Chapter 4

"Angela, have you seen Bones?" A frantic Booth asked as he climbed the steps to the platform.

"I thought she was with you…" Angela stopped in mid-sentence to look closely at the hunky FBI agent. His face was covered with emotion: fear, worry, guilt, panic. "Oh my god, you turned her down."

"What? No, I…" He didn't get a chance to finish whatever excuse he'd been about to say because Angela proceeded to smack him upside the head. "Ow, what the hell Angela?"

"I can't believe you. How could you screw this up? It's taken me four years and a marathon of a lot of serious girl talk this morning to even get her to see that she has these feeling for you and when she finally gets up the nerve to tell you, you turn her down! Have you lost your mind?"

"Wait, Angela, what? What are you talking about? She did come to see me, but I didn't get even get a chance to talk to her. She walked into my office and then ran out." Booth shifted around uncomfortably, hoping for once Angela would let something go at face value. He so didn't want to explain what Bones had seen.

"Uh uh, no way, there's got to be more to it than that Booth. What did you do?"

Booth's shoulders slumped. He should've known he wouldn't be that lucky. "Angela, I didn't do anything. Agent Perotta and I were in my office and Bones walked in…"

"Agent Bimbo? Are you kidding me?" She smacked him again.

"Ow Angela, geez. There was nothing going on, well, nothing really. And I don't know why Bones got all upset…"

"Define 'nothing really'." Angela said in a deadly calm voice. Again, Booth shifted around uncomfortably. Rationally, he knew he shouldn't be intimidated by this small woman but when it came to standing up for her friends, she was ruthless. If she was upset enough, she'd hand him his testicles on a platter.

"Um," Booth began, kicking himself. Really? He thought. When did your verbal skills sink to level of a middle schooler? "Well, Agent Perotta came to ask my opinion about a case she was working on and we were talking and then…" He really didn't want to say this part but Angela's face told him he had no choice. "We were laughing and joking around and she sort-of reached out and touched my leg." There, he thought, that doesn't sound too bad.

"Define 'laughing', 'joking' and 'touching'." Angela demanded, moving even closer to him. Booth suddenly found himself in the defensive position, backing away slowly as if presented with a dangerous suspect. "Don't give me this crap, Booth. I'm not stupid and I know Brennan. She would not just storm out of your office for nothing. W-h-a-t—h-a-p-p-e-n-e-d?"

"We were flirting, okay? Just harmless flirting. I mean come on, I'm a red-blooded, unattached man—when I'm faced with a beautiful woman showing some interest, I'm gonna flirt back, okay? I understand Bones wouldn't be comfortable walking in on that, but really, what's the big deal? I've walked in on her and half naked men before and I never stormed out."

"No Booth, it's not okay." Angela said quietly, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "You are a moron."

"Listen Ang—"

"No, you listen. You're not 'unattached', you're very attached and have been for years now. I thought you at least saw that. I thought that's why you haven't been dating anyone in a while. I thought you'd figured it out. Brennan, I knew it was going to take a while for her, but I thought you'd already realized."

"Realized what?" Booth asked, his breath catching in the back of his throat. He knew Bones was upset, but the way Angela was acting now, it was as though something major had happened. What the hell is going on here? What am I missing? And then suddenly, the words Angela had said when they first started talking ran through his mind and for a moment it was as though his heart had stopped.

"That you're in love with her." The artist said simply, her eyes telegraphing her sadness.

Booth felt the bottom of his world drop out. This couldn't be right, could it? "Angela, what was Bones coming to tell me?"