Title: Baring It All
Author: Tom's gg
Chapter: 18/?
Chapter Title: All I Need Pt.2
Characters: Brennan/ Booth
Rating: M - Strong Sexual Content
Spoilers: Dialogue from Truth in the Lye, The Glowing Bones in the 'Old Stone House', and Death in the Saddle.

I do not own the characters- that distinction belongs to FOX… but God I wish I did!

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They spent the night at a small roadside hotel off of Interstate 81 in Virginia; one with an attached diner where they had a late supper. They were back in their home territory now. So close they could have spent less money driving in to Washington to stay at their own homes than they did on the hotel.

Going home hadn't even been an option though. They were Tony and Roxie Hart of Philadelphia, PA and they were headed to New York City.

They made love slowly that night. The kind of love where you drown in every kiss and the world turns completely upside down when you finally find your release. It was the kind of sex that grounded them in each other, that said 'you are mine and I want to spend a lifetime getting to know your body'.

Brennan woke to a man's thigh wrapped around her body, which was slightly upsetting given that she'd been dreaming about a particularly bad night in Guatemala. It didn't take her long to realize who that thigh belonged to, and throw off the dream for more pleasant thoughts.

Her hand grazed up the thigh that surrounded her to stoke his hip. It was clear that his dreams had been much pleasanter than hers. She closed her delicate fingers around the turgid swollen column of his erection and slowly slid her hand up and down its firm soft length. She was thrilled at the power she had as he moaned and pumped into her in his sleep.

She repeated the motion several times. When her hand slid down to cup the thick sacks of flesh at the column's base he jumped. Within moments he was on top of her. She'd been flipped on her stomach with her hands pinned above her head.

"You're under arrest," he growled into her ear; the sleep still heavy in his throat.

Brennan shook her head and laughed at the ridiculous parody of his job, but played along. "What's the offense officer?"

"Unlawful arousal of an Agent ma'am. I'm afraid this is going to require a full body search."

He released one of his hands from her wrists and slowly dragged it down her arm. It slipped across her shoulder and under her armpit to cup the soft meaty flesh of her breast, lingering at her nipple.

"It appears that you are carrying a concealed weapon," he murmured against her neck. "I'm afraid this type of violation falls under my jurisdiction."

"And how exactly will you handle this Special Agent?" she replied seductively as she raised her hips to grind her ass into the thigh he used to hold her.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to mount a full investigation." Booth's hand continued to move down her body slowly.

"Spread your legs," he ordered. She silently complied as she pulled her knees up and arched her back. The result was to expose herself fully. Booth's hand slid over the soft round flesh of her buttocks and slipped into the deep folds that lay hidden between her cheeks.

"This is definitely going to require closer inspection," he grinned. Her core was already wet. She moved against his fingers in invitation.

In one quick motion he'd flipped her onto her back and positioned himself with his body extended down from her hips. Booth buried his head between her legs. His rough tongue slid along the wet folds of her. Brennan's entire body arched.

Booth's hands slid under her ass, and lifted her up so he had better access to her. He continued to lick, until he finally sucked her clit into his mouth. Brennan grabbed at the sheets, as she pressed her body deeper into his mouth.

"Yes! Fuck! Yes!" She really couldn't think of anything more eloquent to say. She was lost, deserted in this place that he took her to, the place where he kept her- Again… and again.

Booth intended to ask Bones if they could stop by his parents' house. They were so close, and he desperately wanted to introduce her to them. He should have asked her before the sex. He should have asked her last night after they'd made love. He'd felt safer than. He prayed he was right about all the things he thought he saw behind those eyes.

It was sometime too easy for Bones to hide behind the sex. When it was all heat and passion. He could just hear her…

Bones- It was a textbook example of just how helpless we higher primates can be to our biological urges.

Booth- I am not helpless.

Bones- And if you're not helpless, then why did you sleep with her?

Booth- Oh, I really don't recall saying that I did.

Bones- You didn't have to. I could hear it in your voice. I might as well as walked in on you having sex.

Booth- You didn't and we weren't.

Bones- Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of, Booth. Humans act upon a hierarchy of needs, and sex is very highly ranked. It's an anthropological inevitability.

Booth- Thank you, Bones. I really appreciate you boiling me down to your anthropological inevitabilities.

They were beyond that… weren't they? Anthropological inevitabilities. This just couldn't be all about meeting biological urges for her. Not with the way she held him and touched him, and called out his name. Not with the way she looked at him on the Drake's front porch- like she knew exactly what was going on in his head, and quietly reassured him that everything was going to be okay.

Booth- …You believe in love, don't you?
Bones- I believe that dopamine and norepinephrine simulate euphoria because of certain biological triggers like scent, symmetrical features...

Booth- Symmetrical features.

Bones- Yes, it's an indication of a good breeder. You appear to be a very good breeder.

Booth- You might not want to admit it, Bones, but there are some things like love that just can't be measured in your lab.

Yeah. This thing between them wasn't quantifiable. It went beyond chemistry or biology or any other scientific rationale, which meant it was something she would need time with.

Einstein said, "To me, the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible" The same is true about Love. There are no natural laws or order of processes to follow for who we fall in love with. Yet… when you know yourself, and take the time to truly know the person you are in love with, it always makes a perfect kind of sense. Their strengths, your weaknesses- the yin, the yang, two opposing and, at the same time, complementary aspects of any one phenomenon.

It was okay that she didn't say the words. He knew the only things Temperance Brennan didn't have the words for were matters of the heart. He was happy she'd finally let him in. Happy she'd finally allowed her heart out enough to quiet her brain and leave her without words.

She had her reasons after all… didn't she. She definitely had her reasons for being closed off and afraid, afraid of letting anyone in who might hurt her.

There had been a time that Booth wasn't sure she'd ever be able to heal her old wounds. When she'd pulled away from him after Zack left for Iraq and he'd arrested her father. That had been a black time.

Booth had been mad. He'd gone looking for someone to blame.

"I've tried Booth." What do you expect from me?"

"I expect you to try harder. You're still hurting her. I need you to help her."

Max studied Booth for a few minutes. It irritated him that this 'stranger' thought he somehow had the right to come between him and his daughter… but, Seeley Booth wasn't really a stranger was he? No- the evidence was clearly there.

It was in the way his daughter looked at this man, the way she confided in him. It was in her eyes the night he'd gone missing, and Max had gotten his first opportunity for real closeness with her by helping to save this man's life.

No. He wasn't a stranger. It was in the way he looked at her, and the arrogant way he spoke about her, possessive really. He had staked some sort of claim on her, and he wasn't going to let anyone, not even her own father, hurt her.

That was good. It was a good thing really. Max knew he should be happy his daughter had someone like that in her life. But there was still that father inside him. That pri-male who wanted to assert his dominance and tell this upstart that he'd have to go through him. That Temperance Brennan was first and foremost his daughter. That he was the 'first' man in her life.

That had been true once. Max and Tempe had been close… very close. Ruthie said it was because they were so much alike. She'd also said that would be the thing to cause them difficulty when Tempe got older; her independent nature… her stubbornness. Max laughed. Her opposition to authority.

"What's so funny?" Booth grumbled. He was clearly annoyed at the moment.

"I was just thinking of something Tempe's mother once told me." Max rubbed his jaw and resumed his reminiscence… only instead of talking to himself, he spoke out loud. Not really to the upstart, but so he'd know… so he'd know he wasn't the only one who cared… who tried to protect her.

"When Ruthie and I left the kids, we thought we were protecting them. We thought it was the best thing for them. It would keep them alive… safe.

It became clear pretty quickly that that wasn't the case with Russ. He fell into petty crime. Still… I watched out for him. The funny thing was… him being a criminal actually made it easier for me to keep tabs on him and keep him safe. I could at least keep the real monsters away. I had lots of friends to send him work… keep him from doing anything too stupid.

But Temperance… she was harder. She had always been quiet. I mean even as a girl Russ, her mother and I were the only people she ever really talked to. She'd never been interested in having girlfriends or going to parties.

When she went off to college, she seemed to be doing so well. She whizzed right through you know… Bachelor's degree, Master's, Doctorate. Slick as a whistle. Then she'd started to travel. I kept up with her work. She became respected in her field. Do you realize how many countries have asked for her to consult on their cases?"

Max had become so animated. Booth could see the respect and love he felt for his daughter. Did he not know? Did he not know the damage he'd caused? Why Booth needed him so badly.

"Then she wrote that book. New York Times best seller nine weeks in a row. I thought she'd made it out. I thought we'd done the right thing by her. You know? That somehow she actually was better off without us."

Max stopped to look at Booth. "But that's not the truth is it?"

Booth just shook his head.

"She's damaged… just as damaged as Russ."

Booth scowled. "Bones is not damaged. She's hurt, she's confused, she's even a little bit lost, but she's not damaged."

"She has so many walls-"

Booth slammed his fists on the table and leaned forward. He towered over Max. "Yeah- well they're walls you built. I need you to start to act like a man and tear them down."

Max held Booth's stare, the upstart. "How would you propose I do that Agent Booth? I'm here aren't I? I stayed because you told me my daughter needed me. I allowed you to arrest me and put me in this godforsaken place, and she won't even talk to me. - She can't even look at me sometimes."

"That doesn't mean she doesn't need you." Booth sighed. "She needs you to keep fighting. To keep fighting for her… so she knows she's worth fighting for. So she knows she's not just someone that people abandon."

Max shook his head. "She has you to fight for her. She doesn't need me any more."

"I can't tear down the walls you put up," Booth hissed. "Bones needs more than just me. She needs you too. God help me, she needs you too."

The two men just sat and stared at each other for a few more minutes. The old and the new; the past and the present, bonded by the love of a woman. Booth finally got up from his chair and made his way to the door where the guard stood just outside.

"Agent Booth," Max called.

Booth turned to look at him.

"I'll keep trying."

The corner of Booth's mouth tilted up. "That's all any of us can do Max… keep on trying."

Yeah… that had been a black time. Then there was Florida. He'd fucked up, and she'd pulled away again. Booth scrubbed his hand across his face. He should have lost her for good then. He'd probably have deserved it.

But somehow they'd made it through. Made it to the other side. And now they were here. Now they were here, and they still had such a long way to go.

This was it though… wasn't it. The start of the process. Meet the parents, say the words out loud, hope and pray that despite all their differences they could find a way to make it work for both of them.

Booth- … every once in a while, two people meet. And there's that spark. And yes Bones, he's handsome, and she's beautiful. And maybe that's all they see at first... but making love? Making. Love. That's when two people become one.

Brennan- It is scientifically impossible for two objects to occupy the same space.

Booth- Yeah, but what's important is we try. And when we do it right, we get close.

Brennan- To what? Breaking the laws of physics?

Booth- Yeah, Bones. A miracle.

That's what they are. They are a Fucking Miracle- and Seeley Booth was going to hold on with everything he had. Because, at this point, he just couldn't imagine his life without her.

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Matt Kearney - All I Need

And if all we've got, is what no one can break,
I know I love you, if that's all we can take,
the tears are coming down, they're mixing with the rain,
I know I love you, if that's all we can take.

A pool is running for miles on the concrete ground
We're eight feet deep and the rain is still coming down
The TV's playing it all out of town
We're grabbing at the fray for something that won't drown