Disclaimer: As always, this story was written for entertainment purposes only and no copyright infringement was intended.

Spoiler: Minor spoilers for "Double Trouble in the Panhandle"

A/N: I don't know how it happened, but by some Bones miracle, "Double Trouble" was briefly posted online on Tuesday. And by another miracle, I happened to be off that day. And yet another miracle produced this fic immediately afterward. I chose to wait until after the episode aired to post it. Thanks again to Liz (lizook) for betaing this for me!

…

Crisis Averted

I surveyed the tiny trailer. We really had no choice. We were going to have to share the bed. There was no way around it unless I ended up sleeping on the cramped, hard floor, which I wasn't really willing to do unless she insisted, which she wouldn't. All awkwardness aside, she wouldn't want me to be uncomfortable. I glanced at her nervously.

"It's pretty tight in here, huh?"

"Yeah, it is," she replied, looking equally edgy. We stood side-by-side, looking down apprehensively at the bed.

"You want me to sleep on the floor?" I had to at least make the offer. I'm a gentleman, after all.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Don't be ridiculous. The bed is big enough for both of us. We're adults; we can handle this."

I couldn't hide the relieved smile that broke out on my face. I had no problem sharing a bed with my ridiculously gorgeous partner, but I was afraid she was going to balk. I nodded as if I was letting her convince me. "You're right. We're partners; this is no big deal." Now if only I could convince my body of that fact. "How are we going to do this?"

She rolled her eyes again. "You're over-thinking this… We climb in the bed, get under the covers, and, oh I don't know… sleep?"

I gave her a wry glare. "Smart ass," I mumbled. "The queen of logic is telling me I'm over-thinking something?" She chuckled, both of us beginning to relax a little. "I meant, should I get in first or do you want to?"

Without answering, she gave me a hard shove, catching me completely off guard. I fell ungracefully onto the bed, landing face-down and smothered in the quilt. "Mrrrph!" I thrashed my head about, struggling for air. When I finally surfaced, Bones was standing over me, eyes glinting with amusement. "You think you're funny, huh?" Her grin widened. Moving stealthily, I grasped the nearest ammunition. Quick as a flash, I walloped her with a pillow.

"Hey!" she protested and, the nervous tension thus abated, climbed into bed. It took us both quite some time to get situated—as far apart as humanly possible—and soon we were ready for a restful night's sleep.

At least it was supposed to be restful. Being so close to her, in bed, was like the worst form of torture, and I would know. I could feel the heat radiating off her body and she smelled amazing. Even the sound of her breathing was strangely arousing. Down boy. Judging by her constant tossing and turning, I deduced she was having trouble falling asleep too. I could only wonder if my proximity was causing her restlessness.

Somehow, I eventually drifted off to sleep, still unsettled and more than a little frustrated. My unconscious mind, as it so often did, settled on her. Dreams of Bones and me played on a continuous loop in my head: eating at the diner, working in the lab, hanging out in her apartment. In bed. And in my dreams, we were doing a lot more than just sleeping.

I awoke extremely early the next morning, feeling slightly disoriented. As my sleep-dulled mind began to de-fog, I realized Bones was curled up against me. I wrenched my eyes open, now wide awake, and assessed the situation. Sometime over the course of the night, we'd ended up a tangle of limbs in the middle of the bed. The only sex we'd had was in my dreams, but somehow, waking up holding her was more satisfying.

Bones whimpered quietly in her sleep and snuggled closer to me, her head nestled in the hollow of my chest above my collarbone. Inappropriate or not, I hugged her more tightly, resisting the urge to kiss the top of her head. Unfortunately, my body chose that exact moment to fervently rebel. Traitor. I spent most of my waking time trying to keep my hands off her, so this was a shock to the system. My hands itched to explore her, but I restrained myself. I rolled my eyes heavenward. You owe me for this.

As my extremities continued their protest, I realized I needed to take action before Bones awoke to an embarrassing situation. I could hear it now, "It's just a normal bodily reaction, Booth. Males experience 4 to 5 erections per night. They are completely involuntary and have nothing to do with dreams or sexual excitement…" From there she would launch into a scientific explanation about why men have nocturnal erections unless I shut her up first. Yeah, I definitely needed to extricate myself from the situation. The problem was we were pretty thoroughly entangled.

I rolled carefully onto my back, trying not to disturb her. Unfortunately, my movement caused her to stir. She groaned and opened her eyes sleepily. I chuckled quietly as I watched her register our predicament.

"Booth?" Her husky voice was positively killing me, given the current circumstances.

"Hey," I whispered. "I just woke up." I was afraid she would think I was taking advantage of her while she was sleeping.

She sat up, still confused. "How did we… end up…," she seemed at a loss for words. "Like that?"

"I-I don't know." I could feel her starting to balk. It was time for damage control. "You know, Bones, if you wanted to snuggle, all you had to do was ask."

"Uh!" she huffed. "I did not want to snuggle with you! We must have gotten cold last night and unconsciously sought each other's body heat. It's a practical way to get warm." She sounded like her rational self, but her cheeks were tinged an attractive shade of pink. My Bones was flustered.

"Right. That must be what happened." She nodded decisively, not realizing I was mocking her. I paused a moment and then added teasingly, "You know… It wasn't very cold last night. Maybe you just couldn't keep your hands off me."

"Booth!" She grabbed a pillow and whacked me on the head with it. I conjured up my best charm smile, waggling my eyebrows at her. She rolled her eyes and groaned, but couldn't stop herself from grinning back at me.

Crisis averted.

We shared the trailer (and the bed) for the remainder of our case with little awkwardness, despite the fact that we woke up in each other's arms every morning.