Rated: T
Pairings: Booth/Cam (although I hate to do it) Brennan/other Angela/Hodgins
Dr. Sayoran forces Brennan to make a decision that has repercussions for everyone. Now, Booth has a choice to make. Will he be too late?
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Okay, guys. I DID NOT KNOW about Cam's threatening to fire Brennan when I started this story. When I saw next week's previews I almost fell off my chair. Eeeeeek!
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Dr. Camille Sayoran stood on her platform and looked out over the Jeffersonian. When she came here she thought that she had won her own private play ground. State of the art equipment, innovations she had only dreamed of, a team that was so smart she didn't need to tell them what to do; so she immediately had to dominate them. Damn it! That always happened. Whenever she felt like someone else was above her in any way she immediately found a way to cut them down to size, only these people hadn't let her do it. Especially Brennan.
The woman was smarter than anyone she had ever met. When it came to science she didn't make mistakes.
She had absolutely no people skills but she had the absolute devotion of every one at this institution.
They gave up their jobs, hell, they'd probably give up their lives for her. Including Seeley Booth.
She snorted. Especially Seeley Booth. It was part of the reason she had taken up with him again.
Oh, Seeley was a good lover when they were younger and he was a fantastic lover now but her reason for saying yes to his dinner invitation was her knowledge of how he felt about Temperance Brennan. Having him was the only thing she could take from Brennan it seemed. It didn't seem to affect the woman until that day in Halston's basement. The look of disbelief on her face when Seeley left her facing the gunmen was priceless.
Of course, that was the end of her and Seeley. She had known it as soon as she heard the gun go off.
Even if Brennan hadn't been shot, hell if she had actually been pregnant Booth would have called it off.
It had gone too far, even if that particular situation had not been her fault. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking around at the shiny chrome and glass that she had been so proud to reign over. Like Lady Jane Grey it was a short reign.
She would still work here but as soon as Dr. Brennan got back and could be talked in to returning she would. Cam would remin IF her apology was accepted by Dr. Brennan and her monthly performance reviews were satisfactory to the board.
She jerked when she saw Seeley walk in to sight. She hurried down the stairs.
"Hey, I didn't know you were coming. The board deci..."
"I'm not here to see you, Camille."
"But."
"I've got to go." Several yards away he stopped to speak to Dr. Goodman.
"Agent Booth?"
"Dr. Goodman, sir, I need your help. Could we go in your office and talk?"
Dr. Goodman nodded and lead the younger man back to his office. He closed the door and watched as the other man took a seat. "If you're here about Dr. Sayoran, I'm afraid there is nothing I can do to change the board's mind. She over stepped her authority."
"Huh? No! I'm not," He waved the thought away, "I need to know where Bones is. I need you to tell me.
Please!" He begged.
"I'm sorry, Agent Booth, I can't do that."
"Sir?"
"Agent Booth. I have watched the two of you go from adversaries to tolerance to friends over the last few years. I've seen Temperance slowly become a woman who could let people in to her heart. You did that.
Unfortunately, since the advent of Dr. Sayoran I have seen her revert to the uncomfortable, self conscious geek girl she used to consider herself. She believes she made a huge mistake. That she bought into a lie you were feeding her simply to have less conflict in your professional interaction. I believe she has to think of it that way because her only other option is to see herself as the world's biggest fool for believing you." He sighed. "She doesn't want you to know where she is. The FBI doesn't want anyone to know where she is. If I knew where she was I wouldn't tell you because I can no longer trust you. Temperance Brennan is not like other women. I thought you understood that. But obviously I was wrong.
Good day, Agent Booth." He got up and left.
Booth remained in his chair reliving scenes from the past few years with Bones.
The flight had been long and she was tired. She had spent hours writing her next novel. She had come to the break up of her doctor and the FBI agent's partnership. She couldn't decide if she should kill him off and make it a permanent break or have him reassigned so that they might work together again later on. She sighed.
She was reflecting too hard on this. She closed her laptop and put it away. She was tempted to nap but they would be landing in Belgium in a little over an hour. From there she'd get a rental car for the drive to Scheveningen. She knew that Agent Stevens also had a rental for him and Kenton. She didn't know if they were staying in the same hotel or even in the same city. She had been with these people for over twelve hours now and hadn't bothered to find out the simplest things. She really was as bad at people skills as Booth always accused her of being.
The thought of Booth brought a sense of melancholy to her. Angela would have said she was heart broken over losing the FBI agent to her former colleague. She knew that was physically impossible, but, maybe, the analogy was closer to what she was feeling than she'd like to admit. She sighed. She really should have taken a nap.
She felt her left hand become enveloped in a larger one. She looked over and gave Kenton a small half smile. "Hey, Jamie."
"I know that I can never apologize enough for what I did. But, I can listen if you need to talk about something you know? There's no one I can ever tell your secrets to. No way I would ever betray you again.
Never."
She squeezed his hand. "Believe it or not, almost being murdered is pretty low on my list of betrayals right now. But, I'm still trying to get my own mind around what's going on at the moment. When I get it straight in my own head," she shrugged one shoulder, "I might need someone to talk to." She squeezed his hand. She wondered how strange it was that she felt comfortable enough with him to hold his hand after everything that had happened when she could no longer look Booth in the face. Did it have to do with the depth of the betrayal or the depth of the feeling for the individual involved?
Angela was bored already. She wasn't used to sitting around doing nothing. She was bored, bored, bored.
She looked out the lace curtains at her parking lot. Damn! She was not that bored! She walked over and jerked her door open.
"What do you want, Booth?"
"Just, just talk to me a minute. Please?" He held his hands up in supplication. "Please."
She opened the door and let him in. "Talk."
"Can we at least sit down?"
"Go ahead. But start talking soon or I will throw you out."
"I need to know where Bones is. I need to know that she's alright." Seeing the look on her face he came to a halt. "Please? Tell me something."
"Oh, I'll tell you something alright. I'll tell you how you let what was in your pants blow what could have been the best thing that ever happened to you. Just because you had to dip your dick in something warm! You couldn't find someone outside of home base? You couldn't have found another blonde lawyer some where? Why Cam? Why wipe Bren's face it every minute of the day, you bastard?" Angela was screaming by the end of her rant.
Booth actually had tears in his eyes. He had to look away from the angry red face in front of him. He couldn't explain to her what he didn't want to admit to himself.
"Damn you, Booth! Say something! And it had better be the truth or I'll get into Jack's bag of potions and find something horrible to do to you."
He believed her. But, how to put this? He laid his head in his hands. "Cam and I were involved when we were teens. When she showed up here I asked if she came here because of me, she said she didn't and I believed she was telling the truth. I know she was telling the truth. She was there for all the fancy equipment and the prestige. We went to dinner one night and started talking about old times and one thing lead to another. It was comfortable. Uncomplicated. I didn't have to think about disappointing her or protecting her. She wasn't a princess in a tower she was just the lady in waiting."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Princesses? Uncomplicated? How could it be uncomplicated?
Never mind. I was wrong. That's the answer. I can finally tell Bren that I Was wrong. You don't have and have never had any feelings for her. I've been projecting my wishful thoughts." She shook her head regretfully. "I was so sure you were in love with her. I screwed her up. Misguided her. It's all my fault." She paced in front of her couch absently, talking to her self.
Booth stood in her path and grabbed her.
"Angela, listen. I do have feelings for Bones. Okay, I do. I just didn't want to screw up our friendship by trying anything else and it not working. Don't say it. I know that I fucked it up more with what I did than I ever could have by just going after what I wanted in the first place. I know that. Now, I need you to help me set things right. Can you do that? Can I do that? Can I get her to forgive me?"
"I don't know. She doesn't trust many people. She trusted you completely. You betrayed her. COMPLETELY.
It's going to take a miracle."
"Will you help me?"
"I don't know. I still need some answers."
"So do I. Want to trade"
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