Chapter 10: Part 4

They were all waiting for him by the SUV.

He noticed Bones was leaning up against the passenger's side of the car, her arms crossed over her chest. What had Sweets said about a closed body posture? Something about being defensive. Well, she has a right to be, he thought to himself. He was seriously conflicted over the whole front seat issue...it WAS now Bones' seat but it used to belong to Squints...which is probably why Bones was standing in front of the door the way she was at the moment.

He let his brown eyes slip over to Squints whose light grey eyes met his with a sparkle. She smiled softly, "I'll sit in the back with Dr. Sweets," she said softly.

He fidgeted with his tie, "Thanks, Squints."

SQUINTS! Squints?

Did he give every partner he had a cheesy nickname? Did he just act like this with every partner he had?

Brennan had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and was kicking herself for ever thinking that these feelings of... whatever between her and Booth somehow went deeper than just being partners and friends. Her intelligent brain was running itself in circles.

What was it that someone had once told her...love is illogical, you'll never make sense of it.

But she wasn't in love with Booth! That was completely absurd...she hated to think she had let him get close enough to her to the point where she had become vulnerable to him.

If she hadn't let him get under her skin than why was there this strange flare of heat when she saw him open the back door for Dr. Switzer and watched his hand press gently on the other woman's back to propel her into the car?

She shouldn't be feeling this way! She had no right to...Booth could do whatever he wanted concerning women...

It was the fact that this particular woman was Booth's former partner that bothered Tempe the most. He couldn't have crossed that professional line with her, he just COULDN'T HAVE, it was so unlike him....but the conversation she'd heard before.

"Honey, aren't you going to get in the car with them?" came Angela's sweet voice from inside her right ear. "I'm sure you are all confused as the rest of us, but you need to move so we can solve this case and get out of this creepo-ville."

"The polar ice caps aren't melting?" came Hodgins' voice from somewhere in the background...and then, "Ow, Ang...that hurt."

"Shut up, I know you like it rough!"

Brennan tried to tune them out and climbed into the car with Booth, Sarah and Sweets.

"Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth...you two look awfully tense with each other right now. Is there some conflict you might need to resolve or something you may need to talk about...remember communication is the key to a healthy working relation---"

"SHUT UP!" both Booth and Brennan snapped tersely at him from the front.

Dr. Switzer quirked an eyebrow, "If I had known you were a psychologist I might have just left you back there. You were smart not to tell me."

Sweets gave her a puzzled look.

"I hate psychology."

Sweets just snorted in response. No wonder Booth got along so well with Dr. Brennan...his former partner and his new partner shared certain similarities that Sweets was only just picking up on now.

It would be very interesting to watch the three interact in the next days to come...very interesting indeed.