(The Hole in the Heart)

I don't own Bones.

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She was nervous and Brennan was having a hard time hiding it. Booth was at the Port in Wilmington tracking down Jacob Brodsky and she knew that until she heard Booth's voice, she would worry about him.

Sitting in the lounge in the Lab, she anxiously watched her phone lying on the coffee table while Cam, Angela, Hodgins and Sweets kept her company. There was work waiting for them all to do, but no one could concentrate at that moment. They were waiting for Booth to call and say he'd captured Brodsky and they feared the longer it took the more likely it was that things could go wrong.

The phone suddenly rang and Brennan fumbled with the phone while she tried to accept the call. "Brennan."

Dr. Brennan, this is Agent Burns. Booth captured Brodsky. Booth is fine, but Brodsky is hurt. Booth is with him at the hospital. Once Brodsky has been taken care of, Booth will come to the Lab. He said to tell you he's not hurt. Not even a scratch.

"Yes, I understand." Relieved, she ended the call and turned to face her friends. "Booth got Brodsky."

Her friends were so excited and relieved and they let their pleasure be known with cheers and hugs. Angela smiled at her friend knowing that Brennan and Booth could now be together once and for all. There was nothing to keep them apart.

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Mr. Nigel-Murray's body was on a flight to England and Brennan planned to fly to England the next day with Hodgins, Angela and Cam to attend the intern's funeral. She felt she owed Vincent's parents the respect due to them by being at their son's funeral. He had been one of her favorite interns and she knew she was going to miss him. "Would you like to go to England with us tomorrow? Hodgins is going to use one of the jets that belongs to the Cantilever Group. I've been on the jet before and it is quite comfortable."

Slowly shaking his head, Booth knew that wasn't going to be possible. "I wish I could, but I don't have any vacation time left. Besides, Brodsky's capture means I have a lot of meetings I have to attend in the next few days. Caroline is already planning Brodsky's prosecution and she wants to talk to me tomorrow. She needs to make sure everything was done by the book. She's going for the death penalty."

"I understand." Brennan was sitting in Booth's apartment, drinking a glass of Scotch. "I will miss being with you, but I will only be gone for three days." She finished her drink and placed the empty glass on the coffee table. "I was worried and was quite relieved that you didn't sustain any injuries."

Booth placed his empty glass beside Brennan's glass and reached over to clasp her hand. "Not even a scratch." He leaned over and kissed her. "I love you Bones." He wasn't sure if she would say it back, but he knew that wasn't important. He could wait for her to catch up.

For a long time, she'd believed that love wasn't real. Her parents' and brother's actions in the past had convinced her that love wasn't a real emotion and it had taken Booth's friendship and love for her to make her see she was wrong. "I love you too." She still wasn't sure that any relationship she had with Booth would last, but she was willing to risk her emotional happiness to try to make that relationship work. Not giving him a chance was no longer an option. Her imperviousness was gone and she knew she would rather be with Booth than without him.

Surprised, Booth grinned. "Hey . . . hey, Bones." He didn't know what to say. He hadn't expected her to say it and he felt a little overwhelmed. "I . . . I'm going to make you happy, Bones. I promise that I will never walk away from you. I love you too much to ever let that happen."

She knew he hadn't expected her to respond like she had, but she was tired of being cautious and afraid. Just because her past personal relationships had been failures didn't mean this one would be. After all, Booth loved her and she loved him and she knew that was the difference between her past and now. "I am happy now . . . I want to have a monogamous relationship with you . . . Booth, I don't believe in marriage. I hope you can accept that."

Unconcerned, Booth shook his head and smiled. "You've told me that before and I accept it . . . I do, Bones. We don't need to get married if you don't want to. As long as I have you in my life then I have everything I need or want." He leaned over and kissed her. "We'll be fine."

"Good." Relieved, Brennan returned his kiss. "I don't think we should tell anyone about our relationship change right now. You need to talk to Hacker and see what the FBI plans to do with our partnership . . . our working partnership."

"Yes, our working partnership." Booth sighed. "There is no way I'm going let them interfere with our personal relationship. If they want to break up our partnership, then that's their problem. I'm the Head of Major Crimes and that's a supervisory job. If they screw around with our working partnership then I'll stop being the liaison between the FBI and the Lab. They can find someone else."

Brennan placed her hand on her partner's knee. "I will not work with anyone else, Booth. I only work with the best. If they break up our partnership, I will invoke a clause in my contract that allows me to go on digs. I will find one and go away until my contract is up in three months. I know that isn't the best thing for us at this time, but I will not allow the FBI to go unpunished if they break up our partnership. If I can find a dig willing to take me on at the last minute, then I will stay out of the reach of the FBI until my contract is up."

He hated the thought of Brennan going on a dig for several months, but he knew she had the right to protect herself from a faceless bureaucracy. "I'm fine with that, Bones. I'll miss you while you're gone, but we can talk to each other every day and make plans when you get back. I just hope it doesn't come to this. I want to be with you."

"And I want to be with you." Brennan sighed. "Perhaps we can keep our relationship secret for the next three months and when my contract is up, we can tell everyone about our relationship then. I will put in my new contract that I insist that you be my partner and no other FBI agent will be acceptable without my approval. If they wish to play hard ball . . . hard ball?" Brennan noticed Booth nod his head. "I will show them they aren't the only one that can play hard ball. After all, they need me, I don't need them. I still have contracts with the CIA, Homeland Security and the Pentagon. I also teach. It's not like I won't have work to do."

"I like it. It's a better plan than the first plan." Booth wanted to continue to work with Brennan and if they had to be sneaky to do it, then that was what they would do. "We'll just act like we've always acted around everyone at crime scenes and the Lab . . . Like being undercover only as ourselves."

She understood and considered that an excellent idea. "I'm a very good actress. They will they think we are still just partners . . . um, Angela knows I slept with you."

Shocked, Booth stared at his partner. "Angela couldn't keep a secret if her life depended upon it."

"She did keep her first marriage a secret." Brennan felt that her best friend would keep her secret. "She wants our relationship to work and she will not say anything until we do." I hope.

"Well, if she keeps this secret then I'll be shocked." Booth decided he couldn't worry about Angela. Either she'd keep their secret or she wouldn't. He didn't have any control over the artist. "Well, let's not worry about it. We have a plan. Let's just go with it . . . Want to stay the night?"

Rubbing her palm against his thigh, Brennan smiled at her mate. "Yes, of course. I will be gone for three days, so I need to have sex with you tonight to tide me over."

Amused, Booth leaned over and kissed his girlfriend. "We're going to make love and . . . well, three days without your kisses is going to be tough, but I'll survive."

"Aw, you're so romantic, Booth." Brennan patted his thigh. "You're a very romantic man."

"You'd better believe that Bones." Booth stood up and waited for his partner to stand. Once she was next to him, he took her hand and let her into his bedroom. "I'll drive you to the airport tomorrow morning. You can call me when you get to England so I know you made it."

Entering the room, Brennan smiled at her partner as he removed his jacket. "You're an excellent lover, Booth. I want you to know that."

"Thanks, Bones. You're pretty excellent yourself." Booth watched his girlfriend begin to disrobe while he unbuttoned his shirt. "Bones . . . just so you know, we're going to have some ups and downs in our relationship because we always do. We both have strong opinions and we don't like to lose an argument, but no matter what we're doing wrong . . . I am not leaving you. Don't put too much pressure on yourself and I'll try not to do the same . . . We're friends and we will always be friends no matter what happens. Okay?" He pulled the hem of his shirt from his pants and stared at the remaining buttons. "I make mistakes, but I won't give up on us . . . I can't . . . Just don't give up on me."

"Booth . . . Booth." She waited for him to look at her. "I make mistakes too, but no . . . I won't give up on you and I don't want you to give up on me."

Moving over to where she was standing, Booth moved his arms around her and held her close. "I love you and I plan to tell you that every day."

"I love you too." Brennan closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. "If I forget to tell you that, then please remember that I'm not a romantic person, but I will try."

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