I was inspired by a post on facebook about rain and snuggling. This could take place any night after the Prince Charmington doll episode but before the baby is born.

Enjoy!

The Sleep in the Study

When Booth opened his eyes from a terrible nightmare about a newborn baby being shot by a sniper, he was greeted with the glow of a laptop on the bed next to him. He squinted into the light and rubbed a hand over his face as he propped himself up with the other elbow.

"What are you doing?" he grunted. The terror of his dream began to fade once he set his eyes on his partner's still round abdomen and he yawned.

"I'm reading through Ms. Wicks' research proposal," she told him quietly, not taking her eyes off the screen. "I can't sleep." And he could see the evidence of that in the light from her laptop. The dark circles were very visible without the cover of her concealer and they seemed to drop to her cheekbones.

"You look exhausted," he whispered, watching her eyes jump from side to side across the screen as she speed-read. "You have to sleep, Temperance."

She glanced up as he spoke her given name and he quickly shut her laptop. Her half-hearted protests told him that she really did want to sleep, so he convinced her to set the laptop on the nightstand and lie down with him.

She spent the better part of ten minutes looking for a comfortable position and finally settled on her right side facing away from him, pillows beneath her head, leg, and belly. She sighed heavily and twisted her head to look at him.

"I'd rather do something productive than lie here waiting for my brain's rhythms to slow," she said.

"Give it a chance," he insisted. "Here." He scooted close to her and squeezed one arm under her body and laid the other over it, joining his fingers over the top of their baby. He rested his cheek against the back of her neck and she put a hand over his intertwined fingers. She sighed again and settled further into the bed.

"See, everyone's holding hands and we'll all be asleep in a minute," he mumbled, his eyes already closed.

"It's more likely that your hands are covering her buttocks," she whispered, but he was already snoring. The vibrations from his even breathing were far more effective at inducing sleep than Daisy's research proposal.