Disclaimer: Bones isn't mine, blah blah blah...

Temperance Brennan was mad. Furious, in fact. Anyone could see that. The only person witness to her anger, however, was Seeley Booth, who, for such a large man, was doing a good job of making himself look small.

"Bones," he said quietly and soothingly. "Just calm yourself down now."

"No, I will not calm down!" she exploded, causing him to flinch slightly. "You had NO right to follow me-"

"Oh, so I as your partner had no right to see if you were safe?" he retaliated, beginning to feel a bit of his own anger rising to the surface.

"To see if I was safe!" she scoffed. "Yeah, good one Booth, that's why you followed me. It had nothing to do with the fact that you have an incurable obsession with knowing everything everyone is doing all the time!"

"Not everyone, just you." he said, smiling charmingly. But she didn't buy it.

"I told you I didn't want you to come with me, a normal person would have listened, but you had to follow me-"

"You were lying!" he said

"Of course I was lying!" she said angrily. "You honestly didn't expect me to let you tag along when I was shopping for your birthday present, did you? DID YOU?"

"Well, in my defence, I didn't know that was what you were doing."

"But you knew I didn't want you to come. And you came anyways." she said quietly. "And now you've ruined the surprise and there's nothing else I can find for you because you're so damn hard to shop for."

"Bones," he said soothingly. "I don't care about the present, really. And I'm sorry I ruined it, but please, don't be mad at me anymore."

"But if I forgive you - you'll just do it again. And again and again and again until one day I snap, Booth. You have to let me have my own life. I don't need you to protect me."

"Oh you don't need me? Right. That's why I'm rescuing you from ridiculous situations every second week. Because you're so good at taking care of yourself." He saw the hurt flash through her eyes but didn't stop. "If you don't need me anymore, Bones, then maybe I should just ask to be reassigned to someone who actually appreciates having a bodyguard willing to risk their life for them 24/7. Good luck on your own, Temperance."

And he stormed out, leaving her heartbroken and him feeling just as horrible.

Why did I do that? He thought to himself as he stomped out to his car. I shouldn't have done that, I'll go back and fix it right now.

But he didn't, because a part of him, the part he was ashamed of, had wanted to say that to Brennan for a very long time. The part that felt underappreciated and taken for granted. Maybe I'll just let her think about it for a while. See the error of her ways. Then I'll set things right tomorrow.

Little did he know that tomorrow - everything would change.

So that's it...a pretty short chapter, but it sets things up for the...upcoming events. Please review to let me know if I should continue..