"What are you doing here?" demanded Dr. Brennan harshly.

"I work here," he replied nonchalently.

"Wrong. You haven't worked here for almost 4 years." Her icey eyes bore into him.

"Well I'm back." He said cheerfully, smiling at her.

"From where?" Brennan inquired.

"I took a job undercover... then I ended up working on a couple cases in different departments."

"For almost 4 years?"

"I thought we'd established that," he said with a defensive tone to his voice.

"Hmmm. So you're back." She stated, her stomache suddenly doing somersaults.

"To stay! I'm sorry Bones, really, I am. I know it was bad timing, but I needed to think, and you probably did too. I just needed some time alone... then one thing lead to another and-"

"And here we are today."

"I guess so. Forgive me? I didn't mean to disapear completely, but, well, that's kind of the point of being undercover. Parker didn't even know why he wasn't seeing his daddy anymore." Booth added to make Bones feel better about the whole sitation. He'd acted rashly, and now he regreted it. But wasn't it enough that he'd come back to fix things?

Just then, Angela walked into the scene, looking a little calmer and more patient then the last time he'd seen her. If you could even tell those things from looking at someone. Some changes were certain, her hair was shorter and she had what he assumed to be a... baby bump?

Not even noticing him there, she started speaking to Brennan, "Hey Bren, mind if I pick up Kailey from daycare? Maybe take her to dinner or something? OR, she could even spend the night with me and Jack... I just really need to get as much practice in as I can. Not that practice with Kailey helps much, she's too much of an angel really..." seeing the look on Brennan's face, she stopped her ramblings. "What am I missing here?" she asked, turning to follow where her friend's gaze was directed then staring wide eyed. "Oh," she said more to herself.

"So Ange, did she say yes? 'Cause I'm all done here and-" Dr. Jack Hodgins finally came into view. "What's he doing here?" he asked jabbing a thumb in Booth's direction.

Ignoring Booth and Hodgins's question, Brennan pulled her friends aside to talk to them. "Angela, Jack, you'd normally be doing me a favour picking up Kailey, but I'd rather do it myself tonight. Thanks anyways. Is tomorrow night still good? I'm sure she'd love a little extra time with her 'aunt' and 'uncle'. For now though... I want her near me."

"To remind you that it was all worth it, right?" Hodgins asked putting his hand on Brennan's shoulder, "Maybe introduce her to Booth?"

"JACK!" Angela slapped her husband's hand. "We'll leave you and Booth alone now sweetie," she declared leading hodgins away as he rubbed his hand.

Brennan could hear him complaining about his hand and smiled at her friend's backs. She knew it wouldn't be long until she talked to Angela again, it would probably only take a few hours for her to get over the initial shock of seeing Booth again and break down crying. She headed back towards where Booth was still standing, waiting for her.

"So..." Booth started, nervous about asking the question that was on his mind.

"So? So what? So is not a sentence Booth. Spit it out." She was in a hurry now that she'd be picking up Kailey herself. She didn't have time for this.

"Who's Kailey?" Booth questioned, not able to look Brennan in the eyes while asking.

"My niece," Brenna lied, "I have to go pick her up now... so if you'll excuse me..." she tried to walk past him and toward her office but he stepped in her way.

"When did you get a niece?"

"When did it become your buisness?" Brennan pushed past him but he grabbed her arm.

She spun around, ready to make him regret his actions but couldn't bring herself to do it. "I've had a niece ever since my brother got a woman pregnant and he dumped her on me." She made her lie more elaborate.

"Which was how long ago?"

"What is this? I'm not under arest, and we're not in an interrogation room. Now if you're excuse me, I have a feeling that if I'm late picking her up one more time the daycare's planning on setting social services on me." She yanked her arm out of his death grip and entered her office, gathering some files she wanted to review at home.

"Sorry, I hadn't realized your need to leave was quite so serious Bones. Perhaps I should just meet you later... at your apartment?" he followed her out to her car.

"Or you could not. Booth, things have changed. I've adjusted to your absence. Frankly, I don't need you, nor want you, in my life anymore. However, I don't exactly have a choice in this matter, so I'll see you tomorrow." She closed her car door and started pulling out of her parking space.

"Nice to see you again too Bones." Booth muttered walking back into the lab.