Chapter 2

Brennan flinched as Angela shouted at her etymologist husband to leave the bone room. Once the offending intruder left, Angela turned back to her with an expression that Brennan could only decipher as happy on account of the smile on her friend's face. She was sure there was more to Angela's expression, but Brennan was too confused about everything that occurred within the last 24 hours to think any further of the meaning behind her friend's smile.

"So, Bren, let me get this straight. You crawled into bed with Booth and finally did the deed with him?!" Angela waddled around the table where the interns previously laid out Schlessinger's bones to grab Brennan's arm. Brennan idly thought that the action was as if Angela needed a tactile response to stimulate her somatosensory system in anticipation of her answer.

"Did the deed? What does property transfer have to do with anything?" a confused Brennan asked once she concentrated on her friend's query. She watched as the pregnant woman took a deep breath and exhaled with a huff and a low growl.

Releasing her hand from Brennan's arm, Angela shook her head in a quick motion. "Okay, I'm just going to be direct because I don't want to be interrupted again. Did you have sex with Booth last night? You know, like conjugal relations? The two of you, like together?" Angela punctuated her question with hand motions that Brennan interpreted as most likely mimicking a penis penetrating a vagina. At least, that's what she thought Angela's hand motion signified.

"Since Booth and I are not married to each other, we did not have conjugal relations." Ignoring Angela's groan, Brennan carried on. "I believe the correct word in our case is fornicate, that Booth and I fornicated. Last night. Or more accurately, this morning." Brennan shifted her eyes downward, her small smile belying the maladroit feeling she was experiencing. Though accurate, the word didn't sit well with her because she was not a religious person, nor did the word correctly describe the enormity of what happened last night. She prided herself on being precise with her words and found herself at a loss on how to describe what happened between Booth and her. "Made love," she whispered. "We made love this morning." That was the precise term. A shriek ensued, and Brennan wanted to escape from her friend's exuberant embrace.

"Finally! I thought after that fiasco with Hannamort that you two would never get together!" Angela yelled, removing her hands from Brennan to throw them up in the air, as if in praise to an unnamed deity.

"Hannah Mort? Her name is Hannah Burley." Brennan corrected while moving a few of bones on the table into different positions.

"As in Voldemort, you know, Harry Potter? The boy that lived? Hogwarts?" Upon seeing Brennan's blank look, Angela explained, "Harry Potter, the children's books. Well anyway, Voldemort was the archenemy of Harry Potter, like Hannah was your archenemy. Therefore, Hannamort." Angela shook her head. "You know, Bren, you're going to be an aunt soon. You really should get the books and look through them." Patting her rounded belly, she continued. "You can help me read them to this little one once he's born. Gotta be prepared, right?"

Ignoring the change in topic, Brennan replied in a weak voice that even surprised herself. "She wasn't my enemy, Angela. She was my friend." Brennan wished she didn't say anything about what happened with Booth if Angela was going to continue in this vein.

"Yeah, right." Angela snorted. "Face it, sweetie, you two only hung out together because of Booth." Angela shifted next to Brennan to put her arm around her. "Forget her, not interested. Sorry I brought it up." She shook her head quickly as if to emphasise her point. "What I mean is now you and Booth can now figure what's next for the two of you."

"Next? I'm not sure what you mean?" Brennan suddenly felt hot and unbuttoned her lab coat, although it was not protocol.

"You know. Now that you two confessed your love for one another and had wild monkey-sex to prove it, what? What's wrong sweetie? You don't look so good."

Brennan woke up to an odd feeling of cold, heat, and pressure. As she became more alert, she understood that the cold was because the room was cool and her legs uncovered. The heat and pressure were coming from a heavy arm wrapped around her torso with a large hand covering her right breast. Finally, she remembered that Booth was the owner of both the hand and arm. Booth, the man who was her partner, her friend. Her lover? Technically, that was true, but would this change in status continue? She very much hoped so, but was apprehensive about continuing the thought.

"Morning." Booth's voice rumbled against her ear.

"Morning." Brennan replied in an even tone. After a gentle squeeze to her breast, Booth's arm was off her torso. She turned to face Booth and studied his face in the morning light.

His hand now on her shoulder and his brow furrowed, Booth asked, "You okay?

Brennan noted the periorbital hyperpigmentation and the hyperaemia of his sclera. She then remarked, "I'm sorry, I should not have approached you last night." She saw Booth's eyebrows draw down in the middle, the skin around his eyes tightening, and his temporalis and masseter muscles clenching, causing his mandible to appear bulged.

Booth quickly rolled away from her and sat up on the edge of the bed. Alarmed at his sudden movement, Brennan sat up and reached for his shoulder, afraid that yet again she said the wrong thing. "I mean, you needed your rest. You have to get Brodsky and need all of your faculties at maximum capacity." She tried explaining, hoping that her meaning was clear.

Turning his head over his shoulder to look at her now, Booth asked in a soft voice, "You just mean you wish I slept more, not that you regret anything that happened between us?"

Brennan noticed that the temporalis and masseter muscles were no longer clenched and that the middle of his brows was up. She moved to press herself against his back and encircled his shoulders with her arms. "No, no regrets unless you get shot because your reflexes are slow today." She whispered into his ear and heard a small breath escape from his lips.

Suddenly both of their phones began ringing, reality demanding to intrude.

"Booth." With his phone stuck to his ear, he stood up and headed towards the bedroom door.

"Brennan." She watched as Booth left the room, tilting her head to hold the phone against her shoulder as she pulled the sheet around her. She assumed he left so that neither caller could hear them together. Still a bit stunned to see Booth nonchalantly walk nude in front of her, Brennan missed what Hodgins was saying to her and had to ask him to repeat himself. After hearing Hodgins' report that he did not discover any new information during the night, Brennan ended the call. She got out of bed intending to go search for Booth, but saw him already in the doorway, watching her.

"I have to go into the office soon. We have some updates on Brodsky." Booth still stood there, staring at her. She looked at him and noticed his eyes were wide-open and on her, his mouth slightly ajar. It finally dawned on her that while she had seen him nude before, until last night, Booth never saw her in a similar state of undress, especially in daylight.

With a quick flick of his head, Booth dropped his eyes. "You want to jump in the shower while I make us some coffee?"

Shaking her head, Brennan responded, "No, I have a change of clothes in my office. I'll just shower at the Jeffersonian. You go. I'll make the coffee. Everything is still where they were?" Spotting her white cotton briefs on the floor, she grabbed them and slid them on.

Still standing in her way, Booth looked at her askance, but with part of his lip curled up in a half-smile. "Yeah, still is. You sure? You can always join me."

Now in a hurry, she pushed Booth out of the doorway as she barged past him. She yelled over her shoulder, "No, we don't have time. I have re-exam everything in case I've missed something. You need to get ready, Booth." She stopped in the hallway and turned to face him. "A cold shower increases circulation, which then improves oxygen uptake and increases the heat rate. All of which results in more alertness." She sighed before continuing, "You need to be alert." She bit her lower lip. "You have to be alert today," her voice slightly cracking on the last word.

Walking towards Brennan, Booth nodded with his smile still in place and replied, "I'll take a cold shower then. But you make the coffee strong, okay?" With that, he gave her a quick hug, kissed her cheek, and then went into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Bren!" Angela's voice reverberated in the bone room. "Come on, here!" She grabbed Brennan by the hands to pull her towards her and then pushed her onto a nearby stool.

Blinking up at her friend's face, which she identified as having a worried look, Brennan gave a slight smile. "I'm fine. I just realised that neither Booth nor I said anything about our feelings. We spoke about what happened to Vincent and what he said before he... died in front of us." She bowed her head and took a deep breath before looking back at Angela. "We did not make any declarations of love. We had intercourse, slept awhile and then went to work."

Angela folder arms and rested them on her burgeoning belly. Tilting her head, she replied, "Well, since so much has happened in twenty-four hours, I'm not going to quiz you on all the details from this morning." She removed one of her hands from her belly and placed it on Brennan's shoulder. "Look, something's bothering you. A few minutes ago, before Hodgins so rudely interrupted us, you looked like the cat that got the cream." She quickly added before Brennan could interrupt, "I mean, you looked happy, or should I say, satisfied." A smirk spread over her face.

Brennan looked up at Angela and that same small smile from before formed on her lips. "Yes," her head nodding in agreement. "Booth is quite..." She cocked her head, trying to determine how much she should reveal, understanding that while she had no qualms sharing her sex life with her friend, Booth would not feel the same. "He's very good," she said simply. Before Angela could ask for further clarification, Brennan quickly added, "But he's out there now, looking for Brodsky, Angela. And he's not at his peak in terms of physical condition because of his lack of sleep. I'm worried. If anything happens..."

As quickly as her condition would allow, Angela grabbed Brennan's hands and pulled her up to hug Brennan again. "Listen to me, sweetie, nothing is going to happen to Booth. We're going to find out what's Brodsky's up to and tell Booth who will then get that asshole. That bastard is going to spend the rest of his miserable life in prison. Afterwards, you and Booth are going to spend the weekend having more hot, sweaty sex, okay?!" She then released Brennan from her hold. "You'll see. It will all work out."

Her head now nodding in agreement, Brennan softly added, "And I'm going to just tell Booth exactly what he means to me and what I feel." Looking up with a determined glint in her eye, she then instructed Angela. "Tell Hodgins to come quickly to the bone room and tell me what the mass spec results are. There's something about this skull that is bothering me, but I can't puzzle it out. I'm hoping whatever new information Hodgins has will somehow aid me." Quickly sidestepping Angela, Brennan marched over to the table, put on her magnifying headgear and picked up Schlessinger's skull.

Knowing the conversation was officially over, Angela started to walk out of the room to search for her husband before she stopped and looked back over at Brennan. She was going to do her best to make sure that at least her best friend had a happy ending from this awful mess. Seeing Brennan examining the skull with renewed vigour, Angela turned and resumed walking towards Cam's office to get Hodgins so they all could start working on that happy ending.

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To be continued...