A/N: Well, here it is. Not sure how I feel about it. It took awhile to write and then erase and then rewrite. And truth be told I'm still not particularly pleased with it. I really feel like there was more story to be told here, but I'm not sure that this is what I had in mind. And yes, I realize they leave Sweets' office in a good mood, but in order to do what I thought I wanted to do I had to change that a little.

Anyway, here it is.

Not sure if this will be the last one on this piece or not. I suppose that's up to you people. I have another (original!) story in the works that is mostly done and I'll post it shortly (probably this weekend). It is yet untitled, so if you're interested you'll have to follow me as an author I suppose.

I also realized when I uploaded that this one is super duper long...

Tag for 04x03 The Man in the Outhouse

Sweets: Does it seem that your partnership provides a surrogate relationship, making it more difficult to form other bonds?

Brennan: A surrogate relationship wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing because then I could avoid the sting of rejection which, however fleeting, is still uncomfortable.
Booth: Right. Okay, look, I'm sorry, you know what, if Mark and Jason don't know how lucky they are, they don't deserve you in the first place.
Brennan: No, relationships are temporary.
Booth: No, that's not true, Bones, you're wrong. Okay, there is someone for everyone, someone you're meant to spend the rest of your life with. Alright, you just have to be open enough to see it, that's all.

Booth left the session frustrated. How could his partner not realize that there was someone out there for her? Someone who loved her even if she didn't understand pop culture references and could be frustratingly dense in social situations. How could she not see that he was her someone?

The partners left the session separately which was unusual since they had just solved a case. Booth begged off claiming that he was tired and needed to get his apartment cleaned up for his weekend with Parker. The truth was that he wasn't sure he could spend the evening with Brennan without blurting out his true feelings. If she hadn't seen if for herself why should he be the one to tell her?

Brennan drove herself back to her apartment. It felt strange to be going directly home after a session with Booth and Sweets. Usually they went to Founding Fathers or the diner for a meal or a drink before going home or back to work. She wondered briefly if there was something else bothering Booth, but brushed it off as paranoia on her part. If something was bothering him he'd tell her if he wanted to. No sense in pushing with Booth.

Brennan made it home in less than twenty minutes and went through her nightly routine before settling in on the couch to work on her latest book. She was a little surprised that she hadn't yet received a text from Booth to make sure she'd gotten home alright. She decided he must be stuck in traffic and texted him to ask him to let her know when he got home.

'I'm home." His text two word text came back almost immediately, but he said nothing else.

Brennan decided he must just be tired and excited to have the weekend with Parker. She put her phone down and resolved not to bother him for the rest of the weekend.

Booth, for his part, was still a little miffed. Even after his little speech in Sweets' office she hadn't come around. Realistically he knew that his partner didn't read into things very much and certainly didn't read people very well. That didn't stop him from being irritated with her.

He skulked around his apartment picking up dirty laundry and gathering unopened mail. He generally considered himself pretty clean, but this last case had left him with little free time. Thus his dirty laundry and mail had piled up wherever he'd dropped it when he came in at night...or in the morning.

Once the place looked respectable enough for a weekend with his son, Booth plopped himself down on the couch with a beer and flipped through the sports channels. When it became clear he was just watching reruns of the same things on each of the channels he drained his beer and got ready for bed.

Booth lay in bed tossing and turning for the better part of the night. When he decided he wasn't going to get any sleep he got out of bed and put on some gym clothes to go work out. He figured he may as well do something with this excess energy. It hadn't actually occurred to him that he could use all the extra energy to make Brennan see what she was missing out on with him.

He spent about an hour and half at the gym running, lifting, working on the speed bag. Finally he'd exhausted all his energy and decided he might be able to salvage a few hours of sleep before Rebecca dropped Parker off. He went home and got cleaned up before crawling back into bed for a few hours.

Booth awoke to sunlight streaming into his bedroom and his phone chirping reminding him that he needed to get out of bed. He'd been dreaming about his partner and not in a very partnerly sort of way. He was sorely disappointed that he had to get out of bed. It always seemed to happen that way. He'd just be getting to the good part of the dream and his alarm would start screaming at him to get up.

He'd showered and made coffee for himself and breakfast for him and Parker. He had perfect timing and finished breakfast just as there was a knock at his door. He opened the door and an excited Parker threw himself into his dad's arms.

"Hey Buddy, what's up?"

Rebecca shrugged an apology at Booth and kissed Parker on the cheek before turning to leave. "Have a good weekend, guys." She smiled.

"What are we going to do this weekend, dad?" The little boy oozed enthusiasm. "Can we go to the museum and see Dr. B?" He asked.

Booth tensed momentarily before remembering his young son's passion for all things science. "Not this weekend, little man. Bones is busy and you and I are going to a baseball game."

Parker, whose face fell when Booth said they wouldn't be going to the Jeffersonian, immediately perked up at the mention of a baseball game.

Booth had a good weekend with his son. The little boy had caught a foul ball at the game and Booth had managed to have a pretty low key weekend, always a positive considering his occupation. He'd dropped his sleeping son off at his mom's before returning home to prepare for the upcoming week.

He checked his phone—usually there was at least one text from Brennan asking how his weekend with Parker was—and found no missed texts or calls. He was a little surprised that he hadn't heard from her all weekend.

It was late Sunday night; Brennan had made a conscious decision to leave Booth alone. He'd been short with her on Friday night and despite the fact that she'd originally decided she was a little paranoid in thinking he was upset with her she decided it would be a good idea to just give him some space. She'd spent the weekend working on her book and trying to identify some of the remains in Modular Bone Storage. She found herself mildly disappointed that there hadn't been a case or that Booth hadn't contacted her at all over the weekend. He usually checked in at least once, even on his weekends with Parker.

The week had passed in relative peace. There had been no cases and Brennan had been able to get several identifications done. Still she found herself hoping for a case, for a reason to see or at least talk to Booth.

Booth had finally had a chance to plow through the mountain of paperwork on his desk. He found himself wrestling with the desire to call his partner. He considered stopping at the Jeffersonian and dragging her out to lunch. She rarely listened to Angela's pleas to eat lunch and it seemed he was the only one that could get her to leave the lab to eat. God, how could she not see how much he loved her?

And there it was. He was still upset with her for not understanding how he felt about her. How could she know? Really. She didn't exactly have super interpersonal skills. It was still a mystery to him how she and Angela had become such close friends. Almost as much of a mystery to him as why he loved her.

After a twenty minute debate with himself he decided to drag Brennan out of the lab for lunch, kicking and screaming if he had to. He texted her, 'lunch?' but didn't wait for her to respond before leaving to head to the Jeffersonian.

Brennan was surprised to see an incoming text from Booth. It had been nearly a week since they'd last spoken. Even when they didn't have a case they usually texted or talked every other day at the very least. She smiled when she saw the text and replied that she'd be waiting for him to pick her up.

When Booth arrived at the lab he immediately went to Brennan's office. For once she was waiting for him and he didn't have to goad her into leaving. What had gotten into her?

The pair ate lunch while engaging in their typical banter. She ordered a salad and he ordered a burger and fries. She stole fries from his plate and he shot her a teasing warning look as he smiled at her. It seemed the two were back in their usual routine.

As they finished their lunch Angela, Hodgins, and Cam walked into the diner arguing about plans for the night. It seemed they had made plans to have a few drinks after work, but couldn't decide on a location.

"Hey Sweetie! I looked all over the lab for you to see if you wanted to come to lunch. Looks like someone beat me to it." She smiled at Brennan before sitting down next to her.

"We're going out tonight. I want to go to this new club, but Hodgins and Cam have ganged up on me and they think we should go to The Founding Fathers. Come on, say 'yes,' get back on the horse! It's ladies night which means there will be lots of, um...opportunities." She pleaded with her friend.

Booth immediately stiffened. This was not lost on Angela. "What's the matter Mr. FBI Stud? Worried Bren will find the man of her dreams and you'll be left out in the cold?"

"What?! N...No! I just..." He sputtered nervously.

"Don't worry hot stuff. You can come with and protect her." Angela leered.

"I hardly think I require protection, Angela. And, actually, I find myself amenable to going out to a club tonight. A change of pace would be nice, I suppose."

"Alright, people, it's decided." Angela announced excitedly. "We'll be going to the club tonight. We can meet at the diner at 10 and walk over. It's not far."

Booth shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He was too old to be clubbing and he certainly wasn't agreeable to Brennan going out on the prowl.

Booth had showered and shaved and was standing in front of his closet in a towel trying to figure out what to wear. Why did he suddenly feel like an uncertain 16 year old again? He settled on a pair of jeans and a black button down shirt.

Forty five minutes later he was on his way to the diner in a cab to meet the others. Booth was the first to arrive, but was soon joined by Cam.

"How on earth did we get sucked into this?" She asked.

Booth smiled. "Angela has an uncanny ability for getting her way."

A few minutes later two more cabs pulled up and Brennan and Angela exited one and Hodgins and Sweets exited the other. Booth had to blink a few times to make sure what he was seeing was real. Sure he'd seen Brennan in club attire before, but for some reason this time was different. Because you're in love with her.

Angela shot him a knowing look before linking arms with Brennan and leading to group off to the club. It was only a few blocks' walk and Booth couldn't keep his eyes off of her. He wondered how she managed to get herself into those jeans. He was certain Angela had everything to do with this outfit.

The group made their way inside and to the bar to get drinks before finding a table. After several rounds Angela decided it was time for some dancing. She grabbed a surprised Sweets and drug him out to the dance floor with her and Brennan.

While Cam and Hodgins laughed and argued about some experiment gone wrong Booth watched Brennan on the dance floor. She'd started out dancing with Angela and Sweets as a trio before Angela grabbed some unsuspecting young guy from the dance floor. Unfortunately this guy was clearly more interested in Brennan than in Angela and Booth was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the situation.

Booth watched as the kid pawed at his partner. He completely missed the knowing looks between Sweets and Angela. Finally when it looked as if the kid were going to try to undress his partner right there on the dance floor Booth decided he'd had enough.

"Do you mind?" He yelled over the music as he grabbed for Brennan's hand.

"Yeah man, I kind of do." The kid shot him a look.

Before the exchange could go any further Angela stepped in and pulled him to the side to dance with her. Obviously distracted by the attention of another beautiful woman the kid quickly forgot about Brennan.

Brennan, for her part, was a little miffed that Booth had interrupted. She'd been having fun. "Booth, what the hell was that about?"

Instead of answering he grabbed her arm and pulled her against him and they began to move the music. He hadn't known her body could move this way, although he should have assumed as much. She was graceful in everything that she did so why should this be any different. He began to feel fuzzy like he'd had too much to drink as her body moved against his. He found his hands moving of their own accord down her raised arms along her rib cage to settle on her hips. Suddenly she was grinding against him and he was pretty sure the room was going to start spinning at any moment.

Booth could feel himself getting hard and could only hope that Brennan wouldn't notice. He tried desperately to put a little bit of space between them, but the dance floor was crowded and Brennan just wasn't letting up.

"It's perfectly normal to become aroused when dancing with a beautiful woman, Booth." She yelled into his ear.

Booth immediately flushed and started to pull away from her.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about." She smiled at him.

Just as he was about to make a break for it he thought better of it. If she was okay with this then who was he to stop her? If she was going to go out on the prowl tonight then why not make sure he approved of who she ended up with? Booth pulled Brennan closer to him and ran his hands down her body as she ground down on him.

Sweets and Angela had long since returned to their table to watch the show with Cam and Hodgins. Angela silently congratulated herself on a masterfully constructed plan. She knew there was no way Booth would let her go clubbing and not tag along. She'd watched him watching Brennan as she danced with that kid and saw the jealousy that blazed in his eyes. It'd been pure luck that he'd grown a pair and decided to do something about it tonight, but it had worked out perfectly.

The partners danced until last call and Booth found himself suddenly feeling empty as Brennan pulled away from him to rejoin their friends at the table. The group then made their way down to the street to catch cabs home.

"Share a cab, Bones?" The first words he'd really spoken to her all night.

Her eyes sparkled. "Sure."

Booth hailed a cab and held the door open as Brennan climbed in then he followed her in. Neither of them was drunk, but neither of them was quite ready to leave the other and sharing a cab was the perfect excuse to stay together.

He gave the driver Brennan's address and the car started moving. He watched her as she watched out her window. He wondered what she was thinking about.

She was thinking about him. About them. About what he'd said at that last session with Sweets. There's someone for everyone. Tonight had been fun. She wished things could always be this easy between them. They'd hardly spoken, but their bodies had said so much.

By the time they'd arrived at Brennan's apartment Booth had made his decision. He paid the driver and followed Brennan up the stairs to her apartment. She didn't ask what he was doing. He didn't offer an explanation.

She slid her key into the lock and pushed the door open. She left it open behind her, a silent invitation. They'd barely spoken tonight; she didn't see a reason to start now. Brennan dropped her bag by the door and started to take her jacket off when she felt his hands on her.

Booth pulled the jacket off of her shoulders and hung it next to the door before turning to face her. His hand came up to brush her cheek.

"Bones." He whispered as he backed her against the door.

And then his lips were on hers. His hands trailed down her body and pulled her hips into his. He swallowed her moan and she clung to him. Booth groaned as Brennan's body arched into his. He trailed kisses along her jaw and up to her ear.

Booth's hands found the hem of her shirt and tugged gently. Brennan raised her arms to help him and he pulled the shirt over her head exposing a black lacy bra. Brennan's hands found the buttons on Booth's shirt and quickly went to work. Booth kissed a trail down her neck and between her breasts before settling on one. He traced her nipple with his tongue through the lace causing Brennan to suck in a breath.

When Brennan finished with the buttons on Booth's shirt she pushed it off his shoulders and started kissing a trail down his chest and stomach until she met his belt buckle. He grabbed her hands and she started to unfasten his belt.

"Not yet." His voice was husky with desire. He wanted nothing more than to let her undo that belt buckle and let her have at him, but he thought she might want him to last more than two minutes.

Booth pulled her up and trapped her body between his and the door before pulling her back and toward the couch. "Booth." She whined.

He chuckled and went back to work on her breasts as his hands found the button on her pants. He flicked the button open and slid the zipper down as her body arched into his again grinding her center against his erection. "Bones, you're really gonna have to stop that if you want this to last." He ground out.

He slid one hand under her jeans and quickly realized he'd have to get them down to have any room to work. "How the hell did you get these things on?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She whispered in his ear.

She'd definitely been spending too much time with Angela. She was learning girl talk and flirting, apparently. She took pity on him and kicked out of her knee-high boots and shimmied out of the jeans leaving her in only a bra and panties.

"Booth." She teased. "I believe you're wearing far too much clothing for this encounter."

He kicked off his shoes and reached for his belt buckle where his hands met hers. "Let me." Her hands deftly flicked open the buckle and pulled the belt from his waist. The motion sent a shudder through Booth's body. His hands went back to her waist skimming under the waistband of her panties as she unbuttoned his pants and pushed them off his hips.

His fingers dipped under her panties and lightly traced her folds before circling her clit. He felt her knees buckle and his other hand came around to support her. She arched her back to position his fingers where she wanted them, but he was resisting her direction. "Booth." She whined.

"Shhh. Just relax and let me take care of you." He soothed.

"Booth!" She was begging now. "Take care of me later, I want you now."

If he thought he couldn't get any harder he was mistaken. That last one had sent a jolt of desire straight to his cock. At this point he was really in no position to deny her anything. But before he could give her what she wanted she yanked his boxers off and pushed him back onto the couch. He grabbed for her and pulled her down on top of him.

Brennan straddled him and leaned down to kiss him. Finally his hands circled her back and flicked open the clasp on her bra releasing her breasts. She ground herself against his erection eliciting a loud moan from him.

"Bones." He groaned.

She set a rhythm against him that nearly drove him crazy. When he couldn't take anymore he grabbed her hips and flipped them so she was under him. "Booth!" She giggled as she leaned up to capture his lips again.

Booth straddled her and pulled at her panties. Brennan lifted up a little as Booth pulled her panties the rest of the way down. When he'd finally rid her of the last of her clothing he settled between her legs. His mouth latched on to her breast again as his fingers found her clit and rubbed slow and maddening circles. She squirmed beneath him and he released her breast in favor of her mouth. He continued to rub mercilessly as he swallowed her moans. Brennan bucked up beneath him and her nails dug into his back as she tried to guide him toward her.

Finally he gave in and guided the tip of his aching cock to her entrance. He had every intention of going slowly and giving her time to adjust, but Brenan had other plans. She bucked up into him taking him in to the hilt. He was surprised he didn't come apart right then. As Brennan's hips relaxed back down into the couch his followed settling into her. Slowly he began to move inside her. She was warm and wet and tight and he never wanted to leave.

He buried his face in her shoulder as he moved in and out. His lips latched onto her neck sucking in rhythm to his strokes. "Oh, God! Booth!" She moaned into his ear. "Faster. Please Booth."

He knew that if he sped up this would be over soon, but he couldn't deny her anything especially not this. His strokes got faster, but more unsteady as he felt his orgasm gathering at the base of his spine. He shivered as he felt her fingernails dig into his back as she pushed up meeting him stroke for stroke.

He felt the tell tale fluttering of her walls around him. Her grip on him tightened as he continued to push into her. Her nickname fell from his lips in a gentle chant as she shattered around him. His once smooth strokes became jerky and uncontrolled as he spilled into her. He collapsed on top of her before shifting to the side.

"Booth." She whispered.

He immediately stiffened. He knew she was going to tell him to leave. This was just about a release for her. He'd told her that it needed to be about more than sex, but here he was proving her point. But the truth was that, for him, it was about more than just sex. This was the woman he loved. The woman who would never love him back because she didn't believe in that either. He winced internally at that last thought.

"Yeah, Bones." He sighed.

"We should go to bed. Your back is going to hurt if we sleep on this couch."

He smiled into her hair as he pushed himself up and pulled her up after him. She took his hand and led him back to her bedroom. She crawled into her usual side and indicated for him to do the same. Booth, still leery, gave her space to get situated in the bed. When she stilled he adjusted and got into a comfortable position facing her but leaving space between them.

He was surprised when Brennan moved to lie against him, situating herself against his chest. He waited until he thought she'd drifted off to sleep before he slipped an arm around her waist and allowed himself to relax.

He wondered what the next day would bring. She'd invited him to stay, but that could just be practicality on her part. It was late and she probably didn't want him to have to wait on a cab to take him home. He hoped that after everything that had gone down tonight that she would realize that he was her one person. He didn't want to have to spell it out for her. She was a genius. She should be able to figure something like this out. He loved her and she'd just have to figure that out.

Almost as if she'd read his mind her voice, soft and husky with sleepiness, startled Booth out of his thoughts. "I accept your theory that there is someone out there for everyone."

He smiled and his confession came out as a whisper. "I love you, Bones."

"I know, Booth." She yawned as she turned in his arms and buried her face in his chest.

A/N: Meh...

Review, let me know how bad it sucked. Do you want more of this? Or something else?

New story probably this weekend...