Booth taps gently on the glass of her office door. She looks up from her notebook and forces a small smile for him. Holding up his hands he walks slowly into the office.

"Is it safe to come in?"

She nods and turns her eyes back to the monitor. "Of course it is."

"I came to apologise. I'm sorry, I crossed the line."

"It's ok."

He walks further into the office and leans toward her over her desk. "Bones look at me." She complies and he looks at her as earnestly as possible. "I mean it. I'm sorry."

Her face softens at the apology and she nods sincerely. "Let's just forget it ever happened."

"Thank you." Booth pushes himself up from the desk and heads back to the door. "I'll just wait for you on the platform." She nods and he turns to leave, he pauses and turns back to her. "Bones?" She looks up and gives him a small smile in response. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt you intentionally, right?"

She is taken aback by the honesty of his question and forces her head to move in an affirmative gesture. He smiles and leaves her alone with her thoughts. She stares at the empty space between the door frame where he had just been, his apology had been sincere and she did accept it mostly..

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She shrugs on her lab coat as she swipes her security pass and joins her team on the platform. Jack snaps at the rubber band on his wrist looking slightly flustered, but she doesn't notice. Zack stands with his hands shoved into his pockets and his head ducked, again she doesn't notice, just like she doesn't notice the glare pointed at them both by Angela. Booth moves away from them careful not to draw her attention to her colleagues.

"So Bones, lay it on me."

"Lay what on you?"

"You know…. What did you find out?"

She shrugs at his poor use of the language and flicks open the manila folder that she is holding. "We identified the final set of remains as Warren Sanderson. Angela did a great job on the identification images and they match perfectly, his wife declared him missing two days ago…"

"Ok, I'll have that looked into. Anything else?"

"What do you mean anything else?"

Booth holds up his hands and shakes his head. "Nothing… nothing at all. I'll get onto the bureau and get some background on this guy. What about the other two?"

"We haven't been able to pull anything else from the bodies. Cause of death was definitely gunshot for both…"

Booth nods and looks at the other three squints behind him, their expressions unchanged. "You um, wanna come with me Bones? See what we can dig up at the bureau?"

She looks up at him and then to Angela nervously. "Uh…no. I need to get on with some things."

"Ok." He holds his hand out for the file and she all but throws it toward his extended palm. Nodding abruptly she exits the platform. Booth turns back to Angela. "Looks like this is gonna be a cold winter for me." He turns and following Brennan's lead exits the lab.

Angela turns back to her male friends and slaps Jack's arm lightly. He pulls an offended face and she points a finger at him in warning.

"I know, you already scolded me Ange. We won't bring up the kissing thing again."

Zack looks up at her sheepishly. "Sorry Angela."

"Just be careful, if she finds out that I told you she'll get upset." Angela turns on her heel leaving Jack and Zack staring at one another in mild annoyance. Jack slides onto the chair in front of the microscope and adjusts the lens.

"It was your fault Zack."

Zack opens his mouth to retort but is instead stood with a gaping mouth.

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Brennan juggles a bag of groceries whilst she digs in her pocket for her apartment keys. As her handbag starts to slip from her shoulder she hears the shrill ringing of her cell phone. Groaning she allows the bag of groceries to slide to the floor still searching for her keys and then attempting to pulls her cell from her bag.

Smiling triumphantly as both hands return to the air with intended objects she throws the keys into the lock and holds the phone against her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bones…..uh, is this a bad time?"

"No, why would it be?"

"You sound kind of out of breath."

"I'm fine, what's wrong?" She picks up the bag from the floor and bustles into the apartment kicking the door closed behind her.

"Nothing, I just thought you might want a heads up on what I've found out about our friend warren?"

Dropping the bag onto the kitchenette counter and shrugging her bag and jacket off she runs a hand through her hair. "Okay."

"Warren was apparently seeing someone else behind his wife's back, although she did file a missing person's report, when the police found out they just assumed that he'd done a runner with the other woman… I think that he was the supplier."

"Supplying what?"

"The plastics… I need to make sure, I'll make some more calls tomorrow."

"Okay." There is a sudden awkward silence and Brennan sits pulling fluff from her shirt.

"Bones?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we okay? I mean, I know you said to forget it and everything, but I just wanna make sure that this isn't going to affect us."

"We're fine Booth."

"Good. Well I better let you go and do whatever you need to do. Night."

"Goodnight."

She drops the cell by her side and leans her head back on the sofa. Forgetting about her encounter with Booth was easier said than done. Today she'd tried her best not to remember how soft his lips felt against her own, she tried not to remember how her heart had raced when she'd felt him tangle his hands in her hair… but most of all she tried not to remember how much she had wanted him, how much she still does. Sighing she pushes herself to her feet and heads toward the kitchenette and the abandoned groceries. "Damn you Booth."

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Booth stares at the TV unseeingly. His mind works over the events of the past few days. He should be grateful that Brennan is even talking to him, he had imagined much worse, but he isn't happy. He's nowhere near content with the conclusion to the latest chapter of his life. He'd wasted opportunities recently, opportunities whereby instead of showing her how much he had come to care for her, he'd pushed her away by wasting time with Cam and Rebecca. Jared was right, Rebecca would always have a place in his heart, that place was called Parker. With Cam, he'd been flattered by her reluctance to let him go, by her sudden appearance at the Jeffersonian.

Now thinking back on it, her actions anger him. Cam had known about his work with the Jeffersonian. She'd known about Brennan, and now he is pretty certain that much like everything else, she was treating the pursuit of him as a competition. He runs an agitated hand through his hair. Brennan never had a chance, he sees that now, Cam would always come out on top, her strong determined nature would always win out if he remained blind to it.

Brennan had him on his knees from their first hello, he'd fought so hard to repress his growing feelings from her, looking back now he sees that he was always fighting a losing battle. Tessa had seen it, Cam and Rebecca were no less perceptive. Tessa had taken her leave respectfully, Cam slightly less so, but Rebecca would always try to assert her influence over him. He knows that he'll need to prove to Brennan that he won't allow his past overshadow his feelings, he knows that he needs to gain her trust again.

Picking up his phone he dials in Angela's number, he may not want her advice, but he'll certainly need her help.

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Wow it's been so long since I've updated. Sorry guys.