SWEETS

Fair enough. I can see how Booth would think I turned the tables on him, because I had.

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"I don't want to be your age and wind up like you."

"What'd you say?"

"I don't. You've never been married. And that… that's sad—"

"What?"

"To me. I don't want that to be where my life is headed, you know?"

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If you're waiting for me to blame the things I said on the drinking, you may as well not bother. Yeah, I'd had a lot to drink, but not because of Daisy or because I was nervous about asking her to marry me. I'd been drinking because I needed to loosen my own inhibitions so I could do what needed to be done: It was time to put an end to all the insanity that had been going on for months. The only thing that had stopped me from doing something before then was my relative certainty Booth might not be so forgiving the next time around. He was still angry with me, blaming me for him and Dr. Brennan ending up on the opposite sides of the world. There was every possibility if I interfered again, he'd punch my lights out.

Let's just put it out there. Agent Booth is a great guy, but when he's angry, he can be one scary dude. I'm not too proud to admit he intimidates me.

I should have said something months before, at the very latest when he'd asked Hannah to move in with him. Dr. Brennan was already struggling with Booth being involved with another woman and Booth? He was in complete denial about his feelings for Dr. Brennan and, although he couldn't see it, the decisions he was making would eventually be cataclysmic for all involved. I'd allowed Booth to silence me each time I tried to discuss matters, but in light of Dr. Brennan's breakdown – for which I feel a great deal of responsibility – and Booth's drunken confession, I'd decided enough was enough.

You have to understand. My parents had died within weeks of one another shortly before I'd joined the FBI, leaving me completely on my own. I didn't have siblings or an extended family. My mom and dad was all there was. I'd joined the FBI to find some sort of connection, even if just a professional one. Instead, I'd eventually found a new sort of family in Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan. I couldn't just stand aside because of how Booth might react, not any longer.

My resolve didn't mean I still wasn't intimidated, though. So, I drank and he drank, and when we were sufficiently sloshed enough, I waged my campaign, the only one I was convinced would work.

I'd taken a two-armed approach, simultaneously attacking his vanity – he'd become remarkably sensitive about his age recently – and exploiting one of his biggest vulnerabilities – his failure to attain the one thing he wanted the most: Marriage. I'd basically dared him to ask Hannah to marry him and he'd risen to the occasion announcing…

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"Well, you know what? I'm going to propose to Hannah."

"What?!"

"Yeah! I… I… I… I've been planning it for a while now."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Oh my God!"

"You know, 'til death do us part. I'm picking out the ring tomorrow."

"Dude! That's great. Congratulations. We should… We should buy our rings together!"

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He'd been lying, of course. He hadn't been planning on asking Hannah to marry him. Not at all. And the way he'd stuttered and then had knocked back another drink to fortify himself, screamed he knew he was making a mistake even as he was speaking the words.

The first part of my plan had gone off without a hitch: Him, announcing he was going to ask Hannah to marry him.

So, I'd moved on to the second part of the plan. I'd enlisted assistance from the wife of an Agent I was helping to work through some issues. She worked in a jewelry store, the setting for the next part of my plan. As predesigned, she'd skewered me for my choice of a ring with a diamond so small it may as well not have even existed.

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"I was thinking something more along the lines of that one."

"Really?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"Is she pregnant? I mean do you have to get married?"

"No."

"Well, then, I wouldn't bother proposing. Not with a ring like that."

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Booth had been a true friend, defending my 'choice.'

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"Don't listen to her Sweets. You get whichever ring that you want."

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I'd been really, really impressed by Margaret. She'd played her part to perfection, evening managing to toss in a line about no returns and no exchanges for good measure. I'd backed out of proposing, announcing I couldn't ask Daisy to marry me with a ring like that or if I was worried the cost of a better ring. Then, I'd again played the vanity card…

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"You were right. I'm… I'm years away from being in your situation."

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You have to understand. Agent Booth is not a man of means. I'd anticipated him either backing out on proposing, altogether, as I'd just done, or selecting a ring of equal proportions to the one I had, giving Margaret a look that defied her to say anything about his selection.

Instead, he'd veered left on me, not only by not backing out, but by selecting a ring with a whopping diamond in the center. When I saw the price tag, I felt sick to my stomach at the five-digit cost. As soon as I got to my car, I'd called Margaret.

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"What was that?!" I demand to know when Margaret came to the phone.

"I'm sorry, I might have gotten a little carried away." I take the time to bang my head against the steering wheel a couple of times. A little carried away.

"Please tell me you made up the part about no return and no refunds," I beg.

"No, that's store policy." I groan. Booth's going to kill me, for sure.

"And you sold it to him? He's an FBI Agent. You know better than anyone that Agents don't make a lot of money. And he has a kid!"

"Which is why I substituted a cubic zirconia. He'll never know the difference. With my store discount, his down payment on the real diamond covered the entire cost of the ring. I tore up the financing paperwork right after he left."

"Thank you," I breathe. "Thank you. You may have just saved my life."

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When I'd gotten back to my office, I'd allowed my head to thump down on my desk. The events at the jewelry store had left me exhausted. There, as my head lay on the desk, I reminded myself now it was just a matter of waiting things out. If Booth couldn't come to terms with the fact he couldn't marry Hannah when he was still in love with Dr. Brennan, I had every confidence Hannah would turn him down.

When the fallout came, we'd deal with it…

If he ever spoke to me again.