Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Even though I have the whole story planned out, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this chapter.

Anyway. Hope you like it. Its dialogue heavy, so hopefully you're into that kinda thing. Read and review please:)


The phone rang somewhere in those darkest moments before dawn.

She giggled and rolled over to reach her phone; it was to be expected, "I thought you said you didn't have another round in you..."

"..."

She buried herself back into her blankets and pillows; enjoying the feel as the fabric swept across her skin. "You don't even have to ask what I'm wearing this time, I never redressed."

"Wow."

Her body shot straight up. That was certainly not the voice of a cocky forty something caucasian male. "Angela?"

"Hello to you, too sweetie."

"I um..." Brennan scrambled for the switch of lamp on her nightstand and double checked the caller id of her phone. "What are you doing calling- is everything okay? Are you in labor?"

"No-"

"Because you're not due for another two and a half weeks-"

"I'm fine, Sweetie. No baby. At least not yet."

"Good. That's very... Very good." Brennan rubbed her temples as she let in the relief. "Why are you calling me so late then?"

"I can't sleep. I swear this little guy is training to be a gymnast or something in there. Sorry I woke you. I just can't bring myself to watch anymore late night infomercials."

Brennan reached for her robe and began to make her way out to the kitchen. If sex wasn't going to wake her up, then coffee would, "It's alright, Angela. As you are my metaphorical family, you can always call me."

"Well, it sounded like you were already awake..."

It was at that moment that Brennan came dangerously close to dropping one of her coffee cups on the cold tile floor beneath her feet. Not that it should have surprised her, of course Angela wasn't going to let this sneak by. "I assumed you were someone else..."

"Well now I'm a little hurt, but why don't you make it up to me by spilling on who the guy is."

"Angela..."

"What? Come on. I'm your friend and metaphorical family like you said- frankly you're lucky I'm letting you off the hook so easy. So come on. Spill."

It was times like these that Brennan wished she believed in lying, but unfortunately she didn't. "I don't think he'd appreciate me telling you."

"How would he even find out?"

She could see she was beginning to dig an even deeper hole for herself. "I just want to be respectful of his privacy."

Whatever item of food Angela had been munching on into the speaker was suddenly discarded. "Is it Booth?"

She briefly considered hanging up the phone while she let the silence hang in the air.

"Well, okay then."

"I don't know what that means..."

"It means..." She could hear Angela take in a deep breath of air and she braced for the impact. "It means... What are you doing, sweetie?"

"I'm sitting in my kitchen waiting for my coffee to finish brewing."

There was an exasperated sigh, "No, sweetie. I mean, what are you doing with Booth? Are you guys a couple now?"

"No. It's purely sexual."

"Dammit, Brennan..."

"Why are you upset?" This was the last thing she expected. A 'hallelujah' or 'finally!', was more along the lines of how she figured this confession would be received. "I don't understand. You've told me numerous times that I should contact him."

"Yeah. Talk. For closure. Not call each other up for a booty call!"

"Technically that is talking..."

"Bren, you went to Chicago to move on. You left all of us to start a new life and you know that as difficult as its been, I've supported you completely on it. But doing this with Booth is ridiculous. This is not how it's supposed to be. It's just wrong. Completely wrong... How can you and that rational brain of yours possibly think this is a good idea? Don't answer that-"

It wasn't often that Dr. Temperance Brennan was at a loss for words, but she didn't know how to respond to that. It had been a nagging thought in the back of her mind and now here was Angela verbalizing it for her. Being this way with Booth was something she'd thought about numerous times over the last several years, but this was never the way she envisioned it.

"Sweetie? Look... I'm sorry. Can we just back up a little bit? It's just a lot to take in, okay? And these mommy hormones are not helping."

"Mommy hormones is not the correct term."

"Let's just start over. So... You and Booth."

"Yes."

"When did this start?"

"When did we begin a sexual relationship? Or when did we begin speaking to one another again?" Not that there was much of a significant time difference. Maybe an hour or two, if that even.

"Speaking. When do you two even start speaking again?"

"After the wake for Clark at the Founding Fathers. My rental got at flat and Booth stopped to help me. He gave me a ride back to my hotel."

"And so you guys talked?"

"Yes. I believe we both apologized."

"Well thank God for that. So how did you end up making dirty phone calls to each other?"

She contemplated how to explain this. The phone sex really started when Booth had tried to initiate it with her via text message, but really... "We had intercourse."

"..."

"Angela? Did you hear me?"

"Sorry. I'm just checking to make sure my water hasn't broke yet."

"Perhaps you'd like to have this conversation at a later date? After you've given birth?"

"Nope. Just go ahead. You and Booth had sex."

"Yes. I invited him to my room and we had intercourse." Even though intercourse wasn't exactly the correct term. More like... fucked. "Twice?"

"... How was it?" Angela whispered into the phone.

A smile curled on to Brennan's lips and she couldn't have been more happy that Angela wasn't there to witness it. "It was... Very... Very good."

"Just good?"

Brennan couldn't even follow up, all she could do was let out a small giggle that was immediately returned by Angela in the form of a very loud squeal.

"I told you! How many times have I told you!" Despite her initial response, Angela couldn't help but enjoy in the knowledge that she had always been right. "But now what?"

"Nothing. We just call one another when we have an urge and we agreed that when I return to DC, provided we are both not in a committed relationship, we will make time to see one another."

"You really believe that's going to work?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Well just one tiny reason right here off the top of my head- because you're both in love with one another."

"No we're not!" She could feel her chest tighten at the words. Why did that hurt to say? "We don't feel that way about one another anymore."

"Sweetie. This is not the fireman or the deep sea welder we're talking about. It's Booth."

"I'm aware of who he is, Angela."

"I think the best thing you can do is come back to DC, because lets face it, you're miserable in Chicago. Tell Booth you still have feelings for him. And then you two can finally give this a shot. And if it turns out to be a disaster, then it does. At this point you've got nothing left to lose. At worst you'll finally know and maybe get to move on."

Flashback flashback flashback flashback...

She wasn't sleeping, and maybe that had impaired her judgement. Her flight was scheduled to leave in three days, and while this was usually something she'd be excited for, all she could feel was dread in the pit of her stomach. A nagging feeling in the back of her mind that it was bound to be a huge mistake, but the fact of the matter was she was in too deep now to take any of it back, and so was he.

One year.

Her in Maluku and he in Afghanistan for one year. Since they started working together, they'd barely gone more than a week without speaking and in the last year, at least no more than 12 hours.

She traced her fingers over the stitches in her comforter and wondered if he was getting any sleep tonight either. In the morning he would be moving on to the base and in two weeks, he'd be on the other side of the world. Though she knew his presence was needed, and that without question he would do some good, the idea that she might never see him again kept infiltrating her thoughts. That they might never have the chance to return to the coffee cart and finally give this thing between them a shot.

That's really what all of this was about, anyway. It was a small admittance made only to herself. She needed to know with proof that this was real because she couldn't take the doubt out of her mind or the pained look he gave her at the end of the day anymore. If these weren't projected feelings that had formed from years of protection and reliance, she had to find out. Then maybe she could prioritize her life in away that wasn't around science, but something deeper. That love was something eternal and transcending, and something she could believe in.

Proof. There had to be proof.

However, as she lay staring up at the ceiling, she began to see the flaws and holes in the experiment. So with that, she sat up and grabbed her keys.

... ... . ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... . ...

The clock read 2:23 when he heard a knock on the door and although he wasn't sleeping, it took him a minute to crawl out of bed.

By the time he had made his way to the living room, the knocking had ceased. He approached the front door and looked through the keyhole to find his partner there. She looked anxious as she clenched her coat tight around her body and shifted her weight back and forth on her hips. Once again she moved her hand up to knock on his door, but this time she hesitated.

What was she doing?

He was about to reach for the door handle when the event of the evening came back to him.

The Hoover and the squints had thrown him a small going away party at the Founding Fathers and one of the newer agents had made a joke to Brennan on whether or not she had her own little going away party Booth planned for later. Her "patriotic duty" as he put it before quickly escorted away. But now he was wondering if it was true. Then, even if it was...

Was this something he could do? Of course he could do it... but like this?

Yes. Absolutely.

He reached for the door, but when it opened she was gone.


I tried to balance out some of the dialogue with the last scene. Telephone conversations are always more difficult for me to write being as there isn't much action and when you have two people (like Brennan and Angela) who are so close and pretty direct with one another, there's not much subtext to highlight. Also, its not like you don't know these characters yourself... I figure its not to hard to follow along.

I also always like the idea of Brennan going to Booth the night before the Maluku/Afghanistan saga began, so that was fun to throw in. Angela to me, represents the voice of the audience a lot of the time. When writing her, I think of all your reviews.

Let me know your thoughts. Like if I should bring Hannah back. Or have Booth reject Brennan again. Or maybe one of them is almost fatally injured and the next 40 chapters are just a bunch of hospital visits? (Who among us hasn't written one of those lol?)