"Awfully domestic sort of… situation you two have here." Jack grinned at the hulking agent to his left. Seriously the guy was strung so tight it was a miracle Booth hadn't thrown him off the balcony yet. Of course that would be illegal, and Booth was not likely to do something illegal. Especially with the women just on the other side of the screen door... Witnesses and all that.

"You got somethin' to say Hodgin's? Huh? Why don't you just come out and say it." Booth snapped. Jack put his hands up defensively, palms forward, trying to sooth the bear that he had just intentionally provoked.

"Sorry man, I just… Ang and I have been thinking about… you know, havin' a baby and I just meant…" He struggled to say something that wouldn't get him hit. "You look happy. You know?" Booth relaxed, leaning back in his chair, eyes on the horizon. He took a slow sip of his drink before responding.

"Yeah." He nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I am happy. Happier than I've been in a long time. Lilly she's…. she's perfect you know? Like a little accidental angel sent to save my worthless ass." Hodgins chuckled. "And Bones is just…" Both sets of male eyes wandered to the scene inside, Angie and Dr. B laughing and cooing at Lilly, passing her back and forth as they talked. "Bones is Bones." He shrugged.

"If you'd have told me a few years ago that we'd all be sitting here like this…" Jack shook his head, picturing the no nonsense, hyper logical Dr. Brennan, as she had been before Booth came along. "I never would've believed you."

"Now I gotta agree with you there Hodgins." Booth grinned. "I never thought Ang would go for a squint." He no longer winced at the term squint. It was a thinly veiled endearment and they both new it. " No way… I thought she'd end up with some tortured artistic type."

"You and me both man." He agreed. God he was lucky.

"But Bones and me…" Hodgins froze as the agents gaze turned thoughtful and reminiscent. Was Booth actually going to say something real? About his relationship with Dr. B? To him? Jack Hodgins? This was so…. rare. "I knew we'd be here. I knew it the second I met her. Of course back then, I had no idea what the hell I was getting myself into." He said wistfully, dark eyes locked on his partner's profile. "But I knew she'd be the end of me. Even in the beginning."

"Night Ang….Hodgin's you okay to drive man?" Booth tried to remember how much alcohol had been consumed over the past few hours. When he counted back, he came up with a satisfactorily short list.

"I'm good Booth thanks." Jack slapped his back and kissed his sleeping daughter and disappeared out the door. And holy shit holy shit they were alone. And it was time to finish what they'd started. What he'd started. But now that the time had come, he found that he didn't exactly know how to go about it. Let alone why it was happening to begin with. Why the hell had he started something like this? To prove a point? And what point was that anyways? That the two of them had chemistry? Of course they had chemistry. Everybody knew that. It was undeniable. So why kiss her? Why touch her the way he had? What the fuck had he been thinking?

"Will you put Lilly to bed Booth?" Bones said from the kitchen, water running, dishes clattering. It was a soothing sound. Sort of homey. It grounded him as nothing else seemed to be able to. This was home. Their relationship was safe and warm and happy… and it was home. He may not technically live here, but this was the place he came at the end of a long day at work, where he rocked his baby girl to sleep and fixed dinner with his partner and played video games with his son. Bones' words replayed in his mind "You have to admit it seems illogical for you to keep your own apartment given the amount of time you spend here."

She was right of course. But he just couldn't see how they could make it work. How could they get past that chemistry? He ran through every possible scenario as he tucked his daughter safely in her crib and pulled the pacifier out of her sweet little mouth. If he moved in here, Bones might conceivably some day have a date. She might want that date to stay the night with her. In her bed. He might have to listen to her having sex with some other man in the next room. And then of course he'd probably haul off and shoot the guy and then he'd go to jail and his kids would grow up without a father.

Even if she didn't date other guys, nothing could keep him from falling even more crazy in love with her with every passing day. He'd never be able to keep his hands off of her. And if they had sex, he would not be able to keep it casual. And casual was what she wanted. Nothing serious. Nothing permanent.

No… no way. This could never work. But when he returned to the kitchen, there she was, her mere presence sucking all coherent thought from his brain. She was sitting nervously at the island, tracing patterns into the countertop with her thumb nail. She was so lost in thought that she didn't see him coming until he was already sitting across from her, head dropped forward into his hands, heart lodged firmly in his throat.

"I love you." His eyes shot open but he didn't dare look up. No way had that just happened. No way had Temperance Brennan just said those words to him. "Did you… hear me Booth?" Uncertainty quavered in her voice, forcing him to look at her, if only to confirm that he was hallucinating. Their eyes locked, but he was still completely tongue tied. Unable to process, much less believe her words. "I know that I am difficult… to love, and that I push you away and I don't understand things that …are important…" Was she still talking? What the hell was happening here? "…I wanted to protect you from… from myself Booth, but you're here…no matter what…no matter how hard I try to keep my distance you're always… here." She said awkwardly, tears welling in her eyes. "I didn't understand that until Lilly, but I do now. And…and… I love you." She finished lamely as one single tear escaped down her cheek.

"You love me." He repeated incredulously. "You love me like… like a friend? Or a brother?" He had to clarify, knowing from experience how she tended to put boundaries around everything, even her love. Especially her love. "You love spending time with me? You love having me as your partner? What Bones… what do you mean. I don't know what that means." He found himself using her catch phrase.

"You are the one who taught me what love means Booth." She whispered roughly. "I love you." There. She said it again. She'd said it three whole times now. For the love of God, what was he doing still sitting here? He shot out of his chair and hauled her into his arms for a deep, soul wrenching, earth shattering kiss. The kind of kiss that only happens once in a lifetime.

"If I move in here…" Booth's expert fingers had somehow removed her shirt without her knowledge. "you have to be sure about it…" His mouth trailed down her neck and he hoisted her bodily up onto the countertop so his mouth was conveniently even with her chest.

"Certainty is statistically impossible in matters of the heart." She said breathlessly, yanking his shirt over his head before he focused all his attention on her breasts. Her bra disappeared and then his mouth was doing things, making her moan and gasp and scrape the smooth skin on his shoulders with her fingernails.

"Forget statistics Bones." He paused, sweeping everything off the counter and pushing her urgently backwards onto the cold, hard surface. "Are you absolutely sure that you want me to move in with you?" He demanded as she squirmed out of her pants. In a surprisingly agile move he hoisted himself up onto the counter, sliding almost predatorily up her body. He stopped to plant one hot kiss at her center, leaving her taught and wet and quivering.

"Because once we do this…I'm all in. So if you just want to…mess around…" The feel of his skin against hers, sliding slowly upwards…. It was mind numbingly hot. She felt him hard and covered against her thigh and she seriously considered begging him to take her. Imagining with breathless anticipation the moment when he would bury himself inside of her. "…or if you just want to date casually instead." He somehow managed to lick hungrily at her nipple and simultaneously push just far enough inside of her to solicit an expectant whine. "We can just…" He pushed a little further, but still not far enough. Not all the way. God she wanted it all. Temperance wrapped her legs around him, urging him forward. "we can just keep things light for now. No pressure Bones." He propped himself up on his forearms, their noses touching as she tried to coax him further with her body.

"I want it all." She admitted helplessly, breathlessly. For once she wasn't afraid to be vulnerable. This was a man she could trust with her life. A man she had wanted for years and finally, finally…. had him right where she wanted him. "I want a life with you Booth, I want… forever." She screamed in surprise and intense pleasure as he plunged the rest of the way inside her. He was deeper than she had ever imagined was possible, his roughness the perfect response to her fierce need for him. The cold countertop melted away, the lights blurred and the air crackled around them, as her partner pumped rhythmically, expertly into her, cradling her head in his hands.

When her body began to clamor for release, he slowed his movements, his mouth dipping to her ear as he teased and tormented her with his incredible self control. "I love you Temperance." He whispered. And that's when she lost it. Lost all control of her body, of her heart, of her unfailingly logical mind… she just let it all go, as Booth chased her into blissful oblivion.

THE END