My bedroom's in the attic (and no, for those of you who have read 'Jane Eyre,' that does not hold any symbolic relevance - honestly), but it does mean that I don't have any overhead lighting. My desk lamp blew its fuse this weekend, which left me with a paltry 40-watt lamp to illuminate my entire room, so to allay the possibility of going blind, this chapter had to be a little shorter than usual, I'm afraid. It's still 3,300 words, though, which I suppose is a lot longer than your standard offering, so I hope it suffices. My focus has been a little skewed for the last couple of days, but with any luck, it'll still be up to scratch.

Please let me know your thoughts :-)

Happy Birthday, Consuelo!

When Booth gradually stirred into wakefulness at 6.30am the next morning, the tent was still swathed in darkness and his partner's limp hand was lightly encircling his own. His heart instinctively began to pound at an accelerated pace when he realised that his face was buried in Bones' silken hair and his lips were resting millimetres away from the nape of her neck. Their ability to toss and turn was severely hindered by the constrictive nature of the sleeping bag, but Booth had expected to suffer through a restless night regardless. He was amazed that neither of them had shifted position in deference to the unyielding, jagged ground. If he was honest with himself, he'd expected Bones to find their proximity claustrophobic once she'd regained some semblance of warmth, but Brennan was still resting peacefully in his embrace, her breathing measured and even.

Despite the primitive circumstances, Booth's sleep had been deep and dreamless, and although his ravaged muscles were already protesting as a result of yesterday's exertions, he felt oddly rejuvenated. It didn't take long for a smile to illuminate his features and, hearing the Guides conversing in hushed tones outside of their tent, he knew it wouldn't be long before they set about rousing the reluctant campers. Acknowledging that he might only have a matter of minutes before this sacred moment was shattered, Booth decided to indulge himself and shifted a little closer towards his partner, melding his torso firmly against her back and allowing the floral fragrance of her hair - which was tinged with a lingering hint of wood smoke – to assail his senses. He heaved a happy sigh, and Bones murmured something unintelligible in her sleep, gripping his hand a little tighter. Booth had to stifle a snort when she commandeered his arm and adjusted the appendage until their entwined hands were tucked snugly under her chin… but then he realised that his forearm was lying diagonally across her breasts and he was powerless to stop his crotch from tightening pleasurably in response. A panicked expression crossed his face as he envisaged his partner waking up to find him pressed up against her with a raging hard-on, and he rapidly backed away again, gently trying to extricate himself from the potentially mortifying situation.

Realising that something was amiss in her warm, fuzzy world of contentment, Brennan gradually awoke from her fortifying slumber, blinking confusedly into the darkness. "Booth?" she murmured, her voice hoarse with uncertainty as she fought to establish her bearings.

Brennan heard her partner suck in a sharp breath and it didn't take her long to realise that Booth was desperately trying to liberate the arm that she was hugging tightly against her chest… the arm that was currently nestling comfortably between the valley of her breasts. Her cheeks turned crimson, and she promptly released her grip on Booth's hand. Unfortunately, Booth was still trying to tug it free at the time, and her unexpected acquiescence caused his fist to spring backwards and involuntarily collide with her jaw.

Brennan groaned and, within a matter of seconds, the torchlight was shining down on her. She scrunched her eyes up against the sudden onslaught of brightness, cradling her jaw and levelling a glare in her partner's direction, which rapidly intensified when she realised Booth's eyes were shining with merriment and he was making a concerted effort not to laugh.

"Morning Bones," Booth choked out, emitting an undignified snort. "Are you OK?"

Brennan muttered something incomprehensible in response, covering her face with her hands and adopting an expression of outrage when Booth gently prised them away again, leaning over her prostrate form until his megawatt grin invaded every corner of her bleary vision.

"Sorry, Bones. I didn't quite catch that."

"I said: that wasn't exactly the kind of wake up call I was anticipating," Brennan snapped, hoping to conceal her underlying embarrassment with anger.

"Oh come on, Bones, it was an accident!" Booth exclaimed, his tone laced with amusement. "I mean… I didn't actually hurt you, did I?" he inquired anxiously, his cheerfulness quickly evolving into concern as he cupped his partner's chin in his hand, tilting it upwards to survey the damage. Brennan gazed at him defiantly, flinching when he tenderly traced the outline of her jaw with his thumb.

"Booth, can you stop shining the torch in my eyes? I'm fine," she retorted flatly, promptly pulling away. It was too early in the morning to contend with the multitude of sensations her partner's touch elicited within her, especially when Booth seemed far from amenable to her - admittedly inadvertent - reciprocation. She wasn't sure whether she was more disconcerted by the pleasurable sensation of waking up in her partner's arms, or the fact that Booth had been urgently backing away from her at the time. Clearly, he'd been uncomfortable with the situation, and she turned onto her side to conceal her own discomfiture at his apparent rejection.

"You know, Bones, I never had you pegged for a snuggler," Booth informed her with a teasing grin, feeling markedly more at ease as he took in the sight of Brennan's adorably tousled appearance and her flustered demeanour.

Brennan's cheeks coloured slightly. "I was simply gravitating towards a heat source in an adversarial climate, Booth." She lowered her gaze, her tone becoming noticeably terse. "I'm sorry if that bothers you."

"Hey…" Booth reached out, placing his hand on the curve of his partner's slender waist. "I told you last night - it doesn't bother me, OK? Not at all."

"Well, you seemed remarkably keen to… extricate yourself… from our arrangement this morning," Brennan countered quietly, tension evident in her rigid frame.

"You know, normal people are supposed to have a stunted vocabulary first thing in the morning," Booth informed his partner wryly, "But what you just said… that's not true, Bones," he concluded earnestly. "We were both pretty tired last night and I guess… I wasn't sure whether… I just didn't want you to feel… uncomfortable when you woke up, that's all." He cleared his throat, a mischievous grin working its way across his features as he contemplated the best way of alleviating the strained atmosphere between them. "Honestly, Bones, if I'd known you were going to be so disappointed, I would've stayed put," he teased, poking her gently in the ribs.

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Clearly your ego has rendered you delusional, Booth," she noted acerbically, her tone dripping with condescension. "I was not disappointed," she stated categorically, beginning to hurriedly disentangle herself from the sleeping bag, "I was infuriated because you… you hit me."

"Well, it's not my fault you decided to use my hand as a chin rest," Booth countered, attempting to stall his partner's hasty departure by pulling the sleeping bag more tightly around them. He burst into laughter when Brennan wrenched the fabric forcefully out of his hands, practically giving him a friction burn in the process. "Jeez, you're really not a morning person, are you, Bones?"

Brennan folded her arms, eying him coldly. "No, Booth, unlike you, I'm not in the habit of instigating puerile antics first thing in the morning. You've clearly been spending too much time with Parker."

Within seconds of speaking the words, Brennan realised her mistake, and her stomach sank as she watched all traces of mirth rapidly fade from her partner's features.

"Booth… I'm sorry," she murmured, as he promptly desisted his attempts to trap her within the confines of the sleeping bag and rolled onto his side. She stayed regardless, and reached out to clasp his forearm. "I was just being facetious. I didn't mean to upset you…"

"I know," Booth assured her, eventually turning to appraise his partner with a small smile. The sparkle gradually returned to his eyes as he observed the precarious position of the sleeping cap on Bones' head, and he hastily plucked it away, starting to laugh when he saw the unkempt mass of hair beneath it. "OK, I'm thinking less Mary Ingalls, and more Stig of the Dump," he joked, and Brennan regarded his amused expression with a mixture of relief and indignation.

"I'm not sure where the analogy derives from, Booth, but I'm fairly certain that it isn't intended to be complimentary."

"It's just a book that Parker's reading in class at the moment," Booth informed her, his eyes conveying a mixture of enthusiasm and nostalgia. "He loves it so much, Rebecca bought him his own copy. He always brings it over to look at before bed."

"You read your son bedtime stories, Booth?" Brennan asked, looking faintly amused as she envisaged the scenario.

"Come on, it's not like we're talking 'Sleeping Beauty' or 'Cinderella,'" Booth said defensively. "It's a nice… manly… book."

"I'm sure it is," Brennan assured him in a patronising tone. "As long as you realise that children's literature is inherently deceptive and rife with idealism, regardless of which gender it's orientated to."

"OK, well next time Rebecca takes him to the library, I'll tell her to make a beeline for 'War and Peace,' OK?" Booth said sardonically, rolling his eyes.

"'War and Peace' is an epic saga with a litany of complex characters, Booth. It explores several profound philosophical issues and many adults struggle to engage with it in its entirety. It's hardly suitable reading for a child of Parker's age."

"Which is why I was being sarcastic, Bones," Booth retorted, shaking his head despairingly.

"Oh." Brennan looked faintly embarrassed for a moment, until Booth sent an indulgent smile in her direction.

"So… are you going to admit it?" he ventured after a moment's silence, and Brennan regarded the mischievous glint in his eyes suspiciously.

"Admit what, Booth?"

"Why you really wanted to share a sleeping bag with me?"

Brennan assumed a defensive posture, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Are you suggesting that I had an ulterior motive, Booth? Because I resent the implication that I would - "

"You know what, Bones?" Booth interjected, leaning towards her conspiratorially. "I think that you're secretly a sucker for my guy hugs," he announced triumphantly, impulsively wrapping his arms around Brennan's shoulders and giving her a gentle squeeze to emphasise his point.

Brennan grunted in surprise, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she rested her hands against her partner's defined chest and half-heartedly tried to push him away. "Booth… this is juvenile and highly inappropriate behaviour… get off of me…" she huffed, trying desperately hard not to convulse with laughter when her partner obligingly relinquished his embrace, and opted to lightly tickle her ribs instead. She put up a valiant fight, attempting to conceal her voluminous grin with a disapproving frown as she forcefully batted his hands away.

"Was that a smile, Bones?" Booth demanded in disbelief, attacking her ribs with renewed gusto until she finally succumbed to the maddening sensation and began to laugh out loud.

"Booth, stop it," Brennan commanded a little breathlessly, capturing her partner's hands in her own and squeezing them warningly. Booth met her reproachful gaze and, recognising it for the front that it was, grinned at Bones disarmingly until her lips began to twitch at the corners and she broke into a radiant smile.

"Now, that's more like it," he observed happily. "Are you going to stop with the Little Miss Grouchy routine now?"

"That depends. Are you going to behave?" she asked softly, running her thumbs over her partner's weathered knuckles, and Booth nodded in amusement, effectively conceding defeat.

Brennan obligingly freed her partner's hands, and she was taken aback by the tender expression on Booth's face when he unexpectedly reached out to straighten her dishevelled hair. She was accustomed to her partner regarding her with affection, but for a fleeting moment his eyes seemed to flicker with something more and, although the emotion was ultimately indefinable, it still made her heart pound erratically against her ribcage. She swallowed nervously, lowering her gaze, and Booth cleared his throat, resting his hand lightly on her shoulder as he shrugged his way out of the sleeping bag.

"I'm gonna see if I can bribe one of the Guides into revealing the location of their coffee supply. You want one?" he asked, and she nodded gratefully.

"Please."

Brennan tried not to appraise her partner's jean-clad gluteus maximus as he crawled towards the front of their tent, but she was only human, after all… and Booth's attributes were becoming increasingly hard to overlook.

"OK, Bones, it's not exactly Starbucks, but it's better than… Shit!" The two mugs of coffee that Booth had expertly juggled in his left hand while he was unzipping the tent now tilted precariously to the side, spilling burning hot liquid over the sleeve of his sweater. Brennan promptly abandoned the task of dressing herself and rushed to her partner's aid, freeing the mugs from his unsteady grip and setting them on the floor of the tent.

"Are you OK? Did you burn yourself?" she demanded with concern, reaching out to examine his wrist, and Booth shook his head, the muscles in his jaw twitching as he desperately tried to avert his gaze from Bones' sensible sports bra, which, despite its modest design, was doing little to detract from the alluring fullness of her breasts or the way her taut nipples were reacting so prominently to the cold.

Knowing that his already overactive imagination was liable to spontaneously combust if it was given any more fuel, Booth ducked his head slightly, only to find himself drinking in the expanse of smooth, luminescent skin that formed the intoxicating sight of his partner's flat, toned stomach.

"Booth, you're letting all the cold air in," Brennan reprimanded her partner, yanking him inside and hurriedly zipping the tent shut. Shivering violently, she quickly reached for her long-sleeved T-shirt, hastily pulling it over her head. She added a sweatshirt and a fleece to the ensemble and then handed her partner his coffee, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "Booth, it's OK, I'm fully clothed now," she informed him wryly. "You don't have to stare at the floor anymore."

Booth's cheeks coloured slightly, and he pulled a face as he took a tentative sip of the thick, black concoction. "OK, that's the last time I give this stuff the benefit of the doubt," he concluded, forcing himself to swallow the bitter liquid without gagging.

"It's just as well, considering that you spilled most of it outside," Brennan remarked sardonically, and Booth regarded her with a sheepish grin.

"Well, you've got to give a guy a little warning if you're planning on stripping off in his tent, Bones."

"Oh, come on, Booth, I was hardly indecent," Brennan objected, rolling her eyes. "I can't believe I ever complimented you on your lack of Puritan modesty."

"Yeah, well you might think it's fine to barge in on people when they're butt naked in their bathroom, Bones, but I have… boundaries… OK? I respect people's privacy."

"You didn't have boundaries when you were ogling that woman at the gym during the Tommy Sawyer case, Booth."

"I wasn't ogling her, I was… appreciating her physique and besides, in that kind of environment, people want to be noticed…"

"You do realise that you're just playing with semantics, Booth? I fail to see why you would be flustered in this situation when I'm sure you've seen plenty of women in a much more advanced state of undress before."

"Yeah, but it's not the same. You're my partner, Bones, not my girlfriend," Booth countered, and he was shocked to see the look of hurt that briefly swept across Brennan's features.

"I understand, Booth," she informed him quietly. "Obviously, you see me as an asexual being, some kind of robot in a lab coat, and it makes you uncomfortable when you encounter evidence to the contrary. That's probably why you have such an aversion to me discussing my sexual exploits, too." She began to fold up her pyjamas and place them neatly in her backpack. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Booth. I didn't expect you to come back so quickly, but I'll… change in my own tent from now on," she murmured, skilfully evading his gaze.

"Bones…" Booth edged towards her, gently stilling her fumbling hands. "Have you forgotten what I wrote on that list already?" he demanded, gazing at her expectantly until she showed some signs of recognition. "I don't think you're a robot in a lab coat, OK? You're an amazing woman, Bones, and I care about you a hell of a lot more than you probably realise, but you're my partner, too, and that means I'm not… I'm not supposed to notice how… attractive you are," he informed her haltingly, and Brennan regarded him intently.

"Not supposed to?" she echoed, her tone a mixture of confusion and something that sounded suspiciously akin to hope.

"It doesn't mean to say that I… that I don't," Booth confirmed quietly, studying her features intently. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Bones?"

Brennan nodded, her cheeks flushing slightly as she searched her partner's probing gaze. "I think so."

They both quietened down when they heard the unmistakeable timbre of Alex's voice penetrating the otherwise peaceful morning. Her words were indistinguishable, but her tone was laced with idiosyncratic contempt.

"Well, last night doesn't seem to have had a lasting impact on her," Booth noted sarcastically, welcoming the opportunity to change the conversation.

"Are you going to apologise to her?" Brennan asked, and Booth shook his head vehemently.

"No way. Everyone's got a sob story to tell, Bones, but that's no excuse for projecting your misery and insecurities onto everyone else. We choose who we become and Alex… well, she made the wrong choice."

"You make her sound like a monster, Booth," Brennan observed, sounding faintly incredulous.

Booth shrugged. "Well, everything's relative, Bones. She hurt you, and until she apologises, she is a monster as far as I'm concerned."

"Booth…" Brennan objected, her lips starting to crease at the corners. "Doesn't that violate the doctrine of forgiveness or something?"

"I'm serious, Bones," Booth stated quietly, his expression disconcertingly intense. "You've been through a hell of a lot more than Alex has and you don't bitch, or moan. I know you hate the stereotype, but there aren't a lot of foster kids who go on to become the finest in their field, let alone a best selling author to boot. The odds were stacked against you, Bones, but you sucked it up and you accomplished more than anyone could've ever dreamed of." His eyes darkened, and he shook his head angrily. "And don't ever think that callous bitch is justified in trying to undermine your achievements, just because she had a kick in the teeth at some point in the distant past."

Brennan hadn't anticipated her partner's passionate response and her eyes were shimmering with unshed tears when she finally mustered the courage to seek out his gaze. Her formative years, despite her academic excellence, had been largely devoid of praise. The teachers who publicly commended her talent only set her up to be mocked and derided by her peers, and her foster parents had been unfailingly apathetic. Even when she managed to win the acclaim of virtual strangers, it wasn't the same as being told that she was special by someone who mattered to her, someone who she knew would still be there if she failed, as well as succeeded. Knowing that Booth was prepared to defend her honour in the face of adversity meant more to her than her guise of independence would ever allow her to convey. She didn't know if she could trust her voice to remain steady, so she offered her partner a tremulous smile instead, hoping to convey her gratitude.

"You ready to go and grab some breakfast?" Booth asked, his eyes warm with understanding, and she nodded, crawling out of the tent alongside him. He offered her his hand as they traversed the threshold, hauling her to her feet, and she didn't relinquish her grasp until they were in full view of the others. Then Booth's hand fell to the small of her back, leaving no doubt that in this disparate group of so-called partners, they were the only ones who were inextricably linked.