(After 'The Hole in the Heart')

Thank you for your continued interest in my Bones stories.

I don't own Bones.

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It was so ridiculous that Booth and Temperance weren't a couple yet and Max had had enough. Someone needed to push those two love sick idiots together and he guessed it would have to be him. He just wasn't sure how he was going to do it.

On the one hand, there was his daughter. Strong, independent, self-reliant and afraid of love because he and his wife had left her behind when they ran from a murderer when she was fifteen years old. He and Christine had thought they were protecting their daughter, but they had harmed their child in ways they had not imagined.

Then there was Booth. Strong, independent, self-reliant and a romantic who apparently keeps getting his heart crushed by women he loves. Max thought he tried too hard looking for a possible soul mate. Especially when his soul mate was standing right next to him most days.

This was not going to be an easy task that was for sure, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. Those two were made for each other. They needed each other and besides his Tempe wanted that FBI Agent and he wanted to help her get him. Of course, she had never come out and made such a declaration, but he had eyes and he knew what he knew. He wanted her to be happy and Booth made her happy.

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He asked Booth to meet him at Brennan's apartment and much to his surprise the agent came. "Booth thank you for coming. Tempe's in the kitchen." Max closed the door and followed the younger man as he moved into the living room. "I appreciate you and Tempe meeting me like this."

Booth removed his jacket, draped it across the back of a chair and turned to face Max. "Not a problem."

She had heard the front door open and close which meant Brennan's partner had arrived. Carrying three bottles of beer into the living room, she handed each man a beer and sat down on the couch. "What do you wish to talk to us about Max?"

Pleased to see that Brennan had given him a bottle of Molson, Booth held his beer up and smiled at her. "Hey Molson, thanks Bones."

"You're welcome." Brennan waited for Booth to sit down on the chair next to the couch before facing her father. "Max?"

After taking a sip of his beer, Max placed the bottle on the coffee table and faced the couple. He didn't know how this was going to go and he thought standing might give him a small advantage. "Okay, it's simple really. Tempe, you love Booth and Booth, you love Tempe. Why the hell aren't you two in a relationship? All this running to the ends of the earth, bringing back a girlfriend that isn't your type . . . you people are crazy as hell. What's so wrong with being together when you love each other? A blind man can see you two love each other and it's just driving everyone you know crazy watching this insane song and dance you two are doing to avoid the facts. What the hell is the matter with you?"

The silence in the room was almost deafening. At first Booth stared at Max trying to figure out what the older man was up to. After a few minutes had passed and no one had said anything, Booth turned to look at Brennan. "I found your ring this morning. I should have brought it with me, sorry."

"Oh, good." Brennan had realized that she had lost the ring the previous Monday and had spent the last several days searching her apartment and the Lab for it. "That's okay. You can bring it to me whenever you think about it."

Booth nodded his head. "I know it's your mother's ring, so I checked the SUV and found it under the front seat."

"Thank you for looking for it." She thought she knew how she had lost the ring and smiled at Booth. "I was going to search your truck next."

Puzzled, Max crossed his arms against his chest. "Why aren't you two yelling at me and telling me to mind my own business? Why aren't you telling me that you aren't in love? What's with you two?"

Booth turned his attention back towards Brennan's father. "Would it do any good to tell you to mind your own business?" When Max shook his head, Booth smirked. "How Bones and I handle our friendship is our business, but telling you to butt out would probably be useless. Like everyone else we know, you think you have a right to try to control Bones and me . . . Well, you don't, but arguing with you would do just as much good as arguing with a brick wall."

Glad her ring had been found, Brennan relaxed against the couch. "Booth and I are friends. We enjoy a certain camaraderie that few friends do. We have made our peace about the past and are living in the present. You and everyone we know think you know what is best for us, but that simply isn't true. Booth and I know what is best for us. We will not allow anyone to dictate how we live our lives . . . Is this why you wished to meet with us? Is there more?"

Frustrated, Max exhaled deeply. "I was hoping you two would cut out the nonsense, but I guess you won't. You'll just keep doing what you're doing and drive the rest of us insane."

Booth shrugged his shoulders. "If you minded your own business then it wouldn't matter what Bones and I do. You have your life, live it and let us live ours."

In total agreement, Brennan nodded her head. "Booth is right. Your happiness should not be contingent on how we live our lives. We're happy and if you truly cared about me then that would be all that you needed to hear. The world doesn't revolve around us. What we do and don't do is irrelevant. Now, we have heard you out and you have heard us. Is this meeting finished or is there more?"

"You two love each other." Max wanted to shake both of them.

"So?" Booth sipped some of his beer and placed the bottle on his lap. "Bones and I have loved each other for a long time. It's why our friendship is so strong. We've learned that we do better together than apart . . . We aren't perfect, not by a long shot and we've made a lot of mistakes, but the one thing we've done right is keep our friendship going. It's the best thing about us. We can rely on each other. Bones is in my corner when the going gets tough and I'm in hers. Our friendship makes us stronger, a lot stronger."

Max wanted to pull his hair out. "You admit you love each other, but just as friends?"

The red tint on Max's face was rather alarming, but Brennan had no control over her father's emotions. "Of course. We are very good friends . . . Now, I think we've said all there is to say, Max. Yes, Booth and I love each other. We are friends and we value that friendship. What more do you wish us to say?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "Nothing. What else is there to say? You two are nuts . . . just plain nuts." He had wasted his time, but it had been worth a try. "Someday you two are going to see what the rest of us see. In the meantime, you're going to play your games, well go ahead. You two are just wasting time."

"It's our time to waste." Booth winked at Brennan. "Bones and I are going out to eat. Are you done now?"

"Yeah, I'm done." Max picked up the bottle of beer, drank some of the cool liquid and placed the bottle back down. "I'm going. Have a nice time at dinner."

Amused, Booth smiled. "Oh, we will." Once Max had left the apartment, Booth moved over to the couch and sat down next to Brennan. "When you told me you'd lost your ring, I figured out you must have lost it when you helped me out of my clothes last weekend in the backseat. I looked under the front seat and there it was."

"We really shouldn't have made love in the back seat of the SUV." Brennan had thought it was fun, but Booth's back had protested afterward. "It's not good for your back. The seat really isn't that wide. I prefer a bed or my couch." She patted the couch next to her.

"Oh yeah?" Booth pulled his shirt off and kissed Brennan. "Let's give it a try and see what happens."

Eager to test out her theory about the usefulness of her couch, Brennan unbuttoned her blouse and tossed it on the coffee table. "Max really should mind his own business. We're happy and that's all that matters, isn't it?"

As Booth removed his shoes and tossed them under the coffee table, he witnessed his partner shimmy out of her slacks. "We did tell him we're in love. If he didn't want to listen to us then how is that our fault?"

Brennan moved her hands to her boyfriend's pants, unbuttoned his jeans and unzipped them. "Exactly."

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