Disclaimer: The only thing I own is my soul, and I even lend that out on occasion, but only if you ask nice. Anything that even looks familiar in this story probably belongs to someone else (except the actual story - that's all mine, Mine, MINE [*maniacal laughter*]!)

Chapter Three: "Tell me I'm not dreaming, Bones."

"Parker - don't run, buddy!" Booth dropped the towels he had slung over his shoulder onto one of the chairs that were dotted against the west wall and glanced guiltily around the pool area. He breathed a light sigh of relief; they had the area to themselves. Parker was always so excited whenever they came to Brennan's building for their swim, but today he was completely hyper for some reason. He watched his son jump exuberantly into the pool, sending water cascading over the tiled perimeter. The whoop of joy that accompanied Parker's wild leap made him shake his head and chuckle. Had Rebecca been giving him red cordial again? He collected up his son's hastily discarded clothes, roughly folding them before toeing off his loafers. He shucked off his shirt in one easy movement and had his hand at the button of his jeans when a familiar voice stopped him cold.

"You know, you really do have perfect acromions." Brennan's voice was cool as usual, but Booth almost jumped out of his skin at the sound. Heat seared across his face as he swung around to face her. She returned his regard calmly. He swept one arm across his chest almost defensively, and he felt a nerve start to jump in his cheek. His feet were rooted to the spot, taken aback to be caught in the process of undressing, regardless of the prosaic setting.

Her eyes tormented him for a few moments as she ran them clinically over his shoulders and across his collarbone. She seemed unaware of the small satisfied smile that played across her lips. Her eyes continued their journey up his throat and lingered on the line of his jaw. Booth's adam's apple bobbed once, twice and still he was pinioned by her gaze.

"Bones?" He asked falteringly, not even sure what he was asking. Something was different about her; she looked almost ... predatory. She edged towards him, invading his space, tilting her head slightly to the side as she continued her examination. Disconcerted, he felt her eyes stripping away the flesh from his bones and somehow, knowing her and knowing her obsessions, he was turned on despite himself.

"You are … very well structured." Her voice was husky, while her scrutiny devoured the composition of his features. Their eyes collided and Brennan looked fleetingly uncomfortable with the telling way the words had dripped off her lips, but she recovered her poise quickly. She cleared her throat as her eyes slewed away from his.

Booth took half a step back, putting some space between them. "What are you doing here? I didn't think you came down to the pool?" His words felt clumsy after the silkiness of her regard, but he felt off kilter, as if the balance between them had shifted somehow. The humid air of the heated water eddied around his torso but, conversely, he felt goose bumps sweep across his abdomen as his muscles tensed.

Brennan shrugged, the movement lifting the hem of her cover-up tantalisingly higher. The crinkled cotton top she had on came to mid thigh and below it her legs were bare and smooth. He fixed his gaze on a point just over her left shoulder, trying to regain the equilibrium that her sudden appearance had upset.

"I just felt like getting wet." She replied quixotically. She placed her folded towel on top of his on the chair.

It seemed an odd thing for her to say, but he'd heard her come out with way stranger things. He found his eyes snaking back to her, taking a furtive inventory. Her hair was piled loosely on the top of her head and several tendrils tumbled down untidily around her face. His eyes skimmed surreptitiously down the curves of her body, shadowy promise beneath virginal white. She was barefoot again; this time her toenails were painted a deep burgundy brown shade. The colour flooded his brain even though he tried not to stare, and images of ripe berries and rich treats swam across his mind's eye.

She raised both arms and pulled out the pins that held her hair in place, shaking her head to loosen the curls. His mouth went dry as the shirt pulled taut over her breasts at the action, the outline of her bikini top plainly visible through the thin fabric.

"Have you taken the plunge yet?" She glanced at the rippling surface of the pool as she spoke, before turning back to him for his answer.

He shook his head, bereft of words. God help him, he didn't think he was ready for this. It was hard enough dealing with her fully clothed, but he needed time to mentally prepare himself for this sort of encounter. Before he could get his mind into gear, he watched with fascination as her hands crossed at the wrists and gripped the hem of her top. In one fluid motion she unselfconsciously peeled the cotton shirt over her head and laid it delicately over the back of the chair.

The breath left his body on a long sigh, a sigh that ended in a groan, quickly choked off, as he took in the reality of her.

The bikini she wore was the same colour she'd painted her toes, almost the same colour as her hair; rich brown red. It's brevity both shocked and excited him as the material stretched over her full rounded breasts and across the flaring line of her hips. The playful frill that adorned the waistline of the bottoms made him smile involuntarily; frills weren't something he usually associated with Brennan.

"What?" It was only one word, but he could have sworn that she was taunting him, watching all the while for his reaction.

He was stunned, staring open mouthed at her. "It's just you look … Wow." He gulped, trying to pull back to familiar easy friendliness. "I mean, you look girly." Understatement of the year; she was smoking hot. His eyes bounced around her, on her, over her; landing haphazardly without plan or reason. It seemed he'd momentarily lost the ability to keep his eyes straight ahead.

"That would be because I am a girl, Booth." Her pout was uncharacteristic and he felt the blood pound in his head at the sight. "Just because I'm logical and live most of my life by rationales, doesn't mean I don't have any intrinsic appreciation of beauty or frivolity. I like to laugh. It's just that sometimes it's hard for me to find things to laugh about. Maybe you forget that sometimes."

"Bones, c'mon. How could I forget that? I know you better than anyone."

"Yes, Booth, you do."

She fixed him with a speculative look before sauntering to the edge of the pool. His eyes devoured the ripple of muscles along her legs and buttocks, tensing and flexing as she rose onto her toes, ready to dive in. She hesitated, glancing at him enquiringly over her shoulder, "Are you coming?" The unintentionally loaded question delivered on a throaty chuckle bounced around his skull like a pinball, hitting random targets in his imagination. A muscle flexed in his jaw as he tried to work out whether she was aware of the effect it had on him. He suspected she did and that confused him even more.

"I, uh – I don't - " He broke off, unable to take his eyes off her or construct a coherent sentence.

She regarded him levelly, her voice dropping to a husky undertone. "Nothing happens unless first a dream." The non sequitur pricked his brain, and he frowned, suddenly irritated. Brennan dived smoothly into the water, sending a spray back over him, and the droplets of water hit his skin like molten wax, scalding him. He pressed his lips together, irrationally angry at her … for what? Being beautiful? Driving him insane?

The sound of her laughing easily with his son honed his temper to a fine point and frustration welled through him. He pressed his eyes shut, blocking out the image of her long legs cleaving through the water. She'd done it again, damn it! She'd left him hanging, and moved on.

"Dad? Hey, Dad!" Parker giggled, much louder this time, and more water droplets landed on his chest. His eyes fluttered open and his son was bent over him, a huge grin splitting his face, water dripping from his wet hair.

"Wakey, wakey, hands off snakey." Parker chortled at his own cheeky joke and swung his head from side to side, sending a cascade of water over his father's face.

Booth shot up in his chair, the dream falling away from him instantly. A dream, it was a dream. He looked around him, feeling foolish. He'd only shut his eyes for a second, but that was all it had taken.

Wait, he could still hear Brennan laughing. He swung around and he felt his heartbeat gather momentum. She'd just come into the pool area and had seen Parker's antics which had made her laugh. Parker dashed over to greet her, chattering excitedly to her without taking a breath. She smiled indulgently at him, while her arm fell naturally over the little boy's shoulders. Side by side they walked towards Booth. He felt his chest constrict at the sight of them together, touched by the easy affection that was obvious between them.

"Bones? What are you doing here? I thought you never used the pool." He pulled a second chair up close to his and took her towel from her, arranging it over the other chair with careful attention.

"Parker invited me to join you. Is that okay?" She tucked her hair into a latex swimming cap as she spoke and she had a pair of goggles looped around her wrist. When she shrugged out of the serviceable towelling robe she had on, Booth saw she was wearing one of those no-nonsense one piece swimsuits that crossed over at the back. He couldn't help a pang of disappointment. On the other hand, although it wasn't as sexy or revealing as the bikini he'd just been fantasizing about, it did nothing to disguise her curves. Maybe reality wasn't so far behind his fantasy after all. He felt pretty damned good all of a sudden.

"It's your building, Bones, of course it's okay." He smiled, still slightly bemused to see her in the flesh. She snapped the swim goggles on her head, perching them on her forehead until she needed them. The smile she sent him was sweet and friendly, and he felt some of the tension that had hummed through him at her unexpected appearance drain away.

She strolled to the edge of the pool, poised on her toes, ready to dive in. This time reality actually rammed into fantasy, and he did a double take when she glanced at him over her shoulder enquiringly.

"Are you coming?"

~o0o~

Booth was floating on his back in the middle of the pool, worn out from several rounds of competitive splashing with Parker. Life was good. Parker had already challenged Brennan to a contest to see who could hold their breath underwater the longest. Naturally Brennan won. She pointed out that she was an excellent diver and had grown accustomed to holding her breath for several minutes when snorkelling amongst the coral reefs near Nuku'alofa. Parker didn't seem to mind, he was just happy to have her attention. Then he conned his father and 'Dr Bones' into racing against each other over ten laps, freestyle, and of course his father won, but only by half a lap. Following that Parker had amused himself for a long stretch of time diving for pennies at the shallow end, with Brennan joining in the game. Booth had amused himself for a long stretch of time watching Brennan dive, her ass mostly remaining above the water line at that depth as she searched the pool bottom for the elusive copper coloured coins. He sighed happily. Simple things, simply done.

Booth drifted closer to the edge of the pool where Brennan was now sitting with his son, taking a break from swimming. He watched as Parker got up and settled into one of the poolside chairs, ear buds in, happily absorbed playing Digging for Dinosaurs on his Nintendo. Brennan slipped back into the water and kicked off from the side wall, heading towards him.

"Hey, Bones, remember when you said my acromions were perfect … what actually are acromions?" His question halted her lazy breast stroke as she drew level with him. She rolled over, keeping in place by slowly spinning her hands in figures of eight through the aquamarine water.

"It's acromia." She corrected him matter-of-factly and he looked confused. "The plural of acromion is acromia."

"Oh." As if that helped him. "Do you remember saying that?"

"Of course. I was collecting evidence after the exploding Santa. I'd taken your shirt off and I was just about to take your belt off and you were - "

"Yeah, yeah." He cut her off abruptly, actually having temporarily forgotten the precise moment she'd made the comment, that moment between his shirt and his pants. His brows drew together as he tried to refocus. "So what are they, these acromias?"

Brennan pulled a wry face, but didn't try correcting him again. "The acromion is a continuation of the scapular spine, and hooks over anteriorly. It articulates with the clavicle to form the acromioclavicular joint. It forms the summit of the shoulder." She turned back over and continued her languid passage through the water.

"Right." His frown morphed into a smug smile as he mentally translated her explanation. He dolphined to catch up, surfacing in front of her. "You're saying you think I've got great shoulders?" His grin widened even further when she looked flustered. Her feet found the bottom of the pool, and she stood up, the water lapping her body just under her breasts.

"I'm saying they're perfectly formed." He waggled his head at her response, inordinately pleased with himself. She placed her hand on the side of his neck, and he almost ducked underwater in surprise before pushing himself back up and planting his feet squarely on the bottom. She waited for him to be still before continuing. "The acromion is a large, somewhat triangular or oblong process," Her hand slid along the top of his shoulder and she continued, "flattened from behind forward," her hand shifted marginally, "projecting at first lateralward," and shifted again, following the line of the bone, "and then curving forward and upward, so as to overhang the glenoid cavity." Her hand slid down until her palm cupped the slight mound formed at the juncture of his rotator cuff tendons.

His cocky smile had faded as her hand traced the path she described and when she met his look her voice faltered at the stark desire she saw there, and she grew uncertain. A shudder ran through him and she let her hand fall away. He stared at her hand, transfixed, as it fluttered through the water, and the sense of loss he felt at the broken contact was intense.

"Touch me again." The plea spilled from his lips without warning, a world of want in three little words that hovered between them, emitting a palpable shock wave that stunned them both.

She bit down on the impulse to ask why as the wavelets rocked her closer to him. Instead she simply answered his whispered entreaty by placing her hand tentatively back on the crest of his shoulder. In that instant the dynamics between them changed irrevocably.

She let her fingers slide along his deltoids, over his acromion, trail down his biceps and skip lightly across to his pectorals, unconsciously revelling in the feel of his skin. She pulled back guiltily, shocked at her own reckless actions and the depth of emotion the contact had elicited. Her eyes grew round as she realised the implications of what she'd done.

"Tell me I'm not dreaming, Bones." He breathed. The effort it took to keep his hands off her was monumental, but he knew he had to tread carefully now. He waited, tension coiling in his stomach, willing her not to stop.

She didn't answer him, instead treading water, the impetus of her strokes taking her slowly backwards until her shoulders bumped gently against the rounded tile edge of the pool. All the while her eyes were locked onto his. He moved slowly but deliberately through the water towards her, determination thinning his lips into a straight line. He placed put a hand on either side of her on the pool edge, corralling her within the circle of his arms. A look of panic washed over her face, but he knew it wasn't her physical safety that concerned her.

"What's the matter, Bones, cat got your tongue?" he mocked gently, ducking his head to one side to try and read her expression.

She looked away, hoping for an escape but finding none, and she shielded her thoughts from him by lowering her eyelids. "I don't know what that means." She mumbled the familiar phrase indistinctly, letting her voice trail away.

"Yes you do." He whispered close to her face, his mouth hovering over hers. They were both breathing hard, and he felt the heat of her exhalation against his damp cheek. She looked up then from underneath her lashes, her eyes snagging on his mouth, and her face turned up towards him without conscious thought. The expression on her face was achingly beautiful.

The metallic clatter of the gymnasium door opening brought them both out of their daze, and Brennan gulped in a desperate lungful of air and submerged, swimming under his arm and away from him.

"This isn't over, Bones." He called after her, letting her go for now. Nowhere near it. Not by a long shot.

~o0o~

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