Thanks JMHaughey for the read through!
This one is post The Princess and the Pear
She really hadn't expected to be eating alone.
Maybe she was naïve. Maybe she was just hopeful. Maybe she though that their working relationship was so important to them that they'd never cross that line.
But then she went and made him chili.
It was stupid of her. So stupid. Because there they were, of course, decidedly un-partner like. Brennan was fixing Booth's back, standing right behind him, pressed against him, the way "just partners" don't stand.
She knew that Brennan didn't know why Booth was "needlessly protective," but she wondered if Brennan realized all the ways she took care of Booth: trying to fix his back, telling him to take his meds, advising him to stay home.
She also wondered what Booth allowed himself to know. Vicodin being the great equalizer, he'd let slip some of his inner thoughts. She knew that if he'd been able, he'd have thoroughly dressed her down for sending Brennan out with Sweets. He'd have been harsh and over protective had he not been doped to the gills and admitting his partner's hair was pretty and her skin was soft.
Still, she had thought maybe it could work. She'd seen the signs and chosen to ignore them. She'd heard the "just partners" talk and thought it might just work to her advantage. She hoped there was enough denial between the partners that maybe she stood a chance with Booth.
She brought him chili.
And it was quickly obvious that she stood no chance at all.
So, Agent Perotta ate left over chili at home alone and wondered just how many people knew what she did:
That Booth and Brennan would never be "just" anything.