Disclaimer: Is this necessary? Fine. No, they're not mine

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It's strange. I'm sure that we should all feel happy for her. And I am, sort of. He's not the kind of guy I would expect her to go for, but that doesn't mean he's not right for her. I suppose I always thought that she would go for someone who cared about her a little more. He never seems that interested in her thoughts or things of a more personal nature. It was purely by chance that he found out that she was in the foster system. And he didn't even pretend to be concerned about it. It's like he has no idea how cruel the world is and that it has shaped her into the stubborn, strongly guarded, reserved, almost cold woman she is now. But it's not like she's about to marry the man. She doesn't even want to be married; she thinks it an archaic ritual that no longer requires to be performed.

But he makes her happy, so I can't say that I don't like him. Anyone that can put a smile on her face has my approval. Normally I would say that I want to be the only one to put a smile on her face, but now I see that so long as she is happy, I am as well. I never thought that I would feel this way in the slightest. But so long as she is happy, I'm happy. When she learned the news about her family, she was so distraught. I thought I would loose it, but finally I managed to make her happy, and that instantly cured me of my own despair.

So I will continue on with my life as though it hasn't fazed me in the slightest bit.

"Bones. To what do I do the pleasure?" Booth said to the formidable woman standing before him.

"I… I… I just wanted to talk to you. You haven't stopped by recently, so I was thinking that I would come to you. You always rave of the restaurants nearby, so I figured we could go to one of them and, well… talk."

Booth smiled and stood up to get his coat.

"I'd be glad to. Of course I'm surprised that you are the one to suggest food. When's the last time you ate?"

"Umm… I'm not sure. Maybe yesterday," Brennan responded sheepishly. It was then that he noticed that she wasn't looking so sure of herself as she usually did.

"Then by all means, we must get going. I don't think I will ever be allowed to leave you if you keep pulling stunts like this. Doesn't your boyfriend make you eat?" Booth said, wondering why her boyfriend hasn't kept better care of her when he wasn't. This was no longer his job. That was the job of her boyfriend. When she didn't have one, he always made sure that she ate at least once a day, and didn't stay at the lab more than once a week. The kind thoughts he had had of her boyfriend were instantly gone. He was a lazy ass that didn't care the slightest for his girlfriend's wellbeing and had to be removed as soon as possible.

"Umm… ex-boyfriend. We broke up yesterday."

Praise the Lord. Now I don't have to hurt her when I force his removal. "I'm so sorry. Are you sure you want to go somewhere? We could just order some Thai and take it to your place."

"No. I haven't been out in a while, so it would be a nice change of pace."

"Are you sure?" She doesn't appear fazed, but she's probably pretty upset on the inside. He got closer to her than anyone else. This has bothered her more than she's probably willing to admit to herself.

"Quite. It'll be fun. Besides, I haven't been anywhere new in a while, Steve liked consistency, and the change of pace is sure to be good for me. Now quit insisting on something I don't want to do. Next you'll be insisting we go to a bar and get extremely drunk."

"No. I would never insist on you getting wasted. I've seen you under the influence, and I have no inkling to repeat that incident."

"No. That would be quite a bad idea." Temperance smiled the smile she had when she was remembering something pleasant, and Booth's feelings of unhappiness were instantly dissipated. She turned around to walk out the door and Booth put his hand on the small of her back, where it belonged.

--

"No, Booth. There is no way I would ever do anything like that just because I needed the evidence."

"You're saying that you would never sleep with a guy just to get evidence."

"No. It would compromise my objectivity."

"How? That seems like a strange thing for you to say, considering you are the greatest advocate of casual sex."

"I would assume the best of him because of my sexual relations with him."

"You do realize that that doesn't make sense in the slightest?"

She frowned and reached over to take a bite from his food. "I'm sorry if you don't understand. It isn't my fault that you don't understand the anthropological implications there are with sex."

"Hey, I've got that. I just don't understand how someone who believes in 'just sex' can say something that so blatantly refutes her beliefs."

"So are you saying that you would?"

"Not at all. I'm just surprised that you wouldn't." He had no idea how they had managed to get into such a heated argument about something so ridiculous that neither one of them really wanted to talk about, but he wasn't about to complain. That was just what they did. He was sitting in a great restaurant having dinner with his partner arguing about something neither of them were comfortable with. He could tell that whatever had put her in her strange mood earlier and made her look so insecure was gone, and that was all he needed to know.

The rest of the dinner was just as enjoyable as when they were having their argument about such a personal subject. The owner had come out to request that they talk about something a little more appropriate because some of the other customers were complaining, so they quickly changed to talking about some of the interesting places their jobs had taken them. They didn't talk about what they were doing there, but the people and the sights that their jobs had brought to them.

"You know what's interesting? We haven't had any of these types of moments in any of the places in the US that we've done work in together. I mean, that place in Washington State was just creepy, and we hardly spent any free time when we were in Vegas or LA. But when we were in far less enjoyable situations, and in far less enjoyable company, we found time to look at the sunset or get lost in some place that would make a photographer jealous," Booth said after Brennan had told him about when she got lost in Africa trying to find her mass grave.

"I guess it was because we never found a need to look at the more enjoyable parts of the places because we were perfectly content with our work. We don't need to see a reason why we do our jobs, because we know that there is great justice in our actions. Our old jobs didn't have such concrete visual signs of how we were benefiting society."

"Did you just use psychology?" Brennan scowled and was about to make a complaint but Booth continued before she could defend her statement. "I think you did. I think you're spending too much time with me. You never would have used psychology when I first met you. And don't you act like it's a bad thing. It's important to know why we do the things we do in our line of work."

"But I'm afraid it will cause problems in my non-FBI related work. If I start making assumptions, all of my objectivity is gone. But I don't exactly want to stop working with you. I find our work very rewarding in a way that is different from the work that I do for the Jeffersonian."

"Bones, it hasn't had that much of a difference on how you do your bones stuff. You will always be empirical about that stuff, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't helped you. Your social skills have improved drastically since we first started working, and I don't always feel like I need to put a gag on your mouth when we go interrogate a suspect or talk to the friends and family of the victims. And that has got to be seen as a good thing."

The sad look on her face that had started to make an appearance was gone, and he was sure that he would be able to sleep tonight.

"We should get going. I need to get to work early tomorrow." She stood up and he reached for his wallet to pay for their meal.

"Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow and we can get lunch. I need to be sure that you eat, because I don't need an emaciated Bones if we get a case soon."

She smiled, "Why do you always act like I never eat without you."

"Because sources tell me that if I'm not there to be sure you get at least one meal a day you don't eat. And don't deny it, I have excellent sources who will tell me."

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so, what do ya think? Should I continue?