Ok... it's an epilogue, because I couldn't resist...

Nine Months later-

She was dangling freely at the end of her rope, the sound of the constant crunching beside her was threatening to drive her mad. She glared over at her partner, who smirked out the front window, chomping away on the potato chips in the bag that he held in his other hand, he knew exactly what each chomp was doing to his partner, and he could feel the frustration building up from the other side of the car, though she said nothing, he had noted the set jaw and narrowing eyes. "You know…" He said, his mouth full of potato chips as he watched her head turn slowly to face him. "You really gotta relax more…" He said, swallowing the chips, he licked his fingers and watched her shake her head, roll her eyes and tip her head back.

"If you don't stop eating salty, greasy snacks, you're going to become obese, probably die of a coronary… not to mention that it causes acne, high glucose levels, diabetes…"

"Bones… you're not getting me to stop eating these chips." He said, chomping down on another chip, she glared at him for several more seconds. "You're just upset because I haven't offered one to you, want one?" He asked as she tipped her head and stared at the bag, glancing up at him, she nodded.

"Sure." She said, watching the surprise in his eyes as he smiled at her.

"Seriously? What about all of that disease crap you were just preaching about?"

"Just give me a chip…" She said, holding her hand out for the bag, he held out the open bag to her, and before he could shout or say anything more, she had grabbed the bag from him, swung open the door and tossed it out the window.

"Bones!" He exclaimed, trying not to laugh as he watched the self satisfied smirk on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows at him. "First of all, we're on a stake out, meaning… you know… you can't just open the door and toss stuff out of the car, and second of all… you're littering!"

"I wasn't littering." She said, glaring at him, though she had a hint of humor in her eyes that he always loved. "I was just saving my own sanity." She replied.

"Now I'm hungry." He mumbled as she shrugged her shoulders. She looked out the window and her eyes widened as they watched a figure stalking through the dark, entering the building through the back door. "That's our guy…" He said as he nodded toward the window.

"Are we going now?" She whispered back, sitting down slightly in her seat, she watched the door close behind the person.

"We have to wait…" He said softly, watching her eyes as they focused on the door, he smiled slightly to himself as he watched her without her knowing, her long eyelashes moving with those beautiful eyes, the way her eyebrows raised when she was waiting, just watching.

"Why am I here, anyway?" She asked, glancing to him, noticing immediately that he had been watching her again, and he had averted his gaze.

"What do you mean, why are you here? You're my partner." He replied softly, refusing to look at her for another moment, his eyes involuntarily migrating to the passenger seat as he tipped his head to the side, and watched as she interrogated him with her eyes.

"We're not on a case, Booth… a real case that you and I work on. This is some FBI case that you've been working on for the past two months, and you haven't even told me what it's about.

"Don't worry about it." He said, noticing that she was still staring at him. "Bones, what is wrong with sitting with me in the car for a little while. It's a stake out, I didn't want to be lonely, is that so wrong?"

"I guess not…" She whispered as she leaned against his arm slightly, feeling his arm wrap around her, he kissed her head. "We're not going to get shot at, are we?"

"I hope not." He said softly.

"I proposed to Cullen that he allow you to come with me on the stakeout… and he said that if we engaged in a shootout, he'd wring my neck." He said softly, feeling her nod against him, he leaned down and kissed her head again.

"I like being on stakeouts with you." She whispered, pausing for just a moment before continuing. "When you're not crunching down on potato chips, that is." She said, hearing his light chuckle from above her.

"What am I supposed to do, starve?" He asked, feeling her nod, a tender giggle leaving her lips as he looked up at the opening door. "Okay…" he said, kicking up the tension several notches, she sat up and looked out the window as the door opened a little more and then closed. "Alright…" He said, glancing to Brennan he pulled the door handle. "There's a spare gun in the glove box, grab it and let's go!" He said as he swung the door open.

Brennan swung into action, flipping open the glove compartment, she started shifting through, looking for the gun that Booth was talking about, but the only thing her hand found was a small square box. She pulled it out of the glove compartment quickly, her jaw dropping as she realized what it most likely was, and when she looked to her side, out the window, her partner stood with a sly look on his face. Her eyes were wide with shock, her hand holding the box in her hand, out to him as he grinned at her through the window. He reached his hand up and tapped on the window. "Open it." He said, laughing as she stared at him. "Bones, open the box." She still refused to move, as if she couldn't. He reached for the door handle and swung open the door. "Bones." He said, grabbing the box from her hand before she could pull it from him, he immediately dropped to one knee.

"Booth." She whispered. "I thought…"

"Shh…" He said softly as he held the box up to her and opened it slowly.

"Booth." She whispered.

"I was pretty sure that I was still talking." He said, watching the stunned look on her face remain.

"Booth." She whispered.

"What?"

"I…"

"Bones…"

"Booth, I…" She stammered.

"Temperance." He whispered, lifting the ring so she could see it. "This is for you."

"It's beautiful." She whispered, her eyes sparkling as beautifully as the diamonds in the ring before her.

"No." He whispered. "You're beautiful." He replied. "Would you wear this ring for me?" He whispered.

"But… I don't… we…" she said, still trying to manage a complete sentence. "Aren't you going to ask me?" She asked.

"Ask you what?" He asked, clearly humored by her expression. "It's just jewelry." He said with a shrug. "I didn't think you were the kind of woman who believed in archaic rituals such as marriage…"

She paused, giving him a knowing look with a simple tip of her head, she laughed at the humored expression on his face. "Even so…" She shrugged. "I'd still like to be asked… at least once in my life." She said, watching his jaw drop slightly, making her laugh.

"Bones…" He said, tipping his head with a charming smile, she giggled as he reached for her hand. "Temperance, will you please allow me to be chauvinistic, archaic, old fashioned, sexist, and…"

"Booth." She said, laughing when he shook his head softly and laughed. "Just ask!" She exclaimed , her hands on his shoulders, she shook him slightly and he straightened up.

"This was a lot easier when I was asking Parker."

"You asked Parker?" She asked raising her eyebrows.

"Of course I asked Parker, he's in this too…"

"And what did he say?" She asked, not even thinking about the fact that they were still sitting in a dark alley, and Booth was standing on one knee having a conversation with her as if they were sitting at a table at the diner.

"I recall his exact words were… 'duh, dad.'" Booth nodded as he tipped his head. "So? Will you marry me?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at her as she laughed out loud, her eyes sparkling so happily that he let out a nervous laugh.

"Wait… wait wait… so… Parker knew you were going to do this? When did you tell him?"

"Bones… just answer the question."

"Answer mine first… when did you tell him?"

"Tuesday." Booth replied. "When I brought him back to Rebecca's house.

"So he has known since Tuesday? Is that why he was grinning at me on Friday when I picked him up at school?"

"Well, yeah, probably…Bones… the question… I asked…"

"And so the stakeout thing…"

"We're not on a stakeout…"

"But the guy…"

"That guy? He was just taking out the trash for that restaurant, Bones… question… floating into oblivion, waiting for an answer." He said impatiently.

"Booth, we've been sitting in this alley for four hours."

"And for four hours, I've been working on my nerve to ask you… and now it's out there, and you won't stop talking… please, please, for the love of God, Bones… give me an answer."

"What was the question again?" She asked, listening to the sudden release of air from Booth's lungs as he grunted, and her smile only widened as she grabbed his shoulders. "Yes!" She laughed as she watched his eyes widen.

"Yes?"

"Yes…" She laughed.

"Oh, thank God!" He exclaimed as he grabbed her in a fierce hug, listening to her melodic laughter as she gripped him tightly and then pulled from the hug to look him in the eyes. "Let's get out of here… what do you say… we'll go to the diner, get a slice of pie, celebrate?"

"Booth… I don't like pie…"

"Then you can watch me eat pie…" He said, leaning forward, he kissed her lips softly as he slipped the ring onto her finger, he kissed her again and stood up, leaning down, he kissed her a third time as she watched him for another moment, before pulling his hand so he would bend down and kiss her a fourth time. "I love you."

"I love you." She whispered as he stepped back and closed the door.

She watched as he disappeared from view for a second, standing up straight, she noticed that he had picked up the bag of chips from the ground outside of the car. He grinned at her and reached his hand in the bag as she let out a laugh and rolled her eyes, shaking her head at him, as he let out full laugh and climbed into the driver's seat once again, driving them off to their next stop, and to their future.