A/N: I know, I know, it's been forever since I last updated... I feel like I'm saying that every chapter! But hey, you take what you can get, right?
Many many thanks to my beta, Kay!
Disclaimer: Not mine. Way to rub it in.
There comes a time Sometimes when the rain is coming down in buckets and you're so wet that your fingers begin to wrinkle and you can't tell your socks from your shoes
Sometimes when the rain is coming down in buckets, you're so wet that your fingers begin to wrinkle and you can't tell your socks from your shoes. When you're so wet that umbrellas don't matter anymore and you just give in to the rain, because you simply cannot get any wetter. It was one of those days for Temperance Brennan.
She stood completely still, pellets of rain coming down steadily around her. Her fist was raised in midair, ready to knock, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to do it. The cool red wood of the door was slick with rain, and it was staring her down. Challenging her. Come on knock, it teased her, I dare you. She didn't really know why she was so scared of knocking—maybe because the last time she did, she was greeted by a half naked Booth (which would have been more than fine with her if his half naked girlfriend hadn't been standing right behind him), maybe because things had been more than a little awkward since The Mistletoe Kiss… whatever the reason, her hand seemed to have a mind of its own, and it refused to knock on the door to Seeley Booth's apartment.
Then the door swung open, and it seemed Brennan's hand didn't really get a say.
"Bones, is there a reason you're just standing there outside my door?" he teased. "Most people knock, you know," he added with a smile. He was rewarded with a small smile back. God, he loved her smile. She had a lot of different smiles (seven to be exact) but this one was the kind she saved solely for him, when no one else was around. It was tentative at first, growing wider until it lit up her whole face and everything about her smiled. Her eyes. Her cheeks. Her lips. He would never tire of staring at that smile, Booth thought to himself.
The two partners stood staring at each other for a little too long. Brennan broke the gaze first, wrapping her goose bump-covered arms around herself. It was a cold kind of rain. The kind of rain that freezes your skin and brings a jumpy shake to all your movements.
Booth kicked back the door and ushered her in, shaking his head in frustration. Sure, Seeley, leave her standing out in the cold, drenched in rain, while you stare at her for twenty minutes. Get your head out of the gutter, man. They sat facing each other on the couch, and Booth noticed right away that something was different about her. Not wrong, he observed, her eyes weren't large and dark in fear. Instead they were steely, clouded with grey. She had something on her mind.
All words had lost her. Temperance Brennan wrapped her arms around herself again and tried to speak, but the first time in her life, she couldn't. She could not seem to remember the reason she had come anymore; her brain seemed cloudy, a grey haze over all her thought. All she could do was swallow and stare at the man sitting before her. "Want some coffee, Bones? You must be freezing," he added, with a glance towards the window. The rain was still coming down heavily.
She nodded, because her voice still couldn't seem to find itself. As he got up and moved about the kitchen, she took a deep breath, and once again tried to clear her mind and focus on the reason she had come. "Bones, you're never gonna get warm in those clothes, they're soaked." Booth poured water into the coffee pot and turned towards her, motioning to a room down the hall. "Go and grab some clothes out of my room, one of my hoodies or something. I don't want a frozen Bones on my hands." He smiled, and so did she. She nodded and began down the hall, her wet feet leaving dark footprints on the carpet as she went, an innocent, unknowing act that struck Booth as simply adorable. He chuckled lightly to himself, watching as she disappeared behind the door to his room. "Adorable" was not a word most people would use to characterize Temperance Brennan—adorable conjured images of little girls in frilly dresses, of pouting lips and naivety. It certainly did not describe the rough and independent nature of his Bones. No, her constant arguing and tactless demeanor definitely could not be called "adorable"—although, admittedly, when she stuck a hand on her hip and cocked her head at him in the midst of their bickering, he couldn't help but think that she was undeniably cute. But "adorable"… Oh man, Seel, have you got it bad, he thought to himself with a shake of his head, a small smile beginning to play across his lips as he turned his attention back to the brewing coffee pot.
She practically swam in his sweatshirt. Brennan had chosen a faded grey FBI hoodie from the top of Booth's bureau drawer; it was clearly an item that received constant use. The sleeves draped loosely over her thin arms, completely hiding her hands from sight. Somehow though, she wouldn't have wanted to be wearing anything else at the time. Wearing her partner's clothing seemed so intimate to her, but strangely comforting at the same time. It felt right. She wrapped her arms around herself, hugging her body, and was immediately enveloped in a warm, husky scent that was undeniably Booth. She smiled to herself. Booth always knew how to make her feel better, even if she didn't know what was wrong.
Running a hand through her still soaking wet hair, she stood and took an opportunity to glance around Booth's room. It was neater than she expected—the bed was made, and only the suit jacket he had worn that day was strewn across the chair in the corner of the room, rather than the dirty clothes thrown all across the floor like she had expected. A small bookshelf sat next to the left of the bed, but what caught her eye were the photographs sitting atop it. With a quick glance toward the door (still closed tightly, she noted to her satisfaction), she crept closer to the bookshelf in question. A picture of Parker was first, his school picture Brennan imagined. Booth loved his son more than anything, she knew. Next to that was a large portrait of what she assumed was his whole family. Dressed all in white and laughing happily at one another, they looked almost angelic. The third picture, however, caused a lump to form in the back of Brennan's throat. It was a picture of the two of them, taken just before Christmas that year. Just before we kissed, she thought to herself. Neither of them knew the picture was being taken—they were standing close, too close, staring into each other's eyes and completely oblivious to the outside world. The beginnings of a smirk played across his face and she was laughing, her blue eyes twinkling, smiling as well. She pressed a thumb to the metal frame, smiling despite the lone tear that rolled down her cheek.
She hadn't heard him enter the room. Blame the sniper training, he thought to himself. He held a mug of coffee in one hand, standing just inside the doorway, simply watching her. Dressed in his baggy FBI hoodie—of course she had chosen his favorite one—he couldn't help but once again return to the thought that she looked, well, adorable. He knew right away which photograph she was looking at, he didn't even have to think about it. Suddenly he felt nervous—would she be angry that he had a photograph of her up in his home without her knowing? But watching a smile grow slowly on her face, he knew she wasn't upset with him. Quietly, he tiptoed over to her, until he stood directly behind her. He reached his hand out to cover hers on top of the frame.
She didn't stiffen like he expected her to. Instead she turned, a grin still plastered onto her face, and took her coffee from him. She spun around to look at the photograph again, sipping her drink in silence for a moment. She stood staring down at the picture, thinking silently to herself before turning to face him once more. The smile was gone from her face now. She looked down, swirling the liquid in her cup, before finally speaking.
"Booth, you shouldn't have a picture of me up there. It's just for your family. I don't… I don't belong up there."
He slipped a finger under her chin, tilting her head up to face her. "Hey Bones, remember, I said there's more than one kind of family…" The situation felt all too familiar. But now, there was no Zack to tap on the glass and interrupt whatever moment was occurring between them. His eyes searched hers, blue meeting brown, never once blinking or looking away. Their eyes could say so much that words could not. "You are my family too, Bones. In every way that counts, you are my family."
The words touched her heart. She wasn't sure if she believed them yet, if she could trust that promise. But looking into his eyes, she had her answer. She knew she could trust Booth. If he said she was his family, she believed him. And that warmed her heart more than coffee or his hoodie ever could.
Ever so slowly, she brought her lips to his. It was a soft kiss, gentle, tender. Barely there at first. A feathery, electric meeting of lips. She pulled back before he had a chance to really respond, leaning her forward against his, content in the simple comfort of their mingling breaths. Booth smiled in spite of himself, thanking God for finally answering the only prayer that mattered, before capturing her lips with his once more.
The rain pounded against the window panes outside, but neither one of them cared. In his warm apartment, in his warm sweatshirt, in his warm embrace, Temperance Brennan finally found where she belonged.
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