[Author's Note: Officially a one-shot, but I might continue it if I feel it's going somewhere. Spoilers for season 6, however minor. Set right after 6x20, because I loved it but the lie wasn't a lie, was it. Please, R&R!]

The Confession in the Cocktail.

After Booth's confession to Brennan, he actually felt better. She had been sweet in her response, telling him that it hadn't actually been a lie and that she had been happy to be able to help him when he was going through the depression shortly after his breakup with Hannah.

They were still at the bar, drinking and chatting about the case. Brennan hadn't mentioned radical truth or lies again, but he saw in her eyes that she was still wondering about a real lie from him to her. He was panicking a little, dreading the moment when she would ask him, but right now she seemed to lack the courage to put her heart at risk again. He wanted to tell her she shouldn't worry, that he was actually merely protecting her and that she would come to know everything when the last of her imperviousness would be gone, but something in her eyes told him she'd bring it up again this evening. She was drinking quite a lot and he joined her, just to make sure the liquor gave him the courage needed to answer her truthfully.

Brennan felt relieved at Booth's confession of a lie to her, but also, she knew he knew it wasn't really a lie. It was withholding information, and even though that could be considered obstructing a police investigation just as well as lying, it wasn't the same. She feared his actual lies to her but she felt they were in a point in their relationship in which they should be able to really open up to each other. They always had in the past, and she knew that his lies would probably be small and inconsequential, but still, the fact that he hadn't shared a real lie with her, bothered her.

And thinking about it had made her realize something about herself, as well.

She had also been lying. Not to Booth, but to herself.

After a few more shots of tequila and ordering a colourful cocktail, Booth raised an eyebrow at her. 'You sure you want to order more?'

'Yes, I'm positive,' she answered. 'You want one as well?'

'I'm not sure I can handle the combination, thanks,' he answered, and downed another tequila. She nodded. 'Sure. You shouldn't push your limits of alcohol tolerance, I have seen in the past your tolerance levels are lower than mine.'

'Is that a challenge?' he smiled.

'No, an observation,' she answered.

He sighed, gathering focus and courage for his next comment.

'Wanna hear an observation I made just now?'

She looked at him, frowning. 'You're barely in the condition to make rational observations, Booth.'

'And you are? Come on, Bones. Spill. I know you're still worried about this lying thing. I told you something, but you're not happy with it, are you.'

After a moment of silence and another tequila, Brennan met his eyes. 'All right. Yes, I'm still worried. You chose to tell me something, but it wasn't a real lie. You're still hiding them from me and I thought we were past that. It only shows how inadequate my social skills are, because I thought you were actually going to share a lie with me. I misread you and now I'm confused.'

The alcohol had started to talk with her, her usual confidence slowly leaving her eyes, as it usually did when she got intoxicated. With other people, confidence came with the cocktails. For Brennan, it left to make room for the cocktails.

Fortunately, Booth was on of the other people, and he got bolder once he had had a certain amount of alcohol. Connecting his eyes with hers in a way only they could, he looked into her baby blue eyes. 'Ok. I'll tell you a real lie, but only if you tell me one as well.'

'I told you, I never lied to you,' she answered.

'I bet that is either not true, or you lied to someone else about me,' he said, taking her breath away with the sudden clarity he provided. He was right. She had lied to others about her feelings for Booth. She did it all the time. And of course she lied to herself, although she had stopped doing that after they wrote down and burned their date after being trapped in the elevator. That night had provided her with a calmness and warmth she had needed to see through her own lies.

'Deal. You tell me first, though, you owe me that,' she said.

He nodded. 'Ok. I.. I really lied to you when I said.. Damn, this is hard,' he said. 'I really want to tell you this, because it's important that you know it, but it's huge, Bones. You know what I'm talking about here, right? It's huge.'

'Yes, it is either about your feelings for me or about Hannah, am I right?' In reality, it was just a wild guess, but she was right. 'Yeah, about both, actually,' Booth answered. 'But I just need you to trust me, ok? And believe me, but don't make it into something it isn't. It's just a confession, nothing more. It doesn't change anything.'

She was getting quite nervous by this point, so she took a generous gulp of the cocktail that had arrived. 'I won't make it into something it isn't.' she assured him.

'Ok. You remember in the car, after the Eames case?'

She nodded. Of course she remembered. It was when her heart was ripped out of her chest and positively crushed and crumbled to tiny little pieces, which she was still trying to recover.

'Well, I.. I told you that she, Hannah, wasn't a consolation prize.'

Brennan nodded. 'And that you loved her.'

'Yeah. But I just.. I just meant that I loved her, you know, as a woman. She wasn't you, Bones. No one is.'

She ate the piece of pineapple that was in her cocktail and looked at him. 'So what was the lie?'

He sighed. 'That she wasn't a consolation prize. Of course she was. I was hurt, my confidence was shattered and my ego bruised, I went away to be a hero and I found her, our attraction was real but it wasn't love then. I.. Fulfilled my sexual desires, so to say. And then I projected onto her what I wanted from you.'

'Now you sound like a psychologist,' Brennan said. 'But thank you for sharing that.' Her voice was soft and her eyes were focussed on her drink. He looked at her, his eyes pleading for her to say something more. 'Yeah? You really understand that? I'm a loyal man, Bones, and that was the only reason I didn't go home with you that night. And I'm so sorry, I know you needed me and I know I should have gone with you.'

'You don't have to explain yourself, Booth. I understand,' Brennan answered. 'I shouldn't have asked that of you then.'

They were silent for a while, and suddenly, the dam broke and Brennan started talking.

'I lied as well, that night. I said I could adjust. But I couldn't, Booth. I don't have your kind of heart, my heart is somehow different, even though anatomically it's the same. My heart takes much longer to heal. I didn't know what to say, so I said I'd adjust, because I wanted to believe it. But it was a lie.'

'I'm so sorry, Bones,' he whispered, his hand finding hers on the table. 'I know how much it must hurt you. I should never have turned you down like that.'

'No, it was the right thing to do, after all, I did the same to you,' she said, withdrawing her hand.

'Yeah, but I can take it. It hurt so badly because I didn't understand your reasons. I really didn't. I said you were right, but I didn't understand.'

She looked at him, her lips pressed together, her eyes blue with impending tears. 'So.. Then you lied to me as well?'

He nodded. 'I guess. But you see now that lies are for your own protection sometimes? I couldn't push you more, I knew I did the wrong thing by asking that much of you and then I needed to protect you from me. You see that now? I wanted it all. Everything, and I just didn't understand your reasons for saying no, but I had to put you ahead of myself. If I had asked another explanation, would you have been able to give one?'

She shook her head. 'I just.. I was positive I couldn't be what you needed. I'm still not entirely sure. If you would have pushed me I would have most likely withdrawn.'

Booth closed his eyes for a second. 'Damn, this liquor is really messing with my mind.'

She nodded. 'I feel I'm slightly intoxicated as well. But.. I'm glad we can be honest with each other.'

'Yeah, me too, Bones,' he said, looking at her and taking her hand one more time. This time, she didn't withdraw. 'You know what was honest truth though?'

'No,' she said. 'I should imagine you tell the truth most of the time so I cannot possibly know which instant you're implying.'

'Right. Honest to God truth when I said that I love you. You know, after the coma.'

'When you added 'in an atta girl kinda way.'

'Yeah, that wasn't true, though. You scared the shit out of me with the look in your eyes. You looked as if you were ready to jump off the highest building in town if I didn't finish that sentence that way.'

Brennan nodded. 'Yeah, I was taken aback. But now, I accept your confession.'

'Great. Wanna go home and grab a coffee before we have a major hangover tomorrow?'

'Sure,' she said, withdrawing her hand from his grasp and getting her wallet to pay the bill. He beat her to it, leaving a generous tip and offering her coat to her, he watched her graciously slipping into it.

He followed her to his car, thinking about all the little things they knew about each other. He knew she had taken a cab here because she always did. He knew she'd try to drive because she always did. He knew she'd then try to get them both a cab because she always insisted on driving or taking a cab when he had too much to drink. He knew he'd never win her argument and he knew they'd end up in a cab. He knew he'd have to walk back here in the morning to collect his car. He knew she would be ready when he would pick her up to go to the lab or to a case. He knew so much about her, and he also knew there were a lot of things still to be uncovered about Temperance Brennan. But they were getting there.

Slowly but surely, his anger was dissipating and his thoughts were collected again. His heart was healing and it was more open than ever to every single movement she made. It wouldn't be long before he would be ready to take his chances with her again, and he knew she would be scared, but brave and trusting enough to give it a shot as well. He couldn't wait.