"Angela…call me back…this is the third message I've left you, but please, please…call me back

"Angela…call me back…this is the third message I've left you, but please, please…call me back? Actually, I'll just come over to your house."

Angela sighed as she heard this message. She'd been avoiding this.

She opened the door.

"Oh, Angela, it's worse than I thought."
"What happened?"

"Well…I know this sounds bad, but well, I spied on you guys tonight."

"So?"

"Well, you were right. About everything…Mandi seems perfect, and I think Booth is going to be really happy." She started crying.

"Bren…isn't this what you wanted? For Booth to find someone amazing?"

"Yes…but…"

"Your heart is breaking."

"Yes, I mean I knew it would hurt, but when Booth said he had a good time on his date…well…"
"Wait, you talked to Booth?"

"Yeah…I saw how great Mandi looked, and I was feeling really bad about lying to Booth…really bad…"

Angela squirmed a bit realizing she was also lying to Brennan.

"…and so I went to his place to tell him that I'd made up Brenda. He's happy with Mandi, and so, I wanted him to know he could pursue that…without worrying about Bren…about Brenda."

"Did he yell at you?"

'Booth? No, no, of course not. He asked me why I did it."
"What did you say?"

"The truth, that I want him to be with someone amazing, that I wanted him to be happy."

"Then what?"

"He asked if I thought he was unhappy…I said no…"

"So, then what?"

"He…kissed me…oh Angela, he called me Bones, and he kissed me, and I kissed him back. It was great…and then he called me amazing."

"So what's wrong?"
"I froze, Ange…I mean, he thinks I'm amazing?"

"He does, Bren…he loves you."

"But…I'm not good enough for him…and I've blown it…because now he's with Mandi."
"Sweetie…"

"No…it's better this way. It's so late, I should go…thanks Angela. You're such a good friend."

Angela felt a strong surge of guilt as she hugged her friend.

"Sweetie, why don't you take the day off tomorrow? Maybe treat yourself to sleeping in and a pedicure or something?"

"Okay, maybe"

The next morning Booth entered Angela's office.

"Where's Bones?"
'Um…I think she's taking the day off, said something about a day at the spa or something. What's up?"

"What's up? What's up? Angela…Bones came over to my house last night."

"She told me."

"What? So you know about this? Okay, then you know it's gone too far. This is all your fault. She thinks I'm actually interested in Mandi."

"Whoa..first of all, this isn't all my fault."
"Oh really? Well, whose idea was it for me to get with someone else?"
"Hers, Booth…remember, she wanted you to be with someone else. Besides…you kissed her! That was outside the plan!"

"She told you that?"

"Yes…she was upset."
"Well…let's fix it… 'Mandi' doesn't even exist, okay?"

"Booth…listen, if she finds out we've been lying, it won't be good…so let's just wait a couple of days…you can 'break up' with 'Mandi', and then you can try to get her to be with you, okay? Just wait it out."
"I don't like this."

"Well, let's call her now…Hey, Kelly… it's Angela…hey, thanks for helping out last night…nope we don't need "Mandi" anymore…yeah I think it worked. Oh, Booth says thanks, also…yeah, okay…bye." She closed her phone, "Trust me, Booth…it's going to be okay. She's in love with you, but she thinks you're too good for her…and she needs to be able to do this for herself. I have a feeling that soon, she'll be knocking on your door again…I was right about that, wasn't I?"
"Yeah, I guess…but…one week…I'll wait one week, and then I'm doing it my way."

After taking the day before off, Brennan had felt much better. It really was amazing what a face peel and pedicure could do. So what if she'd gotten a few blond highlights in her hair, that didn't mean anything. She'd realized she was focusing too much on emotion and had let her rational being slip. Not today. Today she was going to march into the FBI building and pretend nothing was wrong. Today was the first day of the rest of her life…a life without Booth as her best friend…but, it had to start sometime. It was what she wanted….and she even allowed herself a small hint of satisfaction that it had turned out the way she wanted.

As she rode up the elevator to Booth's office, she thought she recognized the woman sharing the elevator with her. Mandi! Wow, she really was pretty close up…her hint of satisfaction lowered to a smidge.

'Dr. Brennan?"

"Yes?"

"Oh, it is you…I thought I recognized you. Oh, this is great. You're here to see Booth?"

"Yes, but what are you doing here?"

"What? I work here?"
"You do? I thought you worked at the Jeffersonian?"

"What? Oh, they didn't tell you that part? Well, I guess since you're back with Booth, I can tell you we just made that part up. Oh, this is so great…I mean I've wanted to meet you ever since Angela and Booth asked me to be a part of their scheme. I'm so happy for you. Booth is a really great guy…it's clear he's crazy about you. He really didn't want to lie to you, but Angela said it had to be done. Oh, here's my stop…yours too, if I remember correctly."

Brennan was stunned.

The doors opened on Booth's floor, and he was standing there, getting ready to go down on the elevator.

"Bones?"
"How could you?"

The elevator doors closed before he could get inside.

Booth raced down the stairs to try and beat the elevator down. Damn it! This is really bad. He could see the doors open, but she wasn't inside. He turned and saw her exiting the large glass door.

"Bones…BONES…wait…it's not what you think…Bones…Bones, wait." He caught up with her and grabbed her by the arm. "Come on Bones…it's really not what you think. Let me explain."

"It's not what I think? I'll EXPLAIN what I THINK it is, okay? You lied to me…and Angela…Booth, how could you? I can't believe this…"

'NO, Bones, you wait a minute…okay, yeah I lied…there is no 'Mandi', but you started it…you lied first okay, about this stupid…whole thing…you know it's true…you lied to me about Brenda, and you know…Steve, whoever that is…and you might not believe this, but…wait, what's on your face? Is that flour?'

"What? Oh, yeah"

'Why is there flour on your face? Were you baking?"

" I was trying to make a pie…"

"You were trying to make a pie?" Booth, now calm, smoothed his finger along her chin. "Was that for me?'

"What? I…no…maybe…maybe I like pie now. But I'm still mad at you."

"Bones…look…I'm sorry…okay? I really am sorry. I…didn't want to lie to you, but Angela…okay, maybe that's not fair…Angela cares about you…and I care about you. I meant what I said…you're amazing."

"Booth…I don't know what to think."

"That's okay...just…don't worry, everything will be fine."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"Because I know you, Bones. You're strong and smart and you fight for what you want…so fight for me."

"Booth…"

"No, don't say anything else…let me call you a cab…I'll see you sometime later this week, okay?"
"Okay"

Brennan took the cab to the Jeffersonian. She entered her office and noticed Angela sitting on the couch.

"I'm mad at you by the way.'

"Sweetie…"

"No…no, you…double crossed me. I can't believe you lied to me."
"I never meant to hurt you, but that first night when you called, Booth called me too and asked for help. I told him then that you'd made up your friend, and that maybe he should act like he was interested in meeting her… to make you jealous. I'm sorry I hurt you…I really did want to make you happy."

"Oh…"

"So…is it over with you and Booth?"
"No…he apologized and said he made up Mandi and that he really thought I was amazing….Angela…before I do anything else, I need to know…are there anymore secrets out there?"

"Well, you know that questionnaire?"

"Yeah…you told me what Booth wanted in a woman."

"Not exactly. I told you what Booth said"

"What's the difference?"

"Well, I did it in reverse. I asked him what he didn't like. I wanted to see if you would try to catch him even if it meant you had to change yourself."

'Oh…that's kind of mean"
'Yeah, I know…and I'm really, really sorry. I realized that I got too excited and I forgot about your feelings. It felt like a fun game, and I understand if you don't want to talk to me for awhile."

"No, Ange…I could never want that…besides, now I do need help."
"With what?"
"Well…Booth said something interesting when I told him I wasn't sure about all this. He said he wasn't worried because he knew me. He said I was strong, and smart and that I fight for what I want"

"So…what's wrong with that?"

"Then he told me to fight for him."

"wow…Bren…oh my…wow…that's a pretty good line…so what are you going to do?"
"Well…I thought I'd start with this…."

It was two hours before she'd finished explaining her plan….