Y'all are gonna be so mad at me. I really tried to go straight to the M, but my logical mind wouldn't let that happen. Apparently my muse feels like writing angst right now. Enjoy!

VVVVV

Booth was so flabbergasted by Brennan's proposal that he fled her office, desperately wishing that conversation never happened. But it did, and he didn't know what the hell he was going to do about it.

"Booth!" Hodgins called as the agent rushed past him in the hall. "Are you okay, man?"

"Can't talk, Hodgins! Time to work," Booth replied as he hurriedly continued down the hall.

Booth's cell phone rang as he approached the elevator, but he didn't need to look at the display to know who it was. He silenced the phone and put it back in his pocket. He couldn't talk to her—not yet.

He pressed the 'down' button, and surprisingly the elevator doors opened immediately. Booth stepped inside anxious to get away so he'd have a chance to think. He pressed the button for the main floor and turned to face the closing elevator doors. A fraction of a second before the doors were completely closed, Booth heard Brennan calling his name as she rushed toward him. Their eyes met as the doors closed, but he made no move to stop the elevator's descent.

The elevator reached the lobby without stopping at any other floor, and as Booth stepped off the elevator, his phone rang again, this time alerting him to a new text message. He pulled the phone from his pocket and flipped it open.

'1 new message from: Bones.'

He pushed the 'read' button.

'Come back. We need to talk.'

Booth sighed heavily as he pressed the 'reply' button.

'Need time to think. Will call later.'

He sent the message, closed the phone, and put it back in his pocket.

Booth sighed as he pushed open the door and walked out into the crisp, late-October air. He should have been enjoying the day and the Phillies' championship, yet there he was, running from his partner and her off-the-wall--and incredibly enticing--proposition. He shook his head as he made his way across the parking lot to his vehicle.

How had an innocent conversation about baseball turned into an unexpected sex proposal?