It's been years since I've written anything, but this popped into my head and was just begging to be written. Hopefully I'm not too rusty, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: do people still do these? I'm out of practice, but I did not acquire ownership of Bones in my absence.

"The name's Wildcard Wanda now, Miss Wick, and I will."

Brennan disconnected the video call with her intern and, turning back to face the mirror, was alarmed to be greeted not her by own reflection, but instead by the broad, muscular chest of husband. Her surprised yelp was swallowed by his kiss, as one hand tangled in her hair, the other snaking around her waist pulling her impossibly close.

His lips crashed down on hers passionately, and she was suddenly grateful for the strong arm tight around her waist, sure that it was doing more to hold her up than her own rapidly weakening knees.

"Booth," she breathed between urgent kisses, "what are you doing here? How did you get in?"

"Through the window," he told her as he changed the rhythm of his kiss, his lips now brushing against hers much more softly, the hand in her hair coming down to lovingly caress her cheek.

"What if someone saw you?" she murmured against his lips.

"I'm a Ranger, Bones. No one sees me if I don't want to be seen."

Booth pulled his head back from hers to finally meet her eyes, his hand never leaving its spot on her hip. There was a cocky glint in his eyes as he spoke, and Brennan couldn't help but smirk in response as she brought her hands up to rest on his chest.

"I missed you last night, Bones. I sleep much better when you're next to me."

Brennan rolled her eyes playfully, but felt herself blushing at her husband's sweet sentiment.

"Booth, you've slept without me countless times. In reality, you likely get a much more sound sleep without another person in the bed with you. I, for one, enjoyed having a nice big bed all to myself."

Booth cocked an eyebrow as he gently tipped her chin up towards him, meeting her teasing gaze with his own knowing one. Brennan rolled her eyes again.

"Fine. I, too, find that I much prefer sleeping with you to sleeping on my own."

"Ah, that's my girl!" Booth grinned as he stepped around her, climbing onto her bed, above the covers, and reclining against the headboard. He held his arms out to her and waited for her to join him.

"Booth!" She admonished, hands on her hips. "We have to go. Lunch will be starting soon, I don't want anyone to become suspicious of us if we show up late."

"Aw, come on, Bones," he whined, breaking out the famous charm smile that, despite all their years together, Brennan still had not become immune to. "We still have some time before lunch, I missed you last night, and I want to spend some time with my wife before I have to go out there and pretend she's a total stranger. I promise we'll be on time for breakfast and no one will suspect a thing."

Much as Brennan loved undercover work, and she was especially enjoying the competition between her and Booth on this particular case, she had to admit that the invitation to join him was rather tempting. While the two were never big on public displays of affection while working, having to pretend to not even know her husband was proving to be more challenging than she expected. Brennan hadn't realized how often they tended to reach out to each other physically – his hand at the small of her back, her hand reaching out to rest on his forearm – until the actions were forbidden. So, she heaved a sigh – more for show than for anything else – and crawled up on the bed into his awaiting arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and draped her right arm across his abdomen. His right arm came down to rest around her, pulling her flush against him as his left hand met her right on his stomach, interlacing their fingers. He rested his chin on her head, and the two sat in silence, simply enjoying the moment.

After a minute or two of listening to the soothing sounds of his wife's breathing and feeling his own energy recharge with every rise and fall of her chest against his, Booth finally broke the silence.

"Hey Bones?" he asked softly, lifting his chin off of her head to turn slightly towards her.

"Hmm?" she murmured back, eyes closed as she scooted even closer to her husband, bringing her right leg to rest over his.

"What did you mean, earlier? When you said that stuff about feeling foolish and how you had thought that flirting with the dough boy and winning the competition would have some sort of effect on our relationship?"

Brennan heaved a real sigh this time. She should have known that such comments wouldn't have snuck by her ever-observant partner.

"I have noticed that you are becoming somewhat bored by the routine life we have built together," she told him, opening her eyes but making no move to meet Booth's eyes. Booth, surprised, let out a bark of laughter.

"Bored?! Seriously, Bones? How could you possibly think that?" Brennan lifted herself slightly off of his chest and finally met his twinkling brown eyes. It was only then that Booth realized that his wife wasn't joking. There was no humor reflected back in her gaze.

"Angela said -"

"Angela?! Bones, I thought you were going to stop listening to Angela's opinions on our relationship."

"Angela has much better instincts than I do when it comes to relationships, Booth."

"Mhm. Right. And do you remember that time she that I didn't want to marry you because I was cheating on you?" Booth pointed out. Brennan opened her mouth to retort, then quickly closed it again.

"Point taken," she acquiesced, returning to her previous position with her head on his chest.

"Seriously Bones, what is going on?" Booth asked, as he began to stroke his hand softly up and down her back. "Why were you even talking to Angela about us? She may have more experience with relationships, but you should know by now that when it comes to me, no one has better instincts that you do."

"You're a man of action, Booth. It's only natural to assume that, as our lives have settled into a more monotonous daily routine with the children, you would begin to become bored by the lack of day-to-day excitement. Thus your sudden desire for a jetski or a motorcycle. Or your enthusiasm to come on this undercover mission without me. You are seeking ways to add thrills to your life."

"Woah woah woah, Bones, slow down there. First of all, I was not excited to go undercover without you. I thought you couldn't come with me. I just wanted to avoid having Aubrey tag along. Of course I prefer to have you with me. I always prefer that you're with me. And as far as the jetski and the motorcycle, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

"Cigar? Who said anything about cigars? You haven't started smoking cigars in the tub again, have you?" Brennan asked, once again turning her head to meet his eyes just in time to catch to them rolling.

"No, Bones, it's just an expression," he told her. "It means that there isn't some sort of grand, deep reason for me daydreaming about getting a motorcycle. Motorcycles are cool, that's all there is to it. It's not like I'm actually going to go out and buy one. It's just a fun thing to think about from time to time."

"So you're not becoming bored by the predictability of our life together?"

"Bones, babe, I mean this in the most loving way possible, but you are far and away the least predictable woman I have ever come across. In the time I've known you, you've been kidnapped, stabbed, shot at, threatened by gang leaders, buried alive, and run off to foreign countries more times than I can count. "

"Threatened by..." Brennan began to question, but Booth quickly cut her off, continuing as if he hadn't heard her speak.

"Let's just say you know how to keep a guy on his toes, okay? After all that you've been though, all that we've been through, being able to go though each day as a family, together; that means the world to me. So much of our lives, both together and apart, have been chaos. Absolute chaos. We have both seen so much of the evil this world has to offer. The 'routine' aspects of our life, as you called it? Coming home to our beautiful home, our beautiful children, and my beautiful wife? Being able to put aside the weight of the wars I've experienced, the murders we see every single day and just take the time to read Christine a bedtime story, or hold Hank until he falls asleep, or to dance with you in the living room? Those are the absolute best moments of my day, every day. "

"I believe I understand."

"No, Bones, I'm not sure that you do. I don't want you to think, not even for a second, that I could be bored with this life we have built, that I would take any of it for granted." He released the hand that was holding hers and brought it up to cup her cheek. It suddenly seemed very important that he make himself absolutely clear. For all of her unparalleled intelligence, this woman could really be dense when it came to her own worth, and to the depth of his feelings for her.

"Bones, for so many years, I longed, more than anything, to be able to hold you in my arms. To be able to come home to you, to fall asleep with you, to wake up with you. Now that I get to do that, every day? That could never, ever, be 'routine' to me. After all this time, you still take my breath away, do you know that? Each morning, just as I slip into consciousness and I realize that you're sleeping in my arms, I swear that my heart skips a beat. Sometimes I'm still terrified that this is all just another coma dream. That I'll wake up and this perfect life together will have been another figment of my imagination. And so many times, Bones, we've almost lost it all. When you and Christine were gone, when I was in prison, when I nearly ruined it all by allowing myself to be defeated by my weaknesses, in those moments I yearned for routine more than anything. For those little moments, every day, when I remember why everything, every drop of blood, sweat, and tears, was worth it."

"Booth - " she began, eyes watering. He kissed her softly on the forehead and gently wiped away a stray tear as it fell from her eye.

"Our life together is my dream come true, Bones. But you have to realize; just because a dream comes true doesn't mean it's any less of a dream."

Not knowing how to possibly respond to husband's impassioned speech with words, Brennan responded as best she knew how. She lifted herself up, straddling his hips as her lips crashed down on his, both hands cupping his face, her tears on his skin.

"I love you, Booth. And I love our life together. You've changed my perspective on nearly everything I thought I knew about love and families, and I wouldn't trade a second of anything that has gotten us to this point."

Booth flipped her easily, pinning Brennan beneath him.

"I love you too, Bones. More than you could ever know." He held his weight above her with one arm, the other moving down her body. He struggled to undo her belted holster with his free hand, his lips never leaving hers.

"God, Bones," she heard him say between fierce kisses as he struggled with the belt. He finally got the holster undone, only to be met by a second belt, this one serving the more traditional purpose of holding her pants up. He groaned in frustration and dropped his weight on her for a moment before pressing himself back up, this time on his other arm, getting back to work on her belt.

"Why. Are you. Wearing. So. Many. Layers." He growled against her mouth. Brennan laughed and moved to help him remove her belt. Just as they got it unfastened, they were both startled by a knock on her cabin door.

"Wanda?" They heard through the door. The partners froze, Booth suspended above Brennan, dropping his forehead to hers, eyes closed in frustration. It was Glen, the Marshall. Or, as Booth liked to refer to him, the dough boy. The one with a very poorly concealed crush on his wife.

"I wanted to see if I could escort you to the saloon for lunch," Glen continued through the door. Booth silently rolled off his wife, glaring in the direction of the unwelcome voice. Brennan quickly began collecting herself, re-fastening her belt and then her holster as she called out to her clueless suitor.

"Of course, Glen, that would be nice. Just one moment, please, I'm just finishing getting ready." She rushed over to the mirror, fixing the hair that her husband had mussed up quite a bit. Booth followed her, placing his hands on her hips and his lips on the side of her neck, speaking to her softly.

"I'll stay her for a few minutes and leave when the coast is clear," he told her, leaving warm, wet kisses on her neck as he spoke. "But for the record, Bones, I don't like that guy. And I don't like having to act like you're a stranger to me while he hits on you. His game may be weak, but you're still my wife. It's hurting my pride a bit."

Brennan spun in his arms, kissing him softly, quickly, before pulling away.

"Your pride has nothing to worry about, Booth. But maybe spend a little less time seducing me and a bit more time trying to catch a murderer so we can go home and finish where we left off, huh?" There was a teasing glint in her eyes as she spoke, and it took everything in Booth's power not to push her up against the door she was heading towards and kiss that smirk right off her face. Instead, his eyes took on a predatory spark as he moved into the corner of the room, so as to not been seen when she opened the door.

"You can count on that. I love you, Bones. Don't go getting anymore crazy ideas in that big, beautiful brain of yours, okay?"

"I love you too, Booth. And I promise to discuss any future concerns with you before automatically taking Angela's advice."

"Good. Go get 'em, Bones," Booth whispered as he crouched down, hidden from sight. Brennan reached for the doorknob, but shot him an exaggerated wink before she pulled it open.

"The name's Wildcard Wanda now, Buck, and I will."

Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. I'm starting the series over on Netflix, so who knows, maybe I'll be around a bit more often if inspiration strikes.

Happy Holidays!