This takes place after Sweets, Brennan, and Booth experience the year apart suggested by the season finale and are reunited. Spoilers are for seasons 4 and 5.
This fic came to me after re-watching The Dwarf in the Dirt. As many of you know, the Sweets-Brennan friendship is one of my favorite aspects of the show, and I love to write it. I have to work very hard to not make it too indulgent, since the two are actually very guarded with each other. But I also wanted to show that they've grown over their year apart. I'm not one of those people that believes Sweets has somehow wronged BB, but I do think that Sweets is the most self-analytical character on the show and would therefore be most likely to ask for forgiveness for past transgressions. If BB were more self aware, they could also find plenty to be sorry for in their interactions with Sweets! ;) Just to remind all readers, I'm an unapologetic fangirl of Sweets, but I also find him to be a very believable character, who occasionally makes mistakes.
Disclaimer: I don't own these loveable characters, I just shower them with affection.
The Forgiveness in the Friendship
It was Booth's and Brennan's first case back after being apart for a year. They were driving to the scene of a crime in Booth's government-issued SUV, Sweets sitting in the middle seat of the back of the car in order to better converse with the duo that so captivated him. In some ways, it felt like old times, but Sweets hadn't spent enough time with the two to evaluate if there had been a change in their dynamic since their time apart.
Sweets knew that the partners had met up earlier in the week to reconnect. The entire team had also celebrated their reunion at Founding Fathers, but it had been too noisy there to properly observe Booth and Brennan. He wondered vaguely if they had made any progress toward a potential romance. Truthfully, his interest wasn't vague at all; it was presently consuming him. He was dying to get these two back into therapy, but they were so stubborn about psychological guidance.
So far, the only changes he had observed were that Dr. Brennan was now wearing bangs, and Booth was beefier than ever.
"Dried fig?" Sweets offered up front, holding a plastic bag filled with brown Turkish figs, encrusted in their own sugary skin.
"Please, I enjoy Turkish figs very much," Bones replied, taking one with relish.
"Ugh, I hate figs—they're so gooey and mushy and…" Booth made a gagging face and waved Sweets away like a sand fly.
"Well, I didn't want to share them with you anyway," Sweets said with a touch of irritation. He tore off the fig's hard cap and shoved one in his mouth, miffed.
"Don't get sugar in the car, you two. I just had it cleaned. Sweets, you seem kind of down. Did your cereal box forget to include the decoder ring this morning?" Booth smiled smugly at his familiar jab at Sweets' age.
Sweets could see the triumphant grin in the rearview mirror. So that hasn't changed, he thought. "Yes, that's it," he replied sarcastically and picked up the newspaper sitting on Booth's back seat to look busy. He didn't feel like being picked on.
"Daisy's on rotation today. Perhaps that is what's upsetting him," Brennan suggested.
Sweets rolled his eyes and suddenly felt a sneeze building…it receded. Damn unsatisfying. He rubbed his nose vigorously.
"Sweets, are you going to cry? He is, he's going to cry," Booth griped. "You shouldn't have brought up Daisy, Bones."
"He does look a little weepy," Brennan agreed. "Perhaps it was insensitive to bring up his ex-girlfriend so soon after her return. I would hope that you would have gotten over her by now, Sweets."
"What are you guys in 3rd grade? Gimme a break. I was about to sneeze." Sweets cracked a window as he felt another sneeze building.
"Ahh-ahh-chooo!"
The "choo" part came just as Booth was answering his cell phone. "Hey, quiet back there, Sweets. What did you say, Rebecca?"
Sweets had to stop and ask himself if he had really missed these people. He shook his head with annoyance. Booth clicked his phone shut.
"Um, we have to go the hospital," Booth said, suddenly serious and yanking the car into a u-turn.
"What is it, Booth?" Brennan asked with concern at the same moment Sweets asked, his voice cracking, "What? Why?"
"Parker got hurt on the playground at school. He fell of a high bar that he was spinning around."
Sweets swallowed. Brennan asked, "Is Parker ok, Booth?"
"Yeah, he's just a little banged up and has a broken leg. I don't want to miss him at the hospital."
"Yeah, sure. Let's go!" Sweets said encouragingly. The evidence at the crime scene could wait. Sweets felt bad for Booth that after he had been gone so long and had just returned, his son would had gotten injured. He imagined that Booth already felt very guilty for missing an entire year of his son's life. At least he was here now.
When the trio arrived at the hospital, Booth went straight back to find Parker and Rebecca. Sweets and Brennan agreed to remain in the waiting room. They had the sense it could be awhile. Brennan picked up a National Geographic with cuddling chimpanzees on the cover, but Sweets was eager to converse. He had had a lot of time to evaluate his relationship with Brennan over the past year, and in particular, one thing had been troubling him. He wasn't ready to bring it up quite yet.
"So, Dr. Brennan, it must feel different being back on a case with Agent Booth again."
Dr. Brennan eyed him from her magazine but didn't answer.
Sweets tried another approach. "You were running pretty hard away from forensics last year. Is it difficult being back?"
"I'm still evaluating if I want to continue in forensics anthropology, if that is what you mean."
Sweets sighed. She wasn't responding well anyway, so he'd better get it over with. He didn't know when the next opportunity to be alone with her would present itself. He cleared his throat.
"There's something I want to say to you. An apology. I should have said it long ago, but I've been thinking about it a lot since you've been gone." Sweets looked so sincere that Brennan actually put down her magazine, despite the adorable chimps.
"An apology? For what?"
Sweets folded his hands and leaned back in his chair, uncomfortable but determined. "When you and Booth first read my book and told me that I'd been wrong about your first case, I was… devastated. A lot of work went into those observations and the crafting of that. I was so frustrated, and I…I had my own issues I was dealing with at the time."
"Issues?"
Sweets looked at her and then looked out the window. "Yeah, Dr. Brennan, I had just seen that kid die on the subway. I had just proposed to Daisy."
Dr. Brennan gazed at Sweets, whose outline was luminous in the afternoon sun pouring through the broad window behind him. She decided that he looked older.
"I know you were engaged, Sweets," she said, latching onto his last statement. "Daisy told me in Indonesia. Why didn't you tell me or at least Booth? When I informed Booth, he was quite upset that you didn't even bother to mention something that important. He thought you were friends."
Sweets' face fell. He stuck out his bottom lip. He hadn't thought about the fact that he might have hurt Booth, and was it possible—Brennan?—by keeping his engagement with Daisy to himself. He had analyzed to death his decision not to tell anyone at the Jeffersonian over the past year and concluded that he hadn't really felt secure in his engagement. Almost from the beginning it had seemed like a dream when Daisy had said yes to being his wife. Now he felt self-centered for not having sought advice from his friends.
"Well," he responded, "I guess I owe you an apology for that, too. I thought I had it all figured out at the time, and then…things just slipped away. I should have talked about it with Booth at the very least."
"Do you still miss her, Sweets?" Brennan asked with kindness in her eyes.
Every once in a while, Brennan displayed a kind of magnanimity and compassion for those she cared about, and it never failed to touch Sweets deeply. He thought briefly of when she had seen his scars and gathered him into her fold, letting him know that he was not the only person damaged by his past.
"I miss…the idea of her. The idea of being married, having someone to come home to—a family. I miss her love. I miss being in love. It's…" Sweets was not in the habit of sharing much about himself with these people and was a bit surprised at his present openness. Perhaps he had changed more than he realized. "It's really a precious thing to share love with someone. Don't you want that?" he redirected his gaze to Brennan, his brown eyes piercing.
Brennan paused, but she wouldn't bite. "Didn't you have something that you were apologizing for?"
Sweets chuckled to himself. Some things hadn't changed. "I want to apologize for encouraging Booth to express his feelings to you after we discussed my book. I think I may have contributed to pushing you two apart—to you leaving for opposite sides of the world for a year."
Brennan looked like she was about to interrupt, so Sweets raised his hand and said, "Please let me finish. I don't want you to misunderstand."
Brennan nodded.
"Before I made the decision to allow you to read my book, I had noticed changes in you, Dr. Brennan—critical ones. So had Dr. Wyatt. When Wyatt accused you of 'ratting out' Booth to the FBI—namely me—after some of Booth's behaviors had changed following his tumor, Wyatt told me that you said that his statement was 'accurate' but didn't seem 'true.' Not only had you grown to discern the subtly of your own emotions, but you admitted that you couldn't think of anything that you wouldn't do for Booth, as you told Wyatt. You had opened yourself up more and more to Booth, but further, you were willing to express this out loud to another person."
Brennan looked very drawn and wasn't looking at Sweets.
Sweets continued, though he sensed she was growing upset. "It wasn't just the changes with Booth, you had reached out to me!" Sweets smiled gratefully. "It meant so much that you were willing to share about your past with me, when you saw…when you realized I'd been hurt too. You are a self-proclaimed detester of psychology, and yet, you allowed me in."
Brennan turned toward Sweets and gave him a penetrating stare. "You say you value sharing, and yet, you never talk about yourself. Not even when confronted. It's a double standard, Sweets."
His jaw dropped open. He was shaken by the truth. "I…I'm a psychologist, I don't have to…"
Brennan looked almost angry. "You're telling me that I opened up to you, that you saw me change, and that you then used this information to manipulate my life to an end that you thought was right for me and Booth. And it wasn't. Not then."
"That sounds extremely harsh, and anyway, I'm apologizing. I thought you were ready, and I wanted you both to find happiness. I wanted you to stop denying yourselves the incredible gift that was right in front of you and accept love." Sweets was almost teary. He was devastated by Brennan's reaction. He had thought that she would…what be grateful for his apology? At the very least, he had thought that she would understand his motivations.
They sat in silence for a long time. At last Sweets said, "When I look at myself in the mirror and see my scars, I don't get to forget what it feels like to be despised. But my parents—my adopted parents—they taught me that no matter what, when you love someone enough, there is nothing that can separate you, nothing that can compromise your feelings. My parents have been dead awhile, Dr. Brennan, but I'm still surrounded by their love everyday. It's just an emotion, but it's one that gives life, sustains me. I know you have that in Booth."
Brennan looked to object.
"No, Dr. Brennan. I know you do. And he has that in you. I want to help people, but sometimes I think I'm maybe not a very good therapist." Sweets gazed dejectedly at his hands.
Brennan thought for a bit. "I may dislike psychology, but I've seen you grown into a good therapist, maybe even a great one. You could work on being a better friend, though."
Again Sweets was shocked and saddened at her bluntness. His throat was so tight, he thought it might choke him. "What?" he managed weakly.
"Well, what you just told me. You could have said it sooner."
"You're right. I should have said it sooner."
"I accept your apology, Sweets. And if it makes you feel better, I think this year apart from Booth has been positive for our partnership. It was hard, but it was beneficial."
This did make Sweets feel better, but he did not have time to process this new emotion or respond. At that very moment, Booth, Rebecca, and Parker, hobbling on crutches, came down the hall.
"Dr. Brennan! Dr. Sweets!" Parker called with excitement. "Check out my blue cast! Will you guys sign it?"
Sweets noted that somehow Parker's parents had already managed to sign the new cast. Booth had drawn some crazy cartoon character clutching a football, and Rebecca had sprawled her name in scripty letters.
Sweets and Brennan rose together, after looking briefly at one another. Sweets noticed deep affection in her eyes, but it wasn't for Booth. It was for him. Brennan hadn't been entirely fair to him in this conversation, but he knew that she cared deeply for him. It was enough for now.
As Sweets high fived Parker, he felt some relief, but he knew he would also have to talk to Booth. He had hurt him too, apparently. Sweets had definitely grown up in the past year and was only now beginning to realize how many mistakes he had made with his two friends. Yet he was also aware of how faithful they were to him, despite his errors, as he was to them despite theirs. It wasn't just his parents who had taught him about unconditional love.