Disclaimer: Don't own Bones.

A/n: So... BB had sex in Virginia, you a'll. Oh man, that just screams smutty smut! This is not smutty, however, but hopefully you still like.

Prompt: Booth/Brennan, first fight as a couple.

First Fight

Booth didn't like it when she worked all night.

Her partner really didn't have a say in the matter. But it turns out that her lover sure as hell had a vocal opinion.

"Bones!"

She looked up from the box of remains she was sifting through in bone storage. "Booth." Brennan blinked owlishly. "What are you doing here?"

He gave her one of those looks that usually indicated he found her to be unbelievable but not in the adorable way he often did. "Me?" His nostrils flared in frustration. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm working," she said matter of fact.

"You were supposed to come home hours ago," he gritted out. "You haven't been answering your phone."

"Oh." Another slow blink. "I… I left my phone in my office. There's no reception here anyway so I didn't bring it with me."

"It's nearly 1am!" Booth practically yelled. "You couldn't have called, texted, hell, Bones, sent me a freaking email!"

Brennan stiffened. "I often work late, Booth."

"You didn't think I'd be worried? You didn't think I'd be waiting for you?" he shot out, rapid-fire and her blank look managed to further incense him. "You're goddamn unbelievable, Bones!"

"Why are you so upset?" she shot back and now her own tone had a bite to it, almost in automatic response to his own. "Obviously, you were able to deduce my location, it's not like there were a lot of viable options."

"Just because I could guess where you might be doesn't mean I should have to, Bones," he growled. "There's such a thing as a cell phone. You could have made a freaking phone call."

Something suspiciously like guilt clenched her stomach and it made her defensive. "I don't answer to you, Booth," she snarled with a defiant glare. "How late I stay at work is none of your business."

"Are you kidding me?" he took an angry step forward. "Are you kidding me with that bullshit?"

Her own aggressive step in his direction had her a hairbreadth away from him, fired up brown eyes against fiery blue. "Just because we're having sex now doesn't—"

"Stop," he growled, putting up a hand before she could finish a sentence guaranteed to piss him off beyond belief. "Just stop right there, Temperance."

His rare use of her name had her swallowing. He never did that. She couldn't even remember the last time he'd done so. No, that wasn't true. She did know exactly when. The first time they made love, he'd whispered it over and over again. That was the last time, when he'd been deep inside her and now he said her name in anger and she wanted to growl at him for it.

"What do you want from me?" She paced away from him and crossed her arms in front of her. "This is who I am." Chin tilted up in defiance, an automatic defensive mechanism. "This is what I do." Her chilly gaze encompassed the bone room. "I told you I couldn't change. I told you that."

Booth inhaled sharply, his eyes narrowing. "Oh, not that load of crap again!" he yelled, furious but also terrified. She'd use those words once to keep him away and in the aftermath they had both spent over a year being miserable. He sure as hell wasn't letting her use them again. "Why do you keep saying that shit? I don't want to change you, goddammit. I never have! I love you just the way you are, you stubborn, infuriating woman!"

Her mouth parted and she fully intended to yell back, but his words suddenly penetrated and all she could do was blink. "You …you love me?"

For a moment, his temple pounded in a haze of fury but then her question slammed into him with all the impact of a bullet. Oh, shit, he'd just told her he loved her. Well, not really told her, more like yelled it at her. Only Temperance Brennan could do this to him. "Jesus, Bones, of course I love you," he said, his voice soft now and just a little wry. "Sometimes, it feels like I was born loving you. And no matter how much I've denied it and ran away from it and pretended it wasn't true, I have always loved you." That was one truth that could no longer be denied. "Always."

Brennan felt her heart pounding erratically and it had nothing to do with anger or frustration anymore. "I …Oh." Her latex gloved hand went to her stomach in automatic reaction to the butterflies that suddenly settled there. "Booth."

"You don't have to say anything, Bones."

"No, I—I do. I …" she faltered, but took a step in his direction. "I'm terrible at this, but I—I love you too." She took a deep breath. "I mean as a scientist, it's difficult for me to conceptualize romantic love outside explainable parameters like pheromones and brain chemistry, but I don't believe that everything I feel for you can be explained by science and even if it could I find I don't really care. I still love you. Whatever love is, I…I feel it for you."

Brennan finished with an exhaled breath, as if she had run out of steam. There was nothing but silence and Booth stared at her for so long that she shifted. "Booth?" He looked dazed and she took one more step, standing right in front of him. "Say something."

"Aw, hell, how can I possibly stay mad at you now?" Booth husked and his hands shot out and cupped her face. "You love me?" he repeated her words softly with a huge smile. Brennan nodded solemnly. Booth's grin spread impossibly wider and his head dipped to take her mouth in a long, deep kiss. "Tell me again."

Her lips curved too. "I love you." Her gloved hands curled over his shirt and she pressed her mouth against his once and again and then again. "I love you."

"Hey, listen," he leaned back and smoothed his knuckles along her delicate jaw line. "I know you work late, I know I'm gonna find you here at all ungodly hours but I'm still not gonna like it and I'm still going to do all I can to convince you to come home at a reasonable hour."

Brennan nodded in acceptance. "I'm not used to having someone waiting for me to come home," she admitted slowly.

"I got worried when I couldn't get ahold of you," Booth explained. "I kept telling myself that you were here doing your bone thing and that you were fine, but I still—" He gave a helpless shrug. "I couldn't help thinking what if and then you were here and you were fine just like I kept telling myself and I was pissed and relieved at the same time."

"I didn't mean to worry you," she said softly. "I didn't think you'd be worried. I didn't even think to call you, Booth." Her confession was followed by a near trembling of her lip. "I'm terrible at this. Just terrible."

"No, you're not," he reassured, his thumb brushing that soft lip. "We're in a new relationship, there's gonna be a learning curve for both of us. Just like when we first started working together."

"When we first started working together, I irritated you frequently and you annoyed me just as often," Brennan reminded him.

Booth chuckled. "Nah, we were just feeling each other up," he teased, purposefully using her incorrect phrase.

It took Brennan a moment and then her lips quirked. "Very funny."

He laughed, finding that particular slip-up of hers pretty funny now, though it hadn't particularly amused him at the time. "You ready to go home?" he asked her. "I can crash in your office until you're done."

Perhaps she could have continued working, but knowing he would wait for her until she was done had her shaking her head. It was late enough. It was time to go home with her partner. "Let's go home, Booth."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Ok." Booth grabbed her hand and tugged off a latex glove. "My place or yours?"

Brennan considered and she was tired enough that his seemed the more appealing option. "Yours is closer."

"Let's go." Booth tugged her other glove off and laced his fingers with hers. "I'll bet you didn't have dinner, did you?" She didn't reply and that was his answer. Booth just sighed as they walked through the empty Jeffersonian. "Okay, I'll make you my delicious grilled cheese sandwich."

"And ice cream," Brennan said around a rather loud yawn. "I want ice cream."

"Of course," he leaned over and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. "I always have ice cream for you."

"And sex," she added casually. "I believe make up sex is appropriate."

Booth shot her a quick look but didn't miss a beat. "Goes without saying, Bones."

-x-

There will be one more chapter and since it appears many enjoy AU, I'll try to make it an AU one. Thanks for reading!