(About a year before The pilot/just before The Pilot)

A/N: This was going to be a one shot, but I had numerous requests for more. I hope you like it.

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

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When he entered the lecture hall, Brennan knew she'd seen him before, she just didn't remember where. As she continued her lecture, he moved closer towards her down the aisle and she realized that he was the soldier she had met in the airport when she was eighteen years old. She had eidetic memory and it never failed her.

Her lecture complete, Brennan stood on the stage as the familiar stranger asked her about keeping the flesh on the bones of murder victims since that was where the evidence usually was. It was an intelligent question and she was pleased that he had asked it. Of course, she felt that bones were more important and she had told him so.

Intrigued that he might be a student at the university her interest was further piqued when he introduced himself as Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI. She finally had a name to match his handsome face.

And interestingly enough, he had challenged her. He was working on a cold case and it was getting colder. Up for a challenge she was pleased to be working with someone she had come to think of as a friend. Through the years, she had often thought about the young soldier who had befriended her in the airport and she was more that happy to help him.

Their first foray as a partnership had ended in disaster and Brennan had found herself in an unusual situation. Normally she didn't care if someone didn't like her or if that person didn't get along with her. She was an extremely intelligent, beautiful woman who didn't need anyone's approval and yet their argument and the words he had said at their parting had stung. Really? The way you use your brain to make people around you feel stupid.

She had made him feel stupid and in her angered state she hadn't cared. She had told him she hated him and his reaction? What are you, 10 years old? I'm not your Dad.

The worst part of the whole thing? She'd struck him. She had let herself become over emotional when he'd pulled her from the room she had slapped his face. From there it had escalated into hateful words

They both had said all the wrong words and they both vowed never to work with each other again. She had been devastated.

Sad that the friend she had thought she had found in the airport had let her down, she had gone home and cried. She didn't usually care that she had few friends, but in this case, it did matter to her. She had been alone for most of her adult life. She'd had exactly one friend in high school and that was the school janitor. Booth had been the first adult in her life to sit down and just talk to her. He hadn't had a hidden agenda, he had just been a kind and caring person.

Perhaps she had allowed her imagination to make their conversation in the airport more than it had been, but she had valued those few short minutes and now they were ashes. Alone in her apartment, she had sat on the floor in her bedroom and she had cried bitter tears. Perhaps she wasn't meant to have friends.

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As soon as he'd seen her, he'd been stunned. She was so beautiful and not at all who he'd expected. Over the next few days as they worked together, he kept having a niggling suspicion that he had met her before. Their conversations had a hint of déjà vu and it almost drove him to distraction.

After the case had been closed, he'd made a huge mistake and he had pulled Brennan from the room where Jocelyn Arrington was sitting. He knew the forensic anthropologist didn't like to be touched and yet he had thought nothing of yanking her by her arm. Of course she had become angry, but he became angrier when she reacted and slapped him. He knew he should have walked away then to calm down, but his temper rose up fast and furious and harsh words were spoken by them both.

Later, when Booth was sitting in his apartment and drinking a much needed cold beer, the image of a young girl in an airport in Ohio popped into his head and he felt instant regret.

The young woman he had met in the airport had been interesting and very intelligent. He had been drawn to her and when he thought about her afterwards he had often fantasized about being her friend. He hadn't really considered her as someone he could have sex with as she had been too young for him at the time, but she was intriguing and intelligent and those attributes alone were hard to resist. More than once, he had regretted not exchanging personal information with her. He would have loved to have kept in contact with her, but like an idiot he hadn't found out her name nor had he mentioned his. Over the years, his life became hectic, her image had been crowded out of his thoughts and after awhile he forgot about her until that evening when it came crashing back in to his mind.

Now, due to his bad temper their possible friendship was destroyed before it had begun. Why did fate keep doing that to him? Often he had been thrust into the company of fascinating women he wanted to become close to. He would try to work to make a relationship with them and for some reason he didn't understand, he would be rejected and their relationship would fall apart.

In this instance, he hadn't even started a relationship with Temperance Brennan before it fell apart. He had let his temper get the better of him and he shouldn't have. He just didn't understand why those things kept happening to him.

I'm done with that. I refuse to let what happened be permanent. Not again. I will get her to work with me. I will not give up. Not this time.

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She had never had anyone pursue her so hard. Not even Peter had been this intense. "Zach I've told you in the past, do not forward Agent Booth's calls to me. We have nothing to talk about."

"Yes Dr. Brennan." Zach wasn't sure why Brennan was refusing to accept the agent's calls, but it was her decision. "He is very persistent."

Brennan shrugged her shoulders. "I don't care. He's a bully and I will not work with someone like that."

"Yes Dr. Brennan." The young intern knew that once Brennan made her mind up, she rarely changed it. He admired her and he wanted to be just like her.

Leaning against the door frame, Hodgins wished he knew how to fix the problem between Brennan and Agent Booth. He had really loved working on a case for the FBI and he wanted to do more of that. He was seriously considering leaving the Jeffersonian and working for the FBI because he was so bored. The only thing that held him back was his hatred of government agencies. "So how long are you going to be in Guatemala?"

Surprised that the entomologist was standing in her office doorway, Brennan turned to stare at him. "At least two months. The Guatemalan government has requested my expertise with identifying victims of genocide."

"I see." Hodgins was sure she was leaving because of her breakup with her boyfriend Peter, but he wasn't about to mention that. Dr. Temperance Brennan did not like anyone interfering in her personal life. "Well, good luck." As he walked back to his office he formulated a plan. A sneaky plan, but hey those were always the best kind weren't they?

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Brennan was due back in Washington D.C. in four days and Hodgins initiated his plan. He made a phone call.

Booth.

"I'm sure you don't remember me, but that isn't important." Hodgins hoped he would survive this plan. "My name is Dr. Jack Hodgins. I work with Dr. Brennan at the Jeffersonian. She's been in Guatemala for the last two months. She's coming home and she should be back in four days."

And just why do I care about that?

Amused, Hodgins stared at his aquarium filled with tarantulas. "You call her at least twice a week, Man. Of course you're interested."

Okay and why do you care?

"Because I liked working the case with you." Hodgins always used honesty when possible. It usually helped more than it hurt. "You and Dr. Brennan were great working that case together and I loved helping you two get justice for Gemma Arrington. I want to keep doing that, but that means you need to talk to Dr. Brennan and fix the mess you made."

The mess I made?

"Oh believe me, you made the mess." Hodgins knew Temperance Brennan and from what he had heard, Booth pulling her out of the meeting with Mrs. Arrington had been the torch that lit the fuse. "She doesn't like people touching her. It has something to do with her childhood. Now, I've told you that she's flying back in four days. If you can talk to her before she gets back to the Jeffersonian maybe you two can fix what you broke. You can at least try."

Um . . . thanks.

"That's okay." Hodgins cleared his throat. "Just don't mention I talked to you. It might be bad for me if you do."

You got it and uh . . . thanks again.

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