I kept my word, readers. Within a couple of hours! But I suppose that was just me as excited to post this as you were to read it. Please enjoy - enough of my chatter.

Xx G

8. Touch

"Bones, this is crazy!" he shouted above the heavy volume of the storm. "And dangerous – come on, we'll find another way to get back."

"It's fine Booth; we've already started walking now."

He complied, having no other choice. He knew that she would be too stubborn to go back now. Water began to seep into his good shoes, but he tried to ignore that.

After minutes of tormented silence, and both with thoughts flying ecstatically through their minds, Booth pulled Brennan to a halt near the silhouette of her little chalet, unable to bear the emotional torment any longer.

He had to know.

"Why didn't you write to me?"

Brennan's body jolted in surprise, but she didn't turn. "Write when?"

"Afghanistan. You told me nearly a month ago now that you...you still have...had feelings for me. If this is true, then why didn't you write to me? Or talk...or call? Didn't I mean enough to you...?"

She turned around, hair whipping furiously in her face as the wind and rain pelted against them both. She hit him.

"Don't you ever say that you don't mean anything to me!" Her voice was choked, thick with tears. She was angry, too.

"Why? You hit me now, and you say that I mean something to you, but you went away! You seemed not to want us to be..." He was struggling.

"I still wanted to talk to you Booth! I wanted you in my life!"

"Why didn't you write to me, then?" Booth demanded, face taut. "Mail call? Seven months, and I never received a word!"

"I thought you didn't want me there...whe-"

"I'm sick of it, Bones! You were upset about me finding someone else...when you made no effort to stay in contact. I waited for a letter! I waited!"

"I...I couldn't."

"Not. One. Word."

"I couldn't, Booth."

"Why?"

"I couldn't tell you then-"

"Why?"

"Because it hurt, Booth. I missed you. Picking up the pen and paper made me realise just how much." Her tone had risen to a shout, and she had hardly noticed.

"No," he strangled, shaking his head disbelievingly. "No."

"Yes, Booth. Going away was the worst mistake of my life. All everyone has ever done in my life...is run away. When Hannah confronted me about how I truly felt for you...I ran away. Last year? I ran. I was so scared that you were going to do the same. For the first time in my life, I truly loved someone, and it scared me; it scared me so much." Her broken heart shone in her eyes. She softened her tone. "I turned you away, that night in front of the Hoover, because I was so afraid of losing you. I knew that if we were together...and something broke us apart, I would lose the most important person in my life. And I...I-I'm not s-strong enough." Although instantly washed away by the rain, her tears fell, and her whole body shook with the cold.

They stood there pathetically for what felt like eternity, drenched in the rain, both shaking with the cold, and staring at their own hearts, thrown out in front of them.

Booth closed the distance between them. His hot body pressed against hers, and suddenly he had her in an iron, but gentle grip on either sides of her face.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" he asked despairingly, wiping her hot tears with his thumbs, even though the gesture was useless in the pelting rain. "Why didn't you just trust me?"

"I couldn't tell you. It wasn't that I didn't trust you..." Brennan shook her head. "I couldn't lose you. Not when I love you so much."

He couldn't believe it. But he had to. He hardly thought. He didn't have to.

His soft lips met hers, and for the first time, in a long time, she invited them. Passionately.

At first their kiss was tender; a yearn for what they both wanted so much. His hands cupped her face almost delicately, and her palms rested against his hot cheeks. But then it became a recovery of all of those years spent holing it back – what they had held back since their first kiss in the rain, all those years ago.

His tongue encouraged her mouth open, and she met it eagerly with her own. His hands trailed up her back and tugged at the skin-tight wet cotton of her shirt. He urged her to the veranda of the little white weatherboard lodge.

They didn't break their embrace for a moment - not even when they both fumbled hopelessly for the handle of the door. When she succeeded, they pushed on out of the raging storm and closed the door loudly behind them.

While she was pressed up against the door, she put a hand over his mouth. He kissed it, once. Warm lips to cold skin.

"We c-can't," she said sadly, holding back more tears.

"Yes, we can. That's the beauty of it, Bones. No more Hannah. Hannah is gone." Booth's eyes were darkly passionate as they held hers. "It's only you. You and me."

He took her hand from his mouth and held it against his wildly beating heart, before leaning in and meeting her lips again.

She devoured his full lips between her own, pressed herself against him responsively, feeling like she never wanted to let go.

His suit jacket and tie were discarded in the little lounge area, shoes and socks kicked off, before Brennan slid off her flats. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, swearing that the only sound they heard besides the thrashing rain, was their heavy breathing and erratic heartbeats. Booth leaned in again and tenderly touched her mouth with his lips. Again, they kissed. Powerful and deep.

Booth ran his hand down her damp, jean-covered leg, and grasping her calf, hooked it up to his hip. She responded, and jumped up, wrapping her other leg around his waist. He backed towards the bedroom, never letting her go. At the foot of the unmade white bed, she peeled off the stiff, wet denim plastered to her legs, and in his own time, between kisses, he removed his own pants. Her skin was flushed pink with the cold, as her flat stomach revealed upon his unbuttoning of her drenched white shirt.

She leaned back into the white duvet, and he nuzzled the hollow of her clavicle, planting his wet lips where they brushed her skin. She tugged at the buttons of his shirt, and tossed it away. Hands against his supple, bare chest, she found his mouth again.

They stopped, and stared into each other's eyes for what felt like eternity.

"Not tonight," she whispered gently, touching his lips ever so lightly with the tips of her fingers. "Not now."

"Why not?"

"Not here. Not now."

Booth rolled off her and heaved a gentle sigh.

"It's not that I don't want to," she told him, still whispering ever so quietly. "I just don't want it to be like this."

"Then what do you want it to be?"

"I want you to hold me. Kiss me, and hold me."

Brennan saw something flicker behind his eyes, almost as if his heart melted at her simple request. His eyes welled.

Leaning over, Booth pressed his lips to hers for a long moment.

"I'll be right back," he told her, sliding off the bed.

His heart fluttered when she held onto his hand.

Minutes later, he returned with two logs, newspaper and matches. Quickly and efficiently, he lit a fire, and, when done, rejoined Brennan, who sat gazing at him adoringly. The room filled with heat, and soon the pair's thin layer of underwear had dried.

Booth dug the covers up and slid underneath, pulling under Brennan before cradling her in front of him. He closed his eyes contently, and ran soothing circles along her arm. She snuggled into him for a moment, before turning on her side so they faced each other, noses a centimetre apart.

"What are we going to do?" Brennan asked him, reaching up to stroke his face.

"About what?"

"About everything. About work...about Ha-"

"Nothing, Bones. Not now. For now? Just let me hold you. Sleep, and let me hold you." He leaned into her warm hand, closing his eyes.

"I love you," she whispered, as if the words she had once hardly thought anything of, were suddenly the most precious thing she had ever beheld.

"I know."

He chuckled deeply when she nipped his nose at his response.

"I love you, too," he said after another moment, voice thick and husky. He swallowed at the lump in his throat.

She kissed his cheek and leaned into him, as he encircled her in his arms.

Fire gently licking their faces, the two drifted into a warm, gentle sleep, lovingly in each other's arms. For the first time in a long time, they were peaceful. Breathtakingly peaceful.

Awwwww!

:')

Xx G