CHAPTER 7

Brennan barged through Booth's office door, nearly breathless from her eagerness to get there. He was sitting at his desk and his eyes went wide as she walked towards him. He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't have the chance.

"You can't get reassigned!" Brennan spurted out without thinking, which is something she did not do very often. Her arms were planted firmly on her hips.

Booth's face contorted into a fit of confusion as he stared wide-eyed at his equally wide-eyed partner. "Huh?"

"I know that things were weird the other night, but I had consumed far too much alcohol and alcohol acts primarily on the nerve cells within the brain, interfering with communication between the cells and depressing the behavioral inhibitory centers within the cerebral cortex and subjecting the consumer to exaggerated states of emotion," Brennan rambled on and Booth did not stop her, a small smile creeping its way across his lips. "My limbic system was quite obviously impaired and just because my neurotransmitters weren't working properly does not mean that you can go and get reassigned!" she finished her rant, breathless once again at the energy it had taken her. She stared, wide-eyed at Booth, who simply sat in his chair and smiled. "WHAT?!" she exclaimed, her mouth wide open.

"Bones, why are you going on about me being reassigned? Do you know something I don't?" he asked her, still half-smiling.

Her face softened slightly as her lips closed. "No, I just thought that…I don't know what I thought, Booth," she admitted, sighing in frustration.

He knew she was hurt and that she was using anger as her defense. It was Bones, after all. The guilty twinge he had been feeling all weekend returned to his chest and poked at him as he sat there, still trying to figure out how to fix things with her. He had thought about his words probably a thousand times throughout the day on Sunday: "No, Bones, I don't want to." How could he say something like that? He knew he had only done it for her own good and that she never would have been able to forgive herself if they had indeed continued with their actions. But she was truly hurt, that he could tell. He had to make it right.

"Bones, I'm not going to request reassignment just because your limbo-whatever system was impaired," he replied, smiling as he mocked her.

She glared at him. "Limbic…and…good. I was just…worried, I guess," she stumbled over her words as she folded her arms across her chest.

Booth smiled. "Well, now that that's settled, would you like to have dinner tonight?" he asked suddenly. He had been mulling an idea over in his mind, and after Brennan's display a few moments earlier, he figured he should go ahead and risk it.

Brennan was taken aback. She wrinkled her face and stared at him for a moment before replying. "Dinner? Why?" she replied, a little too harshly.

Booth's face fell. Maybe she is just too mad Booth thought and quickly shook it away. "Okay, THAT wasn't exactly the answer I was looking for," he replied, raising his eyebrows.

Brennan shut her eyes for a moment and sighed. "I'm sorry. I just…of course we can have dinner. Takeout?" she asked, attempting a half-smile.

Booth smiled. "I was thinking more along the lines of something that involved messy dishes," he replied, smiling brightly at her.

She continued to stare him straight in the eyes, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Since she was obviously quite unskilled in that area, as the events of the other night had proven, she gave up and smiled back at him. "What did you have in mind?" she asked.

"Well, since I didn't get to cook you breakfast," Booth began and a shade of crimson fell across Brennan's face, "I'll cook you dinner."

"Booth, you don't have to do that," she replied, unable to meet his gaze.

"Hey, you made me mac-n-cheese, I owe you one," Booth replied, smiling that sweet, soft smile that made her putty in his hands. She hated that it did that to her.

Brennan sighed. "Okay," she replied.

"Good," Booth said quickly, still smiling.

"Great," Brennan replied, smiling at him and not knowing what else to say.

There was an awkward silence as the partners continued to stare at each other. Booth was the first to break the gaze as he lifted a folder off of his desk. "So, onto another case," he said as he waved the folder in the air.