A/N: Bones day (well, it will be this time next week anyway – yay!). Planned on posting this earlier this morning but got slammed with work, so I'm a little behind . . . the story of my life. (9/24/15)

Disclaimer: I own nothing Bones related except my imagination.

Booth walked into the break room in search of a fresh cup of coffee after spending a long and frustrating morning trapped in administrative meetings with the higher ups that started way too early and almost ran right over Dr. Sweets.

"Watch it there, Sweets," he snapped, wondering why it was that it seemed the young doctor was in the break room almost as much as his office some days. It was like he hung out there, just waiting to ambush unsuspecting Special Agents when they were in especially foul moods. Just what Booth needed on a Monday morning to start his week.

"Morning Agent Booth. You, ah, seem a little out-of-sorts today. Rough weekend?"

"No. I didn't have a rough weekend. I just spent the last couple hours with the A.D.D. and his associates which, I gotta tell you, is enough to ruin anyone's mood." He reached for the coffee pot then paused, thinking about how he had actually had a little too much scotch on Saturday night while he'd sat in front of the TV trying to forget that Bones was out on a date and he relented. "Well, I may have over-imbibed a bit this weekend and felt the effects of it Sunday morning, but I'm recovered from that now."

Sweet's chuckled. "Oh, that's right. Dr. Brennan mentioned you had some sort of obligation Saturday night, but she was pretty vague. What'd you do? Old Army buddy come through for a visit or something?"

Booth ignored the question, more interested in the fact that Bones had spoken to Sweets after that fiasco of their last conversation and curious as to what she'd told him and why. "You spoke to Bones? What did she say to you?"

"Dude. You totally missed out," Sweets gushed enthusiastically. "I went with her to the Jazz Festival Saturday night, you know, with her friend Lucas and his wife, Laura. It was so awesome and they were such a fun couple to hang out with. The music was just . . . aah, it was amazing. I know you like good jazz too so I was surprised that Dr. Brennan invited me to join her, instead of you, until she explained that you told her you had other plans when she mentioned it to you."

Booth was suddenly immobilized as the import of Sweet's words sank in and he swore he could even hear ringing in his ears. The impact couldn't have been more significant if Sweets had actually clubbed him over the head.

Lucas and his wife? His WIFE?

"You went out with Bones?" he managed to growl out between gritted teeth, needing to be sure he didn't misunderstand.

Booth was glaring at Sweets now with an intensity that made Sweets a little uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah. Well, you know, like a . . . a friend-date. That's all. I swear."

"And it was a double-date? The two of you with her friend Lucas and his wife?"

Sweets swallowed. Booth had to know there was nothing going on between him and Dr. Brennan. Sweets valued his life too much to ever try and make a move on her, certain that she'd kick his ass if he got out of line, then Booth would do it again. "Yeah. Dinner then the festival. All very friendly. Nothing inappropriate. I met them at the restaurant and didn't even follow her home. I swear."

"Fuck." Bones hadn't been inviting him to tag along on her date with another man. She had been asking him to be her date.

And he'd blown it.

Big time.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck."

Booth shoved his freshly poured cup of coffee into the hands of a thoroughly bewildered looking Sweets and rushed out of the room, straight to the elevators. Fuck. He needed to get to the Jeffersonian and find Bones. Now that he understood why she'd looked so hurt when he turned down her invitation, he was filled with a sense of urgency to see her as soon as possible. Damn his temper. Booth didn't have a clue what he was going to say to her when he got there. He'd have to figure it out on his way to her lab though because he knew he needed to fix this, right now.

Striding purposefully into the Jeffersonian lab, Booth looked around and spotted Cam standing near the base of the currently unoccupied examination platform talking to one of the anonymous lab technicians.

"Cam," he demanded. "Is Bones in her office?"

Cam swiveled to look at Booth, hearing the urgency in his voice but surprised to see him as they weren't in the middle of an investigation right then. "Seeley. Good Morning. Ah, no. I don't believe so. I believe she's studying a skeleton in Exam room 2. Is everything okay?"

Booth ignored her question. "Is there surveillance in that room?"

Cam's eyebrows popped up. "There's a camera mounted in the ceiling, but it really only monitors the door. Why?"

"Good. That's good."

"Again, why? What's going on, Seeley? Is something wrong? Is she in danger?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Cam. This is between Bones and me." he replied as he stormed off in the direction of Exam room 2.

Focused only on his destination, he missed seeing the bewildered expression on the pathologists face slowly dawn into one of comprehension as she figured out why he was there. "Oh, dear Lord," she muttered as she scurried back to her office, figuring the best thing she could do as both their friend and the Jeffersonian administrator was to simply duck and take cover until the dust settled. The less she knew, the better.

Booth paused for a just a brief moment when he got to the doorway leading into Exam room 2, and watched as Bones studied what looked like some unfortunate person's arm bone with single-minded intensity, holding it close to her face and running one latex covered index finger back-and-forth in small sensual movements across something only she could see. God, Booth found her incredibly sexy when she was like this. Someday, he really wanted her to touch and look at him the way she did her bones. He pictured himself in the buff, laying on his back in bed, hands folded behind his head, and Bones slowly and methodically examining every exposed inch of his body with her fingertips, just like she did with her bones. Maybe he was odd, but it had been a recurring fantasy of his for years.

He took a deep breath and offered up a quick prayer that he survive whatever ass-kicking he was about to receive before marching into the room, scanning the ceiling for the camera Cam mentioned almost reflexively and pulling the door closed behind him.

It was the snick of the lock falling into place that finally interrupted Brennan's concentration enough that she looked up, distracted, from the bone in her hands.

"Booth. What are you . . ."

He didn't even give her time to finish her question. Instead, he stepped right up against her, crowding her against the exam table, lifted both hands to cradle her head, and pressed his lips to hers. There was nothing soft or tentative about the kiss, but neither was it harsh or overly aggressive. It was the perfect amount of pressure as he claimed her mouth with his, melding their lips together in an intimate massage. It never even occurred to her to resist, as her mind instantaneously shut down and let her heart take over. Her body automatically leaned in towards his as though kissing him were as natural and familiar as breathing. And when he traced the seam between her lips gently with the tip of his tongue, she immediately yielded, opening for him and allowing him entrance into the cavern of her mouth. Back and forth their tongues parried, twisted, and tangled in a dance as old as time as seconds turned in to minutes. Booth drank from her mouth greedily, relishing the sweet taste and feel of her as he did his best to consume her and she responded with equal fervor. It wasn't until the desire for more – to touch her, explore her, possess her started to spiral out of his control that he forced himself to end the kiss and separate his lips from hers, pulling back just enough to allow him to see her face clearly.

Brennan's eyes blinked open slowly and Booth watched as the hunger and desire he saw there was eventually replaced by a perplexed frown. Brennan's mind was scrambled and her body awash with a heady mixture of chemicals and several seconds passed before she could even gather her wits enough to recall where she was, let alone process what had just happened.

She took a half step away from him and frowned. "You are a very confusing man," she accused softly.

Booth made a half-snort, half-grunt sound. "What I am, Bones, is an idiot. One who acted like a jealous Neanderthal last week even though I didn't have any right to feel that way and then I made matters worse by acting like an ass and jumping to conclusions. It's just, as soon as I heard Lucas's name, all I could think of was you and him, you know, together and I just kinda shut down and stopped listening."

Brennan turned towards the exam table and placed the bone that she'd been holding back in its proper location before stepping back further away from Booth, tugging off her latex gloves, and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Lucas and I are not and have never been lovers, Booth."

"Yeah, well, I know that now. Sweets said the two of you went out with Lucas and his wife on Saturday. I didn't know that Lucas was married Bones. I thought you and Lucas had a thing when you were in Machapoopoo together and you were inviting me to, you know, tag along on a date between the two of you."

"The Maluku's," she corrected automatically. "And that makes no sense to think I would invite you along on a date with someone else. Why would you think I was interested in Lucas? You know how I feel about you. It's not a secret to anyone anymore. Plus, I told you when I returned from that trip that I hadn't had the inclination for sex or romance while I'd been away."

"I know, but you always talk about satisfying biological urges and stuff and I wasn't sure if, you know, if doing that meant something different in your mind than having an inclination for romance. I was afraid that maybe if you considered casual sex as some sort of 'biological imperative', you might not think it counts."

Brennan stared at Booth, feeling a confusing mix of hurt, anger, and disappointment. "Is that what you think of me?"

"What?"

"I'm not promiscuous, Booth."

"I know that, Bones."

"I don't just hop into bed with any man who happens to come along and offer me sex. I turn down a lot of propositions."

"I get that . . ."

"I didn't have my first sexual experience until I was 22 and I can still count on one hand the total number of lovers I've had."

"Whoa. What? Really?"

"Yes. There was the man who initiated me into lovemaking, then Michael, Peter, Sully, and Mark."

"Oh. Huh. Wow. No one since Mark?"

"No. I'm practically a borne-again virgin it's been so long." She laughed, mocking herself before she looked away and swallowed nervously. "After Mark, I realized I no longer wanted to simply have sex with anyone. I wanted to make love the way you described it instead. With you. Since then, I've not been interested in anyone but you, Booth. Only you."

"Bones," Booth said her name reverently as he took a step towards her. He was humbled by her words.

Brennan took a step back. "No. I can't do this . . ." she waved her arm in front of her, ". . this back-and-forth dance. It's too confusing and too painful, Booth. I don't know what you want from me . . . what you expect from me. I need you to tell me exactly what it is you want our relationship to be. No more innuendo or hidden messages or ambiguity. You can't just come in here and start . . . start kissing me without telling me what it means. It's not rational."

Booth halted his pursuit and slipped his hands in his pockets where he could occupy his fingers fidgeting with his sobriety chip instead of reaching for her. "What I want and what I expect are not necessarily the same thing Bones. What I want is a life with you. I want to hold you, and touch you, and make love to you. I want to see your face right before I close my eyes at night and first thing when I open them in the morning. I want you to call me in the middle of the day just because you miss the sound of my voice. I want you to share your worries with me and let me share mine with you. I want you to love me as strongly and deeply as I love you. What I expect is just a chance. A chance to show you how good I believe we can be together. Nothing more. What do you say, Bones? Will you give me a chance? Will you give us a chance?"

Booth opened his arms, holding them stretched wide to his side, and stepped towards her again, cutting the distance that separated them in half and waited. It was her turn to choose.

Brennan studied his face, looking into his warm brown eyes like she had so many times before, and finally found the love she'd been looking for reflected back at her. This man that she was so crazy about was offering himself to her and she'd be a fool not to take him up on that. Dr. Temperance Brennan was nobody's fool. She was by all accounts a genius.

Brennan took a full step forward. Reaching out and grabbing hold of Booth's tie, she pulled him close against her as she stretched up on her toes and pressed her lips to his again while her free hand snaked around to the back of his neck and tangled in the short tufts of hair that brushed his collar. Once more, they lost themselves in the simple pleasure of a sensual kiss. Lips mating, tongues stroking, they finally loosened the reigns on the desire for each other that they'd both been holding in check for so many years.

Booth heard a soft moan rumble up from the depths of Brennan's throat that caused a visceral response in his body and he couldn't help but thrust his pelvis against hers, ensuring she'd feel exactly what effect she was having on him. It was hands down one of the sexiest sounds he'd ever heard and he was sorely tempted to take her right there in the exam room. But Bones deserved better. They deserved better. He didn't want their first time making love to be a frantic coupling against the wall in the lab, complete with a skeleton as witness. He wanted to be able to linger over her and explore her at a leisurely pace.

So, despite the message his nether regions were sending him and disregarding Brennan's mewl of protest, he broke the kiss, pulling back to simply admire her as he stroked the pad of his thumb across her cheek bone affectionately while they each attempted to gather their wits and calm their breathing.

"I don't think I can just turn around and go back to work right now. I want to spend some more time with you. What d'ya say we sneak out of here and go grab an early lunch together?" he asked.

"Is that a euphemism for sex?" she teased.

Booth barked out a laugh. "Geez Bones. To be honest, I was actually just hoping you'd let me hold your hand and play footsie under the table while I eat my burger and fries. Maybe we should slow down a bit and not rush the sex part. We haven't even gone out on a date together yet, although I'm hoping we can rectify that soon, maybe even tonight if you don't have other plans?"

"Traditionally, the dating ritual provides prospective romantic couples with the opportunity to each evaluate the other individual in the pairing during a pre-arranged social engagement in order to determine whether or not a mutual interest exists with regards to social philosophy and cultural behaviors, as well as physical appeal."

"It's a chance to get to know one another," Booth simplified.

"Yes. That's what I just said." Brennan looked at him like he was a simpleton, but only for a fleeting moment. Then her mouth kicked up in a smile the likes of which Booth had never seen on her before and her voice dropped to a husky murmur that flowed over him like a warm caress. "But you and I already know all about one another Booth. Every way except carnally, that is."

Whether it was the mischievous twinkle in her eye coupled with the sinful grin on her face or the tip of her finger that she had slid in between two of his shirt buttons that was currently stroking his abdomen and sending shock waves through his body, Booth knew at that moment that he was doomed to spend the rest of his life giving in to whatever would bring her the most happiness. Heaven help him if she ever figured out just how much power she had over him.

In a voice that rasped like it was dragged over sandpaper, Booth surrendered. "Let's get out of here, Bones. Where we go and what we do after that is negotiable."

A/N: I hope that helps make up for the last chapter, but I felt they needed a catalyst to bring them together. Happier now?