Chapter 12: Day One

I was awed and touched by the reviews. Thank you so much. You guys make my days brighter. This should be some chocolate coating for that bittersweet last chapter.

Brennan didn't know how long they stayed, an unusual tangle of limbs so reminiscent of the beginning of this weekend. Such a long weekend, she thought, dazed. But as her crying subsided and Booth's arms loosened she felt weak. The grass was cool beneath her palms and sighing she lay back on the ground, closing her eyes and feeling the stalks tickle her cheeks.

"Bones, you shouldn't…" he winced. He lay perpendicular to her and lifted her head with his hands. "Here. Lay on my stomach so you don't have to lay on her grave."

"You're laying on her grave," she pointed out, one perfect eyebrow arching over an ice blue eye.

"Nah," he scoffed a laugh, and craned his neck up at her as she grinned, feeling his breath puff beneath her neck as his stomach moved up and down. "Most of me is off her."

"She wouldn't mind," Brennan said softly.

"You sure about that?" Brennan nodded and Booth could feel her bun riding his shirt up and down, letting a few stray hairs brush his bare stomach. He stifled a smile and smothered a groan. She could still feel it though and chuckled under her breath, making sure to "stretch" her shoulders into his hips.

"Bones, you're doing that on purpose." He snapped, panic tainting his voice. If she didn't stop soon, she was going to have a very friendly neighbor to the left of her cheek.

They both lay quiet.

"I can feel you breathing," she smiled.

"Yeah?" grinned Booth, "didn't you play this game as a kid?"

"No," she answered truthfully. "I didn't have many friends."

"Oh, that's right. Max mentioned that."

"I'm aware," she muttered darkly. He immediately turned indignant.

"You're aware?" he all but shouted, "you listened to my soul wrenching confession as your father grilled me-"

"He didn't grill you Booth, I was there."

"Well it sure felt like it," he grumbled. "But you turn out to be awake!" He was silent, and when he spoke again his voice was hesitant, as if he were walking on glass sheeting.

"You knew?" he asked guiltily. "You knew that…that I loved you?"

"I knew you think you love me," she admitted, her voice so soft he hardly caught it, but he could feel her words rumbling from her jaw bone directly into his hips.

"I do love you." His voice was honest and darkly flavored with hurt and sincerity, a bittersweet chocolate combination that was threatening to melt her defenses.

"Booth," she sighed, and rolled her face to one side to face his chest and somewhere behind his pectorals, his head. "You think so. I saw the scans-"

"So did I." She blinked.

"You did?"

"Sweets showed me. He told me it wasn't permanent and that the symptoms would fade. I wasn't sure if I believed him, but I waited...When they didn't, I asked Cam's advice-"

"You told Cam?"

"She guessed," he confessed guiltily. "She knows me too well and has for too long. And frankly Brennan…I think everyone knows."

"Angela," muttered Brennan darkly, "for years now. She almost thought of going for you in the beginning." Booth reared up on his elbows and looked down at her head on his abdomen.

"Really?" Brennan nodded the affirmative. His face broke into a slow smile but it faded into genuine affection. "But after we first met…even on our first case…I knew it would only be you I would sleep with if I could pick anyone in the lab."

"Half of them are male," scoffed Brennan. "Hardly a choice." His eyes still bored into hers unrelenting, until she was almost shaking. He could feel it too. "Are you scared?" he asked softly. She looked into his eyes. Yes, her heart whispered.

"No," said her mouth confidently. His own eyes crinkled into a smile as his mouth twisted.

"Liar," he accused before laying back down. She felt and heard him huff a laugh and they were silent for a while again, staring at the overlapping branches of the trees.

"This is…nice," said Brennan eventually, surprised at herself. "I hate graveyards. I hate funerals. I hate death."

"Funny, since you work so closely with it every day."

"I work closely with you every day," she countered. His brow puckered.

"What does that have to do with anything?" She blushed and shook her head.

"Nothing." He pressed and nagged her until she shrugged and relented. "Fine. I feel like that you're the most alive person I've ever met. That you relish life the most. And I admire the quality is all. That you're the farthest thing from death to work with." They were silent as Booth's hand idly reached up to stroke her hair once or twice before he tired of it. He suddenly chuckled.

"What?" she said indignantly, embarrassed he was laughing at her heartfelt confession.

"Not you Bones, just that….Fisher seems like the kind of guy closest to death to work with every day." She laughed too.

"Well…not every day." They were silent once more, and they could feel the big questions looming over them.

"Booth?" she said, her voice soft and almost pleading.

"Brennan." The way he said her name had her closing her eyes and swallowing heavily, headily, like drinking a beautiful vintage of a classic wine.

"I don't…I don't know if you really love me. Or if I convinced you…somehow in the fever dream or if…"

"Bones," he interrupted. She stopped and blinked at the sky, the tears so silently running in twin tributaries down her temples out of the corners of her eyes.

"What?"

"I've been in love with you since day one."

"What?" her voice warbled a little with emotion.

"Yep," he nodded, pressing his lips together and regarding a far off cloud with a little too much interest. "Day one. When we met in the classroom. I fell for you and did you wrong. I fell for you again on the Cleo Eller case."

"We didn't get along though," she said with a frown. "You were dating that lawyer…"

"Tessa."

"Yes. Tessa. And we weren't friends. You became angry when my lab took over Wong Fu's. You were mean to Zack. You didn't like Hodgins."

"Yeah well," laughed Booth, "this is before I knew that loving a squint comes with loving the squint squad. I was doing fine on my own as an FBI agent. But when I came to work conjointly with you….well I felt like all of you were taking over my life. And then you did. They all moved right into Camp Booth without so much as a by your leave. They never left. As for getting along…" He rubbed a hand behind his neck, feeling the cool grass tickle him. "Well, you were intimidating as hell Bones, and just about as annoying."

"Hey!"

"You've gotten better, but I wasn't used to the way you ask questions about everything-"

"I'm curious. I'm an anthropologist."

"Yes but I didn't know what that meant. Sometimes I still don't know what that means."

"Most of the time when you reference something, I don't know what that means," she smiled. "So I think we're even." She was glowing inside. Day One.

"So when did you fall for my rakish charm and dashing good looks? Or do you want me for my body?" Booth's smarmy fake announcer voice had Brennan in giggles; she was glad that finally admitting her secret hadn't changed anything between them, at least not anything for the worse. She ran through all the possible scenarios in her mind. Booth already was completely overprotective of her, he already bickered with her, they both had keys to each other's places, both had slept over, both had learned each other's past, both had done many things…

"Huh?" asked Brennan absently.

"I said when did you fall for me?" His voice was light and teasing, but she could feel the sudden tension in his body, his bated breath.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I don't think it was all at once, but bit by bit, day by day. I think I fall in love with you a little more every day." She blushed, so uncomfortable with this blatant candidness between them. We don't have secrets, she told herself; except for this one that had hung between them so long.

"I have to tell you," squirmed Booth, "when we shared one bed in Vegas…I almost died. Those nights were torture. You were so, so close." She blushed herself.

"I remember. I thought you were asleep!"

"I was asleep?" laughed Booth incredulously.

"Most of the time I played crap."

"Craps Bones, plural."

"I couldn't stay in the same room with you asleep; it was driving me crazy!" They both laughed quietly.

"So many missed opportunities," lamented Booth.

"Don't say that," said Bones very quietly. He froze, unsure and she could feel the tension in her own neck. She wriggled against him, upset.

"Why not?" he asked cautiously.

"I feel like…see Angela has all these rules. Anthropologically they are completely flagrant of any-"

"Get to the point Bones."

"The rules of a relationship," she blurted. "Something along the lines of first date, going steady, spending the night, spending the weekend, weekend away, moving in, getting married…something like that. But…falling in love…I feel like that should come last. But we did it all out of order."

"No kidding," grinned Booth. "We fell in love first, and fell for each other second."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I loved you from the start, and the more I learned about you, the more I loved you."

"That's…true," she admitted. "For me as well concerning you."

"And how much crazy stuff have we done together as partners we probably wouldn't have as a couple?"

"A lot."

"That was rhetorical Bones."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No worries."

"Well…we probably wouldn't have gotten to know each other in the same manner."

"So true."

"Booth?"

"Yeah?"

"I…I hope I didn't force you into this," she said quickly. "I mean…Thursday…I was so upset. I feel like you didn't have to…"

"I wanted to," he interrupted. Then he rolled his eyes as he remembered. "Obviously."

"The Thai Food did actually taste better that night," she noted. He laughed quietly. They didn't say anything again, both staring at the trees.

"So what are we going to do about it?" she finally asked.

"Remember what I told you earlier?"

"About head size?"

"No…try again."

"About driving?"

"No!"

"About drinking my milk for your own benefit?"

"No!" he said exasperatedly. "About people just being people."

"The fries falling where they may?"

"The chips Bones, the chips as in poker chips falling, not potatoes. But yes."

"Playing it by sight?"

"Ear."

"Playing it by ear?"

"Yes. Just let things settle."

"What if they don't?"

"We're the center Bones; things will settle quickly with or without our consent."

"You think they'll find out?"

"You don't think they'll know as soon as they see us?"

"So it's not national security."

"Bones…" he sighed with a laugh. He sat up and her head drifted into his lap. She stared up at his face. Gingerly, as if positive he was dreaming, he ran one finger down her jaw and up under her neck. She shivered, goosebumps rising.

"Bones…I…I…" he leaned down and for a brief, explosive second, Brennan's glass heart full of light burst forth and dazzled them both in a perfect, cool kiss.

"Booth I love you. You taught me what love is, and somewhere in the middle of it, I realized what you described was how I always felt about you. How I do feel about you." He laughed quietly.

"I don't think I could think of a more perfect day." She smiled up at him.

"How about that ice cream?" He tickled her ribs as she giggled breathlessly.

"You seen the Princess Bride Bones?" he didn't expect an answer.

"Yes," she said honestly, "It was one of my dad's…is one of his favorite movies."

"Well then," smiled Booth smugly. "Ice cream."

"Ice cream," she said, letting him help her to her feet and dusting off her back, paying careful attention to her pants pockets that had her squealing and jumping in false outrage. He held her tightly by the forearms. Their foreheads just touched and he backed her against her mother's grave as he had done a mere hour ago to a stranger's. This time she didn't resist the beautiful, deep kiss that dappled her face and mixed with the shadow laced sunlight.

"As you wish," he said huskily. Taking his hand, she walked out of the shadow of death.

Into the sun.