"Bones, we need to talk," he said, entering her office and closing the door behind him.
"Did you find something new on the case?" she asked, getting up from her computer and coming around to the front of her desk.
"No, but I did find your note." Brennan's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to reply, but Booth held up his hand to quiet her. "Maybe I shouldn't have read it, but I did." He paused for a moment, taking in the adorable way her teeth worried her lower lip as she waited for his response to her would-be last words. He gave her a lopsided smile and spoke softly, "Bones, our friendship means a lot to me too. When you and Hodgins were down in that car and I thought I might never see you again, I was so terrified. You're the best partner I've ever had and I don't ever want to lose you." He paused again, letting his words sink in and then continued, his voice filled with barely restrained emotions. "But you're more than just a partner to me. And I don't want to keep ignoring that and doing this Scully and Mulder thing for years." Her quietly pleased expression turned confused.
"I don't know what that means."
"It means please don't kick my ass if I kiss you." He didn't wait for her reply, just stepped forward and reached for her. One strong hand slipped over her smooth cheek, the other went to her waist pulling her against him. Shocked, Brennan didn't resist as he lowered his head and brushed his lips gently against hers. Instinctually, she responded to him, slanting her head and allowing him to deepen the kiss.
Booth nearly moaned. Brennan, who could be so cold, hard and scientific most of the time, felt unbelievably soft against him. Although he had never admitted it to himself before the events of the past day had forced him to, he had wanted this for a while and kissing Bones was better than he could have imagined.
He broke the kiss so they could catch their breath, but kept his face close to hers, tenderly running his thumb over her defined cheekbone. Their eyes locked, chocolate brown meeting icy blue, and Brennan felt the air go out of her. She was surprised that he had kissed her, surprised by the heat she felt rushing through her.
And they were both a little surprised that she hadn't slapped him for his bold advances.
"Booth, I…" She was at a loss for words, not a normal state for Dr. Temperance Brennan. "Booth," she whispered again, the moment surrounding them, filling them.
A knock on the door broke them apart. Brennan jumped back from Booth, eyes wide like a deer caught in the head lights. She looked away from her partner and smoothed down her lab coat before calling for the person at the door to come in. Zack Addy opened the door and poked his head in.
"Dr. Brennan, Angela's had a breakthrough on the Grave Digger case." Without waiting for another word, Booth and Brennan were out the door and headed down the hallway to Angela's office.
When all the staff was assembled in her office, Angela began to speak. "I took a look at the parking garage security tapes again this morning. Yesterday, we found out that there was no coverage of where Jack and Bren were taken so today I looked at the exit video. I focused in on who was driving Bren's car on its way out." She pulled up an image on the computer screen. Booth could barely suppress the growl that welled in his chest at the image of Brennan slumped in the passenger seat of her own car. However, the image of the driver was unclear. A hooded sweatshirt obscured his face.
"Can you get a face from this?" Cam asked.
"No," Angela answered, "but while I was doing this, Jack was analyzing the piece of sticker that he found in his leg. He brought it to me and we came up with an idea of what it would look like and, based on how the car impacted him, where it would be placed on the car."
"So then Angela ran our blueprint through the computer against the video of all vehicles coming into the parking garage," Jack continued. "And we got this." Angela pulled up another image. The car showed a bumper sticker in the right location, the right colors, so Angela zeroed in on the face of the driver. This time, the face was clear and Brennan gasped in recognition.
TBC! Reviews more than appreciated as always.