Dec. 22nd: IHMBookworm chose the word "home".

OOOOO

"Share a cab?" Brennan asked. Booth nodded and watched as she began to buckle up her white trench coat. He knew that coat particularly well. It was the same one she was wearing when she looked him in the eye and said no. He brushed the memory to the back of his mind and escorted her towards the door. She waved down a cab and got in and a wave of memories hit him again. He wondered if it was the alcohol or just the lack of seeing her lately that brought all of these memories rushing to the forefront of his brain.

Cab rides never bode well for him, he recalled.

The universe was radiating with painful memories and he didn't know whether it was an omen or just revenge for trying to repress her for a year.

"Are you coming?" She asked as she held the door to the bar open. He paused, unsure. "Booth?"

"Yeah." He said, shaking off the reminiscences yet again. "Yeah, I'm coming." He headed out into the cold and followed her into the waiting cab.

As he glanced out the window, he knew that this was why he ran to the other side of the world. Every moment of his life in DC would be tinted with her. Every street corner, every cab, every metro stop...

She was everywhere.

He thought the time away had done him some good, but two days back and he was right back where he was before he left.

"Are you okay?" Brennan finally asked.

"I'm fine." He said, not wanting to go into it with her right now. She gave him a wary look but let it slide. They pulled up to Booth's apartment and he realized that Brennan must have given the cabbie his address. She pulled out her wallet and paid the man enough for both of them. Booth got out of the cab and watched as she did too.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm coming up." She said in a tone that told him it was not up for discussion.

"Bones…" She looked back to the cab already driving away and headed inside. He followed her, pulling out his keys and knowing that it was a lost cause to argue with her. They made it all the way inside his apartment before she stepped up next to him, preparing to go toe to toe with him.

"Why are you here, Bones?" He asked.

"Because when I came back, I expected to feel at home." She began as she looked into his eyes. "But home isn't home without you." She confessed. "And we're still not right and I'm not going to leave until we are." He stared at her, surprised by her honesty. "Do you feel at home here, like this?" She asked.

"Well…"

"I mean, how can you possibly feel at ease when everywhere we turn there's tension between us? I just feel so…" she paused, trying to find the word.

"Wrong." Booth stated.

"Yes!" She said as she looked at him. She really took him in and a sad look covered her features. "Are we just going to stay like this?" She asked honestly. "Have I broken us forever?"

Booth felt his heart break at the question and his eyes filled with tears. He wiped one away from the inside corner of his eye with his thumb and shrugged.

"I don't know." He said honestly. She closed her eyes and turned away, not wanting to cry in front of him.

"Bones, don't… I mean, you didn't do this." He reminded her. "This was my fault. I brought this on myself."

"No, you knew what you wanted and I didn't. I mean, I did but…" He froze at her confession. "I was terrified." She whispered. "You never said anything up until that conversation and I…I wanted it so much. I didn't realize you were heartbroken until after it was too late to fix it."

"Bones, what are you saying?" He asked her bluntly, unable to stand her vagueness another second.

"I love you." She explained. "It feels like I've loved you for so long, I can't remember not loving you." He didn't know how to respond to her statement. Relief rushed to fill him in a way he didn't even know was possible. Every fiber of his being relaxed as his muscles crumbled within him. Had he really been holding them tight for over a year and hadn't noticed until now?

He wrapped his now loose arms around her and held her close for a minute. She held him tightly, her face pressing into his chest. He pulled her back and looked into her eyes, cupping her face, just taking her in. He wanted to memorize the moment.

"I love you." He told her properly for the first time. "From the moment I laid eyes on you." She bit her lip and he had to say it again. "I love you." He repeated as he felt her hands come up to lay on his chest, which, in his limited experience, signaled that she was about to kiss him.

And kiss him she did.

Her tongue dueled with his as he wrapped his fingers in her hair and kissed her passionately. Fire ignited between them and as she pulled him towards his bedroom, Booth had a fleeting thought that this was happening fast but it felt so right, so perfect, he couldn't imagine it any other way. He'd gone a year without her and now that they were back, he wanted to make up for stolen time. He wanted her, body and soul.

He wanted to be home again.