"Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan," Sweets toothy smile greeted them, "Come in, please, have a seat."
Booth guided his wife around the couch, his hand on her lower back. They sat down in tandem and his first thought was that it was nice to have her so close. True, they weren't holding hands, or even touching, but they were closer than they'd ever sat on this couch and that was good enough for him.
By the time he'd finished musing about how close he and Bones were on the couch, Sweets had started and was going on about some new sign he'd put up in his office telling clients to silence their cell phones during sessions and how disruptive they were to the therapeutic process. It was on the tip of his tongue to clue Sweets in on what his cell phone had interrupted, but Bones beat him to it.
"Do you realize that your call this morning was highly disruptive as well?" she started out, sounding a little too innocent.
"I do apologize for that," Sweets said, "As I told Agent Booth, it did not occur to me that the two of you would not be up at that time."
"Oh," she nodded, "He was up."
The innuendo couldn't have been more obvious and Sweets turned so red Booth started to feel bad for the kid. He shot a warning look at his wife, who was clearly enjoying herself, and decided it was time to steer the conversation into safer waters.
"You said something about the Bureau needing to evaluate us," Booth looked at Sweets, "What's that going to involve?"
To his credit, the kid pulled it back together and answered calmly, "A few sessions with me, not too divergent from what we were doing before. In fact, much of the groundwork for my report has already been laid as a result of my previous observations."
Booth put a hand on Bones' thigh, knowing instinctively that she was going to twist the word "laid" and cut in, "How's that?"
"Well," Sweets tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows, "You've already proven that you can work effectively as a team under extremely trying circumstances and though your relationship was not sexual in nature previously, you were extremely close."
"We were partners," Bones looked confused, "Of course we were close."
"Oh, come on guys," Sweets let loose one of his chortles as he leaned back in his seat, "You can't honestly sit there- married I might add- and feed me that 'just partners' line, can you?"
Booth looked at Bones, who was looking at him and they both agreed to let the kid sweat it out for a minute before answering him. They gave him matching innocent looks that conveyed they had not a clue what he was referring to.
"I mean," Sweets spluttered, "It's totally obvious that your relationship had moved beyond the platonic long before I entered into picture. Dr Wyatt even mentioned in his notes that there was a connection."
"That's impossible," Bones spoke up, "Our relationship during Dr. Wyatt's brief exposure to us, was tenuous at best. In fact," she was nearly crowing, "We were getting along so poorly that it took his intervention to help us get back on good terms with one another."
"He fed us a line, Bones," Booth laughed at the memory, "And we bought it hook, line, and sinker."
"It was not!" she insisted, "He was completely correct in his evaluation. Sully wished for me to waste a year with him on his boat and at the time I could not commit to such a purposeless existence. My career was far more valuable to me at the time."
"And what did your career consist of, Bones?" Booth bored his eyes into hers, willing her to see the truth she'd been denying for years now.
"You're very arrogant at times," she told him bluntly, "You've always assumed that Andy was based on you, now you believe that I rejected Sully because of you, and Angela is forever trying to get me to admit that I have been 'in love' with you all along." he could tell she was starting to get agitated so he took her hands in his and squeezed gently.
"Hey," at that one word her eyes locked on his, all further protest dropping from her lips.
He told her- using only his eyes- that he wasn't trying to gang up on her with Sweets and that it didn't matter when she'd fallen for him or he'd fallen for her. Somewhere between the corpses and the endless cups of coffee at the diner and the late nights at her apartment or at the lab it had happened. The important thing was that they had figured it out, and the rest was just details. He felt more than saw her relax, her head nodding so minutely he was pretty sure Sweets didn't catch it.
Once he was sure that she wasn't upset any more, he squeezed her hands, they shared a half-smile, and then separated, turning to face Sweets expectantly. The kid was ogling them and scribbling furiously in his little notebook, but he stopped as soon as he saw they were done and cleared his throat.
"Now," Sweets started as if they'd included him in their discussion, "How would you each characterize your adjustment to married life?"
"Good," Booth said at exactly the same time his wife said, "Difficult at times."
"Explain," Sweets ordered, "Separately."
"Well, obviously it's not all peaches and cream," Booth grinned, trying not to get Bones all riled up again, "But we've figured things out as we've gone."
"Dr. Brennan," Sweets turned to her, "Care to elucidate on your answer?"
She shrugged, "I meant what I said. It has been difficult at times, however, as Seeley has stated, that has not inhibited our ability to work through the situations as they have arisen."
"Okay," Sweets nodded, handing them each a sheet of paper and a pen, "I want you to each think of the hardest adjustment you've had to make since marrying as well as the easiest adjustment. When you're done, we'll exchange answers."
Silence descended on the room as the couple turned away from each other and began writing. Coming up with the easiest adjustment was no problem for Booth, but once he got it down he didn't know what to put for the hardest. Finally, something came to mind and he scribbled it down and looked up. Bones, of course, had longed since finished, and she and Sweets were waiting patiently for him.
"Good," Sweets said, "Who wants to go first?"
"I will," Bones surprised him by answering quickly and Booth's gut warned him this might not be the best thing, "The easiest adjustment to our new relationship has been the sex."
Two pairs of male eyes bored into her and Sweets was nearly drooling on the carpet his jaw was so wide open.
"What?" she said, obviously at a loss as to what they were staring at, "I had always anticipated that Seeley would be an excellent sexual partner given his sculpted physique and empathetic nature, and I was more than pleased to be proven correct."
One part of Booth's brain told him he shouldn't be surprised in the least at the words that were coming from his wife in front of their psychologist, while the other half was stunned into silence along with Sweets.
"And what did you find to be the most difficult?" Sweets was the first to recover, though his voice broke a couple of times.
"That," Bones continued, still oblivious to the effect of her previous statement, "Was a bit more difficult. Not that our marriage has been rife with difficulty," she quickly amended, looking at Booth, "I would have to say, however, that the hardest adjustment has been learning how to compromise. As a single person, one gets used to doing things a certain way and indulging in selfish whims from time to time. As a married person, however, one must constantly remind oneself that others are directly affected by and may even want a say in the daily decisions that are made."
"Do you feel the compromise has been lopsided, or that each of you has had to sacrifice equally?" Sweets probed.
"Equally," she answered after a moment's pause.
"Even though you are the one who's had to move? And despite the fact that you were the one most opposed to marriage in the first place?" Sweets asked.
"On the surface, yes," she agreed, "It would appear that I have made several large compromises. Seeley, however, has had to open up his home not only to me, but to Sadie as well. He has also graciously taken on the responsibility of caring for her during the afternoons despite his rib injuries, so that I am free to remain at the Jeffersonian if I am needed. And as he has been single for several years longer than I have, I would presume that the adjustments aren't any easier for him."
Both Sweets and Bones turned to him as if she'd given some silent clue that it was his turn to share.
"For me," he cleared his throat, "The easiest adjustment has been living together," he faced Bones, "I like that I don't have to drop you off every night or pick you up every morning and not 'cause I thought it was a hassle- because I didn't- but because it gives us so much extra time together. Even on the days we don't see each other a lot, it's okay now because I know at the end of the day you'll be home and we can catch up. I like that a lot."
She rewarded him with a small smile and gray-blue eyes that spoke volumes and he smiled tenderly back.
"And the most difficult thing?" Sweets said quietly after allowing them their moment.
"The house is always so clean," he said, praying she wouldn't take it the wrong way, "I mean, I'm used to things looking a little more lived-in. Not that I want to live in a pig sty, but I'm not used to floors that shine or empty, dust free surfaces."
Instead of the scowl that he expected when he looked up, she broke into one of her goofy laughs that made her sound like she was high. It was cute, but he was completely at a loss as to what was so funny.
She took a deep breath before saying, "I nearly put down on mine that your house was too cluttered."
He smiled, getting it, "Really?"
"Yes," a giggle escaped, "I've tried very hard to restrain from commenting and have picked up here and there, but it was very difficult for me to adjust to at first."
"Thus the major cleaning spree last night while I was unpacking upstairs?" he guessed.
She nodded her head, "I'm sorry if I overstepped by bounds, I simply needed some semblance of tidiness in order for me to concentrate."
"Guess we found something new to find a compromise on, eh?" he smiled.
"It would appear so."
"Well Sweets," Booth stood to leave, helping Bones to her feet, "It's been real, but it looks like our time's up and we have to go back and clean house now."
"Or dirty it," Bones grinned, then frowned, "Though not too much, because as I said, I don't function well in a messy environment."
"Messy?" he scowled, "I'm not messy. I just don't need to live in a lab, that's all."
"Even in its current state your house would never be cleanly enough to serve as a laboratory," she chided, allowing him to help her into her coat, "And it is not difficult to deposit soiled underwear into the clothes hamper."
"You make me sound like I poop my pants or something," he threw his arms up, "I'm not that bad, Bones!"
"Parker's room is more neatly kept then ours."
"Parker only comes every other weekend, of course it's cleaner!"
Their banter continued into the elevator and Booth swore he saw an extremely self-satisfied look on Sweets' face as the doors closed shut.