Disclaimer: I don't own Bones, and if I did, things would have gone down a little differently.
A/N: First of all, holy crap you guys! I posted this story thinking I would only get maybe a couple of reviews but it clearly struck a nerve with everyone and for that I am extremely thankful! You all have great ideas and I'm going to use this as a little group therapy for everyone. Tell me what will make you feel better. What do you want the show to be, but can't see because it's all angst, all the time over there. How can Brennan be the best that she can be? Let me know, I'm taking requests. This is for Meg, my anonymous reviewer, because your idea rocked and there will be a chapter in the near future just for you.
OOOOO
Brennan sat on the bench alone, staring out into the reflecting pool, thinking of Booth. This was her spot away from all of the madness that was their current relationship. It was always her spot. After Booth had asked for more and she had turned him down, she came here. When he announced that he had met Hannah and that it was serious, she was here. When Hannah moved in and gave Booth the telephone that was supposed to be from her, she sat here. When everything was spinning out of control, she came to remind herself that they were the center and the center must hold. And now, strangely enough, the way to keep the center together was for her to move on. The thought was scary, but she was hopeful that she could do it. She had spent the last week building herself up from the last case and the time was just about right to make a move forward.
"Excuse me, I hate to bother you, but I have to ask, is everything okay?" A man asked as he stopped walking to examine her sad face.
"Everything is fine." She said.
"Are you sure? Because you look like someone just ran over your puppy." He said with a concerned smirk.
"I don't have a puppy." She informed him. The man chuckled and sat down next to her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked. "When I'm upset, I find that talking to a complete stranger at dawn in a public place is the best way to get things off your mind." He said, looking around with a grin.
"Why would I tell you anything if I don't know you?" She asked him, curious about his offer.
"Good point." The man acquiesced as he thought about it. "Maybe because I don't know a thing about the situation and you can be totally honest about how you feel without any repercussions. It's very liberating talking to a stranger. I do it all the time."
"So you're filled with other people's secrets?" Brennan asked.
"I prefer to think of it as other people are filled with mine." He said. "My name's Eric." He said as he held out his hand.
"Temperance." She said, shaking his hand. Booth would have commented about how dangerous it was to be talking to a total stranger, but for some reason, this knowledge spurred her on even more.
"What a great name." He said, honestly meaning it. "So Temperance, why the long face?"
OOOOO
Brennan sat and talked to Eric for two hours. She started at the beginning, from the very first case and she poured out everything that had happened between her and Booth, leaving out most of the personal details because she still firmly believed that those were only for her and Booth to share with each other. By the time she finished, she was exhausted from talking, the sun was up and she and Eric had finished two coffees each.
"So, he told you that he knew that you were the one, and then turned right around and told you that he had to move on." Eric said, his face puzzled.
"Yes."
"And now he's with this Hannah woman, who is everything he's ever wanted and more."
"Yes." She nodded.
"And you told him that you regretted letting him get away, but you guys are still working together."
"Yes." She said again.
"What complete bullshit." Eric said. "You don't just ask someone to love you for the rest of their life and then turn around and fall in love with someone else." He muttered. Brennan couldn't help but smile at him taking her side. It felt good to be unequivocally sided with for once. Brennan glanced down as his watch started beeping.
"What time is it?" She asked, suddenly aware that she should have been to work a long time ago.
"Eight forty-five." He said.
"I've got to get to work." She said standing up in a rush. "They are going to wonder where I am."
"Me too." He said as he pulled out a card. "Here's my number. You have to call me and let me know what happens next. I want updates." He smiled. "And no more sitting alone on park benches by yourself. You never know what kind of stranger might walk by." He said with a sly smile.
OOOOO
Brennan hurried through the doors of the lab and went straight for her office for her lab coat.
"Where have you been?" Booth asked. "I've been trying your cell phone for forty-five minutes!" He said as he followed her. "And now you're late for work? You're never late." He said. "What's going on?"
"I turned my phone off to conserve the battery until I could get to the charger, which I left here." She said as she pulled out her phone and plugged it in for good measure. "And I'm here now. Do we have a case?" She asked.
"Yeah." Booth said, examining her face as he realized that she was straight up lying to him. They had gone through a lot, but she had never, to his knowledge, lied to him so blatantly.
"Well then, let's go." She said as she threw her hair up in a ponytail as she walked out to the platform.
OOOOO
As the days passed on, Brennan spent very little time outside the lab. It reminded Booth of when she had been upset with him over Zack leaving for Iraq. He knew that whatever was going on with her, it was in direct correlation with their conversation in his car. She was shutting him out, and frankly, he couldn't really blame her for that one. He had done the same thing for awhile. It was self-preservation.
"Hey Bones. Wanna grab something to eat?" He asked, using his charm smile that she usually fell for instantly. He knew it was desperate, but he hated not knowing what was going on with her anymore.
"Not right now." Brennan barely glanced up from the skeleton in front of her before she muttered to him. "I'm working."
"Have you eaten yet today?" He asked, making a conscious effort to take better care of her, especially after her recent proof that she simply wouldn't take the time to do so herself. "Bones, you've got to..."
"I've got lunch plans, Booth." She reassured him. "I will eat, I promise." It wasn't like she wasn't eating with him just to spite him; that would be immature. She really did have plans. Besides if he was so concerned about her well being, he wouldn't have abandoned their friendship. She finally looked at him and when she did, she was surprised by what she saw. He looked hurt. Maybe she was being too short with him.
"Oh, well, good." He said bravely, trying not to take it personally.
"I appreciate the fact that you care enough to check." She said more kindly this time. It was time to change the subject. "I should have an identity by this afternoon."
"Great. We can investigate from there." He said, leaving the lab even more confused than when he originally walked in. As he was walking out, a man with a bag of food was walking in.
"Excuse me, do you know where I can find Dr. Brennan?" He asked.
"Who's asking?" Booth looked the stranger up and down before meeting his gaze again.
"Her lunch date." The man said, holding up the bag of food with a smile. "Eric Stiles." He said, holding out his hand to shake. "And I'm guessing by your protective tone of voice that you must be Agent Booth."
"That's right." Booth said before taking the hand, clearly interested in how this man knew him. "I'll walk you in." He said, wanting to gage Brennan's reaction to the man's entrance.
"Great." Eric smiled, taking in the agent. Booth turned around and walked back through the lab doors.
"Hey Bones. Your lunch date is here." Booth said, knowing that would get her attention. She smiled as she stopped working and immediately took off her gloves, tossing them in the nearest receptacle. Booth was shocked. Every one of the squints started coming out of their respective offices to watch the scene play out.
"Hi." She said, never taking her eyes off of the man standing next to Booth. "I thought we were going out?"
"We were." He said. "And I know you don't believe in fate, but I was on 18th street for a meeting and it was right next door so..." Eric said, flashing a far too charming smile for Booth's tastes as he waved the bag in front of her.
"You didn't!" Brennan said, surprised that he remembered. It was her favorite vegetarian spot in the city; a small hole in the wall that she was sure no one knew about apart from her. She had found it when she returned from Indonesia, but had visited it at least twice a week since then. All of her other eating spots reminded her too much of Booth, or had been invaded by having to spend time with him and Hannah together. When Eric had mentioned it being his favorite, Brennan had very nearly gasped out loud.
"Don't be too impressed, I just mentioned your name and Geoff had your order ready for you." He said with a laugh. In return, her crooked 'You're spoiling me' smile appeared. It was the one usually reserved for Booth, but then again, who else had ever spoiled her?
"That's because I tip him handsomely." She explained, her smile still in place.
"I figured we could eat at the pool." Eric said. "But grab your trench coat first. If you think I'm giving you my jacket again after that coffee fiasco last week, you are sorely mistaken." He said pushing her towards her office.
"Hey, I paid for the dry cleaning." She defended herself. Booth felt his nails cutting into his palm before he realized it was happening. The reflecting pool was their spot. What was she doing with other men at the reflecting pool?
Cam and Angela glanced at each other from across the lab. This was not going to end well. The two coworkers met in the middle of the entryway, where Booth was still standing dumbfounded.
"Who the Hell was that?" He asked Angela.
"I honestly have no idea." She said as she glanced at Cam.
"Don't look at me." She said. "I'm just her boss."
"I need a computer." Booth said, snapping out of his funk.
"You're going to run him?" Cam stated more than asked.
"Damn straight." He said as he walked into her office. Cam gave a shrug towards Angela and followed him.
"I would protest, but I'm so damn curious I can't work up the energy to pretend otherwise." Angela said as she sat down next to Booth. They both watched in silence as Booth tapped angrily at the computer.
"Here we go…" Booth said as he started getting back some returns.
"Eric Stiles, thirty five years old, born in Maryland, blah blah, blah…" He said as he scrolled down. "He's a surgeon at George Washington."
"No way!" Angela said. "And she kept him a secret from me?" She said, turning the monitor so she could verify Booth's facts.
"That's probably how they met." Cam said. "It's only a couple of blocks from the Jeffersonian."
"I can't believe she kept this a secret!" Angela said. "If she thinks I'm nosey when I know that she's dating someone…" She didn't finish as she stormed out of Cam's office. Cam turned her attention to the defeated agent still sitting at her desk.
"You okay, big guy?" She asked him.
"It's weird, right? That she wouldn't say anything to anyone?" He wanted, no, needed confirmation that it wasn't just him that felt cut out of her life. Just a few weeks earlier she had been telling him that she had made a huge mistake in letting him go, and now she was going on dates? Although, to be fair, she had never said that she loved him. She had never said that she expected a shot. She just had wanted him to know that she regretted it. The ambiguity of her confession was of more importance now.
"Dr. Brennan has always been very private with her relationships. I'm sure she just wanted to maintain some level of professionalism in the workplace." Booth stared at her before throwing his head down on the desk in a tantrum.
"Oh my God, is it really that bad?" He groaned in frustration. "You, Dr. Camille Saroyan, are the one other person who is never supposed to lie to me outside of Bones. Now you're both lying to me! I can't handle this anymore." He stood up and was ready to leave when Cam grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Hey." She said, her anger at the man growing by the minute. "I told you what would happen if you cracked that shell and then changed your mind. I told you that she would die of loneliness before she ever trusted anyone ever again. What did you do? You cracked the shell and then changed your mind and it nearly cost me my anthropologist!" He opened his mouth in protest, but Cam shot him a look. "If Dr. Brennan is happy with the surgeon then you have to let her make the decisions. She has been nothing but supportive of you and your decisions even though it has torn her up inside. Now it's your turn to do the same." She said as she let go of his arm, a clear signal that it was time for him to leave her office. Booth knew that she was right, but her logical answer did nothing to stop his urge to find out everything he could about this man.
OOOOO
When Brennan got back, Angela was sitting at her desk.
"What are you doing?" Brennan asked as she reached around her friend for her lab coat.
"I believe the more important question is 'Who are you doing?" Angela asked, refusing to get up from Brennan's desk. Brennan rolled her eyes at her friend's crude remarks. "You weren't going to tell me, your best friend in the whole entire world, that you were dating someone?"
"We're not dating." Brennan said as she buttoned her coat.
"No? You're just picnicking in the park with all the attractive surgeons in DC?" Angela said incredulously.
"How did you know that?"
"Booth ran him." Angela said. "Which is not the way a friend wants to find out that she's been kept out of the dark, but for Booth…"
"What about Booth?" Brennan said, the anger in her usually calm voice cut Angela off. "He's always doing that, with everyone that I come in contact with. I don't run his girlfriends. I don't storm in when they are out on their dates."
"I thought you said you weren't dating." Angela said.
"We're not, but that's not the point. I know that I turned him down, but he turned me down too." She said. "Why can't he just let me move on like he did?" She asked.
"Is this why you kept it a secret? To hide it from Booth?"
"I kept it a secret because it's better that way." She said.
"Why?"
"I didn't want what happened with Booth to happen again. I compartmentalize, it keeps me rational at work and helps me do my job properly. But every time that Booth or Hannah walks through the door, everyone expects me to suddenly snap and kill one of them in a jealous rage."
"No one would blame you if you did." Angela said with a smile. "Even I've thought about it, and I don't even love the man."
"This drama that surrounds us, it's affecting every aspect of my life now and I don't want that. I need someone in my life that lets me forget about Booth and work and the constant staring from my colleagues!" She finally broke. "I love my job, Ange. I know that now more than ever. It's gratifying but after all that time that we all spent apart, I realized just how much I have invested in this group. I don't want to get tired of this job again and have to lose everyone attached to it. I don't want to get tired of everyone attached to it and have to quit my job. I just…needed to get some distance, some perspective. I had to make a change." Angela was quiet as she processed what Brennan was saying to her.
"Okay." She said, completely won over by Brennan's honesty. "You're right." She said. "But can I just ask how you met this amazing guy that you aren't dating?"
"We met at the reflecting pool a couple of weeks ago. I was sitting on a bench drinking coffee and he was walking by. We just started talking and before I knew it, I had told him the whole story about what had been going on for the past few years. We talked for two hours."
"The day you were late for work." Angela said, connecting the dots.
"Yes." She said. "We've been meeting regularly for lunch or coffee ever since."
"So he knows everything?" Angela asked, surprised by her statement.
"Everything, but we never talk about it. As a surgeon he understands my need for distraction from topics like work. We talk about trivial things, normal things." She said. "It's light-hearted but it's nice to not have to think about murder or Booth and Hannah or what people think I think about Booth and Hannah." Angela smiled. "I need this, Ange, for my own sanity." Angela was surprised, but she found herself agreeing with Brennan.
"Okay." She said. "I'll let you keep your secret man a secret."
"Thank you."
"But just so you know, the whole thing drove Booth absolutely mad with jealousy." She informed her friend before leaving her office. Brennan frowned.
"That is exactly what I was referring to earlier!" Brennan called out as Angela smiled.
OOOOO
"How was your lunch date?" Booth asked as nonchalantly as he could muster before glancing in the rearview mirror.
"It was very fun, thank you for asking." She said with a smile.
"I must admit, Bones, I was surprised to meet him considering you never mentioned him before." He said.
"Judging from your tone, you want to know why." She assumed.
"It's just strange, you know, that you would keep something like that from me. You're usually so honest about everything." He said.
"You want me to be honest?" She asked.
"Always." He said. Brennan saw the sincerity in his eyes so she decided to give him what he wanted.
"The truth is that I enjoy spending time with Eric because he has nothing to do with work." She said. Booth glanced at her in surprise. "I've found that having someone completely separate from my job has been very beneficial for me."
"Beneficial?" Booth asked.
"Yes. I've always compartmentalized very well, but with all of my friends and family working in the lab, I hadn't realized how much time I spent surrounded by work, even when I wasn't working. You knew this; it was why I went to Indonesia."
"You needed a break."
"Yes. Now, I've found that being with Eric takes me out of the work setting and selfishly, I wanted him to stay separated from the rest of my life."
"So what, you were just going to keep him a secret and not tell anyone about him?" Booth asked, desperate to figure it out.
"I hadn't thought about it." She said. "But now you've met him, so it will admittedly be harder to keep the two pieces of my life apart." Booth stared straight ahead and processed what she was telling him. She liked this guy because he had nothing to do with work. He got her out of the lab and brought out the fun side of her. Why was he suddenly feeling like Eric was the replacement Booth?
"Well, I'm glad that you are happy, Bones." He said. Yes, he wanted Bones to be happy. He had wished for it every day for years. He had promised her a long time ago that one day she would believe in love and feel open and loved in return. A part of him just always assumed that it would be with him.
"Thank you, Booth. I'm glad that you are happy with Hannah." She said with a smile.
