So, one bottle of hard liquor and several clumps of torn-out hair later, here we have it... over 7,000 words of unbridled smut. All I can say is that I really hope this proves to be worth the wait, because it is undoubtedly the hardest thing I've ever written... especially after the build-up of the preceding chapters. I just wish it had been as pleasurable a process for me as it seems to have been for Brennan and Booth LOL.

For all of you lovely people who have been following this story so avidly, I hope I haven't fallen short of your expectations! This is definitely the final chapter, incidentally... and at the moment I'm inclined to say 'thank God' LOL.

Booth didn't believe in false advertising. He wouldn't strut around his office sporting a 'cocky' belt buckle that was perfectly aligned with his manhood if he had issues with performance anxiety. However, as he gazed into his partner's shimmering azure eyes, anxiously observing how they were brimming with a potent blend of trust and anticipation, the magnitude of this amazing, but terrifying moment hit him with all the subtlety of a bullet train.

Booth hadn't been lying about love having the capacity to fuck you up; right now, he was feeling pretty fucked up himself. His partner's simple request had resonated primarily with his groin, but when he actually stopped to consider its connotations, his heart had started thrumming in his ears until he was deaf to everything else. Bones was asking him to lead her through uncharted territory without realising that his guidebook had gone AWOL and he was just as lost as she was. From the moment his partner had divulged her feelings for him, he knew that they would be embarking on a journey of discovery together, but for once in her life, Bones was relying on him to show her the main attractions and then figure out a way home. How could he tell her that, with her by his side, he was clueless? That, even though sex for him had always been about forging a connection, theirs was made of an alloy so rare and enduring that even Hodgins would be awed by its properties?

This was different, because this was Bones. She was everything to him, and she didn't even realise it. She was painfully oblivious to the power she wielded over him, how she was both his strength and his weakness; how she could alter his mood with a glance. Booth knew that the spell his partner had inadvertently woven around him was both binding and unbreakable, but he also knew that she could shatter him irreparably by walking away. So he was left floundering in a sea of new sensations, and on some level, he was terrified, because he'd never had trouble treading water before. When his partner sought out his gaze, or seared him with her touch, he felt as though he was being sucked into a vortex; dizzy and drowning with need. And now this achingly beautiful woman, who was a mass of ceaseless contradictions - intelligent but ignorant, confident but insecure, strong but fragile, cynical but naive – was asking him to achieve the impossible… to demonstrate the extent of his feelings for her. She wanted him to rock her world, to defy the laws of physics; to offer her something that no one else could. Her faith in him was both exhilarating and debilitating and, although he wasn't sure whether he could ever begin to live up to her expectations, he knew he was prepared to kill himself trying.

"Booth?"

His partner's tone was meek, and wavering with uncertainty, and Booth's instinctive need to reassure her forced his panicked ruminations to come to an abrupt halt. Bones was already starting to look hurt and confused by his delayed response, and over-analysing the implications of what was about to unfold swiftly lost its appeal in the face of her agitation.

"It's OK. Come here," he whispered, even though she was already wrapped loosely in his embrace. He lifted a hand to trace the outline of her jaw with his fingertips, and was horrified to realise that he was trembling like a first-timer.

He was expecting a facetious comment, but it didn't come, and he rewarded Bones for her uncharacteristic diplomacy by brushing his thumb against her parted lips. He watched them purse in approval as his hand roved marginally lower, grazing the length of her throat before stopping to caress her prominent collarbone. She tilted her head upwards just as his was in the process of descending, and suddenly they were breathing each other's air.

He met her lips in a tentative exploration once… twice… three times, before she grew tired of his reticence and demanded something more substantial. This time, the contact lingered, and Booth wasted no time in devouring her. His mouth was unrelenting in its tender, but avid assault and - as his partner's adroit tongue snaked out to spar ardently with his own - Booth was suddenly finding it a whole lot easier to look on the bright side. For a start, he knew that maintaining his arousal wasn't going to be a problem. He had been semi-hard for the whole evening, but now his desire was rocketing to a whole new dimension. Bones' soft mewls of approval were reverberating loudly in his crotch and his last coherent thought revolved around just how wrong Brad Dennison had been. Because his partner was warm, and responsive, and just so… Bones.

Brennan was lost in a fit of rapture. Booth's lips were as soft as satin, a stark contrast to his slightly abrasive stubble, and his talented mouth had somehow developed the ability to steal away her centre of gravity. His consummate technique went way beyond the realms of mere competency; what he was doing with his tongue was… prodigious. For the second time that night, Brennan was teetering precariously on limbs that had – until now - been unfailingly steady, and she fisted her partner's shirt in her hands, clinging on tightly in a desperate bid to remain grounded. She was hurtling towards a higher plane at a momentum that defied the laws of motion, and when Booth's lips parted from her own with an audible pop, the sound may as well have been a death knell, because the loss was palpable.

Her whimper of protest rapidly evolved into a ragged sigh when those deft lips focused their attention on her neck instead; licking, sucking, and flicking lightly at her earlobe until the blood pounding through her veins felt like molten heat.

"You smell so fucking good, Bones," Booth groaned, and his sweet breath caressed her skin, suffusing her in warmth.

She pressed herself flush against him then, getting a tantalising insight into the extent of his arousal, before frowning slightly when he edged away from her. She realised with a sense of utter relief that he had only created the meagre distance so he could manoeuvre his hands beneath the fabric of her top, and the delectable friction of skin on skin was nearly her undoing.

"I knew there was a reason why I liked these pajamas," Booth murmured, visibly delighted that he wasn't going to have to contend with a multitude of fiddly buttons or force his way beneath tight-fitting fabric to claim his prize. They both began to laugh, diffusing some of the heat that had rapidly built between them, but as soon as Booth's fingertips fluttered over her ribcage, the blaze re-ignited. Remembering their little tête-à-tête in the bedroom earlier, Booth's hands roved downwards, tracing jagged lines across his partner's abdomen, and Brennan jerked in his arms, eliciting a knowing smile.

"You like that?" he whispered hoarsely, and she nodded, letting her head fall to his shoulder as her hands embarked on an expedition of their own. Booth's shirt was tucked into the waistband of his pants, and she unceremoniously tugged it free, her eyes dancing amusedly as her attention was once again drawn to the ugly stain marring the otherwise pristine material. She loosened enough buttons to allow her small hands access, and then she edged them beneath the soft cotton, eagerly exploring the chiselled planes of Booth's smooth, sculpted torso. She could feel his well-defined muscles twitching in response to her ministrations, but suddenly, feeling wasn't enough. She wanted to see.

Booth sucked in a breath that was half arousal, half amusement as his partner quite literally tore the shirt from his back. The remaining buttons popped in protest, but he could only mumble his approval as she dragged her blunt fingernails lightly down the length of his spine. The throbbing wasn't just centred between his legs anymore, it was everywhere, and he hissed as Bones' lips moved up and down his sternum in perfect conjunction with the fingertips that were grazing his ribcage. Then she deviated from her path, her deft tongue flicking out to tease one of his hardened nipples, and now it was his turn to jerk against her.

Brennan gasped as she was provided with another intriguing insight into what was rapidly becoming the pinnacle of her partner's attributes. Booth's visible erection was stretching the unyielding fabric of his jeans far beyond their intended capacity, and she was captivated by the extent of his need for her. Did he know that she was aching for him just as badly?

Adhering to some baser need for instant gratification, Brennan instinctively began to grind her pelvis against her partner's lower extremities, hoping to alleviate the pressure that was making her head and her heart pound in a cruel coalition of mounting desire. Booth grunted then, a deep, guttural sound that seemed to vibrate through her, and Brennan's already slick undergarments quickly became sodden with empathy. Their lips crashed together, the effortless rhythm of their passionate kiss providing a stark contrast to the increasingly erratic movements of their hips, and the friction was so delectable that for one heart-stopping moment, Brennan thought she was going to climax whilst she was still fully clothed… if that was even possible.

"Booth…" she breathed, with something approaching desperation, and she almost sobbed when he wrenched himself away from her.

"Not like this," he murmured, knowing that finding a horizontal surface was imperative because the mind-blowing intensity of what they were doing had left him on the verge of collapse.

He reached for his partner's hand, and their fingers entwined as he led her purposefully in the direction of her bedroom. Brennan hastily pushed the pile of clothing on her bed aside and then she was looking at him with the most raw expression he had ever seen, her eyes hooded with a torrid mixture of desire and something that looked suspiciously akin to fear. He could have ignored it, but he had to know, and his gruff voice quivered slightly with repressed emotion as he hesitantly asked, "How are you bearing up, Bones?"

Hearing her partner's anxious tone, Brennan offered him a tentative smile, taking a small measure of comfort from knowing that she wasn't the only one who had lost her sense of equilibrium. "I'm fine," she reassured him quietly, but then her gaze faltered slightly. "Just don't…"

"Don't what, Bones?" Booth coaxed gently, smoothing back her hair.

"Don't leave me," she beseeched in a barely audible whisper, flinching slightly when she realised how needy that entreaty must have sounded.

Booth cupped Brennan's chin in his hand, forcing her to establish eye contact as he regarded her with a ferocious, but tender intensity. "Bones, I want you in my life, for the rest of my life, OK? And I promise you, nothing is ever going to change that." His tone was stronger now, brimming with conviction, and Brennan released a breath she hadn't even been aware of holding. As if to emphasise his point, Booth levelled a long and languid kiss against her tingling lips, before clambering onto her bed with panther-like grace.

Brennan wasted little time in joining him, breaking into a soft smile when, instead of making a beeline for her breasts like his wealth of predecessors, Booth began softly caressing her cheek. They studied each other assiduously for a moment, before Bones decided that perhaps the best way to regain some semblance of self-control would be to take charge.

Booth's eyes rolled back in hedonistic pleasure as his partner's nimble hands traced leisurely patterns across his torso, her soft touch branding his already overheated skin as she worked her way steadily downwards. "God… Bones… do you have any idea what you do to me?" His eyelids fluttered shut automatically, but after a moment he forced them open again, wanting to examine every nuance of his partner's mesmerising features. Bones' expression was flushed, but relatively serene, and it was only when he stopped to watch the motion of her fingers against his chest that he realised her hands were shaking violently.

"Hey," he whispered, squeezing them tenderly in a bid to stop the tremors, "It's just me, Bones. You don't have to be nervous." He lifted the delicate appendages to his lips, kissing each one of her long, graceful fingers in turn, and Brennan gazed up at him through lowered lashes, her already flushed cheeks colouring even more prominently. She knew it was pointless to deny his assumption, because he was right – for the first time in her adult life, her anticipation was warring with an unhealthy dose of apprehension, because the potent feelings Booth was eliciting within her went far beyond the realms of anything she had experienced before. She was faced with an implausible conundrum – she felt as though she was hanging off a precipice, and Booth was both her anchor and the reason she was falling in the first place. For some inexplicable reason, she couldn't seem to get close enough to him, so with a self-effacing smile, she succumbed to the impulse to crawl onto Booth's lap, burrowing against him as he wrapped her in an all-consuming embrace.

She gasped as she felt his arousal pressing persistently against her thigh, but as her partner began to gently stroke her hair, his deft fingers delicately kneading her scalp, she realised it wasn't merely her mounting desire that was making her dizzy. Booth could have been taking her by now, greedily trying to claim her as his own… he'd waited so long to unleash his desire that she wouldn't have blamed him if he'd slammed her up against the kitchen wall and fucked her quick and hard… and God knows, she wouldn't have stopped him. If this were any other man, she would have already been astride him, trying to achieve some form of release, hoping that this time, she would feel satiated instead of empty. If anyone else had laboured over the inevitable for this long… if any other man had tried to kiss her this deeply, caress her this lovingly, cradle her so tenderly… she would have undoubtedly balked, because such actions used to speak of something she could never begin to understand, something she thought was superfluous to requirements. But Booth… Booth made her feel cherished, and she was content to let the feeling wash over her in gentle, lapping waves because she realised - on some deep level - that she cherished him, too. Every time she looked into her partner's adoring brown eyes, Brennan realised that he wanted her - all of her, in spite of her shortcomings - and probably as desperately as she wanted him. It was the most powerful aphrodisiac she had ever encountered.

As if he could sense her train of thought, Booth's hands once again slipped below her pajama top, only this time, they climbed higher than before, stroking their way up her abdomen until they brushed against the lacy material of her bra. Brennan's breath hitched in anticipation as her straining nipples began to wordlessly beg for Booth's attention, getting some measure of relief when - after much maddening deliberation - he finally enveloped her breasts in his all-encompassing hands. He palmed them gently, testing their weight, before beginning a kneading motion that made her buck appreciatively in response. He groaned as she writhed in his lap, involuntarily squeezing a little harder, and she knew it was the most exquisite penance she could ever hope to pay.

The heat emanating from Booth's hands was warming her from the inside out, and she hated her bra for diminishing the sensation. Still, the abrasive lace was doing a sufficient job of stimulating her painfully erect nipples… at least until Booth finally saw fit to gently pinch them through the coarse fabric, rolling them lightly between his thumb and forefinger. The answering pang of arousal resounded in her groin, eliciting another involuntary shudder of satisfaction that left them both gasping in approval.

"Take your top off," Booth demanded without preamble, and his increasing sense of urgency only seemed to exacerbate her own. She hastily pulled the capacious shirt over her head, realising that Booth was simultaneously unclasping her bra. The partial disrobing left her feeling uncharacteristically self-conscious, but whilst she'd hoped her physique would meet with Booth's approval, she was wholly unprepared for the way his eyes darkened; the way the muscles in his jaw bunched and twitched; how his Adam's apple seemed to bob far more prominently in his throat. A flush of anticipation washed over her, and her dusky pink nipples tightened even further under his unabashed appraisal.

"God… Bones." Booth was suddenly finding it hard to breathe, and he wrenched his admiring eyes away from his partner's heaving chest, seeking out her gaze in a bid to convey what words would never be able to. His contempt for Brad Dennison amplified tenfold; he couldn't believe the asshole had the audacity to degrade his partner's innate beauty by making it sound as though Bones had all the attributes of a playboy centrefold. She was a work of fucking art… utterly flawless… and more exquisite than even he had dared to imagine.

He was finding it increasingly hard to rein in his arousal, especially with Bones bucking sporadically against his throbbing erection, so he placed a lingering kiss on his partner's lips, slipping one arm beneath her knees and wrapping the other one firmly around her waist. He lifted her off his lap and settled her into a prostrate position in the middle of the bed, taking a moment to drink in the intoxicating sight of her led out before him… but then she was clasping her hands behind his head, willing him to move closer, and he was helpless to resist.

Brennan could feel the heat radiating off her partner's body as he leaned over her, and the minutiae of his features filled her vision. It felt like the most intimate appraisal they had ever engaged in, and the intensity of Booth's gaze made her heart hammer even more insistently against her ribcage. Her inhale was his exhale, and his hot breath only served to remind her of his taste… sweet, fresh and invigorating. The feeling of his naked chest pressing flush against her own was exhilarating, even more so when his lips began to ravish her, his tongue returning to plunder her depths without any advance warning. She put up a valiant fight, meeting him stroke for stroke, but as always, he was loath to compromise. When he finally succeeded in robbing her of air, he promptly turned his attentions elsewhere, and she whimpered as he licked and nibbled his way from her hyoid to her sternum. His tongue swirled tantalisingly around her areola, and her shallow breaths became even more ragged.

"Please…" she whimpered, and he glanced at her sharply, obviously not expecting her to beg. He wouldn't make her do it again.

Brennan's back formed a rigid arc when Booth finally sucked her aching nipple into his hot mouth, his tongue dancing over the sensitive nub with a far more dexterous rhythm than she'd seen him display in the kitchen. The heady sight and wet sounds of her partner ministering to her heaving breasts was almost too much to bear, and it wasn't just because he was so attuned to her proclivities, either. The fact that it was Booth's hand that was seeking out that oh-so-sensitive spot on her stomach; the notion that it was Booth who was enraptured in the task of suckling her into oblivion… it was almost too much, and falling off the precipice was looking increasingly appealing.

She was going to explode if she didn't make an effort to relieve the tension that was centred in her groin and spreading like a forest fire everywhere else, and Brennan suddenly felt compelled to reach beneath the waistband of her pajamas to prevent it from escalating any further. She gasped when Booth seized her wandering hand, pinning it behind her head before she had gained a modicum of respite from his all-too-pleasurable assault, and - almost as if he could sense the intensity of her glare - he glanced up from between the valley of her breasts, offering her a disarming smile. She sighed aggrievedly, and he started to laugh as he kissed his way down her stomach, taking a moment to explore her navel with his tongue.

And then, finally, she felt his hands tugging on the waistband of her pyjama pants, and she eagerly lifted her hips to aid in their removal. Clad in nothing but her underwear, her eyelids fluttered shut as her partner's hands were compelled to explore new territory, caressing the length of her legs with typical reverence. She smiled when he placed a soft kiss on each of her knees, but then a primal part of her acknowledged that he was gradually moving upwards and her legs started quivering uncontrollably. She jerked a little in surprise when he reached her inner thighs, maddeningly close to where she wanted him the most, and her hips began undulating of their own accord as he stroked higher… and higher. When he finally cupped her sex in his burning hand, it was with expert precision, and the pressure of his palm pressed firmly against the length of her was enough to elicit a moan of approval. However, it still wasn't enough to alleviate the ache of longing that was gnawing at her senses, and she bucked against him until he began to stroke her deftly through the fabric of her underwear, his fingers manipulating her throbbing mound with practised ease.

"Mmm… fuck… fuck," she murmured as Booth hastily disposed of her panties, and she heard her partner suck in a breath as he absorbed the possibilities of that ineloquent profanity. He finally seemed to recognise that she couldn't endure his luxurious caresses any longer, and Brennan's whimper echoed in conjunction with Booth's growl as his fingers skilfully slipped between her slick folds. He took time coating them in her unprecedented wetness, and then suddenly her lips were pursing and her eyelids were flickering and his calloused thumb was doing indescribable things to her pulsating clit. Brennan was laughing, and gasping, and writhing as though she was possessed, but when she felt the searing heat of her partner's lips pressing against her pubis in an all-too-intimate kiss - she froze.

Booth could smell his partner's arousal and her musky scent was so intoxicating that he could barely contain his compulsion to taste her. Hell, he wanted to drown in her. Brennan's shapely legs were parted to accommodate his roving hand, and he abandoned his position besides her in favour of kneeling between them, careful to ensure the pace of his fingers didn't falter as he manoeuvred himself to his new vantage point. His partner's eyes were closed so she was blind to the rapturous expression that lit up his face as he greedily drank in the sight of her pink, glistening sex, wanting nothing more than to explore it with his tongue. He never anticipated that the kiss he placed over her trim thatch of auburn curls would leave her rigid with tension… at least, not tension of the detrimental kind. Maybe there had been a modicum of truth in Dennison's convoluted cock-and-bull story after all.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, and something inside him constricted when Bones flinched away from his probing gaze, her glazed eyes welling with unshed tears. He continued to caress her inner thighs with one hand, using the other to cup her chin and compel her attention. "You don't get to shut me out, Bones. Not here. Not like this," he said softly, bringing his lips to rest against her forehead in a tender kiss. He tried desperately hard to prevent the disappointment from registering in his tone as he hastened to reassure her, "And it's… it's OK, you know? If you don't want me to…"

"I do," Brennan choked out, but how could she even begin to tell him that was precisely what had caused her to panic in the first place? "I just… I've never… it makes me feel…"

"Too exposed?" Booth ventured, his gut wrenching at the sight of his invariably articulate partner stumbling over her words. Brennan glanced at him sharply, before ducking her head slightly in what he presumed to be acknowledgement.

"Bones, you don't… you don't ever have to hide from me, OK?" Booth assured her, and her shimmering azure eyes flitted over the planes of his face before finally seeking out his expectant gaze, making it clear that she concurred with both his statement and his intent.

"OK," she breathed, and the soft smile that lit up Booth's face did little to belie the significant darkening of his eyes. He kissed her then, with sweet relentlessness, and the knowledge that his talented mouth would soon be concentrating its attention elsewhere left her reeling with anticipation. Booth worked her flushed and agitated body into a frenzy on his way down, sucking at her pulse point, and then her throbbing nipples, scratching his stubble against the smooth skin of her stomach… and then his tongue was tracing intimate patterns along her inner thighs and he was easing one of her wobbly legs over his shoulder, mumbling avidly about how long he'd been yearning to taste her. And then he did, and time seemed to stand still.

Booth's breath was ragged, and he blew the damp heat of it over her sex, tantalising every nerve ending in his vicinity. He lapped at her juices tentatively at first, savouring her essence, and then he was drinking her in as though his thirst could never be quenched, lips grazing and sucking, tongue swirling and flicking. He circled the outline of her opening, and Brennan paid little thought to suffocating him as she pressed her sex unrepentantly against his mouth, hoping he would accept the invitation. She virtually screamed when his rigid tongue finally found sanctity inside of her, licking her inner walls with unyielding enthusiasm as his nose unceremoniously bumped against her throbbing clit. His moans of unadulterated pleasure vibrated through her, and she gasped when the impact of pure sensation came dangerously close to shattering her. Her leg was in constant motion against Booth's back, quivering in time with his increasingly frenetic strokes, and she knew she was on the verge of reaching something unattainable.

"Booth…" she sobbed brokenly, and her desperate cries increased in intensity when her partner's ministrations came to an abrupt halt. Booth was regarding the tears streaking down her cheeks with concern, but she pushed him away when he started to reach for her, fisting her hands in his hair and forcing him to return to the task at hand. "Don't stop," she begged frantically, "Don't you dare stop."

"It's OK, I'm not going anywhere," Booth whispered, reaching out to clasp her hand as he once against buried himself between her legs, setting a pace that was markedly more indolent so she could regain some semblance of composure. Her knuckles nevertheless turned white as their fingers entwined, and for one horrifying moment, she thought her vice-like grip had been too painful, because Booth extricated his hand far more quickly than she'd anticipated. She mourned the loss, but only momentarily, because her ability to form a cognizant thought was instantly stolen from her when Booth suddenly abandoned his reserve and sucked her clit rhythmically into his mouth. She was provided with a jarring insight into his hand's new location when he eased two of his thick fingers inside of her, and the maddening hysteria threatened to take hold all over again when he began pumping at a rhythm that somehow - despite her erratic writhing - managed to perfectly match the one he had established with his mouth.

"You are so goddamn beautiful Bones," Booth gasped out as he surfaced for air, briefly seeking out her gaze, and it was the look of wonderment in his molten brown eyes that ultimately sent her careering over the precipice as he latched back onto her. It was, unequivocally, the most intense orgasm of her life; the buzzing in her ears was deafening, her heart seemed to be pounding inside of her head, and little black dots were inexplicably dancing in front of her burning eyes. Booth's fingers were still moving inside of her as she pulsated around him, and it only served to enhance the exquisite sensation. She felt an exhilarating weightlessness that was not dissimilar to her experience in the so-called 'vomit comet,' and the sentiment she had expressed at the time – namely that she would very much like to do that again, was even more befitting in this scenario. After being sent orbiting into the stratosphere, a part of her was terrified of falling back down to Earth, but when the spasms of consummate satisfaction finally subsided, Brennan was far from feeling like a hollow shell. In fact, she felt full - brimming with some hitherto undiscovered emotion - and she bit her trembling lip when it insisted on finding an outlet in a fresh onslaught of tears.

Booth scooped her effortlessly into his arms, and she clung to him feebly as he planted tender kisses over her sodden face, smoothing back her hair and reeling off a never-ending stream of platitudes about how much she meant to him. Brennan had never felt weak in her own bedroom before, and a part of her wanted to be outraged on principle, but instead she simply felt… loved. She allowed her partner to cradle her against him, soothing her with a gentle rocking motion until her composure was fully restored, but Brennan quickly discovered that - despite having been so recently satiated - that all-consuming ache was still on a quest to overpower her. She took in a deep, cleansing breath, and her newfound resolve manifested itself via the predatory glint in her eye.

"You're still wearing your clothes," she observed matter-of-factly, wasting little time in reaching for Booth's belt-buckle and deftly unfastening it. She was both surprised and impressed that her partner's arousal hadn't diminished whilst he was attending so assiduously to her needs, and her fingertips teased their way across his torso in a visceral reward. She should have been physically exhausted and emotionally drained, but the thought of her partner moving inside of her was the only pick-me-up Brennan required. She quickly decided to invest every last vestige of her energy in the hedonistic task of making Booth climax with as much intensity as she had.

"Take your jeans off," she commanded, and Booth bucked against her as she unfastened his zipper, her fingertips glancing tantalisingly over his groin.

"Bones, we don't… we don't have to do this tonight," he ground out, although his outward display of courtesy was belied by the sizeable protrusion in his pants.

Brennan started to laugh, tugging his jeans over his ankles and throwing them to the floor. "Booth, if you can do that to me with your mouth, I can only imagine what you're capable of doing to me with your dick, and I'm not prepared to deny either one of us that kind of pleasure."

Booth's mouth dropped open in surprise, although his gape didn't quite reach its full force because Bones chose that particular moment to attack him with a blistering kiss. They were so well matched in their game of give and take, and their tongues duelled with effortless grace. This time, however, it was without an iota of fear or apprehension, just pure, unadulterated need. All of their misgivings had been forgotten in the face of their undeniable chemistry, and now they had reached a heady plateau of acceptance, because when someone has the capacity to permeate every aspect of your life and change it inexorably… when someone shatters all of your illusions about what you had before and shows you something even better; no matter how much you try to talk yourself out of it… no matter how reluctant you are to admit the inevitable… you have to concede that you've made a connection that can never be surpassed.

Booth felt a cool rush of air wash over him as his partner eased his boxers over his raging erection, and Bones' gasp of appreciation only served to make him harder. He allowed her to push him into a prostrate position and groaned when she straddled him, rubbing her lingering wetness against his stomach whilst he aimlessly palmed her breasts, tweaking her nipples that little bit harder because it caused her to grind even more frantically against him. Brennan leaned forwards then, seeking out his panting mouth, and the intensity of their kiss reached fever pitch when her movements caused his dick to nestle agreeably between her legs. Their torsos melded seamlessly together as they essentially began dry humping… except it was wet, so gloriously wet. They swallowed each other's moans, and Booth tried desperately hard not to lose himself in the moment… if he was on the brink of exploding from simulating the act, how the hell was he going to maintain control when he was actually inside of her?

Finally, Brennan rolled off him, apparently having some control issues of her own as she collapsed onto the centre of the bed, breathing raggedly. After a moment's respite, she turned to face him, stroking his cheek with surprising tenderness, and he pressed a chaste kiss against her palm, lazily stroking her arm. They grinned at each other, woozy with anticipation, but Brennan's shimmering eyes widened as they roved downwards, still overawed by the magnificence of his manhood. She inwardly vowed never to make another remark about his belt buckles overcompensating for his shortcomings again.

Booth was already glossy with pre-ejaculatory fluids and the remnants of her own arousal, so Brennan lubricated her hand with their mutual juices before sliding it up and down his significant length, creating an easy friction. He seemed to vibrate at her touch, so she swiped her thumb experimentally over the head of his swollen cock, smiling appreciatively when he jerked and quivered in response; watching his muscular thighs spasm with empathy. Fellatio wasn't something that had ever appealed to her before, but she was sorely tempted to taste her partner with as much veneration as he had tasted her. She wasn't sure whether she was relieved or disappointed when he stopped her head from dipping downwards.

"Fuck no, Bones, you're gonna make me come," Booth grunted, and Brennan's hand promptly stilled against him. Their eyes locked, and he offered her a rueful grin. "You make me crazy, you know that?" he informed her, pressing a gentle kiss against her temple. He turned on his side, hovering over her, captivated by the emotions swirling in her crystal clear eyes. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips were parted; her expression was appealingly open and focussed entirely on him. He felt blessed to be able to see Bones in all of her vulnerability, and he knew that even when this level of intimacy became familiar, it would never lose its novelty. "I love you," he whispered, with frightening intensity, but to her credit, Bones didn't look scared. She blinked up at him thoughtfully for a moment, and then her face lit up in a beaming smile that was dazzling in its uncomplicated beauty.

"I love you, too," she declared, her voice a mixture of surprise and wonderment, and Booth started to laugh when she quietly reiterated the sentiment to herself, almost as if she was trying to become accustomed to saying it. "I really do," she said with added conviction, her fingers trailing the length of his torso as she bent to whisper in his ear, "And I can't keep my hands off of you Booth, so please, if you're going to come… come inside of me."

Her words hit him like a bolt of lightning, and the current ripped through what was left of his self-restraint. "Bones… do you… I mean… do we need to use…" he gestured in the region of her bedside drawer, and she shook her head.

"No, Booth. I take oral contracep-" she trailed off abruptly as Booth once again filled her vision, and this kiss was different from all the others; this kiss was everything combined. Loving and savage… tentative and probing… pliant and demanding… tender and passionate… hot and quenching… it was everything her partner had to offer all rolled into one, and Brennan was already arching off the bed in appreciation.

"Bones, look at me," Booth pleaded, and she wrenched her eyes open; his doting gaze penetrating her more deeply than his dick ever could. He scooped her into a partial embrace and gently parted her legs, and she was amazed that he felt the need to sample her wetness, check her readiness, when every fibre of her being was begging for him. She nodded, almost imperceptibly, and braced her weight on her elbows so she could watch him ease into her. After such an agonising build up, she wasn't expecting him to torture her, but he insisted on guiding the length of his dick back and forth against her clit, sliding through her slick folds until her head lolled back under the oppressive weight of anticipation. Booth wound his fingers through her hair and supported the base of her neck with his hand, loath to lose eye contact, and then his free arm was lifting her hips to enhance his access. He entered her agonisingly slowly, allowing her to become accustomed to his size, and if her intense gaze didn't adequately convey her approval, her ragged gasp certainly did.

The feeling of fullness – of completion - quickly returned, and they began to rock against each other in a timeless rhythm, only it was more effortless than either of them had imagined. Brennan was accustomed to sex being hard and fast, but Booth only had to shift a fraction of an inch within her to elicit a far more potent response. Her moans were increasing in volume and frequency as their hips rolled in perfect synchronicity, and she couldn't prevent her eyes from fluttering shut when Booth finally unleashed some of his intoxicating power; allowing his painstakingly shallow thrusts to become deeper and more forceful. She mumbled her approval when he suddenly flipped them over, allowing her to take control, but he clearly didn't expect her to be quite so assertive and he hissed in acute surprise when she immediately impaled herself on him.

Booth plunged her depths more deeply than any other man had before, and Brennan let out a keening whimper as his thrusts upwards became her thrusts downwards, joining them together along a fault line of seismic arousal. She leant forwards, knowing he could take her weight, and their overheated skin fused together as she fisted his hair in her fingers and kissed him with a zealous ferocity. The newly acquired angle was almost too exquisite - Booth was everywhere all at once - and Brennan collapsed against him, burying her head in the crook of his shoulder and licking feebly at the salty beads of sweat she found there.

Booth continued to pound into her with almost strategic precision, and she could feel her walls tightening around him as her stomach muscles started to contract with pleasure. He was sporadically kneading her ass to heighten the sensation, and their bodies were slick with perspiration as they writhed together as one frantic unit. Their moans and gasps created a cacophony of sound that reverberated around her apartment, but Brennan was far beyond sparing a thought for her neighbours.

When the bliss became too much to bear and her ragged breaths became heaving sobs, the hands that had been lovingly caressing her spine wrapped around her in a protective embrace, always quick to comfort.

"It's OK, I've got you," Booth whispered, directly into her ear, and then, before she knew what was happening, Brennan was lying on her side and her partner was penetrating her from behind, still holding her tenderly against him. His lips began to nuzzle her neck and the arm that was trapped underneath her somehow managed to find the leverage to reach her breasts. His knuckles bumped against her hardened nipples and Brennan's eyes rolled back in her head when he began lightly tweaking the straining peaks, mimicking a sucking motion. Her tongue snaked out to moisten her parched lips, and then they promptly pursed back together again.

"Booth… so fucking good… don't stop…" she gasped, and she jerked so violently when her partner's thumb found her clit that he momentarily slipped all the way out of her. Her cry of protest rapidly evolved into a whimper when he promptly filled her again, and then one hand was expertly manipulating her clit whilst the other kneaded her heaving breast. It was more than she could have asked for and everything she had ever wanted.

"Let it go, Bones," her partner commanded, his warm breath caressing her neck. And, because Booth was one of the few people who she deigned to listen to, she did.

Brennan didn't think her ravaged body would ever be able to emulate the intensity of her earlier climax, but her orgasm seemed to be consuming her whole, assaulting every single one of her senses until she temporarily forgot how to breathe. Her pulsating walls clenched around her partner's cock, and Booth seemed to vibrate inside of her, his embrace becoming almost crushing in its intensity. Then he jerked against her without his customary finesse, and when he unleashed a guttural noise that was vaguely akin to a roar, Brennan realised that he was freefalling, too. She ground against him in a bid to prolong the sensation and, several seconds later, there was another rush of warmth between her legs as he spilled his seed inside of her.

They could only cling limply to each other for several minutes afterwards, and it took even longer for their shallow breathing to gradually reach an even plateau. Booth used his last vestiges of energy to pull back the bedcovers, and Brennan once again found herself snuggling contentedly against his shoulder. They spent a long time trading lazy caresses, until Booth rolled onto his side and regarded his partner with dancing eyes and an impish smile. "So, what do you reckon, Bones?" he enquired, lightly tickling her ribs until she batted his hands away. "Did we break the laws of physics?"

It was scientifically impossible for two objects to occupy the same space, but as Brennan inched a little closer to her partner, settling her head against the pillow they had wordlessly agreed to share, she was willing to concede that an intense emotional connection could sometimes result in the illusion of two people becoming one. Tonight, on some level, she had become conjoined with Booth, and the experience had been momentous enough for her to realise that she would do anything to prevent their separation. She reached for her partner's hand, regarding their entwined fingers pensively, and then she offered him a radiant smile.

"Yes, Booth…" Brennan softly acquiesced, "I think that what we just did could reasonably be construed as a miracle."