A/N I know, back for more already! I like updating on Wednesdays, so that's what I'm going to do – bonus for you guys, two chapters in a week! Well, yesterday I had kind of a mad writing thing going on, and I finished two whole chapters and started another. So now things are flowing through me like… flowing things. Yeah, anyway, you can bet now I've said that something will go wrong. Anyway, as always I love you for reviewing and continuing to review, my heart skips a beat when I see the messages in my email inbox! PS. I had to come back and do a swift little edit to one sentance, sorry about that!

She had stayed up most of the night thinking everything through, as well as most of the next day, and when she had agreed to meet Booth in the hotel restaurant for dinner that night, she still hadn't come to a conclusion about whether an annulment was really what she wanted. She had called Angela back numerous times, she had even called her attorney, but there was something keeping her from making a choice – she had lost count of the number of times she thought she was finally there, only to change her mind again seconds later. It really all came down to the fact that she didn't want to be married – she would feel the same if she was inexplicably hitched to any other man – and had nothing to do with the way she felt about Booth. How did she feel about Booth? She still wasn't entirely sure, all she knew was that it made things more complicated. She felt something, but what that something was, was beyond her comprehension. For now, though, she thought she knew what she was doing. Sort of…

"I have bad news," she announced as she approached him at the table he had chosen.

"About the case? Don't tell me, the DNA isn't a match to Chandler? That's just great…"

"No, not about the case. About… us."

"Us? You're not pregnant are you? Because, good luck trying to pretend that didn't happen." He was joking, of course, but he couldn't help but be a little worried none the less. He was drunk, they both were, so how were they to know if they had had the presence of mind to use protection?

"God, I hope not."

"Gee, thanks."

She chose to ignore him and took a sip of his beer instead. "May I tell you the bad news now?"

"Are you done trying to embarrass me?"

"No one can hear me! And it's a little late to be shy now, don't you think? We did have sex."

"I'm not discussing this with you right now…"

"I can't remember it, but rest assured, I'm sure it was good, if your aesthetic and physical appearance is anything to go on. Most of my sexual partners seem to have been pretty impressed with my performance, and I'm sure yours have too."

He couldn't believe she had just said that combination of things to him, in a public place no less. Once he had picked his jaw up off of the table, he managed an answer. "No complaints, not that it's any of your business."

"Again, you seem to have forgotten that we…"

"Shhh!" he hissed sharply as the waitress passed their table on the way to fill up another patron's coffee cup, smiling to herself at their bickering, thinking they were just like any other married couple – not knowing that they had been described that way for years, however this time it was more than an analogy. "What was the bad news?"

She scowled at him, picking up the menu and glancing at him over the top of it. "So you're ready to hear it now?"

"Yes, come on."

"We can only get an annulment in our state of residence. And since can't go home until we solve this case, we have to stay here," She shook her head and sighed. "Married."

Multiple responses to this news flashed through his brain, none of them really fit to be said aloud, so he just settled on saying nothing. He couldn't very well tell her that, to him, that didn't seem like the tragedy she was making it out to be. He cleared his throat and fiddled with his napkin. "So you've been researching?"

"I had a conversation with my lawyer, yes."

"So, until we go home, what do we do? I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I don't think I can pretend nothing has changed."

"Well, we'll have to try, won't we?"

"Aha! You said 'we', that means you think it's weird too!"

She sat up straight in a 'don't mess with me' pose, but her eyes told him he was right. "Look, why don't we just talk about something else?"

But they didn't talk about anything, rather they just sat in silence, without making eye contact.

"So did your lawyer say anything else?"

"Like what?"

"Like whether this means I get half of your vast fortune?" He smiled to show he was kidding, and was relieved to see her smile back.

"It's not the same as a divorce, we don't have any claim to each other's earnings or possessions."

"That's a real shame. Can I ask you something else?"

"I suppose so."

"And you have to answer. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Do you really not think that this…" he gestured between them, "is weird? And how are you going to pretend we never got married? Because I may need some hints on that."

"I can see how you may be finding it more difficult than I am – to you, marriage is a sacred act and has a lot to do with God, but I just don't see it that way. I'm sure if I were a religious person, I'd be having some kind of moral conflict, but to me, this is something fairly insignificant that's easily undone. Hence my conversation with my lawyer."

"Right."

"I'm sorry if that's hard for you to hear, or if that hurts you in some way, but that's just who I am, and how I feel. In a situation like this, it's best to be honest, right?" What was she saying? She knew that neither of them was being honest – he loved her but wasn't saying anything about it, and she was having great difficulty making up her mind whether she felt the same or not.

"Honest… Absolutely."

"Would you like to talk about why you feel differently?"

"No." He quickly took a gulp off beer, trying to let her know that that was all he was going to say on the subject.

"I thought we were being honest."

"Alright, you want honest – fine."

A/N2 Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger for you good people. Complaints? Bring 'em on! Also – I had forgotten all about that sex comment way back at the beginning there. It seemed like a good idea at the time (i.e. when I wrote it about 2 months ago) but now it just makes me cringe! Hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter regardless of that!