Title: That Don't Make It Easy Loving Me (yes, I know, what a doosie)
Summary: Nothing makes love any easier. That's what makes it worthwhile.
Rating: G
Pairings/Characters: Booth/Brennan est. ship
Series: Long Trip Alone, part 9/11 (can be read as standalone, but best read with parts 6, 7, & 8)
Length: 1,100 words
Genres: fluff
A/N: Um, yes, I know I tortured you all and made you wait WAY too long. That's only halfway the site's fault, the other half would be my forgetfulness and crazy busy-ness. But to make up for it, this part is total fluff. facepalm And I also didn't plan for this to happen on the plane, but that's how it came out... Which screwed up my timeline, sort of. Because the last fic has to take place 6+ months and preferably 12 or more after this fic. Yeah, you see the problem. Anyway, read and enjoy the un-betaed fluff!

That Don't Make it Easy Loving Me

(Long Trip Alone, part 9)

As the movie he was watching ended, Booth glanced sideways at the sleeping woman beside him, then removed his headphones and turned his body so he was fully facing her. He didn't know exactly when it was that she'd fallen asleep—she'd just sort of randomly dozed off at some point—but he knew she'd been asleep for about an hour.

He didn't mind at all.

It was a long flight back to DC, especially considering that unlike Brennan, Booth had a strange inability to sleep on a plane. He didn't really know why, but he'd just never been able to sleep on airplanes. Even given a sleep aid on a very long flight, he never slept more than an hour at a time, if even then.

If he was going to be awake for hours, though, he couldn't think of a better way to spend that time than staring at his sleeping partner. Because when she slept, all the worry and frowns smoothed out of her face. You couldn't look into her eyes and see her brilliant mind running a million miles a minute. You could just stare at her beautiful face.

Right now, he was. In awe.

It was still sinking in that she was back. That she was with him again. It seemed like a pure, God-given miracle, because even though Booth had been extremely hopeful and had prayed for the entire flight to Africa, he hadn't expected to win Brennan back so easily. She was a stubborn woman—he hadn't expected her to break down and fall into his arms.

But she had.

Subconsciously, he tightened his grip on their entwined hands, which sat on the arm rest between his seat and hers. She'd unknowingly fallen asleep still holding his hand an hour ago.

He hadn't let go. He didn't want to.

Because now that she was with him again, he was going to hold on to her as hard and fast as he could. He didn't ever want to let her go again. These two weeks without her had been hard enough. He didn't ever want to run the risk of living out the rest of his life without her.

A stewardess who appeared in the aisle took Booth's attention away from his contemplation of Brennan's sleeping face. She glanced down at their intertwined hands and smiled.

"Newlyweds on your way home from your honeymoon?" she asked. Booth opened his mouth to answer her, but she didn't give him a chance to. "I can see how much you love your wife." Her smile broadened slightly. "Would you like a drink? Or maybe one for your wife when she wakes up?"

He didn't even bother to correct her now. Booth never really minded when he and Brennan were mistaken for a married couple. Brennan was the one who minded and she was asleep. Smiling back at the stewardess, he asked for a couple of drinks—one for him, one for Brennan.

He had a little trouble folding down Brennan's tray table with only one hand—he didn't want to let go of her hand with his other one—but he managed it with the stewardess's help and sat Brennan's drink down on it gently. He took a sip of his before setting it down on his own tray table. Sighing contently, he looked for a moment out his window at the clouds.

"Hey!"

Brennan's voice nearly scared Booth half to death, and he jumped in his seat. Turning as he jumped, he saw Brennan's blue eyes were wide open and staring at him mischievously.

"Jeez, Bones!" he said, trying to calm himself down. She had honestly frightened him with her suddenness, which he assumed was her intention. "You scared the crap outta me." He blew out a short breath. "I thought you were asleep."

"I know you did," she responded evenly. Her face was still and expressionless, save the mischief that twinkled in her eyes. As the mischief slowly faded into a questioning look, she was quiet. Then, "Seeley, you said you'd been looking for me for a week, not two. Why did you wait before coming after me? Why didn't you come right away?"

The words sounded somewhat accusatory, but her tone wasn't. It was simply curious.

He sighed. Somehow, he wanted to lie to her, but he knew he couldn't. "Because I spent those first few days wallowing in the hurt," he admitted. "And trying to go on by myself." He squeezed her hand and smiled lightly. "Then I realized I couldn't do it."

Swallowing, she dropped her eyes away from his to instead look at the floor.

He went on anyway. "That's when I started looking. And, just to let you know, you made yourself very hard to find." He chuckled shortly, hoping this might lighten the mood a little. "All I knew was you went to Africa, and Africa's a pretty big place."

"Second-largest continent, following Asia," Brennan answered blandly.

Chuckling again, he brushed a stray strand of auburn hair from her face. "Whatever you say, Miss Smarty-pants."

She looked up at him and frowned deeply, causing a familiar wrinkle to form on her forehead. "That must be a metaphor," she said. "My intelligence has nothing to do with my pants."

He couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Bones."

Knowing that she'd somehow messed that one up, Brennan smiled, but didn't say anything. Booth could see in her face that there was something else she wanted to say, though, and he quieted too, waiting patiently for her. After all that had happened in the last two weeks—the last couple of days in particular—he would wait forever for her if he had to.

This time, he didn't have to wait long before she spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I'm sorry it took me so long to see that I was wrong."

Smiling slightly, he squeezed her hand. "It's okay." After hesitating for a brief moment, he went on, "I won't pretend it didn't hurt me, Temperance, because it did. But now, in the end, everything's all right. So let's just forgive and forget, okay?"

Smilingly lightly, Brennan nodded. "Okay." She laid her head on Booth's shoulder, and he reflexively leaned his on top of hers. Brennan sighed contently. "You're wonderful, you know that?"

He smiled, touched by her words. "Yeah, so I've been told. But that doesn't make it easy loving me, does it?"

Beneath his, her head shook marginally. "Unfortunately not."

Booth sighed slightly. "I don't think anything makes love any easier," he said quietly. "But, you know, that just makes it that much more worth while."

TBC in part 10, Free and Easy

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