Author's Note: This is the other story that I wrote for the Bitesize_Bones Crack and Cliche comment fic challenge a little while ago. It will be much shorter than The Confusion in the Duckling, and also a bit bizarre coming from me. But I hope you enjoy it. :)

I would like to thank Fourth_Rose from LJ for coming up with this prompt.

I do not own Bones or any of its characters.

I'd like to thank everyone who reads/follows/reviews this. Again, it's always appreciated. :)

The Dupe in the Payback

Special Agent Seeley Booth leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers together behind his head. He had just finished up the last of the paperwork for the latest case he had solved and found himself happy to be able to put it aside. It had been a messy affair involving jealousy, corporate politics and copious amounts of alcohol. But after two grueling weeks, he had managed to trip up the murderer in his own alibi, cracking the case wide open.

'That will teach him a lesson about why you shouldn't rely on circus performers for corroboration,' he thought to himself.

Booth stood up and stretched, turning off his computer. He was pulling his suit jacket back on when he spied Daisy Wick heading toward his office. He sighed and plopped back down into his chair.

He reminded himself that all the squints…even the interns…were "his people" and thus deserved the respect that came with being a member of his team. He also remembered what Cam said about how, despite all her interpersonal faults, Daisy was a hard worker along with being very bright. Plus, he knew about how much she meant to a certain psychologist, who he considered a close friend. All this, along with his Catholic upbringing, made it so that he usually did not find her…eccentricities overwhelming.

But in this moment, seeing her march toward him, her ponytail swishing back and forth as she walked, Booth wondered how strong his resolve in this area truly was.

"Agent Booth? I hope I wasn't interrupting something," the intern said as she opened the door and walked into his office.

"Not really," he replied. "I was just getting ready to…."

"Great," she grinned as she pulled up a chair and sat across from him. "Because I really need to ask you a super-important question."

"Sure," Booth nodded while trying his best to work up a smile.

"I was wondering….You've been in serious relationships before, right?" Daisy said. "I mean there was that one you had with your son's mother, even though I know that didn't work out. And I heard that you had a thing with Doctor Saroyan, and obviously that didn't really work either or she wouldn't be with that gynecologist…."

"Didn't you have a question Daisy?" the agent interrupted, wanting to end this line of conversation.

"Oh yes," she continued, undaunted. "What I want to know is: if you're with someone and they mean something to you, you let them know that, right?"

"I suppose so."

"And because they knew that you cared for them and loved them, they knew that you wouldn't lie to them, correct?" Daisy asked. "I mean if you told them something, something about your relationship and where you wanted to take it, they could believe the things you told them, couldn't they?"

Booth ran a hand over his face. He was exhausted and did not feel like participating in this game of double-talk. But he had a strong suspicion that this was somehow connected to her relationship with Sweets, so he wanted to choose his words carefully.

"Daisy," he said, rising to his feet. "When a man cares for you…especially in the way you're thinking about…it's far more than just the sum of his words. It's part of how he thinks, how he acts. You'll be able to see signs of his feelings for you everywhere if you are looking for them."

"So…you're saying that his actions will mean a bunch more than his words will?" she asked as she stood up.

"I'm saying that a man will show you his heart through the things he does," the agent said. "Just ask yourself this: what do his actions say to me?"

Daisy nodded her head thoughtfully a few times, and Booth could swear that he could see the wheels turning in her head. Then she suddenly ran over and grabbed him for a tight hug. Booth stiffened in her embrace, his arms held outward from his sides.

"Thank you so much for your help, Agent Booth," she practically squealed. "I know just what to do now, thanks to you."

"Ok, ok. Glad I could help," he muttered as he carefully extracted himself from her. She beamed at him as she backed out of his office.

After she left, the agent felt a shudder pass through him. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason he felt uneasy about the things she said just before she left. Deciding to ignore it, Booth turned out the lights and pulled out his cell phone as he walked out of his office.

"Hey Bones, it's me. How about we meet at the Founding Fathers for a couple drinks? No, not really hungry. I just really need a drink right about now."

After a couple of stiff drinks with his partner and a few hours of quality sleep, Booth felt refreshed and ready for any challenge that could be awaiting him at work. He hadn't been called in for any new homicides, but he figured that it was only a matter of time. So the agent decided to do some much needed catch up on a stack of paperwork during what was sure to be an all-too-brief downtime.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and settled down in front of his computer. He had been at it for over two hours when he heard someone open his office door.

"Excuse me. Can I come in?"

Booth looked up to see a distraught-looking Sweets standing in his doorway. There were shadows under the psychologist's eyes along with the too-bright glint of tears in them. The agent noted that the hand that was holding the door open had a slight tremor to it.

Booth saved what he was working on and pushed away from his computer, steeling himself. Sweets was obviously very upset about something and was seeking consolation from him. He didn't always enjoy dealing with the therapist's strong emotions, but he knew that he couldn't bring himself turn Sweets away when he was in this state either.

"Sure," Booth said. "Go ahead and sit down."

Sweets crept into the room and started to sit down on a nearby chair. Suddenly, he stopped himself and jumped back upright so he could pace around the office.

"No…no," the therapist muttered while taking great pains to avoid looking directly at Booth. "I uh, I have something I need to ask you…No, something I need to say…."

"Look Sweets, if this is about Daisy…."

"So it's true?" Sweets asked as he sprang toward the desk to face him. "You two met last night?"

"She stopped by my office last night, yes," Booth answered cautiously. "She said that she had something important to ask me."

"I see," the psychologist responded quietly. He turned his back on Booth for a moment and began taking a couple of deep breaths to compose himself. When he turned back around, Booth blinked at the expression on Sweets' face. Anger, sorrow, confusion: all of them were there, and all of them were competing for dominance.

"Agent Booth," Sweets said, his voice becoming increasingly cold and brittle. "Over the course of the years that we have worked together I…I thought that we had cultivated a certain measure of professional respect for each other. And I suppose I was hoping that that extended into a sort of personal regard as well."

The psychologist let out a short, frustrated breath and leaned against a chair in front of him, gripping the top of it. Booth saw that the tremor in Sweets' hands had become more pronounced.

"I know that I've made mistakes. Major ones, in fact," Sweets continued, swallowing hard. "I have always regretted them, and I tried to make up for them. I guess I thought that I could eventually be forgiven for them, but now I see that that was a mistake. I understand, and I probably deserve any sort of lingering animosity that you might have for the things I've done in the past."

"Sweets, I…."

"Please let me finish," the therapist snapped, his tone icy. "What I'm saying is that, if you want to sever our professional arrangement, that's fine. I'll learn to deal with it. In fact, if you want to sever our…friendship…I can learn to accept that too. But what you're doing now, I can't accept it. I'll never accept it. And you should know that I'm going to fight for her, no matter what."

Booth shot up from his chair, confused and vaguely irritated.

"What are you talking about?" he growled. Sweets met his tone with an even angrier expression of his own, his large brown eyes starting to turn black with rage. After staring each other down for almost a minute, Sweets spun on his heel and began to stomp out of the office.

But Booth was quicker. He dashed out from behind his desk and managed to block Sweets at the door. He then grabbed the therapist by the arm and dragged him toward a chair. Sweets struggled and tried to shrug him off, but the agent's grip was far stronger. Booth shoved Sweets down into a chair, and then yanked another chair over so he could sit in front of him. Once he sat down, he leaned over toward the psychologist, making sure to look him straight in the eye.

"Sweets, please tell me what the hell is going on."