Booth had fallen asleep ages ago, and the apartment was silent beside the slow and even sound of his breath going in and out. He had one arm draped around her, and the warmth was comfortable. But she still couldn't get to sleep.

Overhead, the neighbors were still awake, having some sort of late-night party. There were at least five people, from the different voices she'd been able to decipher, and they were laughing and talking. Every now and then she heard the sound of cabinets closing or glasses clinking against either each other or the table they were probably being set on. She wished they'd just go to sleep already.

For what must have been the tenth time or so, she closed her eyes and ran her hands over them in slow circles, moving her fingers to massage her temples. A headache had started to develop earlier, and although it had gone away once she and Booth had gotten back to the apartment, it had returned in full fervor once he'd drifted off after she'd pretended to be asleep.

It would be worse, though, if he was awake too. Because then he'd realize something was wrong, and she'd have to talk about it. And the last thing she wanted to do was discuss it more, especially when she was already concerned enough about just how much he'd overheard. Him standing that close and not catching any of the words she and Angela had exchanged seemed highly unlikely, even though he hadn't brought it up yet.

And if Angela had been persistent, Booth would only be worse. Not to mention how his reaction would probably enter a whole different scale than the one Angela's would have been measured on.

"Since when?" her friend demanded, the cold air rushing past both of them and billowing out their hair.

She sighed and looked away, fidgeting before finally settling for crossing her arms over her chest in a somewhat defensive stance. "I started thinking about it shortly before... everything that happened."

Angela winced slightly, but hurried onwards nonetheless. "And did it... go away? After..?"

She nodded, eyes flicking to the group of men still standing around the table they'd been seated at. Booth was talking easily with them, and she found that she relaxed slightly upon seeing that. "It was certainly not something I was actively thinking about anymore."

"And with me and Hodgins, and finding out I was pregnant... it brought it back on?"

"A bit," she admitted.

"Bren, what were you going to do, before? I mean... you weren't dating at that point, and-"

"I was considering the possibility of asking Booth to... donate. You know, to the sperm bank."

Angela's mouth quirked up into a little half-smile at that. "Oh, I'm sure he'd have loved the idea, Bren. And you would have told him not be involved, as well?"

She shifted again, feeling uncomfortable as she picked up on the obvious sarcasm. Obviously things had changed. The way she'd felt back then was far different from how she did now. A quick nod to confirm Angela's query was all she gave, and she didn't look up to see the reaction.

"Hey, relax, Bren." Glancing up, she saw that Ange was smiling softly at her. "I'm not judging, just getting the facts. Besides, no matter what you tell yourself, I totally see through that whole plan." She frowned, and Angela grinned wider and went on, "You were going to convince Booth... and no doubt he'd eventually give in because we both know that he's powerless against you... and when you were all bloated and hormonal and going crazy with morning sickness, he'd be the one right there helping you every step of the way. Then, you'd have the kid, and he'd be with you in the hospital. He'd sit by your bed every single minute, and he'd hold your little miracle baby. Perfect plan to get together with him and make a nice adorable little family, if I do say so myself. Except for the skipping the sex part. That doesn't make any sense. The rest is pretty good, though."

She stared at her best friend in shock. To be honest, she'd never actually thought of it that way. But still... some part of her subconscious agreed with everything Angela was saying. It all would have played out like that, if the circumstances had provided the opportunity. Because Booth would never let her take care of a kid all alone, especially not when it was his kid, too.

Somehow, that made her feel bad for planning to use him in such a way, but at the same time she couldn't seem to regret it.

"So, when are you going to tell Booth that you want to have his babies?" Ange was suddenly asking, pulling her instantly out of her thoughts.

She stumbled for words, finally settling upon, "Angela, if you tell him any of this..." she didn't even know what to threaten, but Angela seemed to get the message, and backed off a little bit.

"Sweetie, my lips are sealed. It was just a question. What I do really want to know, though, is if you plan on having kids before, or after you decide to get married."

"I- Ange... you know that I don't..."

"Again? Really, Bren, you're starting to make me think I know you better than you know yourself. Antiquated ritual isn't still your excuse, now, is it? I get the whole 'no church' thing, and I respect it. Not to mention an outdoor wedding in the spring would be... well, amazing... but that's beside the point. Booth is your soul mate. You want to have his children, right?"

"I-"

"And you want to spend the rest of your life with him?"

"Ange, a person can't know-"

"And you love him, don't you?"

That last one caught her off guard, and she stammered incoherently for a moment. "Yeah, Ange," she murmured at last. "Yeah, I do."

Angela beamed. "Excellent. So, love is irrational, now isn't it?" It wasn't like she had any other option but to nod resignedly. "Everything about it isn't logical. It isn't meant to be. So don't make it rational. Don't try to understand. What does your heart tell you, when I ask you about how you would feel being married to Booth? Not your brain, just your heart," she added quickly on the end.

She bit her lip, not sure if she could even honestly answer that question. She felt a lot of things, but not one of them was something she understood even slightly.

"That man wants to propose to you," Angela said seriously, motioning behind her to where Booth still had his back turned. Everyone looked like they were getting ready to leave, and she wondered suddenly if they were holding them up with their obviously private conversation. By now, Booth must have noticed. She suddenly was desperately hoping he hadn't overheard, and that he wouldn't question her about what she'd been discussing with her friend once they were alone. Because by now there was no way he wasn't curious.

And yet, the whole way home he seemed relaxed. Totally at ease. They made light conversation, and when they got home they made love.

And now, here she was. Left to contemplate on a very long and exhausting day. All of her worries having nothing to do with all the work she'd done, or the new case they got, but rather revolving around the man who was now snoring gently next to her.

"Any news?" she asked without looking up, knowing that the person that had just come up behind her was him without having to hear his voice or see him or even smell his very distinctive cologne. And a moment later he was leaning over the table next to her.

"Not much, Bones. Anything on your end?"

She turned to look at him, shaking her head in frustration. "The tibia break didn't help us much without anything else to work with, and her dentals didn't come up with anything. Angela has the skull now; I had Nigel apply tissue markers, and so she'll have a workable model to try and get an ID off of at some point. Probably within the hour, since she's been gone for a while. Although I know she and Hodgins were planning on going to lunch... they may have already left..."

"Bones, it's four in the afternoon."

Slightly alarmed, she twisted her wrist around to look at her watch, not fully able to believe that so much time had passed until the little hands spelled it out right in front of her. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, and she brushed a few stray hairs out of her face.

"I missed lunch with you," she said. It wasn't a question.

He smiled softly. "Yeah, but it's okay. I know you were distracted. Did you at least eat something, though?"

She nodded distractedly, "A granola bar I had left over from that long stretch in Limbo last week..." But she wasn't paying much attention to him, or the skeleton, anymore. She was more amazed that he'd actually been okay with her missing their lunch. They'd agreed to meet at the diner rather than him picking her up as he usually did, because they both had to be back at their respective buildings to continue working on the case. She had wanted to get as much done as possible. But the fact that he hadn't called, or come to check on her, when she hadn't arrived was something she hadn't expected.

"Did you call?" she asked without thinking, cutting off whatever he'd been saying. Something about the case, but she hadn't caught a word of it. Her hand was already pulling her cell from her pocket, checking to see if she had a missed call.

But Booth was shaking his head before she could even flip it open. "Nah, I figured you wouldn't want to be distracted. And hey, it gives me an excuse to kidnap you out of here early for supper, doesn't it?"

She frowned, still thinking, but then nodded and turned away, brushing again at the strands of hair that kept falling in her eyes before she finally gathered them up and redid her ponytail. The elastic snapped loudly back into place as she released it, and then she shooed him away from the table and attempted to focus. Which was admittedly very challenging.

It shouldn't matter, at all, that he hadn't checked up on her. She should be thrilled, to be honest. It meant he was letting her be more independent. He wasn't being a protective and over-controlling male. Wasn't this exactly what she wanted? Then why, why did it bother her so much? Had she gotten so used to his being there, his caring about where she was every single second of every day, that it actually hurt to find out that he hadn't bothered for once?

The very thought made her flare up in irritation with herself. When had she become so reliant? She loved Booth, yes, and she was more than willing to admit it... but that did not mean she was some typical damsel in distress. She didn't rely on him to survive. She just... really enjoyed the fact that he loved her back. And wanted it to stay that way.

So irrational.

But she'd stopped caring about that ages ago. Which was one thing she wasn't planning on changing. Happiness wasn't logical, as Angela would have said. Love couldn't be calculated or put in a test tube, as Booth would tell her.

And Angela had been right, last night. With everything she'd said.

Everything seemed very real, all of a sudden. Before, it had been just her and Booth. They were together, they were in love... they were enjoying life and laughing over stupid things. She felt lighter and more at ease than she had in ages. But the future still had a way of creeping up.

Did she seriously, truly, think that life would stay exactly like this forever? No, she'd never fully believed it. In her heart, in her head, she'd known that things would change. She'd just told herself that it would be okay, because Booth was a constant. He wouldn't change. He still wouldn't, of course, but everything else could.

Would it be so terrible, so unrealistic, to imagine herself married? It hadn't been something she'd wanted before, especially considering how many marriages failed, how many tragedies and how much pain she'd seen on the very subject between her own experiences in foster care and the years she'd spent investigating murders. The first suspect was always the spouse; that was how it worked.

At the same time, it was a connection, one that she'd observed in many different forms throughout the world. There were rituals of marriage that she'd seen first hand in countless foreign nations, more different ceremonies than she could probably recount.

It had always been the failure, though, which had pushed her away from the idea. What kind of scar would that leave, to choose someone and have them then consciously decide to sever that tie with you? It was one thing to be left alone by your family, or to be pushed from home to home... but it was another to have your own life choice crash down upon you.

And that had been the one thing that Temperance Brennan had always been certain of. If she ever chose to let someone get that close, and she went through with a wedding... someday they would leave her. Maybe she'd even leave them. But it would fail, because monogamy failed. For her, it was a definite. She'd never known otherwise.

Then there was Booth.

She'd told him already, though, she reminded herself, that she didn't want marriage. He'd even respected that decision. What would he think if she just threw this decision at him, especially when she'd only just begun to consider it herself? He'd be thrilled, Angela's voice prompted inside her head. She smiled slightly at that. Maybe he would, but he'd also want to make sure she was sure, and she wasn't. Not yet.

Time was what she needed, as much as she hated that phrase. After everything she'd been forced to go through in her life, she'd heard it enough to deserve to hate it with a passion. But that didn't stop it from being true this time.

For now, things would stay the same. Sometime in the future though... if Angela was right, and he really did want to marry her? Perhaps... perhaps yes might not be such a terrible answer to give.

Weekly updates; that's what I'm now promising. I've already got the next chapter ready to go, and I intend to get ahead by a few more in the following week. Especially with my February break coming up pretty quick :)

I'm starting to get into territory that I'm not sure about with this story, so I would really really appreciate feedback. This is a side of Brennan we don't see usually... and I need to know if it's realistic enough for how she would act in the situation. As always, I live off of what you people have to say.

Thanks for reading! Expect another update next weekend! ;)