Disclaimer: Bones and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement. All characters and places are meant to be fictional.

Summary: What's Sweets up to? … Brennan and Sweets form a friendship to fill in the time after work hours that used to be filled with Booth and Daisy. Sweets is still hopeful that Brennan and Booth can develop a long-lasting intimate relationship. His plan is to keep men away from Brennan while Booth gets his life in order and Hannah out of it. However, this unexpected friendship causes a domino effect through the lives of people at the Jeffersonian and the Hoover. Sweets had planned on a happy ending. If he had known the trouble it would cause, he would have made different choices along the way. When everything looks to be hopeless, how will Booth try and fix things?

Responses to your reviews are at the end.

Sweets' Plan for the Truth

Chapters 21: The Domino Effect ~ Part 2

Caroline

"Cherie, this can't be good. I've been convalescing for less than two weeks and you're already calling me for help. Which one screwed up this time? Agent Booth? Dr. Brennan? Dr. Sweets? It's gotta be one of them."

"This soap opera takes more than three people. Do you have any tips for dealing with these people?"

"Tell me a little bit of what's going on and I'll take care of it all. You can count on that! But first, tell me how the Jenkins' case is going."

In the Bullpen: agents Simmons, Perotta, Richardson, and Charlie

The bullpen became eerily quiet as Agent Booth and Dr. Sweets walked on by. Both seemed to be in a rush and very angry. The normal chatter picked back up again once they left earshot.

"What do you suppose happened?" asked Simmons.

"If it involves Booth, it's gotta be about Dr. Brennan. He's been in love with her for years! No one, I mean no one, should even consider touching her. But I still can't believe he risked his career last night."

"But Booth is living with the blonde. What's her name?" asked Charlie.

"News flash! Didn't any of you notice what went down here in the station yesterday?" announced Simmons.

Chase snorted. "Agent Booth was pissed. Nothing new to me."

"Well, I think it's safe to say that the girlfriend is history," guessed Simmons.

"Whatever it is that has Booth mad isn't my concern. I'm just planning on keeping my distance. I'd like to live a little longer. I have a date on Friday." Charlie beamed with pride.

"Seriously?" asked Perotta. "Who was desperate enough to say 'yes'?"

"Ouch! You were majorly dissed, man," teased Simmons.

"Oh, don't play games, sweetheart. The guys won't think any less of you."

Perotta laughed good-naturedly. "In your dreams, Charlie. In your dreams."

"Since the other team canceled the game due to illnesses, why don't we hit a local bar on Friday? It's not like any of us actually has a date," offered Chase.

"As long as no one informs Booth, I'll be there," said Simmons.

"Bringing the talk back to Booth, how worried do I have to be?" asked Chase.

All three of the agents laughed at him. "I know you just got here, but you may want to think about another transfer," claimed Simmons.

"Just don't leave until after hockey season," added Charlie.

Perotta rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to them. You're far more capable than they are at defending themselves in a fight. But you may want to take time for some extra hand combat practice."

Sweets

Sweets was disappointed when he found Rachel's office empty. After he discovered what Booth had said to her, he needed to do damage control quickly. He just hoped he wasn't too late. He sauntered back to his office. No one stopped him along the way. He was obviously deep in thought and those thoughts were painful ones.

He sent her a simple and short text and hoped she would respond. He was quite surprised when his phone buzzed just five minutes later. However, he knew things were just about to get much, much worse. It was Caroline.

Hodgins

When Booth walked into the lab with a glare and his shoulders hunched, Hodgins could tell that whatever was wrong with Brennan and Cam most likely had to do with Booth. This just wasn't his day. First, Angela was complaining in between her dry heaves crying that she was never doing that to her body again. Her feet hurt and she felt like an elephant. Hodgins tried to tell her that was entirely impossible. That just earned him the silent treatment. Angela hadn't talked to him since breakfast and it was now almost time for lunch. Wendell was walking around mumbling about the hockey game being canceled. He'd been looking forward to seeing one of the puck bunnies again after the game. Hodgins hadn't seen him focus on anything for more than five minutes. If that wasn't enough, something was making his two female co-workers very moody. His first thought was PMS, something he did not miss with Angela. But he was now second guessing himself as Booth stalked up the steps with a glare. At least the glare was at no one in particular.

"G-Man, I hope you're going to like what we've found. I need someone to take me seriously around here."

Booth grunted. "Since when do people not take the bug guy seriously?"

"Since someone stuck a stick up their asses," Hodgins pointed at Cam and Brennan. Booth actually smiled a bit for the first time that day.

Cam raised her voice sternly at Hodgins. "Dr. Hodgins, I expect you to act like the professional that you are."

"I'm sure I'm at fault," admitted Booth. "Everything seems that way, today. So, I'll just take the blame if that's alright with all of you. Okay?"

"No, everything is not okay." All eyes turned on Brennan. "First of all, I don't how a stick has to do with any of this. And second, I don't even know what exactly you're blaming yourself for."

~TO BE CONTINUED~

Author's Notes: The next chapter is partially written already. Booth begins the journey to correct all the damage to his relationships and those of his friends and colleagues.

Reviews and Responses

Thank you for reading and reviewing! NCISaddict77, bones35, mendenbar, Boneslover10, Barb, Aching Bones, jmbatt, and AverageWitch.

Booth's Jealousy: I have to admit, it made me laugh to imagine Booth jealous of Sweets.

Hannah: She probably won't be with Kip for much longer. And he certainly wasn't worth much since she lost Booth for whom she quit her job to be with him. Not a smart girl!

Tangled Web: Yep… it certainly is. But Sweets' intentions were good. And although he regrets the fallout, it's ultimately Booth's mess which started with Hannah. We will see him start to fix things in the next chapter. As far as Sweets potentially making problems for B&B, I'm not going down that road in this story. I've been very unhappy with his character this season and wanted to see him as the good guy in this story who still believes B&B are right for each other. I guess you can say I have my head in the sand, sometimes.

Sweets & Rachel: I'm feeling sorry for them, too, and I wrote the horrible mess for them. LOL! It will be interesting how that plays out. I think I'll make it so more than one friend rallies for them to be together.

Chase: He's such a good guy… and handsome, too. It just doesn't seem fair. Talk about right place & wrong timing. I need to make it up to him so he can see that there is someone even better for him that he hasn't met yet. I just don't know who it is, yet.

Kip: Oh, things are going to get interesting and ugly for him and the case.

Cam: Yes! The Cam & Booth talk is coming. I wish we could have one on the show. That she hasn't talked to him seems so out of character to me.

Barb: In my very first story, I was trying to make my story flow as if it was an episode… going from scene to scene with multiple characters. I hope I'm getting better at it. Thanks for the compliment!

bones35: I'm glad you're enjoying my responses to your reviews and those from other readers. It feels like sort of a commentary or a book club sort of thing.

AverageWitch: Thank you for reading and for your compliments! They certainly made my night a little brighter!