Disclaimer: Puhlease…lets not even pretend I own Bones. It just hurts everyone involved :D

So here it is…the last chapter…sniff, sniff…the response to my first fanfic has been overwhelming and I really do not know how to thank all of you who took the time to leave a review, words of encouragement or even the "more pleases". You have made my first writing experience an emotionally rewarding one. Enjoy Chapter 10: That Pesky little thing called Love

"So is the surprise that you are actually going to let me drive for once?"

"No." Booth snorted.

"Well your answer is no surprise."

"Can't you just sit back and wait to enjoy the 'Booth' experience?" Brennan rolled her eyes.

"Fine Booth, but one of these days I will drive this SUV."

"When pigs fly."

"Booth it is scientifically impossible for pigs to fly…their physical structure would have to change drastically for that to happen and that could only be minutely possible after hundreds of thousands of…oh so I guess never then."

"Add an 'ever' after that 'never' and you got yourself a deal."

"I don't know why I put up with you." She huffed as she shifted down in her seat slightly.

"Well I think you will figure it out eventually." They glanced at each other for the briefest of seconds, before looking away, losing themselves their respective thoughts until he pulled up in front of the diner. Booth practically sprinted around the car to catch up to her as she strode towards the diner. As he opened the door she noticed that the whole Diner was practically empty except for the waitress, Vera, and the cook.

"It is usually busier than this."

"Well, that is what happens when you make a special request for a private breakfast Bones."

"You did this?"

"I thought we could do with a little more privacy for once." He handed her a card with daffodils and daisies decorating the border and matching the mixed bouquet on their table. She glanced at Booth who had a stupid grin on his face and couldn't help but smile at the sincerity of the gesture.

She smiled as she read the contents:

A Breakfast Invitation

To my Favourite Forensic Anthropologist

The brainiest of all Smurfs, the squintiest of all squints, and the best Scully to my Moulder that I could have ever have asked for.

From your Alpha male, Booth.

"Did you get me Jupiter as well?"

"All in good time Bones." He beamed as Vera came over with two large pieces of apple pie. Brennan glanced down and gentle shoved the pie to her right towards the window. Booth was taking his second mouthful when he noticed the gesture.

"You aren't even going to taste it?"

"I don't like pie Booth, you know that."

"But this is Vera's family recipe. It has been in her family for generations and I had to beg her to make it for us. Come on Bones, just one bite." She folded her arms together and her lips became firmly pressed. She wasn't going to budge. He sighed in defeat and retreated to his pie. For a few moments all that could be heard was the ticking of the clock on the wall and Booth's fork clanking slightly on his empty pie plate scraping up any crumbs left over.

"Booth…" Brennan whispered as she slid her pie over to him.

"Yeah Bones." His eyes started to twinkle slightly at the pie and at her.

"I think we should talk about…us"

"Ok…"

"I believe that our actions of late have been challenging our partnership."

"You do huh?"

"Yes and I think it is also time that we do something about it."

"And what does the good doctor recommend."

"Well I want to know if …well do you…you know this really should not be this hard! This is within my mental capacity to talk about this I just can't seem to get the right words out." Brennan stated as she crossed her arms again and stared at him.

Booth looked at his not so confident partner. It was a rare moment, but he knew that he needed to push her, push her to confront her feelings.

"Bones can I ask you something?" He gently pushed the pie out of the way.

"Of course Booth, what is it?"

"I want you to ask you about when you were buried alive by the Gravedigger." This, Brennan, was not expecting. She shifted slightly in her seat. She did not like talking about that moment in time, not because she was scared that she was going to die, but for other reasons.

"Booth I don't want to talk about that."

"Why?"

"What is the point? It happened, it is over and Hodgins and I are fine. It is not logical to talk about it."

"Hodgins wrote a dying note to Angela."

"I know Booth I was there."

"Did you write one?"

Silence.

"Who did you write it to?"

More silence.

"Well I can see that this is going no where."

"So are you going to drop this line of questioning?"

"Bones, don't overreact, but..." Booth pulled out the folded letter from his pocket. Brennan recognized it instantly and her eyes went wide.

"Where did you get that?!"

"Bones, Hodgins gave…"

"Hodgins! He shouldn't have, it is private Booth!"

"I know it must have been private Bones, but I read…."

"You read it!" She glared at him and tried to grab the paper out of his hand. He snatched his hand back before she could, tucking it back into his pocket.

"It was addressed to me, so I read it."

"Booth, how could you? Those were my most personal thoughts about…"Her lips formed a firm line for the second time.

"Did you mean it?"

"Booth give it to me!"

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"Did you mean what you said in this letter?" They stared at each other for a long moment. A sheen of emotions raged across her eyes, but his eyes only had one emotion: fear. She hated seeing that, and the worst part was she was the cause of it.

"Why are you doing this?" Her eyes pleaded to be let off the hook, but so did his heart. In this moment he was going to be completely selfish and smash against her walls. But on some level both of them knew that, in a way, he was also being completely selfless, offering his heart first.

"I have to know that what I feel for you is somehow, even remotely, reciprocated." She had meant it. Every single word was constructed for the sole purpose of letting him know how much she cared. She still did not know exactly what it was she was feeling in regards to Booth, but he deserved better. She owed him that much. She willed herself to try and take his fear away.

"Yes Booth, I meant every word in that letter." Overwhelming relief graced his face.

"Why didn't you tell me how you really felt?"

"This, what we are doing here, is not easy for me. I don't' even know what I am feeling exactly in regards to you to be completely honest."

"Do you still feel this way, the way you felt when you wrote this letter?"

"No."

"No?" His heart hit his feet.

"'No', as in things have changed Booth, if anything they have become worse."

"Bones, how you feel about me is not a bad thing." He stated, mildly annoyed now that she wouldn't even consider letting her self feel the same joy he had been feeling all along.

"Well it is not conducive to that line you love so much." She sniped.

"There is no line, not any more."

"You can't just… remove it."

"It's my line; I can do what I want with it."

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can."

"Don't I have a say since figuratively I am on the other side."

"Nope."

"Booth, you must have had your reasons for having it in the first place. You…"

"At the time it was what I needed, but now I need something else, something more."

"Something more…as in sex?"

"What?! Well yes, but dating would be nice first."

"Dating?" She scrunched her face slightly.

"Yeah you know two people go out, enjoy each others company, go to a movie, and do other stuff."

"I know what dating is Booth, but there is no need for us to date."

"Well we are, going to date, so find a purpose would ya."

"You can't just order me to date you Booth. That is going far beyond even for your Alpha male tendencies."

"Bones if I have to knock you on the head with a club to get you to date me I will."

"Now you're just being dramatic. I'd rather skip to the physical relationship."

"Bones, you just haven't been on a great date before, which is why you think dating is pointless."

"Logically speaking our actions for the past three years could be seen as dating, so I we should just skip to satisfying our biological urges."

"Bones, don't say it like that."

"What 'biological urges'?"

"Yes, we would make love ok?"

"Does the terminology really matter?"

"Actually let's call it 'defying the law of physics'. If you recall that definitely has a nicer ring to it."

"Call it whatever you want Booth….Sex first then dating."

"Bones, while I am flattered that you want me so badly, I would like a chance to you know… I don't know…woo you." Woo her? Great job Seeley Boy.

"Woo me?" Brennan snorted. "Booth this isn't the 1800's, wooing is not necessary. The kiss, the guy hugs, the Christmas tree and well all of this," she gestured about the diner, "is enough."

"But Bones…"

"We're not dating Booth"

"We'll see."

"Sex first and if there is still something more then maybe I will consider dating."

"This isn't a negotiation Bones."

"Then why am I winning."

"You're not winning, you're minimizing what we have because you think that this," he gestured his hand back and forth between the two of them, "will fade over time."

"This all could be just pent up sexual tension and once it is release we could just go back to the way things were."

"Bones don't you dare degrade what we have just to the physical." Genuine anger seethed off of every word.

"I am not degrading anything Booth." She snapped back matching his anger.

"Yes you are. The reason why satisfying biological urges is so god damn important to you is because that is something you can quantify by the intensity of…" He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"An orgasm." Booth ran his fingers through his hair.

"I was going to say pleasure, but fine, yes, that."

"Well don't you want to know if we are sexually compatible first, and then put the effort into the dating part?"

"Bones there is more to you and me than that! There always has been. The problem here is that you are so damn afraid of what cannot be scientifically quantified."

"Oh and what exactly is that Booth."

"Oh I don't know the fact that I…that I…" Booth's anger started to get the better of him. She was just so damn clueless at times! Didn't she know that to him she was his first and last thought of his day? Didn't she know that she was what made all his self defections worthy of repair? Didn't she know that he was so deep in love with her that the mere thought of a life without her by his side made him physically, mentally and emotionally cringe?

"You know for all your PhD's you sure are dense when it comes to how I feel about you." Brennan suddenly stood sending her chair flying back.

"How dare you Booth! You know that I cannot read people as well as you, so how am I possibly supposed to know how you feel when you won't tell me!" There it was the proverbial final straw on his already strained back. It was the final challenge. Booth stood in a rush sending his chair flying back.

"FINE. You want to know so badly?...Then FINE…I…I love you!"

"You…you… what?!" Brennan stood aghast at his words.

"Ah hell Bones, I am in love with you."

"You 'love' me?"

"Yes."

"Take it back!"

"What?...No, no way…No take backs on love Bones."

"You couldn't possibly know for sure that you are…"

"Yes I do."

"How could you possibly know?" She asked completely baffled.

"Because with Rebecca it was just infuriating; with Tessa it was just the bad kind of challenging, with Cam it was just mildly arousing, but with you…you infuriate me, challenge me and arouse me all at the same time and in all the right ways."

"And that is love?"

"It's part of it. When we discuss things like religion or cases you can make me so mad that I just can't even think straight, but at the end of it Temperance I always come back for more. And do you know why?"

"You must be having a mental breakdown of some kind!"

"No," He seethed through clenched teeth, "it is because I value your opinion above all others. You give as good as you get and that is so rare to find these days. You, Temperance, are an astounding woman and the thought of not having you infuriate me for the rest of my days scares the crap out of me."

"What you're saying is illogical Booth. By all accounts your statement should mean that we should break up, not get together. You're feeling too much, you are not thinking this through."

"And you are thinking too much and trying too damn hard to not feel anything!" The argument had escalated to the point they were leaning over the table, face to face, yelling at one another. He knew he should stop and not push so hard, but it felt too good to say the words.

"Just once why don't you follow what your gut is telling you?

"My 'gut' does not tell me anything."

"That is where you're wrong Bones because I think that you have become more open and honest with your emotions over the years and now your gut is telling you to take this chance with me. To date me, to let me lo…"

"Stop it Booth!"

"NO! Why is it so damn hard for you to hear those words?"

"I…I don't believe…I don't want to hurt you…because I don't think I can say it back."

"You don't have to say anything Temperance, you just have to give what we have a chance!"

There was a mild cough that caught their attention and they suddenly realized that they were not completely alone. As Brennan picked up her chair Booth asked Vera and the Chef for a little more privacy. Vera gave him the keys and a hug before following her co-worker out of the Royal Diner. They were truly alone now.

She was staring out the window hoping he would not notice her eyes welling up slightly. He was in love with her. Every rational and logical fibre in her body was telling her to run away, far away to the confines of the Jeffersonian, but that part of her that she always denied existed was fighting like hell to see the light of day.

"I don't' even know what 'love' is between you and me." She whispered.

"You won't be able to know unless you try searching for it. Your letter was the starting point Bones, you recognized it even then. Give us a chance." She looked at him while she analyzed everything he had said.

This was it, the moment where Booth, her equal in every way, bared his soul out to her despite the lack of scientific evidence and all the logical consequences that could follow. Brennan studied his face. Every feature was chiselled with his overwhelming feelings for her. It was his eyes though, those wonderful eyes that had showed her anger, frustration, pain, caring and now that other emotion he talked so much about…love. Was that it? Is that what love looked like? She wanted to feel it; she wanted to feel a small portion of what he was talking about.

"Can you meet me half way Booth?"

"Half way?"

"Since we cannot agree on which we should do first, to date or have sex, how about a kiss? I don't want to quantify it…I just want to feel it without any impish lawyers, any well meaning friends, and any steamboats."

Booth leaned in, "When you feel it Bones time will stand still."

Brennan leaned farther across the table until their faces were inches apart and whispered: "Booth, it is scientifically impossible for time to stand still, no matter how much we may want it to." He reached and caressed her face with his hand sending thousands of little shocks rippling throughout both their bodies. Two sets of eyes fluttered. Brennan smiled and reached over and grabbed his shirt pulling him the rest of the way across the table.

"Enough talk…more acting please." She whispered before running her tongue out over her lips in anticipation.

"It's 'action' Bones…more act…" She pulled him the rest of the way.

At first their lips remained inactive, like first time teenagers weary of their actions, then initial shock was absorbed by the emerging splendours from within and the unknown, the unexplored, and the untapped sexual tension all burst from their once dormant catacombs. Slow, languid movements emerged as they were content to taste what was new, foreign and yet sprigs of what could be jetted forth spurring them on.

Then the ticking of the clock slowed, and every noise disappeared as the preliminary penetrations of their tongues invaded each others welcoming mouths. The caressing nature of their lips merged with the stroking nature of their tongues causing their mutual yearning to spring forth in two matching earthly moans. Slanting pressure and oral depth took over as they now stood over the table sending the chairs flying back from passion instead of anger.

She threaded one hand through the back of his hair searching for the stems of its richness. Her other hand was still on his shirt, gripping on for dear life. He brought both hands to the side of her ruby tinged face capturing the moment like a framed photograph. The exploration of each others mouths became primal, guttural and fantastical; every movement over each others lips sunk them deeper into a craze induced stupor.

They glided around the table and their bodies met for the first time, never once breaking the connection of their lips. Though clothed, the radiating heat alleviated their confined scents and the air became rugged and floral. Both her hands were now becoming one with his hair while his hands moved from her face down the front of her shoulders until his fingers slowly found the trail of her under wire. She gasped in his mouth as he rubbed his thumbs along the burgeoning softness that the under wire supported. Then he encircled her slender waist pulling her body until it was perfectly nestled with his. She lifted her self up surrounding his neck with her arms creating a cocoon around their joined mouths. While their oral movements elevated themselves towards the clouds their toes rooted into their soles searching for the earth beneath denying their bodies any chance of floating away.

They clung to each other now like long standing lovers, whose experiences not only shaped their movements of their mouths, but the movements of their hips. Hunger grew as their limbs were slowly transforming into liquid pools of residual passion. Standing was now proving a challenge and the need for a horizontal location was becoming painfully obvious. The primary need of life started to wave its unwanted head as they both felt their lungs scream; they reluctantly separated their once joined mouths.

The ticking of the clock became apparent as reality started to once again enter their world. Their kiss stained lips were still inches apart as their lungs clamoured for air. Their foreheads touched and they gently began to sway like an elderly couple remembering their wedding song. The scent of daffodils, daisies and ardour swirled around them as they experienced the first the first wisps of physical love.

Brennan's eyes grew wide as her mind started to race. She suddenly pushed back from him leaving his rugged scent behind. This was illogical, this feeling welling deep within her was so overwhelming that it made logic, rationality and her brain incapacitated. Her heart, however, felt like bursting out in and endless tirade of music that was something so honest and proven that science had no real place in that moment. For the first time she decided that maybe in this moment she shouldn't listen to her mind, but instead do what Angela had suggested: just feel, just feel.

She closed her eyes and willed her mind to keep quiet and then she felt it intensify: newness, familiarity and an overwhelming rightness. It was similar to the feeling whenever Booth touched her back, or when she was touching the figurines or when she kissed him underneath the mistletoe. But this emotion had flourished into something of magnificent beauty by the remnants of their action a few moments prior. This feeling had been frozen down deep; something so forgotten and neglected that is was almost astonishing that it had survived Temperance Brennan's seemingly never ending winter. Finally she it reached the light of day.

Brennan smiled as Booth's hand gently ended the destination of the defiant tear on her cheek. She reached up and covered his hand with her own. Brennan started to laugh slightly; her husky chuckle aroused him all the more.

"What's so funny Bones?" Booth stated still recovering from their kiss. He slipped his finger underneath her chin and lifted her face up to meet his. Her eyes were still closed when she spoke.

"I still don't like pie…but second hand pie is pretty good." Booth smiled as she continued. "I honestly didn't see this coming."

"What…pie?" He teased. She opened her eyes and looked at him for the first time since the kiss. What he found now was not fear, but warmth so profound that he felt he could never get enough of it.

"You. Me. This."

"Well Bones," Booth put his arm around Brennan and started towards the door, "Love is a pesky little thing that always sneaks up on the most unsuspecting people…" She stopped and faced him.

"So it can be infuriating, challenging, arousing and pesky all at the same time?"

"Love can be many things Bones and now we can finally start defining ours…by dating." He added with a grin.

"Defying physics first then dating Booth. Besides, we both know you can't hold out forever." She said leaning in and kissing him once more while looping her hand underneath the top of his belt pulling his groin into hers. After a few minutes he reluctantly pulled away and stared at her triumphant face.

"Kissing me does not mean you will always get what you want Bones." He whispered breathlessly.

"Kissing you makes me rethink my stance on pigs flying Booth."

"I don't know what that…" She kissed him again and brought his left buttocks in for a tight squeeze, while her other hand reached into his jacket pocket. Booth gasped into Brennan's mouth; she was groping his ass and he liked it…so much so that his jeans were now far too constricting. She pulled back and touched the side of his face gently with her palm before collecting her flowers and card. She left the diner with a magnanimous smile on her face.

Booth stared after her unable to move just yet. He watched her hips sway towards the SUV. He watched her swing her long glorious legs into driver's side seat. He watched her gently place her gifts into the passenger seat before caressing the steering wheel with one of her supple hands while the other forcefully turned the ignition. The roar of the engine sounded similar to her earthly moan from before…wait…the engine?…THE ENGINE! SHIT!

He ran out of the diner after her. "Just because I love you does not mean you can drive!"

Fin

Well there it is the end of my very first fanfic! I can honestly say that I have had one hell of a time finishing this fanfic because I really did not want it to end. I value your opinions, but even if you do not review I hope that this story brought a smile to your face. That is all any writer can really ask for. To all the readers of this story: thank you for taking this journey with me. Your company was greatly appreciated. Cheers :D

Ps: Look for the sequel "That Vexing thing called Dating." Coming out in August. :D