Sabbaticals - 12 weeks

Before he went to sleep that night, Booth knew it was the middle of the night in Indonesia, so he wrote Bones a very short email that would be waiting in her inbox when she woke up. It simply said, "I love you". He wasn't sure what day Hannah would be back, but he decided to send Bones an identical email every night until then.

The next morning, he woke up to a reply in his inbox - and her reply was the identical "I love you". It made him smile. He loved how she was learning to take cues like that. That night, he sent a new email with the exact same message - and received the same reply from Bones the next morning.

That afternoon, he received a text from Hannah that she was back on the base and wanted to come see him. So, he met her at their usual place outside the mess tent and walked together to his quarters. As they walked, he asked how the interview went, and she told him a little bit about it. When they got inside his hooch and he closed the door, she flung her arms around his neck and went in for a kiss. He spread both arms out to the sides and pulled his head back. He couldn't let her kiss him - it would feel like a betrayal of Bones.

Hannah had an astonished look on her face. "What the hell Seeley?" He backed away from her and put both hands up, palms facing her. "I'm sorry Hannah. We need to talk." The look on her face changed to puzzled. He pulled out his desk chair and motioned for her to have a seat on the bed. He sat down across from her. "I'm really sorry Hannah, but I have to end this 'thing' we've had for the last month. There are two reasons. The first is that I had decided after you left the other night that I just couldn't continue to be with someone who wasn't interested in sharing her life with me. I'm not built for a relationship that is based only on sex - I need more Hannah."

She was looking a little pouty. "So, you're just going to dump me, just like that? Just because I won't tell you where I grew up, or tell you about the family I grew to hate so much that I buggered out of there at 16 years old?" Booth looked sadly at her. "I'm sorry that you didn't have a great upbringing Hannah, but there's no reason you couldn't share that with me. My God - we've shared a bed and slept together how many times over the last month? I'm a good listener. I could have told you about the not great childhood I also had, and we could have bonded over that. There's so much about my life that I wanted to share with you, but you just have this wall built around you."

Hannah glared at him. "There's a reason I don't talk about all that. But what do you care?" Booth was starting to lose his temper. "What do I care? I wouldn't have asked you over and over again if I didn't care!" He looked up to the ceiling and blew out a breath to calm himself. "I'm sorry Hannah. I didn't mean to shout. I was planning to have this conversation with you when you returned, and I feared that it would go just the way it has. But there's a second reason that I can't continue this with you."

"The other day, shortly after you left, I received an email from a woman from back home. A woman I have been in love with for several years now. Almost six months ago now, I asked her to give us a shot at a relationship - and she turned me down. I was heartbroken and decided that I had to move on and try to find a woman I could love who would love me back. Taking this one year military assignment was a good way to put distance between us and help my heart to heal. Hannah - when I met you, I thought you might just be the woman to heal my heart. But it became obvious that you had no interest in that role."

"This woman wrote to tell me that our time apart has clarified her feelings and that she now realizes that she's in love with me." He slowly shook his head. "I still love her Hannah. I've wanted this with her for so long - I can't walk away from her now. I'm so sorry."

Hannah shook her head. "Well, it was good while it lasted. In fact, during the trip, I was offered a new opportunity and will probably be leaving the base in a few weeks anyway. And I don't do long distance relationships - what would be the sense in that?" She got up and walked over to the door. As she started to walk out, she turned to look at him. "I hope you get what you want." And just like that - she was gone.

Booth checked his watch. It was 4:00, so it would be 8:30 in Maluku - plenty of time to talk to Bones tonight. So he sent her a quick email. "Are you available to hop on a video call? I'll be waiting by the laptop if you can."

Within a minute, the call came through and Brennan's face appeared on the screen. "Hi Bones, my love." She gave him a side eye with a slight smile. "Hi Booth. Everything okay?" His face broke into a big grin. "Everything is fantastic. I'm all yours Bones." She smiled back at the screen. "You broke things off with Hannah?" He nodded. "It was actually a little easier than I expected. I told her that I had already planned to confront her with my feelings about her reluctance to share her life. And that, in the meantime, I had heard from the woman I had been in love with for years - who I thought had gotten away." Brennan gave him a shy smile at that.

Booth continued. "And that there was no choice for me. I needed to be with the woman I love. She started out a little pouty, but then casually dropped that she had been offered a new assignment and would probably be leaving the base in a few weeks anyway." Booth shook his head and laughed. "And then she felt the need to add that she doesn't do long distance relationships - what would be the point in that?" Brennan laughed. "She actually said that?" Booth chuckled. "Yep. And then she walked out the door."

Booth stared at her face on the screen. "So here we are." Brennan stared back. "So here we are." They both just sat there smiling at each other and finally Booth broke the silence. "I almost don't know what to say to you now that we're here. I've dreamed of this moment for the last four years. If I could, I would take you in my arms and never let you go. And I would kiss you senseless. And then I would make slow, passionate love to you. I love you so much Bones. I don't know how I'll be able to wait another nine months before I can touch you." He took a deep breath. "But just to know that I have your heart will have to do until we can be together."

He could see the passion building in her eyes and she reached her hand toward the screen. "I wish I could just reach through the screen and take your hand, Booth. Mind you, I would really like to take more than that." She winked at him and he waggled his eyebrows - they both laughed. "We can do this Booth. We can have these video calls and talk about the past, talk about the future. I think we're both feeling a little shellshocked, but I have no doubt we will have plenty to talk about. That's never been a problem for us. But everything has changed now. It's going to be a real paradigm shift for us, but I truly believe we're ready for it." Booth had a large grin, "I love it when you use big words." She laughed and shook her head.

They spent the rest of the call deciding on when they would schedule their calls together. The 4 1/2 hour time difference was going to be challenging, but they decided to be flexible and see how different times worked around their schedules. They agreed to cut the call short that night because they each wanted to take some time to just sit and take in what had just happened. They ended the call with each saying a very heartfelt, "I love you".

When they got together on the next call a few days later, they discovered that they had both had similar experiences after the call ended. Both of them lay on their beds, closed their eyes, and did a little daydreaming about their future together. But the daydreams weren't quite the same. Booth had had these types of daydreams about being with Bones for years. He saw them waking up in each other's arms, having breakfast together, picking up dry cleaning for each other, attending Parker's baseball games and then the three of them going to the diner for lunch, picking her up at the lab at the end of the day and taking her to Wong Fu's for dinner, making sweet love to her cloaked in the darkness of their bedroom with just the ambient light from the street as a nightlight.

Brennan had a harder time with the daydreams. Because she never expected to have an ordinary life with someone she loved, she wasn't as experienced with daydreams. Hers were a little more amorphous. She could see them traveling, perhaps on a trip through Europe - just like their trip to London a few years before. She was having more trouble imagining the day to day experience of living together, but had faith that Booth would guide her through it in real life. No need for daydreams because she was about to jump in and live the life. But Booth reminded her that they had nine more months to go before getting to live that life, so he would teach her about daydreams. He told her that imagining the day to day things they would do together when they were back home would help get them through the long months ahead.

They discovered that they both had dreams about each other that night. Neither could remember exactly what happened in the dreams, but a curious thing happened to them upon awakening the next morning. For both of them, their first thought was, "Oh, it was just a dream." It was accompanied by a feeling of disappointment. But after a few seconds, while the cobwebs of sleep fell from their consciousness, their hearts filled with joy with the realization that it, in fact, was not a dream. It was true. They were together. A real couple. Booth laughed and told her that he quickly sat up in bed and all he could think was, 'It's real! Oh my God, it's real!'

Brennan smiled at him. "Let me ask you a question Booth. When you talk about daydreaming about our lives together, does it involve masturbation?" Booth had just taken a sip of his coffee and started to spit it out with a laugh. "Why do you ask that Bones?" She was very matter of fact. "Well, within your daydreams, you said that you make passionate love to me, and you wake up with me in your arms. Surely you aren't thinking about those parts of our lives together without becoming aroused."

Booth looked a little sheepish. "Well…okay Bones. Cards on the table." She looked puzzled. "I don't know what that means." He shook his head slowly and smiled at her. "Oh Bones. I love you. It's a term I knew well when I was gambling. In a card game after all the bets are in, you lay your cards on the table to see what kind of hand everyone has and the winner is determined." She was still puzzled. "Okay, but I still don't understand what that has to do with masturbation."

He bit his bottom lip and slowly nodded. "Well, I guess you have me there. It's really more of an analogy to the card game. It means I'm going to show you my hand." He looked down at his hand and blushed. And then he stammered. "Not that my hand has anything to do with, you know…" She interrupted. "Masturbation?" Now his face was turning beet red. "Okay. That went in a direction I hadn't expected. Let's start over. 'Cards on the table' means I'm going to be honest with you."

"Well, why didn't you just say that? You should always be honest with me Booth." He chuckled, realizing this is the same Bones that he knows and loves. "Okay Bones. Honestly? I masturbate thinking of you all the time. You should know that until I came to Afghanistan, I had not been with a woman in well over three years. Not since Cam, actually." Brennan was astonished. "Not since Cam? Wait, I remember about…what was it…two years or so ago? We were in Sweets' office and I suggested that you were sexually active. I remember clearly that you said, 'I do fine'. You were lying?" Booth looked sheepish. "Yes, I was lying. I was too embarrassed to tell you - and especially Sweets - that I had been in such a long dry spell. But Bones. It was because I was in love with you. I had no desire to be with another woman. I was saving myself, waiting for my moment with you."

Brennan was touched. "You were staying celibate just for me? Booth! That is so sweet. But also ridiculous. You knew that I wasn't celibate during that time." He pursed his lips and nodded. "Yeah. I knew. Remember, I caught you that morning with that deep sea welder. In fact, it was when we were talking about him in Sweets' office just a few days later that I lied and said I was doing fine." She looked at him sadly, and he continued. "I was too embarrassed to admit it, Bones. I wanted you to think that I had women lining up to date me - I thought maybe that would make me more desirable to you. If you recall, that same night I talked about how there is someone for everyone, someone you're meant to be with for the rest of your life."

Brennan gave him a half smile. "I remember. For a minute there, I thought you might be talking about us. But then I remembered that just a minute before you had bragged about having an active sex life, so I thought you were just being sweet to me because both Mark and Jason had just dumped me. You were talking about us, weren't you Booth?" He looked lovingly at her. "Of course I was talking about us. I wanted to get the idea into your head, but I knew you weren't ready yet."

She let out a deep breath. "I'm going to tell you something that will probably surprise you, Booth." He gave her a bit of a side eye. "Really?" She nodded. "Do you remember that morning that you met Mark in my apartment?" He huffed. "Can't forget that Bones." Now she had a wry smile. "That morning was the last time I had sex." Now it was Booth's turn to be astonished. "Was that just a dry spell, or was it on purpose?" She tilted her head and gave him a look. "Of course it was on purpose Booth. I did it for the same reason you did. I was in love with you, and I didn't have any desire to be with another man. Now, mind you. I was convinced that it was a temporary condition for me and that after a few months I would start to desire other men. But it just never happened. And…..I masturbate thinking of you all the time, as well. I've seen you naked, so I know what a gorgeous body you have. Although I only saw your penis flaccid, I have 'daydreamed' what it might look like erect, so I have very vivid fantasies of having sex with you."

Booth almost fell off his chair. "You're killing me here, Temperance." She smiled at his use of her full name. "I don't know if I want to wait another nine months to find out, Booth. Maybe you could show it to me one time? I've heard that phone sex can be very satisfying. And we have the advantage of visual as well as audio." She raised her eyebrows in question. "Please Booth?" He swallowed hard. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'd like that. Maybe we can plan for it next week? I think I need to be prepared mentally."

She laughed. "Oh Booth. You have such puritan views regarding talking about sex." He waggled his eyebrows at her and smiled. "Ah, but Bones. We've never discussed our sex life. There is nothing puritan about my desire for you. You have the advantage. You've seen me completely naked once, and in just my boxers once. All I've ever seen is small glimpses of what is under that lab coat." She laughed, grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and gave him a quick flash. For the second time that night, he almost fell out of his chair. He put both hands to his chest mimicking having a heart attack and they both laughed uproariously. "Just a taste Booth. A taste of what you'll see next week."

They had decided that one of their nights to do video calls would be Saturday nights because both typically were free on Sundays. And Brennan insisted that they do the call later on Saturdays so that Booth wouldn't have to get on the call so early. So the Saturdays were at 9:00 for Booth and 1:30AM for Brennan. She assured him that she had the ability to still get a full night's sleep because she could sleep in on Sunday.

So they planned to try the "phone sex" the following Saturday night. They were both a little shy to start out. They brought their laptops over to their beds and there were a lot of nervous giggles as they tried to figure out how to get comfortable. Brennan decided to just go for it and pulled her nightshirt off revealing that she was completely naked underneath. Booth lost his breath seeing her for the first time. She brought both hands up and started fondling her breasts. "Oh Bones. You're not shy, are you?" She smiled at him and slowly shook her head no. "Are you surprised that I'm not shy? Come on, join me."

He decided to tease her and began a slow strip tease. She started to clap and woo-hoo, but realized she had to do it quietly in case the sound carried. He was enjoying performing for her, and when he knelt on the bed and slid the boxers down to his knees, she had her first full view of his erect penis. "Ohhhhh Booth! I was underestimating you in my daydreams." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "You like?" She swooned. "I like."

They each lay on their beds and talked softly, peppered with moans, while they slowly used their hands, eventually bringing themselves to completion. While they were pleasuring themselves, occasionally one of them would ask to reposition the camera, sometimes to their genitals and sometimes to their faces. As they came down from their orgasms, they were lying on their sides with their faces looking right into the cameras on their laptops. Booth pointed out that it was almost like they were sharing a bed. At least the closest they could get right now. For the next hour, they shared pillow talk, taking softly as felt appropriate for the late hour. Brennan said she was getting sleepy, but would like to go another round, so they lay there facing each other, staring into each other's eyes and smiling, as they began again. When he could see from her face that she was about to go over the edge, he sped up his pumping and they were able to watch each other's faces as they orgasmed together.

As she came down, she let out a satisfied sigh, tucked both hands under her pillow, and closed her eyes. Booth lay there watching her for several minutes and realized she was sleeping. He said her name very softly, and when she didn't respond, he kissed his hand and touched the screen, and said softly, "Goodnight Bones". He disconnected the call, set his laptop on the floor, and settled into his pillow, hoping to have even more vivid dreams of her now.