Brennan is leaning over a computer screen with Zack and Hodgins flanking her from either side, she is pointing at something and they all squint to get a better look. "Zack, I need you to get the missing persons file to Angela, tell her I want her to eliminate who couldn't possibly be our victim….Jack, I want you to tell me as much as you can about the compost that we found on the body. I just think that we are missing something obvious, something that will make everything else make sense."

Jack chuckles "Story of your life Dr Brennan." She turns to look at him sharply and he immediately stops grinning. Zack hastily grabs the file from the table and leaves to find Angela.

"What did you mean by that Jack?"

"Nothing Dr Brennan, I'll get onto the soil samples right away." He leaves her to stare after him angrily.

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Angela walks into Brennan's office and flops onto the sofa. Brennan looks up from her laptop and pinches the bridge of her nose wearily. "I've narrowed it down to two possible victims, the shape of the skull form the markers that we were actually able to place have eliminated the others."

"Good work Angela."

Angela smiles and nods. "So, pretty illuminating weekend huh?"

Brennan stares at her "What do you mean?"

Getting up from the sofa and sitting at the chair in front of Brennan's desk she places her head in her hands. "Well, you and David ending, Booth and Blondie… It was all very interesting."

"Angela your concept of interesting confuses me. Relationships end and begin all of the time. I mean look at you for example, you always find dates."

Angela chuckles "Sweetie, if I didn't know about your lack of eloquence I might just be offended. … Bren sweetie, you should have seen his face when I told him that you and David had just called things off. I could see that he just wanted to dump that girl with us and come see you, he loves you."

Brennan shakes her head "Angela, he didn't just dump the girl to come see me, and mostly because he doesn't love me…. Your obsession with my relationship with Booth however is starting to worry me… You need to let this go, I don't have feelings for Booth."

Angela reaches across and squeezes Brennan's hand. "I know that you find it hard to trust Tempe, I know that you are very literal and don't believe in the whole love and soul mate thing.. But would it be such a bad thing? To let someone care for you? To need someone once in a while."

Brennan draws her hand back, a maelstrom of emotions passing over her features before her mask slips back into place "Anthropologically speaking Angela, one might invent such an idea to be socially acceptable and not only have a desire for physical gratification…. Love lasts only as long as physical satisfaction does."

Angela rolls her eyes and sighs "If that were true Bren, if you weren't interested in Booth, as interested as he is in you, then you would have hopped into his bed long before now. If it's all about physical gratification as you call it…then why haven't you been involved with him yet?"

Brennan is lost for words she tries to speak but can't formulate a sentence, Angela gets up from her chair and drops the file onto the desk "I'll tell you why Bren, maybe, just maybe your rational little head can't reationalise and categorise what it is that you feel for him, yeah, there's lust and I am pretty sure you wonder what it would be like to have that quick fling, but beyond that…there's something more… I'll even go so far as to bet that it's something you have never felt before. Love Bren. That's what that is."

Angela turns and leaves Brennan at her desk, staring at a file and not really seeing anything, her attention is caught when she hears a shuffling at the office door. Looking up she sees Booth leaning against the jamb, his usual grin is vacant. "Angela called me, said there was something important you needed to show me…"

His words hang in the air and he is oblivious to their double meaning. She stands up and grabs the file and her jacket from the back of the chair. "Yeah, we have narrowed the victims down to 2." She hands him the file and he steps aside letting her lead the way to the car.

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The drive in the car had been silent and standing at the door of their first potential victim Booth was starting to regret that they hadn't cleared the air first. An elderly woman opens the door to them and Booth pulls out his badge.

"I'm special agent Booth with the FBI Mrs Thomson, this is Dr Brennan. Could we perhaps come in and speak with you?"

The woman nods her assent and they walk in.

Sitting in the main room a few minutes later Booth removes a picture of Mandy Thomson from the file. He hands it to Mrs Thomson who tears up as she fingers her lost daughter's face. "She was my miracle baby, I fell pregnant when I was 41, doctors told me that she could be brain damaged if I went ahead with the birth, I so wanted her though…and then she was just perfect, she was my best friend."

Brennan looks at Booth from the corner of her eye. She looks back at her hands when he speaks. "I want to find out if we have found your daughter, but I need as much information as possible to open an investigation, there is a 50 chance that the person that we found is Mandy and I hate coming forward with anything less than 100 but in this case we need the facts to find the truth."

The woman looks at Brennan "She must be pretty badly beaten up if you can't find out who she is?"

Brennan looks at the woman with heartfelt sympathy. "I will identify the girl that we found, and I will find out what happened, if this is Mandy, you'll be able to put her to rest properly."

The woman takes Brennan's hand in her own and squeezes gently. "I know you will."

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Back in the car Booth looks over at Brennan who is quietly staring out of the window "Wanna go grab a bite to eat?"

She shakes her head "No, thanks." She looks over at him "Why don't you ask out your date again?"

Booth's grip on the steering wheel tightens slightly "I won't be asking Sarah out again." He turns his eyes to look at her reaction, but as always her emotions are impeccably intact. She manages to utter a simple "Oh." As he is pulling into the Jeffersonian "We just didn't click Bones, you can't create magic, it's either there, or it's not… " As she is about to get out of the SUV he grabs her hand forcing her to look at him "I was sorry to hear about you and David… He doesn't realize what it is that he is giving up."

She wants to cal him up on his false sympathy but with Angela's words still assaulting her she decides it is better to leave it. She nods mutely and gets out of the car, before she closes the door he leans across the passenger side "If you change your mind about a drink or dinner let me know, I won't be up to much."

She closes the door and makes her way inside.

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