Ok, long authors note this time.
1) We love you guys so much. Thanks for reading and being so into this story!
2) We want to make it clear that this is not a fairytale or lifetime movie. There won't be rainbows and sunshine in the end nor will there be so much angst that it smacks you in the face. Trust us that all your questions, worries, and comments will be considered and hopefully satisfied by what we write.
3) The more you mention Rebecca coming back the more you make Kimmy want to have her show up and kidnap Parker. This will not be an angst fic that you've probably seen on this site before! Calm down guys. Really. I'm not saying she will or will not come back but please don't think this is ending with some big legal battle.
4) The next update could take some time to get up. Your authors are college students who are going to get very busy, very soon. We won't abandon this fic, but we might not be able to update every few days.
Now I will get off my soapbox. Enjoy!
"Do you think they're serious?"
Brennan's ear zoned in on the conversation that was happening on the other side of the van parked beside her car. The scientist stood outside of Parker's elementary school waiting to hear all about his first day as a big, bad first grader. His father's words.
Because it was a special day, she had arrived earlier than normal and noticed a few other mothers she recognized from days past gathered by the vehicle adjacent to hers to converse. She knew that eavesdropping was a frowned upon practice, but she was an anthropologist. Her intentions were only to observe.
That was until the next sentence out of one of the women's mouths made her jaw drop.
"Rebecca did say that he always pined after her even after she turned him down. I bet he's just using her to look after Parker until she comes back."
If she had to describe the feeling those words gave her, she would compare it to being punched in the stomach. Brennan couldn't wrap her mind around it for the first few seconds. These women were talking about her. About Booth. About their son. Not even five feet away from her!
Brennan couldn't decipher a few of their words that were whispered. They apparently weren't oblivious to her presence. The possibility that they could be purposefully insulting her crossed her mind. She leaned against the car door. For a moment she considered jumping inside the Prius, but she couldn't move a muscle.
"Where do you think she went anyway?"
"Not sure, but she's got to come back soon. Parker deserves to have his real mother in his life, not some poor substitute."
In an instant, every ounce of dejection she was experiencing was replaced by rage. Pure, unadulterated anger.
Temperance Brannan had been called many things in her life. Nerd. Robot. Orphan. Clumsy. Rude. Cold. As she grew older, she learned how to compartmentalize the slurs into the farthest part of her mind. However, no offense she'd a been victim of had ever pierced her heart in such a way that being labeled as a 'poor substitute' of a mother had.
That she could not compartmentalize. That she could not ignore. She tried to stay rational. They didn't know what Rebecca had done. They didn't know about her relationship with Parker. Or Booth for that matter.
Rationality though was failing her at the moment. Rebecca didn't deserve to be in Parker's life. Booth would never use her and objectively she felt that she was a very good mother. These women should not make assumptions about something without having all proven data. All they had was assumption and hearsay.
She tried to fight the urge to correct them. The last thing she needed to do was make a scene outside of Parker's school.
"I mean does she think that anyone would take her being a part of his life seriously? They're just partners."
Brennan clenched her teeth. That she couldn't let slide. She took one step across the asphalt before a sea of children spilled through the school doors. Knowing that Parker would be at her side any moment, she decided to move right back to her car.
After three very long minutes, her eyes finally spotted Parker in the crowd. He waved goodbye to his friends before breaking off into a run across the front yard of the building. Brennan's smile grew as he got closer. His shirt collar was sticking up on one side. There was a green grass stain on the knee of his brand new pants. Her boy.
He collided into her with a hug. Brennan squeezed him tightly and lifted him off the ground for a second before placing him back on the ground.
"I love first grade! My teacher's name is Ms. Cline and she's really nice. She told us we were gunna learn to read a whole lot of words and I told her I already knew a whole bunch cuz we read at night. We got science workbooks too! I wanted to show you but we have to keep them in our desks." When his rant finally ended he just looked up at her with curious eyes. "Why are you so quiet, mommy?"
Brennan ran her hand over his hair. "I just wanted to hear everything you have to say. I'm glad you had a good day. Let's get to the lab so you can tell everyone else about it, okay?"
He nodded and jumped into the backseat when she unlocked the door. As she leaned into to buckle him in correctly, she remembered the stop she had made on the way to the school at a convenience store. "Oh, I almost forgot." She reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of candy she decided that he'd appreciate.
Parker's brown eyes widened. "Twizzlers?"
"And you don't even have to share them with daddy." It was rare that any candy made it through the Booth household without being split between the two.
He leaned in his seat and kissed her on the cheek. "You're the best mommy ever!"
(*)
"Hey, I just wanted to let you know that the little guy is with Jack now. He had some sort of South African beetle that he 'just knew Parker would love'. Sometimes I wonder who gets more out of that relationship…" Angela had wandered into Brennan's office, already talking before she even noticed whether or not her best friend was actually listening to her; which she wasn't.
As soon as Angela had situated herself comfortably on Brennan's couch she looked up towards her and saw that she was typing vigorously on the keyboard of her cell phone, completely unaware that someone had just strolled into her office.
"Sweetie." Angela tried to get Brennan's attention, surprised to see the pile of untouched paperwork lying in the center of the desk in front of her. Her attempt failed though, so she spoke up louder. "Earth to Bren!"
Brennan's head snapped up, her focus finally moving from the LCD screen of her phone to her best friend's face. "Oh, hi, Angela. I didn't notice that you had come in. Is everything okay?"
"Yes, Parker's with Jack but that's irrelevant. Who might we be texting so furiously? Especially when there is work to be done." Angela knew the answer to her question before she had even posed it but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to put her two cents in about Booth and Brennan's relationship.
Brennan brushed off the suggestive question, "I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of a text message. It was simply Booth telling me that he'd be a little late."
Angela shook her head; Brennan was not getting off that easy. "Sweetie, I am loud talker. You are either rapidly becoming deaf or there is more in that message then you're letting me know."
"You're being ridiculous."
"I'm not stupid. I saw you tearing off that man's tux with your eyes, and practically even your hands, on that dance floor at the gala." Angela couldn't help but feel a little frustrated that Brennan wouldn't talk to her. She wanted her answers though, and she knew exactly what to do.
She propelled herself from her sitting position and flung herself towards Brennan's desk, grabbing the dormant cell phone and flipping it open in one motion. "Where's the inbox button again?"
As Angela laughed, Brennan jumped from her desk and continued to chase after her friend. The two dexterously maneuvered their way around the multiple obstacles that were scattered around the office. Angela let out another joyful laugh. She was the only one enjoying the game.
"Angela! At the moment you are acting very juvenile! I would appreciate it greatly if you would return it to me immediately."
Angela grinned as she ran behind Brennan's desk and used the desk's accompanying chair as barrier. "Aha! Found it. 'Hey, Bones. I'll be a little late. Needed gas in the car, be there in soon.' Well, that's no fun."
Her eyes grew even big though as she pressed the 'next' button. "Oh, wow this is what I'm talking about, sent right after that one. 'I can't wait to get home tonight. We need a murder soon; I've been missing you all day.'"
Brennan closed her eyes in anticipation of her friend's impending reaction. That text message had initially caused a pleasurable flush to creep upon her cheeks but the blush she felt now was nothing like that one. "Angela don't-"
"Sweetie, the man wants someone to die so he can see you during the day again. Please tell me you're going to have a summer wedding. I look great in summer colors."
"Angela, we're not getting married."
"Bren, let me tell you something. You two are already married, practically. The only difference is that you aren't sleeping together, despite my all of my attempts otherwise. You know, you really take a toll on a girl's confidence in her manipulation skills."
While Angela was talking, Brennan removed the chair from between them and retrieved her cellular phone from her friends grasp. "Just please leave it alone, Angela."
Despite her pleading, and the occasional desperate grab, Angela continued. "Oh, now here's one from you to him. 'I too have missed your presence in the lab. It was extremely difficult to leave bed this morning.' Bed? Now, I know that I would know if you guys actually had sex. So if you are sharing a bed with him but not sharing a bed with him then I don't know if I can even look at you right now."
"Seriously, Angela. Stop."
"But I don't want to." Brennan could have sworn she saw Angela about to stomp her foot like a child. So, as she would have reacted to Parker, Brennan gave her a reprovingly scolding look.
Angela sighed. "Fine but believe me, one day you'll listen to me and when that day comes I will not refrain from gloating."
Before Brennan could speak to respond, Booth strolled straight into her office.
"Hey ladies. How's everything going?"
"Hi Booth." Angela crooned, her voice heightened by the text messages that she had just read. "I was actually just about to leave. Brennan has some paperwork to finish, she's been distracted." Moving her eyes to Brennan, she saw the red rush into her cheeks. "Bye Sweetie, I'll see you later."
With that, Angela breezed out the office door, placing an affectionate pat on Booth's shoulder as she passed him. "You look very rested."
Once Angela had walked out of earshot, Booth began to walk towards Brennan's desk. "Okay. Now what is up with her? She's acting weirder than usual."
Brennan ignored his question. She was not in the mood to have that discussion with Booth. She wasn't in the mood to have that conversation with Angela either. Then again, she never was and she always found herself having it anyway.
She moved her chair so it was in its correct position once again and sat back at her desk, picking up the virtually blank paperwork and shuffling it in her hands.
Booth frowned slightly and walked towards Brennan's desk, placing his hands on it to keep his balance once he got there. She must've heard him. "Hey Bones, you awake up there?"
"Yes, Booth. Angela is just being Angela. You know how she is." Brennan responded very quickly. Almost too quickly.
If Booth hadn't known her as well as he did he would have mistaken her frankness for her normal attitude, but he knew that something wasn't quite right. What he didn't know though was what degree of not quite right it was.
"I really liked your text this morning, Bones." He leaned in so that his face was centimeters from hers. "You know how hard it is to leave you every morning."
Brennan half smiled in acknowledgement of his innuendo. Then Booth knew something was really wrong. She loved scolding him for making jokes like that in the Lab. It was 'unprofessional' and it was her 'workplace'. It always made him smile. This, however, did not.
"Okay, Bones. What's wrong? Those little wheels in your head are turning, and not in a good way." He moved to tuck a stray hair behind her ear but was too late as she sat back in her chair and let out a sigh.
"It's nothing, Booth. I'm being irrational."
"Please don't give me that. I'm not just anyone. You can't fool me when you're upset."
For a moment, Brennan contemplated making another excuse. It wouldn't have stopped Booth though. It would have made him more persistent and, ultimately, angrier.
"It's just some women that I overheard talking in the parking lot at Parker's school. It was all very odd. They coordinated both their haircuts and their vehicles and a…"
Booth didn't even let Brennan get far enough into her explanation to inform him of what had actually happened. He knew the women she was talking about and he knew the kinds of things they were saying.
"Those women? You can't listen to a word they say. They sit inside their houses all day making lists and cutting crusts off of sandwiches just waiting for the moment they can congregate and insult other people so they don't feel as bad about their sucky lives."
Booth did not hide his opinion of the mothers, and he did not hesitate in expressing it, which surprised Brennan. He was never one to tolerate people who didn't deserve to be tolerated but she had never heard him speak so disdainfully towards someone who hadn't committed a crime.
He continued with a tinge of anger in his voice. "What'd they say, Bones?"
Brennan saw the same anger that was in his voice in his eyes. She couldn't find the words.
"Temperance. What did they say about you?"
Her first name. He used her first name. She let a little gasp. He only used her first name when he desperately needed her to listen to him and remember what he was trying to convey. As she looked at the emotion in his face, she knew she had to tell him.
"They said 'I bet he's just using her to look after Parker until she comes back', and then 'Does she think that anyone would take her being a part of his life seriously' and that 'Parker deserves to have his real mother in his life, not some poor substitute.'" Brennan spoke slowly, watching Booth's face fall with every quoted insult. He looked at her with as much care as he could muster. He didn't speak. He stood up straight and walked around Brennan's desk to where she was sitting, pulling her up into an embrace.
"Of course you would remember it word for word." He muttered as he rubbed his hands over her back and pressed a single, subtle kiss on her forehead.
In Booth's arms, her resolve broke. "It's not true is it? I'm not a poor substitute for a mother, am I?"
Booth felt his heart break. Brennan would have told him that hearts couldn't technically break, but he knew better.
He broke their embrace but reconnected them by grabbing Brennan's hand and pulling her towards the windowed side of her office. From her new position, Brennan could see Parker sitting cross-legged on top of Hodgins' station with a Twizzler poking out from his mouth and the rest of the package safely in his hands. He was wide-eyed, listening intently to every word that Hodgins said as he motioned to an evidence tray that was sitting beside the boy.
Booth pointed straight at where Brennan had already been looking, at their son. "You see that kid up there? He is your son no matter what anyone else says. When he wakes up in the middle of the night and wants his Mommy, he wants you. He doesn't want Rebecca. Rebecca is a stranger to him and what he does remember is going to scar him for a long time. Every day that you wake up you love him. You take care of him, and teach him and protect him and put him first even though you have absolutely no obligation to him. Parker is blessed to have you in his life and I am blessed to have found someone to love my son like I do. No one has the right to gossip about you and no one has the right to make you feel inadequate, especially when it has to do with something that you are twenty times better at then them. Next time someone tries to say that Parker deserves more than you, you look at him. You look at the way he runs to you after being away from you. You look at the way he smiles when you praise him. You look at the way he says he loves you like it is the easiest thing in the world. You look at him and decide for yourself whether or not you're a good mother. Believe me, it's an obvious answer."
Brennan was speechless. Booth was looking at her with such fervor that is made her breathless. It seemed as if he would have done anything to convince her. Which he would have.
Booth broke the silence though, as he rubbed his thumb across the skin of the hand he was still holding. "Now that we've handled that, I'm going to take the little guy back to my apartment and feed him some dinner. I know Angela said you had some work you had to finish, so just take your time. No rush. I'll wear him out by the time you get there to tuck him in." He squeezed her hand before letting it go and walking towards the door.
Brennan started to walk back towards her desk but she was stopped by Booth's voice in the doorway. "He loves you, never forget that." She smiled to herself for the first time that whole day.
Even though she knew that Booth was right there was still a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something still wasn't right. But she would have to deal with that later, for now, like the good anthropologist she was, she sat down at her desk to do her work and tried to push her emotions to the back of her mind.
(*)
By the time that Brennan had finally gotten to Booth's apartment that night, she was worn out; both physically and emotionally. It had been the first time in weeks that she had spent more than six or so hours a day working in the lab. When Parker had been let out for summer break, she and Booth had taken on a lighter work load so that they could manage having their son home all day. She had forgotten how much work working was.
Then on top of that there were those women; the malicious mothers from the parking lot that thought they knew everything about her life. The ones who thought they knew the Booth boys, her boys. Her family.
No matter how hard Brennan tried to push their insults and assumptions to the back of her mind, she couldn't stop thinking about their words. No matter how much she focused on what Booth had told her at lab, she still couldn't stop the worry from creeping into her mind. It had been hours since it occurred but the sting still felt just as harsh as it had initially. Being so affected by stranger's words confused her. It made her feel sick to her stomach and completely dizzy at the same time. Had she really changed that much?
She wanted a drink. Actually she wanted about five of them. She wanted to lie down and fall asleep for as long as her brain allowed her to. Yet more than either of those, she wanted to curl up next to Parker and hug him to her until his breathing lulled her to sleep.
So that is exactly what she decided to do. She didn't even bother to inform Booth of her presence. She merely slipped off her shoes and silently walked back towards the room that held her resting son.
By the time she reached the doorway of Parker's room, though, her plans changed. The moment that her eyes fell upon his tiny face she decided that she wanted to watch him sleep instead. In that instant alone she had felt her mood lift. He looked so serene, so at peace. Everything that she wished she could be.
Brennan tiptoed closer to his bed. Kneeling in the soft carpet right beside the place where his head lay. Her position allowed her gaze to stare directly upon his face without strain. She could already feel the knots in her neck loosening just from the sound of his steady breathing.
His nose fluttered with every inhalation and exhalation that passed through it. She could feel his breath in her own lungs, her own breathing slowing to match his pattern.
Booth wasn't using her. She knew that. He had never outright told her that but on multiple occasions he had expressed guilt for 'trapping' her or 'guilt-tripping' her. He would never put the effort into saying that if he hadn't meant it. That was just unreasonable. Plus, Brennan never put stock in just being able to feel something, but if there was anything that she could it would be that Booth cared about her more than that.
Parker's left hand laid halfway curled beside his face, his thumb pointing towards his barely-opened mouth as if he had been sucking on it before falling asleep. The left side of his face was burrowed into the pillow so that almost half of it was buried away from her sight yet she could still see that his cheek was pink from the pillows friction.
Booth had been right earlier. There was absolutely no way that she could be considered a bad substitute for a mother. She thought about what he had said and she just knew. She made sure Parker ate a healthy breakfast and put the right shoe on each foot. She reminded him of his manners and taught him how to treat the environment with respect. No matter where she was or what she was doing she had half of her thoughts and one of her eyes focused on him. She'd opened her life up to him; toys scattered all over her apartment, a small light blue toothbrush in the holder next to hers, and Disney DVD's in all six slots of her changeable player. When he hurt, she hurt. When he smiled, she smiled. When he spoke, she listened. When he cried, she held him and called him her baby. If that was what being a bad substitute for a mother was, and if rejecting and leaving your child like Rebecca did was the proper thing to do, then Brennan knew why she wanted nothing to do with it in the first place. Yet she had learned what real motherhood was and she was going to spend every day trying to make up for the pain that Rebecca had caused her little boy.
Parker's eyelashes were long and dark against the light, delicate skin of his eyelid. Brennan could see small movements beneath them; he was dreaming. She wished that she could know what he was dreaming about. She imagined that it was pleasant, fantastical in some way. It had to be; the corner of his mouth turned upwards into a smile as he pushed his head farther into his pillow and causing his light blonde curls to fall over the eyelashes that Brennan had just been admiring.
She was a part of Booth's life. Objectively, Brennan would say that she was a fairly large part of his life. Even before Parker. They had worked together every day and when they weren't on a case they had seen each other for some reason or another. Reasons that, in retrospect, seemed somewhat premeditated. Then after Rebecca left, even though it was actually mathematically impossible, it seemed as if the time they spent together quadrupled. As the months passed they spent as much of every day together as possible. Every meal and every bed time story that they could manage. They shopped for groceries together. They went on vacations together. They celebrated holidays together. They told each other when they would be late so no one worried. It was like Angela had said in her office earlier that afternoon; they were virtually a married couple, except for the sex. Which was true, they didn't have sex. They just kissed each other from time to time. And occasionally made out on couches…and hotel beds…and lounge chairs on the roof of her building. That didn't necessarily mean that she couldn't keep her hands off of him, she could have just needed a release. But she didn't need a release. She needed him.
It finally hit her. What the ladies in the parking lot had said that day, and what she and Booth had relentless tried to convince the world of since the day they started working together, was false. They weren't just partners.
They planned birthday parties and watched Nickelodeon together. They weren't just partners. They bickered over the perfect first day of first grade outfit and the use of chocolate in breakfast foods but they made up with apologetic kisses on fingers and napes of necks. They were not just partners. They fell asleep in each other's arms without a word otherwise. They were not just partners. They missed each other when they were apart for a few hours. They weren't just partners. They felt jealous and protective and unworthy and lucky and utterly happy to be near one another all of the time. They weren't just partners.They laughed and played and lived and worried and loved with each other. They weren't just partners. They were Mommy and Daddy. They were definitely not just partners. They were so much more. They were everything more.
Had it really taken her this much time to realize that?
All of a sudden, Brennan felt a hot breath on her shoulder. "Hey, I didn't hear you come in."
She inhaled deeply, knowing what she was about to do. "We're not just partners."
Brennan had anticipated some sort of celebration, an 'I told you so' or a dance or at least a triumphant smile, but all she felt was his lips barely ghosting the curve of her ear.
"No, Bones. We aren't. And if you ask me, I don't think we ever have been."
At that, Brennan turned her head slightly, causing her ear to brush across his mouth in an unintentional caress. A shiver shot up her body. Booth studied her face. He had never seen so much thought and emotion and sincerity brimming up from inside of her.
Brennan closed her eyes, feeling more defenseless than she had ever felt before. Yet as she opened her mouth to speak, she found that she was not afraid of her vulnerability. "I cannot say for sure that your hypothesis is correct but I can say with certainty that it is true in this moment and that I have no interest in continuing to pretend that it isn't."
And with that simple declaration, Booth only knew of one thing to do.
He kissed her. He only had to move a little to press his lips to hers, and even then, he did so as softly as he could. He knew it wasn't their first kiss, in fact it was nowhere close to being that, but the words that had just been spoken made him feel like it was. Their first real kiss.
And all of a sudden, with that simple caress of lips, Brennan was okay. She knew who mattered and she knew what was important. She knew that her new life had changed her, but she also realized that it was for the better. Yet most of all she knew that she was supposed to right where she was, kissing Booth.
The sweetness of that first instant was short lived though. Both suddenly remembered exactly how the other tasted and exactly how they other felt against their own lips and neither planned on wasting that sensation on delicacy. They knew that they had to talk about everything that was going to come hand in hand with her revelation, but in that moment the only thing that mattered was them finally being able to be completely together for the first time.
Booth pressed his lips to Brennan's, fitting his upper lip in between hers and sucking the bottom one roughly into his mouth. Her hands flew up to his body, one anchoring itself onto his upper arm and the other winding itself in his hair to drag him closer to her mouth. Brennan thought of how much time had been wasted. She wanted him as close as she could get him. As she pulled at him though, Booth bit Brennan's lip in shock. She whimpered.
With that noise, Booth knew exactly where this was going, and it certainly was not going to happen on his son's bedroom floor. Well, at least not while he was there.
Somehow, Booth gathered the will power to pry himself away from Brennan. She whimpered again, but this time it was a cry of frustration. She pressed her hands into the carpet behind her and leaned back, arching her body in a feline manner and sweeping her eyes over him with a smirk. She was going to kill him.
His blood was boiling; he couldn't wait any longer to get Brennan out of Parker's room and into his own. He forcefully grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the hallway and around the corner. Once they were out of eyeshot from Parker's room, Booth pushed Brennan into the wall and pressed his entire body against her. He felt solid and strong. Even though his skin was hot, it made her shiver.
Brennan groaned as Booth nipped at her neck between words. "I. Am. Not. Paying. For. His. Therapy." He punctuated his last word by sucking a spot on her shoulder into his mouth. When he released her skin, he murmured into her. "And those sexy little noises do nothing for my self-control."
His hands, which had been pressed against the wall behind Brennan, fell down to her hips, holding her in place between him and the wall. Booth dared to drag his thumbnail underneath the waistband of her skirt but he caught her moan with his own mouth as he moved to kiss her again.
This time their kissing was passionate. It was all tongues and hands and everything that they had just stopped themselves from before now. It was full of everything that they wanted to say but couldn't have before then. In this moment, Brennan felt as if everything that they had said and been through in the past years had built up and finally clicked together. For the first time in her life she felt like she was where she was supposed to be.
Brennan slid her hands underneath Booth's t-shirt and scratched her fingernails up his back as he swept his tongue across her lip. As he felt her nails tickle his body, Booth let out an almost feral growl. Brennan took his momentary distraction as an opportunity to wind her hand in the fabric of his shirt and drag him to his bedroom.
Booth chuckled in a low growl, a noise that Brennan had never heard from him before. "Can't handle not being in control, Bones?"
She didn't answer him with words but as soon she crossed the threshold of the room she used her grip on his shirt to pull it up over his head and reveal his chest to her. Without even taking a moment to ogle him, she used her other hand to push him backwards into the frame of his door.
Seemingly moving to kiss him once again, she started to move towards his lips but instead dropped to feather light, wet kisses across his chest, sweeping her tongue over his skin to taste him. She traced aimless shapes on his body with her tongue and stared up at him from under her eyelashes. She saw him smirk, obviously under the impression that he was still in control despite his position, so she ended her swirl and bit his nipple.
Booth hissed at the pressure and then groaned as she dragged her tongue over where she had just bit.
"I'd say I was in control, actually." Brennan argued in a husky tone.
Hearing her voice so deep and raspy, and knowing it was because of him, set him off. He had known that it was going to be incredible, once Brennan had made the same realization that had years before. But he didn't know that getting to know this side of her would be so instantly addictive. He had to gain the upper hand again.
And so he did.
As Brennan continued to lick and bite her way up his chest, Booth muttered 'You are wearing far too many clothes.' and tore her blouse open, littering the floor with its buttons. In the same moment he picked her up by the hips and turned the tables once again.
"I would have to disagree about the being in control part." He pulled at her ear lobe with his teeth.
Pressed against the cold door frame, Brennan felt as if Booth's body was setting hers on fire. Her mind screamed that it was physically impossible but something inside her screamed back to be quiet. If Booth wanted to set her on fire, he could. Impossibilities be damned.
After a moment of simply standing against one another, feeling the pressure of their connection, he stepped back slightly. He allowed just enough space for his hand to trace a line from her navel all the way up to her neck.
"God, I have always fantasized about having you against a wall." Booth panted, moving his finger towards the curve of her breast and running it along the fabric of her bra.
Brennan gasped as a chill ran through her body at his words. She could get used to hearing those kinds of things coming out of his mouth. She wanted to hear about every single one of his fantasies. She wanted to make every single one of them a reality. Yet, suddenly, a very important factor popped into her mind.
"What about Parker, Booth. Won't he hear us?"
Booth gave her a lopsided grin as he reached behind her to unclasp her bra. "That's another thing you have to learn when you become a parent, Bones, how to be quiet…"
Booth watched as Brennan's bra fell from her shoulders and joined the rest of their discarded clothes on the floor. He grinned as he watched her start to walk backwards towards his bed with glint in her eye.
"Besides, we have some unfinished business to attend to." He returned her a mischievous look as he reached his hand towards the door knob.
Brennan chuckled sexily with reminiscence. "Remember to lock it this time, Booth."
ONE WEEK EARLIER
Brennan slowly drifted back into her conscious state and awoke. Her eyes opened to darkness. She guessed that a dream had forced her to stir in the middle of the night, but her place on the right side of the bed gave her a clear view of the clock on the bedside table told her that it was just a few minutes past six. She stretched her legs and felt them brush against a pair of even stronger limbs.
Booth.
During the night both of their bodies shifted from the spooning position they fell asleep in. Brennan had moved onto her back and he now lay on his stomach. His arm that was locked around her torso hadn't moved however. A quick thought passed her mind that his position couldn't be comfortable for his shoulder. So out of pure concern for his well being, she turned to lie on her side right side which simultaneously turned his snoozing body so that they were face to face.
A small sound emitted from Booth's throat. Brennan stayed silent fearing that she had woken him. His breath quickly evened back out and he buried his head deeper into the pillow that both of their heads now rested on.
She could feel him everywhere. Chests pressed together. Legs tangled. Brennan's hand carefully crept up the arm that was wrapped around her. The sensation of her nails running along his lightly tanned skin forced another soft groan from his throat. She smiled when her palm made it to her goal place on his shoulder. Lightly, she massaged the area.
It didn't take long for her bedmate to wake.
The corners of his mouth turned upward. His iron arm tightened around her so there was no space between them. A small gasp escaped Brennan's mouth when she felt another part of his body that apparently got an earlier start than them both.
"Good morning." His gruff voice sounded.
Surrendering to her impulse, she pushed her hips roguishly into his. "Good morning." Her words feigned innocence.
When Booth finally opened his eyes he wished he had a camera handy. This image he needed to capture and save for a lifetime. Messy hair, not an ounce of make-up, and sleepy eyed. Last night he had seen her completely done up, but her beauty after hours of primping couldn't compare to her the angelic vision before him. Before he could say another word, she pushed herself against him again. She may have looked like an angel but they way she was teasing downright devilish.
"Don't tempt me." He growled.
She grinned and relaxed her body, separating their hips slightly. "It's early. We should sleep."
Booth arched and stretched the muscles in his back. He kept his arm across her body when he propped his head up with his other hand and to look down on her. "We could sleep or we could…"
Brennan caught her bottom lip between her teeth. The spark she saw in his eyes reinforced her belief that he truly loved when she did that. He lowered his head until his face was cradled between her neck and shoulder. "Or we could get up."
His arm across her body pulled inward and his palm snuck under her pajama top to rub smooth circles on her stomach. "Try again."
She brought her own hand to his back and caressed it up and down. "Or I could get up and you could go back to sleep."
He expressed his disapproval of her answer by opening his mouth against her throat. His lips worked like magic against her with the perfect balance of loving kisses and playful nips. Her knees parted when his leg work its way between them. "Try again."
By now her breathing was labored. She tried to turn so she could reap the benefits of his talented mouth with her own, but every time she attempted to move he moved his mouth went lower. He trailed his lips across her upper chest that was exposed from the tank top she wore. "Or you could kiss me."
"Thatta girl."
They kissed relentlessly. Mouths opened. Tongues explored. Hands grabbed. Brennan's mind didn't sober until she felt his hands work their way under her shirt and reach for her chest. She broke her lips away from his and turned her face to the side, slightly shocked that he'd broken the limit of their physical contact. Booth took it as encouragement to go back to working on her neck.
She moaned at the sensations his skilled fingertips sent through the nerves of her sensitive flesh. He surprised her again by pulling his hands away from her breasts and tugging on the bottom of her shirt. In an instant, he had shed her of her top and she lay bare before him.
He didn't mean to gape at her, but how could he not? She was flawless. As much stock as he put in romance and fate, he didn't think this level of perfection existed. Every woman he'd been with in the past had a flaw. Cam didn't know how to kiss without biting Rebecca's body was lopsided in all the wrong places. That was just to name a few.
But not her. Not his Bones.
Brennan had never felt so naked in all her life. Granted, she was actually nude, but she felt like he wasn't just gazing at her body. It was like he was looking right through her. She didn't know if she could take it if he saw something he didn't like.
"Gorgeous." He whispered before leaning down to kiss her once more. He felt her smiling against his lips and suddenly he was the person feeling his shirt being pulled at.
"It's only fair." She spoke against his mouth as his upper body was revealed to hers.
Before he could lean back down, she placed her hands on his chest. What was happening between them now was something they were only going to experience for the first time once. With brown eyes boring into blue, she found the courage to speak. "Booth, I need to….t-tell you."
The cloud of lust thinned within Booth's mind. There was no way she was going to say…that. Was there? "What?" Her mouth opened but no words came out. He cupped her face in his hand. "Bones, you can tell me anything."
She took a breath. "I have begun to find that you…you trigger frequent releases of dopamine and norepinephrine in my brain."
Unlike most times, Booth understood every word. He kissed her square on the lips before whispering "You make my head spin too, Bones."
The worshiped each other with their mouths, both finally having tastes of skin that had been forbidden up to now. But they wanted more. They needed more. Booth's hand slide up and down her thigh. Brennan made sounds she didn't know she was capable of when his fingers curled into the waistband of her shorts.
All of a sudden, the sound of an opening door forced both adult's actions to halt. The realization hit them both at the same time as to who was entering the room. They separated and pulled the comforter over their bodies like two teenagers caught by their parents.
"Mommy? Daddy? Are you guys awake or are you still sleeping?" Parker asked in a hushed voice.
Brennan would have laughed. How could he expect them to answer if they were asleep? The humor of his question was lost on her however. Her racing heart and throbbing body was too distracting at the moment.
"We're awake." Booth answered, obviously trying to conceal that he was trying to catch his breath.
"Did you have fun at your gala?"
"We did." Brennan took the liberty of responding to him.
Parker was about to tell them how his stomach woke him up grumbling, but then he spotted something lying to the side of the bed.
"Mommy, why is your shirt on the ground?"
"Uh, she got hot, bub." Booth almost patted himself on the back for pulling the response out of thin air.
Parker nodded, satisfied by that answer. "Oh. I just kick the covers off."
"Why don't you go and pick out which cereal you want this morning? Mommy and me will be out there in a minute."
The patting of little feet told Booth and Brennan that they were once again alone. When the two finally looked at each other it didn't take more than five seconds for them to break into hysterics.
Brennan held her hand to her chest as she laughed. "I think it would be wise to lock the door in the future."
"Definitely." Booth agreed, chuckling. "You know we shouldn't be laughing right? If he would have walked in ten minutes later we'd be paying for some serious therapy."
Brennan leaned up and rested on one elbow, facing him. The blanket covering her slipped down a little giving him one last look at her. "It looks like we have some unfinished business, Agent Booth." She smiled wickedly and pecked his lips once before rolling to get out of bed.
"Damn right we do, Dr. Brennan."
IS EVERYONE SMILING? We really, really, really want to know if you are.
Also, we tried to keep the smut level close to what we see in PG-13 movies. It won't go farther than this, but if it made you uncomfortable then we apologize.