A/N: Mucho thanks to everyone who has read this story and most of all to those who have commented. This is the final chapter. And in this chapter, I have pulled a couple of lines from the song this is inspired by – Rooftops and Invitations by the great Dashboard Confessional – please check it out (link in my profile).
Also, I can not thank enough, my two wonderful betas - TemperTemper and ForAReason. Never could have done this without your support and encouragement, guys! *smooches*
It's been fun! Love you guys – Happy Holidays and thanks for being an awesome fandom! See ya next story!
~S

For long moments they lay there, content to be in each other's arms, lightly stroking fingertips across smooth skin, placing soft kisses on lips, cheeks, shoulders. Nothing was rushed, time had ceased – there were no crime scenes, no urgent laboratory needs, no family crises. Simply two people who had finally found, in one another, the something that had been missing.

The cool sheet had been pulled over their bodies, the two of them sharing one cocoon, a soft, cotton haven. Legs entangled, they exchanged caresses, breath intermingling, and occasional laughter welling up from someplace deep as one entertained the other in a brand new way.

Brennan's soft laughter trailed off as her fingers passed over the puckered flesh just below her partner's right shoulder. Her gaze was transfixed in the low lamplight, trying to make out the shape and contours of the scar that was meant for her.

"Did it hurt?" Knowing, even as she said it, that her question was inane.

"Bones… do we really…" He trailed off. Yes, they did. He sighed and continued. "You know what it feels like to be shot, Temperance."

"Yes, but not like this." The lamp over his bare shoulder, cast a perfect reflection in her shimmering eyes. "And I should know this."

Leaning into her, Booth pressed his cheek to her forehead and spoke. "You know I would gladly relive that moment a million times if it means you not getting hurt."

She could feel the brush of his lips against her temple with each word he spoke – imprinting them upon her skin. She shuddered and pulled him closer to her, dipping her head to place a soft kiss upon scarred flesh, before raising and capturing his now familiar lips.

As she closed her eyes into his kiss, a lone tear escaped and dripped onto the pillow below.

Pulling away slightly, connecting their eyes, she cupped his cheek and said, "Seeley-"

Before she could continue, Booth chuckled lightly and nuzzled her nose. "OK, that sounds really weird coming from you."

She smiled. "Booth," and pulled away again, drawing his full attention, "make love to me."

Trying hard to swallow past the lump in his throat, Booth smiled softly, recovered swiftly, and lowered his head to once again capture her sweet mouth. His hands continued to caress her tenderly yet with purpose, squeezing soft flesh, tracing outlines of gorgeous curves.

They moved closer together on their sides and she lifted her leg to rest over his hip – opening herself to him and his wandering, and oh so nimble, fingers.

Accepting her invitation, he let his fingertips explore what his mouth had mapped and memorized earlier – the vision seared pleasurably into his mind's eye, even as her soft gasps echoed in his ears.

His fingers slipped over her, every touch electric, her every nerve and synapse singing from the impulses traveling her body and gathering at her center.

Her hands followed smooth, taut lines of skin, sinew, muscle. She kissed down his chest, tongue tracing outlines around tight dark nipples. Then her hand took over where her tongue could no longer reach, the backs of her fingertips smoothing across the flat of his stomach, bringing her to her intended goal. Grasping his erection, she lightly stroked the rigid flesh and moved it between her thighs where his fingers had done their job, her wetness inviting.

He met her gaze for a moment. "Do we need…?"

She shook her head. "No I'm-"

He smiled. "Oh." And then, "Ohhh."

He groaned as she lightly rubbed his head along herself, both of them sighing at the longer-than-they-had-realized anticipated contact. She released him and he thrust forward slightly, allowing himself to just barely penetrate.

"God, Booth… need you," she sighed.

He raised up on an elbow and kissing along her shoulder, tenderly pushed her to her back. His lips found their way to hers once again and he allowed his body to rest along hers, softly pressing her into the mattress.

His weight was affirming, real. This was actually happening and she couldn't believe it was really him, them. His mouth was seconding what his body had just revealed to her and she responded, her thighs opening to welcome him in her cradling embrace.

Poised at her entrance, atop the precipice that would change everything, Booth needed them to be together. This was something he had imagined many times, yet never allowed himself to truly believe would happen. And while nothing else in this so-far perfect night had gone as he would have planned, this moment was something he would not yield.

"Open your eyes, Temperance. Look at me."

She didn't even realize she had closed them, readying herself for what she knew would come next. Her hands smoothed down his back to rest near his hips, and her eyes fixed on his.

They shared that moment, the gravity hitting the both of them and soft smiles passed between them. Her hands grasped his hips and he pushed forward into her.

She couldn't help it, she dimly heard her voice shakily sigh his name and her eyes fell shut of their own accord.

"Don't close… your… God… open your eyes, Bones. Wanna see you," Booth panted as he thrust slowly into her, her body so warm and tight and her face beautiful beyond his belief.

She dragged her eyes open by sheer will, her entire body responding to him in ways she'd never before felt. Her hands traveled the length of his trembling back to grip his shoulders as he moved above her.

It was exquisite, his movements slow and deliberate, deep within her, stretching and filling her, and all the while he was watching her, his eyes never breaking from hers.

"I hadn't allowed myself to love you, Temperance. I couldn't… I…"

"I know." Her thighs clenched around him as her fingertips moved to trace the outline of his familiar face. "Too well."

Each time their hips connected brought unfathomable pleasure. He peppered her face with kisses, murmured sweet nonsense above her, it was all so surreal.

He didn't want it to end, he wanted to spend his eternity bringing her pleasure. The kicker was that it brought him pleasure, too. And every time he filled her, he felt his heart swell. This was his partner. His everything.

As their tension built, their rhythm moved from slow and sensual to deep and grinding. He brought her to the edge several times, until upon feeling the first initial clenching of her around him, he changed his entry angle or speed and even a time or two stopped completely to take in her reaction, her gorgeous body's response to him.

She couldn't stand it any longer. "Booth… please…"

He began to move again with renewed vigor, unable to retain his own control any longer. Her strong legs wrapped around his back, driving him deeper. She was panting in his ear, affirming with words that what he was doing was just as good for her as it was amazing for him.

And then her teeth were bearing into his shoulder, her walls clutching at him, pulsing with her release. The last thing he saw before his own succumbing was her head falling back to the pillow, her face a perfect portrait of pleasure. The image was seared into his brain as his own climax flooded him and he thrust one final time to lose himself deep inside her.

Through the haze, realization was found - every move and each impulse brought clarity: to stay like this was everything he'd ever need. His mind was whirling as his body shuddered and he felt her trembling beneath him.

"Bones," he panted, raising his head, and moving to lightly stroke her face, brushing errant strands of damp hair away from her face. "You okay, babe?"

His weight was still pressing her into the bed, but it wasn't oppressive, rather comforting. Past lovers had been eager to move off her, or she had pushed them off if they weren't. She moved her hands over Booth's back, reassuringly. "I'm good… just don't move."

He smiled and placed soft kisses over her face. Most of his weight was on his left elbow and leg anyway, he really wasn't worried about crushing her.

And it felt good to linger in the moment a bit.

He couldn't believe his eyes. His partner, now in every way, underneath, surrounding, within him. His heart clenched in his chest as the contentment filled him.

Brennan didn't want it to end. She'd never felt as connected with anyone in her life. She knew she wouldn't be able to form the words to express that to him right now. Or could she?

"Booth, I…" Her eyes were filling with tears, but behind the sheen he could see the truth.

"Shhh… I know, Temperance. I know." He brushed his thumb across her damp cheek. "Me too, baby… me too."

She kissed him then - deeply, achingly, fully. And then pulled back, letting her head drop to the pillow and her eyes gaze up at the ceiling. After a moment, she began to laugh and shake her head. "I can't believe I've let you get away with calling me that several times now."

"Yeah, me either. But I'm not complaining," he chuckled then leaned in to nuzzle her neck before teasing directly in her ear, "…baby."

Quickly and with a strength that shouldn't have surprised him, she pushed at him, forcing him to his back, and came up to straddle his hips, her hands on his chest. "If I asked you to stop, would you?"

"You know you love it," he responded as a sly grin spread across his face.

She simply huffed, producing a devilish grin of her own, and rocked her hips against him.

Even though he was softening, the pleasant friction and just the sight of her above him, full breasts swaying, toned arms braced upon him, caused him to moan in response and twitch beneath her.

And then like the last vestiges of the storm that had passed over their darkened city, she was gone, moving off of him towards the edge of the bed. And she almost made it, too, before he grabbed her waist and pulled her back to him, her startled cry at his swift reflexes filling the air. "Booth!"

"Bones…" he said in response, sincerity lacing his tone. "That's all I need. You're all I need." He nuzzled into the back of her neck as he pulled her back in his lap. "My Bones."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Maybe 'baby' was better. Your outdated Neanderthal concept of possession is not…"

He cut her off with a kiss and their laughter rang out as he rolled her back onto the bed.

---

The morning light seeped through every miniscule crack in the drawn blinds, casting parallel lines of golden sun upon the room. Strong rays chased the retreating darkness into far corners and hidden, under-bed crevices. She knew this without even opening her eyes. It was like every other morning.

Except it wasn't.

She could feel the slight, downward slope of her bed behind her and knew that if she were to lean back an inch or two, she would feel the pull, would slide… into him. And it would be so easy to just let herself fall…

"I hadn't allowed myself to love you."

She thinks it's too late… she may have fallen already.

She hugged her pillow tighter and kept her eyes closed… focusing on other senses, not quite ready to add sight to her tangled net of emotions. However, keeping her eyes closed simply created a nice blank canvas for the slideshow of her mind.

Grasping fingers twining in wet brown hair as soft, swollen lips trailed down warm skin.

Bronzed hands contrasting with alabaster skin, pulling two sets of hips in line with each other.

Slender fingers splayed across the rapid rise and fall of pectorals, lungs expanding and contracting, as strong thighs raise and lower, muscles expanding and contracting.

Her thighs clenched at the recalled visions, her body betraying several areas of not-too-unpleasant soreness. She opened her eyes then, squinting against the light streaming into the room.

How would things change now, in the light of day?

It was easy last night – easy to know exactly what she wanted, who she wanted. Easy to push aside all other distractions, nagging voices be damned.

But how did she feel today?

Behind her the bed shifted and unconsciously she held her breath, stilling her body. She heard him sigh, felt him shift towards her, throwing his arm across her waist. She waited… for something, anything…

His deep, even breathing. He was still asleep.

"Because this will change everything."

His fingers twitched reflexively across her abdomen.

"I need you in my life, Bones."

He was even snoring a little.

Breathe, Temperance.

She didn't know what was setting her mind on this spiraling path, but she couldn't stay in this bed with him. She took a deep breath - Stay in control - and rose slowly, trying to extricate herself without waking him.

His arm fell to the bed, but he did not wake. She looked at his hand. The hand that had held hers as she pulsed under his tongue, the fingers that had lovingly stroked her over the past few hours – the same hand that held open doors for her, that signed off paperwork, that rested at the small of her back on countless occasions.

It was him. Booth. Her partner. Her friend.

Now her lover.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from his long fingers, splayed across her light-colored sheets – the prominent, blue veins that ran along the back of his hand, only to disappear among the toned muscles of his arm. Her eyes continued to scan along his body – gorgeous in the early-morning light. The sheet was rumpled around his waist, leaving his upper body bare to her appraisal; the bunched line of cotton forcing the end of her ogling of his smooth flesh.

Suddenly, he rolled to his back, shuffling his long legs and redistributing the covers around him. One foot emerged from the warm cotton embrace; then he stilled again.

A memory emerged from the previous night's composite of thoughts and happenings: she had been observing his feet, had wanted to see them tangled in crisp white cotton sheets, morning's first light casting upon the golden brown dusting of hair.

She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes to the emotion flooding her.

Last night was everything she'd never had before and the culmination of everything she'd had for the last four years. With this man. Everything she'd wanted.

With this man.

When she opened her eyes again, it was to look at his face. And to see his eyes open, looking back. It was all there. Everything she needed to see, in those reassuring and warm, brown eyes.

When he reached his hand toward her – the same hand – she took it without question, and fell into him.

FIN!

Many thanks to everyone who followed this story!