Again, Brennan was woken by nurses in Booth's room. Surprisingly, she had slept until noon and they were prepping everything for Booth's discharge. Booth was awake but hardly moving, trying to let Brennan sleep as long as possible.

"Hey, Bren. Ready to take me home?" Booth asked.

Brennan rubbed her eyes, attempting to adjust to the bright room. "Uh, yeah, when do we go?"

"You can leave now. Mr. Booth, we just need you to sign these discharge papers. Your roommate dropped these off earlier this morning," she said, handing him a bag of clothes, "and you can just leave the hospital gown in the bathroom. Dr. Ross left your crutches by the bed and here are your prescriptions." The nurse handed Booth the forms and placed his medication in Brennan's hands.

Brennan helped Booth sit up, get his crutches and slowly move to the bathroom to change. After the nurse showed Booth and Brennan how to put on the protective boot on his ankle, they made their way out of the hospital and back to the dorms.

"Home sweet dorm," Booth sighed as he flopped down onto his futon.

Brennan smiled and handed him the TV remote. She sat down next to him and pulled out an anthropology book to read.

"So, uh, Bren, how about dinner?" Booth meant more than just dinner at the diner. He meant dinner at the cute, romantic French bistro just a few blocks from the diner. One of his football friends, who was in a committed relationship, said La Mie was the only way to woo a woman.

Brennan just shrugged. "I'm up for Chinese," she said, not taking her eyes off her book, "Maybe Drew can pick up some on his way back from his study group."

"Let's go somewhere. I'll call a cab. You go get ready."

"Well where are we going? If we're going to the diner, I don't mind wearing this." Brennan was more than confused. They didn't go anywhere besides the diner.

"Well, nicer than jeans and my baggy sweatshirt. Like a dress or something." Booth didn't make eye contact with her. He didn't want to say it was a date. He wanted to take her on a date without letting her think it was a date. They had the best times when they were just Bren and Booth, tutor and student, friends. No matter how much Booth wanted more, he couldn't break that barrier to the other side where Bren was. He couldn't hurt her.

"So…not the diner?" Brennan looked almost disappointed. "Where then?"

"La Mie. It's a French place. I've heard it's good. Hopefully, it's not too busy."

Brennan looked skeptical but told him she'd be right back. She left for her dorm room and Booth changed into slacks and a dress shirt. After wearing a hospital gown, he felt stuffy being in a button up shirt.

She came back in a navy blue eyelet lace sundress and a cream colored cardigan to keep her warm. Brennan wasn't thrilled about going to dinner in a dress in the middle of November but right now was all about Booth, not her. She wanted to make sure he was happy. Brennan could tell Booth was already missing his Pops and his brother and with his injury, Booth didn't spend as much time with them as he wanted.

Booth was struggling with his boot when she came back to his room. She knelt down to help him put it on and helped Booth stand up.

"You look…nice," Booth offered. He was afraid to scare her off, especially since she didn't know what she was actually getting into.

She blushed. "Thanks. Did I strap your boot too tightly? You still need proper blood flow to the injury to help it heal."

"No, Bren, it's fine. Thank you. Come on, the cab's probably waiting."

They arrived at the restaurant and it is luckily relatively empty. The hostess seats them in a quiet corner and hands them their menus.

"Booth, this is expensive! Let's just go to the diner."

He shook his head. "Nah, I've wanted to try this place for a while and I figured none of the guys would wanna come with so you are the only other person I would want to take."

"So, this isn't a date?" Brennan tried to clarify. She was hopeful. She wanted more out of this relationship with Booth even though she was now in new territory. She never dated anyone in high school. No one wanted to date Morticia. It was scary for her but she had an odd sort of trust in Booth, something she lost when her parents and Russ left. She felt some sort of love for Booth but it wasn't the same as the love she felt for her parents, brother or her friend, Mr. Buxley, from high school. It was deeper than that. Any time she was away from him or knew she would have to leave, she felt a pang in her chest that made her ache.

"It is…if you want it to be, I guess," Booth answered her very timidly. He couldn't decide to look at her reaction or change the subject.

"Then…it's a date." She looked up from her menu and smiled at him. Brennan had never seen him with a bigger smile than she had ever seen before.

The waitress walked up to their table. "Hi, I'm Brittany and I'll be your server tonight. How's your night going?"

Booth and Brennan smiled at each other.

"Wonderful," they said in unison.

A/N: Okay, I just wanted to say that I totally freaked out during the episode tonight. I'm going to try not to give anything away in case some of you haven't seen it yet. But…Holy. Crap. I really wasn't expecting all of that. And now I'm having a nervous breakdown for the next episode. Just the preview made me anxious. Anyway, sorry this is just kind of a filler chapter. I have finals coming up and a major paper due so if I stop updating daily for a while, I have a legitimate excuse. But, let me know what you think! Input is always welcome! And as always, thank you everyone who has taken the time to review or put the story on alert. It means a lot to me! :)