Chapter 6

Day 6: Wednesday

Booth

Only Bones would send him a text with just his name in it.

Hey Bones everything okay?

Does last Friday count as day 1 of our experiment or is Saturday day 1. If we are counting Friday as day 1 then today is day 6

You're over thinking it

That isn't an answer. If we are counting Friday as day 1 and today is day 6 then we don't have much time left. Really just the remainder of today and tomorrow.

I know Bones don't worry about it

I am not worried, I am exact. Science is exact.

what time are you done with work tonight

I have a late meeting I'm not sure when I'll be done. Why?

Just come straight to my apartment when you're done I'll have dinner for you

Her next three texts came in quick succession.

Okay

Booth

You didn't answer my question.

We'll talk about it tonight :) You looked beautiful this morning

You left before I got ready Booth you couldn't possibly know how I look

you always look beautiful but I was talking about before I left.

She blushed at the thought. But recovered quickly as she remembered how frustrated she was with him. He'd agreed to engage in this experiment with her. It was getting later and later in the week and they had yet to engage in coitus. It had been all she could think about all morning. Which led to wondering when they would complete the experiment. Which led her to the solid recognition that she was, indeed, extremely sexually frustrated.

It didn't matter where her mind started, it ended up on Booth. The feel of Booth's arms wrapped tightly around her when she had that nightmare. The rich deep timbre to his voice as he held her and talked to her promising to always be there for her, saying he'd never leave. The joy in Booth's eyes when he bought her the small stuffed monster named Joe. Booth's fingers wrapped around the tiny Skull jar necklace as it rested on her chest. Absently she'd pulled it out of her blouse and rolled it between her fingers as her mind continued down her Booth tailored rabbit hole. Booth and Parker waving to her while playing ball. Swaying to the live jazz music in the dark cool feel of Bohemian Caverns. The look in his eyes when he'd finally found the ridge of remodeling on those ancient bones. His worry as he left her that night.

And this morning, both of them in that beautiful sleepy fog of morning. Booth hovering over her as he whispered words of adoration to wake her. His movements or maybe hers had left a wide band of bare skin, that connected when Booth's solid frame moved over hers. The sensation was as real to her now as it was in that moment. She found it hard to breathe, hard to think of anything else. No matter what she set her mind to, it worked it's way back to Booth. Each memory started out alluring and ended in frustration.

Ultimately that's why she'd texted him. She was trying to figure out how much longer she would potentially have to wait. By the time she'd finished her meeting and was headed to Booth's apartment she was ready for a fight. Her plans were to pin him down to a time and place. If she knew then she could at least prepare her mind accordingly and create a plan to make the remainder of the time work rather than living in this constant state of uncertainty. She hated uncertainty.

He recognized her persistent knock immediately. Very similar to the fast hard knock that had pulled him out of deep sleep last Friday in the middle of the night and set this whole experiment in motion. He answered the door stepping back to take her in.

"See I told you, I knew you looked beautiful." She rolled her eyes.

"I look like I've been working all day." She stood before him in slacks and a cream colored silk shirt with decorative lace and beading around the shoulders and neck. It had been colder the last couple days. She wore a thin long sleeved shirt underneath. She'd worn this combo before. It was one of his favorites. He pulled her into a hug and let his hands move on the cool silk. Then gave her a long deep kiss. She had to remind herself that she was angry at him for making her wait for so long. Her anger got lost in his touch.

"Come on, dinner's ready." His hand firmly in the small of her back he guided her toward his small kitchen table. She felt spun about, the whole passionate speech she'd rehearsed and refined all afternoon and especially on the drive over, gone. How did he do that to her? She was bound and determined to speak her mind. But then she hadn't eaten all day and there was food in front of her, a glass of her favorite wine in her hand, and a kiss planted squarely on her forehead. "How was your day?" He asked as he sat down across the table from her. They ate and talked and she vowed to herself that as soon as they were done eating she would talk to him.

But putting away leftovers and doing dishes kept them busy. She was sure he'd distracted her on purpose as he pulled her into his living room. Soft music filled the dimly lit space. He set down his drink and took hers from her hand then pulled her into his arms as they moved slowly to the music. It seemed familiar, she recognized it from Saturday night at the jazz club. She pulled back and looked at Booth quizzically.

"I went back today on my lunch break and bought it." Jazz clubs and long dress zippers, secrets, shared experiences. Her mind immediately snapped back to the frustration she'd felt earlier in the day.

"Booth, when are we going to complete the experiment?" Although she tried to hide it she was sure her sense of desperation came through in her tone.

"I told you, Bones, you're over thinking it."

"There isn't much time left." He could feel her body tense as she became rigid in his arms. "When are we going to-"

"Make love." He cut her off putting his own choice of words in the place of her more scientific and distancing terms.

"Yes." She acquiesced. "When are we going to make love?"

"We have been all week, Bones."

"What? No we haven't, not even once." He chuckled at her obvious irritation. She pulled back and looked at him for a long time. "Not literally, you mean figuratively?"

Pulling her just a little closer he talked softly. "I love it when you wear this shirt." He fiddled with the ridges of silk that rose up in decoration on her blouse. "It drives me nuts though."

"Make comes from the Old English word macian meaning to form, construct or prepare." He could hear the careful consideration in her voice as she reasoned out loud.

Whispering in her ear, his words blew wisps of hair that had fallen out of her messy bun, they tickled as they settled back down around her face and neck. "Every time you wear it, it's all I can do to keep my hands off you."

"Old Frisian makia would mean to build."

"Every time I just want to hold you, feel the silky material under my hands, feel it slide on your skin." He let out a deep groan as his hands moved on that cool silky material working patterns along her back.

She was absent, still trying to figure out what he meant by asserting that they had been making love all week. "And the word love has it's Old English roots in the word lufu, Old Frisian luve, High German luba and Latin lubet meaning pleasing and lubido meaning desire." Her breath fell heavy as she gasped for air at the feel of his lips on her neck. He worked his way up to nibbling on her ear as he moved his hands and pulled her hair out so it fell down on her shoulders, pocketing her hair band.

"In a more literal sense making love would mean to form, construct or prepare, to build something pleasing and desirable."

"Desirable, yes." He plucked kisses from her lips. "Definitely desirable."

"So, you're saying that we have been building or constructing the framework upon which to..." She trailed off distracted by the feel of Booth's fingers working the buttons to her blouse. Heavy breaths in short succession, she couldn't think.

"I'm going to take this shirt off you now, if that's okay?" At first she could only nod her approval, breathless, her mind barely functioning.

"Blouse." Her correction, barely audible, seemed silly after it left her lips.

Lost in a whirlwind of emotions and chemicals, she felt his hands slip under the shoulders of her blouse and down along her back as the shirt fell. Chemicals, right? But it wasn't just chemicals traveling at breakneck speed throughout her limbic system. Her desire, his, the emotions his touch pulled from her were markedly different than any strictly biological reaction she'd ever felt.

Finally, he responded to her attempts to understand what he meant by making love all week."When you love someone and they love you, you build connections, Bones, a shared vulnerability."

She looked up into his eyes where she found the most complete sense of safety she'd ever felt. His hands moved so slowly up her sides. He watched her carefully, her posture, her breathing, but mostly her eyes. She nodded to him, yes, as she lifted her arms languidly over her head and closed her eyes letting herself feel his hands as they brushed their way up her body taking her undershirt with them.

"Connection, Bones, connection and a shared vulnerability, respect, love, built up until the need to share that in the most intimate way is overwhelming." He pulled his own t-shirt off and stepped into her. Her eyes darted over him. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him without a shirt before but this, this moment was different. She reached out to touch him with a sense of reverence and awe that they had finally come to this place, together.

He'd moved them, she hadn't noticed it had been happening when he did it, but he'd moved them. His bedroom was warm, dark woods and rich earthy colors. "To touch and caress, to kiss." Words illustrated by actions. "A way to show love, to be loved." Lost in his warm fluid touch and his deep rich voice, she felt swept away. Until there they were both bare in every way standing before each other ready to take a leap into the unknown. One last bit of explanation, he had to get out before that leap. "It's everything we are to each other, everything we can be together." They held each other loosely as their bodies brushed lightly against one another, every sense heightened, every touch breathtaking.

"When I touch you tonight, when you touch me, it'll carry everything we are together, everything we've shared." She lunged at his lips, unable to wait any longer, overpowered by it all. Flashing through her mind were all those same Booth moments that had tortured her all day. She found a release, a form of expression, as they explored every curve and plain of each others' body.

Scattered between the moments of breathtaking passion were tender words of awe. They whispered long held secret desires to one another then indulged themselves in fulfilling them. Unguarded, she felt free, in those moments they shared, free to say and be herself in a way she never had before.

The soft sound of her giggles as she responded to his tenderness and kisses was a sound he was sure he would never forget. The deep rich sounds of pleasure that escaped him would always echo in her. Every action, each movement brought them closer, wound them tighter, until her body reached for his demanding all of him. This was it, this was that moment, their moment. He watched her carefully as he pushed into her slowly. A wave of emotions washed over her, pulled her under, barely giving her time to breath before his movements, their movements, in perfect sync, left her overwhelmed both body and soul.

His body cradled hers in every way. Bent low to her ear he whispered. "I love you, Temperance."

They were close, so close, and she had to admit as they toppled over the edge together, there was a moment there when the laws of physics seemed suspended. There was an undeniable oneness between them.

Tears pooled in her eyes, he kissed them away. He stayed, hovered over her, shielded her, protected her as her breathing went back to normal. She couldn't speak it but she marveled that she could feel so absolutely vulnerable and completely safe at the same moment. Maybe like making love it defied the law so in that blissful moment they could coexist. As their bodies came to a natural separation he watched as that balance of power tilted and vulnerability won.

Her hands held his face, her kiss was sweet and true. Her words a glancing blow. "I need to think." She rolled out from beneath him and quickly started gathering her clothes.

"Stay, we'll work it out together. Think it through together." He begged.

"I can't think when I'm with you like this. I just need to think."

Grabbing his boxers, he hopped and teetered as he tried to keep up with her and put his them on at the same time. She was getting ready to leave. Another kiss, more pleading for her to stay, and she was gone.

He fell back into his couch.

"No, nope, this doesn't end this way." He said it to his empty apartment. "No." Pulling himself from the couch he dressed.

She ran, he chased. He needed her to know that he would come for her, that she wasn't alone in this. He knew where she went, he drove straight to the Jeffersonian, walked straight to limbo. About half way down the stairs he stopped and sat. She didn't acknowledge him. It was okay as long as she knew he was there. Booth watched her, his head resting on his hands. She'd pulled out a random bin of bones and had been methodically laying them out on a sterile work table. Some man or woman who needed a name, who had a story to tell but no one to listen to it but Bones, his Bones.

She held her gloved hands out far from her body as she flipped her head to move her hair back behind her shoulders. She been so distracted by the day that she'd worn the pony tail holder she kept in her lab coat pocket to Booth's. He had it, she had nothing to hold her hair back with. He watched her do it several times, irritated when her hair fell back in around her face. Grunting as he got up from where he sat he made his way down to where she was working. She ignored him until she felt him gather her hair and pull it back. His hand dove deep in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out her hair tie. It was sloppy and sideways but he'd pulled her hair back out of her way so she could work. Without a word she leaned back down to the table in an effort to examine the bones. He watched as she dabbed her tears on the sleeve of her lab coat. He rolled her into his arms.

"I forgot to tell you something, Bones. I forgot to tell you that love is scary. Opening yourself up to feel it, really feel it, like you did tonight is scary. It's easy to lose sight of everything you have to gain when what you have to lose can seem so overwhelming." He curled around her in every way he could. Completely enveloped her body with his own. Her silent tears became sobs.

"It's okay, baby, I know you're scared. I'm here, okay? I promise I won't leave you. I promise you're safe with me." He didn't really expect her to answer.

"Are you scared?" It came out barely a whisper. Her honest need to know evident in her desperate tone.

He gave her the truth. "Yes, I am. It's normal to be scared but it's worth it, Bones. Loving someone, building a life with them, it's scary but it's worth it. You are worth it."

She let out a long weighted sigh and pulled herself back so she could see his eyes. It was hard for her to admit it, he could see her discomfort. She seemed unsettled, making constant little movements to try and find the right stance.

His hands came up to gently cradle her face. His eyes danced with hers. She found them warm and safe.

Collapsing back into his chest she clung to him. There was so much she wanted to say, so much racing through her mind. What she thought, what she felt, waged a war in her head. But she couldn't articulate it, not one word of it. She felt panicked and paralyzed so she did the only thing she could do. She let him hold her, comfort her, and she held him.

A/N I continue to be so honored and humbled by the response to this little story. Thank you for continuing to go on this little journey with me! Just a little bit farther! :) As always I love to hear your thoughts and reactions – they are fuel for my gas guzzling muse!