Hello sweeties! I know I have abandoned this story for a pretty long time and I am sorry.

The big nemesis of all writers – namely writer's block – held me hostage for some time. After my – narrow escape – I tried to find the reasons why it got me in the first place. And I think the fact that I had too many fanfictions going on at the same time had something to do with it. So, I decided to concentrate on The Collector for some time, but now this chapter for Don't be scared simply asked to be written... So here we go!

Chapter 24:

Brennan woke with a groan. She forced her eyes open, soundly cursing Angela and the cocktails she had made her drink. She just was not used to that stuff... she occasionally drank beer or wine, but not cocktails, which tasted harmless, but were stronger than she had thought. Sneaky little bastards.

She glanced at her watch and her eyes widened. It was already 10:00 in the morning... and she had wanted to be at the hospital... well, at least an hour ago. Ah, well... it was not like Booth was GOING anywhere. She smiled to herself, while crawling out of bed. Well, he HAD told her to have fun... but that still was no reason for wasting time now.

She hurried to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face, trying to get rid of the after-effects of the previous night. Then she turned on the shower and since the water needed some time until it was warm enough for her to step in, she hurried into the kitchen, to gulp down a glass of orange juice and quickly eat a cereal bar. She was quite sure Booth would not approve of that kind of 'breakfast', but she was not going to tell him.

Fifteen minutes later she was dressed and had just finished her make-up... and she was rather proud she had managed to get ready that fast. Brennan quickly put on her coat and grabbed her purse, looking forward to seeing Booth again.

Another fifteen minutes later she waltzed into his room to find him chatting with a pretty nurse. The nurse greeted her with a polite smile and placed a tablet with pudding in front of her partner, her smile turning into something less polite and more alluring when she looked at him. Which went unnoticed by Booth, who looked at Brennan for a moment, then his face suddenly bore a big grin.

"Somebody had a long night?" He asked teasingly, winking at her, a split-second after the nurse had left the room.

She mumbled something incomprehensible and hurried to his bed, placing a kiss on his still grinning mouth. "Mhm. Good morning to you, too." He mumbled. "Is there more where that one came from?"

"Plenty." She said, but pulled back a little to inspect his face. "You're feeling alright?"

He nodded. "I hope they will let me out of here soon. I don't think I can stand this for long."

"What this? Getting pampered by smiling young nurses, who shower you with the hospital pudding you seem to be so fond of?" She asked, teasingly.

"Oh, I will miss the pudding, alright... but I'd rather get pampered by you, you know?" He grinned.

She huffed a little at those words and answered: "You know I am not very domestic. If you think I will fetch you beer while you're watching TV, forget it!"

He shook his head and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone "I am not talking about spending time in the living room, you know?"

"Oh." She made and a lazy smile showed on her face. "Are you not? Well, I think I already established that I don't want to waste any more time. So we have this settled... " She winked at him, but then her face was serious again. "But you will have to be careful... you can't overexert, you had serious injuries, Booth. You need time to heal."

"Well, maybe you will have to pamper me a little bit after all." He smiled, but when he saw her still serious face he added. "Aw, come on, Bones. Talking about it doesn't hurt. Can't I have a little fun? After all I am not the one of us two who went out... for the most part of the night, I guess?"

She shrugged. "You told me to have fun." Her tone was defensive.

He laughed a those words. "Since when do you actually do what you're told?"

She frowned a little and he smiled again. "Hey, I am glad you had fun. Where did Angela drag you?"

"A bar downtown... I forgot the name, but it was pretty crowded. Seems to be a highly frequented place by singles on the look-out for company."

"Uh-uh. Do I have to be jealous?" Booth asked, joking.

"Alpha-male." She shook her head. "You really have such a bad opinion of me?"

"It was a joke, Bones. And a little jealousy can add... spice to the relationship." He smiled again and took her hand in his.

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You won't need spice, you've got me." She explained and gave him a pointed look.

His eyes widened a little, both a the promise hidden in her words, but also at what she had been saying, the phrasing. "I've got you?" He repeated. She nodded.

"What about all that feministic stuff, like, uh... women don't belong to men, blah-blah." He asked.

"Booth! I never said I belong to you." She snapped, glaring at him.

He grinned broadly and quickly said. "Yeah, well... I belong to you. You can do whatever you want with me." He waggled his brow and his naked toes in the same rhythm and the childish look caused her to laugh.

"Easy for you to say." She chided. "There is not a whole lot of things I can do with you now."

"Kissing? Cuddling?" He suggested and when she did not immediately respond he proceeded to the next level and used his special weapons: Puppy dog eyes and charm smile... the deadly combination.

She watched him and smiled again. "You know, eventually one day pulling this face will stop working. What are you going to do then?" Despite her words she inched closer and he looked into the depths of her blue eyes, murmuring a husky. "I'll find new things to persuade you."

"Uh-uh. Show me." She whispered before closing the remaining distance between them and claiming his lips in a long and passionate kiss, which they only broke when they heard a noise from behind Brennan.

"To my defence, I knocked... twice, I might add. Guess you were... too preoccupied to hear it." A female voice came from the doorway, amusement clearly audible.

Brennan turned around to face her boss. "Hi, Cam." She said and Booth simply had to admire that she managed to act as if the situation was NOT awkward. He however found it pretty strange to talk to his girlfriend's boss... who was his ex.

"Uh... hi, Camille." He said, meeting her gaze for the shortest time span possible.

"Don't call me Camille, Seeley." She countered, still smiling. He was astonished to see that she seemed to be genuinely amused and not surprised by the fact he and Bones had just been kissing in a pretty un-partnerlike way.

"Uh... Cam... we..." He started, but she waved him off.

"Tempe and I talked already." She said, and the few words left Booth gaping at her, his mouth open. "Since when do you use first names?" He managed to ask after a while.

"Oh, since we celebrated half the night that you two are a couple now." Cam grinned at him.

Booth's gaze wandered from her to Brennan and back to his ex. "You... talked. Ah, what did you talk about?" He asked after a moment, worried what topics might have been brought up by their alcohol-induced minds. 'And don't forget to add Angela to that picture, he reminded himself', suppressing a shudder.

Cam grinned again and said: "Ah, you know, girl stuff. Not particularly interesting."

Booth's eye brow rose and he gave Brennan a questioning look. She smiled too and confirmed. "No, not interesting at all."

Booth's eyes widened a little and after a moment he slowly said. "This is scary."

"What?" The two women asked in unison.

"You two fraternising against me." He explained and Cam laughed. "Oh, poor baby. You had that wild fantasy of us two having a cat fight over you? Sorry to disappoint you. I am so over you."

"Speaking of which... how did you enjoy your company yesterday night? The guy you've been dancing with?" Brennan asked curiously, effectively ignoring the slight blush Cam's words had left on Booth's cheeks.

Booth gazed incredulously at the two women and then gave the infusion of pain killers near his bed a doubtful look, wondering if the medicine had caused his brain to hallucinate or if indeed his girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend were standing in his hospital room, busily chatting about the guy Cam had been dancing with the other night.

A small smile crept on his face, when he finally decided that it had to be the latter.

Despite the fact that Cam's mentioning of a cat fight between the two of them had left a very vivid and interesting picture in Booth's head, he was glad that Brennan's boss was accepting the change in their relationship so casually.

Now he could only hope that HIS boss was going to react well to the news too. But something told him, that Cullen was not going to be inclined to buy him a drink upon hearing that he and Bones had finally 'hooked up'.

Please tell me what you think about this chapter... I would also like to know if there are still readers interested in this story out there ;)

Thanks a lot!!!