Please note that these are in italics... and Italics means 'past'

Booth came into the lab in a flurry of frustration, his shoes slapping the ground as if his heels were on fire. Since he had kicked Brennan out of his apartment the night before, their argument had been rattling around in his brain, only continuing to agitate him. He had settled back on his couch, his appetite gone sour as the events trailed through his mind again and again. He could picture the anger in her eyes; hear the venom that slipped out with each syllable. He rubbed his arm, sore from her assault as he quickly approached the darkened office of his partner and let out a heaving sigh. "Goddamn it." He muttered.

"Seeley?" Cam's voice sounded from the platform, he turned to see his friend looking down at him, and his brow knitted. His jaw was clicking with the tension that was building with each passing second.

"Where is Bones?" He snapped, catching Cam's look of surprise at his agitation.

"She called in." Cam replied. "She didn't tell you about the accident last night?" Cam asked, watching Booth's face go pale at her words. "No, no… not Doctor Brennan, she's fine." She said, watching as his jaw and his fists clenched in frustration. "Seeley, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, what accident?" He was finally able to ask, recovering from his shock as he stammered for a moment.

"Agent Cooke… that other case he was working on last week. There was a break in the case, and he was chasing a suspect down. He got into a pretty bad car accident." She said, watching Booth glance to the door and back at her.

"What hospital?" He said as Cam gave him a confused expression. "Cam, what hospital?" He asked, impatient at her pause.

"Georgetown, why?" She asked as Booth began walking quickly toward the door. "Booth, why?"

"Because I have a bone to pick with someone." He said, marching out of the lab as quickly as he had come in, leaving Cam completely confused at his behavior.

He drove to the hospital, with his mind in a complete scramble. He wasn't sure if he was angry, concerned, or just irritated. He knew what had happened during the sparring match, and he was quite clear on what happened between himself and Brennan the night before, he just didn't know how to fix it. He knew that he wanted to fix it, but the closer he came to the hospital, the more frustrated he became. The sparring match from the afternoon before came sliding back into his memory.

-
Booth shuffled the papers and looked at the handwriting on the report as he placed the top paper down and erased a couple of marks on the sheet. He looked over at Cooke as he put his papers in the briefcase on the chair across the room, and eyed him carefully. "So what are your plans tonight, Cookie?" Booth asked as he tried to remain nonchalant in his questioning.

"I don't know, Bren was going to stop by when she was through at the lab." Cooke said, glancing to Booth, he barely missed the glare that was thrown in his direction.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask… what is going on between you and Bones, anyway?"

"Oh…not much." He said, his mouth clamping shut as he gave Booth a polite smile.

"Cooke? I mean… what are your intentions?" Booth said, trying to look the other man in the eye, he noticed that Cooke was laughing slightly.

"What are my intentions? What are you, her father?" He asked with a shake of his head.

"Has she told you about her father?" Booth asked, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched the other man carefully.

"I've heard of Max Keenan… the case was pretty well known." He said, closing his suitcase. He glanced to Booth and noticed that he was watching him. "Thanks for helping with that paperwork. It's the worst part of the job, if you ask me." He said with a light chuckle.

"You never answered my question." Booth replied, interrupting abruptly. "What are your intentions with Bones?"

"Well… she's a nice woman, intelligent, beautiful… very insightful when it comes to pretty much anything. I wouldn't mind seeing her outside that lab coat more often." He said with a smile, his eyes kind of sparkling when he spoke of her.

"Hey… a little respect. She's a professional, and she's my partner."

Cooke let out a laugh at the other man's irritation of his words, and realized that perhaps it didn't come out quite the way he had intended, however he didn't correct himself. "Come on, man… are you telling me that you never once thought about her in a way other than as your partner?" Cooke goaded as the other man glared across at him.

"You like those teeth you got there, Cookie?" Booth said, and though he was only half joking, the other half of him was dead serious. Booth hated when other men had that leering look about them when it came to his partner, and the way Cooke was, he was a taken aback by the man's sincere attraction to his partner and friend. In fact, he had no idea how far their relationship actually went, because Brennan had never brought it up.

"All I'm saying, is that she deserves more than just being asked to analyze remains. She has a very big heart to go with her very big brain." Cooke replied as he grabbed his coat and walked toward the door. He turned and faced Booth, noting that he was glaring again, he simply smiled. "Do you want me to bring that paperwork over to the lab? I was going to stop by and ask her to dinner."

"No, it's fine... I can drop it off in the morning." Booth shrugged.

"It's alright, I was on the way to the lab anyway." He said, lifting the folders from the desk, he tucked them under his arm and smiled. "Date tonight?" Cooke asked, giving Booth a smirk as Booth shook his head.

"Sorry, Cookie... You're not my type." Booth joked back as he grabbed his coat.

"Funny." Cooke laughed. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, I have to get to the gym before I head over to the lab..." He said as both men walked out of Booth's office. "Hey, how are you at hand to hand combat?"

"Sparring?" Booth laughed. "Why, are you challenging me?"

"Challenging... asking if you're interested..." He shrugged. "Same thing?"

"I haven't done it in a while, may be a bit rusty, but I'm always up to a challenge. Bones and I have had our share of suspects to wrangle." Booth replied.

"Fine then, I'm challenging you." Cooke laughed, watching Booth shrug, and follow after him as they headed toward the FBI gym.

Once they were changed and in their gear, they stood across from one another on the mat, ready to begin their match. Each wore a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt, and both seemed quite amused at the prospect of grappling. To start, Booth reached up and grabbed the man's shoulders, of which Cooke did the same. Their heads rested on one another's shoulders, until Booth leaned forward and swept his leg, sending the other man slamming into the mat on his back. He immediately knocked the wind out him, and Booth let out a triumphant grunt.

"You okay?" Booth asked, watching Cooke's face as he grinned at the man above him, holding him down. "Maybe you're the one that's a bit rusty..." Booth laughed as he stood back up and helped Cooke to his feet, instantly, Cooke grabbed hold of Booth's arm and twisted it back, slamming him to the mat as his arm twisted around and Cooke held him down.

"Maybe not." Cooke laughed, as Booth suddenly kicked his feet up and rolled himself, pulling his arm out of its lock, he rolled quickly, toppling Cooke as Booth ended up slamming him into the mat yet again. "Somehow I get the feeling there's a little something behind this aggression toward me." Cooke said quickly as both men got to their feet. Booth took a shot or two and missed, as they danced a bit around the mat, taking light jabs at one another.

"Oh yeah?" Booth asked, giving him a nice solid punch to the side, Cooke let out a laugh and did the same to Booth as Cooke swung again, only to have his arm caught by Booth, sending him swinging around again, he turned sharply and delivered a blow to Booth's side. "What do I have to be aggressive about?" He asked, punching the man again, trying not to hit too hard, interested in what he had to say.

"You think I'm moving in on your partner." He laughed, feeling the strength behind Booth's kick as he landed it hard into his leg as he swept around and did the same. Perspiration glistened off their bodies as they continued to spar, grunts and growls were exchanged as they continued.

"You are moving in on my partner, aren't you? And you damn well better not hurt her, do you understand me?" He asked, swinging a punch hard into the other man's side, Cooke let out a grunt as he punched back, the strength behind Booth's fighting was becoming stronger, and Cooke wasn't quite as solid as the other man, and quickly found that he was out matched.

"You're holding back." Cooke grunted, as they traded blows once again, sweat and spit flying with each punch as they moved around the mat again, suddenly finding themselves caught in a wrestling move that they couldn't quite get out of.

"I'm not holding back."

"I mean with Bren." Cooke said, feeling Booth push away. "You want her." He said, shaking his head.

"Stop." He said, panting as he looked at the other man. "Stop talking about Bones like she's a damn piece of meat, okay? She's not to be won, she's not some prize... She's my partner, my friend."

"You're in love with her, man." Cooke said, a laugh. "You're in love with her, and you're too damned chicken shit to go after her. Probably because she turned you down the first time. Probably made you feel like a loser." Cooke said as before he could even think, or say another word, Booth's fists connect with his face and chest, and he felt his body flying backwards onto the mat as the air rushed out of his lungs. He felt the sparring gloves that Booth had on his hands slam into his chest as the other man stomped away without another look or word in the younger man's direction and disappeared into the locker room.

Booth straightened himself a bit as he pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, and made his way quickly through the doors. He asked for Agent Cooke's room, knowing full well that he would find Brennan at his bedside, and didn't want to get in the middle of whatever they were in the middle of. Sure, he had punched Cooke because he had called him out on his bullshit, but he still didn't know what Cooke had told Brennan, and from the sound of their argument the night before, he hadn't said a word to her about it.

He was just walking toward the room when he looked around the corner to see Brennan talking to a nurse briefly. He paused where he was standing and waited until she walked back into the room, then he continued down the hallway. He stood to the side, watching her as she sat at his bedside, his eyes were closed and he looked pretty bad off.

His leg was in a cast, elevated, his face cut up and scratched, on top of the black eye he had given him the night before, and Booth cringed a bit at the pain he appeared to be in. Brennan was sitting beside him, her hand on his as she leaned close to him and whispered, talking softly to him as Booth watched his eyes open and look toward her, a slight smile on his lips as he caught her eyes. Booth's stomach clenched at the way this other man looked at his partner, the woman that he loved, and from the look of the way things were going, it didn't matter that he loved her. He was about to walk away, when he noticed she had turned her head and noticed him, he turned and started to walk back down the hallway quickly, embarrassed that he had been caught. All fight in him had disappeared.

He heard her voice calling to him, and he couldn't keep walking. He stopped and slowly turned, just as she approached him. "Booth, what are you doing here?" She asked, her eyes moving from his chest to her eyes as her head tipped questioningly for a moment, and then they narrowed to look a little more accusingly at him.

"I was going to come and talk to you..." He replied. "He's okay?"

"He's fine." She said, straightening herself as she continued to stare into his eyes. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I just..." He stammered for a moment, picturing the look on Cooke's face, the words that he had spoken the night before, and despite the argument between the two of them the night before. "Last night... what I did to Cooke...'

"I don't have time, Booth." She snapped. "We can talk about this another time, okay?"

"I want to talk about it now, Bones. We need to talk about it now."

"I don't have to do anything now, and I have absolutely nothing to say about what happened between you and Cooke, or what happened between you and me." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So our moment has passed, I guess." His eyes narrowed.

"I guess it has." She snapped back, as she turned around and moved back down the hallway toward the hospital room, as he watched her disappear inside.