Brennan was a wreck. She had given him enough time to get home, shower, and probably fix a meal but she couldn't put off waiting any longer. She glanced at her watch; it had been 45 minutes. She knocked on his door with shaky hands before placing them behind her back. She took a deep breath and waited. When he opened the door, she tried to keep her composure but she was taken aback by what she saw. He was freshly showered, his "lucky" Flyers t-shirt that he always wore on game days covered his frame and his jeans hung loosely on his narrow hips.

"Hi." He said with a smile that would have knocked her over if she hadn't been leaning against the doorframe.

"Hi." She repeated.

"Come on in." He ushered her inside and took her coat. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Yes." She said a little too quickly.

"Beer? Wine? Scotch?" He listed off his usuals.

"Um, wine if it's open." She said. Booth nodded and headed for the kitchen. She heard the clinking of glasses as he set them down on the counter and finally joined him in the kitchen to watch him work. "Great game today." She said, trying to make small talk.

"Thanks." He said. "I wasn't sure if you would make it given…everything."

"I told you I would." She said simply. He smiled that smile of his again and Brennan had to look away.

"Yes. You did." He shook his head once and handed her the glass of wine.

"Besides, I like watching you play hockey." She admitted a little shyly.

"Yeah? Why's that?" He asked. She considered his question carefully before answering.

"You're comfortable out there, in control." She observed. "You're a natural team leader and everyone respects you." She commented with a smile. "It's nice to watch."

"Really? That's why you like to watch me play hockey? It's nice?" He said incredulously.

"Yes. Why?" She asked as she took in his tone.

"Cam has a much different reason." He muttered.

"Well, I didn't say it was the only reason." Brennan added coyly as she made her way towards the couch. She didn't need to turn around to see Booth smile. She could feel it light up the room the way it always did.

"Listen, Bones, about yesterday…" He started as she sat down. "I messed up." He confessed as he sat down next to her. "I was… scared."

"Of me?" She asked.

"Of what happened the last time we tried a romantic relationship." He said. Brennan's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to understand what he meant. "I know that when we first met there was…something… between us, but we let it get out of hand. I mean, we fought so much that you actually hit me." He reminded her. "So I told myself that we could never let that side get the better of us again. Not that I expected it to at the time. Hell, just being in the same room with you was nearly impossible for a while."

"Things were very tense." She agreed.

"But in the end, I saw how serious you were about your work and I respected that. I wanted to work with you because of it." He said. "And respect turned into watching out for you because that's what partners do, right? And what partners do became what friends do and before I know it, I'm waking up from a coma unable to remember a time when I haven't had feelings for you." He admitted. "And then I thought, well, maybe it was just the brain tumor messing with my mind. I mean, if I didn't know how I felt about socks and clowns and belt buckles…"

"How could you know how you really felt about me." Brennan finished the thought for him with an understanding nod. She couldn't imagine a world where you couldn't trust even your own thoughts. How terrifying that must have been for him.

"But do you know what I realized, Bones?" He asked her as he reached for her empty hand. She glanced down at the action before looking back at him, surprised. "Love doesn't come from the brain. It comes from the heart. My heart hadn't changed at all. I still feel just as entranced by you as I did when I walked into that classroom all those years ago but now, I know you, the real you, and you're even more remarkable than I could have ever imagined." She blushed a bit at his compliment, unable to hide her reaction. Booth cleared his throat as he glanced down at her hand in his. "So I'm in, Bones." He said simply. "If you want to do this, I am all in." He repeated, meaning every word.

"I find it disquieting when you use gambling terms." She informed him with a crinkled frown.

"Well, I find it 'disquieting' when you speak Squint." He countered. She rolled her eyes, not wanting to start bickering when he had just been so nice to her. "So, what do you say?" He asked, bringing them back to the subject at hand. She considered his words for a moment, not because she didn't feel the same way, but because she hadn't realized how much she had needed to hear them. Yesterday, she was convinced that enough was enough. Today, she was grateful that he had stopped them before they had a chance to talk.

"Yes." She said.

"Yes what?" He replied, unsure of what she meant.

"Yes, I want this…you." She added, suddenly unsteady in this new territory. He looked just as nervous by her answer but he moved forward a bit.

"Are you sure?" He asked, not backing away. She looked down at his lips and licked her own unconsciously before looking back at him. "Everything is going to change." He reminded her one last time.

"Entropy." She murmured. He remembered the memory but shook his head at the idea.

"Nothing could pull us apart." He whispered before finally closing the distance between them. Her stomach cartwheeled as his lips captured her own. Her hand came up to cup his face and they deepened the kiss. A small moan escaped from one of them, although Brennan wasn't sure who made the noise as she left reality behind her. Everything went foggy as she focused on the heat coursing through her body at his every touch. He tasted perfect. Her lungs screamed for oxygen but she didn't dare break away. When Booth finally tore himself away from her, she realized that she was straddling his lap. She looked down at her new position in surprise. She didn't remember moving. His hands were molded to her hips as if they were made to be there.

"Jesus, Bones…" Booth sighed as he looked up at her flushed face and ran a thumb across the swollen lips that he had just been nibbling on. "You're a sight." She ran her hands up his chest and across his shoulders.

"Do you want to see more of me?" She teased, the words leaving her mouth before she could think about what she was offering and to whom.

"Oh yeah." He nodded before wrapping a hand in her hair and crashing his lips against hers again. She smirked against his mouth and ground against him, eliciting a groan. His hands slid up the back of her shirt, teasing her bare skin with his rough hands before removed her shirt in a swift motion. His mouth didn't wait to discover her exposed skin, sucking on the flesh and causing her to shiver. She weaved her fingers through his hair and pressed him against her, wanting to feel his mouth on every inch of her. Meanwhile, his fingers deftly unhooked the back of her bra. He pulled the straps down her arms slowly, wanting to relish the moment. She watched him fall back against the couch and just take her in. She wasn't self-conscious but she must have made for quite a picture, her hair mussed and completely naked from the waist up.

"Booth?" She finally inquired when he hadn't taken his eyes off her.

"You're too much." He murmured and she tilted her head at his strange praise. "I'm trying to take it all in, appreciate the moment, but you're just too much." She lowered her gaze as she finally understood. He closed the distance between them once more, running his hand up her arm. "My brain can't process it."

"Booth?" She asked for his attention. "Get undressed. Now." She commanded. He let go of her long enough for her to stand up on shaky legs. He shifted towards the front of the couch and took his t-shirt off, throwing it carelessly beside him on the couch. That torso that had haunted her for weeks was now on display once again and her body roiled with desire in response. Booth stood up, wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her towards the bedroom.

As soon as they crossed the threshold into the bedroom, Brennan was sliding Booth's belt out of his jeans and tossing it on the nearest chair. He let her work, standing still and watching her undress him. She took a step back and suddenly understood what he had meant earlier. She could spend her entire life learning every muscle, every freckle, every scar on his body and it wouldn't be enough. She knew the scar on his hip came from when he was younger. She knew the scar on his chest came from standing in between her and a bullet. She knew him, in almost every sense of the word.

This was her partner.

And she trusted him implicitly.

A new energy swept over the room at her realization. She finished undressing and wrapped her arms around his neck. She inwardly smiled as his hands firmly found her hips again.

"Are you anxious?" She asked him, wanting to know the truth. Before he could respond, she peppered kisses over his strong jaw. His eyes fluttered shut as she placed a kiss behind his ear.

"I want you too much to be anxious." He replied honestly. She smiled and buried her face into his shoulder at his answer. "You're driving me crazy, Bones." He informed her.

"The feeling is mutual." She assured him as she pulled him down with her onto the bed. He covered her slowly with his body until they were eye to eye again. She looked up into his eyes and her breathing became shallow. He was staring at her so intensely that she almost couldn't bear it. She wanted to look away, to close her eyes and hide whatever it was that he was seeing within her but she didn't.

She let him in.

Suddenly, she wanted the previous irrational passion from earlier back. She knew how to do that. She knew what it meant.

She closed her eyes as Booth kissed her cheek and neck and her shaky hand moved through his hair. She felt his hand cup her thigh and she wrapped her leg around his waist. He took one more look, as if asking for her permission, and she kissed him her answer. Her hands clutched the tight muscles in his shoulders as she took him in. They both exhaled sharply at the new feeling.

"Bones…." He murmured in awe before kissing her forehead. Brennan felt something inside her crack at the gentle action. He slowly began to move, taking his time, driving every nerve in her body haywire. Unable to focus on the intensity between them, she kissed him, wanting to distract herself from the feeling inside her but the kiss only connected them more deeply. The feeling spread like a wildfire between them as he caught fire with her, their bodies igniting in the deepest pleasure.

Brennan clung to him as her body craved everything it was receiving, unable to comprehend the complicated emotions that were battering her brain. It simply wanted more and so she had no choice but to let it wash over her. She had to experience it; she had to know.

The most intense gratification finally coursed through her body, nearly lifting her off the mattress as Booth shuddered violently above her. When she came to her senses, Booth was still trembling above her and she took comfort in knowing he was just as unsteady as she was. He tried to move but she held him where he was, not quite ready to let him go. Whatever this was, it had rocked both of them to their cores and she wasn't sure what would happen when the moment ended. Booth sensed her fear and rolled her onto his chest as his muscles finally relaxed beneath her. She ran a hand over his chest, smoothly caressing his skin and he sighed.

"God, Bones…" He finally spoke, his voice worn. "I've never…I mean, I knew we would be… but still." He paused but she let him compose his thoughts in his own time. "I've never experienced anything like that before."

"You haven't?" She questioned softly, slightly relieved. He was always the one professing the virtues of real, meaningful connections, making love instead of simply having sex. Part of her had assumed this was what he always felt with his sexual partners, despite the fact that it was utterly foreign to her. Now that she knew it was rare for him as well, she felt confident that it would have crushed her heart if she hadn't been the exception.

"No." He replied adamantly. "Why, have you?" He asked.

"No but I'm not..." She was about to suggest that she wasn't the proper test subject for a question on human connection but Booth seemed to understand where she was going and he lifted her chin with his knuckle to look her in the eye.

"You are. You are everything." He assured her. She shivered at his touch and he pulled the comforter up and over them, thinking she was cold.

"Why are you so nice to me?" She asked the question again. His last answer had fueled her career for the last four years and she wondered if he could answer it as well the second time.

"Because you deserve it." He said seriously. "You deserve everything that you've ever wanted and everything you've never thought you deserved to want." Her body stilled at his words but her heart raged against her rib cage. "You have the most beautiful soul, Bones." He said as he brushed her hair behind her ear. "You deserve it." He repeated softly.

The words she never thought she'd hear again were suddenly threatening to spill from him and she knew it. There was a look in his eyes that told her he was holding back for her own benefit. Part of her wanted to ignore the unspoken words, but the scientist, the part of her that strived to uncover the truth, wouldn't let that sit. If they were going to do this, they were going to do this one hundred percent.

"You love me." She suggested the idea to him but she knew it was true. He had told her as much once, even if he had placed a condition after it to cover his tracks. She watched him swallow the lump in his throat before he nodded ever so minutely. She touched his cheek. "It's okay. You can say it." She gave him permission. "You can say it because…I love you too." Her voice was shaky but her words were authoritative. He gave her that look, the one that seared straight into her soul and he kissed her softly.

"My fearless Bones." He said as he shook his head. "Y'know, once you make up your mind, you don't hold anything back, do you?"

"Why would I do that?" She asked. He grinned and kissed her once more.

"I love you." Booth said the phrase for the first time out loud. "And I should have told you, without any qualifications, on my own. I just…"

"You were unsure how I would react. I understand."

"You do?"

"Yes. But something tells me that I'll hear it more than enough in the future."

"You will get sick of it." He promised. Brennan shook her head.

"I will never take that phrase for granted." She replied. "Especially coming from you." He looked at her seriously before deciding to change the tone of their conversation.

"Oh, don't you worry. Eventually, you will." He assured her with a cocky grin. "You will get so tired of hearing it, that you'll beg me to stop saying it but I won't. You'll ask me what I want for lunch at the diner, and I'll say I love you. You wonder what the weather is like outside? I love you."

"That is highly impractical. What if I have a serious question?"

"I love you." He shrugged. She rolled her eyes and he slid over top of her again. "I'm serious. I've got years worth of I love yous saved up and now that I can finally say them, they are spilling out of me. It's really not my fault."

"Oh so this is my fault?" She arched her eyebrow at the idea.

"I can't help that you're so irresistible. I tried to fight it, really, I did but I had no choice in the matter." He argued. "It's impossible not to love you." He informed her.

"I've created a monster." She acknowledged as she looked up at the ceiling.

"At least it's a monster who loves you." Booth grinned before Brennan chose to kiss him into submission.