"Sweetie I must say you are remarkably calm for having had that much revelation showered upon you."

Brennan had grabbed Angela the moment she had walked in this morning and after a brief argument over the necessity of morning coffee, which Angela won, Brennan had ushered her into her office. She had sat quietly and listened to the cliff notes version of Sweets' book and Brennan's own discoveries from the night before. After having personally witnessed five years worth of the Booth and Brennan love affair, Angela was impressed the young psychiatrist had been able to so correctly categorize their relationship. Of course they were fairly obvious.

"So what does Booth have to say about Sweets' conclusions?"

"I haven't talked to him yet."

"Really? You do realize you're going to have to discuss this with him, right?"

"Of course I do. I was just hoping for some additional insight before doing so. I'm still not certain how many of Sweets' theories I agree with, if any at all."

Angela's heart went out to her friend. This must be hard on her. Brennan had come to rely so completely on her partnership with Booth that this new development had to be rocking her to the core. Not that anyone could really tell. Brennan had a natural knack for adeptly locking away outward signs of any inner turmoil. She must have one hell of a poker face.

"Ok, this is one of those times you're going to have to recognize you are not qualified to question someone else's observations of the human psyche."

"So you're saying you agree with Sweets?"

"As much as I would love to deny it, yes I do." Taking a deep breath Angela pressed on, "Alright, you've admitted you're willing to agree Booth's awareness of his attraction towards you and the possibility that this could be causing Booth's recent funk. Let's start there. What did this discovery make you feel?"

"At first I felt confusion, why wouldn't Booth tell me something like this? Especially if keeping this information to himself was beginning to put a strain on our partnership?"

"Sweetie, don't you get it? That's a lot to put on someone that isn't even acknowledging their own attraction. Plus you aren't exactly on board with the whole marriage and babies thing and Booth is a marriage and babies kind of man. You know that in order for Booth to risk something as important as your partnership he would have to be certain you were willing to go all the way with him. And no, before you ask I don't mean that in a sexual connotation, I'm talking about commitment."

"I do admit that while I still find the idea of marriage archaic, I have found that the concept of monogamy no longer holds the negative association it once did."

"Well that's certainly a step in the right direction." Angela gave Brennan an encouraging smile, "Let's move on, shall we? What theory exactly do you have a problem with agreeing to?"

"The presupposition that Booth and I share the same basic character traits. I value reason, logic and empirical evidence. Booth is all about his gut and feelings. I fail to see the resemblance."

Angela almost slapped her hand to her forehead. Sweets lays a bombshell on her, revealing her partner's attraction and this is the point she chooses to argue? How could someone so brilliant be so oblivious?

"Honey, that's just what's on the outside. It's what's in the gooey center that matters. You and Booth are extremely loyal, value justice to the point of devoting your lives to its pursuit, and are both rigid in your personal disciplines. That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure if given more time I could come up with a few more." Angela watched Brennan for a moment as the idea took hold. "What I'm trying to say is, if you dig a little deeper, you will realize you and Booth are more alike than you may be willing to admit."

"So what should I do now? What would you do if you were in my position?"

"First you need to decide for yourself what you want out of this. Are you willing to risk your partnership for Booth? And don't focus on the silly details like marriage and babies. Trust me, those things will work themselves out. But if you want to know what I would do?" Brennan nodded her head quickly. "I would grab a hold of that man and never let go. That's five years of sexual repression there girl. You definitely need to hold on tight and ride that one out. Now that is decidedly a sexual reference."

Angela was happy to see a trademark Brennan smile appear at her little joke. Since she had been waiting for the inevitable question, Angela wasn't surprised when Brennan asked, "Even after what happened with you and Hodgins?"

Angela paused a moment to contemplate her answer. "I wouldn't exactly consider the biography on Jack and I completed yet. Hopefully you'll realize for yourself that when you have something wonderful, sometimes the story takes a little longer to tell."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dr. Lance Sweets had no time after the brisk knock on his door to prepare himself for a visit with Seeley Booth so early in the morning. But there he was, already through the door, sitting down and launching into his interrogation. All with a feral grace Sweets still found unnerving for a man his size.

"Sweets, I read your book last night and I was hoping you'd have a few minutes to discuss it with me."

Lance tried to hide the smile that he couldn't completely suppress. "Of course Agent Booth, I would love to answer any questions you might have regarding my observations. I'm sure you have many troubling topics you wish to discuss."

"No, I'm not really here to discuss anything inside the book. I'm here more to talk about the book in general. You know I really don't appreciate having my personal life laid open for the entire world to see."

If Sweets hadn't already been sitting, this would have been a perfect moment to do so. Booth's voice had softened taking on that steely edge, the look he saw in the agent's eyes would have made him take a step back.

"Um, yes, well, I took great care to not disclose any personal details that would directly link you or Dr. Brennan to the book." Sweets managed to stammer out. "I'm sure anyone that doesn't directly know you two would ever associate you with the book."

"See, that's the problem, it's the people that know us that I'm worried about." Booth seemed to pull into himself, "More specifically us is what I'm worried about."

Sweets held his breath for a few moments hoping to not draw attention to himself. Booth so rarely opened up, Sweets didn't want to ruin the moment so he held himself quietly still. Unfortunately whatever Booth seemed to be reflecting on only held his interest momentarily and he sprung back to life asking, "What were you thinking putting something as private as that out there?"

"Agent Booth, wouldn't you rather have this out in the open so you and Dr. Brennan can discuss your partnership?"

Booth abruptly leaned forward causing Sweets to flinch back in his chair. "See that's the problem with you psychiatrists, you're always trying to get us to open up and share what we're thinking. Sometimes you have to let things play themselves out naturally. You can't rush a butterfly's metamorphosis. You have to give it time to come out of the cocoon on its own. If you try to rush it, it dies. Then you have a dead caterpillar and no butterfly. Are you gettin' me?"

"Yes, I do believe I understand your point."

"No, I haven't made my point entirely clear yet Sweets. You see, I'm a big fan of butterflies with their colorful wings and their delicate touches. So if your meddling book has in anyway damaged this metamorphosis, I will have to come back here and finish our discussion." Booth then stood towering over Sweets for a couple of seconds. "Now I believe I've made my point." He then turned stepping around the couch heading for the door. He paused and turned, "Oh, and don't go pestering Bones about what she thinks of your 'troubling topics', in fact, just leave her alone for a while. I'm sure if she has any questions or anything she would like to talk to you about, she'll come to you. Otherwise, leave her alone. Ok?"

"Yes, of course Agent Booth. I understand completely."

"I can see that you do." Booth flashed a brief smile before turning and leaving.

Sweets sat in his chair for several minutes after Booth left. He no longer felt excited by the prospect of his book being released, in fact some might say he felt a little frightened.