Dec 19: UK_MJ chose the word "mirror" and since UK_MJ doesn't read my smut, I went sweet instead. Because love is beautiful and we need the sweet moments to balance out the sassy. Non-canon after Hole in the Heart ie No babies.

OOOOO

Sometimes, Brennan caught him staring at her, just out of the corner of her eye. Tonight, she was applying lotion and she had noticed him in the very corner of the mirror. She pretended she hadn't, not wanting to startle him away from looking. She liked it when he looked at her the way that he did. She finished the task and headed for bed, crawling under the covers and laying her head down on his warm chest.

"Cold?" He laughed as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"It's a freak November blizzard and there's a foot of snow on the ground outside. I am quite chilly, yes." She said as she snuggled deeper under the blanket.

"Hey, I had something I was going to tell you." He remembered. She looked up at him and waited for him to continue. "Do you know what today was?"

"Veteran's Day." She said quickly. "I didn't want to bring it up because I know that you are particularly sensitive about your time and position in the…"

"Bones." He cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Yes, it was." He conceded. "But it was also something else." He paused as if he wasn't quite sure he wanted to reveal this thoughts and it held her attention captive. "Today's the date I wrote down."

"You wrote down?" She asked, not comprehending his statement.

"Yeah, on my slip of paper during the blizzard back in March." He reminded her. Brennan sat up.

"Today?" She questioned in surprise. He nodded. "Why today?"

"Eleven is my lucky number. It was 2011 and so 11-11-11 just popped into my head. Although, I remember thinking afterward that if it took that long, I'd go crazy." He chuckled. Brennan was too busy contemplating his answer to laugh with him. "What did you write down?" He asked.

"I didn't write down a date." She admitted.

"What?!" Booth chuckled. "I should have known you wouldn't have participated in anything so silly." He grinned. "What did you do, just scribble on the paper?"

"No. I wrote down a word instead. And it's not like your wish came true." She replied indignantly.

"What did you write?" He asked, wanting to know.

"Love." She answered and Booth's face went from playful to serious in a heartbeat. "I didn't want it to come true until I knew that I had your entire heart. It sounds silly now but I was worried about it back then. I didn't want to share you anymore."

"Oh Bones." Booth sighed as he pulled her into a warm embrace. "I wish I could go back and change it. I wish it more than anything."

"You can't." She said. "Just like I can't go back to turning you down the first time you asked for more, or the second." She shook her head. "I regret those moments too."

"They made us who we are. They brought us here." Booth argued, trying to find a positive spin on the years of heartache they put themselves through. "I guess in that way, it's totally worth it. There is no place I would rather be than lying here with you right now."

"You still believe in fate." She smiled that smile that only she could get away with: the perfect combination of mocking his beliefs and loving that he still had them.

"How can you not when you look at our story?" He asked. "Jesus, Bones, we did everything in our power to end our relationship and the universe refused to let it happen."

"I certainly had my doubts." She confessed.

"But we beat the odds, right? I mean, we won in the end." He pointed out.

"Yes we did." She agreed, feeling slightly victorious. "I suppose that gives us all the evidence we need." She chuckled.

"See? I've got my fate and you've got your evidence; everyone wins." He grinned proudly as he leaned over to kiss her.

"Mmm, I suppose this calls for a celebration." She rationalized as she threw her leg over his waist and straddled him.

"Oh, most definitely." He concurred as he slid down the mattress underneath her.