Author's Note: Okay, I'd like to apologize that it took me so long to post this next chapter, but it really gave me fits. This is the fourth incarnation and I'm finally satisfied. I hope it was worth the wait.
oOo
"Do you want to—I mean, Parks and I usually go for brunch after mass. You wanna grab a bite?"
She looked at him carefully, and, determining that his invitation seemed sincere, she nodded.
Brennan followed him to the SUV and climbed in.
"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" His voice was so quiet that Brennan almost didn't hear him.
When she didn't answer right away he continued, "Bones, if I did something—"
Brennan turned her head away from him and blinked back tears. "I just…" she began in a shaky voice. She paused to gather her thoughts, trying to formulate an answer that was both truthful and vague. She shook her head. "I can't talk about this yet." She turned to look at him, and his stomach bottomed out at the sight of the tears in her eyes. "I promise that someday…someday I'll explain."
His jaw flexed as he warred internally, his mind whirling to fill in the blanks. He couldn't remember the last time she was upset and refused to share it with him. But if she were angry with him, she wouldn't have shown up here today. Or she'd be letting him have it. Which left…what? He couldn't help but think that this had to be about him. Which kind of made him feel like a narcissistic bastard.
"I followed you home, you know."
"What?"
"That night. I followed you home."
She looked at him in surprise. "You didn't come up."
He looked away from her, focusing on the road ahead of him. "You said you wanted me to leave you alone. But I wanted to be sure you'd gotten home safe."
She pressed her lips together and nodded, not trusting her voice.
They were both silent, and before long they were at the diner, seated at a booth.
"So what do you have going on this week, Bones? We don't have any open cases right now."
"I've got to catch up on paperwork, there are always remains in bone storage to identify, and I have to meet with each of my interns to discuss their dissertations."
He raised his eyebrows. Sometimes he forgot that she was a professor and they were her students.
She looked down at her salad, and said, "I was thinking that I should start bringing my interns to crime scenes. To prepare them for liaising with law enforcement, in case they decide to pursue that avenue of forensic anthropology."
He stilled and watched her. She was deliberately avoiding his eyes. Was she considering giving up fieldwork? "So they'd be coming along with you—to observe?" he clarified.
"At least initially."
He decided to let it drop for now. They'd managed to find some sort of balance and he wasn't willing to rock the boat.
Without thinking he blurted out, "I'm really glad you came to find me today, Bones."
She looked up at him. "I am as well."
oOo
The next day, Brennan worked feverishly, trying to catch up on paperwork that had been neglected as a result of her impromptu vacation. She had worked through lunch, picking at the pasta and fruit salads that Angela had deposited on her desk in the early afternoon.
She deliberately kept herself busy so that her mind would not have the opportunity to dwell on Booth. She was resolved. It was time to separate her professional and personal lives.
Despite her resolution, at 6:30 Booth sailed into her office unexpectedly.
She looked up from her desk in surprise. "Booth."
"Hey, Bones, you wanna grab some dinner?"
She took a moment to answer. "I'm…I'm sorry, Booth, but I have a lot of work to catch up on."
"It's almost seven o'clock. Give yourself a break. C'mon, lets go get a pizza."
She shook her head without looking up from her desk, and then a thought occurred to her. She looked up at him. "Hannah isn't back yet?" There wasn't even a trace of accusation in her voice, just curiosity.
He blinked, and flushed guiltily. "I—what does that have to do with anything?"
She regarded him steadily.
He palmed the back of his neck. "Well, I mean—yeah, her trip got extended, but…I just…we had a great time at lunch yesterday and I realized that we haven't done that much…lately. Just you and me. I thought maybe…" he trailed off.
"I'm sorry, Booth, but I really do have quite a lot of work to do."
"Oh, I—okay." When she went back to her paperwork, he slowly turned and started to leave, but stopped at the door and turned back to her. "How about lunch one day this week?"
Against her better judgment, she nodded.
She watched him leave, noting the slump in his shoulders. For months, Booth had been nothing but professional, keeping distance between them. Brennan wasn't quite sure what to think of his sudden change in behavior. It seemed to her that as soon as she'd made her peace with the metaphorical distance between them, he'd begun attempting to erase it.
If she were someone who believed in karma, she might think she was being punished.
oOo
For the next few days, nothing of note happened. Brennan and Booth still didn't have any open cases, so they were each busy in their respective offices.
They had lunch together twice that week, once with Hannah and once just the two of them. Bones was acting like herself again, and Booth was beginning to think that he'd gotten himself all worked up over nothing. He could do this. He could build a life with Hannah without neglecting his friendship with Bones.
As for his feelings for Bones…that was a little more troublesome. She'd been such an integral part of his life for years now. It was hard to separate his affection for her and protectiveness of her from the love he'd been consumed with before. Was he still in love with her? He really wasn't sure.
The one thing he was sure about were his feelings for Hannah. He loved her. He really did. Maybe it wasn't as…intense as what he'd felt for Bones, but every relationship is different, right? He felt like the best version of himself when he was with her. He was Seeley Booth, former Army Ranger and current FBI Agent; not Seeley Booth, degenerate gambler and abused child of an alcoholic.
If Hannah noticed the change in him after returning from her trip, she didn't comment on it. The balance that he'd found lasted for five days.
oOo
On Friday, a card bearing a return address in Philadelphia arrived at the Jeffersonian, addressed to Brennan. She carefully slit the envelope with her letter opener and out spilled a short note from Benjamin and a 4x6 picture of the two of them that someone had obviously taken at his parents anniversary party. They were dancing, hips pressed together, leaning toward one another and laughing, faces almost touching. On the back he had written, Just remember, there are better times ahead.
Brennan smiled to herself when she remembered how much fun they'd had that night, dancing and laughing together. For a few hours she had completely lost herself in the moment and forgotten all about Booth and Hannah and the whole metaphorical mess waiting for her in DC.
Brennan started when she realized Angela was standing in her doorway, watching her.
"Sweetie!" The tone of Angela's voice indicated this wasn't the first time she'd tried to get her attention.
"Yes, Angela?"
"What are you looking at?"
"Oh, its…it's just a photo that Benjamin sent me. Someone took a picture of us dancing at his parents' anniversary party."
"Can I see it?"
Brennan reluctantly handed the photo to Angela.
"Wow. You didn't say he was hot. And you two…" Angela narrowed her eyes at Brennan, "you're just friends? This looks like more than that to me. This isn't ballroom dancing…this is more like the Lambada."
Brennan's brow furrowed in confusion, and in a clipped tone, she said, "I can assure you, Angela, that we are just friends."
"Okay, sweetie. Sure." Angela affixed the picture to the filing cabinet with a magnet and then opened the folder she was holding. "Here's the facial reconstruction of the latest Jane Doe from limbo. You wanna grab some lunch later?"
"Perhaps. I need at least another hour or so."
"Brennan, it's already one o'clock."
"Excuse me." Brennan and Angela both looked to the doorway. Hannah. "Judging by the look on your face, I'm guessing Seeley didn't warn you I was coming. We're having lunch, but he said he needed to drop something off to you and asked me to meet him here. Is that…do you mind if I sit?"
Angela made a hasty exit.
Just as Hannah was about to sit down, the picture that Benjamin had sent caught her eye. "Wow. Is this the guy you met on your cruise?"
Brennan frowned slightly, wondering exactly how much Booth had shared with Hannah. "Yes."
"Looks like you guys hit it off."
Booth entered her office whistling to himself. He gave Hannah a peck on the cheek and nodded at Brennan. "Hello, ladies." He started to put a file onto Brennan's desk, when the picture Hannah was examining caught his eye.
"Is that—" he choked a little on the words. "Is that Benjamin?" His spine stiffened and he clenched his teeth. Bones was plastered against that guy, his arm wrapped around her waist, one of her arms curled around his shoulder. Laughing, looking completely carefree. In a sinful-looking strapless blue dress that left nothing to the imagination.
When he snapped back to himself, he realized that he was crushing the file folder in his fist and Bones and Hannah were completely silent, watching him. Bones' eyes were filled with confusion, but Hannah's were narrowed in suspicion.
He gulped a breath and said, "Wow, Bones. It looks like you were having a good time." He prayed that his voiced didn't sound as strained as he felt.
He could feel Bones' eyes on him, but he couldn't quite meet them.
Hannah broke in, "Temperance, would you like to have lunch with us?"
Brennan, unsure of what was going on, answered, "No, thank you. I've got to work through lunch because I'm leaving a little early this evening."
Booth and Hannah moved towards the door, but Brennan stopped them. "Booth, could I speak with you for a moment, please?" When Hannah stopped also, Brennan looked at him pointedly and said, "Privately." Then she met Hannah's eyes and said, "It will only take a moment."
Hannah looked surprised, but she nodded and walked out towards the forensics platform.
Booth stepped towards Brennan's desk, burning with curiosity. "What's up, Bones?"
Brennan was trembling with anger, but trying not to betray it. Her eyes were focused on her desk, and her voice came out hard and clipped. "I would appreciate it if you didn't share details of my personal life with Hannah."
"Bones, what are you—I didn't—"
"She knew about Benjamin. What else does she know? It's bad enough that I—" her voice broke.
Suddenly Booth realized what he'd done. What's between us is ours. He'd been the one who made that rule, and as far as he knew, Bones hadn't broken it since that conversation about the egg. He closed his eyes, feeling the weight of guilt get heavier.
"I'm so sorry, Bones, I didn't mean to—we live together. She saw how worried I was about you while you were gone, and—"
Brennan didn't think she could bear to hear the rest of his explanation, so she interrupted. Finally looking him in the eye, she said, "I can see that things have changed now that you are with Hannah. I will adjust my behavior accordingly."
"Just what the hell does that mean?"
Brennan's face was closed and completely blank. "It means that I will assume that anything I share with you might be shared with Hannah and so I will be more careful about divulging personal information to you." She sat back down and began typing furiously.
"C'mon, Bones, I messed up. I'm sorry, but don't—don't shut me out."
"Hannah is waiting for you. You should go."
Booth was torn. He knew Bones well enough to know that she was done with this conversation for now, but the prospect of going to lunch with Hannah and pretending that everything was fine seemed impossible. Between that picture of Bones wrapped up in a stranger's arms and now Bones accusing him of betraying her?
He sighed. "Bones, I'm…I'm so sorry. I won't—I promise I won't share anything else personal. I screwed up. I…" she hadn't acknowledged that he was speaking. "I'll see you later," he said and then turned and left before he could fuck things up any worse.