Brennan sighed deeply as she sat back and let the steaming water and lavender scented bubbles flow around her. The past few weeks, hell, months, had been a horrific emotional roller coaster ride and she hoped the bath would help relax muscles overtaxed by the stress.

A gourmet chocolate bar sat next to her glass of white wine and she languidly stretched an arm from the water to break off a square and pop it into her mouth. She allowed her body heat, slightly raised from the warm water around her, to slowly melt the chocolate on her tongue. She imagined the chemical reactions taking place in her neurons as the sweet treat stimulated her hypothalamus and elevated her seratonin levels. Her eyes closed in pure bliss momentarily, and when she opened them she returned to her well-worn paperback in her other hand.

The loud classical music drifting into the room from the stereo may have explained why she didn't hear the knocking on her front door, but a few moments later she was startled upon hearing her bathroom door banging forcefully against the door bumper and she bolted upright instinctually.

"Ok. You know what? Your excuses just don't fly. I know you don't believe in awareness after death but you do understand and even appreciate the significance of funeral services. You've gone to too many of our victims' funerals to say otherwise; not to mention being upset when I missed one of them. Why didn't you want to go to my funeral?"

During the course of this rant Brennan had regained her composure enough to fall back into the bubbly curtain above the waterline but she noticed somewhat amusedly that his eyes had started by drilling holes straight into hers but at some point had widened and drifted south of her neck and even now, her breasts fully clothed with bubbles, his eyes were glued to the waterline.

"I appreciate the fact the you're trying to level the playing rink by barging in here and invading my privacy the way you feel I invaded yours, but I'm not sure my dad will be quite so understanding when he gets back from visiting the girls tonight."

"Playing field, Bones, level the playing field." Finally his eyes snapped up to meet hers, then darted around nervously. "Wait. Your dad is staying here?"

Brennan smiled smugly. "Yes. My dad. He apparently had no qualms about killing a deputy director of the FBI when he felt I was threatened, I'm really not sure what he'll do to you when he finds out about this."

Booth relaxed a bit at the teasing tone to her voice. To anyone who didn't know her better she sounded very serious, very matter-of-fact, but he recognized it as her playful banter tone and he smirked a little. "Nah, you told me he said I was the nicest guy who ever arrested him. I think he likes me."

"There's a reason hearsay isn't generally allowed into testimony. It's often an exaggerated account of actual events or even an outright lie."

"You wouldn't lie to me, Bones."

"Make up your mind, Booth!" Her smug smile cracked into an outright grin as she knew she had the upper hand. "You just burst in here accusing me of lying to you about my reasons for not wanting to attend your funeral and now, when it suits you, you say I couldn't lie to you. You can't have it both ways."

Thinking a moment, Booth finally saw the novel in his partner's hand and burst out laughing. "You're reading your own book?"

"What? I like it; it's a good book. And nice try at deflecting the question."

"How modest you are. And you didn't ask a question, you stated facts, and you deflected my question, which was an actual question, to you in the first place."

Brennan's jaw dropped a bit, impressed despite herself. "I'm covered by bubbles, I'd say that should meet America's puritan modesty standards enough, given the circumstances. And you've been hanging around with me too long; you're starting to sound like me."

"I wasn't talking about that kind of modesty. But since you brought it up, you said you found my lack of puritan modesty refreshing -yet you're hiding behind your bubbles. And maybe you need to hang around me more, because, well, quite frankly, you sound nothing like me."

"What, you want me to stand up?" Brennan dropped her book beside the tub and gripped the sides, moving as if to stand. She knew Booth would either yell for her to stop and berate her lack of societal norms or turn around.

Instead, he crossed his arms and shifted his stance, seemingly getting more comfortable. She blinked for a moment, half-ready to rise, and realized she couldn't back down now, couldn't let him win. She narrowed her eyes, gritted her teeth and stood.

Booth closed his eyes and chuckled. "I saw you hesitate. You're not as unfazed as you'd like to think."

She sat back down in the water, feeling her face redden. "That was for your benefit. So you could get ready to close your eyes...like you did."

His face became more serious as he opened his eyes again, "You never answered my question."

Brennan sighed and closed her own eyes. "My dad is staying here because when you were gone, when I thought you were dead...I didn't handle it well at all. I could compartmentalize at work. At least, most of the time. Everyone kept looking at me sadly. They treated me as if I was fragile glass that would shatter at the slightest touch. If they had acted normally, I could have coped there just fine. Work is an excellent distraction. But at home, when I was alone, I had nothing to think about except the fact that you had died because of me. Because you wanted me to have a good time with my friends and relax. I thought your son had lost his father because of me. I couldn't deal with that when I had no work to occupy my mind. So he kept me company at home, tried to keep my mind off you and what I had done."

She opened her eyes, fast filling with as yet unshed tears. Swallowing thickly, she continued, "I didn't want to go to your funeral because it made it real. I wasn't dealing well when it didn't seem quite so final, I didn't think I would deal at all if I saw the finality of your funeral. You told me you'd never leave me and never betray me. I said I would stay vigilant, but I wasn't. I know you thought you'd taken care of making sure I was informed, and it wasn't your fault, but it's going to take awhile for my head to convince my heart. You taught me how to listen to both; you should understand that difficulty."

Booth had his eyes on the floor now and nodded. "I can accept that. Thank you for being honest with me. But you do know it wasn't your fault, right? Pam is the only one to blame. She made the decision to aim a gun at someone important to me. And I made the decision to stand in the line of fire."

"Honey?"

The front door slammed shut and Booth immediately spun and shut the bathroom door. "Oh my god, Bones, your dad can't find me here; he'll kill me!"

"Calm down, Booth, he likes you, I'm an adult, and there's really nothing going on between us here, there's nothing to worry about." Tilting her head up she raised her voice, "I'm in the bath, dad, I'll be out in a minute!"

Booth turned back around to see Brennan rise from the water a second time, only this time he wasn't prepared.

"Quit staring and grab me a towel, Booth."