Okay, so it's a short chapter, and I posted it really late, but it's still Halloween!! (atleast here it is)

Hope you enjoy!!

She awoke slowly, her eyes flickering open, and found herself alone. She sat up in bed, pulling the blankets up around her as she did so, and looked around. Her first thought was to question where Booth was, her second was more of a reel of memories from the night before. Then she went back to questioning where he was.

He loved her... if anything, he'd proved it last night.

So where was he?

"Booth?"

Quick footsteps sounded, and she felt relief shoot through her. Immediately she knew she shouldn't have doubted him for a second, but her nature hadn't allowed her to do otherwise. This was still taking some getting used to.

He stepped lightly into the room, smiling warmly at her as he made his way over and climbed back onto the mattress beside her. "Good morning," he murmured softly, kissing her quickly in greeting. She felt a similar smile plaster itself across her face. "I made breakfast," he said, gesturing towards the door as though by way of explanation for his absence. "Sorry, I shouldn't have let you wake up alone." He paused, looking at her with sudden concern, "You okay?"

"I'm perfect," she said warmly, leaning forward to kiss him again, but he pulled back slightly, and she frowned.

"Last night..."

She shook her head. "Don't you dare worry about that, Booth."

She had to admit that she'd felt a little anxious to begin with, when they'd gotten home, but it was Booth. She'd never felt safer than when she was with him. And he'd made her promise, while they lay in bed together, that she would tell him immediately if absolutely anything upset her, or if she was hurt in any way. And she had, once. It was to be expected, though, that it wouldn't be perfect to start with. She'd been inactive for months, and seriously injured before that.

He'd wanted to just put it off, as she'd expected he would, but she'd convinced him otherwise.

She was fairly certain he hadn't regretted it. She hadn't.

But now he was starting to worry her, making her think that maybe he hadn't reacted like she had to the events of the previous evening.

"Are you okay?" she asked, holding the blankets up around herself.

"Yeah, Bones, I just want to make sure you are."

She sighed and shook her head to wave off that notion of his. "What's for breakfast?" she asked, changing the topic.

He looked at her for another moment, but then replied, "French toast."

She nodded firmly, and then made a decision. She climbed out of the bed and collected some clothing to wear. She dressed in full view of him, and then grabbed his hand and pulled him to the kitchen, his stunned face slightly amusing.

She was just relieved they'd gotten onto this stage. Once it got more... normal, she'd feel a lot better, a lot more... at home. Even though she'd actually already started to feel that way, living with Booth. It was another step closer to her being absolutely certain that this could last, though, and that was what she needed. More than anything.

"What time's Parker coming over?" she asked curiously, having not been filled in on the details quite yet. She'd left that for Rebecca and Booth to work out, since he was their child, after all.

He placed a dish of French toast in front of her, still looking slightly off-balance. The sudden change in their relationship must be leaving him a little lost. He'd catch up soon; she had faith in that. In him.

"Right, he'll be here at five. So we've got all morning to do whatever." He immediately opened his mouth, shut it, and glanced nervously away, as though he'd realized what his words might imply just a little too late.

She really hoped it wasn't going to be this awkward forever.

"Actually, I'm going to Hodgins' place at eight. Remember?"

"Oh, right."

They fell into silence, and she continued to eat. His dish just stayed in front of him.

She sighed again.

"Booth, please talk to me."

"About what?"

"You know what I mean."

Now he sighed. "I just... Bones, it's like I said before. I want to make sure you know that... it doesn't have to be like this, all the time. I'm happy with you. Just you, like we've always been. And I feel like if we... go into this too fast it's going to just turn out to something that... neither of us want."

She couldn't help it; she laughed slightly at that. "Why do you worry about these things?" she asked.

He looked at her incredulously, like he was seeing her for the first time, "Bones, why do you worry about stuff like losing people?"

She looked away, getting his point.

"I'm willing to do this any way that you want, Bones," he said softly. "But no matter what happens, I'll always want to take the route that means I get to keep you. And don't go thinking I wasn't happy about last night," he added, a smile twisting up the corners of his lips. "I love you," he added seriously.

"And I love you," she answered, with just as much feeling. "I understand, Booth, I do. And... thanks. I couldn't ask for someone to care about me more than you do."

They stared at each other, the silence taking over once more, but this time it wasn't uncomfortable, but rather content and laced with meaning that could be seen in both sets of eyes.

A knock at the door interrupted them.

"...That's Ange," she said, hesitating.

"Go ahead," he said with a nod and a smile. "Go finish that Halloween costume of yours. Whatever it is."

She smiled as well. "You'll see soon enough. And I'll be back by noon, promise. Founding Fathers for lunch?"

"Sounds good."

She nodded and stood, heading towards the door.

Just before she reached for the handle she was spun around by large hands from behind and suddenly he had his arms around her and was kissing her soundly. She was gasping for breath when they broke apart, and then she smiled and pressed her lips to his once more, quickly, before she stepped from his grasp and opened the door for Angela.

Her friend glanced between the two of them immediately, and her face broke into a wide grin. It was almost uncanny how she just knew these things.

"Well, we should get going," Brennan said quickly. Ange gave her the signature, 'oh, we're so talking about this,' look, but complied anyways... for the most part.

"Having a good weekend so far, Booth?" she said, grinning at him as she stepped back towards the door.

He opened his mouth, but made no response. Brennan quickly grabbed her purse and hurried out, waving Booth a hasty goodbye before she shut the door behind her.

"Oh, you did," Angela said eagerly as they started down the stairs.

She flushed slightly, "And?"

"I'm happy for you! I'm allowed to be, now aren't I?"

"I suppose so."

"Do I get details?"

"...No, sorry, Ange."

But Angela just shrugged, not seemingly too bothered by this. "You're happy though, I can see that. So I'm happy."

She smiled, "Thanks." That's what she loved about Ange, she always knew just what to say, and somehow she knew when she was going too far and should pull back and just let her be. It wasn't like she did it often, but that was probably because she could just sense somehow that she wanted to talk about it, even if she denied it. This time she knew that she really didn't want to discuss it, though; this was something between her and Booth. Not something to be shared. Being with Hodgins, Ange probably fully understood it, actually.

"Seriously, you still aren't going to tell me? Bones, we're going trick-or-treating in like... four hours."

"Booth, I'm not going to ruin it now. If anything, the shortness of the remaining time should be an indicator of the heightening of my likelihood to not tell you."

"Do the two of you ever stop arguing?" Ange piped up, grinning from beside Brennan.

"Yes," the both said at once, and then laughed.

"What are you going as, anyways?" Booth asked, "And don't tell me it's a surprise as well, because last time I checked I wasn't even going to see you tonight."

"Well, you would have, but Bren told me you two were busy tonight, so you couldn't come to my Halloween party. I'm going as a pirate ninja." He raised an eyebrow. "What? I couldn't decide."

She found herself chuckling. "Hodgins got roped into being a Native American chief."

"Seriously?" Booth asked, eyebrow still raised.

Ange shrugged, "He was being difficult. Kept saying he wanted to go as the Grim Reaper. But that's no fun, because then no one can even see your face."

"Okay, so I'm going to assume that Bones' costume doesn't have a mask, then."

Ange opened her mouth, and then closed it. "Fine, you can have that one. That doesn't narrow it down much at all, anyways. Makeup can always take over for masks, like ninety percent of the time."

He rolled his eyes. "Ruin my fun, huh? Anyone else going to your Halloween party tonight, though?"

"Cam said she'd go, and I think Sweets will be as well. Hodgins said he'd take care of inviting the interns, plus anybody else we can find."

"I do wish we could have come, Ange, but spending time with Parker... no offense, but it ranks higher."

"None taken," Ange said, but Brennan's eyes had flicked to Booth, and she caught the way his smile warmed when she'd said that she'd basically rather spend time with his son than her best friend. "I always think it's really cute when a girlfriend and her boyfriend's son get along almost like they're the parent."

She decided to ignore the way in which Ange had said that.

"Booth said he was going to show me Parker's favorite movie tonight... have you ever heard of The Nightmare Before Christmas?"

"Heard of it? Sweetie, I've seen that movie well over a dozen times. I can practically quote it. You're telling me you never even heard-" she broke off and then sighed, "Right, never mind." Her eyes went to Booth, "Please tell me you've at least made her watch Star Wars by now?"

"We're working up to it. There's a lot of movies she's never seen."

"Hey, it's not like I had time over the years, or any inclination. Why would I want to go to the movies by myself when I had studying to do?"

"Right, sorry Bones."

"You know what, we're going to go out and see a movie together, just us on a girls' night out, sometime next month, you got it? And you can pick the movie."

That actually sounded like it might be fun. Her and Ange hadn't gotten together to do something, just the two of them, in quite some time. As much as she loved spending time with Booth, it would be nice to see a bit more of her best friend.

"Guess I'll drag Hodgins to a hockey game then, won't I?"

"Sounds like a plan," Ange agreed, grinning widely. "He could do with some sports atmosphere. He was way too excited to get back to his bugs when he returned to work."

Booth laughed, "Yeah, I saw that. It still freaks me out how much he loves those things."

"He's a far better entomologist than his replacement was," Brennan spoke up.

"I heard about that," Ange said, "Sorry you had to put up with him because Jack and I were off enjoying ourselves."

"It was fine, Ange, just a minor annoyance. I mostly stayed in the field with Booth during that time, anyways. Mr. Nigel-Murray is very adept at his work in the lab."

"You know, that kid must be near his doctorate by now. When's he going to do that last part, or whatever, and get his diploma?"

"Booth, you know that what you just said was incredibly inaccurate. He has to-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Defend his dissertation or whatever... I remember from when Zach got his."

A brief flash of sadness went through her at the mention, but it went away fairly quickly. It was getting easier to talk about, which was good seeing as how long it had been since they'd lost him as a member of their team. And seeing him a few months ago had helped some as well.

"Should we get going, Bones?" Booth asked, gesturing to all the empty dishes on the table.

"If you'd like. We have the day off, but I suppose it would be nice to have the apartment clean before Parker arrives."

He groaned, and she laughed.

She could hear him pacing in the living room, and hurriedly slid the glasses onto the end of her nose. She quickly looked over herself in the mirror, admiring what an amazing job Angela had done on the dress, and after ensuring that her hair was tightly in the bun and was not going to come out, she pulled on the hat and opened the door.

Booth paused in his movement, and she came down the hall, stopping at the end and smiling at him. Parker jumped up from the couch, already wearing his Robin costume. Booth was dressed in Batman garb, too, but he was holding the mask in his hand.

"Wow, Bones," Booth said, eyes wide.

"Do you know who I'm supposed to be?"

"I know, I know!" Parker said, jumping up and down. His cape twirled behind him.

She smiled affectionately at the boy, and then turned her attention back to Booth with a raised eyebrow.

"You seriously dressed up as a Harry Potter character, Bones?"

"I... yeah." She suddenly felt apprehensive. What, did he not like it?

He shook his head slowly. "You know, you never cease to amaze me. And you make an incredibly McGonagall."

"Thanks. Ange took care of the dress."

"I figured. She had a lot of fun, I'm betting."

"Oh yeah; she looked like Christmas came early when I told her that I wanted her help to make a costume. And she had way too much fun dressing me up and experimenting with designs. Then she insisted on making the hat to match, when I was going to go buy one. At least she let me go and get the glasses myself," she added, laughing slightly.

He chuckled as well.

"You look beautiful, Bones," he whispered as he put an arm around her and led her towards the door. "Come on, Parker!" Let's go get you some candy!"

"Alright!" he shouted, punching the air as he snatched up his bag and ran ahead of them out the door.

"So you like it?"

"Like it, Bones? How could I not love something about you?" he murmured, kissing her forehead softly. And then he led the way down the stairs, off to go walk the streets in the dark and watch the kid cheer over every Twix bar he received.

She remembered her own Halloweens at his age... she'd been just the same.

Except she'd been after the Milky Ways.

Happy Halloween, everyone!!

I think Brennan would make a pretty great McGonagall. :)

Oh, and anyone who was curious... I'm actually seventeen. xD