Disclaimer: I don't own Bones or anything to do with it, including any characters or places mentioned. I earn nothing for writing this. It's just for fun.

A/N Hi guys I'm not sure I will have chance to update again this week because things at uni are getting pretty busy. Just in case I don't. Here's a slightly longer chapter.

Chapter Ten

The next morning Brennan awoke with a strong feeling of regret. Not because she had taken Booth home and then to bed, but at the fact that she was alone in general. Even if she had brought him back yesterday it would not have been as a lover, only as a friend and he would have stayed in the spare room. Although they had often talked about how satisfying it would be for them to have sex, her feelings that she thought she had were changing, and she knew that intercourse at this moment in time would only confuse her more.

Bowling the night before had been great fun. Booth still possessed all the talents he had shown at the game in his younger days. Although he had beaten her it was a close match. While he had skill and experience on his side, she had science on hers and was able to work out how much force was required for each ball and weight to get the desired result. By the end of her first ever match she had achieved six strikes and was pleased with herself.

In the living room, she heard the sound of a key being scraped in the lock indicating that Booth was now here and her spirits lifted instantly. She was starting to become accustomed to the almost constant company. It was great because she could still work Just as hard when they were together as when they were apart because he would bring his work too. She pulled on her dressing gown and went to meet him.

"Hey Booth, you want coffee?" she smiled as he came in soaked from the rain that was crashing hard against the windows.

"You know what Bones, you're a life saver. I don't want coffee, I need it!"

"Good morning to you too, Booth," She chuckled, acknowledging that he did not greet her the way that he would do with her when she forgot to say hello before telling him new information about whatever case they were working.

"Sorry, Bones." He winced at his own rudeness. It's just the weather, it's so bad, I look like I've been swimming for crying out loud. He hugged the mug that his partner had just set down in front of him for warmth. She took a seat opposite him and began tracing the rim of her own cup with a finger.

"You know," she began, "We could go swimming in the pool here tonight if you wanted. Unless you have something else planned." She added. He broke into a soft smile.

"That sounds great. I'll drop you off at work and pick you up again then we can just come straight here."

"That is a very sensible suggestion." She nodded

There was no avoiding Angela in the lab today. She pulled Booth into her office so quickly and slyly that anyone could have easily come to the conclusion they were trying to hide an illicit affair.

She grinned at him "You're things for tomorrow just arrived this morning she told him in a hushed voice "Are you really taking Brennan there? I'm not so sure she'll like it you know." She pushed an envelope discreetly into his hand.

"No Angela, look at the line up, she'll love it, maybe not the place we're going beforehand but she'll love the evening part."

"You know Booth, not a lot of men would go as far as you are going this week. I know I had my doubts at the start, but I can see now that you really do love her and its breaking my heart she doesn't feel the same. But have you seen her out there on the platform? You're breaking her walls Booth. She's humming. When have you ever heard her hum at work? She's not as uptight about this as she used to be.

He listened hard and realised Angela was right.

Angela's words rang in Booth's ears for the rest of the day. He hadn't noticed that she was happier in general until it had been brought to his attention. He hoped that his was at least partly his doing. Through the day, he tried to give his partner space so that she would not tire of spending time with him. He kept himself busy by taking Angela's envelope home so that Bones wouldn't accidently find it and spoil what he had planned for her day off the next day. After he'd done that and picked his up his swimming gear, he called into her place to set things up for that night.

It was good that she had suggested that they go swimming later because it meant that she was enjoying herself and starting to relax more knowing how he felt about her. He wasn't sure how well tonight would go down though. Today he was going to have to get creative and he wasn't very good at that. He could have asked Angela for another favour but he doubted it would have the same personal touch. By the time he was through with his preparations he was pleased with his own work but thought that if he ever saw a glue stick or scissors again it would be too soon. After had he cleared things away and resigned the living room for the second time that week did he noticed that it was time to collect Bones. To sweeten her up and put her in a more forgiving mood he let her drive home again.

"Okay Booth, so what is this?" Brennan asked, seeing the rainbow ribbon that he had spent the afternoon stringing round the house.

"It's a rainbow or a pretend one at least. I know that you always used to make your dad follow them because you didn't believe that there was nothing at the end of them. Maybe there is something at the end of this one though, you'll have to look and see."

"Hmmm" Brennan replied sounding unconvinced. Despite this, she could see he had been to a lot of effort to set this up and played along. The ribbon lead her to the bedside cabinet in the spare room where it ran along the high shelves two feet from the ceiling and came down again onto the night stand. On the floor, an all vegetarian picnic was laid out.

"Trust you to think that there would be food at the end of a rainbow Booth." She laughed and sat crossed legged to the tartan blanket he had wrapped her in just two nights ago.

"No that's not all." He reasoned "Go look where it literally ends on the table." Brennan stretched over and found a hand-made photo album. Flipping through it, she found that it contained a picture for every case they had ever worked together, including one of her drunk from their very first one that had ended in disaster. The tradition had begun so that Parker could see what his father could see what his father did at work. Brennan now found that she was grateful for the child's curiosity.

"I know it's not the pot of gold you always hoped for, but I think our friendship is worth so much more than that, our partnership too."

"I agree Booth" she said hugging him close. It was closer than she had done in a long time. "So why the picnic?"

"Because your dad may have also told me that you liked to have them under rainbow's when you were young."

"Nothing's a secret from you, is it Seeley Booth?"

"No Temperance Brennan, it really isn't."

The pool was empty when they decided to go swimming. This suited Booth nicely because he wasn't the strongest swimmer and he would obviously be put to shame when Bones began to exercise. Despite his best efforts to prevent it, he felt his mouth drop slightly when he saw her in her bikini for the first time. This did not escape her notice. She dropped her head self-consciously and hid her face behind her hair. As with a lot of things this week, this was a side to her he had not seen before. Usually she revelled in the attention she got from men, but she seemed to shy from his gaze.

For a while they just swam together happy to just be together until Brennan began to swim front crawl, splashing Booth in the process.

"Oh, so that's how you want to play is it Temperance?" Booth teased in a stern voice as he made big waves in water to get pay back on Bones. Before they knew it their laughter was echoing through tout the pool and a full-on water fight had begun. They played until their insides hurt from laughing.

"We do seem to often laugh when we are together away from work, don't we Booth? Observed Brennan was they were getting out.

"Yeah we do, Bones. And that's what makes us such a great team, but we've taken the time to get to know each other for who we really are." The pair separated off into their changing rooms and met each other again in the Lobby. On impulse, Brennan gave Booth a hug.

"So I guess this is where I say goodbye." He said, rubbing her back without really being aware of it. He felt her tense in his arms.

"Actually Booth I would very much like it if you stayed the night."