I too have jumped on the bitesize_bones comment fic meme bandwagon and wrote for a couple of prompts. This particular one was: Booth/Brennan; Sully returns from his travels and I'm sure I'll post a few more before the dreaded H word is over. Mostly I take writing for prompts as an excuse to be as snarky/mushy as I want, but all the same I hope this entertains you in some way or another :)

He tries, tries so hard, to be casual about it when he finally brings it up.

He fails miserably.

"So, ah... I heard some talk that Sully's back in DC." Except it's a bit flat and clunky and there's this stammering thing that he's not really fond of either.

"I know."

"You do?"

"He emailed me."

"When?"

"Before he arrived."

"Oh."

So that went well.

A moment of silence follows and she guns for his fries. Her eyes playfully flicker towards his as she snares a couple, but the action is lost on him when he appears to be thinking about something else entirely.

What she isn't hearing goes something like this:

Don'tsayitdon'tsayitdon'tsayit.

He says it anyway.

"So what did he say in his email?" The clunky is gone, but an accusational edge has arrived and he's not sure he likes that either.

"Not much."

"Aw come on, he must've said something interesting." And he gives her a look, the corners of his mouth tugging up at the ends as he tries to win her explanation with sparkly eyes.

He's noted this particular method has been working more and more lately. He tries not to think about this fact too much, because sometimes the logic of it all makes his brain hurt.

Regardless, he's pleased when she relents. "He merely contacted me to inform me of his return and suggested that we might have dinner while he was back." Her flat delivery suggests that to her, this information is inconsequential.

"Oh. Of course. Dinner."

"I'm not going." She doesn't look up from her plate.

But he does. "What?"

Her voice is a little bit smaller this time. "I'm not going to meet him."

"Why not?"

"He's only back for a few weeks, I'm sure he has more important things to attend to."

Two very significant statements. He doesn't know which to tackle first.

Scratch that, yes he does.

"Bones, even if he was only here a few days, I'm sure getting to see you would be top of the list of things to do." And then he interrupts her to add, "And not just Sully, I'm talking for anyone."

"I highly doubt that Booth, while I may be an incredibly successful-"

"Bones." He shakes his head. "Anyone that knows you; top of the list."

This time she says nothing. A few more fries are stolen, smiles are exchanged.

"He's only back for a few weeks?"

"I believe he's going to continue travelling. He seems very happy with his life." The way she says the latter part sounds a little off.

It takes him a minute.

"You made the right choice you know, by not going."

"You encouraged me to go. Live wide." She waves an arm at the unfamiliar colloquialism.

He sighs.

Yes, if only it were that easy.

Carefully, he says something he knows to be true. "I thought it would be... selfish to ask you to stay."

"You would've let me go, thinking it was the wrong thing to do?"

"I didn't say I thought it was the wrong thing." And in a less serious manner, grinning and grabbing a few more fries of his own, he adds, "Besides, you're underestimating just how selfish I can be."

"I... don't know what that means."

A pause.

"It means I would have closed the harbour if I thought it would help, or set the coastguard on the both of you. If all else failed, I guess I could've shot at the boat a few times."

He grins, amused by the though, and waits. He knows there was a time when saying those things would've earned him a stern lecture or a snarky comment, but instead she takes a moment to consider what it is he's said.

And then she looks at him.

Then there's that feeling. He's looking and her, she's looking at him. It's intimate, but it's comfortable.

Some might call it a moment.

Whatever it is, they seem to be doing them quite well these days.

Slowly, it tapers off.

After a few minutes, "Yes, well I'm not meeting with him, so it's all irrelevant anyway."

"Bones." His eyes are serious again and he goes so far as to take her hands into his across the table. "Just so you know, I'm not going to sail away or drive away or run away. None of that, okay?"

Her answering smile is tiny and is cautious, but it warms him right through. "I know."

It is enough.

He's getting there.

Bonus points for people who get my odd title reference :)