Hello readers! I've been having issues with motivation lately, so I decided to start something that I've been thinking about for a while.

This is going to be a series of 26 one-shots. Each one will correspond to a letter of the alphabet and consist of a story about a "date" between Booth & Brennan from different points in their relationships. Some will be funny, some will be romantic, some will include Parker or Angela or other characters we know and love, and I'll pretty much just post them as I finish them.

I'll also post the rating and where Booth & Brennan are in their relationship at the beginning of each chapter. Since you can't see the chapter titles yet, this first one is called "Airports & Arcades," and is rated K+.

As always, Bones isn't mine, and reviews are always greatly appreciated!

"We'll now begin boarding for flight 2161, nonstop service to Dallas, from Gate 16," the airline employee stated over the loudspeaker. "If you have an A group boarding pass, feel free to line up now. We'll start boarding momentarily."

A rush of people leaped out of their seats, eager to take their place in line. In the terminal waiting area adjacent to Gate 16 and Flight 2161 sat a couple waiting to depart for a romantic weekend in Hawaii. The man looked over at the Dallas passengers with envy.

"Ugh," Seeley Booth groaned as he gave up on his third magazine. "That should be our flight right now! We've been here longer than most of them."

His girlfriend, sitting in the seat next to him, glanced up from her laptop.

"You're bored," Brennan stated.

"No. No, Bones, two hours ago, I was bored. Now, I'm just irritated," he said.

Booth glanced over to see what had been keeping Brennan so quiet and entertained since they arrived at the airport. He quickly noticed the Jeffersonian logo on her computer screen next to what looked like foot X-rays and an instant messenger window. He gave the side of her head a stern look until she finally looked over at him.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked.

"Are you working?" he asked.

"No," she replied quickly.

"You're working!" he gasped.

"I am not! I'm advising Dr. Saroyan on an important forensic matter," she replied. "I'm consulting."

"We agreed to take a long weekend to go on a vacation! Vacation…as in no work. You know, bring back the romance a bit," he reminded her.

"I remember the terms of our agreement, Booth, but technically, the vacation hasn't started yet because we're still sitting in Dulles, so unless you want to take me right here, right now, I don't think I'm breaking any rules," she replied.

"You promise you won't work in Hawaii?" he asked.

"I promise," she replied, turning to lightly peck his lips.

He looked outside as she pulled away from his face and went back to talking with Cam. The snow continued to fall heavily outside onto the runways and showed no signs of slowing down any time soon.

"Oh, great!" he exclaimed. "Snow harder, why don't you? We should be on a beach right now."

Booth leaned down into his seat and crossed his arms, a pout forming on his face. Brennan glanced over at him and fought back a giggle. He looked like a five-year-old who was just told he couldn't have a new toy.

"Actually, due to the duration of a nonstop flight from Dulles to Honolulu, even if we had left on time, we still wouldn't be on the beach right now because we'd still be on the plane," she explained.

"Yeah, Bones, I know," he mumbled.

"But…hey, on the bright side, it's still afternoon in Hawaii since the time difference between us and them is so substantial," she pointed out.

"Are you trying to cheer me up?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied. "But only because it's completely irrational to get angry with something like the weather."

"The weather is the reason our plane isn't here yet!" he protested.

"Well, that's not the weather's fault!" she instantly replied. He snickered, and she rolled her eyes. "Before you ask, yes, I realize how silly that sounded."

"Good," he chuckled. "I'll be right back."

"Your badge is not going to have the slightest affect on when the plane arrives," she stated as he stood up.

"Don't you have some work to do?" he teased, pointing to her laptop.

Brennan smiled slightly and went back to her computer as Booth walked away. The woman sitting across from Temperance leaned forward after Booth had gone.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," she said. "How long have you been married?"

"Oh, we're not married, but we've been together professionally for five and a half years and personally for about a one and a half," Brennan explained.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "My mistake. I just assumed you were married because you guys seem like such a good couple."

Brennan thought it over for a moment before smiling. "Thank you. I appreciate your honest objectivity," she replied.

Meanwhile, Booth walked over to the woman at the service counter. He leaned against the counter and gave the girl a smile.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Can you give me an idea of how much longer this is gonna take?" he asked. "I'm on the Honolulu flight." The young woman gave him a sympathetic look.

"Sir, I'm sorry. I know you and your wife must be eager to get to the warm weather, but with these conditions…" she started.

"Yeah, she's not my wife. She's my business partner. We're with the FBI," he said, flashing his badge.

The employee began to look very nervous upon seeing the federal badge. "Let me see what I can find out." She spent a few moments typing on her computer before looking back to Booth. "It appears that your plane has departed and will be arriving in Dulles in a little less than two hours, assuming there are no further delays."

"Thank you," Booth said, shooting her a charm smile.

"You're welcome, and once again, we're very sorry about the wait," she replied.

Booth walked back over to his girlfriend and sat down. He flashed his badge at her and smiled smugly.

"Seems my badge is good for a few things around here after all," he said proudly.

"What did you do?" Brennan asked.

"I sort of implied that we were on our way to an important crime scene and found out where the plane is."

"Okay," she said simply.

"Wait…okay? No lecture on, I don't know, ethics or patience?" he asked.

"We've both used our own and each other's elevated statuses for our own personal advantage before, so I have no problem with it," she shrugged. "Where is the plane?"

"Roughly two hours from here," Booth said. "Let's go."

"Let's go?" she asked, confused. "We're not cancelling this trip, Booth."

"I know that, but I've been sitting in this chair for three and a half hours, and I'm not doing it for another two, so say bye to Cam, and let's go," he said.

"You realize that comment about having sexual intercourse in the middle of the terminal was a joke, right? I don't think that would be appropriate," she said seriously.

Booth chuckled and turned red as the woman who had talked to Brennan earlier glanced up at them with a grin on her face.

"Shh!" Booth ordered. He began speaking in a hushed voice, causing Brennan to laugh quietly to herself as he spoke. "Yes, Bones! Jeez! I knew it was a joke! There are other things to do in an airport!"

"I don't want to go through security again," she sighed.

"You won't have to. Come on!" he said.

"Fine, just give me a minute," she said. Brennan began to shut down her computer and pack it up.

"You know," Booth wondered. "Why is it called a terminal anyway? You think they'd have a better name for it considering people are scared enough to fly as it is."

"I'm not. Statistically speaking, air travel is the safest form of transportation."

"Of course, but I was referring to the rest of the non-Squint population who doesn't know that fact," Booth teased.

"And, to answer your question, when used as a noun, terminal means an end or extremity, which makes it appropriate for an airport to use to describe the point of a flight's departure or arrival," she continued.

"Right. You ready?" he asked, collecting his luggage.

"Yes, though I would feel better if I knew where I was going," she said, gathering her bags and following his lead.

"Okay, fine. I saw an arcade back here by the McDonalds," he admitted.

"You're taking me to an arcade? What happened to romance?" she asked.

"What happened to the rules don't apply until we get to Hawaii?" he shot back. "Do you have any quarters? I don't have any change."

Brennan fished some loose change out of her wallet and handed it to him. She stood by and watched the luggage while Booth played basketball, racing, and bowling games. Even though she didn't care about video games and would have been perfectly content with reading while waiting for their plane to arrive, Booth's mood had greatly improved once he began playing games, so she was fine with watching him play.

"Hey, Bones, come play this game with me," he asked.

"Oh, no, I'm not really a video game person," she said.

"I know, but you get to shoot things…" he said in a sing-song voice, waving a blue plastic gun in her direction.

Her eyes followed the gun as he waved it around. "Well, okay, one game," she agreed. She took her place at the game and held the gun up. "But I find this very juvenile."

"Of course you do," he said and pushed the quarter into the machine.

"You cheated!" Brennan cried after Booth won the game. "I want a rematch!"

"How did I cheat?" he asked, faking shock.

"You didn't properly explain the rules to me before we started playing!" she protested.

"Yeah, okay, sorry," he admitted, laughing. "But how about we move on to something that won't get you so upset, like…air hockey?"

"Fine," she agreed.

They took their places at the table, and Booth deposited the money. They began to hit the air hockey puck back and forth across the table, but Brennan succeeded in getting the puck into Booth's goal after only the second hit. He looked stunned, while she wore a satisfied smile on her face.

"Wow," he said. "Bones!" She smiled widely.

"Did I forget to mention that I'm quite good at this?" she asked.

"When do you ever actually play this?" he asked.

"Not often, though I have played a few times in the past with Russ, but it's basic physics," she shrugged.

"Excuse me?"

"You simply visualize the desired projected path, taking the other player's most likely move into account. Then you calculate the force and angle needed to get the puck into the goal," she explained.

"Did you just take an arcade game and boil it down to science?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered.

He continued to look stunned and slightly shook his head. "I can't take you anywhere!"

She simply grinned at him. "Are we going to finish the game? Or should we move on to something that won't get you so upset?"

After a few more grumblings from Booth, the couple went back to their game. Brennan won by a landslide, and after the time ran out, a quick glance at Booth's watch told them their plane would be arriving soon. They decided to head back to their gate, and walked through the airport hand-in-hand, with smiles on their faces.

Thanks to the first-class tickets Brennan had purchased for them, Booth and Brennan were among the first to board the aircraft. Brennan took the window seat, while Booth settled in next to her on the aisle. Booth groaned once again after the plane took off.

"What's wrong now?" Brennan asked.

"Look how late it is! This is ridiculous," he exclaimed.

"Well, I guess that's what we get for planning a flight in the middle of winter," she said.

"But this was supposed to be our romantic weekend getaway," he complained.

"It still will be. The late plane just shortened it a bit. It didn't ruin it completely," Brennan said. "Though…"

He looked at her and immediately noticed her troubled expression. "What?"

"It's just…I thought we were doing pretty well as a couple," she said.

"We are. Where is this coming from?" he asked, concerned.

"Earlier you said you wanted to bring the romance back this weekend, but I thought we were good, romantically speaking. I don't feel like we've lost anything since we first got together," she admitted.

"We haven't, Bones. We're amazing," he assured her.

"Then why did you say that?"

"Because, Bones, I was irritated that the plane was late and excited about the trip and really eager to get you in a bikini," he said, lowering his voice as he spoke.

She smiled. "So we're okay?"

"We're great," he said firmly, grasping her hand in one of his. "I love you, Temperance."

"I love you, too," she replied.

He instantly noticed that she still looked a little uneasy, so he cupped his free hand around her face and gently stroked her cheek.

"Hey," he whispered. "Come here."

Booth brought her face to his and gave her a soft and tender kiss. She squeezed his hand as their lips met and gently returned his kiss.

"Thanks," she muttered, smiling as he let her go.

He returned her smile and leaned back into his seat. "You're welcome," he said, matching her tone of voice. "Now, I think we should probably get some sleep."

"Why?" she asked. "It's not that late."

"Oh, I know," he said. "But, like it or not, no matter what time we land, we are going to that beach tonight!"

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a review!

Also, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do for each letter already, but if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I'm sure you guys can come up with some things I never would've thought of. I can't promise that I'll take the suggestions, but they're always welcomed. See ya on the next date!