Seeley Booth looked at the woman lying next to him and sighed. What exactly were his feelings for her? Did he love her, or was he only using her for a sexual relationship? She opened her eyes and grinned at him, mischief shining in the depths of her orbs.

"You always were the best," she said and began kissing his chest. He offered her a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. As she moved lower, he felt himself reacting to her touch. It was now or never if he was going to solidify the relationship into something more than physical.

"Hey, I was wondering if you have any plans this evening."

"Why, you can't get enough of me?" She grinned up at him as her hands slid over his muscular frame.

"No, I was thinking that maybe we could, you know, go out to dinner or something."

"Sorry, I have a date tonight." Seeley looked at her, horrified. A date? She was seeing someone else?

"You said you weren't seeing him anymore!"

"I never said that and you know it. I said I wanted something more physically gratifying."

"That's all I am to you, a good lay? Why did I even think this could work?"

"What are you getting so bent out of shape for? We both wanted this and you know it. We've always had that chemistry between us."

Seeley climbed out of bed and began to dress. This wasn't what he wanted. Sure, he'd entered into the physical aspect of the relationship because he knew it would be good, but he had hoped it would be much more than that. How could this woman, which he held such strong feelings for do this to him?

His cell phone rang, and before he could get to it, she grabbed the phone and began speaking.

"Seeley's busy at the moment, you'll have to call back." Booth grabbed the phone from her and stepped away from the bed.

"Rebecca?" the voice on the other end of the line queried. Damn it, its Bones.

"Hey. Bones. What's up?" He asked as calmly as possible.

"N-n-nothing. Just seeing if you got the call and if you were swinging by to pick me up, or…" She trailed off. Booth closed his eyes for the briefest moment before he answered.

"I'll have to meet you there."

"'Kay, bye." He'd never heard her get off the phone so quickly. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Bones, and the surprised tone in his voice suggested that he just might have. He flipped his phone shut and looked at Rebecca.

"It was work. God knows you can't miss a call from work." She looked up at him. It hurt, that she didn't want anything more than a physical relationship. When she'd first approached him about this, he was suspicious, but realized it could be the best way to get more access to his son. If he and Rebecca were together, then she wouldn't keep Parker from him. Stupidly he agreed to their friends' with benefits arrangement, hoping it would go to something more. As much as he was rapidly developing feelings for Bones, he still loved Rebecca. Her rejection had hurt so much before, and he'd opened himself up to this for a second time.

"Look, just…I mean it this time. No more…this. This has to stop."

"Do you hear me arguing?" Seeley put his phone away and finished dressing quickly. He bent to offer her a kiss, but stopped himself mid-motion. Instead he extended his hand, which she took.

"I'm serious Rebecca, never again." He left the room. He was serious this time. Dealing with her was like playing with fire, and he would always get burned.

He arrived at the housing development and was met by a police officer and Dr. Brennan. Bones looked at Seeley as he approached her and the cop.

"Instant neighborhood, huh?" he said. The cop looked over at him as the three made their way to the crime scene.

"Fed subsidized and built in a hurry, all to give middle-income D.C. workers a shorter commute," the cop said.

"Not to mention a faux-sense of civitas, coupled with the illusion of affluence," Bones threw in.

"I dunno about civitas, Bones, but you can't knock illusions. For some people, that's all they have." Seeley accepted a dust mask from the cop and put it on. Bones did the same and stepped up next to him as they entered a townhouse.

"Sorry if I interrupted anything," she said quietly. Booth looked at her and could see she was slightly hurt.

"What? Oh. No. You didn't."

"Good."

"But if you must know, I was just dropping something of for Parker at my ex's place…"

"Okay."

"…And she just happened to pick up my phone, and…that's it. Nothing more, nothing less…"

"Did I say I must know?" Brennan threw at him and hurried away. Damn it. This isn't what I wanted. Why did I think it would work with Rebecca?

XxXxX

A few days went by with no word from Rebecca, and for that, Seeley was grateful. He needed the time to think over his feelings on the issue, and to her credit, Brennan had become his sounding board with no hints of jealousy or hurt. She was just trying to be there for him, and he couldn't have thanked her more for it.

When the phone rang, he checked the caller id and answered it. At least this time, he felt prepared to deal with any consequences of his decision.

"Seeley, it's Rebecca. I was wondering if, maybe, you know, we could meet up somewhere."

"Look Rebecca, I was serious about what I said before. This…whatever it was we were trying to do just won't work."

"And why is that?"

"We're looking for different things, you and me. I just…no more, Rebecca."

"You want to know why it never worked for us Seeley? You always put work first. I never stood a chance of being first in your life."

"You knew that going into the relationship Rebecca. Did you think it wasn't putting you first when I proposed? I didn't do it because you were pregnant. I did it because I loved you."

"And what about now? How do you feel about me now?"

"I thought I still loved you, but I don't think that's it. I think I used this as an opportunity to see Parker more often. I'm sorry Rebecca. We never should have gotten involved in the first place."

"Well if it was your intention to hurt me Seeley, then congratulations."

"What, and it didn't hurt when you turned me down? You know what, let's just not do this. It's only going to cause more problems."

"Fine." She hung up the phone. He looked at his own for a moment and sighed. With a final shake of his head, he left his office to head to the Jeffersonian institute. He still had some last minute things to wrap up with Brennan.

XxXxX

Brennan looked up as Seeley walked into the office.

"So, you never said how it ended up with Rebecca." Bones regarded Seeley for a long moment.

"Well, it ended," he said. "Only fluids we'll be exchanging from now on will be Parker's juice boxes."

"And you're sure that's what you want?"

"It may be just anthropology to you Bones, but…there are certain people you can't just sleep with. You can pretend its just sex. You can lie to yourself and say it's all good. But there are just too many strings, too much at stake, too much to lose." Seeley looked at Brennan and a silent communication passed between them. When did this conversation cease to be about Rebecca and me?

"Yeah. I can see that."

"So…it's over. And I'd appreciate you in supporting me in that."

"Done. And if you should slip, I'll pretend not to notice." She offered him a smile, which he returned. After looking at her for a long moment, Booth spoke.

"So, what do you say about Wong Foo's?"

"Sounds great, and you're buying."

A/N: I'm sure you all want to kill me, but it is simply conjecture based off of dialogue found in a season two Bones script. I'll be incorporating that dialogue in here, so please, wait until after September 27th to throw anything evil at me. Thanks.