A/N: Just a quick thank you to everyone, 'cause I'm pressed for time. =] And I'm apologizing in advanced, because I didn't have time to really edit this chapter. Hopefully there's not too many mistakes. xD
Chapter Thirty-Five:
"Damage Control"
Brennan disconnected she and Booth's lips, giggling lightly as she pressed their foreheads together, inhaling deeply to absorb his scent.
"If I do say so myself, that was an exceptional way to be woken up," Brennan commented, giving him her approval as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I thought you might appreciate it," Booth laughed softly, his arms around her waist as he held her close, basking in their sexual afterglow.
"I'm getting a strong feeling that you are not going to let me out of this bed for a month," she joked, her fingers dancing over his shoulder blade as she occasionally pecked his lips.
"Not if you keep touching me like that," he joked back with her, just enjoying laying there with her in his arms, joking around in their normal Booth and Brennan way.
Brennan smiled and pressed her lips softly back to his, threading her fingers through his hair as she disconnected their lips once again.
"Shouldn't we call Sweets back?" She asked, "he's probably skeptical as to why I just hung up on him without saying goodbye."
"Sweets is twelve. He doesn't even know what skeptical means," Booth reminded her, "plus, do you really want to go to therapy right now?"
Brennan felt the uncontrollable smile creep onto her lips.
"No," she answered honestly.
"Neither do I," he laughed softly, rubbing her upper arms gently.
Almost as if on cue, Brennan's phone rang from the floor, filling the quiet room with the unavoidable sound.
"Is that Sweets again?" Booth asked, the irritation clear in his voice, as he peered over the edge of the bed to look at the caller ID on Brennan's cell phone, saying the name aloud to her when he read it on the screen, "Angela."
"Let it go to voicemail," Brennan shrugged, "I'm sure it's nothing of importance."
Only a few seconds after the phone stopped ringing, it beeped with a signal for a text message. Rolling her eyes, Brennan rubbed Booth's shoulder gently with her index and middle finger, her voice apologetic.
"Can you pick my phone up for me?" She asked, "it might be important."
Booth reached over the side of the bed and picked Brennan's phone up off the floor, handing it to her. Brennan opened her phone to see a text message from Angela. Thinking it could possibly be something important, she opened it up, only to read:
Bren, call me A.S.A.P.!
"I have to call Angela," Brennan rolled her eyes, slipping out of his arms and out of bed to get dressed into a simple white t-shirt and shorts, "I have to make sure she's okay."
"So much for staying in bed for a month," Booth laughed softly, picking up his phone as well when it pinged with a text message from Sweets, "jeez, this kid can't take a hint."
When Booth opened the text, it read:
Booth, call me when you get this.
"What are the chances of that?" He asked, when he read the text message over, as Brennan finished getting changed, "Sweets told me to call him too."
"Maybe we have a case," Brennan suggested, "I doubt that it's a coincidence."
"If we have a case, just put me out of my misery now," Booth mumbled, dialing Sweets number, barely paying attention as the phone rang, "it seems like we get cases at the most inconvenient times."
"Well I don't think murderers plan their schedule around our sex life," Brennan pointed out, putting her hair up in a sloppy bun, listening when Booth started to talk to Sweets.
He didn't respond to her comment, since he was listening to Sweets on the other end of the phone, asking if he could come in, but making it very clear that he didn't want Brennan to come with him.
"Alright, Sweets, just, simmer down, okay?" Booth rolled his eyes at Sweets' franticness, as he got out of bed, sliding his boxers back on before going to Brennan's closet, which now contained a few of his suits and some casual clothes, "yes, I'll come alone if you stop squeaking in my ear, okay, pal?" Brennan saw him roll his eyes as he listened to the psychiatrist on the other end of the line, "alright, alright, I'll be there in a little while. You know, now that I have to put on a suit and go to work after I called out."
Booth flipped his phone shut when Sweets was in the middle of a sentence, and tossed it back on the bed, mumbling something inaudible as he pulled a suit out of the closet.
"Case?" Brennan asked.
"No," Booth assured her, opening one of her dresser drawers, which he'd claimed as his own, to pick out a new pair of boxers, socks, and a tie, "Sweets is just being a pain in the ass again, making me go into work when I called out," he huffed at the situation, "he's getting all uppity, jabbering at me to come in, but of course, I have to go alone."
"I'm not going with you?" Brennan asked curiously, furrowing her eyebrow, "that's a little strange. Isn't it partners therapy?"
"You know what his problem is?" Booth asked rhetorically, ignoring her question, "he lets the power go to his head. He knows that it's his choice whether we stay partners or not, so he just has that whole 'I'm the boss and you do what I say, or else', kind of mind set, and I'll tell you something, if he thinks I'm just going to listen to a kid, he's got another thing coming. He's a scrawny little shrink, not the Godfather."
"I don't know what that means," she told him.
"You know, just go call Angela," he sighed, shaking his head at how clueless she was as he finished getting dressed and pecked her quickly on the lips before leaving her room, "I'll call you later, Bones. We have plans tonight."
"We do?" Brennan asked, but he was gone by the time she asked.
Sighing, Brennan took a seat on the edge of her bed, running her hands over the still warm sheets before she dialed Angela's number and waited patiently for her to answer.
"Sweetie!" Angela answered her phone in an exasperated voice, "oh, thank God you called me. We really need to have a little chat."
"About what?" Brennan asked, pulling an outfit out of her closet.
"This isn't really something we should talk about over the phone," she said, "my lunch break is in an hour. Would you be able to meet me at the diner then?"
"Sure, I'll be there," Brennan assured her, going into the bathroom to start up the water for her shower, "I'll see you then, Ange."
Hanging up her phone, Brennan prepared for her shower, having to wonder somewhere in the back of her mind why she and Booth's friends were acting so strange that day.
(line break)
"Sweets, I swear, this better be good," Booth's voice startled the psychiatrist, who was sitting comfortably in his chair, waiting for him, "I'm not even supposed to be here. You know, when I call out of work, it means I'm not supposed to be in this building."
"Booth," he knew just by the way Sweets called him 'Booth' as opposed to the formal 'Agent Booth' that this wasn't work related, "this doesn't have anything to do with work."
Booth furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Well then what the hell is it about?" He asked.
"Please, sit down," Sweets gestured towards the couch, looking him dead in the face when he took a seat, letting him know he was serious, "have you noticed any, changes, in Doctor Brennan's behavior lately?"
"Well she's a little feistier," Booth chuckled, "but that's because we're not allowed to have sex. She's got all this, pent up sexual frustration, so she's kind of been throwing herself at me. But what can I say? I'm the man, ay Sweets?"
"No, that's not what I mean," Sweets shook his head, "well, I mean, that could mean something, but I'm more talking about have you seen any changes in her personality or her mood. Has she been getting upset at you? Seeming like she has a guilty conscience?"
"Oh, I see where you're going with this," Booth had to smile as he straightened his tie and leaned up from where his back was against the couch, "you think Bones is pregnant. You think just because I got Rebecca pregnant before we were married, that it's like, in my psychological nature, or something like that. But she's not. Bones is on the pill."
"Woah, no, Booth," Sweets' eyes widened as he held up his hands in front of him, "no, no, I don't think Doctor Brennan is pregnant," he paused, receiving a highly confused and curious look from Booth as he took a deep breath, and spoke again, "I think she's cheating on you."
Booth's expression turned from curious to a cross between angry and confused.
"You think Bones is cheating on me?" He asked, just to confirm that he didn't mishear.
"I, think it's a possibility," Sweets swallowed nervously.
"Why?"
"Why would she be cheating on you? Or why do I think she is?"
"Why do you think she is, Sweets."
"Well, there was one time that I spoke to Doctor Brennan on the phone, and she was with someone. Intimately," he informed him, not wanting to hold anything back from his friend at this point, "I think I interrupted her intercourse."
"And what makes you draw that conclusion?" Booth asked, "Do you have some sort of magic shrink-y powers that enable you to tell when someone is having sex?"
Sweets drew in another deep breath, hating to be the one to tell him. Even thought he was acting all tough, and like he didn't believe him, he saw the doubt in his eyes.
"She moaned 'Sully'," Sweets said, quietly, "now, normally I wouldn't draw a conclusion based on that, because the connection was pretty bad on our phones, but I mean, whoever it was, it wasn't you, because you two are staying abstinent for the next three weeks."
"We had sex last night," Booth filled him in, "Bones said, she wanted me to prove that I still had a physical attraction to her because she felt like I didn't want her."
"It wasn't last night, Booth," Sweets kept his voice low, trying to be as gentle as possible, "and informing you of her doubts about your sexual relationship may be a sign of her guilty conscience. She may be feeling guilty about having an affair, so she's trying to turn it around to make it look like what she's doing isn't wrong."
Booth glanced from the floor to the ceiling, and then to Sweets, and back to the ceiling. It made sense. Why she started to doubt their physical relationship, why she seemed so affectionate lately, why she insisted on leaving the lab without him the day prior. But then again, there were so many reasons why it wouldn't make sense. If she'd been sleeping with Sully again, Booth doubted that they would have made love the way they did that night. That wouldn't have made any sense. But then again, Brennan didn't believe in monogamous relationships. She'd had more than one boyfriend at a time before. She could have been sleeping with Sully and just not seeing anything wrong with it.
"Booth?" Sweets asked, when he didn't respond to his statement.
"No," Booth's voice was sharp, as he stood up from Sweets' couch, "no. Bones isn't cheating on me. You must have heard something else. She, loves me."
Before Sweets could think of a way to respond, Booth had already left his office, and Sweets had to wonder if maybe telling him about the suspicion was not the best idea.
(line break)
Brennan walked through the diner to find Angela, the noises of silverware clinking against plates and bowls, and the white noise of chattering people filling the air around her. She finally spotted Angela sitting at a table near the window, the one where she and Booth usually sat when they went there, and made her way over to sit next to her.
"Hey, Ange," Brennan greeted her, taking her seat and setting her purse down on the floor under her chair.
"Oh, sweetie," Angela sighed, seeing the way Brennan was glowing, immediatly thinking back to her conversation with Sweets from just an hour and a half before, "what is wrong with you? How do I get it through your big, thick, head?"
"I, don't know what you're talking about," Brennan gave her a puzzled look, as she sipped on the water that Angela had ordered for her.
"You told Booth you wanted a monogamous relationship," Angela sighed, "I just don't understand why that's so hard for you."
"Angela, I'm a brilliant scientist with an exceptionally high IQ, and you're causing me great confusion," she said, eyeing her curiously, "Booth and I are in a relationship, and it's, admittedly, going better than I imagined it would. I love him. Not the way I love, Russ, or the way I love you and Hodgins, but a different kind of love. The kind Booth talks about."
"If you love him, don't do this to him," Angela sighed, putting her hand over Brennan's as she spoke, looking her seriously in the eyes, "I understand that sometimes the first love is the strongest, but if you love Booth the way you say you do, you'll stop this craziness and just be with him. Forget about Sully."
"Angela, I'm so lost it's starting to scare me."
"Brennan, I know you're sleeping with Sully."
Brennan nearly choked on the water she was sipping when Angela's words processed quickly in her mind, her eyes dilating with shock as she shook her head.
"What? I'm not, Ange! I swear!"
"Sweetie-"
"No," Brennan cut her off before she could speak, "I told Booth that I wanted to be monogamous, and I intend to keep that promise. I have not slept with Sully since we were a couple back when he first left. I've barely even talked to Sully since he came back to D.C. Where are you coming up with this conclusion?"
"Well, this morning, Sweets told me that he was talking to you on the phone and he heard you moan 'Sully' before the line disconnected."
Brennan ran through the morning in her mind, trying to think of when she would have even been talking about Sully, let alone moaning his name. Then she remembered. Remembered the way that Booth was nipping and licking at her skin when she was trying to talk to Sweets on her cell phone.
"I said 'Seeley'," Brennan corrected her, "Seeley. As in Seeley Booth. Booth and I engaged in sexual intercourse this morning."
"Which explains why you're glowing," Angela smiled goofily, "well now I feel like an idiot for listening to Sweets."
"You're not an idiot," Brennan promised her, "and it wasn't Sweets' fault either. Seeley and Sully are strikingly similar in sound. By the time I said 'Seeley', Booth had already tossed my phone onto the floor, so Sweets probably couldn't hear very well, especially with the sound of the phone's impact against the carpet," Brennan paused to think for a minute, "wait. Exactly how many people did Sweets tell about this misunderstanding?"
"I have no idea," Angela said, honestly, "I just know he told me."
"Well he has no right to go around telling my colleagues who I'm sleeping with. Especially when it's only speculation based off of limited evidence."
"Like you did to Booth when he had that fling with Rebecca?" Angela had to laugh lightly at the irony of her complaint.
"That was different," Brennan defended, "I just brought it up in casual conversation. Sweets went out of his way to call you and tell you who he thought I was sleeping with. You know, he wouldn't even know about Booth and I if he didn't catch us that one time."
"Sweets walked in on you two?" Angela asked, slightly amused.
"We were just kissing," Brennan shrugged, "well, kissing, a lot. And touching each other. And taking each other's clothes off. But no intercourse took place."
Brennan's mouth fell slightly agape when she remembered Booth complaining about how Sweets was acting strange and telling him to go see him by himself. Sweets was going to tell Booth about his phantom speculation.
"Shit," she muttered, pulling her phone out of her purse, her fingers flying across the keys of her phone to send a quick text to Booth as fast as they could.
"Sweetie, what are you doing?" Angela asked, curiously.
Brennan pressed send and closed her phone, setting it next to her on the table before she looked up at Angela with an annoyed expression, not annoyed at her, but at Sweets.
"Damage control," she stated, simply.