Brennan couldn't stop the glowing smile on her face if she'd tried, not that she wanted to. She was happier than she'd been in a long time and the small bounce in her step was a huge indication of that happiness. An occasional stray thought or two invaded her mind, but she pushed them aside as she made her way to her office. Nothing at all could dampen the mood she was in. She sat down at her computer, starting it up to check her e-mail and start her day.

"Honey." Temperance glanced up at her father and smiled. He paused as he took a moment to look at her. Well, it looks like Booth finally grew a pair and told my little girl how he feels about her.

"Did you need anything Dad?" Brennan ignored his thought about Booth and waited patiently for him to get to the point of his visit.

"I'm giving a tour to a school group today and wondered if you'd like to join me. We'll be seeing the Egyptian exhibit among other things and I thought that you might like to say a few things about the mummies."

Temperance thought for a moment, glancing at the in-box full of requests. Obviously she had a lot of work to do but...

"Certainly, I'd like the opportunity to observe adolescent behavior in an academic setting." Temperance stood and followed her father from the office as he chuckled. "What's so amusing?"

"Nothing's amusing. I just find it endearing that you think you can get anything out of a bunch of kids on a field trip."

"Anthropologically speaking..."

"Now honey, none of that right now. Why don't you just leave the science behind, but engage the children with a story or two."

"That makes absolutely no sense to me. You're asking me to leave the science behind, but to tell the students about my finds. That's ridiculous when I used a scientific process to make my findings."

"Never mind. I'm sure you'll do fine." Max was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "So you haven't said, but how are things with you and Booth?"

Temperance glanced at her father as they left the museum and headed toward an unloading zone where several buses sat unloading children.

"Why would you thing that anything has changed between us?"

"Oh please, as if anyone else could make you glow like that." Max glanced at his daughter as she grinned a little and shook her head.

"As a matter of fact he and I had a very nice date last night. It was probably the best date I've had in quite some time and if you try to have any kind of 'talk' with him, I'll know."

"You know me too well sweetheart." Max gave his daughter's shoulder a brief squeeze and grinned at her as they got closer to the buses. "So when can I expect to see a ring on your finger."

"Just because Booth and I are dating now doesn't mean that I will ever marry him. We just got into this relationship, and I doubt that he's even thinking about marriage." She paused dramatically as if thinking and looked at her father. "No, in fact he's thinking that he'd rather be anywhere but at the meeting he's attending, and hopes that Assistant Director Hacker doesn't notice he's doodling in his notebook."

"Ha ha, very funny sweetheart. If there's one thing that I do know about Booth it's that he's thought of being married to you, and I can guarantee that he will ask you at the first opportunity. You take my word on that. I know because I felt for your mother the same way that he feels about you."

Brennan opened her mouth to respond, but stopped and turned at the loud, "Bones!" being yelled at her. She turned to look in the direction of the sound and grinned as a blond, curly-haired boy ran toward her. She dropped down to hug him as he reached her.

"Parker, what are you doing here?"

"We have a field trip here. We get to see mummies and all sorts of stuff today. Hey, is my dad here too?"

"No, he's at work, but maybe he'll be by a little later." She stood and ruffled his hair as the young boy turned to her father.

"Grandpa Max, are you joining us too? This is so cool, wait 'til the others find out." Parker was practically bouncing with excitement at the prospect of Temperance and Max leading the tour of the museum. Before any of them could speak another word, a red haired, bearded man began to storm up toward them.

"Parker Booth, I would think you'd know better than to talk to strangers. What is wrong with you?"

"Mr. Heck, they aren't strangers. This is Dr. Brennan, my dad's friend, and this is her dad, Max. It's okay, I know them real well."

"Did you say Dr. Brennan?" Mr. Heck took a look at Brennan before his face turned to shocked, and then a smile spread across it that looked like it was trying for charming but just looked oddly disconcerting to Temperance. The man reached out his hand to shake hers, and she hesitated for just a moment before taking his. Oh disgusting. He has hyperhidrosis. "Temperance Brennan, you are by far my favorite author. I must say that your books are quite the inspiration to a budding author like myself. Perhaps we can discuss writing sometime?"

"While I appreciate that you're a fan of my books, I don't have the time to spare for a more causal discussion." She pulled her hand from his and surreptitiously wiped it on her pants. Sweaty palms were disgusting. "As for now I'm sure that your other students are expecting us to join them for the tour of the museum."

"Oh, yes of course. Yes, please follow me, won't you?" Mr. Heck reached out in an effort to guide her to the other children, but Parker had placed himself at her side, Max on the other to keep her out of the reach of the rather smarmy teacher. He offered them both a tight smile after a moment's hesitation and hurried ahead to organize the groups.

XxXxX

Booth sat in the meeting with A.D. Hacker and a few other superiors, trying to pay attention to what they were saying, but found that his interest had long ago waned. It wasn't to say that he was disinterested in his job, but he'd never been interested in the inter-office politics. Hacker had once said that it was Booth's success that boosted his own, and he didn't doubt it, although he really should have gotten more credit than he did for his hard work.

He frowned at the random thoughts drifting through his mind. He'd learned way too much about what women really thought in the last few days and was looking forward to getting rid of the chip, although the benefit of the sharpened emotional connection with Temperance was almost worth leaving it where it was. The way that their emotional states seemed to wrap around and meld with each other was as if their very thoughts were making love to each other.

Booth shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the thought. Why was it all of a sudden that he couldn't control his libido when it concerned Temperance. He glanced down at the paper in front of him and frowned slightly. Since when had he turned into a thirteen year old girl? His name and hers were all over the page in various combinations, although the most prominent of which was 'Mr. and Mrs. Seeley Booth'. He tore the page from his notebook and crumpled it up, not wanting anyone to see what he'd been doodling.

"So Booth, what do you say?" Booth looked up at Hacker with a confused expression. When had they begun to talk to him.

"I'm sorry sir, but I didn't catch the question."

"I can see that. You don't seem to be quite yourself lately, is there any particular reason why?"

"Nothing that I would care to discuss at work. Now what was it that you wanted me to do?"

"Dr. Sweets put in his report on your experimental procedure, and made a note about your ability to hear the thoughts of others. I was wondering if you'd like to give us a demonstration of that ability by assisting with an interrogation."

"What? I'm sorry sir, but I am not a parlor trick. I'm not planning to have this 'experimental procedure' in place for much longer, so I would really appreciate it if you would respect that and not ask me to perform at your whim."

"Well, suit yourself," Hacker said, clearly surprised that Booth had turned down the offer. The rest of the suits began to shuffle out of the room and as Booth gathered his things to return to his office, one of the top brass stopped him.

"Agent Booth, I was hoping to have a word with you." The man smiled as Booth looked up in surprise. While he missed having Deputy Director Sam Cullen around, the newest deputy director over violent crimes was an immensely kind man. How he had that dufus, Hacker working under him was anybody's guess.

"Of course sir, how can I help you?" Booth watched as the Deputy Director waited for everyone to leave the room and then sat down, facing him.

"I've watched your career for the past ten years and I must say that I am incredibly impressed in your performance."

"Thank you sir."

"I'm not one to beat around the bush, so I'm just going to come out and ask. I am looking for an Assistant Director for the Organized Crime Unit. I heard about how you handled that Russian mob boss and would love a man with your integrity to head it up. What do you say?"

Booth stared at the man in shock for a moment before he had the ability to speak again. Was he really being offered a promotion?

"Would you mind if I get back to you on that sir? This is something that I need to discuss with my partner."

"Yes of course. Talk to your partner and get back to me so I know whether or not to move to the next name on my list." With that, the man gave a quick nod to Booth and headed from the conference room. Booth sat for a moment, contemplating the offer he'd just been given. Discussing such an important offer with Bones shouldn't be put off, so he stood up to head over to the Jeffersonian. What he wasn't expecting was the wall of fear that slammed into him, knocking him on his ass and out like a light.