Title: Missed Me

Author: Unknownsoldier42

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Own not. Profit not. Sue not.

Summary: She clenched her hands into fists and inhaled sharply as she heard what sounded like someone sighing. There was someone in her apartment, in her room, and she had no weapon except herself…

It had started as a gentle drizzle sometime in the afternoon. Now rain fell in torrents, beating down on the city. Booming thunder and flashes of lightning joined the heavy downpour. Together they created the symphony of a storm.

The symphony was lulling an exhausted Dr. Brennan to sleep. She lay stretched out on her bed, pale eyes staring at the water sheeting over the window. The world outside was a blur of color, mostly dark until the lightning cracked and split the gray sky, illuminating things for mere seconds. Her room was awash with the rainy blue color, and she'd pulled back the curtains just for that effect.

Closing her eyes, Brennan rolled to her back and listened to the pitter patter of rain on the roof. A strobe of color flared across the dark sky, followed by another clap of thunder sounding overhead. She took in a deep breath, inhaling the sweet smell of the thunder storm, and nuzzled her head deeper into her pillow. Her hands moved over the cool blankets, lazily trailing up and down. One pale hand reached out to the other side of the bed, searching for the warmth of the body that usually occupied that space.

Her eyes blinked open slowly as she remembered that he wasn't there. Turning her head, she looked over at her hand sitting against his pillow. Her fingers played with the fabric, stroking away the cold. If she closed her eyes she could see his face, those expressive brown eyes, that goofy half smirk quirking his mouth as he poked a finger into her ribs and teased her about 'anthropologically speaking'. She never could keep from touching him after that first time. His face, his hair, she even loved the tickle of his beard first thing in the morning before he shaved. And if she was honest with herself she would admit it completely, she just loved him.

But he wasn't there now. A pang of loss and a swell of loneliness brushed against her. Temperance would never admit to him that she missed him. It was their game, and if he wanted her to say it he would have to find a way to get her to, she couldn't offer it freely. It was against the rules. Gripping his pillow she pulled it to her chest and smiled at the smell of his shampoo. Cuddling into it felt silly and right at the same time.

Finding herself feeling groggy again, she turned her body to face where he should have been, and curled around his pillow. It was a strange thing to her, this love business, and she wasn't sure how she felt about missing someone like she missed him. It had never been like that for her before. Temperance Brennan did not miss people. She was used to people leaving. To being abandoned. Maybe it was the thought, the feeling, her faith that he would never leave her, that made her miss him. No matter what, he would always come back to her. She wasn't sure if it was faith or fact. Sometimes she felt one more than the other, and sometimes she thought it was a bit of both.

It was faith in a fact.

Darkness swept across the room, her eyes snapped open in the pitch black, and she quickly sat up. With hear heart thumping in her throat, she looked around, eyes wide and staring. The curtain had slipped from its tie and fallen over the window, causing the sudden loss of light. She had already turned off the lights in the apartment, which now left her in total darkness. Shivering quietly, she crossed her arms and gently rubbed her palms up and down the chilly flesh bared by her camisole.

The hair on the back of her neck was standing on end. She licked her dry lips, feeling eyes staring at her but saw no one in the gloom. Her bat was in the closet, she could go for it, but if someone was there with her they could easily intercept her. Her gun (the new, smaller one) was in her purse on the kitchen table in the other room. She cursed herself mentally for leaving the weapon so far from her person. It was for personal protection after all and being in the other room didn't really help with the whole protecting thing.

Clenching her hands into fists she inhaled sharply as she heard what sounded like someone sighing. There was someone in her apartment, in her room, and she had no weapon except herself. She tried to focus on relaxing to prepare for the eventual attack. If she was relaxed she would think rationally and move more instinctively. Sitting very still, she scanned the room over and over.

She wanted light desperately to see if it was her imagination or if someone was really there with her. Listening carefully for any sign of movement she stood from the relative 'safety' of her bed. Standing in the dark void for a few seconds, she tried to ignore the tremor moving up her spine. Not afraid, she thought sternly, just cold. Her bare feet were flat on the cold hardwood, arms hanging at her side. Erupting into motion, she lunged for the window, fingers grasping at the curtain.

The rough, large hands of a man dropped heavily onto her shoulders. Brennan threw her elbow back as hard as she could, satisfied when she heard a grunt of pain. He reeled back from her, arms falling away. Using the momentary break in action she grabbed for a vase sitting next to the window and slammed it back where she estimated his head to be. It shattered and the intruder stumbled farther back from her. She ripped back the curtains, watery light spilling into the room, and turned on her attacker. Instead of taking the time to get a look at him she simply flew at him in a tackle that would make any linebacker proud. The air left the guy in an audible whoosh as her shoulders crushed against his solar plexus, together they crashed to the floor in a tangled heap.

Brennan estimated the damage to his skull as his head cracked sickeningly against the floor. She sat up and began to rain down punches, his forearms were up over his face, blocking half heartedly, she could hear him sputtering and stuttering from behind them.

"Bones!" his hoarse voice finally roared. She stopped, fist raised high in the air about to drop, her eyes widened in shock at the nickname.

Only one person had ever had the audacity to call her that.

"Booth?" She gasped and yanked his hands away from his face. Sure enough, the bleeding man she was pummeling was her partner. She was off of him in the blink of an eye, already moving to check the damage she'd done.

"Yes Booth, were you expecting 'Hannibal Lecter' or something? I mean Jesus; you hit me and then tackled me!" He whined, still surprised by the attack.

"I am so sorry!" she cried, absolutely horrified to see that he was bleeding and bruises were already forming. He coughed and put his hand to his head with a groan.

"Here I thought I'd try to be all romantic and surprise you, you know, and sweep you off your feet. I guess I forgot how much you hate surprises." He laughed a little and accepted her outstretched hand to help him to his feet.

"Booth, I'm-I'm sorry" she gushed, wincing with him as she brushed at the cut on his head. Taking his chin in her palm she gently turned his head to get a look at her handiwork.

"Well, Dr. Brennan, am I going to live?" he joked lightly and coughed again. "Can you just admit right here right now that the tackle might have been a bit much? Damn."

Feeling laughter building in her chest she pulled his shirt free from his pants and lifted it to look at his ribs. A few soft chuckles made it past her defenses and soon she was laughing, unable to stop herself.

"What exactly is so funny Bones?" He asked, charming smile firmly in place, still effective despite the blood on his face.

"This is the most ridiculous situation," she chuckled, cold fingers dancing over the angry red marks splashed across his chest. She couldn't help but also notice the way his muscles danced beneath his skin at the ticklish touch. Dropping his shirt she returned her attention to his head, still grinning.

"This is the most ridiculous situation? Of all the ridiculousness we see every day this one is the most? Is that your final answer? No take backs." He smiled down at her but she refused to meet his gaze, focused on the knot at the back of his head where it had met the floor.

"No changies" she replied automatically, brow furrowed as she smoothed the goose egg.

"I can't believe all that happened! First there was the elbow, and you know you have a very sharp elbow, and then what was with the vase, that was a little over dramatic if you ask me." He stopped mid tirade, watching her laugh with an eyebrow quirked. "And you are still laughing at me!"

"I'm sorry," she giggled into her hand and tried to apologize through her palm as she looked up at him, finally meeting his amused gaze.

"I liked that vase too," he sighed with false lamentation, reaching around he poked at the same spot she had just inspected. He glared at her playfully and lifted up his shirt to look at his chest.

"I'm pretty sure you broke something," he wheezed and probed the area for broken bones.

Rolling her eyes she snorted softly, "oh stop, I didn't break anything, I would know, aren't ARMY Rangers supposed to be tough?"

He planted his hands on his hips and glared down at her, all menace erased by the smile that tugged at his mouth. The silence stretched as she stared up at him, lips parted and face flushed from laughing. The tension mounted as it always did whenever they were together, whenever their eyes locked like this. It was palpable and almost tangible, filling the space between them and around them. Easily broken by a smile or subtle movement, it had always been such a fragile thing.

Booth broke the spell first, gripping her shoulders for the second time that night he pulled her into his arms. There was no mistaking this as one of their many man-hugs, it was what it was, an embrace between partners, friends, and lovers. He held her tightly against his bruised chest, careful to keep his sticky face out of her hair. She clutched his shirt and held on just as tight.

Pulling back enough to look up at him and grin, she shook her head and turned towards the bathroom. She slipped her smaller hand into his larger, warmer one, and tugged him after her. He was more than happy to follow and admire the view un-abashed.

Flicking on the lights she turned to instruct him to sit on the toilet and couldn't help but be startled by how he looked in the light. His nose had dribbled blood down his face, his right eye was already turning purple, she could see the small cut to his forehead where the vase had struck him, and his jaw looked like it'd been struck by a prize fighter.

"What?" Booth asked, and casually looked at the mirror. His blinked and stepped closer, turning his head to look at both sides. "Wow, I think you missed your true calling as a pro wrestler."

"Can I say that I'm sorry again?" She asked with both hands still over her mouth, blue eyes huge in her face.

He smiled lopsidedly and dropped onto the toilet seat. "I'm fine Bones, no need to fuss."

He let her clean the cut on his head, whining when she cleaned it with stinging peroxide just to get a reaction. She decided that he didn't need stitches, and said all sorts of things about bones that he didn't understand before pressing her soft lips against the Band-Aid on his head. That was something he could understand without the aid of a medical dictionary.

She moved to leave and he pulled her back, tugging on her hand a little harder than necessary so she fell into him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the side of her head as sloppily as possible, making her squirm and make faces at him. He nuzzled his nose against her and tickled his fingers up her sides. She laughed and wiggled free, and placed her hands on her hips.

"You're nothing more than an overdeveloped child Seeley Booth," she accused. He nodded his agreement and stood up to follow her as she left the brightly lit bathroom.

"Did you miss me?" he asked as he caught her around the waist again and pulled her back against his chest. Content to be trapped in his embrace she sighed and smoothed her palms along his arms and then laced her fingers with his over her stomach.

"Miss you? You weren't gone that long and we talked on the phone every night and you text me constantly all day…" She was interrupted as he squeezed her, forcing her to stop talking. He dropped his chin onto her shoulder and leaned his head against hers, rubbing his temple against the silkiness of her hair.

"I think you missed me," Unable to resist her skin being that close to him he dropped a kiss to her shoulder and another where her shoulder met her neck, lingering there for a second longer. She shuddered and shook her head firmly, not allowing herself to succumb to his charms, no matter how considerable. However, she was curious.

"What makes you say that?" She asked after a moment of silence. His mouth continued to move against her skin, up her neck, stopping at her ear. Despite her best efforts she couldn't keep her eyes from rolling shut as he wetly kissed the shell and pulled the lobe into his mouth.

He pulled back when she gasped softly and with a smirk jerked his chin in the direction of her bed.

"Because you were cuddling my pillow. Did it smell like me Bones? Is that why you were cuddling it like a big teddy bear?"

She felt heat rise to her face and knew she must be bright pink, visible even in the gloom. "You can think what you want," she answered, voice slightly higher than normal.

"Okay babe," he said and released her. Immediately she felt the loss, the room was much cooler without his body pressed against hers so comfortably. She turned and glared at him.

"I think I actually prefer 'Bones' to that pet name," she grumped.

Booth smiled at her as he moved around the bed, he snatched up his pillow and hugged it to his chest. "You were so cute all curled up with my pillow because you missed me!"

"That's my pillow as it's on my bed and I bought it. You just happen to borrow it from time to time," Brennan baited. He tilted his head to the side and lifted an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh, whatever you say," he said and fell onto the bed, snaking under the blankets before putting the pillow back behind his head. He rolled his eyes back and groaned loudly. She shook her head at his antics, wondering at the fact that she found them endearing rather than annoying.

He opened an eye and looked up at her; she felt a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth and fought to keep her face neutral as he patted the mattress next to him.

"C'mere," he drawled and threw the blankets back for her. She sighed and shook her head, resigned to her fate.

She loved him after all.

Crawling in after him she settled herself as far from him as possible, watching him out of the corner of her eye for a reaction. He frowned, narrowed his eyes at her, then rolled so his back was to her.

"You know, maybe you should think of replacing that vase with something soft and squishy, like a teddy bear for example, so if you feel like smacking me with something it won't hurt as much next time."

She immediately choked on a laugh at the mental picture that generated. Then caught him looking over his shoulder at her and knew she was a goner, he had won this round. Brennan rolled and scooted until her body was flush with his and set her head against his shoulders, arms curled snugly between their bodies.

They lay still, Booth silently reveling in the feel of that lean body pressed against his. He snuck a glance back at her and found that she was half asleep already, so relaxed and warm in his presence.

"Missed me?" He whispered earning a poke to his shoulder. He shifted to face the sleepy smile he loved so much. She stared at him for a moment, and then nodded against her pillow.

Yes, yes she did.

A fleeting thought of victory ran across his mind as he gleefully leaned in to collect his prize. He kissed her softly, fingers uncurling against her cheek before they dipped into her hair. She dropped first, lowering her head and curling in closer to him, face pressed against his neck. He wrapped her up in his long arms, ignoring the twinge of pain from his protesting ribs.

"I'm glad you came back early," she whispered, mouth brushing against his skin.

"Me too, beating aside," he teased and felt her smile. "You know I missed you too Bones. I even found myself saying 'anthropologically speaking' to someone because I felt like I hadn't heard it in weeks."

Her breath was hot against his neck as she laughed softly. Rearranging them into a more comfortable position he yawned and closed his eyes.

"Love you," she murmured so soft he barely heard it.

"Love you too."

END