Jim was surprised when he woke up grabbing for Bones' hand that his hand was actually there to be grasped. The night seemed so hazy, so surreal, that he could hardly believe it hadn't been a dream. As he interlocked his fingers through the hand resting on his stomach though, he realized he hadn't dreamed it all up. He was with Bones in his bed, lying completely nude and sated…or well mostly sated. He still felt the pressing morning urge resting just inches below their laced hands.

The only thing missing was the even, but usually loud breathing shuffling the hairs on the back of his neck. Jim's brows crinkled. That was one of the most memorable things about waking up next to someone, Bones in particular. He craned his head around; trying to make sure the doctor was resting behind him.

"Oh, good. You're up," Bones said, readjusting their joined hands. It came off as more of a caress and Jim felt a shiver roll up his spine as he turned over from his side to his back. Bones was lying on his side, and in the early morning haze filtering through the window in Jim's room, his eyes blinked slowly as though he really didn't want to be awake, despite making it sound like he had been waiting for Jim to join him in consciousness.

Jim felt his lips curling into a small, content smile as Bones left his hand behind on his stomach to readjust, propping his head up in one palm. Jim took in all of the doctor's form, from his face, to his broad tan chest lightly covered with dark hair, all the way down to where the sheets drooped down over the curve of his sharp hips, barely covering the man's morning erection. His eyes flickered back up to Bones' hazel eyes, murky brown in the dim light of morning, and his smile grew. "I don't know a breathing man who isn't first thing in the morning," he replied lewdly.

The doctor gave a contented half smile, one brow hitching ever so slightly upward. He replaced his hand to Jim's stomach, stroking over the skin riddled with silver lines, his thumb deliberately tracing Joanna's scar. He smirked a little when Jim's lithe muscles contracted beneath the touch. "Mm, not what I was talking about, but that is also a good thing," he said, hand sliding further down under the sheet and blanket.

Jim at one point would have been able to keep up the conversation, even under Bones' ministrations, having always enjoyed frivolous things he could bring up during sex. It was still so new, though; still a novelty after so long without it. He only wanted to give himself over to the ministrations of skilled surgeon's hands, breathing in the moment before he lost his passiveness.

He grabbed Bones' hand, maneuvering them both around until Jim was straddling the doctor's hips, grasping both strong hands above Bones' head with his own. He smiled at Bones' slightly affronted mostly aroused expression, aligning their hips and grinding. That took the partially offended look right off Bones' face, giving completely over to lust as Jim set a steady pace. When his head fell back against the pillow, eyes dark and hooded as he watched Jim watching him and the expressions that took over his face, Jim leaned down latching his teeth into the junction of Bones' neck and shoulder.

Hands still trapped, and struggling half-heartedly against Jim's weight, Bones could do little more than groan, his hips trying to buck. Jim smiled against tanned skin, loving the gasping breaths that Bones exhaled against his hair.

The sunlight became more prominent and Jim's bedroom window accounted for it, transition film already muting the sun's rays. Jim released his grip on Bones' wrists, his movements growing more frenzied. The doctor's hands flew to his skin, taking hold of Jim's shoulders and holding on until they had both released, making another mess of themselves, not that either of them gave a damn.

Jim wasn't sure how he managed to do it, but he kept from collapsing over Bones, bracing himself against broad shoulders to watch Bones' face relax, his eyes slowly focusing as his breathing evened. He looked really relaxed, like ridiculously relaxed, the kind that only happened after orgasm…a really good orgasm if Jim did say so himself. What he looked like was really good! He looked amazing.

Jim slid to the side and off of Bones, mirroring their positions of earlier in the morning by resting his head in his palm and staring at Bones' mussed form with a fully content smile on his face, especially has his eyes landed on Bones' wild hair. It sort of reminded him of Jo's hair first thing in the morning, though her hair malfunctions were due to sleep, rather than sleep and uh…well…moving on, quickly.

He physically scrunched his face at that. It was completely innocent, though! Their hair matched perfectly in tone and for the most part texture and in early morning moments with their hair totally defying gravity apparently.

All of a sudden he wondered how crazy Joanna was driving Archer and if Pike was running his bitchy commentary on it. He also briefly wondered why Pike was staying at Archer's house. It hadn't struck him yesterday what with being so caught up in the prospect of 'fun times' with Bones that he hadn't noticed when Pike said that he and Bones would be leaving Joanna with 'them,' plural and with no input from Archer despite the fact that it was his house.

He was also rather surprised that he had managed to sleep so soundly without his daughter there. Back when he had been in Iowa, it had been like pulling teeth to let his daughter out of his sight for an entire night. He liked knowing that she was in the house, and he liked knowing that he would be there if she needed him. But Pike had all but said, 'I got this' and Jim had been off like a shot, trusting a crazy man and his partner-in-crime to watch his daughter and running off with Bones to have fabulous sex.

He wondered if that was some kind of cosmic premonition that he really did belong in San Francisco.

"Jim?"

He came back to the present at Bones' concerned tone to see his now focused murky green eyes staring up at him. "Do you think Pike and Archer are together?" he asked, because hell, he had only finished having sex maybe five minutes ago and though his brain was quick to do a lot of things after orgasm, connecting his filter to his brain was not one of them.

The doctor was silent for a moment, staring at Jim as if to say, 'yes, this is the man I'm sleeping with, and yes he did just ask that question…fucking win.' Then he let out a soft, breathy laugh of disbelief, shaking his head mostly likely at Jim's randomness. "We gotta work on your pillow talk, Jim. Last night it was laughter, this morning it's the relationship between Pike and Archer? You really know how to slaughter the afterglow."

Jim shrugged. "I've never done pillow talk."

"I remember," Bones grumped, but Jim could hear the underlying affection tinged with the smallest hint of regret. "But can you make an attempt to keep talk in the bed…oh, I dunno, not about them?"

He rolled his eyes. "Sorry. What d'you want to talk about then?"

Jim had a pretty good idea that he should have put parameters on the conversation choices, especially as Bones became still, regarding Jim as if he might bolt at any moment. "Well, you said you were a problem package yesterday in the cab. What made you say that?"

"I said fucked up package wrapped in problem paper." Like it really fucking made a difference. He shook his head, flopping down on his back with a heavy sigh. Where the hell did he start? There were a lot of things that made him say that. A lot of things that were honestly way too massive to just chat about. He turned his head towards Bones, asking, "Are you sure you don't just wanna take a shower?"

The doctor gave him a ridiculously patient look.

He swallowed thickly, unwilling to divulge his entire life to Bones just yet. He would tell him something. After all, the key to a successful relationship was talking, or so Maggie Jay had told him three million times. It was probably the reason neither of them had been able to keep anyone around them. They just didn't talk. Still looking at Bones, he decided that this relationship wouldn't fail due to lack of sharing. Perhaps a lack of other things, y'know, the other biggies, like lack of ability to cohabitate, lack of ability to share feelings, something like that. But he could talk. He could tell Bones.

Jim took a deep breath and pressed on. "I don't know what I'm doing here. I've never been in a real relationship, and I've never had a stable relationship exemplified in my life. I mean the closest normal relationship I think I've ever witnessed was between my old boss and his wife, and I say that loosely based off the fact that they see each other on a regular schedule more than anything else. I mean seriously, my mother-"

"Easy, Jim. Easy," Bones said reaching for Jim's hand. He hadn't realized but his voice had quickly become frantic and bordering hysterical. Jim blinked. "You're getting worked up and it's not even seven. It's a miracle you don't have blood-pressure problems." Bones shook his head, and started muttering nonsense into the silence that took over the room. It really was nonsense, too, because this close Jim hoped he would have been able to make out what the man was saying if they were actually words.

Despite this display of mental ineptness portrayed by his once again lover, Jim felt slightly calmed by the grouse about blood-pressure. Still Bones underneath it all, unruffled by anything Jim threw at him, just as he had been the previous month and a half. It was nice to have that continuity, to have that unyielding understanding. Jim felt the muscles that had tightened release just as suddenly.

Finally, he shook his head and a small frown pressed his brows downward. His hand around Jim's tightened as he said, "It doesn't matter if you've never been in a relationship before. Every relationship is different. You have to learn with each new one, so really we're learning how to be together with each other. Okay?"

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Jim said, smiling as if to play it off as a joke.

"Only partially," Bones replied, letting Jim get away with his dodge. A moment where he considered Jim quietly, curiously, as well as with a myriad of emotions too hard to categorize in the dimmed room, and then he commanded, "Come on. Let's get that shower you were talking about."

Then Bones crawled out from the sheets and hopped off of the bed, taking Jim's hand and partially dragging him to the bathroom so that they could ready for the day.

+ststst+

They showered quickly, or what Jim would have considered quickly seeing as they were still lingering over each other's bodies, kissing and groping more than actually cleaning. Once they were finished, they set about cleaning their messes in the bedroom and kitchen. Bones gathered the sheets from the bed, refit it with fresh sheets just as drab and white as the previous ones, while Jim all but bleached the kitchen table and chairs.

He almost couldn't believe they had done that, not that he regretted it, but damn. Higher brain-function obviously lost to sperm retention syndrome and unresolved sexual tension. Those were basically the only parts of the suite that needed their attention so after they finished those tasks and had sent their clothing off to the laundry department, and Jim had been sent off on a mission to go procure clothing from Bones' suite; they wandered out into the city to scrounge for breakfast.

Ironically enough they ended up at the small at the small café that Uhura had mentioned to him so many weeks ago, the one where Jo had discovered her fear of carrots. They had never been there without Joanna, and he could think of very few moments when they had been alone, without Jo and the chatter of other cadets milling around them. Surprisingly it was…it was just as simple.

It was so easy to just be with Bones again, so similar to New Orleans now that Jim was willing to let their natural ease flow between them, but still different, new, and just a little trepid. Jim could still feel his doubts hovering close to his conscious. However, Bones had hardly changed in his demeanor. It wasn't like Jim had given in and they had turned into lovesick puppies. It was like all the other good times they had shared with their daughter and before in Louisiana.

The doctor didn't try to hold his hand, and he didn't give Jim moon eyes, and Jim didn't do that to Bones, though he wouldn't deny that he had moments where he would just stare off and let the realization that they were actually happening wash over him. They were just them, only a little easier. Apparently having a band around certain parts of their instinctive relationship had strained everything between them. Now it just was. The silence was comfortable and the conversations were even more so. Okay, so they stayed on mostly safe topics, but they did have one about future sexual escapades and the need for condoms and regular lube that did not come out of the kitchen.

That had been an interesting conversation turned hilariously awkward. The waiter, a lovely off-worlder with a slight violet tinge to her skin with snow-white hair, had stumbled in just as Jim had offered the idea of flavored lube. The poor woman had turned a delicate shade of indigo, set down their plates and run away as quickly as her two legs would carry her. He hadn't really meant to, but Jim had laughed at the scenario, while Bones glared at him.

By the time they left the little café, heading towards Archer's house after a quick comm. to make sure everyone was up and prepared for their 'invasion' as Archer had yelled from the background, it was close to nine. They decided to walk the distance to Archer's to give themselves just that little while longer to themselves. It would be a good long walk, they would probably end up haling a cab after so long, but for the moment they were content to enjoy the cool October air.

"So," Jim began; one hand in his jeans while the other swung loosely at his side to brush against Bones' every so often. "Are you still getting territorial urges when Pike is brought up or was your passive aggressive claim over me yesterday enough to quash that?"

The doctor snorted. "Passive aggressive? I was goin' for full on belligerence." He caught Jim's fingers for a moment, giving a gentle squeeze before releasing them with a sigh. "As for the 'territorial urges,' as you so eloquently put it, I doubt those'll be going away in any hurry." When Jim opened his mouth to speak, he quickly cut him off. "I'm not saying there'll be reason for 'em, but feelings like that don't just die overnight. And if you want my opinion, they're not completely undeserved. It may just be me, but he does seem pretty sweet on you."

"It is just you," Jim assured him, thinking back to yesterday and the startling revelation that Pike and Archer may not have the friendship of epic bitchery so much as a relationship of epic bitchery. Pike had seemed pretty cozy dictating Archer's life from the comfort of the admiral's couch. "I am almost eighty percent positive that he and Archer have something going on."

"Your point being?"

"My point being," Jim said with emphasis, "that I don't think Pike would go for a lowly cadet when he had an admiral to boss around. Way more status points."

The doctor shook his head. "The sad thing is I'm pretty sure you believe that."

Jim shrugged. "Well, that and the entire being the son of his dead friend thing. I'm pretty sure I'm out of his scope. He's like a father to me. I mean, Jo even equates him to her grandfather. Jo's perception of people hardly ever leads me astray."

He then thought back to the night not so long ago when she had asked why Bones didn't stay with them. At the time he had been at a loss for an answer to give her, and now he had the remedy to her question. Bones probably would be staying with them for the foreseeable future, up until the semester ended if Jim didn't manage to totally and completely fuck it up. Hell, maybe all the way up to summer if he had any luck at all. That would be a nice span.

It would be worth it.

Jim was sharply brought back to the present when he was shoved into an alleyway and pressed against the smooth cement wall. His eyes widened momentarily before lips pressed against his. Being caught unaware did nothing to slow his response. He tilted his head, parting his lips as the doctor's tongue swept against them. The slow slide of saliva-slicked muscles in his mouth was mind-numbing and without a doubt welcome.

He grabbed the zips of Bones' jacket, holding on tightly as the doctor raised his hands to cart through his hair, one massaging lightly on the base of his skull. Jim made a noise of approval, releasing his grip on Bones' jacket in favor of wrapping his arms around his waist, pulling Bones closer and soaking in all the warmth he could possibly manage. When that was not enough, he hitched the back of Bones' shirt, pressing his hands into skin, scrabbling to rememorize the way all of the muscles flexed and released beneath his palms.

Bones pulled away slowly, but Jim hadn't had enough. He continued pressing kissed along the doctor's stubbled jaw line, down his neck, asking mildly between each skim of his lips against tanned skin, "Not that I mind-" his blunt nails unwittingly bit into Bones' skin, dragging a sinfully delicious hiss from the older man's lips. "But what caused this awesome make out session in the alley way?"

One hand still buried in Jim's hair tightened ever so slightly, still pleasurable while bordering on pain. "You got that wild look in your eye," he explained, his tone alive with satisfaction and fragmented undertones of frustration; frustration at Jim, he surmised, not the situation in general.

Jim didn't quite understand what 'the look' was, and conveyed such with a simple yet efficient, "huh?"

Bones turned his face into Jim's brushing their lips again, soothing as if to counteract what he was going to say, sooth Jim before he ever felt ruffled. "That look…" he said softly into the skin of Jim's cheek. "Its always followed by a hasty retreat. Figured I'd give you something to occupy your mind with 'til it passed."

Jim pulled back, meeting the doctor's eyes evenly, seeing his own apprehension from minutes ago reflected back at him. He was terrified that Bones would leave him, and wouldn't you know it? Bones was terrified Jim would leave him. He felt a sort of disbelief that this man could think that Jim would be the one to leave, but he also remembered what Bones had said in the taxi yesterday. Jim wasn't the only one with problems.

Bones may have stayed with his wife until the desperate end, and he may have filed the divorce papers, but his wife had left him emotionally years ago. Jim wasn't the only one sticking his neck out on the line for a memory. He needed to remember that.

He flattened his hands against Bones' back, running as much of the doctor's spine as the offending shirt would allow. The apprehension eased a little, but not all the way. Jim continued the massage and put on his best smile, shocked when it felt natural and not forced. "That's really good tactics, Bones. Have you considered the command track at all?"

Apprehension, gone. Eyebrow, reaching for the hairline.

Jim shrugged, innocently, extracting himself from Bones' clothing. "Just a question."

Bones just shook his head, releasing Jim as well. "Come on," he commanded gruffly. "Let's go hail a cab."

The cab they flagged down was newer than yesterday's, and the seats were made of the newer gel rather than memory foam. It was much easier to move around in. The driver was human this time, looking all of twelve and for all Jim knew, he actually was. Kids could get a lot of things if they knew people in low enough places and knew the proper things to say when it was needed.

Jim gave the young man the address, and he tilted his oversized hat that did nothing for making him look older. Then the plexiglass partition went up in what felt like a blink, much faster than the older cab. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he took off into traffic with one rev of the electrical engine.

Bones was not enthused.

"Christ! What the hell is he trying to do?" he yelled as the cabbie weaved through traffic at breakneck speeds. "Are we in the Risa 6000? He can slow down! This isn't a race."

Jim just shrugged. "Just put your seatbelt on, Bones. At least, with him driving like this we'll get to Archer's in good time."

"Or not at all."

Jim looked over to the doctor after strapping himself into the comfortable seat. He looked nervous. Not nearly as nervous as he had on the shuttle ride. He strapped himself in just as Jim had, but didn't grasp at the restraint. He just looked tense, like he would prefer to tell the kid to slow the fuck down and perhaps brush up on the uses of side-view mirrors.

Jim tried not to look too amused.

+ststst+

They entered Archer's house on their own, both the captain and the admiral having been too lazy to come to the door themselves. When they wandered into the living room Joanna was standing in front of Archer's holoscreen, watching one of the older detective shows that Jim's step-father had liked to watch when he was a kid. Pike and Archer were on the couch, though with an entire cushion between them. Pike was looking at something on his padd, while Archer stared at the screen with a lot less enthusiasm than Joanna had.

Jim smiled at the scene, before he crouched down on one knee. "Jo-bear, is that a good show?"

She turned towards him, her curly brown hair tangled and knotted, flying around her face. A smile broke across her lips and she squealed, "Daddy!" She then ran towards him, toddling on her little legs that were still clad in her night clothes, and plowed into his arms.

He stood up, pressing a loud kiss to her hair. "Did you have a good time?" he asked her.

She nodded and launched into a story about her morning with 'grampa' and 'Mis'er Meany.'

Bones snorted when she called Archer that. Turning to the admiral, he said, "You've been promoted."

Archer, still staring at the television screen like his brains were slowly being sucked out, shook his head slowly. "I promoted myself," he said distractedly. "I figured as admiral I had the prerogative."

After listening to Jo's story, he handed her off to Bones, refraining from chuckling when she called him 'popsicle.' He wandered over to the chair left open and took a seat. He waved his hand in front of Archer's eyes, impressed when there was absolutely no response. Pike saw him out of the corner of his eye and set down his padd to reach for the remote. The captain switched the channel over to the news which caused Archer to visibly start.

"Welcome back, space man," Pike said with a smirk. "Did you make it out of the Sol Quadrant or did you get stopped by freight patrol?"

The admiral's displeased look was rival to Bones'. He glared at Pike for close to a full minute, before he quickly and decisively turned away from him, as if telling the captain without words that he would not be speaking to him for the next indeterminable amount of time. He turned to the two cadets in his room and asked as if he was requesting about the weather, "How were 'fun times' last night? Was it worth the torture I went through?"

Surprisingly, it was Bones who answered with a smug smirk on his face. "It was fantastic. All three times."

And as a testament to the type of crowd Jim now immersed himself in, Archer didn't even flinch. He just groused, "Better have been. Your child is a terror."

He had been sure that they were crazy, but each day made him realize they were crazier than he had originally anticipated. The look on Pike's face all but told him that he knew what Jim was thinking. Then suddenly Pike's face morphed into shock, then quickly into irritation. He reached down between his thigh and the couch and came back up with a collar with a beagle hanging tiredly from it.

He resettled the dog mostly onto his lap, telling it, "We have to work on your sleeping habits, mutt." Then he sighed, resting his hand on top of the dog's head. "Don't let him fool you. He enjoyed the hell out of Joanna's company."

Archer, still not looking back, retorted, "Don't let him fool you. He's full of shit."

"We have a human recorder in the room," Bones said from behind Jim's chair. "You didn't talk like this the entire time she was here, did you?"

The doctor set Joanna down on the ground and she hopped over to Pike and Porthos to pet the dog. Jim watched her for a moment before looking up at Bones, who had leaned over to rest his arms against the back of his chair. He looked at Archer, somewhat pleading with them to tell him that he hadn't cursed around their two-year-old daughter all night and morning.

"No," Pike said pulling Joanna up on the empty cushion beside him. "I made Jon walk the dog when he threw temper tantrums."

"It was only fair considering I made him walk the kid when he threw his."

Jim laughed at them, asking through cackles, "Did someone switch your coffee to decaf?"

Pike re-shuffled himself on the couch, adjusting both the dog and the child that cased him. Then with a dissatisfied air about him, he said, "Jon doesn't keep coffee in his house."

Archer rolled his eyes. "You know I don't! You've been coming over here for years and I have never kept coffee. I can't have it anymore. I'm sorry I have ulcers, you overgrown brat."

Unsurprisingly, Pike grabbed one of the couch pillows and threw it at the back of the admiral's head.

Jim shook his head at the two of them. Then he looked up to Bones, mouthing, 'see?' The doctor nodded, his brows scrunching as he watched the two glare at each other. Then Joanna suddenly spoke up, telling Pike very seriously, "No throwing in th' house, grampa!"

Both the captain's brows rose, before wry smile broke out on his face. "I'm sorry, Joanna. I won't do it again." Then glancing up at Archer, he told her, "But Mr. Meany deserved it."

Archer turned to retaliate, but before he could say anything, Jim popped up out of his seat. "Okay!" he said loudly. "It's time to give you two some alone time." He was almost convinced this was due to some sort of denied sexual activities more than coffee, but he wasn't going to voice that now. He walked over to his little girl and pulled her from the couch, telling her, "Say goodbye to the grumpy old men, Jo-bear."

"Buh-bye!" she said waving her fingers at the two of them.

He went to the room she had stayed in, Bones following close behind him, and found the room in much the same state it had been in the day before. Jim changed Joanna out of her pajamas and into more suitable clothing, despite her feeble protest that, no, daddy, she didn't want to wear the purple jacket she wanted to wear Sellit's jacket—y'know, the one Sellit didn't have. Bones gathered up the blanket and toys behind him, then took the discarded pajamas and refit everything into her bag, all the while snickering at Joanna's protests.

Then they snuck out, only catching a glimpse of Archer hooking Porthos to his leash and Pike sitting on the couch looking the picture of the disgruntled significant other.

+ststst+

It was just like every other day, leading to a night like every other night. They took Jo to a local park for about an hour and a half and they took turns pushing Jo in a swing made specifically for toddlers, before helping her up to steps to the slide that she went down about three million times. After, they went to lunch then back to Jim's suite, where they lay Joanna down for her nap.

The nap was only about a half hour long, in which time they just talked about whatever came to mind, which was mostly Bones talking about what he remembered as a kid. Jim volunteered some information about his childhood, skirting around the desolate details, and talking about one of the few times his mother had been home and more importantly interested in her two boys, when she had taken the two of them to a water park in Ceder Rapids. Some bitter part of him thought that she had only taken them their in hopes that they would drown, but he kept that bitterness to himself.

Bones' childhood had mostly consisted of horses and trips to the hospital with his dad, who had apparently died not two months before he filed for a divorce from Jocelyn. Jim tried to give his apologies, but Bones had moved on before Jim could voice them, telling him about the time he had shanghaied the entire nurse staff in his search for his father, while his father had been looking for him and the nurses. It had been a very circular and ineffectual game of hide-and-go-seek where everyone was seeking and no one was really hiding.

When Joanna woke up from her nap they played games with her and watched some of her cartoons with her for a while. Then Bones and Jim both worked on some of the work they had, reading mostly, but writing down a few notes to the side of the texts. Somehow, it was easier to work on his homework and assigned reading when there was more than just him there.

In the past, he had only done schoolwork when it was just himself and Joanna, that one time with Uhura excluded. It had always been a hassle, too, but now it was almost the easiest thing in the world to do. Jo watched her cartoons, and when she wanted one of their attentions they switched between who would play with her, or get her juice and who would continue studying.

And Jim for the first time in probably six months decided to try getting Joanna to lay down for bed at ten. He picked her up and headed for the bathroom at nine-thirty for her bath and nightly ritual of brushing her teeth, all of which she did with minimal whining. She protested when he put her wet curls into a braid for bed, but that was only because it tugged her tangles when he ran her brush through them.

Then he carried her back into the living room and plopped her down on Bones' lap.

"Say goodnight to popsicle, Jo," he said with a snicker at the name Bones had awarded himself with.

Bones gave him an irritated look, saying, "You can stop that any time now."

"I know," Jim said happily, actually happy for the first time in he didn't know how long. He was really happy, all the way down to his core. He smiled at Bones to lessen the barb, nodding to their little drowned-rat of a daughter.

Bones kissed her cheek, and hugged her when she put her little arms around his neck. "Night, baby," he told her. Jim expected him to hand her back over, but instead he stood from his seat on the couch, telling Jim, "I'll put her to bed."

He nodded, and pressed a kiss to Joanna's forehead, giving her his own wishes of good sleep and a quiet command that she be good for 'popsicle.' He even refrained from chuckling at the epithet. When Bones disappeared into the rooms, Jim looked around, momentarily considering staring at his Battlefield Tactics test for a while longer, but he dismissed it. Instead, he meandered over to the computer station that had been sleeping for the past two days.

He was sure that Maggie Jay had called him three million times over the course of the weekend, but he hadn't cared to actually confirm his suspicion. He was still kind of stung by her accusation. It had faded considerably after waking up in the hospital, but he wasn't ready to talk to her just yet. The thought he would call her on Tuesday or Wednesday, when he had had just a few more days to let the steam cool off, but she needed to know that he wasn't cutting off their connection.

So, taking a deep breath, he walked over to the computer station and pulled up the comm. station. He was unsurprised to see that he had missed six calls from her, a little surprised to see that she had left no voice messages for him. He closed down that station, pulling up a blank screen for him to write her a letter. The missive was short, three sentences that basically told her that he was fine, that their friendship would be fine, and that he just needed a few more days.

He signed it, 'with love, Jim,' figuring that was appropriate and knowing that she would be soothed more by that than the message he had intended for her.

He sent it quickly, shutting the window afterward.

Wandering away from the console, he decided to see how Bones was fairing with Jo. He leaned against the doorjamb, able to see Jo's tired eyes drifting closed as Bones read to her from his position on the floor about space-pirates and treasure. The doctor had substituted the main character's name for hers, and probably changed the name of the ship if the name USS Sellit was anything to go by, but she seemed to like it because she wasn't protesting. Even further she was fast asleep by the time Bones finished the story.

They both stayed stationary for a few minutes, Bones watching Joanna and Jim watching the both of them. Bones reached out to touch their daughter's soft cheek, running his thumb across her brow, and Jim smiled, stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets. Jim felt his heart melting just a little when Bones leaned over a pressed another kiss to her forehead, whispering something Jim couldn't and didn't need to hear. He had a pretty good guess as to what was being said.

Bones stood from the floor, turning to exit the room and realizing Jim's presence for the first time with a start. One of his hands moved from his side as if to clutch his heart, but with an expressive eye-roll and a sigh of relief he let it drop back down to his side.

"Dammit, Jim," he said, voice barely above a whisper. "Don't sneak up on people like that."

He set the padd he had been reading from on Joanna's dresser on his way to the door, still shaking his head at the both of them. Jim didn't move from his position as Bones moved closer, just took in all of Bones, from his tamed hair to his socked feet. He looked comfortable, like he belonged there, in Jim's suite. He smiled ruefully at that thought, because that was how the doctor had looked for the last month and a half; Jim just hadn't seen it.

He found himself wishing, close to desperately in that one moment, that Bones would always look that, because part of him wasn't sure if he could take it if Bones left again.

"Hey." Bones stood just in front of him, eyes leveled on him curiously. "You okay?"

Jim met his eyes, smile that had turned pained falling from his face. "You're…uh, you're staying here tonight, right?" he asked, hoping he didn't come off as clingy, but really not ready to let Bones out of his sight just yet.

The doctor regarded him for maybe have a second, concern flickering over his features and lingering in his hazel eyes. He nodded, quietly commanding Joanna's lights off before pushing Jim back into his bedroom.

That was where it parted from being like every other night. Jim brushed his lips against Bones', needing the reassurance that he had this, that he wasn't dreaming this. When he pulled away, the sensation still dancing over his skin, he smiled again, content once more.

"We have to wear clothes tonight," he told Bones, his tone teasing and just a little remorseful. He really had liked the naked part of their slumber the previous night. But while Joanna wasn't prone to nightmares, it was best not risk it.

They stripped down to boxers and t-shirt and clambered into bed together, Jim leaving his worries on the floor with his jeans as Bones kissed the back of his neck and rested his hand beneath Jim's t-shirt on his stomach.

+ststst+

(okay now what you're gonna do is you're gonna dance…only you're gonna do it from ten stories in the air)

InnocentGuilt