A/N: Thanks for waiting – I am happy to report that I have now overcome the bout of angst that stood in the way of fluff. :) Thanks again to my readers and awesome reviewers! For those of you to whom I haven’t managed to reply yet, I promise to catch up with tomorrow. I just wanted to get this out of the way first.

Disclaimer: Not mine, rather obviously.

11. In the Dawn

He goes to pick up Parker later that day (“Hey, do you want to come with us to the zoo?” – “I’d better not, I have to catch up on my book”). She does not say “we need to talk” and he does not say it either.

They go out for dinner on Sunday (and when did she ever sit by the phone willing it to ring?). They end up in bed again – at his place this time, his presence familiar and comforting and just a little on the good side of thrilling.

She finds it oddly soothing, this rhythm they develop within the next couple of weeks, alternating between work and being together with what looks suspiciously like practised ease.

They talk the Sunday after this, as they often seem to do: sitting opposite each other at the diner, switching between topics at the blink of an eye.

“Why did you ask me?” he says softly, and she knows him well enough to know that he has to ask her.

“...I don’t know,” she replies, and she really does not know. “Why did you say yes?”

“Because it’s true,” he smiles.

His answer feels... light to her, like a statement of fact. She accepts that.

“Do you think... do you think it’s possible to become someone else? All of a sudden, overnight.”

He considers, his thumb gliding gently over her knuckles. She likes it when they touch.

“You know, if you’d asked me this question a few years ago, when I’d just quit gambling, I’d probably have said yes. Quitting felt just like that, like becoming someone else.”

“I didn’t know you then.”

“Oh, I’m happy you didn’t, Bones, trust me. The point is, since you’re asking me now, the answer is no. People do get... sidetracked from who they are sometimes, but with a bit of thinking and a bit of luck they come back to who they really are. I know I did.”

“Hence, the logical conclusion would be that this is just a glitch, a... momentary aberration.”

She does not know why, but she feels disappointed with the idea.

“It isn’t for me, Bones, why would it be for you?” he says, watching her closely with the concentration that used to throw her off balance.

She nods, inexplicably reassured. Her deeply-ingrained scientist’s mindset prompts her to search for an explanation though.

She does not talk to Angela or to anyone else. What they have – what they always had – is theirs and theirs alone.

“I still don’t understand,” she whispers a few days later, more to herself than to Booth.

They are lying in bed together, as they have done practically every night this week and the week before. He turns towards her in the dim light.

“What do you mean?” he asks, his fingers brushing her cheek lightly.

“If wanting to have a child is neither accidental nor a temporary lapse, then I have to assume that the wish to do so was there all along.”

She pauses, pulling away a few inches.

“But I know that it wasn’t there, so...”

“So you’re freaking out a little,” he smiles.

“I don’t freak out!”

“Mhm,” is his only reply.

“I don’t! I am just... somewhat concerned.”

He suppresses another smile and reaches out for her, pulling her closer.

“You know what, Bones? This is a good thing to freak out about.”

“It is?”

“Of course it is. Look at our jobs, our lives, the things that we have to deal with. There are far worse things out there to be... concerned about. And we are, we are concerned about them, every single day. But this... this is a good thing.”

He has, once again, spoken a truth, and she accepts that.

“You’re right,” she acknowledges.

This time he does laugh at her.

“Did you just admit that I’m right?”

“Don’t let this get to your head, but yes, I did.”

He wraps his arms around her, his voice muffled in her hair.

“Bones, you do realize that there is one thing that you’re not freaking out about.”

“I have no idea what you mean,” she replies, although she does have a glimpse of an idea. Just a glimpse.

“Us. You’re not freaking out about us.”

She does not want to say it out loud, he has a big enough ego as it is, but he is right again. She kisses him, wondering lazily whether that high she gets when she is with him will ever get old. Both experience (they have known each other for years, after all) and reason (it would be irrational to fear that it would) suggest that it will not.

They sleep.

One more chapter to go. For those of you – including myself, to some extent – who think that this is wrapping up pretty swiftly, I’d like to point out that Brennan is a very fast thinker. I guess I see it as a fitting tribute to her to conclude quickly. And how many synonyms for “speedy” did I manage to fit into one short paragraph? :)

Thanks so much for reading and, as always, please review!