One-shot tag for Judas on a Pole. This episode, to me, shows how far Brennan has come in regards to Booth. She physically reaches out to him a number of times throughout the episode, and one line in particular just wouldn't leave me alone. Some dialog from 2x11. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I own nada.

"I spend half my time with a sniper-trained FBI agent. I feel safe."

"Dad's still trying to warn people to leave me and Russ alone." Her family was gone. Again. Her father had killed someone. Again.

"No. Russ, he's safe with your father," Booth told her. "They're warning people to stay away from you."

"That's…foolish."

"They just want-"

"My father is a fugitive, a conman and a murder, wanted by both the FBI and other criminals like him. You are a sniper trained FBI agent with a ridiculous alpha-male protective streak. Objectively, I'm much safer here with you than Russ is with my father."

Special Agent Seeley Booth had heard his partner declare herself to be many things in the time he'd known her-brilliant, independent, the best in her field, scared (rarely), and most frequently "fine, Booth." But he had never once heard the great Doctor Temperance Brennan declare that she felt safe. And he had definitely never heard her allude to that safety being in any way contingent on another human being, much less on him.

"Thanks Bones, that means a lot"

"Why are you thanking me? I am merely stating a fact. It's highly unlikely that you will allow anything or anyone to harm me."

The fact that she saw his protection of her as a given and was not merely boosting his ego with compliments, as so many others had done over the years, made his heart surge for his partner. She had no idea what her words did to him. He smiled easily at her, but his eyes conveyed how serious he felt.

"Don't ever doubt that, Bones. I will do anything to keep you safe."

It took everything in her to not point out that she could take care of herself, but she decided to let her partner have this one. She knew that Booth was well aware that she could take care of herself, but would protect her at all costs, regardless. In a way, that made his alpha-male tendencies all the more endearing. Not that she'd ever tell him that, of course. Before she could respond, his eyes grew dark and he began to speak again.

"I'm sorry I haven't been doing such a good job of that lately. I'll do better, Bones," he told her somberly.

"What? Booth, what are you talking about?" Brennan asked incredulously.

"Think about it, Bones. In the last month I've let you get kidnapped and buried alive, I didn't realize you were dating a man who cut off his own brother's head, and I didn't figure out your father was back masquerading as a priest until he already had you handcuffed to a bench. And that's not to mention the time Kenton got you, or the time you were almost killed in New Orleans, or-"

"Booth. Stop," she interrupted. "None of those things were your fault. If it weren't for you, much worse things could have happened. You are an excellent partner. We catch murderers for a living; you can't protect me from everything. Besides," she added, "you're my partner, not my fath-" she stopped as her eyes began to fill. She felt foolish for allowing a simple attempt to lighten the mood effect her so greatly.

She saw the sympathy flood to Booth's eyes, and spoke before he had the chance to. Anything he said would cause the tears to fall, and she wouldn't allow that. Her father had left, again; he wasn't worth her tears.

"It's okay. I'm just one of those people who doesn't get to be in a family." She dropped her head then, breaking eye contact. He took a step closer, invading her personal space as he brought a hand up to her chin, lifting her face to his again.

"Listen, Bones, hey," he began in a soft, soothing voice. "There's more than one kind of family."

She brought her eyes back to his but said nothing, though her eyes were speaking volumes to Booth.

More than anything, he wanted to kiss her. He had always prided himself on being an honorable man, however, and while he wasn't exactly dating Cam, it would be wrong to start something with Brennan while he was sleeping with Cam. He didn't want to tarnish his relationship with Brennan that way.

The irony that he was more concerned about his relationship with Brennan than his relationship with Cam did not escape him, but that was a problem for another day.

He realized that he was still holding Brennan's chin, looking into her eyes. She seemed to be getting closer. Was he leaning in? Why was he leaning in?

Zach banging on the window caused them both to jump. Booth couldn't decide if he wanted to hug Zach or shoot him, because he was pretty sure he had been about to kiss Brennan, honor be damned.

In lieu of kissing her and ruining everything, he suddenly pulled her into a bone crushing hug, wrapping his arms around her waist and breathing in the scent of her hair. After a moment's hesitation, she returned his hug just as fiercely, her arms coming up around his neck.

He finally released her, and she pulled back just enough to place her hands on his shoulders and look up into his eyes.

"What was that for?" she asked curiously.

"What? Yesterday we decided I could hug you, remember?"

"You said you would hug me when you got scared. What scared you?" There was a teasing glint in her eye, for which Booth was thankful. He smiled at her easily, and even she could detect the warmth in his eyes. As he spun her around and began leading her towards the entrance to the diner, she linked her arm around his.

If he noticed that she had been reaching out and touching him more than ever in the last few days, he didn't mention it.

"It's a guy hug, Bones. Between partners, remember?" he asked, bumping his shoulder against hers gently.

"You know, Booth, I've never actually seen you hug another guy," she pointed out with a sly grin as he held the door open for her to enter.

He faltered for a fraction of a second, sputtering for words while his cheeks reddened to what Brennan would swear was a blush. Apparently coming up with no good explanation for his relatively new-found love of hugging, Booth opted instead to reach out for her hip, tickling her as she passed through the door.

Brennan let out a distinctly un-Brennan like squeak, turning to smack Booth lightly on the wrist as he followed her through the door, his hand finally coming to rest at the small of her back as he guided her to where their friends were gathered.

Both paused slightly when they looked up to find all of their friends looking at them with knowing smirks on their faces. Booth cursed the diner's large amount of windows as he looked to Cam, wondering how much trouble he was in. To his surprise, her smile grew as she raised her glass to the approaching partners.

"Welcome back, Booth."

The rest of the team cheered, congratulating Booth on his reinstatement. Booth rubbed his thumb softly against his partner's back as they finally reached the group, and she turned to him and smiled along with the squints.

Yep, he thought, there's more than one kind of family.

Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry if it was slightly OOC; I'm in a fluffy mood and this wouldn't leave me alone.

Please review!