Operation chapter 9. Truth be told

Special Agent Seeley Booth turned to his partner and offered her a small smile of encouragement. Her best friend now had the ammunition to destroy their happiness and in order for that to be averted Angela would have to be let in on the secret. No matter how calm Brennan looked on the outside Booth knew that she was a bundle of nerves on the inside. He took her hand and was rewarded with a shy smirk.

"You going to tell her or should I?"

His Bones sighed and the beautiful little smirk vanished. "I'll do it. She'd want to hear it from me anyway, and if you told her I would never hear the end of it. Besides we should have told her months ago, she deserves to know."

Booth nodded. In the months after her little stunt in the hospital Brennan had relied on Angela to take over on the days that she had been to sick from the chemo to come into work. The artist had readily agreed to take over for her friend but was obviously hurt that she wasn't told what was going on. "How much are you going to tell her?"

The question caught Brennan off guard and her eyes grew wide with fright. Oh shit! Booth mentally smacked himself.

"Cause I mean... if you're going to tell her about us then you might at well tell her everything." He stammered quickly. He cautiously watched as realization came to the doctor's thoughts and she nodded in agreement.

"I'm not sure how much I want to tell her. She does deserve to know everything but... I just don't think I'm ready to talk about it."

Again Booth nodded silently, it was best to get it out in the open. Keeping all of this from her friend had caused more guilt to Brennan than she let on and getting it off of her chest might just relieve some of the stress. It didn't hurt that if she ever needed help that she could call Angela, since she would potentially be in the loop. I can't take care of everything. Booth thought to himself. A shiver went down his spine as he remembered several instances when he nearly died of embarrassment because his Bones needed assistance getting out of a few very awkward situations.

Deep in his thoughts Booth hadn't noticed that Brennan had let go of his hand and had rounded the desk to grab a stack of files. As she settled them on her hip she made her way around the desk yet again and was almost out the door when Booth called her back.

"Do you need me there?" His concern was genuine.

She turned to face him and the shy smirk that had disappeared earlier had now come back. "No, I can do it."

"Okay. But if you need me for anything don't hesitate to call, alright?"

Another nod. "'Kay... but Booth?"

"Yeah?"

"There's no 'us'."

(--)

Her parting words had floored him. Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI was standing in the office of the woman he loved with his mouth open. He looked like a complete nutcase. Not that he really cared at that point in time anyway.

When he finally came to his senses his partner was long gone and when he looked at the clock on his cell phone he realized he had to get back to work. Begrudgingly he slunk out of the lab and to his vehicle. The drive back to the Hoover building was filled with worry and he nearly called the office twice to request the rest of the day off so that he could be there, but reason kept his hands firmly planted of the steering wheel. When he pulled into the parking lot and made his way up to his office nothing seemed to pull him out of his trance.

As he sat down at his desk and pulled out files of paperwork he needed to fill out his mind raced. After several failed attempts to keep on track Booth gave up and daydreamed. It was a complete waste of tax payers dollars he knew, but somewhere in the back of his mind He had convinced himself that if everyone knew about his situation they would let him sit in his office and waste the day away.

(--)

"Are you going to tell me now, Sweetie?" Angela Montenegro voiced as she came up behind her friend. There was a moment of silence before Brennan spoke.

"No." Her answer was short and stale but it was enough for her to know that if she wanted answers then she would have to wait.

"Alright, but come find me when you're ready. I'll probably be in my office." The artist received no response to confirm that the other woman had heard her but somehow Angela knew that Brennan had been listening.

(--)

Somehow in the two hours that Angela had been waiting work had been completed. Not much, of course but enough to not be yelled at. Possible scenarios were repeating in her mind. Some good, some bad. The romantic in her was leaning more to the hope that her favorite couple had finally gotten together, but the other half of her couldn't even fathom the worst. Her imagination wasn't the best...

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the office door. It swung on its hinges quietly and her friend slid into the room. Something about the way Brennan was almost floating into the room worried her friend. Angela had noticed over the past few months that Brennan had lost a lot of weight but she had somehow convinced herself that it was only because the forensic anthropologist often skipped meals. Now with a potential problem on her hands Angela saw that not only was she frail but she was also wearing bulky clothing. Spring was in full bloom with days in the mid eighties, definitely no need for her to wear wool sweaters and to constantly wear her bulky lab coat.

Suddenly a realization popped into her train of thought. When was the last time I saw her without bulky clothes? She asked herself. And why didn't you notice that she doesn't usually stay at crime scenes? Now that the pieces where falling into place things kept getting worse.

As Brennan sat down in the chair across from her Angela was reminded of the many strange things that had happened since Brennan had been in the hospital. The most prominent of those memories was from one particular day, the first time that Brennan had come back early from a crime scene.

She had been sitting comfortably in a chair on the lab's platform, waiting just like everyone else for the remains to arrive with their favorite non couple. Normally the partners would be at a crime scene collecting evidence and what-not for at least four hours so when Booth had strolled threw the doors only two hours later practically holding up a lethargic Brennan, Angela had begun to worry.

After laying the anthropologist down to rest on the couch in her office Angela had pulled Booth aside. "What's wrong with her? I've never seen her like this before..."

Angela had sensed that something was very wrong when Booth smiled at her, it wasn't his normal million watt grin. Instead it had been replaced with a cheap imitation, he was definitely trying to cover something up. "She's fine." He had told her, there was an underlying touch of concern that she had picked up on even though he was trying to hide it. But she let it go.

From then on her friend had started coming back from crime scenes earlier and earlier. She seemed to have run out of energy and she constantly had to have someone help her with things that she would have normally done by herself. How could I have not seen that before! Angela forced herself to shift her focus away from her thoughts when she caught her friend's gaze. Her eyes where brimming with tears.

(--)

"I have something to tell you." Brennan simply told her. She watched as Angela nodded and motioned for her to continue. Drawing strength from the notion that Booth was there for her if she needed it Temperance started to tell her friend the story of what had occurred over the last few months. She told her everything; losing the baby, having cancer, the chemo, even about living at Booth's house. It spilled out of her mouth, and as each word slipped past her lips she felt the constriction on her chest loosen. On the other hand she watched as Angela absorbed the information that she was telling, the artist remained silent, never interrupting to ask questions. Her tears however were the ever visible reminder that not telling her friend her secret from the beginning had been a bad idea.

When the words started to slow and then eventually stop the two friends sat in silence. One felt relieved while the other was openly crying. They were each quiet for several moments until Brennan opened her arms and her crying friend ran into her waiting arms. She let Angela cry herself out, knowing that when she wasn't busy sobbing that her hyperactive friend would need more answers to up an coming questions.