10.

Instead of Sweet's office, Seeley Booth made his way to visit another Booth: Jared. Being with the Bureau carried no weight around these parts of the world so his badge carried him to the gate and over only as a piece of identification. But and though they were all Squids- and God knew that Seeley Booth would never see the attraction of being on a boat for months on end, let alone fighting a war from it- there were friends there. Hell, he knew people everywhere, but there was a particular childhood friend he decided to call upon as a facilitator for a visit. He was not let down. After a phone call, Seeley Booth reported at the main gate and dropped a name from his past and was shown to the visiting area.

Jared was already waiting there, the family trademark cocky smile in place on the handsome features he knew as well as his own.

"Little brother..." Booth produced two beers, one out of each pocket of his suit jacket and tossed one to the man sitting across the table.

"Big brother... always watching me..." There was an easy smile when he said it, no trace of the bitterness that usually seasoned it marring the handsome face.

"Watching out for you... not watching you..." Booth opened his beer and drank from it, interested in the flavor.

"Isn't it the same thing?" Jared held the bottle to his lips, a fraction of a second hesitation, waiting for a reply.

"Nuh..."

"Seel... what's wrong? Besides the fact that your favorite brother is in here, I mean..." Jared leaned forward, genuine interest in what Booth had to say. Having Temperance telling him off for not deserving his brother had opened the floodgates for Jared and he found himself inordinately thinking and re-thinking back over the years and occasions where Seeley had made the bogeyman – in whatever shape or form it came at him- go away. Nearly always without a word of acknowledgment. And he felt bad about it. Which was news to him as he thought of himself as a good guy- all in all. Not the kind of man that costs his brother his hour of glory- well and hard worked for- without so much a thank you or the intention to never do it again. No, he knew he was spoiled, but he had never been one of the bad guys. Temperance had opened his eyes to the man his brother was- and that he, Jared, failed miserably at being. So when he saw that whatever it was in Seeley's eyes – he was not quite sure what to call it- he felt a compulsion to help, or, at least, to listen. And pray that he could at least say the right thing – least once in his life. He had never been as good as Seel at just knowing what was going on, at saying the right thing. That was Seeley's special talent, as his was charming his way around life, clowning around to make people smile.

"Why are you here, Jared?"

"Because I was arrested. I thought of all people you'd know how it works... you arrest someone, they stay behind bars..."

"Don't play with me, boy!" Booth teased, imitating Father Daniels from their childhood. "What did you do?" Booth's smile had faded somewhat.

"Come on Seel, that's not why you're here... You've asked that before and did not get a reply. You know better than asking again. So, you're just trying to gain time. What's on your mind? Why are your panties in a twist"
"There is nothing twisted in my very manly boxer shorts..."
"Yeah, right... 'cause who would want to spend the afternoon with the lovely Tempe when you can sit in a green room smelling of sweat with your little brother... wait... is there trouble in paradise? Did you have a fight with the Boneyard Captain or something?"

"Something... I guess... And don't repeat the Boneyard Captain thing in front of Cam." Booth sighed, sat at the table across from his brother and hoped that a little conversation might help him see the big picture, because God knew that he could only see details that he couldn't understand, let alone put together. Booth sighed again as Jared leaned back on his chair that seemed far too small to accommodate his frame. "Bones... she's being weird"

"Weird good or weird bad?"

"Bones is never weird. So weird is bad..."

"Seel... this is not high school, man. Try to hone up those vocabulary skills and, for all that is holy and sacred to you, tell me what weird means..."
"She's... moody and I don't know... like... fragile. You've seen Bones. She kicks ass everyday... and now I'm afraid every time I open my mouth 'cause she gives me this look like when I broke that vase that Mom used to have, remember? And she just gave me this look like she had lost something precious and I had just broken her heart and it made me feel so bad I just didn't know what to do to make it up to her... and with Bones I feel like I keep on breaking her vase everyday..."
"Why? What have you been doing to her?"

"What do you mean? I don't do anything to her."

"Seel, try and keep up, will you? Are you sleeping with somebody else besides her? Women just known that... they like to call it a sixth sense, but they always know when you're sleeping with somebody else."

"I'm not sleeping with anyone."
"Fifty bucks say you mean that literally..."
"That's none of you business. I meant, I'm not sleeping with Bones"
"So you're sleeping with somebody else and she doesn't like it."

"I'm not sleeping with somebody else. But there's Perotta and..."
"Wait... missed a step. Who's Perotta"
"Agent Peyton Perotta... She's... well, nice. She made me chili and..."
"Since when do you like chili?"

"Jared! I don't, alright!... But she brought it when I was sick, when she thought I was alone and she's nice to me, she always gives me this smile like her day just got better when she sees me. She likes me..."

"Makes you feel all Booth inside... So you're sleeping with her?"
"No, I'm not sleeping with her... but you know... I'm considering... thing is... she makes me feel good..."
"You mean, she doesn't kick your ass, she kisses your ass... I can see the appeal. And I bet you she's blonde..."
"How do you..."
"You're not the only one with the intuition in the family, Seel. But let me sum this up: you're not sleeping with Tempe, and you're not sleeping with the blonde babe. So you're not sleeping with anyone? Father Daniels was right- you have the calling, Seel"

"Why do you make it sound so pathetic?"

"Because I'm a man. You want commiseration, you go tell your story to a chick and she'll find it so sweet," The two words were squealed, a nearly perfect imitation of a girl, "But for me it's just pathetic. Very unboothish."

"Nothing wrong with being unboothish."

"Only certain things, Seel.

"We're moving away from the point."
"And what's the point?"
"Why is she moody and fragile..."
"Maybe she is PMSing"

"Well, she never gets like that during, before or after. She's always steady and strong and brilliant and...'

"So you even know her cycle... that's actually interesting... you're in love..."

"No... I'm not love with Bones..." Booth's eyes widened, his pupils dilated and a thin shin of sweat pearled on his forehead. He would have recognized it as a textbook lying reaction if he had seen it in one of his suspects. Only there were no mirrors in the visiting room.
"Yeah... you tell yourself that often enough... just might become true..."

"You know, time to go... I didn't come here for this"
"Seel, I know you. You're my brother, and I know when you're lying: when you're lying to yourself and when you're lying to others. So give it a rest, I'm not gonna tell. High school is a long, long way away. But man, you always fought for what you wanted, never gave up. And with this woman you're sitting there with your thumbs up your ass and you don't do a damned thing about it."
"Hey! There is nothing up this ass!" Booth gave his brother a rather pro forma stinky eye. "Besides, there is nothing to do about it. If it were true, which I'm not saying it is" Jared gave him a crooked smile, affection so clear in it that Booth just felt at ease to go on, "but aside the fact the we don't want the same things out of life, she just does not want me. If she did, she would have taken the initiative, because that's Bones, she goes for it, for what she wants... And I don't need Rebecca all over again, you know... been there, done that, got the t-shirt."

"Seel, this may come as a shock to you, but you're an idiot, man, you really are an idiot! And if you don't see it, if you don't get it, well, than that's the most Booth you'll ever be. Or, maybe, it's not that you don't get it, it's that you don't want to, which makes you a chicken shit!" It was said with a smile, an easy smile that softened the words.

"Jared, there are things... people... that you just should stay away from."
"Why, may I ask?" Booth sighed.

"Because, if it doesn't work, you're left with nothing. And maybe what you have already is good enough that you don't want to risk it."

"Chicken shit!"

"Yeah... Again I ask: why are you here? What have you done?"

"Seel, leave it alone"
"How can I help if you don't tell me?"

"Because, Seel, there are things that even you can't fix. But in any case, I'm not ashamed of the why I'm here, which for me is a first, so leave it be."

"For now I will. But we'll talk about this again."
"Then come prepared to discuss Tempe when you come..."

"Chicken Shit."
"Seel, two words for you: pot, kettle!"

As he stepped into the cool February air, Seeley Booth wanted to be worried about his little brother and what the future held for him if push came to shove. But he found it hard to concentrate and his thoughts drifted over and over again to a certain forensic anthropologist with deep blue eyes, brown silky hair and the capacity to crush his heart into oblivion.

He decided that a beer hat and a soak in the tub would be in order.