"Booth has a date." Temperance Brennan wandered into Angela's office. Not sure where else to go.

"Of course he does" Angela snapped. "And it could've been you if you weren't so intent on sabotaging your own happiness."

"Booth told you!?" That was so unlike him.

"He came looking for you last week when you were running scared."

"I was not running scared" she lied. Angela snorted in disbelief.

"Fine…I was giving myself time to cope with the consequences of my actions. It was a rational decision." She had to talk to someone and Angela was the only person she could really open up to. And since she already knew what happened, it wouldn't be a betrayal of Booth's confidence to talk to her about it.

"You gave up your one shot at happiness Brennan. You know that right."

"I do." She surprised herself with her honesty.

"You do?" Angela was obviously just as surprised as she was.

"He deserves so much better Ang," tears threatened and she choked on the words.

"He deserves to be with the woman he loves." She countered.

"I don't think I can be that woman. I don't know how to be." Angela sat down beside her on the couch.

"You're being that woman right now Brennan." She said softly laying one hand on her shoulder, "You're giving up something you really want because you believe it's better for Booth this way. That's what love looks like." Tears poured down her face as she tried to wrap her mind around what Angela was saying. "Only you're wrong about him. He can't be happy with someone else and you're not doing him any favors by pretending you don't love him." She slid down on the couch to lay her head Angela's lap, her friend's long artists fingers stroking her hair, comforting her like the mother she'd lost so long ago.


Brennan was a wreck. She was too hard headed to admit she was wrong, but she couldn't stop crying either. Angela drove her home, put her to bed and slept on her couch. They had court early the next day and she was still in yesterday's clothes. Brennan offered to loan her something, but she knew she wouldn't feel right sitting in front of a jury in anything but her own clothes. Only one thing to do.

"Hodgins will you bring me some clothes?" She began without preamble.

"Ang?" He grumbled.

"Sorry to wake you but we have to be there in an hour and my apartment is too far away, it's closer to your place."

"Who is it baby?" She heard a woman's voice and cringed. She should've taken her own damn advice and hung onto that man for dear life.

"I think I have some stuff here Ang. You left some red short pants things and a dress and…"

"No." She interrupted. "I need my blue dress and silver earrings and black leggings and those black embroidered flats…" She rattled through the list quickly. "And my black bra and a thong." She brushed her wet hair into a low loose bun.

"K got it. See you in an hour" He had an incredible memory. She had no doubt he'd be there fifteen minutes early with everything she needed.

"Did you reach Dr. Hodgins?" Brennan looked like hell. Dark circles under her red puffy eyes, her hair was a mess and she had mascara all over her face.

"Yeah… he's still got a key to my place so he's bringing my stuff to the courthouse. Now get in the shower. You look like death."

The shower didn't help much. Even with makeup and a classic black blazer she looked like the complete opposite of the "together" Brennan she knew and loved. They arrived at the courthouse with ten minutes to spare. Booth, Hodgins and Cam were waiting for them outside the courtroom. Jack held out her black duffle bag.

"All there," he said carelessly. She kissed his cheek and bolted for the bathroom. She probably shouldn't have done that but… he was her hero for the morning and he deserved a token of her appreciation. He'd thought of everything, even the necklace she'd forgotten to mention and her favorite frosty lip gloss. She was an idiot. Why didn't she hang on to him, force him to work through their problems instead of running away. She was just as stupid as Brennan, only she had no abandonment issues to excuse her moronic behavior.


"You okay Dr. B? You look…tired." Hodgins asked in concern. Booth thought she did look tired. Exhausted actually. Maybe she had stayed up all night working on the case. "You two girls have a few drinks last night? How come Angie crashed at your place?" Hodgins continued. That was weird. It was the middle of the week.

"I'm fine Dr. Hodgins. Angela and I merely spent the evening conversing and time got away from us." She said her eyes shifting from side to side. She was lying. "Shall we go in?" She didn't wait for a response, just walked past them into the busy courtroom.

He really shouldn't be worrying about Bones. He shouldn't be thinking about her at all. Her lack of sleep should not make any difference to him one way or the other. Was he curious what the girly squints were talking about into the wee hours of the morning? Sure. Did he suspect that his name had come up once or twice? Sure he did. But he couldn't dwell on that. It was a new Seely Booth that rolled out of bed that morning and he was not going back to the way things were before. He couldn't make her the center of his world anymore.

Instead of waiting with the squints while the jury deliberated, he went in search of Valerie. She took her break and they sat on a bench outside drinking coffee and talking for a while. She was nice, not the brightest crayon in the box, but nice. She laughed at his jokes and gave him compliments and she had beautiful soft brown eyes and a great body. He wasn't sure if it would go anywhere, but it was a great distraction for now.

"Excuse me" a strained unrecognizable voice came from behind. He turned to see Bones, her eyes glued to Valerie's forehead, standing behind him "Booth, the jury's back."

"Already?" He jumped up and tossed his half finished coffee in the trash before he remembered his manners.

"Valerie this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan, Bones this is Val." It was weird seeing the two women shake hands. Val was all smiles and "nice to meet you's" but Bones looked vaguely repulsed.

"Booth." She urged him impatiently.

"Right, gotta go Val. I'll call you this weekend okay?" He squeezed her hand and trailed after his partner.

"So…what do you think of her?" He asked. She didn't look at him, just shrugged.

"She is attractive…though not as educated as the women you usually date."

"How do you know that?" He demanded.

"She's a secretary Booth." He heard the disapproval in her voice.

"She's a clerk, not a secretary. And she's a good person Bones. Don't act like she's worthless because she doesn't have ten Ph.D's or whatever." He said irritably.

"At least Tessa had a law degree, though the level of intelligence required to interpret the law is limited… and Cam is relatively intelligent," She continued as though he hadn't interrupted. "I just don't think you can be with a woman who is not your equal intellectually." Was that a compliment? It was always so hard to tell with Bones.

"The woman I'm taking out tomorrow is a teacher. Maybe you'll like her better huh?" She gave him the dirtiest glare.

"You're dating two women?" She demanded.

"Not dating, I just had two first dates this week. Hopefully I'll be dating one of them in the future. Depends on how Friday goes."

"That's so…unlike you," her forehead crinkled as they walked into the court room.

"I told you Bones…I'm gonna find somebody." He whispered just in time to hear the verdict. Guilty. They'd done it again. This team was amazing. The guy they just put away, he'd killed two young girls. And he would've done it again if they hadn't caught him, Booth had seen it in his eyes. No. He could not be the one to break up the team, their success rate depended on every single person working well together. It made him more determined than ever to get over his partner. He had to keep things professional with Bones and prove to her that he'd moved on with his life. Innocent people's lives depended on it.