A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter took a bit longer than usual to finish – I came down with the flu at a very inconvenient time. I'm getting better, though, so we're now about to encounter Michael Stires in "The Girl in the Fridge"…

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Brennan is a little surprised when she realizes that she has absolutely no desire to have sex with Michael again. She can tell that he's interested (the physical aspect of their relationship was always at least as satisfying as the intellectual one, after all), but his flirting doesn't evoke the physiological response it used to from her. She's looking forward to a stimulating scientific debate when she asks him out to dinner, but she isn't even certain whether she should tell him about her daughter, and the evening definitely isn't going to end at her place even though Michael clearly assumes it will.

She used to consider his confident self-assurance impressive, but now she can't help finding it a little irritating. She'll probably have to remind him that he was the one who taught her not to make assumptions until all the evidence is in.

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Booth spends the evening trying to let Parker distract him from the nagging question what Bones and the smarmy professor are up to right now. He knows there's no point in dwelling on it; they haven't put any kind of label on the non-relationship they're having, they definitely haven't made any promises to each other, and she has made clear enough what she thinks of love and monogamy. He shouldn't even let her notice that he's bothered by the reappearance of her old flame because it would probably just earn him a lecture about one alpha male resenting another invading on what he considers his territory, and he really doesn't need to have his feelings broken down into anthropological catchphrases.

He's aware that it's stupid, but he's still at the lab first thing in the morning because he just has to know. He fully expects her not to be in yet, but she's on the platform poring over the remains of the fridge girl with Zack at her elbow. She looks well-rested, but there's no hint of that lazy post-coital glow he remembers, and Booth's mood goes up another notch when he sees Stires sulking in the background with an expression that's so not that of a guy who got lucky last night. He starts feeling even better when Bones and the professor get into a catfight over the correct interpretation of the victim's wrist fractures, and he decides to enjoy the show from a safe distance for a while before he whisks her away to interview the girl's parents.

But then a furious-looking Angela swoops in and barely waits until she has dragged him out of earshot before she starts ranting how it's his fault that Bones isn't getting any action from anyone now.

"You won't give her the time of day, and now she's blowing off the hot professor too!"

Booth, still speechless, finds himself the focus of a glare that would make even the toughest guy's balls shrivel. "What is up with you two anyway? She swore up and down that she didn't sleep with you last year, but I still have a hard time believing it."

That sound she made when he pinned her against the brick wall and pushed into her…

No, there was definitely no sleeping involved, and he figures that in Bones' literal mind it was enough to not consider it a lie. He will have to lie now, of course, but the fact that he feels very much like kissing Angela for what she just let slip makes up for his annoyance about her constant meddling with Bones' sex life, so he manages to sound pretty calm when he reminds her that she'd better believe it because he and Bones are just partners.

He tries not to dwell on the thought while he and Bones conduct interviews and corner their suspects, and it isn't until he finds himself standing over a heap of SM toys with her that he slips up. He has never been into that stuff, but the sight of her playing with a riding crop still does funny things to his nether regions, and he tries to gloss over the awkward moment with a careless dismissal of the whole thing.

To his utter surprise she agrees with him, but the lazy smile that accompanies her words makes his pants feel even tighter because they both know perfectly well that they're not discussing the Costellos' sex life any more. Then she smacks him with the crop, and Booth turns around and snaps at the suspects before he says or does something he'll regret.

He's still in a weird mood when the takes her back to the lab, where he gets to watch her stick it to her former professor but can't really enjoy it because it ends with Stires having to buy her another dinner. Angela shoots him a knowing look, but Booth walks out before she can corner him again. He's back two hours later with the news that Stires has basically been spying on Bones so he can rip apart her case, and even though a part of him feels smug that his gut was dead on about the guy, he hates the way her face crumples for just a second before the calm, professional mask is back.

It's good to see how her people close rank around her, how even Goodman goes all Papa Bear on Stires' ass (Not so alpha any more now, douchebag, huh? Booth's inner voice gleefully supplies), and he loves that she never backs down, that every low blow from Stires only makes her more determined to show him who's best, but he still can't help thinking that he doesn't blame her for not believing in anything relationship-related that goes beyond "biological urges" if that's how the men in her life have been treating her so far.

Then he's sitting in a courtroom and has to watch Stires tear into her, and he wants to punch the guy for pissing all over everything she stands for, for confirming her deep-seated belief that she can rely on nobody but herself since trusting only means opening herself up to betrayal. He hates to see her floundering because she cares too much about her work to turn it into a performance, but he knows that it's going to be used against her.

He can think of only one thing he can do to make the jury see how much she cares, that she's neither cold nor unfeeling underneath her scientific brilliance, even if he's well aware that she would feel less humiliated if he forced her to appear naked before them. He gets why she needs her armor, both in her work and in her life (hell, Stires has just proven how much she needs it), and he treasures the knowledge that he's one of the privileged few who were allowed a glimpse behind it. Yet there's no way around the fact that he has to abuse her precious trust in him if they want to win, if he doesn't want her to live with the knowledge that her unyielding integrity lost them a murder case.

He knows that all his choices are bad, that she'll end up getting hurt no matter what he does, so he finally goes with the choice that won't allow two killers to walk.

She may never forgive him, but he reckons that whatever he puts her through can't be worse than what Stires did to her before, and he just can't let Stires' slanders against her character stand unchallenged. The lawyers are fretting, but Booth is sure that she has it in her to turn the case around, that she won't be cowed by anything he or Stires throw at her.

She isn't, of course – he can see what it costs her, but she rises to the occasion in a way that floors him completely. She doesn't even take the bait, refuses to play the sympathy game when her troubled past is dragged into the spotlight – she brushes it aside and reminds them all why they're really here, why her feeling or their feelings or anyone's feelings don't matter because the only thing that matters is getting justice for the victims.

He wishes there was a way for him to tell her how her testimony made him feel, how he's both immensely proud and deeply humbled to know that she chose him as her partner in her fight for those who can no longer speak for themselves, but of course there isn't – not now, when it would only make her think that he's trying to charm his way out of taking responsibility for what he did to her. He truly is sorry that it had to come to this, but he does his best not to act too contrite around her – it's something she'll have to come to grips with on her own, so he figures the best thing he can do now is to give her space.

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Maybe it was foolish to be so open with him; it certainly was irrational, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that she's paying the price for it.

In the end, Booth betrays her just as Michael did, but at least Booth had a reason for it that she can respect. He says he's sorry, and she believes him, even if she knows that he'd do it again in a heartbeat if he had to.

In a way, she finds the knowledge reassuring.

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It's a cruel irony that this one of all their cases finally gets him out of the bullpen and earns him his long-awaited promotion. Booth gingerly sits down behind the desk in his new office and has no idea what he's supposed to do. Had this come at any other time, he'd already be calling her so they can celebrate their successful partnership, but as things are now, he feels like he sold her out in exchange for his shiny new SSA badge.

At long last, a guy who got burnt to a crisp on the Washington Monument saves him the decision whether to contact her or not, but Booth finds that he isn't sure how to behave around her. She's curt and professional, but the hurt underneath is obvious enough, and the nagging feeling of guilt finally gets him to come clean about his promotion.

She doesn't comment on it; she keeps her eyes on the body she's inspecting and asks almost casually if he's trying to tell her that he'll no longer work with her.

"Bones." His hand on her arm finally gets her to look at him. "I got the promotion because I work with you, and you know it damn well. So – thank you and… and I'm sorry."

"You had something to accomplish, and you found a logical way of getting what you needed." Her tone is composed, but there's something in her voice that makes Booth breathe a little easier. "I probably would have done the same thing. And – congratulations."

"Thank you." He trusts that she knows what he's talking about, and her smile tells him she does. It's almost midnight when they're finally done with the crime scene, and he'll have to hurry if he wants to make it back home before the sitter leaves, so he can't put it off any longer to ask the question that's been on his mind the whole evening.

"Bones, are we still on for Saturday morning? You know – at the park, with the kids?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" She sounds genuinely puzzled, as if the possibility hadn't even occurred to her, and Booth curses the agents and FBI techs surrounding them because he can't remember another moment when he was aching this badly to kiss her.