Disclaimer: I wish I owned it, but I don't.

This is my first Bones fan fiction story ever. There will probably be many more. If people review, I will write a sequel…. Are you convinced?

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It was nearing midnight. Brennan was driving home from work. She was thinking, like she always did when she had nothing to do. She thought about her most recent case, and how the "squint squad", as Booth would call it, had been stumped for days on the bugs that shouldn't have been found near the body. The particulates didn't suggest the body had been moved. They finally figured out that the bugs had been dumped on the body postmortem when their main suspect had confessed to the murder.

Booth. Somehow her thoughts always came back to him. What was he doing now?

She could almost see him, that Christmas not so long ago, asleep on her couch. She liked to see him when he slept. Usually he was so concerned with work, but when he was asleep, he looked peaceful. She wanted to see Booth like that every night.

Later that Christmas, when she had to kiss him. She really hated thinking about that. It angered her that the one man she wanted to be with, she couldn't have. They were partners. Sometimes she wished he'd just erase that stupid line. It really drove her nuts.

Why was it when she thought about Christmas she thought about Booth? Maybe it was because before he came into her life, she didn't celebrate Christmas.

She loved it when he and Parker had bought her a Christmas tree because the conjugal trailer didn't have one. Seeing him out there in the snow, smiling the biggest smile she'd ever seen, Brennan knew that she cared deeply about Booth.

She couldn't say love. She doesn't know what love means. If Brennan had to make an unscientific observation, she'd say that Booth loved her. She thought she loved him. It had been so long since anyone had told her that they loved her. She wanted to hear Booth say that to her. She wanted to spend her life with Booth.

He was her only constant, the only person that was always there whenever she needed him.

Right after Booth saved her from the Gravedigger, she was terrified. She couldn't be in Booth's SUV without having to ask him to let her out every five minutes. Booth understood. No matter how many times she needed out of the car, Booth let her go.

The first night after being rescued, she was terrified of being alone. She didn't know who to call to come stay with her. Hodgins needed Angela. She didn't like Cam. Zach was probably still at work. She knew she had to call Booth.

Booth was at her house as soon as he could be. He told her she needed to rest. She fell asleep on the couch with Booth sitting in her recliner in the living room. She had a terrible nightmare that night. She and Hodgins were back in that car, running out of air.

Booth was dozing when he heard Brennan scream. He knew something was wrong. He ran over to the couch and let Bones cling to him. She buried her face in his neck and put her arms around him. She was terrified. Booth calmed her down, like he always did. She fell asleep with her arms around him and her head on his shoulder.

Brennan knew that Booth cared about her. She wished Booth would erase that line so she could tell Booth how she really felt inside.

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Booth was driving home on the other side of town. He was thinking about Temperance Brennan. Shocker! The past four years she was all he could think about. Everything he did made him think of his Bones. His Bones. Booth couldn't help but wonder when he started thinking of her as his Bones.

Booth remembered Max asking him if he was sleeping with Brennan. He told Max no, but he wanted to say he was. That's what he really wanted. If he had her, he would have everything.

Bones haunted Booth's dreams at night. She was on his mind twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Booth remembered telling her about his dad. He wanted to tell somebody about his childhood. Bones was there. He trusted Bones. With his heart.

He had dated women in the past, and he had loved them, but he was in love with Brennan. She was stubborn, difficult, awkward, and pretty close to complete Asperger's Syndrome. Bones had explained to him after Cam had said that she had Asperger's Syndrome, that Asperger's Syndrome is where you know nothing of pop culture and you find it hard to communicate with people. She was all these things, but he loved her even more because of them. She was so confident in her abilities, that no one could tell her she was wrong. Booth was the same way. He knew he was a good agent, no one could tell him otherwise. She'd tried. She tried to blackmail him. He'd deserved it. He'd promised her that she would be in the field with him, and he'd lied.

He still wondered what would have happened if he'd kissed her at that shooting range. Her face so close to his, he'd wanted to kiss her so bad. This is when he started learning self restraint. He knew that he had to be in control of himself at all times, or else they couldn't be partners. Lately, trying to just be partners was killing him. He'd tried to start a relationship with Cam and Rebecca to get his mind off of her, but it didn't work. After all the time he spent with them, he always went home wanting Bones.

He'd saved her life many times. That was natural to him. That's what he did, saved lives. The measures he took sometimes were unbelievable. Booth knew he was head over heels in love with Brennan. In that warehouse, he'd ignored his own pain, because losing his Bones would be more painful than being stabbed fifty times while he could feel every blow. Then, he'd saved her from the Gravedigger. She'd really needed him then. He'd pulled her out of that dirt and thanked God that she was alive. Booth had been thinking Take me. I'll die for her. I don't want to live a life without my Bones. all day. He'd found her, she was okay. He was okay. If she died, he died with her. Every part of him belonged to her. Pam Noonan. That was his fault anyway. She shouldn't be shot just because someone thinks that she was dating him. Booth remembered laying on the floor of the Checker Box bleeding with a sharp pain in his chest. He remembered his Bones shooting Pam Noonan so that she wouldn't be shot as well. What Booth remembered the most, was Brennan, holding his hand and begging him to hold on. He remembered that Brennan was crying. Then she hugged him. The last thing he saw before he passed out was her.

Some of the men she dated were real scum. That stupid professor who constantly wanted to be better than her. He hated men like that. Women were just as good as men, women we're born stupid.

Then there was Sully. Booth had liked Sully, it's just, how could he leave a woman like Brennan. On that dock after Sully had sailed away, Booth put his arm around her and took her to breakfast. Sully had broke them apart, but he had really brought them closer.

Every man she'd ever been with had left her.

Booth really wanted to be the man that could take away her pain. He wanted to just hold her. The rare occasions when he got to hold her, it felt right. He didn't want to let her go.

He had made up his mind. He was going to erase the line before he killed himself.

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Booth was driving to Brennan's house. He was right in front of her building. He stopped at apartment 4B and knocked. Brennan was in the kitchen and yelled, "Coming". In about a minute she was at the door. She opened it to find Booth.

Booth could see her eyes light up when she saw him. Booth loved it. The fact that he could make her happy amazed him. As this thought ran through his head he thought I could make her happy if she'd just let me. I wouldn't ever leave her. I couldn't ever hurt her.

She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a maroon colored undershirt. Booth liked how comfortable she was with him. She wouldn't let many other men see her this way.

She was making his favorite, Macaroni and Cheese.

Ever since the first time she had cooked for him, he'd loved her cooking. It didn't matter what she made, it was always good.

She set down the plates and went back for the pan full of the Macaroni and Cheese.

She set the pan down and sat down across the table from him.

Being Brennan, direct, she asked, "Why are you here Booth?"

Booth replied, "We have some paperwork to finish up Bones."

"Yeah, Booth, but we were going to get that done tomorrow over lunch, remember. There has to be some other reason that you are here."

Booth, trapped, replies, "I just like being with you. I want to erase the line that I created. Go on a date with me. You're pick. I'll do anything you want to do."

Brennan stared at Booth for about a whole five minutes without saying anything. She just stared at him, her usually pale blue eyes a darker blue than usual.

After the silence that had felt like years she said, "Isn't this like a date?"

She had a point. Booth really wanted to stay, so he told her, "Yeah, this is like a date."

Brennan didn't seem pleased by his answer. Booth was going through his head thinking of something to say. He had to settle for, "Do you care if I stay and eat?" This was followed by his signature charm smile, and Brennan beamed back at him.

Brennan told Booth roughly, "I let you in my apartment didn't I? Why would I kick you out?"

"That just means you like me. You want me to stay don't you Bones? You like my company." Booth teased her.

Brennan started to blush. "What makes you think that I like you? Why do you think I want you to stay? What tells you that I like your company?"

"Bones, one thing is, you're redder than a Christmas light when I tease you about this. Another thing is you like me. You haven't asked for a new partner yet, so I don't thing you're going to. You want me to stay because you are lonely. You like my company because you feel safe with me."

"How did you know that I feel safe with you?"

"Every time you're with me you relax. You know I can protect you."

They finished the Macaroni and Cheese in silence. Booth put his plate in the dishwasher and followed Brennan out of her kitchen. He caught up with her in the dining room and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her tight against him. To his surprise, she didn't fight him. If Booth didn't know better, he'd say she relaxed in his arms.

She led him to her couch. Booth laid down, and Brennan laid in his arms. Twenty minutes later they were both asleep.

At about four o'clock in the morning, Booth woke up to find Brennan still asleep in his arms. Her head was on his chest and she was holding his hand with one hand, and her other hand was on his chest right beside her head.

Booth took Brennan in his arms and carried her to her bed. She didn't wake up.

After Booth had laid her in bed, he was going to go home. On second thought, he pulled back the covers and got in her bed. He pulled the covers up to their chins and held Brennan in his arms.

He knew that she might freak out the next morning when she found herself in Booth's arms, but for right now, Booth was content. Booth hoped he never had to sleep in a bed without Brennan again.