Not Unbreakable

"You're not unbreakable, you know," Booth murmurs softly in her ear.

She shivers under the feeling of his breath on the nape of her neck and sucks her lower lip up into her mouth. She tilts her head to the side to consider him. The stubble on his jaw is rough, his lips are curled upwards slightly in an apologetic smile and there's a gentleness in his eyes that she has noticed he only ever looks at her with.

She swallows and continues to worry at her lip with her teeth as he runs one hand up her arm behind her and soothes circles into her skin. "You can talk to me," he adds. "If you want to."

Closing her eyes for a moment and allowing herself to relax into his embrace, she considers her options. She can continue to enjoy the warmth of his body wrapped around hers from behind and talk to him or she can break away and tell him she's fine. Either way will bring some amount of uncomfortableness to the front.

She remains still in his arms and doesn't say a word.

"Dana?" he tries.

She flicks her eyes up to meet his and urges a small smile onto her face. Keeping up a strong facade that she is in fact okay, she nods. "I know," she replies softly. "But I'm fine. Really."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The mere thought of talking with him about them crossing paths with his ex-girlfriend makes her want to run into their bedroom and curl up in a ball in the corner. It had been a stressful day before Dr Brennan had made an appearance and her involvement in her case had everyone's tempers flaring – particularly hers when Brennan and Booth began laughing over a personal joke she wasn't in on.

She shakes her head. "No. It's fine."

He raises an eyebrow and pulls back from her for a moment so that he can turn her around to face him. He reaches out a hand to tuck a strand of fiery red hair from her eyes. "That's an awful lot of 'I'm fine's' for someone who's...well, fine."

"Booth," she warns.

"Sorry, I just... I want you to know I'm here for you," he attempts, waving his other hand about in the air. "I know today was awkward for you."

"It was awkward for all of us," she interjects.

"You know that I love you, right?"

She nods. "And I love you." She swallows and then looks him fiercely in his eyes. "Look, can we just forget today and enjoy the rest of the evening together?"

"Sure, I'll dial us up some pizza." He presses a kiss to her mouth and moves off to find the phone. "We'll be okay, Dana," he calls over his shoulder as he begins to dial.

She smiles softly and slumps down into the sofa. "I don't doubt that," she mutters more to herself than in reply to his comment. "I don't doubt that at all."

To herself, she thinks, 'it may just take some time'.

fin.