This is an extra long one! A LOT HAPPENS IN THIS CHAPTER! Possibly the biggest chapter... maybe...

Oh boy. Get ready.


For the last five hours, Dr. Temperance Brennan had been on her laptop consulting with her team a couple hundred miles away at the Jeffersonian institute about their latest case. This was an abnormally long discussion, but that was due in part to the lack of good communication between Brennan and the "forensic podiatrist" that was visiting her lab. Booth had long since gone to bed and Brennan was staying up waiting on high resolution photos of the remains that were being electronically sent to her; her internet connection was slowing making the process unnecessarily longer.

As she waited she watched him sleeping soundly in their hotel bed. She enjoyed watching his deep breathing and the occasional soft snore that came out of his mouth—it was very cute. Thinking back over the day, she was feeling guilty for being so cold and distant with him—she had promised him she'd be more open and today she'd fail. Actually, she'd been so absorbed in her own thoughts, that she was completely oblivious to the cold shoulder he was giving her in return. Booth was upset with her—but she hadn't noticed. Even as she sat watching him sleep, she had know idea of the brewing turbulence between them. Why would he be upset with her now? She hadn't done anything wrong… yet.

A pop up flashed on Brennan's laptop. Her wireless connection was broken—this would mean all the downloading from the Jeffersonian would have to be completely restarted. She quickly tried to reconnect but the wi-fi refused her. After fifteen minutes of trying to reconnect to the hotel's system, she decided to throw on her clothes and head down to the lobby for assistance. It was vital that she get these scans as soon as possible.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Brennan. I'm staying in room H14—and I'm having trouble connecting to your hotel's wifi network," She told the night manager at the front desk. "It's very important that reconnect as so soon as possible.

"Yes, ma'am. We've been receiving several complaints tonight," The desk clerk was annoyed. Obviously he knew about the problem. "We have a technician working on it now, but he's not as good as our regular day guy. We do have a wifi connection in our lobby and lounge bar if you need it, but I cannot tell you when the whole building will be back online."

"That won't work I need privacy. Will you please have a call be place directly to my room when the wireless connection becomes available?"

The hotel manager looked at her like she was some kind of pervert. Why else would she need privacy with the internet in the middle of the night? "Yes, Ms. Brennan. I'll arrange for that."

Brennan left the front desk and was about to begin her way back to the elevator when she passed by the hotel bar. She'd been up for quite a few hours and had consumed the last bit of bottled water in her room.

There seemed no harm in walking up to the bartender to ask for a glass of water.

"Hi, can I purchase a bottle of water?" Brennan asked the bartender. Not completely realizing what a strange request that was.

"We don't have any bottles, miss. But I can give you a glass if you like?" the bartender flipped a glass onto the table and began pouring her a glass.

Brennan actually didn't want to stay at the bar, but she figured she'd drink this glass real quick and then head up to her room, "thank you."

Had Brennan known who else sat in that dark bar, she would have never entered it to begin with, though.

"I thought I might see you here again tonight," Hacker came up behind her and took the stole next to hers. He'd been drinking at the bar for an hour already; hoping she'd make another appearance.

"I'm just having a glass of water Andrew, and then I'm returning to my room," she was in no mood for small talk—let alone what was on his mind.

"Where's Agent Booth?"

"He's a sleep still," she hadn't realized the slip until she said it. Brennan wasn't supposed to know if Booth was sleeping because they were supposed to be in separate hotel rooms. "I assume he's still asleep. He mentioned he was going to go to bed."

"Well then I guess I get you all to myself then," Hacker's fingers crept along Brennan's forearm.

Brennan didn't move a way, but she gave a warning, "Touch me again and I'll break your arm."

MEANWHILE….

Brennan hadn't been gone for more than five minutes when Booth began to stir, only to suddenly realize he was alone in their room. Once again she'd left him in the middle of the night and Booth felt a sick feeling take over his body as he knew Hacker was right. He sat up in bed for a while trying to think of what steps he should take. Go find her or wait?

Maybe finding her wasn't the best idea, but he wasn't the type to sit around and do nothing. Booth threw on some jeans and a shirt and left the room. Wherever she was—he had to know first hand. Maybe it was nothing, but Booth felt doubtful.

He got off the elevator and his eyes scanned the lobby. Aside from a few employees, it was empty. Fifty feet way, though, was the hotel bar. Booth approached with knots in his stomach, he really didn't want to find her in there. He didn't want to know that his fiancé would rather be drinking in some bar than lying next to him. Mostly, though, he didn't want to know she was still keeping things from him.

His eyes peered through the entrance and it didn't take long for him to register that his nightmare had come true. Brennan was sitting at the bar, having a drink, and Hacker was running his fingers down her arm.

Now was the time for Booth to walk away before he did something horrible, but his alpha male nature took over. He marched up to the bar, turned Hacker around in his stole, and clocked him one to the face. Booth turned around to leave, missing how Hacker fell to the floor instantly and held his face.

"Booth? What are you doing?" Brennan began running after him. She understood Booth's reasons for doing what he'd done, but he could lose his job. "Booth—stop! What's going on?"

Booth refused to look at her as he made his way back to the elevators, but she caught up with him there. "Not now, Temperance."

"Booth, you just punched Andrew. You could lose your job!" She didn't understand his hostility towards her.

"I don't give a shit about my job or 'Andrew' right now," he got in the elevator and she followed closely behind.

Booth hit a button and Brennan instantly realized that it wasn't their floor. "Booth, we're on the 14th floor not the fifth…"

"I'm not going back to your room," his words were icy and tears were welling up in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall in front of her.

"Why?"

Her question sent him back over the edge. "Why? Why? You really have to ask me that?"

"Yes, I do…" Brennan began replaying the night's events. She'd done nothing wrong.

"Maybe because when I go to sleep—I don't want to awake up and wonder if you're going to be there or not…"

"Booth, I was only gone for a couple minutes. You're acting completely irrational," Her leaving for a couple minutes was not worthy of a fight.

"And where were you last night? Huh?"

"Oh," she spoke quietly. Maybe he knew about her conversation with Angela and her thoughts of calling off their wedding. "You know about that?"

"Yeah, Bones. I do. Hacker told me. And I know he's just an asshole who's trying to get under my skin, but then I come down here tonight and you're drinking with him and you're letting him put his hands on you. What the hell is that, Temperance?" The doors opened to Booth's floor and he bolted out.

Brennan ran for him and tried to hold him back with her arms. "I'm not having an affair with Hacker!" tears were streaming down her face. "You should know that. You should know that I would never cheat on you!"

Booth knew that was true, but it did little to settle his rage at her, "You're keeping something from me, Temperance. I always thought the problem between us was that you could never trust me enough. But now I'm starting to realize that I can't trust you either."

"Booth, please stop. Don't say that," She was pleading with him now. "I trust you. I do. And I love you… please don't walk away from me. You told me you'd never leave me! You promised me! Please… please… don't do this. I can explain… I was drinking water. Just water! And I only went down to the lobby because the internet stopped working... I love you, Booth. Please don't do this…"

"Temperance," he softened slightly, but his eyes remained sternly on her. "Are you keeping something from me?"

"I…" she wasn't sure how she was supposed to answer. She was keeping something from him, but she was afraid telling him like this would only make the situation worse.

"Wrong answer."

Booth shut his door, leaving her alone and sobbing.


That last part made me really sad to write:(

thoughts?

Review and tell me what you think.

Lost and lost of things are mapped out for what's coming next... hope I can write them soon!