The Drama in the Dramamine

Brennan heard annoying music and blinked her eyes open, her cell was jittering around on a bedside cabinet she didn't recognise. By the time she had roused herself enough to reach over and turn the alarm off, she remembered where she was and who she was with. Turning to look at Booth, she smiled at his still sleeping form.

"Booth? Wake up!" She patted the hand he had resting on his chest.

He grunted and gripped her hand before rolling over, pulling her against his back. "Too early, Bones, let's sleep some more."

Brennan sighed and pulled her hand back roughly before raising her voice "Booth! We have dinner reservations!"

"What?" Booth, now alert, sat up and took in his surroundings.

"We're in Scotland, Ingliston Country Club and we have dinner reservations in an hour. Do you want to shower first?"

"Nah, you go ahead, I'll need to look out my suit for dinner."

Brennan frowned "Why?"

Booth got off the bed and walked over to his suitcase. "Because it's a country club, don't you need a suit and tie to eat at these places?"

"No, you don't. Booth … did you think I would book something that required us to wear semi-formal clothing on vacation?" He shrugged and she chuckled. "I prefer to dress for comfort just as much as you, smart casual is as fancy as our dress code requires."

"Oh, okay, so a sweater and jeans would be cool?"

Brennan gathered her toiletries bag and clothes and walked towards the bathroom "Absolutely, it's what I'm wearing."

He watched the door close to the fancy bathroom and looked around, there was a sideboard with a Tassimo drinks maker, different coffee pods and an electric kettle with a selection of tea bags in a wooden case next to it. The bathroom door opened and Bones poked her head out.

"I called ahead and asked reception to ensure the coffee maker was filled with water prior to our arrival and the young man at check in confirmed that had been done, you may need to read the operational instructions first though."

Booth mused out a non-committal 'uh huh' while choosing between Americano and espresso pods. There were two large coffee cups and two espresso cups on a try with teaspoons, sugar and creamer. The bathroom door opened and Bones came out wearing a towel and carrying a glass of water.

"You have to try this Booth!"

"It's water, Bones. I've tried water before."

"No! It's incredible, I read that Scotland has some of the best tap water in the world but I had no idea it would be so … just. Just try it!"

And he never could tell her 'no'. He sipped at it and his eyes widened. "That's … "

"I know, right? The purity and freshness … I'm very impressed!"

She took the glass from him and downed it, her previous brush with cold sores ignored, and he watched her walk back into the bathroom, her long legs and slender arms uncovered by the towel. Shapely and strong, just like the rest of her.

#

As they walked to the restaurant, they saw a group of teenage girls covered in mud, as the group passed them the girls started giggling and whispering. A grinning Booth turned and winked at Bones as she shook her head.

"They are far too young and muddy for you, Booth!"

"Oh I know" He leaned in closer to her to murmur in her ear "I like my women much older and much dirtier!"

Bones gasped and slapped at his shoulder as they arrived at the Maitre'd podium, where the same member of staff that had checked them into their room, Alex, was smiling broadly.

"Dr Brennan, Mr Booth, your table is ready! We have seated you next to the windows that look out into our indoor arena as we have a group of potential olympians practicing their jumping this evening!"

"Thank you, that will be interesting, right Booth?"

Booth just nodded as he looked around at the decor and other patrons. The room, tables and staff looked posh and polished but the customers looked like they were dressed for the diner. They were led to their table by Alex and once they were seated he handed them each a menu.

"The A La Carte menu for you, sir and the vegetarian menu for you, Doctor. The drinks menus are already on the table, I'll be back in a few moments to get your drink order."

Booth grabbed at the drinks menu and poured over it. "Damn they've got a beer brewed just for this hotel!"

"Well, it's not just a hotel, Booth. It's a world class equestrian centre, they host music events and private functions too."

"I wanna try it" his eyes shone with excitement as Bones attention was drawn to the window where the same group of teenagers were standing at a barrier on the edge of the arena pointing at Booth and talking behind their hands. He glanced in the same direction as her and frowned slightly.

"Are they bothering you, Mr Booth?"

"Huh?" Booth looked up at Alex and shook his head. "Oh! Nah, just girls bein' girls I suppose."

Alex' attention was firmly on the giggling teenagers as he took their drinks order.

"Mr Booth finds being objectified bolsters his ego." Brennan smiled from behind her menu.

"I do not!" Booth blustered and ordered his beer as Bones ordered a glass of wine. Once Alex was gone, Booth looked at her seriously. "Okay, maybe I get a little boost from being checked out but, BUT, only when it's the right woman checking me out. Not little girls."

"Noted." Bones nodded once and went back to choosing something to eat.

Their meal was delicious, the showjumping impressive and the service impeccable as they discussed their travel itinerary for the next day. Alex was kind enough to help them with the pronunciation of many of the places they'd be visiting and Booth was more than bewildered at the silent 'r's, guttural 'ch's and 'o's pronounced like 'uh's.

"While taking three ferries to Islay seems like it would be quicker, it's less scenic and actually takes longer. Also, waters will be choppy this time of year, in case either of you get seasick." Alex smiled genially and waved them goodbye.

"What a nice guy!" Booth remarked.

"Scottish people are known for welcoming tourists, you could certainly see that Alex is very proud and informed about his country. From what I've read, this is pretty much the standard that we can expect from all of our interactions with the local populace."

"Unless you're arseholes!" A man in a suit leaning against the wall shouted. "We don't like arseholes here!"

A woman in a pale blue gown appeared behind him "Tommy! Whit are ye doin'?"

"Look, Jeanie, Americans in the wild!" Tommy pointed at Brennan and Booth.

"I'm so sorry about him, he always drinks too much at Weddings!" Jeanie pulled Tommy away through a set of double doors, loud music blasting Bryan Adams through the opening.

Booth looked at Bones and smirked "You were saying?"

#

Through the years they had developed a routine for getting ready for sleep when sharing a room, it was unspoken but there all the same. Bones always got ready for bed in the bathroom first because her routine took longer than his and she struggled to settle in bed due to her thought processes. By the time Booth had come out of the bathroom in his short sleeve t-shirt and pyjama pants, Bones was at a point where his getting into bed and finding the most comfortable position on the mattress wouldn't disturb her 'shutting down' her brain for sleep.

"Bones?" Booth whispered.

"Yes?"

"Did you bring any dramamine? Alex mentioned the ferry rides might be kinda wild and I'm really not used to that kind of thing."

"Sure, it's in my bag in the bathroom, you can get it tomorrow morning."

"Thanks".

He reached out and searched for her hand under the covers and gave it a quick squeeze before turning away from her and, promptly, falling asleep. Brennan remained awake for a while longer, thinking about how glad she was that he was here, how it felt when he squeezed her hand and how she had Booth all to herself for two whole weeks. No dead bodies, no paperwork, no suspects.

#

When the alarm blared the next morning, Booth opened his eyes in the pitch black room and reached out to turn on the lamp next to the bed. It was 7am and it was still dark as night. He yawned and scratched at his stomach blearily, waiting for his morning wood to calm down before he got out of bed. He turned to a wide eyed Bones and looked down in the same direction she was to realise he'd kicked off the blanket through the night and his half hard 'little Booth' was propping up quite the tent in his pants.

He cleared his throat to get her attention and she looked up at him. "I'm a guy, it happens."

"I've never noticed before, this obviously isn't the first time we've woken in the same bed … although the heating here is far superior to other accommodations we've had so you've, perhaps, never needed to remove your blankets before."

"Probably, the motels we usually end up at? We're lucky they have any heating at all!" He chuckled.

"It's very impressive."

"Yeah, the whole hotel is really nice and warm."

"Not the heating system…"

"Don't say another word, Bones."

"Okay."

She got out of bed and gathered her clothes for the day as Booth lay with his eyes closed trying not to think about the fact that if the love of his life was impressed by half-mast, she'd be stunned by the full effect. He heard the shower start and huffed out a breath before going to his suitcase and picking out what he'd be wearing on their journey. He wondered if Bones would still be set on taking the three car ferries rather than the longer drive and one ferry, Still, he'd never really been on a ferry in choppy waters before so popping some dramamine and being a little drowsy would be preferable to being queasy and spewing all over Bones' nice rental car.

The bathroom door opened and Bones walked out with a towel wrapped around her hair and her toiletry bag. She took a small wallet out of the bag and tossed it to Booth. "The Dramamine is in there, you should take it before breakfast as it can upset your stomach and food helps with that. We'll take the ferries today and will use the scenic driving route on our way to Loch Lomond."

"Well that's ironic!" Booth chuckled as he opened the wallet, it looked like an entire pharmacy was in there. Tylenol, Advil, Aleve, Yasmin, Dramamine … wait, Yasmin? He checked Bones was busy as he took the contraceptives out of the wallet, there were a few missing … she probably took them to regulate her period but, still, hope blossomed in his chest.

#

By 8.30am they were well fed and on the road, Booth gazed out the passenger window as they pulled in and stopped at a big supermarket in Port Glasgow to pick up snacks and refillable water bottles for the trip. Always one for trying new things, Brennan picked up a bottle of Irn Bru rather than Coke or Sprite as well as a Scottish brand of chips and, what was labelled as, a traditional Scottish candy. Booth searched in vain for brands of snacks he could recognise, and Brennan found him in a nearby aisle with a confused look and a chatty member of staff.

"I'm sorry, lady, I can't understand what you're saying." The woman wearing a navy blue Tesco uniform's eyes widened.

"Oh! Yer a yank?" She rolled her eyes. "Follow me!"

Booth and Bones walked behind the woman as she led them to the world foods aisle and swept out an arm. "There ye go, big man, fill yer boots!"

Booth's eyes lit up as he saw trail mix, milk duds, Cap'n Crunch and a whole host of familiar cartoon mascots and names. Brennan smiled at his joy and turned to the staff member, noting the name 'Cheryl' on her badge.

"Thank you, Cheryl, we appreciate that you recognised what the issue was."

Cheryl nodded and pursed her lips. "Not a problem, all in a day's work!"

Brennan could see and hear she was purposefully slowing down her speech and using as little of her accent as she could and leaned in when she noticed Cheryl glancing at Booth and getting closer to her.

"Your man is stunning! Go you!" Cheryl grinned, punched Brennan's arm lightly then walked away.

While Booth was choosing his snacks, Brennan noticed they had a Latin America section and browsed to see if there was anything she recognised. She reached up to take a bottle of Sumol (one of her favourites) when a man grabbed the bottle and held it out for her.

"Um, thank you but I was actually able to reach it." The man was tall, skinny with light brown shaggy hair and round, thick rimmed glasses. He was fairly handsome and had a sweet smile.

"Sorry, Dr Brennan, I just couldn't pass up the chance to meet you" His Scottish accent was soft and very attractive.

"Oh" She smiled "Are you involved in Social and Biological sciences?"

"No … I have read your books, though!" She tried to take the bottle from him but he held on. "I'm a big fan of your stories and, may I say, the picture on the cover does not do you justice at all!"

Her eyes swivelled to Booth who was watching the interaction closely with a box of S'Mores Pop Tarts in one hand and the other reaching to his right hand side for a gun that wasn't there.

"That's very nice of you to say, if you'll excuse me, we have a schedule to keep." Brennan backed away, intending on leaving the Sumol with her visitor.

"Oh! Of course!" He pushed the bottle of Sumol towards her and she took it as he blushed and hurried off empty handed.

Booth sidled up to her, noticing the smile and flushing to her cheeks. "Guess I'm not the only one who gets a boost from attention."

Halfway through a classic Boothy grin, he yawned and shook his head. "I think the dramamine is making you drowsy, we should get back on the road and you can sleep in the car."

"I'll be fine!" He tossed some chips and nuts in the cart and pushed it towards the checkout.

Within ten minutes of being back in the passenger seat, Brennan could see his head lolling to the side and him blinking hard to stay awake.

"Bones?" He drawled "How come you get the full grown dudes coming on to you and I get the little girls, it makes me feel weird."

Brennan chuckled "If it's any consolation the lady that showed us the American food was quite appreciative of your appearance too."

"She was young too!"

"But she wasn't a little girl, she was a woman." She turned to look at him and he was half asleep.

"Not the right woman though."

"Ah, yes. The much older and much dirtier woman you mentioned."

"Yeah" Brennan could hear the smile in his voice "She's in her 30s and I think she could probably show me a thing or two in the bedroom."

Brennan tensed and stopped at a red light, when she turned to him again he was fast asleep.

#

Booth slept while Brennan analysed. During the ferry ride from McInroy's Point to Hunter's Quay she thought about what Booth had said. His perception that his 'right woman' could show him new things, sexually, indicated that he hadn't had intercourse with this woman … yet. That ruled out Cam and Rebecca as his 'right woman', although she was sure that Booth had friends and acquaintances she wasn't aware of, she focussed on the ones she knew of. Aside from Angela and Agent Perotta, the only other woman she knew that was in her 30s and Booth hadn't had intercourse with was … her.

There had been ample opportunity for him to forge a connection with Angela after her break ups with Hodgins and Roxie, the fact that he hadn't even attempted to see Ange socially on a one to one basis during her time as a single woman ruled her out. He had outright told Brennan he wasn't interested in Perotta and that ruled her out too … Booth spent a majority of his free time with her or Parker or both of them.

Given the amount of time Booth would need to be sure who his right woman was and the lack of viable options that he spent that amount of time with, Brennan logically concluded that she was Booth's right woman … and she had no idea what to do with that information. As the ferry docked and the cars at the front started rolling forward, she shook him awake so he would be able to enjoy the scenery as they drove to Portavadie for their next connection.

#

Booth groaned as he stretched upwards and swayed to one side then the other to loosen up his back. He was glad Bones decided to stop at the nature reserve on Holy Loch, not just for the name of the place but because it was beautiful despite the cold. Some places felt barren and were silent in the winter but there were still plenty of birds and greenery here, it was peaceful.

"Wow, Bones! Will it be like this all over?" Booth watched his breath plume into the frigid air.

"Probably, I've heard the Highlands described as 'majestic' and the photographs certainly seem to reflect that." She sat on the hood of the car and sipped at the orange concoction that was deemed 'Scotland's other national drink'. It was very sweet, fruity with a certain spiciness. Interesting, not something she would want to drink all the time, but sugary carbonated drinks were never her favourite.

"You're quiet, if you're tired I can take over driving for a while?" Booth sat next to her and took the can out of her hand and brought it to his mouth before wrinkling his nose and pulling away. "Damn! How do they get it so … fizzy?"

Brennan shrugged and watched as he took a sip. She shared a lot of drinking receptacles with Booth, how could it be that stress was the one thing that made herpes simplex break out on her face?

"If the effects of the dramamine have worn off, I wouldn't mind being able to really enjoy the views rather than watching the road."

"I'm fine, I guess sleeping through the ferry ride is a great way to avoid getting queasy from it." He chuckled, expecting at least a smile from his partner but all he got was a solemn nod. "Okay, out with it!"

"What?" Brennan frowned.

"Something is bugging you, something has happened between us leaving the market and getting to this lovely Holy Loch."

"You don't remember the drive through Greenock?"

Booth frowned, of course he remembered the drive, they were talking about how he was creeped out by young women hitting on him and Bones mentioned the older, dirtier woman and he said … oh.

"I remember." He crossed his arms and looked up into the trees.

"Who is she?" Bones sipped at more of the Irn Bru, the bubbles tickling her nose and making her want to rub them away.

"I think you're so quiet because you've already worked that out, Bones." He put his hand out and she placed the car keys in his palm. "Let's get back on the road, we seem to do our best talking when you're in the passenger seat."

Brennan nodded, as much as she wanted to grab the keys back and drive home, she simply couldn't. Abandoning Booth in the middle of nowhere was something she would never do, cutting short much desired vacation was something she didn't want to do either. So the only option was to 'suck it up' as Angela would say and deal with this revelation in a mature and logical manner.

She cleared her throat as Booth started the Land Rover. "I have concluded that the most likely candidate for the 'right woman' you described is … me."

"That's right, Bones." He turned the car onto the winding road "So the question is: what do we do about this? I know I'm in love with you, now you know I'm in love with you, we're here in this, frankly, amazing country - just the two of us - for two whole weeks. What do we do?"

"I … I'm not sure. Ordinarily, when a man expresses an interest in me, I attempt to get to know him better and entice him sexually." Brennan opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, struggling to find the words. "Can I think about things for a while? I have no experiences that would help indicate the right thing to say or do in this situation."

"Sure, you can think. Just …" Booth sighed "Just don't run away, mentally or emotionally, don't clam up and pretend that this whole conversation never happened."

Brennan nodded and stared straight ahead, her eyes registering the views but her mind elsewhere. Booth didn't just want to have sex with her, he said he was in love with her, for Booth that meant forever - a life shared, wedding rings, children, a home with a yard. Before she could panic, she took a deep breath and thought about what being in love would mean to her.

Had she been in love with Michael? Not as it would be described in literature and film, they had a strictly sexual connection. She hadn't felt any emotions with regard to him until he used his knowledge of her to attempt to discredit her on the witness stand, and those were not positive emotions.

Peter claimed she was emotionally frigid, he was absolutely correct, she felt nothing close to love for him despite them casually cohabiting. And then there was Sully, she had felt something for him, it had hurt when he left, it had hurt her to have to choose between him and her career. She had felt as if she hadn't been enough for him, even though she had shared more of herself with him than any other relationship she had … except Booth.

Booth knew almost everything about her, the dark history she had never considered sharing with any of her sexual partners. She felt more for him … more affection, more trust, more connection than she had with anyone - even Angela. She dreamed of him, domesticity, she even wrote about them living, happily, in a domestic scenario with very little confusion as to what that would entail.

It was just them, just Booth and Bones playing Mr B and Bren but actually having sex and sharing slightly more than they actually did presently. She had found it surprisingly easy to write about Bren and Mr B's shared life, their marriage, and their impending parenthood. Could she live what she had written? Would that be what being in love would feel like for her with Booth? Could it be that easy?

"You are the person I care most about in the world."

Booth looked over at the sound of her voice briefly before concentrating on the weaving tarmac again. "Good, and you are second to Parker in who I care most about in the world."

"Does that mean I'm in love with you too?" Brennan looked over at him as he pulled into a dirt road near Loch Tarsan.

"Do you think about me a lot when I'm not with you? Dream about me? Just drive yourself crazy wanting to touch me?" Booth's cheeks were heavily coloured as his white knuckles gripped the steering wheel. "Does thinking about never seeing me again open a gaping, agonising wound in your chest?"

"Yes." She whispered.

"Alright, then" Booth shook the tension out of his shoulders and loosened his grip before turning back onto the main road. "There's a very high chance you're also in love with me. But my question is still hanging there - what do we do?"

"We … let it happen. Whatever we want to do, however we want to act upon our feelings … it feels like we should just let it happen … right? Is that … I mean, what do you want to do?"

"Letting it happen sounds good to me." Booth laughed lightly. "In fact, I don't think I could have come up with a better solution."

#

The tension in the car as they arrived at Portavadie was completely different to the tension they had left Holy Loch with. Rather than uncertain and ominous, it was almost electric with anticipation. The dock was quiet and they could see the ferry slowly approaching the slipway beyond the barrier. Booth opened his door and Brennan followed suit, they met at the front of the car and stared at each other for a few moments.

"I feel like this is going somewhere." Booth wrapped his arms around his Bones and kissed her.

Bones broke the kiss and looked into the warm pools of his eyes "Yes, this time it is."

They kissed again, and stopped to look into each other's eyes, repeating the process until the linkspan lowered and the cars on board drove away and they were ushered back into their car by the ferry staff.