This is both a Swaisy and BB-Sweets fic. It answers, how did we go from Lance cheating on Daisy in Gamer in the Grease to them being hot and heavy in Goop on the Girl? And how did their relationship blossom to the point that Sweets might propose 5 episodes later? Further, I pose a case in between the two episodes that solidifies a bond BB and Sweets share over their teenage pasts. Also, I've always wondered what made Sweets give up his Christmas plans at home with Daisy to go to Brennan's dinner in Goop; he claimed, "I'm here for Agent Booth," which seemed very specific but unexplained.

Spoilers are for season 5—Gamer, Goop, and maybe Bones on the Blue Line—haven't decided yet.

Thanks to those who read and review! *hugs*

Two weeks before Christmas 2009

Lance was pacing a racetrack of anxiety into his office carpet at the FBI. He had asked Daisy to lunch thinking to confess his transgression from a month prior: making out with another woman in line for the movie Avatar. He had been back and forth over whether or not to tell his girlfriend what he had done. Hodgins had counseled to let it rest. He said that the Avatar girl had obviously meant nothing to Lance but the knowledge of her would torture Daisy. The kind thing to do was to let the memory die.

Lance paused to pick up his sumo stress ball and squeezed till it almost popped.

He was incredibly ashamed. He had never cheated before, and he simply could not believe that of all women he would have cuckolded Daisy. What was the term for a female cuckold? A cuckquean? Was that a real word? Lance used to read and memorize the dictionary as a child, and as a result sometimes he recalled words that were either archaic or distorted in the folds of his memory. He could never be sure which.

Lance hated himself. He and Booth had once characterized this phenomenon as the "little brain" superseding the big brain. Damn, it had seemed funny when it was someone else. Had he really become that base? He liked to think of his brain as a superior organ; it did not thrill him to think that his most animal instincts could override it.

Yet he knew that simple desire for another woman had not been the root issue. It somewhat surprised him that Hodgins, the misanthrope of yore, had pinpointed Lance's insecurity. Before the Avatar incident, Fisher had bragged to both Hodgins and Lance that he was nearing triple digits when it came to bedding women, yet only Lance had responded to the extreme. Over the course of his life, Lance had only slept with four women, including Daisy. It was difficult to believe that even those four had wanted him. One certainly hadn't wanted him once she had beheld the painful evidence of his past.

Hodgins had done an admirable job of reassuring Lance outside the Avatar theater. Lance could have paid him for counseling. Hodgins said, Lance homesteaded the land—it was quality not quantity that counted.

Indeed, Hodgins' compassion was a mark of his growing fondness for Lance. Once Hodgins had loathed Sweets' presence in his lab, breathing down his neck, waiting for the scientist to break down after his breakup and the loss of Zach. But since then, Hodgins had learned that Lance had all the patience in the world for his impertinence. Lance insisted on being a refuge of comfort even for the unwilling. Hodgins had responded with friendship.

While Lance was glad of his bond with Hodgins, he was not glad of the task before him. Though he had expressly asked Daisy to drop by with the full intent of telling her the truth, he sensed Hodgins was right—this might break Daisy's heart and end their relationship. Lance was a therapist, after all, and he did not believe that confessing to infidelity was always the right move, especially if guilt was his main motivating factor. But there was a chance that Daisy would find out, and in this case, it was only fair that she hear it from him. Lance knew Hodgins wouldn't tell, but if Fisher was as casual with sex as he'd insinuated, he might tell Daisy without thought for the consequences. After all, Fisher and Daisy were both Brennan's grad students. They socialized together occasionally.

Lance had no more time to ponder. He heard a gentle knock at his door, which surely signified it was Daisy. She was one of the only people who respected his practice enough to actually announce her arrival before barging in. He opened the door and her bright hazel eyes were before him.

"Hi, baby!" she said, bubbling with glee at the mere sight of him. Her zeal for life was infectious. She stood on her tip toes and kissed her boyfriend's lips with relish. "Where did you have in mind for lunch?"

Daisy was wearing simple black slacks and a forest green top. Her slim figure was so inviting that Lance pulled her in for a lingering hug. He clung to her, scared.

"Well, Lancelot, we don't have to go out if you don't want to," she suggested, feeling his reluctance to let her go.

Lance's face fell. Oh how he wished he had brought her in for a booty call. What if they never made love again? He couldn't face that prospect.

"Actually, Dais, could we talk about something before lunch?" His tone was serious, and Daisy, who was working on picking up social cues (and adorably improving), furrowed her brow and folded her hands in her lap as she sat on his couch expectantly.

"Of course. What's on your mind?"

She looked so fetching. How could he have cheated on this beautiful, compact creature? He wanted to ravish her now. Tory Payne was but a revolting memory.

"Daisy, I thought I had grown out of it, but I'm afraid I still struggle with some self-image issues."

She nodded. She had first-hand experience with those as a former bulimic. Her face showed concern and love.

"Part of me doesn't really believe that a woman could love me the way I look. You know…damaged." Lance knew this insecurity ran far deeper than his scars. He had been tiny for so long, sometimes he forgot that he had achieved a stature of over six feet tall. Girls used to laugh at him when he even looked their way. For years he had responded by blushing and rushing off.

"Excuse me?" Daisy said with disbelief and a flash of anger. "Damaged—you mean, the scars? Lance, what are you saying? You don't believe that I love you? I do love you! I adore you! You are utterly handsome, beautiful to me! How dare you call yourself damaged!"

Lance was a bit taken aback by her outburst but was determined to press on.

"Thank you for saying that. You may want to reevaluate how you feel about me when you hear what I have to say next." Lance had the desperate urge to flee but he anchored himself to his chair.

"That's impossible," Daisy said simply.

"It's not that I don't believe that you love me. It's that I don't think women in general want me. I was small for so long, and I've always had these…you know, marks on me. Anyone who sees me without a shirt on can tell right away how messed up I am."

Daisy shook her head and looked out the window. Her expression unreadable.

"A month ago I was in line for Avatar and-"

Daisy cut him off. "Lance, I think I know where this is going, and you don't need to say anything. You don't need to confess. Unless you slept with someone else, don't say anything more." She sighed and looked away. "You and I, we're extremely passionate people. I know that you've had some problems believing that someone could love you given your past experiences. But you have to let the past go. You are loved. You don't need to seek out affection like a dog searching for scraps." The simile was so choice that it cut Lance a little.

"But…but how did you guess?" was all he could muster. He was seriously confounded. He was the one who read people, not Daisy. How had he given himself away? And why was she so accepting?

"That night after you saw the movie, when we made love…it's like you were desperate to prove something to yourself and to me. I'd never seen you like that. I wondered for awhile if we were going to break up. If I should break it off. But I realized that I didn't want to. I knew when I first met you that you were going to be the most intense, challenging, fascinating, evolving person I had ever been with. I made a promise to myself not to give you up easily even when things got hard. You're…special, Lance."

"Special, like short bus special?" Lance said, his mind dimly taking in the fullness of what she had just said.

"Like you survived hell and it's a long, labyrinthine passage back to the surface, you know? I admire you more than anyone I've ever met. You are the most generous and patient person. You're far from perfect, but you never, ever expect anyone else to be either. You are a good soul, you can't stand the thought of hurting someone deliberately."

Lance put his face in his hands briefly and then looked up. He had forsaken Daisy and all she had were compliments for him? He didn't deserve her. His eyes were watery. "How can you praise me at a time like this? When I've failed you? I don't deserve you."

"That's where you're wrong. You've always been wrong about this. Everyone deserves to be loved, especially you. You are very lovable." She walked over and crouched before her distressed boyfriend. She took his hands. "Lance, I think it's natural for our attentions to stray sometimes, but it's our actions that matter."

"I'm so sorry. I won't fail you again."

Daisy sighed. "I believe you." After some thought she said, "Lance, it doesn't matter that I've slept with more people than you have. I mean, am I right or am I right that our love life is a-may-zing?"

Lance smiled weakly. "You're definitely right."

"Of course I am. I'm usually right," Daisy stated in a superior tone. Same old Daisy. Was she really ok with this? "Can we grab lunch now? I'm really hungry and I only have a 45 minute break before I have to sort through the bones of a body festering in some rank, unidentified substance. Frankly, if I didn't have better control of my gag reflex, as you well know," she winked, "then I would forgo lunch. But, I'm starving!"