Chapter 4: Changes

everything changes
everything falls apart
can't stop to feel myself losing control
but deep in my senses I know

(Stupid, Sarah McLachlan)

Brennan looked stunning at Angela's party in a tea-length black cocktail dress, her hair loose and wavy. Every man there, single or not, noticed her and she had no shortage of conversation partners. Yet, every time Angela looked for her, she was with a different man or group of people. A couple of hours into the party, Angela pulled her aside.

"Nobody catching your interest?"

Brennan smiled wanly. She had only shown up out of consideration for Angela. It seemed odd, but once she had realized that she loved Booth, she had truly lost all interest in other men. The men she had talked to tonight were fun, intelligent, witty, and attractive; yet she felt no desire to pursue anything with any of them, either physically or socially.

"I'm sorry, Angela. I know you only want me to be happy."

Suddenly Angela shook her head. "No, Bren. I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't be pushing you." She sighed. "It's too soon. I get that." Looking back into the crowded room, she shrugged. "This is boring anyway. Come on," she said with a grin as she grabbed Brennan's hand, pulling her down the hallway.

"Ange, where are we going?"

"To the kitchen. The baby wants ice cream!"

As they sat, eating bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream, Brennan commented, "You know, Angela, the average pregnancy only requires a woman to eat about 500 more calories per day. I think women have run with this idea of pregnancy cravings to enable them to eat anything they want."

She looked up to find her friend glaring at her. "Sweetie, you do know how dangerous it is to tell a pregnant woman that she's eating too much, right?"

"Oh! No, I was just, um, commenting," Brennan stammered.

Angela laughed. "I'm just kidding. But if I want to indulge myself every now and then, I'm okay with that. Would you rather I'd have said that we need a girlfriend "Men are Evil" ice cream fest? We can go with that!"

Brennan laughed and scooped some more ice cream into her bowl.

BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB

Brennan met Hannah mid Sunday morning. Together they took the Metro to the Anacostia station. As they walked through run-down neighborhoods with dilapidated houses and deserted lots, Hannah filled Brennan in on where they were going.

"Apparently, one of the dealers, a Willy D., works out of an old school down here. My contacts were pretty sure he'd be here. If I get him to give me some information, we'll be golden."

Brennan thought Hannah was being optimistic, but this was her field of expertise. Maybe she could really get this guy to turn on his partners. That thought led to thoughts of how Booth could get suspects to confess so easily sometimes. She supposed it was just one more thing he had in common with Hannah. She was so lost in thought that she almost ran into Hannah as she stopped suddenly.

"We're here."

They made their way into the deserted school building. Brennan questioned, "Are you sure there's someone here? It's so quiet." Even whispering, her voice seemed to shatter the silence.

Hannah suggested, "Let's just look a little more." She tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. Something didn't feel right.

They wandered down another hallway, coming into what must have once been a gymnasium. Brennan was just about to suggest they leave when they felt someone walk in behind them. A cold voice said, "Well, well, what do we have here?"

Brennan whirled around. As she did, she noticed that several others had come in behind the first man and were quickly surrounding her and Hannah. She backed up so that she was back to back with Hannah, who hadn't moved. She needed to know where her friend was should things start to get physical.

Hannah found her voice. "We, um, we're looking for Willy D." She cursed inwardly as she heard the tremble in her words.

The first man said, "Now why would a couple of nice ladies like you be looking for a scumbag like Willy?"

"Just, we were hoping, he could,"

"Don't try to lie to me, sweetheart. Neither of you use anything that he sells."

Brennan was straining to see through the gloom. There were at least a dozen men surrounding them, mostly hidden in the gloom and shadows. They were all dressed in street clothes but several of them had obvious bulges where their guns rested in shoulder holsters or at their hips. She would be willing to bet that the rest of them were armed as well. If it had just been her, she might have risked trying to get to the door, but getting two of them out against multiple guns looked to be very unlikely.

Hannah was continuing the conversation. "Okay, so I wanted to talk to him."

The man laughed. "Willy won't be talking to anybody anytime soon, if you know what I mean." He gestured to a couple of the men surrounding them. "Let's find out who they are."

The men stepped up and started roughly frisking the two women, taking maybe a little more time than was necessary in certain areas. Brennan gritted her teeth, her eyes on the face of the leader, trying to memorize his features. He was staying just far enough back to make it difficult to see.

Finally, the two men pulled back and handed the wallets they had procured to the leader. "They're clean," one of them offered. The leader looked through the wallets.

"So, we have Hannah Burley," he said with a note of recognition. "The reporter that's causing us so many problems. And," he looked at Brennan's driver's license and Jeffersonian ID badge, "Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian. What do you do there, Ms. Brennan?"

She couldn't help it. "It's Doctor Brennan. I'm a scientist."

The man's smile could dimly be seen. "So sorry, Dr. Brennan. Well, I hope you understand what your friend has gotten you into here. It would be in everyone's best interests that you persuade her to drop this flight of fancy she is pursuing in the guise of a story."

Hannah said angrily. "Is that a threat?"

"Not a threat. Just a caution. Your friend here might not appreciate seeing your story in print." He walked closer to Brennan as he was talking, raised his hand and ran his finger slowly down her cheek. She called on all her reserves to not flinch, the look in her eyes betraying his true intentions even before his hand abruptly lifted and backhanded her across the cheek. She turned her head back to the front, silently, not wanting to give him any satisfaction, tasting the blood on her tongue where her cheek has been cut against her teeth.

Hannah yelled, "Stop it. You don't have to hurt her! I get it, okay?" Brennan tried to silence her by grabbing her hand. Her experience with death squads and angry mobs had shown her than the worst thing you could do would be to show fear or weakness.

The man laughed. He had pegged the scientist for the weak link, but the reaction from the brunette had been distinctly unsatisfying. The blonde, however, was quite making up for it. Honestly, she might be about to cry. "I think we've made our point. Goodbye, Ms. Burley, Dr. Brennan."

Dropping Hannah and Brennan's IDs and wallets on the floor, all of the men turned and slowly filed out. Hannah turned to Brennan, shaking. "God, Temperance, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," she replied, slowly moving her fingers along her cheekbone, making sure there were no fractures. She spit out some blood. "Are you okay? You seem very upset. I would have thought you would be used to dangerous situations, after Afghanistan."

Hannah bit her lip, feeling a bit sick. "Not like this. Sure, I've been under fire, had bombs dropping around me, but," she hesitated. "Nothing this personal. Not where someone was trying to hurt me personally. Come on, we've got to get you some ice."

They made their way slowly out the school, going their separate ways once they reached the Metro station.

"Temperance, are you sure you're okay on your own? Do you want me to come over?" Hannah asked as they waited for their trains.

The last thing Brennan wanted was for Hannah to invade her personal sanctum. Besides a bruised cheek was nothing she hadn't dealt with before. "I'll be fine. But I am worried about you. At least some of those men were likely to be police officers. If you publish this story, the retribution could be severe."

Hannah shook her head. "Willy D. was going to be my big source. I'm honestly not even sure how I would pursue it now. I'm just sorry you got hurt for what is, apparently, a big goose egg."

Brennan looked confused. "I don't know what that means."

"A goose egg. A big zero. It didn't work out."

"Oh. I'll be fine. I'm sorry about your story."

Brennan's train came first and she waved at Hannah as she wearily took a seat, wishing only to be home with an ice pack. Hannah watched the train pulling out, a smile suddenly brightening her face as she realized there was one more avenue left to explore. Her mind suddenly switching tacks, she began making notes on how to get the evidence she would need to get this story published.

BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB

Monday morning, Angela found Cam waiting for her when she got to the lab. Cam had been worried all weekend about Dr. Brennan's odd behavior and wanted to get a second opinion. Ushering Angela into her office, she started, "Angela, is Dr. Brennan okay?"

Angela hesitated, not wanting to reveal any of her friend's secrets, but touched that their boss had obviously recognized the turmoil in Brennan's life right now. "Not really, but I think she's going to be okay."

"She told me last week that she wanted to stop doing fieldwork."

Angela was a little taken aback. She knew how much Brennan enjoyed that aspect of her job. But maybe a little break was in order. "I think you should let her, for now at least."

Cam sighed. "It's Hannah, isn't it? I knew she wasn't handling it as well as she wanted to believe."

"It's not Hannah," Angela responded. "I mean, it is but it's really more Booth being a complete ass."

Cam's eyebrows shot up. "What's going on?"

"I wish I could tell you, Cam. I really do, but I don't want to betray any confidences. She's actually talking to me for the first time in months and I don't want to make her feel like she can't trust me."

"Fair enough, but please let me know if there is anything I can do."

"Just keep being her friend," Angela offered.

BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB

Brennan was in her office, trying not see anyone. She had done a fairly competent job covering the bruise along her cheek and under her eye, but she knew that it was still visible if someone looked very closely.

Booth strolled through the lab and hesitated at the door to Bones' office. He felt terrible about blowing up at her on Friday, especially since it hadn't even been her fault that he was in a bad mood. He had worked out and gotten his mind back on track. True, Angela had some points. Maybe he could have handled the situation better last year, but now was now and that was what he had to deal with. Get his partnership back with Bones and move on. If she was willing. That was what worried him. What if she wasn't willing?

Taking a deep breath, he tapped on her door. "Hey, Bones."

She looked up and icily said, "Booth."

He walked in and sat across from her, looking her straight in the eyes as he said, "I'm sorry for Friday. I should never have yelled at you. I was just in a really bad mood and I thought, I mean, it looked like you were just…"

"Shirking my duties, Booth? When have you ever known me to do that?" She tried to keep her attention focused on the paperwork on her desk.

"Never, Bones, which is what makes it so monumentally stupid. I," he stopped. "Will you please look at me?"

She looked up briefly, trying to angle the bruised side of her face away from him. Maybe she would have been better off if she hadn't tried to hide it, because if there was one thing Seeley Booth could detect, it was when someone didn't want him to notice something. He got up and walked around the desk, looking her directly in the face. The discoloration he could see under her makeup made him feel sick.

"What the hell happened, Bones?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play me. Your cheek." His hand reached out as if to soothe the damage, but then he reluctantly pulled it back.

"I fell," Brennan said.

"You fell," he said doubtfully. "And hit your face? You realize I've heard that one before right?"

"I chose not to try to break my fall with my hands. Oftentimes, that results in fracture of the scaphoid or tearing of the ligaments. However, I miscalculated the proximity of my coffee table and caught my cheek on the edge." Her brain was scrambling to make the story seem believable.

She had decided last night not to share their adventure with Booth. Hannah was dropping the story and the last thing his career needed was for him to take off on a vendetta against other law enforcement officers for threatening his girlfriend. Especially when her descriptions of them would be so woefully lacking in detail. And, she could admit only in her most private thoughts, she was more than a little ashamed of how she had acted. Keeping secrets, stealing information, and aiding Hannah in activities that Booth disapproved of. She honestly didn't know what had come over her.

Booth was perplexed. His gut was telling him something was wrong. But it wasn't in her character for Bones to lie. Plus he could see her actually reasoning all of that out in the split second that she started to fall. But something was in her eyes that made him doubt. He couldn't factually counter her statement, though, without seeing the bruise clearly. The makeup job was good enough that he couldn't make out its contours. No, the Temperance Brennan he knew would never cover it up if someone hit her. Maybe he should just take this one on faith.

"Okay, well, just don't do that again, all right?"

She smiled oddly. "I can assure you that situation will not happen again. So what are you doing here?"

He smiled back. "I was just wondering if Hodgins had found anything out from those particulates you said he was testing?"

"Actually, yes. I was going to call you in a few minutes. We found presence of rust and several chemical indicators. Hodgins is fairly certain that they point to a water tower. I noticed that there was one not far from where we found the body. It is likely that she fell from there."

"Well, all right! Let's go." Booth was excited. This was what he liked. The squints doing their thing, and then going out with Bones to use that to catch the bad guys.

"Actually, I think I need to stay here today. Perhaps you should go on without me."

Booth felt his excitement deflate as if someone had punctured a tire. Go without her? "What's going on, Bones? You're not still mad about Friday, are you?"

"Of course not Booth. I just have a lot of work to get through here, and I don't think it is the best use of my time to go out there with you."

Cam happened to be passing Brennan's office and overhead the discussion. Remembering Angela's words, she popped her head in, "Dr. Brennan, are you working on those reports I asked you for? Oh, hi Booth! I didn't realize you were here."

"Yeah," he said slowly. "I was just trying to convince Bones to come with me to follow up on the water tower lead."

Cam shook her head, looking regretful. "I'm sorry, but I just can't let her go today. I've got the bureaucracy breathing down my neck and I really need her help."

Booth didn't miss the quick look of surprise that crossed Bones' face. A cold feeling settled over him. Obviously, Angela wasn't the only mad at him. His voice tight, he said, "Sure, I understand. I'll let you all know what I find out."

Cam followed him and caught up to him at the door the lab. "Seeley."

He turned to look at her, anger and hurt written across his face.

"I told you, you had to be careful with her. I will do what I have to to protect her, even if it's from you."

"Cam," he protested.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt her. I don't even know how you hurt her, but I know that you did."

He swallowed roughly. "I'm going to make it up to her. I promise."

BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB~~BB

As he made the two hour drive to the Eastern Shore alone, his mind kept running in circles. He thought about all that Angela had said to him, and now Cam. He was hurting Bones. That was the last thing he had ever wanted to do. But he had to protect himself didn't he? It had been killing him, being close to her, sharing his life with her but not able to share his heart. He would make it up to her, find some way to get them back on track.

But he was even more worried about that bruise. He had no reason not to trust her, but it really wasn't like her to fall. And there was something about the look in her eyes that concerned him. He remembered that she had gone to that party this weekend. What if she had left with someone and something had happened? But why wouldn't she tell him?

He grabbed his phone and dialed Angela's number.

"Hello?"

"Angela, it's Booth. Listen, I know you're still angry at me, but I need to know if something happened at your party this weekend. Or did Bones leave with anyone?" he asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Jealous?"

"Ange," he warned. Of course she wasn't going to make this easy for him. "Bones has a bruise on her face. She said she fell, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn't from some idiot trying to get fresh with her."

Angela hadn't seen her friend all morning and was shocked by Booth's news. She answered quickly, "No, Booth. She didn't hit it off with anyone. We ended up hanging out, just the two of us, until after everyone left. I've got to go."

"Yeah, thanks for putting my mind at ease."

"No problem. And, Booth, thanks for worrying."

Angela hung up and immediately headed for Brennan's office. Walking in and taking a seat, she said, "So what happened?"

Brennan looked up. "In what sense?"

Angela's eyes pored over her face, picking up what Booth had seen. "In the sense of your face, honey. Booth said you said you fell?"

"Yes, I did."

"Bren," Angela shook her head. "I want to believe you, but," she sighed. "You haven't been you lately. And it's understandable, everything's turned upside down and you're hurting."

Brennan looked at her best friend, sitting there being so understanding and sympathetic and thought of the mess she had gotten herself involved in. "No, Ange, I haven't been myself. But that's over. I'm me again and you don't have to worry. Okay?"

Angela saw how earnest Brennan was and smiled uneasily. Something had happened that she wasn't sharing. No matter what she said, Angela just wasn't sure that everything was going to be okay.