A/N: TGIF! And not a moment too soon, either, let me tell you :-P Let's start the weekend out right with another chapter...just make sure you're sitting down for this one!

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Brennan sat beside Booth at the bar at Wong Foo's, picking at her food and fidgeting with her napkin. She glanced at him clandestinely from the corner of her eye, ordering her senses to calm down and her stomach to stop its endless flip-flopping. The skin of her hand tingled from where he had accidentally brushed against it reaching for the sugar for his coffee, and her heart pounded every time he spoke.

It was driving her crazy.

She sighed, more heavily then she had intended to and it caught his attention.

"Got somethin' on your mind, Bones?" he asked between mouthfuls.

Her lips curled into a frown and she shook her head. "Nope."

He took another bite and shot her a mirthful smirk. "You're a lousy liar, you know."

"I know," she replied, sighing again.

He wiped his mouth and turned to her, grasping her elbow gently. "So come on. Out with it. What's the matter?"

She swiveled on her stool, shifting her eyes from the counter to meet his gaze. He reads me so well he probably already knows, she thought to herself. And we work together all the time…he should have all the facts. "I…you know how much I hate psychology…" she began.

The smirk widened. "I'm familiar with your feelings on the subject, yeah," he chuckled.

"Well, it seems that psychology—or something—finally caught up with me a few days ago."

She paused to collect her thoughts, and his smile faded. "What happened?" he asked, concern creeping into his voice.

Brennan took a deep breath and let it out slowly, commanding her voice to be steady. "I think I'm in love with you, Booth."

"What?" he asked, dumbfounded. I know I didn't hear her right.

Then she started to ramble. "I don't know for sure, because…well, because I've never been in love and I thought it was just a bunch of unscientific nonsense, but the way you make me feel is so different from anything I've ever felt before…it has to be love…" Her voice was rising in volume, and people seated nearby were turning around to look at them.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," he interrupted, throwing his hand out in front of him in a defensive gesture, his own voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "We are not doing this here." He rose abruptly, pulling some money from his pocket and tossing it on the bar, then strode quickly from the restaurant.

Stunned into motionlessness for a moment, Brennan watched him get all the way to the sidewalk outside before jumping up and following him. "Booth! Wait!"

He shook his head, refusing to slow down.

"Booth!" she called again, running to catch up. "Wait, let me finish…"

He stopped suddenly and pivoted to face her. "There's more? It isn't enough that you just changed our relationship forever, loudly, in the middle of my favorite restaurant, which by the way, I can now never go to again? That wasn't enough for you?"

Brennan was stunned by his reaction. I don't know how exactly I expected him to take the news, but this is so much worse than I ever thought it would be. Her eyes dropped to her shoes and her voice became quiet. "I just thought you should know."

"Why?" he demanded. "Why did you feel the need to tell me something that's only going to ruin what we have?" He grabbed her arms and shook her, dialing back his anger so as not to hurt her, but allowing enough emotion through to get his point across. "You and Parker are the two best things in my life, Temperance," he told her through gritted teeth. "But now you've gone and screwed things up between us…"

She wriggled free, her eyes blazing as the shock began to wear off. "I screwed things up? How is my telling you that I'm in love with you screwing things up? We work closely together, we're in dangerous situations together, and I thought it was important that you know the truth!"

"Classic Brennan," he replied sarcastically, throwing his hands up in an exasperated gesture. "Can't just leave well enough alone, can you? You have to charge in with the cold, hard, blunt truth when maybe, just maybe, blissful ignorance would be better for everybody!"

He jerked around and started back down the street, but she caught him by the shoulder. "Why is ignorance better?" she challenged, seeing something other than anger toward her in his eyes. "Why do you think I ruined what we have?"

He strained to take another step, but she refused to let go. Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, he frowned, wondering how much he should tell her. Might as well tell her everything, he decided. It's the only way either of you will get through this. He bowed his head and answered her softly. "Because we can't be together even though…even though I love you, too."

"We…you…"

"You deserve someone better than me—a good man," he spat out. "I can never be that. How's that for truth?"

Her powers of speech slowly began to return, and her fingers slipped from his shoulder to his arm. "You are that."

He shook his head again, still unable to look at her. "No, Bones, I'm not. You don't know the things I've done…"

"In the Army?" she clarified. "You told me…"

He turned to face her and met her blue eyes with his brown ones, all in one swift motion. "And I couldn't take the way you'd look at me if I told you the rest," he said dejectedly. "Rebecca couldn't either." He lifted a hand and covered her fingers with his, squeezing them gently before removing them from his arm. "Just let me go."

Brennan was surprised to find tears springing to her eyes. "Booth…no…"

He steeled himself against the sorrow in her voice and began walking. Don't turn around…don't turn around…

"Wait," she called, sniffling, desperately trying to remain composed. "I'm not the kind of woman who needs a man—you know that. But, Seeley…I need you…"

Booth felt a lump rise in his throat and bent his head, shielding his face from passersby, quickening his steps. I need you too—so much—but this is for your own good.

He knew it wasn't good-bye forever. It wasn't even good-bye for the week because he'd walk into the lab tomorrow morning and continue working on their open cases like he always did. He would desperately pretend that this hadn't happened, brushing off all her attempts to say otherwise, no matter how much he wanted to hold her tightly in his arms and tell her everything was going to be all right after all. He'd soldier on and eventually so would she, because the two of them made up the best investigative team in a four-state area and neither of them would break that up.

But he also knew that whatever friendship, whatever connection they had shared had now been shattered. His head bowed further and his hand came to his face, brushing away the tears that were forming in his eyes. He knew that, while their work would go on, their relationship had just died, yet another casualty of his sniper rifle.