "I still win."

"We never made a prize," she said, "You may have won but you haven't won anything."

Booth paused then in his celebrating. She was right. They never agreed on what the winner would receive. She laughed and Booth smiled. Her laugh was so distinctly hers that it made the corners of his mouth turn up every time he heard it and suddenly he couldn't stop himself. He leaned over to cover the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers. She responded instantly and wrapped her arms around his neck effectively pulling them closer on the bed. It was like a fire spread through his body, burning where their bodies touched and it was the best reward Booth could have ever hoped for. The kiss was tender and perfect and this time Booth wasn't worried about taking advantage.

"I win," he said again as they finally pulled away.

"If I knew kissing you would feel like that I would have done it a long time ago," she said smiling brightly at him.

"Guess we can chalk that up as a success in your experiment log," Booth said reaching for her hand. He knew he was beaming like a schoolboy but he couldn't help it. He thought the kiss they'd shared in the bathroom had been amazing but that was nothing compared with the one they'd just shared. It hadn't been frenzied or intense like their last kiss, instead it was soft and tender and Booth never wanted it to end.

"So what else can I expect from this experiment?" Brennan asked moving so her head was resting on his shoulder. Booth was surprised that she had been the one to initiate the contact but wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

"Oh you're in for a real treat Bones," he said, "I'm going to cook you meals."

"Wait, Booth I've had your cooking before and it's not very good."

"Ouch Bones, that hurt," he mocked holding his hand to his heart.

"I'm just being factual," she shrugged.

"Okay so we'll go out for meals," he said, "But the rest of it I can do, the hand holding, the snuggling, the kissing."

"I don't know if I can do those things," she said quietly, "I've never really been in a relationship that had much stature outside of the bedroom."

"That's why it's called an experiment Bones," he scoffed, "And for the record, what we're doing right now is snuggling so you can cross that off your cannot do list."

They lay in silence for awhile and even though she was quiet Booth could tell she was thinking. Her fingers were trailing lazy circles over his chest and he wasn't even sure she was aware of what she was doing but it took all of his power not to purr like a cat.

"You know I've never lain like this with someone before and not felt like something more was expected of me," she said softly her fingers still tracing patterns on his chest.

"I want you to know from the very beginning that this means so much more to me than just sex," he said seriously placing his hand over hers and stilling it so it rested over his heart, "I want a relationship with you in every sense of the word but I would be happy to just be with you, even without the sex, I just want to be with you."

"That's not logical Booth," she scoffed, "Human beings have basic needs and sex is one of them."

"You're missing what I'm trying to say here Bones," he said, "If we're going to be together then sex is only a part of what I want us to have. I want to talk with you and laugh with you, I want to spend hours just holding each other because it feels so right to have you in my arms, I want to cry with you, I want to fall asleep with you, I want to wake up with you, I want to take walks with you, I want to dance with you, hell I even want to fight with you as long as we're together."

"You know I've always teased you about being a romantic but that sounds wonderful," she said wistfully after a moment, "But you have to promise me something."

"Anything Bones," he said kissing the top of her head.

"If I do something wrong, or if I'm not living up to your expectations then I want you to tell me," she said seriously, "I don't want you staying with me out of obligation."

"Don't be ridiculous," he said pulling away from her and tipping her head up so they were looking at each other, "Being with you could never be an obligation and we're going to take it one step at a time so if something doesn't feel right then we can work through it together."

"You're very persuasive," she said turning her head away from him as she sneezed.

"One of my many talents," he wiggled his eyebrows as he handed her a tissue.

"Your powers of persuasion could be put to good use you know," she said settling her head back on his shoulder and beginning to make patterns on his chest again.

"Yeah," he said resting his chin on top of her head, "How's that?"

"You could persuade Cullen to let me have a gun," she said.

"I'd have to persuade myself first," he said, "There's no way I'm letting you have a gun Bones."

"It's not fair Booth," she grumbled, "I'm a good shot."

"Yeah I know," he said.

"That was an accident Booth," she protested, "And it was just a flesh wound!"

"Still hurt," he mumbled.

"This is nice," she said after awhile, "Just lying here with you."

"Yeah it is," he replied reaching over her to the nightstand when his phone began to ring.

"Hi Cam," he said after checking the caller ID.

"How's Dr. Brennan?" the pathologist asked on the other end.

"She's getting there," Booth said.

"That's good because you two need to get back here," Cam said.

"Why?" he asked.

"We've got a case and we need Brennan," she told him, "Top priority, we've booked you flights for tonight, you fly out at ten this evening."

"That doesn't give us much time," he grumbled checking his watch and seeing that it was nearly five.

"I'm sorry Booth but I'm getting a lot of heat over this one. You and Brennan were supposed to be back by now and we needed this one solved yesterday."

"Okay," he sighed running a hand through his hair, "Guess we'll see you tomorrow then."

A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to leave a review for this story, I really appreciate it and you've made me feel very welcome. The next chapter will probably be the last so thanks again for all your support.