AN: Here's another one. Hope everyone enjoyed the last chapter and now it's onto the consequences... keep reviewing because we're only about half way through

Chapter 12

Temperance Brennan did the only thing she knew how to do. She ran. She didn't even stop to wait for the elevator heading straight for the stairs and then straight out of the lobby stopping at the hotel pool. If it was anyone other than Booth she would have kept running but she knew he wouldn't follow her, he'd give her the time and space she needed. That meant something she knew, but had no idea what.

She slipped her brand new thongs off her feet and dropped them by the side of the pool before dangling her feet into the cool water which cleansed her heated skin. What had she done, she wondered, how did what had just happened change everything? It never should have happened, they were partners and friends and although she would admit that he was physically attractive and that she could no longer imagine her life without him that did not make it okay to shove him against a wall and have wild sex with him in their hotel room. But that wasn't the real problem. The real problem was that she was scared of losing him.

She needed Angela, she was the one that was good at this sort of stuff. Why couldn't they have had sex in DC, it would have made everything so much easier she thought wryly. But easy was overrated wasn't it. As she sat on the pool's edge she could smell him on her, his sweat mixed with hers, along with his soap and shampoo and it did nothing to help her focus. Instead it bought vivid memories of his skin on hers, his whispered words of passion and the feel of his cum spewing into her body. For all she knew he could have been right there with her, it felt so real. And then words from a long ago conversation came flooding back to her, words she hadn't thought about for many months: "When you can't stop thinking about someone when they're not around, that's not a fling. When you remember their touch like they were still right next to you, that's not a fling." She hadn't understood Sully's words then, for she rarely thought about him when he wasn't around unless she was getting ready to meet him and his touch did not seem to linger on her skin, she enjoyed it definitely but she could only remember that he had touched her not how his soft touch on her spine had her whole body tingling deliciously as Booth's so often did. It couldn't be true she decided. Even so she would weigh up the evidence and discuss it with Angela when she got home.

When Brennan finally snuck back into the hotel room a little later Booth was already asleep, in his own bed leaving hers mussed up where they had lain earlier. That night she sat up long after Booth had fallen asleep weighing the evidence on a piece of paper from her journal while she sat on their tiny balcony Booth just outside her line of sight though she knew he was lying spread eagled on his bed as he had when she'd gone outside.

'Evidence that I am in love with Booth' she scribbled on one side of the paper sighing and thinking back through their entire relationship for evidence.

'I think about him when he's not around' was the first item added to the list, closely followed by 'I feel safe with him'. When her list was finally finished only one item was written on the right side of the page; 'We are friends and partners'. This did not make Brennan less hopeful, she would keep adding to the list until they got home and she could talk to Angela before she made a decision.

She crawled into bed a few moments later her list tucked carefully into her purse and Booth snoring quietly on the opposite side of the room. But she couldn't sleep; her body still smelled faintly of him as did the bed so much so that she felt as if he was all around her and the feeling was so powerful that it had her jumping back out of bed grabbing the cordless hotel phone and heading back outside.

She knew what Angela would say 'Sweetie, you can't rationalise love. You either feel it or you don't, which is it?' It didn't stop her desperately wanting to talk to her best friend so she quickly dialled the number of the Jeffersonian knowing that it was only mid afternoon at home and her friend would still be at work.

"Ange?" she asked when she was put through to her friends office and the phone was picked up.

"Bren? Is that you?" she asked confused, wondering why her friend was calling her while on vacation with a very sexy man who she obviously had feelings for.

"Yeah... can we talk?" Brennan asked leaning over the balcony of the hotel and down to the road which was almost empty.

"Of course... but Sweetie isn't it almost two am there?" she asked, interest piqued.

"Two twenty actually" she corrected before letting the line go silent for a few moments while she continued how to explain what had happened that night to her friend.

"Booth and I had sex" she finally blurted.

"Wow, is he any good?" Angela asked grinning.

"Angela" she groaned "this is not good"

"Why? The sexual tension between you and Booth has been palpable for years, this was always going to happen eventually" Angela explained, wondering how anyone, even Temperance Brennan could be so clueless when it came to love.

"Ange, we're partners, what if this interferes with our working relationship?" Brennan asked voicing her concerns as she fiddled with a thread on her top.

"It won't if you don't let it. Look at me and Hodgins our relationship didn't interfere with our work until we broke up and trust me, you and Booth will not break up. You'll get married, have lots of babies and live happily ever after while doting on your grandchildren" Angela fantasised, picking up her sketchbook and pencil and beginning to draw the new couple.

"But Booth and I aren't in a relationship, we just had sex. And you know I don't believe in marriage and I don't want children." Brennan protested.

"Okay Sweetie" Angela said disbelievingly "He loves you, you know. And he'll never do anything to hurt you even if you decide not to pursue this he'll be there for you" Angela soothed and Brennan knew she was right, Booth would never hurt her.

"Yeah I know he wouldn't. But Ange, how do I know how I feel? I mean the list does suggest that I love him too, but I just don't know"

"List?" Angela asked knowing that she wouldn't like the answer.

"List of the evidence suggesting that I do or don't love him" Brennan replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Geez, Sweetie; throw out the list. Listen to your heart and you'll realise what the rest of us have known for a long time. Give him a chance, he won't disappoint you. Now go and have some fun"

Could Angela be right, Brennan wondered. Was she really in love with Booth, or did she just love him like another brother. And what was she supposed to do until she figured it out? Brennan crawled back into her sweat soaked bed once again, her conversation with Angela having confused her even more rather than offering the clarity she had hoped for.