The following morning, Booth woke first. He yawned and stretched before looking down lovingly at the woman still fast asleep on his shoulder. Moving her gently to the pillow, he wandered through to the kitchen to make some coffee and waffles, unable to keep the huge smile from his face when he remembered the night before, and how sweet her kiss had been.
He decided she deserved breakfast in bed that morning. Kicking the door gently open with his hands too busy carrying the tray to open the door properly, he froze at the sight in front of him. There were marks all down her back, scars that would forever be there. It looked in some ways even worse now it had healed and there was no bruising to hide the pain she must have suffered, that he was too obtuse to do anything about. But even worse than that were the marks he'd known nothing about.
Jumping around, she grabbed the closest jumper to her, holding it up to cover her body as she stared at him in horror. He just stood there dumbfounded, unable to describe how upset he was to her.
"Booth! What are you doing? You're not supposed to see that," she accused, dashing to the bathroom and locking the door behind her. He was sure he could hear the faint sounds of her crying, but dared not interrupt her in case he upset her further.
Eventually the door opened, and a more composed Bones stepped out, a hard look on her face that he hadn't seen in a long time, that he recognised as her compartmentalising. He looked broken, sat on the bed with his hands clasped and his shoulders slugged. As he looked up to meet her eyes, she almost saw the same amount of pain that she'd suffered written there.
"Bones, I think maybe I should have said something before," he told her, standing but not moving towards her for fear of scaring her off again. She shook her head, wrapping her arms protectively around herself.
"No, Booth, there's nothing to apologise for. You shouldn't have seen that, I didn't want you to. But now that you have, we just move on. It happened, and that's the end of it."
"Why?" he asked softly, seeing her look up cautiously, obviously not expecting the curious and caring question. "Why does it bother you that I saw it?"
She sighed. "Booth..."
"No, Bones. No more hiding. I don't care what it looks like, OK, I saw before when you were hurting and it looks a damn site better than it did then!"
She looked up with tears close to the front of her eyes. "Then why did you look so shocked and appalled at what you saw?"
"Oh, Bones..." he groaned, starting forwards and wrapping her in his arms. She hugged him back, burying her face in the comfort that was his shoulder, so sure that she'd lost him. "I was appalled that someone had done that to you. That I'd let it happen without stopping it. That there were marks you'd never told me about that maybe I could have helped with. That's what I was appalled about, not you. You're beautiful to me, everything about you."
"You can't possibly mean that. I'm ugly now."
Reaching forwards, he pushed her away by her shoulders. Her eyes met his, and he waited until he was sure she was with him, that he had her trust completely. Reaching down, he slowly pulled up her top, giving her plenty of time to run should she want it. She didn't. She wanted to see what he was doing, what he meant for her to understand.
Once her skin was bared to him, he gently reached forwards and traced the scars with his fingertips. She shivered. It had been a long time since anyone touched her so lovingly, and she'd forgotten how much she missed it. The initial wave of revulsion of what he must be thinking slowly receded when his face showed nothing but love and tenderness for her.
Leaning forwards, he let his lips touch gently at the silvery marks. He felt a shudder, and looking up to see that Brennan had her eyes shut, a small smile forming on her face. She gasped as he carried on his gentle kisses, her hands falling to the top of his head as she stroked the soft hair there. A small groan left her mouth without her permission, and she could feel Booth smiling as he kissed her stomach one last time, standing up and carefully replacing her jumper.
"You're here with me, Bones, that's what matters. I'll take you any way I can get you."
"Booth," she groaned, falling bonelessly against him. He grinned, kissing her hair softly as he caught her easily, sitting on the bed next to her.
"Well, that's not quite the reaction I expected," he told her, seeing her eyes open and look at him, that twinkle he'd missed so much back where it belonged.
"It's been a long time before someone...before I felt like that," she told him, blushing slightly and dropping her eyes. "Thank you."
He grinned, rubbing his thumb gently on her cheek. "My pleasure, Bones. I enjoyed it too," he admitted, seeing her grin as she kept her eyes away from his. "Just, not more secrets, and no more hurting without telling me, OK? I hate to see you so sad, especially when you don't need to be."
Looking up at him then, she saw how much he cared. "I won't. Will you...would you tell me too, if you know I upset you, or something's bothering you?" she asked timidly, seeing him smile.
"Of course, partners, right? That means in everything to me."
Leaning forwards suddenly, she captured his lips again, thrilled when he groaned, obviously appreciative. This time, as he kissed her back just as enthusiastically, he let his hands wander to her hips, stroking their way around to run up and down her back. She jumped at first, not used to the touch and instantly afraid, before he reassured her. She relaxed, letting her own hands reach the back of his neck.
Booth grinned to himself as she pulled back, a peaceful and happy look on her face. They were really making progress, and he wondered if soon he might be able to initiate romance himself. Sighing happily, he flopped down on the bed, hearing a laugh from above him. Opening a suspicious eye, he saw that she was teasing, and reaching up pulled her down next to him, secretly enjoying her indignant squeal and the way she hit his shoulder not quite hard enough to hurt him. But what he liked even more was when she buried her head on his shoulder again, nestling even closer when he wrapped his arm around her.
Booth wandered down to the lab a week later. He smiled at Angela who grinned and waved cheerfully. She knew that he was the reason her best friend was back to her old self, or even better, with a cheerful glow to her cheeks and a happy twinkle back in her eyes. Heading straight for the familiar office, he paused in the doorway and smiled to himself, watching as she typed away on her computer, not aware that he was there.
Walking up behind her, he snaked his arms around her waist. She jumped, still getting used to this affection from Booth, or at least from someone who wasn't going to hit her afterwards. The anxiety turned into a groan when she felt his talented lips at the nape of her neck, her body relaxing against him without her permission as she gripped the desk in front of her.
"Hi, beautiful," he murmured in her ear, kissing the angle of her jaw as he allowed her to turn.
Not wanting him to have the upper hand, she let her lips lock with his, gently kissing him as her hands roamed over his muscular chest. She could feel his heart pounding faster, especially when she snaked a tongue out to lick seductively over his bottom lip before pulling back, knowing that he hadn't wanted that to end.
"Hi."
He groaned, hugging her before letting her go again. "You're a tease, Bones, do you know that?"
She grinned, sitting back down in front of her computer and frowning at the message there from her publisher. She clicked a few times to get rid of it, before looking up to see that Booth had perched himself on the edge of her desk.
"What did you want, Booth?" she asked curiously, the tone of her voice letting him know that she was secretly pleased to see him.
"Can't a man just pop down to say hi to his best friend?" he asked, seeing her fold her arms and watch him suspiciously. "Well, and I wanted to take you to lunch to make sure you ate something."
She sighed. "I can look after myself. I've been doing it for many years now."
He nodded. "I know that, but I get lonely when I have to eat alone, and you wouldn't want me to have to suffer all alone in the diner, would you?"
Rolling her eyes, Brennan stood and grabbed her coat, knowing that she was never going to win this argument anyway. He signalled for her to lead the way, walking behind her with a loving expression on his face, knowing that he was safe to adore her when her back was turned. Angela snickered to herself before she turned away to her office. The next few days were going to be a huge ordeal for Brennan, and she was glad that she had Booth there leading the way for her.