(The Mystery in the Meat)

I had several requests for this chapter.

A/N: sorry for the delay. I've been at the doctor's office all morning.

I don't own Bones.

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Busy, Booth didn't look at his phone when he answered it and was surprised when he realized that Angela was on the phone.

So you can't even let her have a bachelorette party?

"What are you talking about Angela?" Not in the mood to listen to Angela attacking him, Booth considered ending the call.

I want to give Brennan a bachelorette party and she turned me down. She said it's too late. Now where did she get that idea, Booth? You broke her heart when you turned down her marriage proposal the first time and then you burned the church down when you finally said yes the second time. Now she doesn't want a party? What the hell is wrong with you?

Drumming his fingers on his desk, Booth decided he'd had enough. "Listen to me for once in your life. I had nothing to do with Bones turning down your party. That was her idea. She is capable of making decisions without my influence. She's a grown woman with a mind of her own."

You . . .

"No, Angela. I talked to Bones and I told her to let you have the party for her." Calmly, Booth leaned back against his chair. "I don't know what she plans to do about it, but the choice is hers . . . You're her best friend and I won't get between you two. She doesn't have many friends and I won't destroy her friendship with you or anyone else. She deserves to have friends . . . but Angela, you and I have a big problem. All you've done for the last few months is try to destroy my relationship with Bones. I had a reason when I turned down Bones' proposal. I had to do it to save lives, but you constantly butted in between us and you made Bones doubt me . . .

You broke her heart.

"You don't think I know that? Of course I did, but I tried to make sure she knew I loved her. I love her more than you can imagine and it broke my heart to turn her down . . . Pelant didn't give me a choice . . . you've known me for a long time, Angela. I thought you knew who I was, but you don't know me at all. I love Bones and you should know that, but you decided to try to break us up anyway."

I didn't try to break you up. I defended you when Daisy tried to get Brennan to move on from you. I even shoved food in her mouth to get her to stop talking about it. I just hated that you were breaking Brennan's heart and you didn't seem to care.

"To you maybe . . . I could see what she was going through, but Pelant was stalking me and her. He knew everything we said and did because he could hack into anything electronic. You're a computer genius and you knew what Pelant was capable of, but instead of looking into what was going on, maybe remembering what Pelant had done in the past, you decided I was having an affair or something worse . . . what you did was wrong, Angela . . . I won't interfere with your friendship with Bones, but for now . . . we're not friends."

Maybe that's for the best.

"Maybe it is, Angela." Booth ended the call. He'd said what he needed to say and if Angela wanted to be his friend, then she'd have to make the next move. For now, he was done with her interference and her lack of faith.

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It had been a couple of days since the bachelorette party and Booth knew that Brennan was still recovering from the party. She hadn't said anything to him, but the hangover she had after the party had been one hell of a come down. Unbelievably she'd gone back to work even though her head had been killing her with a stomach wrenching headache. Booth didn't envy her that at all. He knew she'd had fun and he loved the fact that she had got into a bar fight, against bikers no less. He had thought having a federal coroner and a federal prosecutor might tone down anything Angela had planned but it had turned out he was wrong. Luckily for everyone, he had served in Somalia with the Sheriff who had threatened to arrest Brennan and her little party of trouble makers so she and the rest of the party hadn't ended up in jail.

Once he got her home, Brennan had confessed to him that she had told Angela that it was his idea that she have the bachelorette party and that Angela had felt sorry for her attitude towards him. He didn't know if Angela had meant it, but at that moment, he didn't care. If Angela wanted to fix their relationship, then the first move had to be hers. He hadn't done anything wrong and he wasn't going to be the one to apologize.

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It had been a long day, his paper work was done, the latest case had been wrapped up and he was ready to go home. As he was pulling on his jacket, Angela walked into his office and Booth wondered why. "I'm leaving."

"I know what you did. You told Brennan it was okay to let me give her a party and she let me." Angela had really thought Booth was trying to keep Brennan from having the party even though he had told her that wasn't true and it had turned out he was telling the truth. He really had tried not to come between her and her best friend.

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth had told her the truth and clearly she hadn't believed him. Angela had needed Brennan's word that he was telling her the truth which he found as just one more irritation when dealing with the artist. "You know Ange, I want Bones to have what's coming to her, that's all."

Aware that Booth was still angry with her, Angela sighed. "Yeah, I get it. You wanted her to have her best friend back . . . so what about us? Think we can be friends again? I said some things I know and I'm . . . I'm apologizing."

Surprised, Booth studied Angela for a moment and he could see that she was being sincere. That surprised him. It surprised him a lot. "Look Angela . . . You put Bones first." He knew he was going to accept her apology, not for him but for his wife. He didn't want Brennan to choose between him and Angela. He knew she would choose him and his partner would lose the best friend she'd ever had. "I guess I forgot that."

Glad that Booth was willing to accept her apology, Angela knew that he was being a bigger person than she probably would be under similar conditions. "Think we can hug this out?"

Before Booth could respond, Angela moved towards him, moved her arms around his chest and hugged him. Uncomfortable, Booth tried to make it a quick hug. "We're okay, we're okay now. Everything is fine."

Feeling a little mischievous, Angela smiled while she hugged the agent. "Brennan is really lucky she's my friend or I would totally make a move on you."

Embarrassed, Booth moved out of her embrace. "Great, I really don't know how to respond to that and come out looking like a good guy."

"You are a good guy . . . you gave me my friend back." Angela exhaled and then slowly released her breath. "I'm sorry that I didn't trust you. Jack knew that something was wrong, but I didn't want to look into it. I just saw Brennan's reaction to your refusal and I guess I lost my trust in you. I won't let that happen again."

"Thanks." Booth knew that Angela was ruled by her emotions and it was guaranteed that if something like Pelant's blackmail ever happened again, Angela would behave the same way. It was who she was. He could accept that and deal with her when he had to or make Brennan miserable by rejecting Angela's friendship. He loved Brennan too much to do that to her. "Alright." He glanced at her watch. "I have to go. I have a date with Bones tonight. Max is going to watch Christine for us."

Date night sounded so romantic and Angela knew that the couple deserved a nice night out. "Have fun."

Once she was out of the office, Booth glanced at his PC to make sure he had logged out and walked towards the door. He was glad that Angela had apologized, but he would always be wary of her. To be friends with her was to ride an emotional roller coaster. He could never completely trust her, but that wasn't the point. She was Brennan's friend and he only had to not come between them. His wife had very few friends and he would never destroy any friendships she had.

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