A/N: So, in deference to those who prefer K-T stories and have been with me from the beginning and because it seemed more consistent with the tone of this story to date, I kept this T-rated. I'll keep people comments in mind for future stories.

This is the final chapter of this little fable, but it's longer than my typical ones. So - Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing Bones related except my imagination.

7:49 AM.

Brennan noted the time yet again as she replaced the last of the bones for the skeleton she'd been examining back in the designated storage bin.

She could already tell today was going to be a very long day.

It had been a little less than 12 hours since she'd left Booth's apartment last night.

She'd woken up this morning at 4:32 AM. Anxiety and worry about what was going to happen in the next few days between her and Booth making it difficult for her to sleep restfully, bringing back some of the nightmares that typically make their appearance when she is overwrought. As she lay in bed trying to get a little more rest, she couldn't help but wonder what Booth's response would be when he finished reading the book she'd left with him the night before. She wasn't sure how long it would take for him to read it. At least a few days she conjectured. Probably until Monday at least. She'd never known Booth to be much of a dedicated reader. What if it takes him a couple weeks? What if he waits for a while and doesn't start reading it right away? What if he finishes it and says nothing? What if he reads it and doesn't pick up on the significance of what she wrote? Would things between them keep going on the same as always? Could she continue that way?

By 4:52, she gave up the hope of getting any more rest, the questions circling around her head just adding to her apprehension, and she got up to shower. By 5:21, she was showered, dressed, and had applied the minimal amount of make-up that she typically wore to work. By 5:28, her travel mug was filled with fresh coffee, her messenger bag packed, and she headed out the door towards the Jeffersonian, hoping that she could find some distraction at the lab and lose herself for a while in her work.

By 5:53, she was at her desk in her office. By 5:58, she had scanned through the emails waiting in her Inbox and realized she didn't have the focus to deal with any of them right now. By 6:03, she was down in "limbo" and had selected a set of remains to examine. She started rearticulating the skeleton on the exam table and for the next 1 hour and 46 minutes, found herself glancing at the clock every 3-5 minutes.

It was torture, just watching the hands on the clock slowly creep forward, waiting for something to happen and knowing it might not occur anytime soon. Probably not for days yet. She appreciated the irony of spending her morning in the part of the lab referred to as "limbo" as she felt as though she herself were in a state of suspension, put on hold until some uncertain catalyst would happen along and propel her into motion again.

Now, it was almost 8:00. Angela and Hodgins should be here soon, if not already, and she decided to head back upstairs hoping Angela could provide her a better distraction than the bones had afforded so far.

She stopped off at her office to quickly scan through any new emails for anything urgent and to grab her coffee mug. Not seeing any emergencies, she figured she'd wander up to the lounge and freshen her coffee cup before seeking out Angela.

7:57 AM.

That's when her plans got derailed.

Booth charged into her office. She looked up at him from where she was standing in front of her desk, startled to see him.

"Booth? Is everything OK?" She furrowed her brows at him. "You look awful."

Well, awful for Booth, which meant he still looked better to her than 99.7% of the other men out there look on a good day.

He appeared to be in the same clothes she'd seen him in last night with the exception being he had traded his comfy sweatpants for a pair of worn looking jeans – jeans which seemed to fit him just right in all the right places to stir up her libido. He still wore the same white athletic socks. His only other concession to footwear being a pair of blue-and-white Adidas slides. He still wore the same T-shirt which she had admired for showcasing his physique so well. His hair was still un-gelled and he hadn't bothered to shave, so his face was covered in a dark scruff. She could see dilated blood vessels on his sclera and mild edema beneath his eyes causing them to look slightly swollen and discolored.

The only other time Brennan could recall seeing him close to this unkempt was the day she returned from Guatemala, several weeks after his brain surgery, and she'd told him then that he looked like a mover. However, that assessment didn't mean she didn't find him incredibly alluring too.

"Yeah? Well, you look great Bones. Absolutely fantastic. I can't tell you how much or for how long I've been wanting to do this . . ." And with that, he stepped right up to her, chest-to-chest, and reached out, cupping her shoulders with the palms of his hands, then pulled her to him for a kiss. At first, Brennan froze, too stunned to respond, but she wasn't a genius for nothing. As soon as it registered that Booth was kissing her, that it was Booth's firm lips she felt gliding sensuously over hers, and Booth's tongue she felt teasing the crease between her lips, she abandoned all semblance of resistance and returned his kiss with equal enthusiasm. Her arms wound their way around his waist and she clung to him tightly, pulling his body closer to hers and relishing the feel of him pressed all along her front. For several moments, they enjoyed the grappling of their lips as their tongues stroked and teased each other's before finally pulling their heads back to look at one another.

"Wow. Good morning to you too, Booth. That was unexpected. Not unwelcomed, but certainly unexpected." Brennan said with a smile, her voice a tad huskier than normal. She didn't understand why he'd kissed her or what it meant, but she wasn't going to complain, even if they were in her office. Not when she'd wanted it for so long. For now, she'd place her trust in Booth and follow his lead, assuming he would explain what was going on.

Booth didn't even try to hold back the grin splitting his face. "Yeah. I didn't exactly plan that. I just saw you, you know, standing there, looking gorgeous like always, and I couldn't resist anymore." Then, more softly, "I read your book Bones."

Brennan's eyebrows went up in surprise. "The whole thing? Already? That was fast. Much faster than I anticipated."

"Yeah. I was up all night. Just finished it a couple hours ago actually."

She reached up and ran a finger back-and-forth in a gentle caress along his zygomatic bone to where it met the maxilla bone, beneath his eye sockets. "I guess that explains the bloodshot eyes and the puffiness beneath them. I didn't mean for you to deprive yourself of sleep when I gave you the book, Booth."

"I know." He answered, leaning his head forward and resting his brow on hers. "But it's a good story Bones, and I was captivated. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down until the end."

In all honesty, Booth had been so engrossed with the storyline, that he hadn't even really thought about or paid much attention to the hidden message from her to him until he was done. He generally read for enjoyment, not to analyze a story. However, once he'd finished the novel and took a moment to reflect, he'd immediately recognized what she'd done . . . that, in a way, this book was a public declaration of her feelings towards him. He'd spent the next couple hours thinking about her story, what it meant (to her, to him, to them) and how that fit in with his overall plan of pursuit. He figured her somewhat public declaration could be construed as a green light for him to pick up the pace a little and it was time to let her know where he stood on the matter of "them."

By the time 7:30 rolled around, he'd just wanted to find her. He knew she was probably making herself crazy with worry and he wanted to see her, to reassure her. He'd been about to head to her apartment to try and corner her there, but figured by then, he'd have better luck finding her at the Jeffersonian.

"So . . ." she pursed her lips together and hesitantly questioned, ". . . what happens next?"

"Next? . . . Next I force you into your jacket and drag you out of this glass enclosed fish bowl so we can go somewhere more private to talk. You know. About us." Booth stepped away from her, but reached down and grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers, as he spoke and pulled her towards her coat rack.

"What? Right now?" She was flustered. "I can't just leave work when the day's barely even started Booth."

Ignoring her protests, he grabbed her jacket off the rack and started helping her into it. "Sure you can Bones. It's called a vacation day. Normal people do it all the time. Besides, are you really going to get anything of value accomplished here today before we talk about this?"

He had a good point there. Based on how the first few hours of her morning had gone, there was really very little reason for her to stick around as she wouldn't likely accomplish much of significance. "You make a valid argument, I suppose."

As Brennan finished buttoning her jacket, Booth grabbed her messenger bag, then he reclaimed her hand and dragged her out of her office. Surprisingly enough, a quick scan of the lab seemed to indicate that their little clandestine clinch in her office had passed unnoticed. As he pulled her towards the exit, he saw Cam coming down the stairs from the lounge, fresh cup of coffee in her hands.

"Cam." He called to get her attention. "Bones is with me."

Cam looked over at the couple noting with curiosity Booth's casual and disheveled appearance coupled with Brennan's slightly bewildered look and wondered exactly what was going on and whether or not she truly wanted the details. "Oh. Okay. Is it a new case? When do you expect you'll be back?"

Brennan cocked her head and looked at Booth questioningly. This was his show for now so she'd let him answer. Booth looked back at Brennan thoughtfully before responding in a low, throaty voice. "No. It's personal. She'll be back tomorrow." He paused, letting his eyes caress her body briefly. "Maybe not until Monday." Booth was delighted when he saw a slight blush stain Brennan's cheeks at his response assuming it meant she was having some carnal thoughts about how they might be spending their time, similar to him. He thought that was a good sign.

As they approached his SUV, Brennan asked "So. Where are we going?"

Booth stopped at looked at her blankly. He hadn't thought that far ahead. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but he'd been focused on finding her and getting her out of the lab so they could talk and hadn't really thought beyond those primary initiatives to decide where to actually go. "Uh, we could go to the reflecting pool, but it's a little too cool out today to be comfortable for long and I don't have a jacket. The diner?"

"I'm not really very hungry right now and it's a pretty public place." She responded. "How about we just go to your apartment? I imagine you'll want to clean up and change clothes before going most anywhere else anyway."

"Yeah. Sure. Sounds good."

Before getting into the SUV, he couldn't resist stealing another kiss. As she reached for the door, he slid one of his hands into the hair at the nape of her neck, cupping her head and pulled her lips to his again. She came willingly, opening to him as soon as their lips touched. They kept it brief, pulling apart shortly after they'd started. "Talk first?" she asked.

"Yeah."

When they first arrived at Booth's apartment, they were a little awkward with each other, both realizing there was a lot to be said but neither sure of how or where to start. Brennan took a seat on Booth's sofa while he went to grab them a couple water bottles from the kitchen before joining her.

Booth figured that since he'd essentially kidnapped her, dragging her out of the lab, it was probably up to him to get the conversation underway. "So, Bones. I think it's probably time that we talk about us again. As a potential couple I mean."

"Yes. I agree."

"Look, Bones. I'm just gonna come right out and say it. I'm crazy about you and . . . and I want to be with you as more than just partners. I believe my feelings are reciprocated so what do you say? Should we give this, us, a shot?"

Brennan wanted to just say yes and move forward, but she didn't want to commence a relationship with Booth with doubts and questions still left unanswered. She was thrilled that he was interested in becoming more intimately involved. She had hoped for this and fantasized about it, but never really expected it to happen and now that the moment was here, she found she needed some clarification from him before moving forward.

"Booth. You once told me that when two people were in a relationship, they left marks on each other. When the relationship ended, common decency meant those marks should be allowed time to fade away naturally before a new relationship is started. I would like very much to give us a shot as you say, but first, I want to be sure that the marks Hannah left on you have had ample time to fade and I don't know how long that should take. I know it's been a couple months now since she left, but you claimed you loved her. Are you sure you've allowed yourself the proper time to grieve and get over her? I don't wish to simply be a consolation prize."

Booth scooted closer to Brennan on the sofa until their knees were touching, then reached out and grabbed both her hands in his, giving them a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Hannah was obviously still a specter between them and he needed to try and eradicate her, once and for all.

"After that night a little over a year ago when I first asked you to take a chance on us and you said no, I felt . . . adrift. I thought the woman I loved, had loved for a long time, didn't love me. In hindsight, maybe I should have given you a little more time to come around, or tried a little harder to persuade you differently. But, I didn't. Instead, I tried to move on. I went looking for someone who could love me back. When I met Hannah, I was still feeling adrift and she became someone I could anchor on to. We laughed together and had fun together and I convinced myself that we'd found love. But I was wrong Bones. The life we lived in Afghanistan wasn't a real life, not for me anyway. My real life is here . . . with my son, my friends, and my job at the FBI. These are what define who I am. When Hannah came to DC, these things weren't important to her and while we still had fun together, she wasn't really interested in getting to know the real me. Eventually, I realized that what I felt for Hannah wasn't love."

Booth reached up a brushed Brennan's hair back from her face as he cupped her cheek, wanting more contact with her before he continued. "No. Hannah was my shiny bauble Bones, and I got distracted by her for a bit, but you're the one who owns my heart. I know now you always have, and you always will. Any marks Hannah made have already faded to naught."

Brennan observed the truth and sincerity in his warm brown eyes as he made his declaration and she believed him, at least with respect to his feelings for Hannah. She was still struggling to come to terms with his professed feelings for her.

To Brennan's way of thinking, it was very analogous to that night in front of the Hoover he referenced earlier. Back then, she'd spent years struggling to deny her attraction to Booth, largely because he'd never given her any reason to believe he saw her as a romantic prospect. Then that night, seemingly out of nowhere, he claimed she was 'the one' for him and that he'd known it from the beginning. She'd been caught unprepared for such an avowal and in her panic, had responded poorly. Now here she was again. Since that night, he'd not given her any real reason to think he was still interested in her, romantically, yet here he was, claiming to love her.

"How do you know that what you're feeling for me isn't just the result of chemical messages traveling throughout your limbic system?"

"Is that what you think your feelings for me are?" Booth turned the question back on her.

"In part, yes."

Based on Booth's startled expression, she knew she needed to explain further.

"What I mean is, I find you very attractive, both physically and intellectually and I frequently find myself behaving irrationally when you are around simply because it is pleasurable to do so." She was thinking specifically about his charm smile and the number of times she'd given in to him despite her initial inclinations simply because she knew complying with his wishes would bring him happiness, thus increasing her own pleasure. "Yes . . ." she mused ". . . I am definitely influenced by the chemical messages traveling throughout my own limbic system where you are concerned."

Booth looked down at their hands, clasped together in her lap while he composed his thoughts. He wanted to get this right. When he was ready, he looked back up at Brennan's face, making sure to establish eye contact because he knew how much she'd come to value that.

"Bones, am I attracted to you? Yes. Am I affected by chemical thingy's in my limbo system? Yeah. Probably. But it's not just your physical appearance that I find so beautiful. It's the caring way you watch over me when I get injured or hurt; it's the way you constantly challenge my convictions and help me understand things from another perspective; it's the knowledge that you think I'm a good man that makes me want to be an even better one; it's knowing that I can trust you with whatever's important to me, like my past, or Parker, or Pops. Most of the time when I'm with you, I'm happy and feeling good. Other times, you can make me angry or frustrated or downright cranky. But either way, you always make me feel alive. When I'm with you, I don't feel like I'm alone anymore." Booth lifted her hand and placed it over his heart. "In here Bones. And that's what makes what I feel for you different than what I've ever felt for anyone else before."

Brennan nodded her head in acceptance of his words, temporarily too overwhelmed with emotion to speak.

Booth figured they'd said what they needed to for the time being and that Brennan probably needed a little time to process. He stood up giving her a soft kiss on the top of her head and said "How about I go make us a late morning breakfast? You can come join me in the kitchen when you're ready."

Brennan entered the kitchen just a few minutes later to find Booth standing at the counter, scrambling some eggs in a bowl while watching over the bread he'd put in the toaster.

Without stopping to think or overanalyze, she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, placing her cheek on his back. She felt him stiffen slightly so she started to pull away.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have . . ."

"No." Booth interrupted, grabbing her retracting arms and pulling them back around his chest. "No, it's fine Bones. More than fine actually. You just startled me. That's all."

Brennan relaxed back into him, nestling her cheek between his scapula and inhaling the comfortable and familiar scent of Booth.

"Booth? I want to give this a try. Us. Being together."

Booth turned around in her arms so they were facing each other and studied her face. She looked sure and confidant, not nervous or scared and he felt his heart swell in his chest.

"Alright Bones. From now on, I'm yours and you're mine, figuratively speaking. We're partners in every sense, no more 'just' in front of it."

Booth leaned down to seal their deal with a kiss and Brennan leaned forward, meeting him halfway. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the feel of her soft lips pressed against his and he couldn't help but deepen the kiss, probing her mouth with his tongue. Her arms which had been loosely linked around his torso tightened their grasp and he could feel the palms of her hands caressing him as she pressed her body more fully in to his. His own arms circled around her upper body and began to explore her back as they continued to tease and explore each other's mouths. Booth felt his arousal growing and the nearly overpowering desire to slide his hands down and cup her buttocks, pulling her more fully against him made him realize they needed to reign things in or they wouldn't be stopping at all.

When he lifted his head, they were both breathing a little unsteady. "We should probably slow down a bit Bones."

Brennan let out a heartfelt sigh and looked up at his softly smiling face. "I love you Booth. I want to touch you, and taste you, and learn everything there is to know about bringing you pleasure."

"I love you too Bones, and you have no idea how much I'd like to make love with you, but there's no rush. We can take as much time as we need to get there."

Brennan chuckled. "Booth, I've been celibate for almost 3 years with no relief in sight other than self-pleasure. I assure you, I'm ready. If you need a little more time, I can wait. Although, now that I know you're amenable to the idea of us eventually engaging in coitus, I can't promise not to try and help you evolve towards that objective as quickly as possible." This last was said with a saucy grin as she scraped a finger nail down his front from the top of his sternum down to his navel.

"Oh God Bones. Were you wanting some breakfast right now?"

"I can wait."

The words were barely out of her mouth before Booth swooped in and captured her lips with his again. Brennan looped her arms over his shoulders running her fingers into the short hair on the back of his neck and barely registered that Booth started walking backwards, towards his bedroom, without breaking the kiss.

Once they reached the bedroom, they took turns undressing each other and exploring one another slowly, both determined to bring their partner maximum pleasure. When they finally came together, it was unlike anything either of them had experienced before and everything Booth had ever described lovemaking to be. In the aftermath of their loving, they both reaffirmed their feelings.

"I love you Booth."

"I love you too Bones. Always."

Needless to say, Brennan didn't end up making it back to work again until Monday afterall.

THE END.

A/N: Thanks so much for sticking with me to the end. I hope you enjoyed this last chapter and that everything was wrapped up satisfactorily.