The response to this fic has been phenomenal. I'm SO glad. Now, the show must go on!

It's weird when things finally click inside your head. I don't know how many times I've been here before. Alone, in the dark that is my only friend, waiting…just waiting. I mean, I've been here so many times before. Had it worse even. So what was it about this time that was so different. What made me decide that I was tired of being scared and tired of being hurt.

Maybe it was because he came back.

"Mmm…" Brennan pounded down the last of her beer and motioned to Booth urgently with the paper in her hand.

"Look at this. School nurse treated her several times for a blood nose. That's indicative of repetitive trauma to the cranium."

Booth stared blankly for a moment and then smiled. "So…common in people who get hit on the head a lot."

Brennan let her mouth go slack slightly and tried to decide if she'd missed something.

"Yes…" she said slowly, "I just said that."

Booth shook his head, smiling down at his pad while he wrote the nurse's name for questioning. "No Bones. You didn't."

Rolling her eyes, Brennan stood and took their empty beer bottles to the kitchen along with their plates from the light dinner Booth had put together.

In the kitchen, she paused and braced herself against the sink, her last remaining shred of self control finally falling away as the rain repeatedly slapped at the window.

She felt she'd done remarkably well. All night Booth had been looking at her, a mixture of sadness and concern in his eyes, though she was pretty sure only the latter was meant for her. Even so, she'd been able to carry on their normal banter and they had put together a pretty substantial list of suspects, motives and done more positing of scenarios than she wanted to admit to.

Still, as much as she wished it weren't, this case was painful. She could feel it sinking down into her chest and squeezing every unpleasant emotion and memory she had, right back to the surface. Right where they didn't belong and where she didn't want them.

Now, in Booth's kitchen by herself for the first time that evening, she could feel her resolve to remain detached crumbling and her shoulders shook ever so slightly, her heart pounding in the silence.

---

I am soaking wet. I really hate thunderstorms.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

---

Booth watched Brennan from the doorway, leaning against it with his hands in his pockets.

She lasted longer than I thought she would. Tough girl, my Bones is. He smiled at this and then his eyes zeroed in on the trembling of her slight frame.

He frowned and silently approached her from behind. Brennan must have sensed his presence because before he had a chance to touch her she straightened, throwing her shoulders back and swiping a hand across her face quickly.

"I'm fine Booth." Efficiently avoiding Booth's intense stare, Brennan turned and tried to move around him. Booth was having none of it.

Without a word he closed his fingers around her arms and pulled her back to him, wrapping her in a tight hug, wishing the pain that had thickened the air in his apartment for the past few hours would just disappear. For once in his life he wished this case had fallen under someone else's jurisdiction.

After a few seconds he felt Brennan relax and wrap her arms around him, pushing her face into his chest.

"Booth?" She muttered after a few moments, her voice muffled and soft.

"Yeah Bones?" Booth rested his chin on the top of her head and drew slow circles on her back with his fingertips.

"This isn't a guy hug is it?" Her voice became clear as she pulled back just enough to look at him.

Hesitating, Booth thought about how to answer this question.

Say 'yes'. Say yes say yes sayyessayyes!! His mind screamed.

"No Bones. It's not."

Shit.

Brennan tore her gaze away from his deep, concentrated, enveloping gaze and glanced around the kitchen, trying to put her thoughts in place.

Surprisingly, that comment did not elicited the panic she expected. It scared her, yes, and she knew she'd stiffened in his arms…but that was it. There was no ringing in her ears, no pounding in her chest…she didn't have the sudden urge to hide in some dark corner of her mind until he grew bored and walked away.

Surprisingly enough…she felt like smiling.

Aww who am I kidding? She wondered, slightly amused and very nervous.

Booth watched several emotions play in her eyes and refused to let go when she her body got stiff as a board in his arms.

"Bones?" He tried, half afraid she'd turn and walk away, half afraid she'd look up and kiss him.

She didn't do either. Instead, at the sound of Booth's voice she turned to him, preventing a smile by biting on her lip.

"Good."

He smiled.

"Because I would hate to think you hug your guy friends like this."

The smile faltered.

"Plus…I'm not a guy."

He shook his head and his eyes fell to the floor.

"And Booth…" She waited for him to look at her, he was surprised to find her smiling, "I'm glad you noticed that little detail."

Her eyes were dancing and Booth almost couldn't believe his ears.

Did she just say what I think she said?

"Bones, I..."

Brennan pressed a finger to his lips and pulled out of his grip.

"You drew a line Seeley," She continued smiling, so Booth did as well, "But I hope you won't mind if I stick to my usual pattern of ignoring you and say that I feel it too and I'm not running. I'm just tired and I want to go home and think."

And scream and jump around like an idiot and hit things and cry and eat a ton of ice cream.

Booth stood with his mouth hanging open as she left the kitchen and went to the living room, gathering her papers, bag and coat.

"Temperance…where are you going?"

"I just told you Booth, home. It's eleven thirty."

Still in a daze Booth watched as she went to the door.

"You'll pick me up at eight then?" She turned and looked at him expectantly.

After a moment his mind caught up to what she was saying.

"You mean…like a date?" He asked uncertainly.

Brennan shrugged.

"Don't sound so surprised Booth. I could rip your clothes off and take you right here," Booth's face turned a bright shade of red but Brennan didn't seem to notice, "but you being the traditionalist, I just assumed you'd want to go on a date first. Although, don't expect me to be one of those girls you walk to the door and give a kiss goodnight while I fidget with my keys. I don't like to wait Booth." Brennan raised her eyebrows and placed a hand on the doorknob.

"Alright?" Receiving a stunned nod from her partner Brennan smiled and slipped out the door. Heaving a deep sigh of relief when it clicked shut, she closed her eyes and grinned.

Oh. My. God.

Booth swallowed hard and shut his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face.

Holy shit.

---

The address is the same. The car is the same. This is the place.

God, what am I doing?

---

Booth finished cleaning up their papers and stuck them inside the folder, tossing them on his kitchen table as he headed for the bedroom, rubbing his face tiredly.

Man, I'm exhausted. Of course…I kind of doubt that I'll be doing any sleeping tonight...What that woman does to me...

He smiled as another picture of Brennan popped into his head.

She sure is something else.

Booth quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants and a loose t-shirt before heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Just as he was wiping his mouth he thought he heard a knock at the door.

Glancing at the clock, he meandered out to the living room.

Well that lasted fifteen minutes.

He started speaking before he even had the door all the way open.

"You know we could consider tonight as our first date and get right to…" He stopped short.

"Gee Uncle Seeley, I'm flattered and all, but I'm taken." April shrugged and tried to smile at him, glad she hadn't had to start with something stupid like 'Hi'.

"April?" Booth's goofy grin fell off his face and was replaced with a pensive stare. April's black hair clung to her face and her oversized black coat was dripping and creating a little lake at her feet. An involuntary shiver shook her petite frame and she clamped her jaw shut to keep her teeth from chattering against themselves.

"Come in here." He motioned quickly and she obliged, shuffling inside the apartment and absently twirling her metal ring around her finger.

"I know you said to call if I needed anything, but I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I just showed up." She glanced up at him and Booth almost gasped.

She'd never looked more like her father in her life than she did in that moment and Booth mentally shook himself, saying over and over that Joey wasn't in the room with him. Although he wasn't sure he believed it.

Likeness to his dead best friend aside, what rattled Booth th most was April's emerald green eyes. Usually sparked with fire and defiance, they now looked dull and lifeless. In spite of the small smile on her lips, the whole rest of her seemed defeated and small.

"Uncle Seeley?" She raised her eyebrows at his piercing stare and Booth blinked.

"Um yeah. Why don't we get you out of these clothes huh? Hold on a sec." Giving her one last concerned glance he headed off to his room.

April allowed herself to wince for the first time, carefully and slowly pulling off her coat. When the thunder clapped outside she shut her eyes. His face popped into her mind. His hands. Her screams.

Sometimes the flashbacks were worse when she was awake.

"Hey, you alright?"

April jumped when Booth's voice was suddenly behind her and shrunk away from his outstretched hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She reached for the clothes in his hands and held them away from her wet body. "Umm…you got a bathroom?"

Booth nodded. "Yeah…this way." Still frowning, he led the way down the hall to the first door on the left. He opened the door and flicked on the light. "There's towels under the sink."

April quickly moved inside, taking pains not to touch him and started to shut the door when Booth put a hand out to stop it.

"You're going to tell me what's going on right?"

April turned away.

"Do I have to?" She asked in a small voice, contemplating the idea of lying. But she knew that was pointless.

---

Seeley can always tell when someone is lying.

The Bastard is going down this time.

---

"April, you just showed up at my door in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm. Yeah. I'd say an explanation is mandatory."

April smiled at the carpet and gave a miniscule nod of her head.

"Okay." She whispered, and shut the door with a click.

Carefully laying out Booth's clothes on the April, she let her mind go blank. On autopilot she examined them. A baggy college basketball shirt, probably too small for him but would be like a nightgown on her, and a pair of blue jersey shorts. She glanced up at herself in the mirror and frowned at her pale complexion, mascara running down both sides of her long face and smudged off to the side where she'd tried to wipe the rain away.

Leaning far over the sink, April pulled up the bottom of her shirt and winced at the ugly black and purple bruise just below her ribs, swelling and growing larger by the moment. She grimaced and contemplated her clothing, cursing herself for wearing such tight shirts and heavy boots.

---

This is gonna hurt.

---

Ten minutes passed and there had still not been a sound from the bathroom. Booth paced his living room restlessly, simultaneously imagining and pushing away reasons for April's late night visit.

On his third 'count to ten' in three minutes, he stopped and closed his eyes.

C'mon Seeley. Don't jump to conclusions, just like Bones always says. Wait for her to come out and tell you what's wrong.

But that was proving to be harder than he'd anticipated, especially since confirming that Courtney had been physically abused. Booth tried that for about another minute and a half but he'd had it. Turning to go check on April again, he stopped when there was another knock at the door. This time he opened it before speaking.

"Bones?"

"Hi." Brennan smiled. "I was just thinking…that maybe we could consider today our first date and just…"

"Satisfy biological urges?" Booth said with distaste.

Brennan shook her head slowly, stepping inside the apartment and inside Booth's personal space.

"No. Make love."

Booth caught his breath, and for the fourth time, closed his eyes to count to ten. Only this time, for a completely different reason.

"You have no idea how much I want to Bones but…"

But? But! Oh God what have I done?

Immediately she stepped away, pulling her bag closer, protecting herself.

"I'm sorry Booth. Never mind." She looked at the ground and started toward the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Booth opened his eyes and promised to smack himself later.

"Bones, Bones wait." He grabbed her elbow and shut his opened door. "It's not whatever you're thinking."

"Oh, you read minds now?"

He ignored her and continued. "It's just that April just showed up a minute ago and I need to…figure out what's going on." The pained expression on his face deepened when he remembered the way she'd flinched away from him the first time he reached out to her.

Brennan blushed and felt relief wash over her like a cool breeze. "Oh. Okay."

Booth looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Could you do me a favor Bones?"

Brennan narrowed her eyes. "Like what?"

"Could you…check on her? It's been almost fifteen minutes and she hasn't come out…She won't open the door to me."

Brennan's eyes widened.

"Why would you want me to do it? I-I don't know anything about…" She started shaking her head and backing away.

Booth stepped forward and held her shoulders. "Please Bones. She…" He took a deep breath, his emotions were really getting the better of him. Maybe he needed another drink.

"Just…please. Temperance."

Brennan looked into his eyes and sighed. She really couldn't be expected to refuse him when he looked at her like that.

She nodded and put down her coat and bag before heading down the hallway to the bathroom.

"April?" She knocked softly. "It's Dr. Brennan. Is everything alright? Do you need some help?"

After a few moments of silence she heard clothes shuffling and the lock on the door being disengaged.

Ha! Brennan want's to jump his BOOONNES!! Well, get in line sweetie.