Disclaimer: Okay, we all know the drill right? Don't own it; making no money from it; no copyright infringement intended; any similarity to any story not my own is a coincidence. *grin*




Title: De Repente
Genre: Bones; Booth/Bones
Rating: PG; rated for general content
Timeline: Some time in the future(season 4- on)
Notes: Just a little piece of fluff *grin*




De Repente

“Would you look at those stars,” Booth said as his partner approached, her roman sandals crunching lightly across the sandy pebbles of the hotel courtyard.“We don't have stars like that back home,” he continued, still looking up as Temperance came to stand next to the FBI agent. “So close; I mean look, Bones, you can practically reach out and touch 'em.”

He held out a hand as if to do just that.

“Actually...”

Booth interrupted her blindly with a small finger waggle.

“No, Bones; no science here,” he admonished her. “I don't want to hear about atmospheric conditions, or relative optics, or even how stars are just massive nuclear reactions.”

He finally looked at her. “No science, Bones, just enjoy the stars,” he urged his partner before looking back up.

She followed his lead and took a moment to appreciate bright stillness of the star strewn Arizona sky.

“The Hopi believe that Coyote released the stars from a jar that he had stolen, and by their light, the people found their way free of the Underworld and into the world above,” Temperance offered after a few moments.

Booth smiled quietly.

“And the Aztecs believed that stars were the skulls of the first gods that Citlalicue wore as her skirt. The Sumerians...”

“Bones...” Booth gently chided, encouraging his partner to simply enjoy the moment.

They fell into a comfortable silence then, broken only when Temperance eventually made a small chilled sound in response to the slowly cooling air of the evening.

“Here, Bones.”

Before he could think better of it, Seeley removed his dark suit jacket and draped it over his friend's lightly clad shoulders. He braced himself for some sort of protest, but when none came, he smiled a little to himself and turned his attention back to the night sky.

“Thank you,” Temperance said, slipping her arms into the overly large sleeves.

Booth nodded and tucked his hands into his pants pockets before again falling into a companionable silence with his partner that lasted several minutes.

“Russ memorized the constellations so he could impress girls. Once he had me quiz him every night for a week straight before he went on a date with a girl he really liked.”

“That's one way I guess,” Seeley replied with some amusement in his voice.

“I thought it was ridiculous.”

“Well, people do a lot of ridiculous things for love.”

“It's not rational,” Temperance countered simply.

“Love's not suppose to be rational, Bones,” Booth replied patiently, studying his partner a moment before continuing. “I sold my Harley for 250 dollars so I could have a star named after my girlfriend for our first anniversary. Somewhere up there,” he said, nodding in the direction of the night sky, “Is a star named, Mary Anne...” Seeley trailed off with a wry chuckle before catching sight of his partner's expression out of the corner of his eye.

“What?”

“It's nothing,” Temperance replied. “It's just...” she relented when she caught the gleam in Booth's eye. “Sometimes I forget how much of a romantic you are. It's a trait not often found in...”

“Don't say it, Bones,” the FBI agent interrupted in a pleasant tone, holding up a single finger in a gesture to stop her. “Just... don't.”

She shrugged lightly, her partner's jacket slipping loosely over her shoulders.

“Besides, I'm not really...” Booth tried to protest before trailing off in good-natured chagrin. “Well, maybe I am a little bit of a... well, what you said,” he conceded in a slow drawl. “But if I am, it's all my grandparents' fault.”

Somewhere nearby, the sounds of an acoustic guitar being played drifted in their direction, and Booth smiled quietly, looking back up to the stars as they traced patterns in the sky. It wasn't until the notes resolved themselves into a simple, gentle ballad that he spoke again.

“My grandparents would dance on the fire escape,” Seeley said in a mellow, almost melancholy voice. “We'd, Jared and I, would stay with them sometimes when our dad...” he hesitated, taking a quiet deep breath before continuing. “We'd stay with them sometimes, and after they'd put us to bed, I'd sneak out and see them dancing on the fire escape.”

He turned to face Temperance. Impulsively, Seeley reached for her. She raised a single eyebrow, but otherwise made no comment as her partner took her in his arms and started to dance slowly with her to the rhythm of the soft melody being played in the distance.

“I'd sneak out of bed and see them there, just dancing like they were the only two people in the whole world.”

Booth chanced pulling his partner closer, sliding his hands beneath her borrowed jacket and to her hips. His fingers slipped along the cool cotton of her Indian blouse and came finally came to rest at the small of her back, encouraging Temperance to press against him to keep her balance, her arms raised to his shoulders.

“They'd dance like there was music, even though there really wasn't. It was like there was a waltz always playing between them that only they could hear; a melody that completed them,” Seeley said softly. “I remember thinking that if I could just find someone to dance with like that someday...”

The agent took a deep breath, surprised that he had shared so much; he hadn't intended to. Booth realized with a small start that he was rapidly losing himself in the moment, so much so, that he almost missed his partner's next words, as focused as he was on the pleasant way her fingertips were playing through the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

“It's true that there can be variances in an individual's range of hearing, but it's almost certainly physiologically impossible that there would be a song that only two individuals could hear,” Bones replied, as rationally focused as ever despite the intimacy quietly building between them.

“I didn't mean literally, Bones,” Booth answered fondly.

“I don't understand,” Temperance admitted.

“It's all about that connection,” Seeley explained. “It's about finding that one person that's your perfect partner; the person that complements you; matches your steps.”

Slowly, he let his right hand drift up his partner's spine while his other slid to her hip. Then, with an almost mischievous grin, Booth dipped her back.

“It's all about the dance, Bones,” he said, leaning over her. Still smiling, he chanced a quick, friendly kiss to her forehead before pulling her back up.

“The dance...” Temperance echoed, the expression on her lightly flushed face thoughtful.

“Never mind, Bones, it's not important,” Booth assured her quickly, slipping both of his hands to the small of her back once more, silently noticing how well they seemed settle there.

“We're dancing...” she said softly and unexpectedly after a few moments.

Seeley gave a small smile. “We are,” he acknowledged simply.

Somewhere in the distance the last fading strains of the guitar drifted into silence unnoticed...