Title: "Guy Hugs"
Pairing: Booth, Brennan, Sweets
Rating: K+ (Keeping down the rating on this one.)
Spoilers: S4: Mayhem on the Cross & Cinderella in the Cardboard
Chapter: 1-Shot
Summary: Just look at the icon.

"Mental illness is a legal status. To plead insanity, Barbara Cunningham has to undergo a mental examination." Sweets set his tea cup down next to a half-eaten tuna sandwich and an untouched pickle spear.

Brennan made a face before drinking her coffee.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"It's not that I don't believe you, it's simply that I'm not too sure how accurate a plea of insanity can be."

"Right. Because psychiatry is a soft science and all that."

"All that what?"

"It's a phrase, Dr. Brennan. I was undermining your faulty assertion that psychology is somehow substandard..."

Stabbing at lettuce, she murmured, "Still a soft science." She was not too shy to eye-ball him as she spoke those words.

"The idea is obviously beyond your ken." Maybe it was a bit of a challenge. He hid a smirk behind whole wheat bread.

She huffed, "It's not beyond my ken, Dr. Sweets. I simply don't want to waste my time learning about psychology. My time is better spent studying an accurate science. If I wanted to, I could make it within my understanding."

They were silent for a while. Sweets was silently brooding. It didn't take him long to realize how pointless that particular endeavor was. "Hey. Thanks for... you know. Last night."

"Dinner? It wasn't my idea."

"I was actually referring to Agent Booth and you sharing stories from your pasts. It was... cool."

"Cool?" Ice-blue eyes widened a smidgen.

"Awesome. Sweet... More-- phrases."

"I know they're phrases, I just thought you were more intelligent than to use such sophomoric language."

"I'm twenty-four. I'm bound to--You know what? This is good tea." A change of direction. That's what they needed.

"Booth hates tea. I think he thinks it's effeminate."

Sweets' lips pursed. He pushed away the mug. There's no winning with this woman!

Brennan sipped her coffee, then pushed it to the middle of the table near Sweets' teacup. "There's something I need to say to you."

"I kind of got that when you asked me out to lunch. Alone. Without Agent Booth. Where is Agent Booth, by the way?"

"He went home for lunch. But my reason for asking you to lunch has to do with a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to apologize properly, but... I hadn't yet decided whether a formal atmosphere or an informal, more personal atmosphere would be more appropriate. I consulted with Angela and she agreed that lunch at the Diner would be more than adequate."

Sweets smiled at her with a somewhat amused expression on his lips. "What are you getting at, Dr. Brennan?"

"Do you remember when I... led you to believe that Daisy was using you to cheat on her fiance?"

Sweets chuckled. "Forget? How could I?"

"So you do remember?"

"I remember. Yeah."

She cleared her throat and prepared to say what she had been planning for nearly three weeks. "I apologize, Sweets. Although my intentions were benignant, I've come to see that I should have followed Booth's advice and said nothing. I caused you unnecessary pain." Sweets could see that she really did seem honestly apologetic. "I'm sorry."

Sweets' cheek dimpled as he gave her a sideways grin. "Hey, it's--it's OK."

"No, it's not. I hurt you, Sweets. I am truly very sorry."

"I can see that, Dr. Brennan. If it--if it makes you feel any better, it really made for some great make-up sex."

Where any normal human being would have given Sweets a disgusted or shocked look, Brennan shrugged. "I can imagine that make-up sex is quite enjoyable. I've never personally had make-up sex--"

"Never?" Sweets couldn't believe he was actually getting Brennan to open up about something personal. WIN.

"Well--as it turns out, whenever I've fought with a boyfriend or a lover, it has never really ended in reconciliation." Although she stated this fact as coldly as she could, Sweets could tell that it was painful for her--just as the time when she told Booth and him about the pain of a break-up.

"You know... if someone isn't willing to fight for you, then they're just not worth it."

"You sound like Booth."

He shrugged. "Yeah, well... Guy talks and stuff. Turns out Booth gives some pretty good advice..."

"Booth does give excellent advice." She took a bite of a strawberry. "What advice did he give you?"

"Ah... Just some advice on Daisy."

"Do you... have a direct quote or a paraphrase?"

"Um. He said that I should confront Daisy."

"Which ultimately led to the post-quarrel sex."

"Yeah." He looked pretty proud of that particular memory.

"Then what?"

"Uh--Then What? I--I tried to give him a hug, but I dunno... apparently guys don't hug, so he slugged me in the arm--still kinda hurts. You know, my dad was a hugger. I think if I could just open Booth up to the possibility of physical displays--"

"Wait. He didn't hug you?"

"Yeah. Usually he's pretty perceptive to bodily language, but he made it quite clear that guys don't hug things out. He just--WHACK--I think I bruised a bit."

Brennan was quiet for a second. She stood quickly. "Could you pay, Sweets?"

Sweets looked up at Brennan as she threw on her jacket. "Where are you going?"

"I have to go."

He turned in his chair and watched as Brennan ran out of the diner.

"Always in the dark..." He shook his head and turned around just as his cell phone rang. He answered it. "Daisy?"

***

"Booth! It's Bones. Booth?"

"Just wait a second." He made it to the door with a sandwich in one hand. "Hey, I was just--" The look on her face made him freeze. "Bones?" She grabbed the sandwich and flung it to the side. "Hey, what was-- I was eating that--"

She entered his apartment, closing the door behind her. She stood, arms akimbo with an unreadable expression on her face. "Guy hugs?"

"Uh... What--what's going on, Bones?"

"You told Sweets that guys don't hug."

"Guys don't-- Oh."

"Exactly. So was it just a misnomer or was it an attempt at changing our proximity--? I don't understand, Booth."

"Bones..."

"The truth, Booth."

"The truth?"

She nodded.

Almost a minute passed before he decided on the right words.

"Sometimes... I just want to be close to you. Physically."

She didn't reply. She looked... angry?

"Bones..."

"How much time do we have left of lunch?"

He looked at his watch. "Uh. Twenty minutes. Why?"

"That's more than enough time. Think you can be fast?" She grabbed his hand and began to walk towards his bedroom.

"Whhhhat?"

They stopped in the doorway of his bedroom and kissed him deeply. It didn't take him long to get the message. Placing his hands on her hips, he pulled her tighter against his body.

Forty minutes later, Cam was looking at her watch. "Angela, do you know where Dr. Brennan is?"

She shrugged. "I dunno."

-------------

Wow! Thank you so, so much for all of these fabulous comments! I really do appreciate knowing that my writing is loved! Only three more episodes left until the finale!

This Thursday: Beaver in the Otter--College Prank or Murder? Plus, Jared returns!

Thurs. May 7th: The Critic in the Cabernet -- Dead guy in the wine! Plus, Brennan reveals something HUGE and Booth's health goes downhill.

Thurs. May 14th: The End in the Beginning -- Let's just say that something BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGG happens.

Happy Viewing!