"This is stupid." Tempe said slamming the door to the large cabin and dropping her overnight bag sighing heavily.
"Ditto." Booth said rubbing his face and looking around.
"Why are we doing this anyway?" Tempe asked and Angela rolled her eyes and grabbed a piece of paper.
"Dr. Lance Sweets is concerned about the tenuous relationship between the FBI and the Jeffersonian Institute." She read.
"Blah blah blah." Booth said rolling his eyes. "We've heard this."
"We're supposed to bond." Cam said frowning as she looked around. "Ok so we have to do this, we have to record our observations and play Sweets game for 3 days and then we can go back to our normal lives." She said and opened one of the doors. "Great." She said sighing heavily. "Twin beds." She said as Angela opened another door and nodded. "Ok how many bedrooms?" She asked and Tempe pushed open another and made a face.
"3." Cam said sighing.
"I'm sleeping with Hodgie." Angela said winking at her boyfriend as he looked through the well stocked fridge.
"Ok Dr. Saroyan and I will take this room." Tempe said walking into a medium sized room grateful that it had it's own bathroom.
"Fuck." Seeley said sighing as he looked up at a confused looking Zack.
"Booth." Tempe said shocked at his use of language.
"Let's not start." Angela said holding up her hand knowing that Tempe and Booth were about to get into a fight. "Let's get settled and start in on the crap we're supposed to do." She said and everyone groaned but carried their bags into their rooms.
"Ok." Angela said opening a huge manilla folder with DAY ONE in bold print. "So we're supposed to stand in a circle." She said and Seeley sighed wishing he was anywhere but here.
"I don't feel comfortable with this." Zack said frowning.
"Zack you don't even know what we're doing yet?" Angela said frowning hands on her hips.
"Relax Zack." Cam said grabbing the papers from Angela. "Ok guys so first what happens here is supposed to stay here, we're doing this as a team building exercise and he says it's imperative that we gain each other's trust." She said rolling her eyes. "We're supposed to hold hands and say something both positive and negative about the person to your left." She said and everyone groaned. "It says to be constructive and not hurtful and no one is allowed to comment, you just take the information." She said making a face. "We have to use the tape recorder." She said glaring down at the small recorder that had been sent with them.
"Sweets said he wouldn't listen, that this was private." Booth said frowning.
"Yes but he doesn't trust us." Angela said shrugging. "He told me that he would skim through the tapes, just to make sure that we were taking the exercises seriously."
"This is stupid." Booth said sighing. "Well come on let's get this over with." He said reaching for Tempe's hand and cringing as he looked at Jack on his left. "I'm not holding your hand."
"Well I'm not holding your hand either." Jack said wrapping his arms around his chest.
"Shut up and let's do it." Cam said pressing the record button on the tape recorder. "I'll go first, Zack." She said looking at him as he held her hand looking terrified. "First, Zack your demeanor is sometimes cold and calculating to people who don't know you." She said and he swallowed hard. "But once you get to know you, you're a kind and giving person." She said and he smiled and blushed heavily. "Your turn." He said and he nodded and looked at Jack.
"You are very adept at your job." He said and Hodgins shook his head not expecting much more from Zack. "When you see breasts you can't focus." He said and everyone snickered.
"True." Jack said grinning. "Ok Booth." He said glancing at the big guy. "You're relentless in search of the truth." He said sighing as he tried to think of something negative to say that wouldn't get him hurt. "You form decisions not based on fact sometimes." He finally said and Seeley sighed and looked over at Brennan.
"This is dumb." He said and Tempe looked up at him wondering what he would say about her. "Ok fine, you're very strong and I don't mean just physically, most people would crumble when faced with some of the things you've gone through but." He stopped. "You're very strong." He said face turning red. "Negative." He said thinking. He thought of several negative things about her but immediately realized why he liked those same things. "You lie, you say you don't like children but you do."
"What?" She asked loudly. "I do not lie."
"You do, you stated you didn't like kids but you love Parker." He said and she frowned.
"Parker is different." She stated looking away and sighing. "Angela." She said smiling at her best friend. "Positive, there are so many but the most important one is that you brighten everything." She said and Angela smiled and squeezed her best friends hand. "Negative." She said thinking. "I'm thinking." She said as people started to get impatient after a few minutes of silence. "I don't like that you push me, sometimes it's ok but there are sometimes I really don't want to do what you want me to do but I don't want to hurt you." She finally said and Angela flinched and nodded feeling guilty.
"Cam, you're a great people person." Angela said looking over at her boss. "I don't like that you deny that, that you try to make yourself look cold." She said and Cam shook her head shocked by the statement.
"Ok." She said sighing. "Now we have to switch." She said looking over at Angela. "You enhance the team, you're the cheerleader and you never fail to bring us up." She said and Angela smiled. "I don't like that you have sex with Jack at work." She said and Angela turned red and nodded.
"Bren." Angela said looking at her friend. "I love that you've let down some walls, that you've accepted a family." She said and Tempe smiled. "I don't like when you talk bad about yourself, like when you say that no one will love you, or that if they do it won't matter because they'll just leave you." She said and Tempe swallowed hard tears in her eyes. "Not everyone leaves." She whispered and Tempe cleared her throat and closed her eyes.
"Booth, I um." She stopped looking up at him not sure what to say and not wanting to draw any attention to her feelings towards him. "I trust you, I don't trust many people." She said swallowing hard. "I don't like when you keep secrets from me, like you're trying to protect me." She said and he nodded sighing hating to do this in front of anyone.
"Alright." Booth said looking at Jack. "Ok you're a good friend, I can count on you." He said and Jack looked shocked and touched. "I hate the conspiracy thing." He said and Jack laughed and nodded.
"Zackko." Jack said looking at his friend. "I respect you for going to Iraq, for moving out of the box, I don't, know I know." He said sighing. "I wouldn't have been able to do that." He said and Zack smiled lightly his face red. "I don't like how you flirt." He said and everyone looked confused. "It's really bad man, we have to work on it." He said and the group chuckled.
"Ok Dr. Saroyan." Zack said looking at her. "I like that I feel like I can talk to you, sometimes I don't talk for days and it's nice." He said looking down at the floor. "I don't like." He stopped and cringed.
"Go ahead." Cam said encouraging him. "I won't get upset."
"I don't like the men you date." He said and she flinched but nodded staring at him.
"Ok." Booth said frowning.
"Not you Agent Booth." Zack said jumping and cringing. "I mean currently."
"No problem." Booth said dropping Tempe's hand and shrugging. "We done here?"
"We're supposed to cook together." Cam said picking up the folder not sure what to think of all she heard. "Booth and Zack cook, Dr. Brennan and I are to clean up and Angela and Jack are setting and clearing the table." She said and Booth sighed fighting the urge to demand to be partnered up with someone else.
"Come on." He said walking into the large kitchen as everyone moved out of the circle. "You cook?" He asked looking at Zack. He felt a little bit guilty seeing the look of fear on the kids face as he stood in the kitchen. "I'm not gonna shoot you Zack." He said and Zack nodded.
"No, I can cook macaroni." Zack said and Booth sighed and opened the fridge.
"Ok well." He said pulling stuff out of the fridge. "Chop this and we'll wing it." He said handing him a large onion.
"I can chop." He said nodding and moving to the cutting board. "What are we making?" He asked as he carefully cubed the onion staring at it as he sliced carefully.
"Omelets." Booth said frowning as he looked at Zack. He'd chopped up the tomatoes and shredded some cheese and had made a bunch of toast in the time it had taken Zack to chop half of the onion. "It doesn't have to be perfect." He said and Zack looked up and frowned. "I mean you can just chop it."
"I am." Zack said and Booth rolled his eyes and turned to the stove.
"Booth this is great." Angela said as she ate smiling over at him. "Sexy and he cooks."
"Thanks." He said winking at her and taking a bite. "I can do breakfast."
"What all is in this?" Jack asked as he took a big bite of the huge omelet.
"Onions, ham, cheese, tomatoes." Booth said looking over at Brennan. "Minus ham on yours." He said and she smiled happy that he'd remember that she didn't eat meat of any kind. "But you're missing out."
"Do we have to do anything else?" Angela asked interrupting as Tempe started to say something.
"Nope, it says the rest of the night is to be spent in personal reflection." Cam said shrugging as she ate.
"Ok what do we do there's no tv." Booth said looking around.
"I brought some books." Tempe said and he made a face frowning as everyone agreed that they'd brought books to read. "Booth you can borrow." She said and he made another face and sighed.
"Mmh." Booth moaned waking up as the early morning light hit his face. He sat up and rubbed his face shocked to see Zack sitting propped up in the corner of the room. "Oh shit it was my snoring huh?" He asked feeling guilty as he looked at the kid. Zack looked tired and his eyes were red rimmed like he'd either been crying or up all night. "Sorry kid." He said getting up and grabbing a shirt. "You a light sleeper?" He asked as Zack just sat there.
"Yes." He spat our finally his pale face drawn and worried.
"Ok we'll switch with someone." Booth said wondering what was going on. He looked scared and Booth felt guilty. He wasn't always nice to the kid but he didn't think he scared him.
"Morning." Cam said as Booth walked out and headed straight to the coffee pot.
"Someone has to switch me." Booth said tiredly as he took Tempe's coffee and sipped. "Zack can't sleep with my snoring."
"I'm not switching, I'm a light sleeper." Cam said making a face. "Seriously Seeley you're snoring is terrible, I remember."
"Yeah but you never stayed over." He said making a face at her.
"Why do you think that is?" She asked and he made a face as everyone laughed.
"Fine Bones, sleep with me." He stated and turned red as he realized how it sounded. "You know what I mean." He said and she rolled her eyes.
"Fine." She said shrugging. "Zack you look so tired." She said as he walked out of the room.
"Bones and I will room together tonight." Booth said and frowned seeing the kids shoulders slump in relief.
"Well I slept like a baby." Angela said smiling as she sat at the large table.
"What do we have to do today?" Brennan asked as she sat down by Angela after making herself another coffee since Booth took hers.
"We're supposed to spend the day together, it says there's a stream and we're supposed to go swimming and enjoy spending time together." Cam said shrugging.
"You ok?" Booth asked plopping down on the ground late that evening by Tempe as she sat on a towel reading. She was wearing a brown one piece swimming suit and her skin had a healthy glow to it.
"I'm having fun." She said looking over at his strong bronzed muscular chest. "It's not as bad as I thought it would be." She said and he nodded looking out at the water as Jack and Angela made out and Zack floated on his back close to Cam.
"I guess." He said nodding. "I feel bad for being so hard on the kid." He admitted looking over at her fighting the urge to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear as it blew across her face.
"Zack?" She asked and he nodded.
"I think he's afraid of me." He said sighing. "I didn't mean to do that."
"Have you talked to him?" Tempe asked and he rolled his eyes.
"Men don't do that Temperance." He said and she smiled. "What?" He asked grinning seeing a funny look on her face.
"It sounds strange when you call me that." She said and he nodded. "Nice but strange."
"You like Bones." He stated proudly and she shrugged and laid back on the towel smiling. He smiled down at her grateful that she draped her arm over her eyes shielding her face from the sun but giving him access to look at her. She was gorgeous, he knew that but rarely did he have an opportunity to see what her body was like. She was thin, curvy in all of his favorite places but she hid her body under layers of clothes hiding a near perfect body. He looked up realizing that he was staring and if he watched the gentle rise of her breasts anymore he'd have a problem. He looked out at the calm water watching as Cam splashed Zack. He was relieved that they'd been able to end their brief affair without a mess. She was what he needed at the time, he'd been trying to ignore his feelings for Tempe and she'd confronted him, he'd told her that it didn't matter how he felt about his partner he couldn't act on it. Told her that he needed to start dating, get his mind off of Bones and she'd been the one to start their affair again. He felt guilty that he hurt her, she didn't say it in so many words but Bones had been between them, and it didn't matter that they knew it was just sex it still had to hurt that his partner was never far from his mind. The kicker had come when Cam was still in the hospital after being poisoned. She had just been taken off the ventilator and he'd realized that Brennan was in danger, he hadn't hesitated he'd just taken off Tempe's safety the only thing he could think about. When it was all over Cam admitted that she'd been hurt, that she knew that they weren't serious but she was to strong of a woman to continually take a back burner and that he needed to admit to Brennan how he felt. They'd ended amicably and gone immediately back to being friends and Booth had been relieved. He'd felt guilty every time he touched Cam, had it been some random girl he wouldn't have cared about thinking about Bones when he was with her but he felt bad that he couldn't even give Cam that much of himself, she deserved better. He'd told Tempe that there was a line, a line they couldn't cross and she'd agreed. It had been one of the hardest things he'd ever done but he was scared. He'd never been with a woman that knew him like she did, that he'd completely opened up with and she was his best friend. Sometimes she drove him crazy but she calmed him like no one else and he couldn't risk that she didn't feel the same, that she'd say no.
"We have to what?" Booth asked horrified as they ate a late supper.
"Share our most terrifying moments." Cam said. "Be vulnerable."
"Shit." He said sighing heavily. "We need to be drunk for this." He said hopping up and grabbing the huge bottle of tequila he'd found the day before. "Any takers?" He asked holding the bottle up.
"Good idea, we'll all feel more open if we're polluted." Angela said nodding.
"Ok I'm turning the lights down." Cam said flipping on a small lamp in the corner as they all sat on the floor in a circle as she flipped off the overhead lights. "I'm drunk." She said stumbling to her spot.
"We all drunk?" Angela asked grinning as everyone nodded. "So what do we do?"
"We have to share something personal." Cam said grabbing the paper. "In detail and it can't be something superficial." She said. "We have to agree that what we talk about doesn't leave this room and it has to be something that no one knows." She said and took the bottle of tequila from Zack. "Who wants to start?"
"Ok." Booth said sighing as the room practically echoed with the silence. "I'm thinking we should go alphabetically." He said.
"By first or last names?" Zack asked looking a little wobbly from all of the booze.
"First." Cam said and Angela flinched and sighed.
"Ok well that's me then." She said closing her eyes. "I think we should promise that we won't make fun." She said looking scared. "I mean if we're really doing this I think we should be serious." She said and Tempe nodded and glanced at Booth.
"I agree." He said nodding surprised to find that the squints acted like they were really going to share something big.
"Ok, my dad." She said stopping. "He used to do a lot of drugs." She said swallowing hard. "When I was little, he uh, he beat my mom." She said. "I can remember hearing her crying, I felt really helpless and she eventually left him, took me with her." She said sniffling. "It wasn't until about 10 years ago that he got clean, he apologized, I got to know him and I guess I forgave him." She said shrugging hating that she felt so open and exposed.
"I'm sorry baby." Jack whispered feeling terrible.
"Thanks." She said blinking back tears.
"Ok my turn." Cam said shifting uncomfortably. "I've done a lot of things I'm ashamed of." She admitted staring at her hands. "When I was in grad school I dated my professor, I knew he was married and I convinced myself I didn't care." She said sighing. "I fell in love with him, I pushed him to leave his wife and when he didn't I went to see her." She said shaking her head. "I was so stupid and blind, I thought she'd leave him, he'd realize how much he loved me but." She stopped and closed her eyes. "She was devastated, I'll never forget the look in her eyes, she was pregnant, I felt so shitty and in the end he stayed with her, they worked things out but I'll never forgive myself for first of all sleeping with him and for destroying her like I did." She admitted clearing her throat.
"We all do things when we're kids." Tempe whispered feeling bad for Cam.
"Ok." Jack said clearing his throat not sure what to say. Part of him wanted to make something up but the other part knew that everyone else was being honest and he owed it to them. "So this might make you understand why I believe in conspiracy theories." He said pulling his knees up and hugging them. "When I was 8 my father." He stopped and took a deep breath. "He shot my mother in the head." He said lifting his head and staring at the wall. "Then he killed himself, I didn't know what to do so I called my grandfather, he came right over, they made up a bunch of lies, he told the police I was with him and it came out in the paper that my parents were shot by an intruder, I was sworn to secrecy and I've never said anything."
"This happened in front of you?" Angela asked shocked.
"Yeah." He said nodding and shaking his head. "Who's next?" He asked not wanting to hear anyone say anything.
"Oh man." Seeley said sighing. "When I was 23 I was getting ready to get out of the army." He said shifting on the hard floor. "I uh, I was drinking pretty heavy, gambling a lot and I'd just come off a ten day leave and I was hungover and I went out on a mission." He said clearing his throat. "I was sick of it, of killing people and my mission that day was to take out a man and when I had a clear shot, I hesitated, I couldn't make myself pull the trigger." He said voice cracking. "My CO was screaming in my headpiece and I snapped out of it but I missed, I hit a guy, an innocent guy." He said closing his eyes. "They said it happens, that sometimes you don't make the shot, collateral damage and they assumed my firearm failed and I didn't correct them but I left the unit, it was my last mission." He said smiling lightly over at Tempe as she reached over and gently rubbed his back.
"It's my turn." Tempe said after a long pause. "I got pregnant." She stated trying to act unaffected as she told the only story she could think of that would match the stories her friends had shared. "I was 23 and." She stopped tears clogging her voice. "I was so excited, the father, he was uninvolved and wanted me to have an abortion but I was excited to have a family, I'd wanted a family for so long." She whispered. "The baby died, I uh." She stopped and took a deep breath. "That's it." She said swallowing hard.
"Bren how far along were you?" Angela asked shocked to hear this.
"7 months." Tempe said face crumpling. "They said it wasn't anything I did that she just." She stopped choking on a sob. "It was probably the cord or something but anyway." She said swiping at her tears annoyed that it still had the power to make her fall apart. "It wasn't mean to be, that's what they said." She said shrugging trying to act like she didn't care avoiding looking up not wanting to see the look on her friends faces. "Zack." She said and he flinched and pulled his knees up hugging them.
"What if what we say makes other people uncomfortable?" Zack asked looking terrified.
"Man we're all friends here." Booth said softly still near tears after hearing Bones talk about the baby she lost. "No judging." He said and Zack nodded closing his eyes.
"My parents wanted me to be normal." He said softly. "I wanted them to be proud of me, they sent me to a summer camp." He said voice tight with fear and pain. "I hated it, I didn't want to be away from home and I wasn't like the other guys. We stayed in a cabin, there were 4 guys to a cabin and I was the butt of all the jokes, I didn't mind." He added quickly. "One of the guys, he was making fun of me, saying that I was gay. I told them to leave me alone, that I wasn't gay but they just kept on." He said softly. "They were drinking beer, one of them smuggled in some beer and I uh, I just I curled up in my bed, I tried not to cry but they wouldn't leave me alone. They kept calling me faggot and." He stopped tears on his face. "They were yelling at me to admit it, I thought if I said that I was they'd leave me alone." He whispered. "I tried telling them I wasn't but they didn't want to hear it and they were standing over me yelling and calling me names and they." He stopped choking on a sob. "I pulled the covers over my head, tried to ignore them and they laughed, they went to the other side of the cabin and I thought it was over, I fell asleep and I woke up and they were." He stopped and rubbed his face on his pant leg. "The one guy, he said they were gonna cure me." He said and Booth flinched almost wishing he'd stop. "The other 2 held me down and he uh, he urinated on me, then he sodomized me with a root beer bottle." He choked out.
"Oh god." Cam whispered tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I." He stopped and wiped his face. "I called my mom, I begged her to let me come home and she said I'd be fine, that I just needed to adjust, that it would be good for me to be around normal people." He said shaking his head. "I couldn't go back to that cabin, I couldn't so I jumped off a cliff, I broke my leg and let my parents think that I was just doing it for fun." He said.
"Zack did you tell anyone?" Angela whispered moving over to wrap her arms around him.
"No." He said fighting tears. "I'm not gay, I didn't want them to think I." He stopped unable to keep talking.
"This is why you couldn't sleep last night." Booth said softly. "Man Zack, that's fucked up man, they were wrong and god I'm sorry." He said fighting tears. "There is nothing wrong with you." They all sat there in shock for several minutes not sure what or if anything to say.
"We're not done." Cam said voice hoarse from crying as she picked up the list. "We're supposed to freely ask questions we've always wanted to ask but didn't feel comfortable asking." She said and sighed. "I guess whoever wants to go can go." She said and Seeley chugged from the bottle and Tempe took it.
"Bren is losing the baby why you're adamant that you don't want children?" Angela asked softly.
"I guess." Tempe said shrugging. "It nearly killed me, I don't know that I could mentally take it happening again." She admitted wringing her hands. "I guess deep down I would like to maybe have a child but I don't know." She whispered.
"Did you name her?" Cam asked softly.
"Chloe." Tempe said tears in her eyes. "I wish I would have held her, I freaked and I didn't want to see her and I wish I would have seen her." She admitted. "It's amazing the connection you feel and I know it's unlikely that it would happen again but still." She said feeling a little better talking about it. "I should have gone to the doctor sooner, she stopped moving and I just, I tried to convince myself that she was sleeping but I think I knew but if I had gone in right away." She said shrugging.
"Cam can I ask why you and Booth didn't work out?" Angela asked a few minutes later as they all started to relax and drink more.
"Oh wow." She said smiling and leaning back. "He was in love with someone else." She said staring at him. "We always were better friends." She said and he smiled lightly and nodded praying Angela didn't ask anything further. "When was the last time we all had sex?" She asked sipping from the bottle. "I'll go first, it's been 6 months." She said and she looked at Zack.
"2 months." He said taking the bottle.
"12 hours." Angela said and Hodgins grinned proudly.
"Oh man." Booth said sighing. "it's been a while."
"Come on we're all sharing." Cam said smiling at him.
"Fine a year." He said and Angela dropped the bottle looking shocked.
"I bet you're about to explode." She said and he laughed. "Bren?"
"I don't remember." She said frowning.
"Sully." Angela said and Tempe nodded. "It's been nearly 2 years, you need to get laid."
"Yes." Tempe said nodding as everyone laughed.
"So I have to ask." Angela said grinning. "Circle of truth here, was Sully really good in bed?" She asked and Tempe smiled and Booth groaned.
"He was adequate." Tempe said thinking.
"Just adequate?" Ang asked and Tempe nodded. "What does that mean?"
"He didn't make me come if that's what you're asking." Tempe said and Booth's jaw dropped shocked that she would admit it. "I had to finish myself off." She said and Zack and Cam both giggled as everyone else just stared at her. "What no one else masterbates, I find that hard to believe." She said crossing her arms over her chest.
"I'm a proud masterbater." Cam said laughing. "I have a toy, I don't leave home without it." She said and Tempe frowned.
"You have a vibrator?" She asked and Cam nodded.
"You don't have a vibrator Bren?" Angela asked shocked as Booth turned to watch Tempe looking highly intrigued.
"No, I just touch myself." She said shrugging.
"Rabbit." Cam and Angela both yelled at the same time laughing.
"I don't know what that means." Tempe said looking confused.
"It's a vibrator." Angela said grinning. "It's amazing."
"I don't understand what could be so amazing about it." Tempe said. "It's cold plastic."
"No no I beg to differ." Cam said shaking her head. "It's fantastic."
"It has a clit stimulator and it rotates as well as vibrates." Angela said sighing.
"Wow." Booth said shocked.
"We're buying you one." Cam said quickly. "Really Temperance, it's fucking fantastic." She said giggling.
"Do you have it with you?" Tempe asked. "I'd like to see it."
"Yeah." Cam said chuckling.
"No I don't think we need to see it." Booth said making a face.
"Booth I just want to see it." Tempe said smiling at him. "I'm a scientist." She said and Cam laughed and jumped up racing into her room.
"Oh man." He said closing his eyes and shaking his head.
"Bren it's so powerful." Angela said clapping happily as Cam brought in a pink funny looking vibrator.
"It's huge." Tempe gasped making a face.
"Huh?" Cam asked frowning.
"What?" Angela asked looking at Tempe funny. "Sweetie, it's not huge."
"It's not?" Tempe asked frowning. "It seems fairly large to me." She said taking the vibrator and looking at it.
"Wow, I thought you said Sully was big?" Angela asked moving over to show her how it worked.
"Oh god I do not need to hear this." Booth said shaking his head as Angela turned the vibrator on.
"Sully was big, not as big as this but compared to my other partners he was huge." Tempe said jaw dropping as Angela turned the machine on. "Oh my." She whispered moving her finger over the part that Angela said was the clit stimulator. "This would be better than my hand."
"Wait." Cam said moving over and pushing another button and the dildo weaved around.
"Can we put the dildo away?" Booth asked cringing as the motor hummed.
"Are you intimidated?" Tempe asked and he laughed.
"No he's not." Cam said quickly and smiled. "Trust me on that." She said and Tempe laughed. "Ok I'll put it away." She said tossing the vibrator back into her room.
"Ok Bones I have a question." Booth said looking at her. "Have you ever been in love?" He asked and she shook her head no.
"I believe in it." She stated taking the bottle of tequila. "It's just never happened to me. I think I have been close but I couldn't allow myself to feel that way when I wasn't sure how the other person felt." She said. "Probably because of my abandonment issues."
"Ok I have a question." Angela said grinning wickedly. "You guys really haven't had sex?" She asked looking at Brennan and Booth.
"You know we haven't." Tempe said rolling her eyes.
"What about kissing, you must have at least kissed, any idiot can see the sexual tension with you two." She said and Brennan flushed.
"It's true and I'm pretty clueless." Zack said nodding.
"We have kissed." Tempe said.
"What?" Angela yelped.
"She said it was like kissing her brother." Booth said watching Tempe.
"What Booth, what did you want me to say, Caroline was watching." She said frowning.
"So what it wasn't like kissing Russ?" He asked and she shifted uncomfortably. "Or do you normally tongue kiss your brother?" He asked and Angela squealed loudly.
"Booth." Tempe gasped shocked that he said that. "Of course I don't and it was just a little tongue." She said face red.
"I ended up with your gum." Seeley said frowning as Angela squealed again.
"It had to last 5 steamboats, I had to do something." Tempe said shrugging not wanting him to know that it was probably the best innocent kiss of her life.
"Booth what did you do with the gum?" Angela asked grinning wildly.
"Uh, what?" He asked turning beet red. "I well I spit it out." He said not telling her that he chewed the gum for nearly 5 hours before finally getting rid of it.
"We should play spin the bottle." Angela said clapping happily.
"No." Booth said immediately and stumbling to his feet. "I think we should call it a night." He said hoping Angela would let this kissing thing drop.
"Ok Bones what's going on?" Booth asked a week after they got back from their bonding weekend. The weekend had gone well and everyone had managed to get a long and he had to admit that he felt closer and understood his squints better. Tempe had been acting strangely around him since the second night and he'd all but given up even getting her to talk to him finally giving in and coming to her townhouse intent on figuring this out.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said turning around, ignoring him as she walked into her kitchen. She'd been ready for bed and was dressed in a long tee shirt her hair still damp from the hot bath she'd taken when she got home from work.
"Bullshit." He said following her into the kitchen. "You act mad, I want to know why?" He stated guilt hitting him as she sagged against the counter obviously upset.
"Booth just go." She said closing her eyes voice sounding more defeated than she'd like.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me what I did." He said softly lightly touching her arm wanting her to look at him.
"I heard you." She whispered trying to hold back tears of shame and fear. "That last night when Angela wanted us to do that stupid bottle game again." She said looking up at him her eyes shiny with tears. "You told her you weren't kissing me, that you didn't want to kiss me."
"No Bones." He whispered. "I told her I wasn't going to kiss you again, that I couldn't kiss you again, there's a difference." He said cupping her cheek.
"Right." She said sarcastically before moving quickly away from his hand. "So I get it, point taken now I would apprechiate it if you'd leave so we can go back to being platonic partners." She said grabbing a wash cloth and rushing to wipe down the already clean table. "Is kissing me that grotesque, I mean you were willing to kiss Cam and Angela but not me, what did I have bad breath because I may not be the best kisser in the world but I have feelings." She said loudly her movements jerky and her eyes bright with pain.
"Shit." He whispered heart racing. "It wasn't about that."
"God I felt like I was in high school again and the cute boy was only flirting with me so I'd do his homework and I expected more from you, was this?" She asked spreading her arms out. "Is our whole friendship a lie because I don't know what to believe anymore."
"Stop." He said grabbing both of her arms and glaring at her. "How dare you doubt us." He whispered anger making his eyes shiny. "I didn't kiss you because I can't do it again, I can't pretend that it doesn't mean anything. I can't kiss you without wanting more and maybe you can pretend you don't care, hell maybe you don't care but I can't." He said jaw clenched.