Author's note: There's more to come. Stay tuned, there's a birthday coming up and some more hotness but first some serious business.

Uncharted Lands.

15. Happiness.

Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

The next morning, after they'd spent the remainder of their day and night in bed together, Brennan woke up to an empty bed.

The first thing she noticed was that she didn't feel different. Being engaged didn't feel any different from just cohabitating and somehow that was relaxing.

The second thing was that the man with whom she was engaged, wasn't next to her in the bed. She heard the shower and remembered that last night she had come home craving that shower, but they had never gotten to it, because after his proposal (which he insisted hadn't been intended that way) they had barely taken the time to eat between their lovemaking. Not that she was complaining, but right now, a shower did sound good.

She found her robe on the chair next to her bed, and as she passed the mirror on her closet door she noticed some minor changes in her body. Sighing, she walked past her own reflection without much thought and continued towards the bathroom.

The door was closed, but she knew he wouldn't mind her coming in and sharing, so she opened it and entered the bathroom, closing the door before the chill would alert him to her presence.

He hadn't heard her enter and his back was facing her. The first thought that crossed her mind was that he should really use the shower curtain if he wanted to shower in the bathtub. The second was that he looked breathtaking.

His broad shoulders bore the marks of a warrior, a long scar lower on his back and a visibly lighter spot on his shoulder reminded of the dangers that were always ahead. She knew that at least one of the scars had been on her back if he hadn't been there, but she had learned not to over-think the fact that he would always be between her and the bullet. It scared her, yes, but she knew she couldn't change him and she didn't want to.

She could see the water crashing down his back, and she followed some soap which he had applied to his shoulders. It ran down his muscular back, over his buttocks which were equally toned and down his legs. Her eyes got stuck at his buttocks, because that part of him was just utterly breathtaking. A smile formed around her lips and she moved her attention to his arms, still leaning against the doorframe herself.

His arms looked strong but not overly muscular. However, she knew first hand what kind of strength lay beneath his skin, and it was of a whole other level. Booth was strong. He could be a very powerful man, both in his words and his actions, and although he could hurt her with both, she felt safe with him.

Somehow he felt her presence before he saw her. A smile formed around his lips as well, and he turned around.

'I know, I should really close the curtain when I shower,' he said teasingly, but his face turned blank when he saw her.

The robe tied loosely around her body didn't hide much and he could discern a bruise on her shoulder where his teeth had marked her last night. Her skin was as pale as he had ever seen, almost glowing in the light pink robe.

It were her eyes though that really made his mind shut down. Her clear blue eyes which still held a hint of sleep but mostly they showed trust and love as deep as he himself felt for her.

Slowly, a smile formed around her lips again as she saw once more the power she had over this man, who had lost himself in her so completely. She let the robe slip off her shoulders and she put it on a hook next to the door before stepping over the rim of the tub to join him.

He made room for her, not ashamed of his nakedness but caught speechless by hers, and his hands caught her arms. She looked into his eyes like only she could and he met her with honesty and a smile, like he had so many times. She thought his eyes looked a little sad, but she knew he often looked like that when he was just taken aback, this time by her openness, and so she accepted his sad appearing eyes on her like she had accepted his ring. With infinite grace and greedy like a hungry kitten.

He swallowed as she took the sponge from him and as she washed herself almost clinically he just watched. A chill appeared on her skin and suddenly he was aware of the warm water crashing down mostly on him, and he stepped back, pulling her forward a little so she was no longer in the cold. She whispered softly to him, 'thanks,' but that was the only word she spoke. He just smiled and watched her wash herself, and as his eyes roamed her familiar but oh so beautiful body, his heart clenched as his eyes noticed little changes that were undoubtedly due to her pregnancy.

'Sorry,' he whispered as she looked at a bruise he had caused. The crooked smile and naughty look she cast him was enough to know he was more than forgiven, but naughty was soon forgotten as she put down the sponge and stepped towards him, softly touching his lips with hers. His arms came around her, enveloping her in a sweet hug that had nothing to do with sex if it weren't for his arousal touching her thighs.

She moved a hand down between them to touch it, but he caught her wrist and directed it back to his chest. She met his eyes prepared to argue about oral sex but she knew when to shut up as she saw nothing sexual in his gaze. She had to admit, even though sex had been on her mind a lot lately, right now she would just as easily settle for closeness. He apparently felt the same so she accepted his erection as a natural bodily function that didn't need her immediate attention, and she put her head on his chest, letting his warmth and the hot water crashing down on them envelop her in a haze of early morning intimacy. They were engaged.

When they were finally ready to leave the shower a good while later, she stepped out first, handing him a towel as he shut off the flow. The room was no longer filled by the sound of water, and somehow it created an awkward silence.

'You.. You're starting to look different, Bones,' he said softly, knowing she must have noticed the changes by now. 'Do you feel different?'

She had quickly dried off and was wrapping the towel around her to create acceptable attire for walking around the house. She took a second to answer.

'I.. I feel changes, yes, but they're hard to describe,' she said. He nodded. 'It's incredible, what you're doing.'

She wanted to lecture him about the fact that they made it happen together, but he was right. She herself was in awe of what her body was doing every time she thought about it. 'Yeah,' she just whispered.

He saw that she was scared, like him, but she no longer felt that fear take over her happiness. He could see her consciously push through the fear and when she met her eyes, the doubt was banned to a distant corner. 'Yeah, it's pretty amazing.'

'Do we have time for breakfast in bed?' he asked as he put on jogging pants and a t-shirt.

'Yeah, but I want to go for a run before I go to the lab,' she answered, still in her towel. He nodded. 'Sure, I'll join you.' She nodded her consent and disappeared into the kitchen to fix something to eat, leaving him a very happy man. She hadn't brought up their engagement and she seemed really relaxed about everything, like something had just clicked with her, and he decided to start praying more regularly again because apparently, someone was listening after all.

She came back with some toast and coffee, and he made room on the bed for her. She slipped on her robe again before joining him on the bed, hungry after their light dinner yesterday.

'You know it's really unacceptable for me to not have a proper dinner,' she complained. He smirked. 'I didn't hear you complain yesterday.'

'That's because you were distracting me,' she countered. 'You really should be helping me.'

He knew it wasn't meant as a comment, so he laughed it off. 'Yeah, sure.'

He could see she was trying to start a different conversation, and he could see her struggling. 'What's on your mind?' he asked, giving her an opening.

'Nothing,' she sighed. 'I'm just.. Really happy you tried again. You must have known there was a good chance of me saying no.'

'Yeah, but you know, I'm the gambler,' he said. 'Besides, if it were up to my pride I'd never have the courage to ask you. I'd be too damn scared.'

She smiled sadly. 'I'm sorry, Booth.'

'No, hey, it's my fault too.. And Bones.. I was scared, you know. That you'd say no. But I had to try.'

'So.. It was a proposal after all?' she stated, and it wasn't even really a question.

He answered it nonetheless. 'It was whatever you'd be ready to accept. You know, a symbol of eternal friendship would've hurt, but I'd have gotten past it.'

'I never considered that,' she answered. 'I'm really glad,' he said and she nodded. 'Me too.'

They ate together in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

'Should we.. Plan it already? I have no experience in this field,' Brennan said after finishing her food.

'I don't know, I don't have experience either,' he said. 'But I do know it's nice to fantasize, you know, about what it's gonna be like.

'I'm not going to wear white,' she said decisively.

'Why? I like white,' Booth countered. She shook her head. 'Booth, white stands for innocence and virginity. I think we can agree on that we're neither.'

'Bones.. It's also just pretty,' he said. 'And I like you in white.'

'You'll have to make do with something else,' she stated. 'No white.'

'You know, maybe we can postpone arguing about this for a while and just enjoy that it's gonna happen, ok?' Booth asked, a little annoyed that the first thing she brought up was turning into an argument.

She looked at him, her eyes uncertain. 'Ok.'

He saw her immediately regretting what she'd said and he reached out to touch her arm. 'Hey, it's ok,' he said. 'We can argue about everything you want, just not right now, ok?'

'I don't want to argue about anything,' she said quietly. 'I had hoped we could just make this work.'

'And we will, it's just not like us to get it right the first time,' he calmed her. 'We'll talk about it some more later, you know, when we've adjusted to the idea.'

She nodded. 'Ok.'

He put their plates on the chair next to the bed, disregarding her frown. He knew she fretted about coffee being spilled on her white leather chair, but he had told her she shouldn't have the chair in the bedroom if she wanted to keep it from getting spilled on. He liked breakfast in bed and he wasn't going to let a leather chair stop him from having what he liked.

'You want to go for that run now?' he asked her, and she seemed reluctant to get out of bed but she nodded. 'Yes, it's been too long since I've done any intense training,' she answered.

'Yeah, I've been keeping you busy, huh,' he joked but she didn't seem amused. 'It's really important to have good physical exercise,' she said seriously and he dropped the comment about her not having a lack of physical exercise because he knew she wouldn't appreciate it, so he just nodded. 'Ok, let's do this.'

They ran for a good hour before they curiously found themselves at the Washington monument where they had been very often during their first years as partners but not so much lately. She ran towards the stairs and dropped down, breathing and laughing. 'That was a good exercise. You're in exceptional shape, Booth.'

He dropped down next to her, breathing heavily as well. 'Yeah you too, you're quite a good racer,' he said. 'I thought I was gonna kill you.'

'Kill me?' she questioned, still laughing.

'Yeah, you know, win by like a mile.'

'Never,' she laughed at him. 'I'll always be right beside you.'

'I know,' he answered and their eyes met, the double meaning of her words crackling the air between them. He sat one step lower and he leaned his head on her shoulder. 'This is great, Bones,' he whispered after a while. 'I knew we'd get here in the end.'

She just looked at him and nodded, he was right. It took them long enough but in the end it had always been inevitable.

They walked home and changed quickly before heading off to the lab, where he dropped her off. They had an awkward moment in the lab, because he wanted to kiss her but she felt awkward for reasons she couldn't even explain but he just aimed for her temple instead, forgiving her and with a final squeeze of her arm and smile he left her to her thoughts.

For an instant she had forgotten to worry about their engagement, but as soon as she saw Angela walking out of her office onto the lab platform, she was scared again. Should she tell Angela? Would her best friend notice a change again?

She didn't get time to think about what she was going to do, because as soon as she joined Angela on the platform and asked what she was working on, Angela saw the ring.

'Wow, sweetie.. Where did you get that? It's gorgeous!'

'It's.. Nothing, really,' Brennan answered uncomfortably.

'That's not nothing really, Brennan. Come on, be a pal,' Angela begged. She had recognised the little gleam in her friends eye when she'd come in with Booth, and it was still there now, and she just knew it had something to do with that ring.

'Did Booth give that to you?' she guessed.

Brennan tried to look like she was denying it, but she just couldn't get the words out of her mouth. 'All right, Angela.. Yes, it's from Booth.'

'Wow. That just screams love. Look at the size of that thing,' Angela ogled the ring, taking Brennan's hand in her own to get a closer look. 'Is that real gold?'

'Yes,' Brennan answered and then she figured, what the hell. She's going to find out anyway.

'He.. He says he didn't mean it as a proposal but I said yes,' Brennan whispered. 'But I don't want anyone to find out yet.'

'What? Bren, what did he want it to be if it wasn't a proposal? Oh babe, I'm so happy for you!' Angela enveloped her best friend in a fierce hug, then she quickly released her. 'So that means that all that stuff about not believing in marriage was crap after all?'

'I've always wanted to marry someone, Ange,' Brennan said softly. 'I just never thought I could make someone happy for the rest of our lives.'

'But you can, sweetie,' Angela said. 'You know you can. He'll never find happiness anywhere else.' Brennan nodded. 'I.. I know. And I feel the same. I'm happy, Angela.'

Her friend nodded contently. 'It's going to be the most beautiful wedding ever.'

Brennan nodded as well. 'Booth wants me to wear white but I don't think I look that good in white.'

'Come on honey, if that's what he really wants, just let him have that, ok? You can come up with something you really want him to wear and you'll be even, ok? I think he just wants to be traditional, you know, with the white. And it'll look gorgeous, don't worry.'

Brennan considered it for a moment before she nodded. 'Ok. I'll compromise.'

Angela smiled. 'Don't think of it as compromising. Think of it as just looking gorgeous for the man you love.'

Brennan's face broke into a smile. 'Ok.' It was all she could say, another word would have brought her to tears. Luckily she didn't have to say anything else because Angela enveloped her in another hug. 'I love you, babe,' she whispered. Brennan nodded. 'We're sisters, Ange.'

When she got a chance later that day to be alone, just on her own for a few minutes, the events of the past weeks suddenly caught up to her and filled her. Emotions took over as she didn't know why the tears were falling, just that they were, and after a few moments she regained some composure and thought about everything that was happening. And she realized something:

She was happy.

In another part of town Special Agent Seeley Booth was sitting at his desk, looking at nothing in particular. He gave his bobble-head bobby a push, a smile forming as he saw the head bobbling from side to side. This was his life. He had proposed to Bones, she had accepted, they were expecting a baby, they were living together, he had the right to sleep with her and beside her.. And she had finally grasped the truth in everything he had said to her the past seven years. She could make him happy. And that was exactly what she was doing, every second making him happier and his heart fuller until he knew there was only one word to describe what he felt. Bliss.

A/N: Some of you commented on how I didn't write the ending. Here's why I've let this rest for so long: I had the entire thing written, 6 more chapters, and then my computer crashed and it was all gone. I didn't think I could write it better than I had before so I left it for a while, until I couldn't and came back to it eventually. I hope it's still a fun story, I'd like to think so, and I'll continue it for a while.