Booth was sitting in Bones' office. He was having a rough time sitting there all by himself. He sighed as he put his head in his hands.

'Oh, Bones... Why didn't you listen to me... to us... to Angela...'

That was probably the thing that he hated most.

'I can't be the reason she loses her best friend. Neither of them would ever recover from that.'

He looked up as he heard the door open.

"Did you find her, Angela?"

She nodded, but Booth could see the wounded look in her eyes. "Did you talk to her?"

Angela took a deep breath before she answered Booth. "She... she locked herself in in Limbo... She won't come out..." When she made her way over to the couch as far away from Booth (who was sitting in her chair behind her desk) as possible. She clasped her hands together in her lap and whispered: "She said she doesn't want to see me anymore Booth... She says that I betrayed her..." She looked up at the FBI Agent with tears in her eyes. "I hurt her, Booth..."

Booth quickly got up and made his way over to the teary eyed artist in front of him. "You didn't do anything wrong, Ange... and neither did I..." He paused to let his words sink in. "What she walked in on... She should've allowed us to explain."

Angela shook her head. "No... I understand her Booth... if I had been the one to walk in on Hodgins and Brennan like THAT, I wouldn't have allowed her to explain either..." Her voice broke when she said those last words.

"Oh, Ange... Shhh..." Booth reached out to her, to hold her, to comfort her, but she pulled back.

With a stern voice that scolded him, she stated: "NO! This is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place!"

As Angela flinched away from his touch, he was forced to remember the way that Bones had flinched only half an hour ago.

FLASHBACK:

"Tempe!" Booth sighed in frustration. "You're NOT listening to me... Your father and your brother love you... Why don't you want them to come over for dinner tonight?"

She turned around and faced away from him, her arms crossed protectively in front of her chest as if she was trying to protect her heart.

When she didn't answer, he gently slid his arms around her waist and murmured in her ear: "Besides, I'll be there when the conversation turns sour."

She pulled out of his arms, the moment he uttered those words.

"WHEN, Booth? WHEN??? Not if, huh, but WHEN!"

She poked him in his chest. "So tell me Booth... Exactly how socially inept do you think I am, huh?" She poked him again. "Not only do you assume that the conversation with my brother and father is going to turn sour, NO you actually think that YOU would have to be there to SAVE me from it!!!" She was yelling by now. "I'm not a damned damsel in distress, Booth! I'm a full grown woman, capable of making her own decisions and dealing with the consequences of those decisions. I DO NOT NEED YOU TO PROTECT ME FROM MAKING MISTAKES NOR DO I NEED YOU TO CLEAN UP MY MESSES!!!"

With those words, ringing in his ears he had to watch as his worst fear became reality. She turned around and left.

END FLASHBACK

Brennan tried to regulate her breathing and stop the trembling of her hands as her aching heart and her pride fought a war inside of her body. Her heart was telling her, no screaming at her that she was making a mistake. That what she had seen wasn't real! That she had to march herself back up to her office and apologize to Angela... to ask her if she wanted to go shopping on her expenses or something... To go upstairs and kiss Seeley Booth senseless, take him home and prove to him with her body how much she regretted the mistake.

But her pride wouldn't let her. She was a proud woman. What if what she had seen was real? And what if she would apologize, only to find out in the future that he had been cheating on her all along... with Angela, her best friend? She closed her eyes and as soon as she did, the memory of the events that had happened only twenty minutes earlier, assaulted her.

FLASHBACK:

She felt guilty about blowing up at Booth like that. So she had turned around and was making her way back to her office. She walked in without looking up, afraid to see the pain, hurt and accusations in his eyes. But she was the one who looked up in pain when she heard his voice.

"Thank you so much, Angie... This was just what I needed."

"Anytime, Seeley... anytime."

Her eyes snapped open and her gaze fixated itself on her best friend and her boyfriend. Booth had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, she was standing on the tips of her toes, so she could look Booth in the eyes and she had her wrists locked behind his neck, to steady her, just like Booth's strong grip was mostly to prevent her from losing her balance.

But she didn't see that.

The only thing she saw was Angela pressing herself into Booth's frame and Booth holding her there. She was powerless to stop the angry rant.

"I see you found someone that you wouldn't have to accompany to dinner to rescue her from the probability that she'll make the conversation go sour."

The people in front of her immediately broke away from each other.

"Sweetie!"

"Bones!"

They exclaimed at the same time with the same amount of guilt and surprise in their voices.

Not able to stop herself, she turned around and ran.

END FLASHBACK

Brennan shook her head and softly whispered to herself:

"It's too late Temperance... Even if you apologize right now it doesn't matter... Who would stay around after being accused of what I accused them of..."

She sighed, closed her eyes, focused on steadying her hands and emerged herself into the case once again.

Brennan was surprised when she looked at the clock. It was four am. "That means that I've been in here for over twelve hours. Well at least now I know that I won't bump into one of them." She put away the remains and went back to her office.

The sight in front of her brought tears to her eyes.

Angela was asleep curled up in a ball.

Booth was lying on the floor, with a pillow under his head.

On the OPPOSITE site of the room.

'No doubt to make sure that I wouldn't find them together, to make sure I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.'

She made her way over to Angela, placed her hand over her mouth and gently nudged her shoulder. When Angela woke up, she only said one sentence. "I'm so sorry, Ange."

To her relief, Angela shook her head, whispered: "It's okay, sweetie." and wrapped her in her arms. Angela quickly got up and said: "See you in the morning."

When she was at the door, she turned around and whispered softly:

"Bren, I know what you saw, but... don't be too hard on him... He gave himself a really hard time... He thinks he lost you..." With that said, she turned around and walked away.

The tears were brimming in her eyes. Tears of joy because she knew that she was loved. She made her way over to Booth's sleeping form and lowered himself next to her. She lied down next to him and as their bodies touched, she felt him roll over and put his arm around her waist.

"Temperance, baby, is this really you?" He sounded sleepy.

"Yes, Booth it IS me... Go back to sleep... We'll talk in the morning."

"Sure." He replied and before he closed his eyes again, he tightened his grip on her waist, to make sure she wouldn't get away. At least that's what she thought.

Except it wasn't. The moment he felt that she was actually there, that he was indeed gripping her warm soft body to his, he woke up. He sat up and said confused: "Bones? It's really you!"

She laughed and said: "Yes it is..." She frowned and continued. "Booth I'm sorry... I should've trusted you. I apologize. Do you accept my apology?"

He could her the fear of rejection in her voice, so he quickly pressed a kiss on to her forehead as an answer.

She leaned over him, pressed a kiss to his soft warm lips and whispered: "Thanks."

She snuggled back to the position she had been in previously and murmured:

"Let's go to sleep, kay? I'm tired."

He yawned, nodded and pulled her closer all at ones, securing their bodies together, pressed against one another.

When Angela found them like that four hours later, she knew that everything would be just fine. Trying very hard not to disturb the sleeping couple she turned around, walked out of the office and closed the door behind her.

THE END!