Dec. 15th: CraftyJHawk chose the word "Nutcracker"

OOOOO

"So then the experienced ballerina, you know, she was pissed that the younger rookie had taken the role she had been studying her entire life for and she strangled her with the curtain rope. She dumped the body but the snow covered it up over the winter, at least until it melted a little." Booth explained as they walked through the lightly falling snow. He paused as he looked down at her arm around his. He could feel her body heat from her arm being wrapped around his but the warm glow he was experiencing came from the inside out.

"What?" She asked as she looked up at him.

"This might be one of the best winter nights I've ever seen and we're spending it talking about a murder over the Nutcracker ballet." He said. Brennan looked around at the night.

"I don't understand what you mean." She said.

"Look, Bones. It's dark, but it's early spring, so it's not too cold. Just enough to make your cheeks and the tip of your nose rosy." He smiled as she touched her nose curiously with a gloved hand. "The snow is falling lightly, just enough to feel magical, like we're in a snow globe, but not enough to affect the walk back to your door. The street lights are casting an orange glow over the snow." She smiled at the picture he was painting. "This is the kind of night they write Christmas songs about."

"You're a ridiculous romantic." She chided as she bumped his shoulder. "But I'm glad." She added as she put her head back on his shoulder and they continued walking. As they walked, Booth considered if maybe this was his time, this was the moment they had lit candles for only a few weeks before, but something inside of him told him to wait. She had to make the first move. As they got to her front door, she pulled away long enough to get her keys.

"Thanks for walking me home, Booth." She smiled as she stuck the key in her door. As soon as she did, Booth heard something he hadn't heard in a long time. Something in the air changed immediately and he began to panic. He knew instinctively that something was wrong, although he couldn't name it.

"Bones, wait…" He commanded. She paused. "Don't move. Don't even turn the key. Did you hear that?" He asked.

"The small beep? I thought it was your phone."

"It wasn't." He said as she stood with her hand on the key, still vertical in the door. "Bones, don't move. Not an inch, promise?" He said. She glanced down at the key in her hand.

"Oh my God." She realized as she closed her eyes. "Booth? The Russians, they weren't just a ballet company, were they?" He shook his head, already at that conclusion. "Bones, that is a pressure lock. You need to keep your key still, I'm going to evacuate the building. I need you to stay calm, okay?" She nodded. He walked calmly over to the hallway fire alarm and tugged hard. The noise filled the hall as people began streaming out of their apartments and heading down the stairs. Booth went into army mode, escorting people out of the building and going downstairs to wait for the fire department to arrive. When he returned, she was alone in the hallway.

"The FBI bomb squad is on their way." He assured her. "Maybe it's nothing. Maybe we're just panicking for no reason."

"I heard it too, Booth." He sighed as the realization that the night was ruined finally kicked in.

"Damn it." He swore as he looked down. "We were having a really good time tonight, weren't we?" She smiled.

"The discussion of various types of strangulation marks over drinks, the romantic case debriefing in the snow, we were having a very good time." She agreed with a smile and he laughed. "Instead of a kiss goodnight, a bomb in my apartment door. Sounds about right for us." Booth looked up in surprise.

"You wanted me to kiss you goodnight?" He grinned at the knowledge.

"So not the time." She rolled her eyes.

"Right." He sobered up as he heard the SWAT team on the stairs. He backed away and let them scan the door.

"Dr. Brennan, we've seen this device before. It's very basic, but that means it could be very volatile if someone just read the instructions on the internet. We're going to ask you to transfer the key very carefully to Kevin here, without jiggling it too much."

"I have very still hands." She assured the man who nodded beneath his gear.

"Good." He said calmly. "That's good." She kept the key still as Kevin replaced her hand on the door.

"Agent Booth, we have another team sweeping your apartment and then we'll move on to your offices and your cars."

"My apartment?" Booth said in surprise. "You think there's more?"

"Someone would have to be very thorough to get access to all of those places." Brennan commented.

"Don't compliment them." Booth scolded.

"You both need to leave now." The leader reminded them. "There is an agent waiting downstairs." Booth nodded in understanding.

"Thank you, Kevin." Brennan waved politely to the man still holding the key in her lock.

"Not to add extra pressure." Booth said as he pulled the team leader aside. "There are a lot of very valuable artifacts behind that door." Booth told the leader of the team. "The Jeffersonian will have a heart attack if her apartment blows up. Trust me, you don't want to get that phone call."

"We'll do our best?" The leader replied, lost at the calm nature of the two who had obviously been through this before.

"I know you will." Booth said with a patronizing pat on the SWAT leader's back. "Let's go, Bones."

OOOOO

"How long are we supposed to stay here?" Brennan asked as she looked around at the safe house the FBI had given them.

"Until we get the all clear and who knows how long that will take." He added as he explored the house.

"We don't have any clothes."

"I found a new toothbrush and some toothpaste in the medicine cabinet." Booth called from the bathroom. "Towels in the drawers. Check the closets." He said as he made his way towards the bedroom of the house.

"Some men's button down flannel shirts, sweat pants, t-shirts." She called back. "We can make do with this."

"Great." He said as he grabbed a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, checking the size. "Do you want to shower? I'm going to try and find some more supplies." He said as he began scavenging through dresser drawers.

"Sure." She said.

"Not too long." He added, not willing to leave her out of his sight for more than five minutes. She nodded, knowing the feeling all too well.

OOOOO

"Okay, a shower feels really good." She said as she entered the room, toweling her hair. Booth looked up. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt that went down to her mid-thigh, her hair was wet and tousled and her skin was flushed pink from the warm water of the shower.

"Uh…" He stammered, unable to form words. "Good. Good." He said, desperately trying to get himself under control.

"Did you find anything useful?" She asked.

"There's a washer and dryer in the hall closet. We can throw our clothes," his voice cracked a bit at the mention of clothes. He cleared his throat quickly. "You know, in there tonight." He said more clearly this time as he stepped into the bathroom.

"Great." She said. "I'll wait here. Just hand me yours when you're done undressing." Booth shut the door and looked at the ceiling for mercy. He began peeling off his clothes as she continued talking. He didn't hear her as he put a towel around his waist and opened the door again. She stopped mid-sentence and stared at him.

"Sorry. Couldn't hear you over the running water." He said as he handed her a stack of his dirty clothes. "What were you saying?"

"N-n-nothing." She stammered. "It's not important." He shrugged and shut the door again, a big smile appearing at the knowledge that he had pulled one over on her as well. He dropped his towel, stepped into the warm water, and lowered his hand to his misbehaving cock. If he was going to have to sleep next to that long-legged vixen tonight, he was going to have to take matters into his own hands first.

OOOOO

He emerged from the shower feeling more at ease. His sweatpants and t-shirt kept him covered from head to toe and he wasn't going to even think about whether or not she was naked underneath her t-shirt. He was clothed. She was mostly clothed. All was well.

"I can't remember, are you a right side of the bed person or left?" She asked as he entered the bedroom.

When I'm sharing a bed it's more of a top or bottom question, he thought before catching himself. He shook his head. Two seconds to hit the gutter, new record.

"Wherever's fine, Bones." He said as he watched her climb into bed, her t-shirt riding dangerously up her thigh. He knew that she was a left side of the bed person and that sort of intimate knowledge always surprised him. How much did he know about her that he didn't even realize was unusual? He pulled the sheets down and joined her. He used the pretense of turning off the lamp to continue facing the wall, away from her.

"Night, Bones." He said quietly as he shoved his pillow under his head.

"Goodnight, Booth." She whispered kindly. He smiled at the sound of her voice and closed his eyes. She turned onto her back and nestled into the mattress. In the dark, he could feel her restlessness but he didn't know why.

"Booth?" He turned over onto his side to face her. She was already lying on her side waiting for him. "Someone tried to blow me up." The quiet statement was her busy mind's way of finally quieting, finally realizing what had happened that evening.

"I know." He said as he brushed a strand of hair off her forehead so he could see her better. "But they didn't."

"You saved me." Her big earnestly blue eyes stared up at him as she uttered the phrase and every hero-complex he'd ever had was triggered all at once. It took everything he had to not touch her but she closed the distance herself, kissing him softly. But then softly became needy and needy became desperate and before he knew what was happening, she was guiding his hand under her shirt, up her inner thigh to her damp core.

"Touch me." She begged as moved against him. He slipped his fingers into the back of her underwear and tugged them down to her ankles. He kissed her as his hand cupped her warm flesh before his fingers slowly entered her drenched quim. He gasped against her mouth at the slippery wetness coating his skin. He moved slowly, unsure of she wanted, but she began to move and his fingers set to work all on their own. He stroked her walls, crooking his finger over a particularly sensitive spot again and again until she was biting her lip and panting warm, damp breaths into his neck. He watched her body combust from the outside as her orgasm pulsed against his fingers unseen. His taut cock twitched in jealousy as she slowly came down from her high. Her eyes fluttered open sleepily and Booth was struck by the most serene colored blue he had ever seen. He collected all of her expressions, every shade of her eyes, but this one was new.

It was her post-sex face.

And he had just given it to her.

He felt his abdomen tighten even further at the knowledge that he was the reason she looked like that, that it was Bones who just came all over his fingers.

His fingers.

He pulled them from her slowly and she moaned slightly at the loss. Still, she pulled the sweats he was wearing down to his knees, freeing his erection. Booth wrapped his wet fingers around himself, sliding easily over his rigid body.

"Oh Bones…" He murmured dangerously, not trusting himself in the moment. She covered his hand with hers and guided him all the way over and off his body. She pumped him twice for good measure before settling in between his legs.

"Oh Jesus…" He muttered in anticipation of what she was about to do. He watched as her mouth hovered over his swollen head and tentatively reached out and swiped at it with her tongue. He closed his eyes as he felt her warm mouth suck him gently, slowly. He fisted a sheet as she began to suck harder, pull longer draws of him into her mouth. He looked down again as his other hand settled in her hair, guiding her as she moved up and down against him. He had always enjoyed this aspect of sex but it was usually fun, playful, teasing, never like this.

Her hands were moving over his hips and thighs, stroking and caressing him as she worked him over. Her mouth moved worshipfully over him, her pink lips sliding against his shaft beautifully and he realized what she was doing.

She was making love to him with her mouth.

The epiphany caused the blood to flee his brain and his pulse began to pound. He felt himself getting close and he clutched at her hair.

"Bones, oh God, Bones…" He cried as he frantically tried to alert her but it was too late. He froze as he spilled into her eager mouth. He blacked out for a brief moment but when he came too, she was kissing his chest affectionately.

"And all I thought to hope for was a kiss goodnight." He hummed as she teasingly nibbled at his ear lobe. He chuckled in exhaustion and incredulity as he looked into her eyes.

"Are you ready?" She asked softly, a flicker of hope and hesitation dancing in her eyes. He nodded.

"Yes. Are you?" He asked as he ran his hand over the small of her back supportively.

"Very much." She said honestly. He smiled and kissed her on top of the head as she cuddled into him.

He was really going to like this year, he could tell.