Chapter 2 – Turning the Tables

Summary: Both Booth and Brennen get a bit snippy and Booth is a bit confused

Spoilers: Up to "Witch in the Wardrobe" in season five, goes AU after that

Rated M: For language and eventual sex (Might be a lot of sex actually) -first time writing smut, but hey I have a pretty dirty mind so I think I can pull it off

Disclaimer: Don't own anything about Bones and am not making a cent.

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As Booth walked into the Jeffersonian, he really wished he had a something he could hit or even a nice clown head he could shoot. Ok maybe that wouldn't be a good idea, since he got in so much trouble for it last time.

Booth was having a crappy day, he had spent the day hip deep in paperwork, he had to sit through a two hour meeting on budgeting, plus he had to drop off paperwork for Bones to sign, which he really wish he could have avoided.

To be honest he kind of kept his interaction with Bones at a minimum since she had rejected him. He figured the pain would diminish in time, but it was actually difficult right now to be in her presence outside a strictly professional sense. He liked working with Bones and he tried his best to keep everything friendly, but that didn't diminish the pain that he loved a woman that did not return his feelings.

Plus it started raining and he had not brought his freaking umbrella or overcoat so his jacket was soaked. Yep a really sucky day to be sure!

He walked through the lab and saw Hodgins and Cam in Hodgins's office looking at some experiment or something, likely a disgusting set of bugs that ate someone's eyeballs or something. They both saw him and he gave a wave.

He started removing his jacket because it was starting to soak through his dress shirt.

As he walked into Bones's office he gave a cheerful "Hey Bones"

He saw Bones jerk up and stare at him a bit coldly and respond in a chilly voice "Booth"

Great she was pissed about something, likely it would turn out to be his fault some way.

Booth threw his jacket on the couch and slumped into a chair facing Bones desk.

"So how is it going today Bones?"

Brennen wished Booth had picked a different time to stop by. The fact that she had been thinking about him and trying to figure out what to do about getting them back to where they were before that night, made his presence at this moment unwelcomed.

Brennen then noticed Booth had removed his jacket and was wearing his shoulder holster, which made it harder to look at him and maintain an even emotional response.

Booth noticed Brennen's eyes shift to his jacket and back to him repeatedly.

"Hey it won't ruin the couch"

She didn't want Booth knowing why she had noticed his jacket being off (stupid holster), so she covered up by acting as if she was actually concerned about the couch.

Bone's response was a terse "There is a coat rack by the door Booth"

Booth sighed "Ok, Ok fine" getting up and hanging the jacket on coat rack.

Booth slouched back into the chair and said "Better?"

"Yes thank you, now why are you here?"

Booth flinched "Ouch Bones I don't know what is wrong but it's not my fault!"

Brennen sighed, it was in a way his fault, but now was not the time to address it. She didn't understand it herself at this time.

"I apologize, I have been working all day on documentation from our last case, it is not the most exciting work and I am a bit frustrated"

Booth sighed; at least it seemed not to be his fault, although he wondered why her eyes kept darting between his face and what looked like his shoulder holster.

Of course he then noticed that Bones was wearing one of her shirts that uplifted her tits and showed a lot of cleavage.

Ok need to stop that, that ship had sailed, hell he thought sadly he had never even come close to seeing that particular set of "ships".

"No problem, I have been working paperwork all day myself, plus Hacker had me sitting in a budgeting meeting for two hours"

Bones responded absently "I am sure Andrew had a very good reason to demand your presence"

Booth simply grunted in response.

He liked Hacker well enough as a boss, although he had preferred the old school method Cullen had led with. But the fact that Hacker was dating Bones made Booth want to strangle the son-of-bitch, of course he wanted to strangle any guy that was dating Bones.

Not the most mature concept, but it's what he felt.

Brennen interrupted his thoughts and asked "Again Booth why are you here?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, Caroline wanted me drop off some court papers you need to review and sign, but she doesn't need them until Thursday, so it's not a huge hurry"

Brennen sighed and stated "All right, although in my present state of mind I find the concept of further paperwork annoying."

Booth chuckled "Well I can understand that"

Brennen grabbed a stack of completed documents and handed them to Booth "Since you are here, I need you to review and sign these as the agent in charge"

Booth sighed, he actually wanted to get out of here, it was a late Friday afternoon and he wanted to get home and simply relax tonight.

But he simply responded "Ok" and started reviewing the files and signing them off.

The office sunk into a bit of an awkward silence as both of them worked on their reports.

Booth noticed Brennen looking at his chest area again and asked "Something wrong?"

"Is that a new tie?"

Booth looked confused for a second, not expecting that question "Uhh yeah, Catherine gave it to me as a present"

Irrationally Brennen had to dampen her internal anger at the display of Catherine marking Booth as her perspective mate. She well understood the exchanging of gifts between the opposite sexes in anthropological terms was a sign of ownership.

"You do realize that the last female that gave you articles of clothing shot you, right?"

Booth looked up in shock "I don't think Catherine is a crazy bitch that is going to shoot me or you, Bones!"

"Booth the term "crazy bitch" can be considered highly offensive!" Brennen scolded.

Booth looked up, his face hard "I really don't care, the woman stalked me, tried to shot you and ended up shooting me, so in my book I can call her a crazy bitch all I want, God rest her soul"

Brennen decided to let that go, and continued trying to work.

To be honest Booth figured taking that bullet was worth the cost. Even though he and Bones had not ended up together like he hoped, he figured a bullet in his shoulder was a small price to paying keeping Bones safe, one he still would pay in an instant if it ever came up again.

After a few minutes Booth looked up and said "You know, you're wrong about that Bones"

"What do you mean?"

Booth smirked "Well you were the last person to give me an item of clothing, my cocky belt buckle, and you haven't tried to shoot me."

Brennen stared up in shock, the fact that she had placed Catherine's ties as a sign of ownership anthropologically speaking could easily be construed as Brennen doing the same with the belt buckle.

Off course that was ridiculous, then again why was she so pissed about the stupid ties?

Brennen tried to cover her confusion with humor "I think the end of that sentence is "YET" Booth, plus I am not sure if a belt buckle is considered a piece of clothing, I think it would be considered an accessory"

Booth chuckled and said "close enough"

Booth could tell that Bones was upset for some reason about his mention of his belt buckle, and he had no clue why.

As he looked up he noticed Bones stretch, which gave him a perfect view of her breast straining against that damn shirt. Booth then felt his blood rush down to his cock, which was fortunately covered by an open folder. Crap, he really needed to get laid; three years of not dating had made him react like a freaking teenager when a woman stretched. It did not help that the woman was the same he had fallen love with over three years ago and who he had lusted after long before that.

In attempt to keep the conversation light, and cover his embarrassment Booth asked "So any big plans this weekend?"

"Andrew is taking me to a play tonight"

Fuck, Booth should have been smart enough to ask that question. He forced his anger down and responded in a completely bored and neutral voice "Oh that's nice"

Brennen found herself blinking in disappointment, for some reason she had secretly hoped that Booth would show his normal jealousy, that desire confused her even more.

But before she had thought her response clearly through she instinctively pushed Booth's buttons on that issue by saying "Of course there is no way to know were the rest of the weekend will lead"

At that statement Booth actually flinched, which made Brennnen instantly feel a bit ashamed. Booth had not pushed his feelings on her since that night; she should not attempt to goad him. But the simple fact was part of her wanted him to push those feelings on her again.

Booth sat there for second, then sighed and stood up. "Well I am through with these on the most part, the rest are unclassified so I will take them home and look over them this weekend."

As Booth got his jacket his pride got the better of him and he threw out "Who knows maybe I will give Catharine a call and see if she wants to go out for dinner and a movie"

At that statement Brennen face went ridged and her eyes narrowed

Booth noticing her reaction and feeling confused as to why, considering she was the one that didn't want a romantic relationship.

But remembering her comment about Hacker Booth decided to push her buttons for a change.

"Who knows maybe I will get lucky this weekend"

Brennen eyes darkened with anger and she almost snarled "Booth I have no desire to hear about your sexual conquest!"

At that statement Booth's anger spiked, the fact that this woman had repeatedly regaled him with her sexual conquest, sometimes in great detail made Booth furious.

He looked over his shoulder at Bones and keeping his voice level and not letting his anger show said "Why Dr. Brennen I never thought of you as a prude"

Brennen on hearing words she had taunted Booth with before thrown in her face sat back in her seat with a look on her face like Booth had slapped her.

Booth instantly felt ashamed, he never wanted to hurt Bones, his feelings for her still remained.

He sighed "Sorry about that Bone's, trust me whenever it happens I won't be telling you anything about my conquest"

"Good night and enjoy your weekend Bones."

With that Booth stalked out, feeling fucking angry, fucking ashamed and mostly fucking confused.

Plus he wondered why the hell Bones kept staring at his shoulder holster.

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Brennen watched Booth stalk out, stopping briefly to speak to Cam and then walking out.

Part of her wanted to chase after Booth and try to fix this, but another part of her said it was likely better not push the issue.

The simple fact is that she did not even understand what she wanted, her rational mind said that what Booth wanted would never work, but the emotional part of her mind wanted to try and make it work.

Brennen left her office and walked to the one place she felt would clear her mind. Sorting and cataloging bones in Limbo would maybe take her mind off how conflicted she felt right now.

TBC

Authors Note – Hope you all enjoyed this part, reviews and constructive criticism are welcomed. I should update soon.