Disclaimer Yet again I do not own anything Bones. I have live in a condtasnt state of cacoethes.

This chapter was written for another fiction site and is a word challenge. The word is cacoethes meaning- a bad habit or insatiable urge. I decided to leave the word in the story just because I felt it fit and nothing else seemed to. See if you agree.

You will find Brennan's POV in normal type and Booth's italics.

Chapter 17 Cacoethes

It was 4:00 am and she awoke again drenched in sweat. The dream had happened for the fifth time this week. The dream and her cacoethes stares at her partner's rear end were combining to cause her to lose sleep. Oh well, she knew there was no going back to sleep again tonight. She reached for her latest anthropology magazine and turned her radio on. Her room filled with music. A song from Heart came on, it reminded her of the dream and she leaned back to listen.

Spare a little candle, save some light for me. Figures
Up ahead moving in the trees. White skin in linen,
Perfume on my wrist, and the full moon that hangs over
These dreams in the mist.

These dreams go on when I close my eyes. Every second
Of the night, I live another life. These dreams that
Sleep when it's cold outside, every moment I'm awake,
The further I'm away.

Was she pulling away from him she wondered? Was that why the dream and the song kept coming back?

He looked over at the clock again. It was 4:00 am. He had not slept a wink all night. Today was going to be a real bitch. It was hard to concentrate on little sleep. He needed all his concentration when he was around her so he didn't let down his armor and give his feelings away. His impure thoughts would have gotten him another hard right to his jaw if she knew. These thought often brought the words from Heart to mind:

There's something out there I can't resist. I need to
Hide away from the pain. There's something out there
I can't resist.

The sweetest song is silence that I've ever heard.
Funny how your feet in dreams never touch the Earth.
In a wood full of princes, freedom is a kiss. But the
Prince hides his face from dreams in the mist.

After four years the pain of not having her on a more personal basis was becoming painful. She was so hard to resist, would she ever set him free? It was 6:00 am he could get dressed and grab their breakfast. He would see her again in one and a half hours.

It was almost 7:30. She still didn't know what to wear today. It was just a usual work day why was this so difficult? There was a knock at the door. She threw on a robe and went to answer it. There he stood in all his glory, with his great smile, chocolate brown eyes and the cocky belt buckle. She would never know if it was the lack of sleep or cacoethes, but taking the coffee and bagels, placing them on the table beside the door, she grabbed his tie and pulled him into her living room with a wicked grin.

"Bones, what are you doing?"

Pulling him toward the bedroom and giving him a kiss that buckled his knees she said, "I have had a case of cacoethes lately and I want to give into my urges. Booth, you do know what cacoethes is don't you?"

"Yes, I do cross words remember, Bones and believe me," picking her up continuing down the hall, he said "and you're a bad habit to break."

Much later, after they had both decided to play hooky for the day, they lay in bed each lost in their own thoughts.

"Booth…"

"Mmmm"

"You know I want this to become more than just satisfying our biological urges don't you?"

Kissing the top of her head and running his hand lightly down her back he responded with "oh good, I hate to think I was a bad habit you felt you needed to break."

"Noooo," she said as she ran a combination of kisses and light licks down his chest and abdomen, "but I do love you." At this she buried her head in his hip so he couldn't see the flush that had begun at her words.

He pulled her up toward him "Oh you do, do you? Well that's good because I love you too," kissing her on the nose he allowed her to return her journey to his hip and when she arrived he told her "please continue. This is one habit I want us to enjoy for a very long time."

B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B

This story was inspired by "These Dreams" performed by Heart with Lyrics by Bernie Taupin & Martian Page