Title: On a date
Words: 3211
Pairing: Booth/Brennan
Spoilers: None
Rating: T (for some themes)
Thanks to: My very patient friend Cécile (Tchitchou26) who found the time to bounce some ideas around, support me and help in this story with her sincere comments and ideas.
Disclaimer: This is a simple story filled with humor, teasing and some romance. Keep in mind that this one-shot was written a long while ago and that anything resembling the recent episodes of Bones is purely coinky dink! Don't forget to leave a review if you're taking the time to read. Thank you in advance.

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It was late already when he walked through the double doors of the anthropology wing in the Jeffersonian. He walked with a heavy step while his hand traveled through his face and hair trying to chase the tiredness of the day away. The day had been slowly and painfully dragging itself thought the pointers in the clock in his office.

He wasn't fit for desk work but the piles of paper had been accumulating day by day until he had to finally give up on being a procrastinator. It took him all day; all day without leaving the moderately spacious cubicle he called an office. And it all would be perfectly fine if he only had spent one single day without seeing the light of the day in its full force, but what he missed the most was that he hadn't seen his partner for the exact same time.

As he walked, he briefly wondered when he had become so dependent on her presence or if that insatiable need to see her all the time was even healthy.

For now, other motivations drove his steps through the dark marble of the facility, the primitive need to fill his stomach.

As he approached her office, which had the lights on, a smile was already being drawn in his face. He knew she would still be there, the ever going workaholic.

"Bones, dinner time!" He shouted as he entered the door, but as his eyes lay upon her, his expressions changed dramatically. His eyes opened wide in amazement and his previous smile transformed into an open mouth. A gasp escaped his perplexed state.

There, she sat in her chair facing the computer on top of the desk, and upon hearing him, she immediately turned towards him.

"Woah, Bones! You look…" He inhaled hard trying to maintain a calm voice and not sound so much as the excited teen he was feeling now. "You look beautiful!" He finally said. And in his mind 'beautiful' was nothing but an euphemism for the heavenly vision in front of him.

"Don't you think it's too much?" She asked. At first the blush in his face, as his eyes fell upon her very exposed cleavage, had humored her, but now, now that he was running his eyes from her softly curled hair, it made all her body positively aware of his presence. His eyes delighted themselves in the dark blue satin of her dress that ended a little too shortly over her knee. Below there was only the sea of perfect milk like skin of her legs ending in elegant heels.

The way his gaze slowly consumed her felt like a lover's caress even thought he had never touched her in such an intimate way. It felt good, but not as good as what he said when his eyes finally locked with hers.

"Not at all, it's just… perfect." He simply said trying to convey in that simple statement all the emotions he was feeling inside, elicited only by her presence.

It might have been out of courtesy that he was complimenting her in such a tender way, but it was devoid of second intentions, it was a display of affection she had rarely experienced in her life.

"Thanks, Booth." She sincerely thanked his honesty and watched him nod and smile towards her. In that moment she thought that it would be too much, that she couldn't possibly go forward with what she had in mind. But what she wanted and what she needed were completely different matters, and were both battling incessantly inside of her. Fortunately, her needs screamed louder and she took a deep breath before addressing him again.

"I'm going out on a date." She stated as a matter of fact.

It felt like someone had pushed the metaphorical carpet below his feet and he was now falling, falling with no prospects of ever hitting the ground, but after a while, his mind provided the right rationality that had been needed ever since he saw her. For sure she wouldn't be standing in her office, dressed up and perfumed, only for his sake. Of course she wouldn't dress up for him, of course it was, yet again, another one of those infamous dates.

"A date?" He managed to say, but inside he wanted to cry. For the first time in many years he just wanted to let his guard down and weep for all the crushed dreams he would never fulfill.

But that was not the manly thing to do, because he was taught that a man doesn't cry, and even thought the urge to turn upon his heels and walk away was rapidly building within him, her blue eyes kept him rigid in place.

"Yes, a date." Her voice trembled despite her efforts to keep it steady. She saw his face contort into a painful expression followed by something she knew was his look in the lower levels of annoyance. From that it would only escalate into irrational anger, but there was something else there too, something she could identify clearly as jealousy, and it was that emotion that made her go forward.

She took a breath and calmly added in a disguised attempt to calm his temper down.

"I know it's been a while, but you don't need to look so surprised. You are making me feel not adequate."

He shook his head gently at her statement. It pained him to hear her think so low of herself when there wasn't and never would be anything wrong in her.

"It's not that, you are perfectly adequate." He spoke softly. "I know you are quite capable of dating, but…" Words failed him, and he was glad they did, because he might say something that he would regret for the rest of his life.

Somehow the words 'you are mine' danced silently in his head, and the reward if they came out, would certainly be a black eye.

One of her eyebrows shot up in curiosity, and a mischievous smile danced in her lips. "But what?"

They were finally running in the direction she wanted them to. She just hoped they could close their eyes and never look back. Enthusiasm built inside her, and she could feel her cheeks heat with every fast beat of her heart.

"Who's he?" His eyes flared with emotions he should be ashamed of, but when it came to this woman, he lost complete sense of restrain and acted like he didn't have enough brain to discern between what was logical and what was beyond the line of professionalism.

"Who said it was a he?" And then her lips blossomed into a glorious smile that had as much teasing as daring in them. "Angela has been telling me to try something new, something different from what I've had before. So, I gave it some considerable thought…"

"Bones!" He yelped in a high pitch interrupting her speech. His eyes were opened wide and all his body trembled with the shock of her question.

Suddenly, silence fell between them, and neither moved from their places in front on each other. She stood there with a simple triumphant smile in her features while he sported a more panicked and shocked look.

It didn't take much time for the struggle she was feeling inside to come out with bubbling laughter. The room was abruptly filled with her low laughter echoing in the walls. She held her stomach tightly and leaned forward in a faint attempt to stop the amusement that seemed to get stronger at any moment as his shocked face turned into a confused one.

"Oh, Booth…" She said bringing one hand to clean the moisture that formed in the corner of her eye.

"You are such a prude, but the look on your face was priceless!" Another snort came out involuntarily.

"Be assured that my sexual interest lays only in the opposite sex. Besides, it was only a joke."

"A joke?" He asked breathlessly. "A joke? I didn't find it humorous at all." He threw a look to the ceiling that had become quite regular in the presence of her partner. He asked, once more, to the one high above to lend him patience to handle her. She infuriated him, made him dance across the border to insanity and simply stood there with her bright blue eyes looking innocently at him as if their conversation was the most banal thing in the world.

Despite anger being at the surface of his body, deep within he couldn't help but be amazed by her easy laughter which was rare to be heard. And even though he was the center of the ridicule in that moment, he still felt pride for being the one to make her laugh so easily.

She moved to the back of her office to retrieve her purse and coat from the hanger. The newly distance that was created between them was enough to return conscience into him. He felt all those jealous emotions again once she walked away with a swing in her hips that surely was not made for him.

Her shoes made soft noises in the hardwood floor as she returned to her previous position in front of him, purse and coat hanging from her arm.

He moved slightly to the side and completely blocked the office door, enabling her to pass through him. His arms crossed above his chest and the intense look he was addressing her caused her body to shiver violently.

"What?" She asked, a little frightened and thrilled as well by his chauvinist behavior.

"I'm waiting for you to tell me who your date is." He questioned and his jaw became tighter.

Another step and there was barely any space between their bodies. She could feel his sharp intakes of breath fan across her face as he exhaled. To say that she was teasing him on purpose was already an understatement. The truth was that she always felt an exhilarating power from their arguments, but what she felt now, eclipsed all their previous banters and it was already becoming a dangerous game, one which she didn't want to back up from and it seemed neither did he.

"That's private, Booth." She whispered dangerously close to his lips and watched his Adam's apple work up and down in response.

He was taken aback by her proximity, but it only lasted for a moment before he rose to her challenge and leaned forward just a little more and whispered back.

"You are my partner, there's no privacy between us."

Surprise and shock were all over her face. The truth in his comment stung in her face like a figurative slap, even though it was an impetuous assessment from his part.

"Why do you even care?" She questioned sincerely.

"Like I said, you are my partner and friend." He answered with the same sincerity. "I can't have you go out with just any random guy without being certain he's a decent one! We have to look out for each other."

Although it was not a lie it paled in comparison to the alter motives he had to be acting like a Neanderthal. For now, he just hoped that their argument would go on for a while longer, because he neither wanted her to leave for her date, nor he wanted to stop looking at her dashing figure. He later could chastise himself for being a bad friend and not wanting her happiness in that date, but egoism was an intrinsic emotion when it came to share her.

"I look after you as well," She retorted in his direction. "But that doesn't mean I have to run background checks on your dates!" A snort escaped her lips. "Not that you tell me about your dates anyway…"

He was astonished with her daring. "That's private, Bones!"

"So, the privacy rule only goes one way? How's that even fair?" She asked with exasperation in her voice.

There was another moment of silence between them. He vaguely noticed that she hadn't yet tried to pass through him to exit the room to meet the mysterious person. It surprised and filled him with hopes he knew he shouldn't be building.

She pressed her lips together and wondered if he would keep insisting as long as it took; patience was, after all, one of his many virtues, but the truth was that she was touched by his pained expressions and his insistence to keep her safe. His proximity was overwhelming to her, and when she broke the silence, she did it in the softest of voices.

"If it pleases you, my date tonight is someone I've known for some years now. He's a very handsome, intelligent and honorable man. I trust and care about him very much."

"Well then, he must be one lucky man." It was hard to keep his voice steady when confronted with the harsh reality. His arms fell to his sides in defeat.

"No," She said looking straight into the brown orbs she came to be so found of. Her next words amazed her by the intense sincerity that filled them. "I think I'm the lucky one in this situation."

A deep sadness overtook him, and he couldn't bear anymore of her precious complements wasted on some other man. Feeling defeated with an intensity he had never felt before in his life, he turned around and prepared to leave.

"Enjoy your night, Bones." He threw over his shoulder.

He had only walked one step out of the door when he felt a warm, slender hand slip into his and pull firmly. His head turned behind and he was greeted by a beautiful smile coming from his partner. She was looking straight at him, nervously biting her lower lip.

"Do you want to go out on a date with me?" She simply asked, a little too afraid of what the answer might be.

He turned fully towards her with a surprised expression adorning his face. "What?"

She laughed softly at him, an endearing laughter, nothing like the teasing one from earlier. "I said… do you want to date me?" She asked more forcefully.

He would swear time stood still in that moment, if it were not for the voice in the back of his mind that sounded strangely like his partner, saying that it was irrational, because time flows continuously. But the fact that her words echoed in his mind in a repeat motion, only made his eyes widen in shock and his heart beat faster in his chest. He could swear his illusive mind had produced her question, but he had heard it twice and quite clearly, and she was solemnly looking at him as if waiting for a reply.

"What? You mean…" He said tentatively.

"Yes. The only handsome, intelligent and honorable man I want to go on a date is you. Do you still want to date me?"

He disentangled his hand from hers and brought both his hands up to cup her face. It was the first time he had done that action and it amazed him how perfectly she fit within his large hands. Without fear of rejection he simply leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.

She didn't back away from his caress, and he took that as a sign to slip his right hand into her locks and bring her further into the kiss. His lips ravished hers with the passion and voracity of a restrained lover who had spent too much time apart from his other half.

As he slid his tongue over her lips, the moan that escaped from hers gave him the access he craved for. She responded to his kiss with the same passion he was bestowing towards her, and as her arms wrapped more tightly around his face to bring him closer, it only made their actions escalate into a passionate embrace of lips that danced together without a song, but filled with the rhythm of their hearts.

Their lips eventually became apart with much difficulty, and both sought to fill their lungs with air. He rested his forehead in hers and took a moment to appreciate the sudden turn of events in his life.

"Does this answer your question?" He asked with a raged breath.

She nodded her head. "Yes, or all of this would be a waste." Her hands motioned to her black dress. Throughout their argument she had feared that it had became too much, that she had probably read wrong between the lines of five years of companionship.

A glorious smile, albeit somewhat too cocky for her taste, parted his lips. "All of this for me?"

"Of course silly," She said while dressing her coat. "To whom else would I do such thing at this point?"

There again was that sincerity that seemed to come out so effortless when she was around him. Although it was new to pour honesty from her heart that was destined to his, it felt good.

"You are going to be the death of me!" Laughter came out of him while his hands came around her neck and disentangled her hair that had been caught in the coat. Soft locks fell over her shoulders, and he couldn't help but pass his fingers through them as he had done long ago. The gesture was intimate and filled with innocent seduction, but it still made her tremble with anticipation for the night.

"Was all this necessary?" He asked and his arm outreached for her to take.

"I like to push your buttons, Booth." She answered with a devious teasing smile. "Just a little too much…"

After a moment of silence, his body leaned towards her until his lips brushed her ear and whispered softly.

"I wouldn't mind two beautiful women in my bed."

When he heard it come out he felt surprised, for he was indeed a mild prude, and that kind of comment usually made him blush, even with untruth behind it, but he had seen the opportunity to pay back and went for it.

She immediately recoiled from the touch, his lips making her body shiver while his words made her mind spasm in shock. Those feelings were truly ambiguous. Her widen eyes looked at him and saw no hint of smile in his lips leading her to a sense of desperation she wasn't used to feel.

"I don't think I find the idea of sharing you appealing at all."

But suddenly, and after a few seconds where there was only silence and her brow was still contorted into a confused expression, he started to laugh uncontrollably.

"Who's pushing buttons now, Bones?"

"Booth! You are so infuriating sometimes." She said while slapping his arm with a little too much force, but having a small smile in her lips.

"Don't worry, you are enough for me." He simply said looking straight into the blue eyes that stared right back at him.

Smiling, she easily slipped her arm around his and leaned against the warmth of his massive body. It soothed her. He used the other hand to turn off the light and close the door behind them before they walked away in the deserted laboratory.

I hope you all enjoyed this, don't forget to leave reviews!