Booth shifted, his cheek brushing against Brennan's hair. It felt like silk, and he resisted the urge to grasp some of it between his fingers.
'It still wasn't very personal,' he heard her mumble into his neck. Booth sighed. The past few days had been long and seemingly never-ending. First with Bones being mad at him, and now this whole thing with Zach…
'You gave him a place where he belonged Bones. I think that's somewhat personal.'
'How did we not notice Booth? Three months! Why didn't I notice-' Brennan hiccupped, jerking her head off his shoulder. Booth glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Her blue eyes were glassy and a few tears had already made its way down her cheeks.
'Bones-' He started.
'No. Just…don't,' Brennan said, turning her face away from him. Her fingers kept a tight hold on Zach's acceptance letter, the paper crinkling hard at the edges.
A heavy silence filled the air. Booth stared straight ahead, feeling his shoulder twinge in pain slightly. He rolled his shoulders, waiting for Brennan to speak.
'Sometimes, we can't really understand why people do what they do,' he finally said, the quiet starting to feel oppressive. 'Don't get me wrong. Zach is a good scientist. He likes facts and stuff like that. And like you said, in his mind what Gormogon said made sense to him.'
'His first principle was baseless,' Brennan replied blandly. 'Cam is right. He killed someone. He deserves to be in jail.'
'We both know that's not what you really think,' Booth whispered to her. He placed a hand on her knee, his touch feather light so that she could pull away. She didn't.
'What are we going to do now Seeley?' Brennan asked him, pleading. Booth looked at her face, her eyes and nose tinged red and her voice weak and shaky.
Temperance Brennan never showed weakness to anyone. Booth had seen that stoic mask slam into place and hold steady throughout an investigation. She preferred going back to her apartment, pouring a tall glass of red wine and then letting out her grief in private. But somewhere along the way, she had slowly let Booth beyond her walls and it was something that he was still in awe of.
'We do our jobs Bones. You use your mutant powers in the lab,' he told her, waggling his eyebrows comically. 'And I cuff 'em and throw them in jail.'
'No shooting?' Brennan asked. Booth just shook his head. His partner and firearms were always a deadly combination.
'And you know what Bones? I do care,' Booth suddenly said. Catching sight of her puzzled expression, he elaborated. 'Back in my bathroom, you said I didn't tell you because I didn't care. I do.'
'I know Booth,' Brennan assured him. Booth looked her, eyes narrowed.
'I still don't get how come you understand when Sweets doesn't tell you, but when I don't-'
'You're supposed to tell me because you care,' Brennan told him simply. 'I think I warrant a certain amount of something for you to be able to inform me when you supposedly die.'
'You and Parker were at the top of my list!' Booth protested, before recognizing the glint in Brennan's eyes.
'That's not funny. Do you have any idea how guilty I've been feeling since the funeral?' Booth asked, rubbing his jaw. Brennan had hit him pretty hard.
'Well, Sweets said that you constantly asking me to eat apple pie is some kind of seduction tactic,' she informed him. Booth whipped his head around, felt the blood rushing to his cheeks.
'What?' He spluttered indignantly. 'That's…just…what?'
Brennan nodded her head definitively. 'Something about how baked goods stimulate-'
'Stop,' Booth almost shouted. 'This is definitely not a conversation we are having. Ever.'
Booth saw Brennan regarding him intensely, as if she was a skull that needed to be pieced back together. He held her stare, refusing to blink even though he could feel his eyes starting to itch.
Suddenly, her lips were pressed against his. He felt her cool lips, tasted the peach she had devoured on the way back from the hospital. And then they were gone and she was standing, almost looking amused at the stunned expression on his face. Booth pressed his lips together, her lipstick making them stick together slightly.
He made no move to stop her as she climbed the stairs.
'For the record, you don't need cooked apple to seduce me Booth.'
Booth chuckled, seeing the smile on her face as she disappeared from view.
'We're going to be just fine Bones.'
He could still imagine the whisper of her lips against his once more.
Because, just like the countless times before, actions spoke louder than words when it came to the two of them.