Chapter 4 – The Secret In the Soil

Booth and Brennan were standing with the hands touching slightly in Sweets new office. And Booth was none too happy about it either. He had planned a big surprise date with Brennan for tonight and this little boy shrink had to ruin.

Sweets – who was of course the innocent bystander in this – told them, "Okay, Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth. Together. A little closer. Okay, yeah, that's perfect. Beautiful. Now keeping your back straight, I want you each to lean forward."

Booth had done a lot of things in his life, but this was seriously about the most outrageous of all. "No."

Sweets looked up from where he was seated and asked, "Excuse me?"

Brennan sighed and grabbed Booth's hand so they could finish with this session – which she thought was wholly unnecessary – and get home. "Come on, Booth. I'm sure this is just one of those meaningless exercises meant to illustrate the importance of supporting each other."

Booth wasn't having it. "We agreed to see another therapist, not be action figures for a 12-year-old."

Sweets was a little offended – and scared if he was going to admit it – by Booth. "I'm 22, Agent Booth. I have a doctorate in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where my dissertation on the effects of job stress was published."

Booth smiled tightly and said, "That's great. I'm sure your mother is really proud of you, Sweets."

Sweets took in a calming breath and tried to remain professional. "Dr. Sweets, or Lance, you know, if you're more comfortable with informality, but I'd prefer, out of respect for each other and the process of psychotherapy, that we at least try to, uh..."

Booth pushed some papers toward the boy and sort of glared at him – because he didn't want to frighten the kid…unless he didn't sign those damn papers. "Sign the forms so I can get out of this suit and I could have a Saturday night."

Brennan sat down and tried to get comfortable. For some reason Booth was in one of his moods. Which either meant his plans for tonight were postponed or he wanted to have sex. And she would much rather be doing the latter of those options. "I don't care how young you are. I've never believed in psychotherapy."

Sweets sat back in his chair then and told them honestly, "Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, this isn't a game. The FBI is considering severing your partnership."

Brennan sat forward at that announcement. "What?"

Booth's anger flared even more. He didn't like hearing that. "Why?"

Sweets involuntarily snorted, "Why? Dude, you arrested her father."

Brennan shook her head. They had already gone over that. And it was Booth's own father-in-law, even though no one but Caroline knew about that. "He was just doing his job."

Sweets still didn't think that she could be okay with that. "Yeah, but come on, he, like, he arrested your father. He's going to have to be a witness against him. Circumstances such as these tend to stir up a lot of scary feelings."

Booth leaned forward and told him, "I don't have scary feelings. Maybe you need a little night-light at night to sleep."

Sweets smiled nervously. "Agent Booth, you've been trying to intimidate me since the moment you stepped in here. And you've succeeded."

Brennan put her hand on Booth's biceps and gently pulled back. "Don't...scare the boy, Booth."

Sweets cleared his throat and tried to gain control again. "Now, I need you both to, uh, fill out these questionnaires and get 'em back to me. Don't share your answers. It'll help me evaluate whether Dr. Brennan's services should be signed to a new agent."

Booth shook his head. That would happen over his dead body and only then. "That's not going to happen."

Sweets looked at Booth directly, trying not to show his fear. "Like it or not, Agent Booth, I'm the therapist in charge of this case, so I suggest that we work in cooperation rather than conflict."

Brennan would never work with another agent, but if doing the stupid questionnaire meant she could still work with her husband, then she would do it. "I can cooperate."

Sweets smiled at her and then looked at Agent Booth, "Good. Agent Booth?"

Booth's jaw clenched as he tried to control his temper. He grabbed the packet and told him, "I'm still going to call you Sweets."

Sweets sighed, "Yep."

~BONES~

Booth and Brennan were driving back home from their session when Brennan looked up from the questionnaire. "It's some kind of personality test."

Booth shook his head in aggravation. All his planning, down the drain now. "I can't believe he gave us homework. You know, probably his. What kind of kid works on a Saturday night?"

Brennan looked up at him and told him. "Oh, that's my fault. I told him I wasn't available during the week."

Booth couldn't believe it. "Whoa, whoa, why'd you go and do that? I had a surprise for you! Seats right behind the dugout." Brennan had been telling him that she had never been to a baseball game one time when they were watching a game on TV – and he had never taken her to one while they were dating. She said that it had so many anthropological factors. So he had planned this whole baseball experience for her. He was even going to bring her to meet some of the players afterward. He sighed as he heard his phone ring. "Booth."

Brennan was slightly disappointed to hear that they missed the game. She really would have liked to observe everyone. She always liked going to games with her husband, especially hockey. She was slightly distracted by the image of Booth playing hockey that she didn't see him looking over at her paper a little too late. "Don't look on my paper."

Booth gave her a sheepish look and then said into his phone, "Okay, yeah, got it." He looked over at Brennan and told her, "Well, there's only one thing more fun than therapy on a Saturday night and that's a dead body."

~BONES~

Brennan was sitting at her desk when Booth walked in, "Hey. Angela called. She wanted me to...Hey, is that the test from Dr. Sweets?"

Brennan looked up and smiled, "Yes."

Booth walked up to her and joked, "Well, what'd you put for number seven? Because I put 12 to 15 times a day, and now I'm thinking I really misunderstood the question."

Brennan chuckled and shook her head at him. "We're not supposed to discuss our answers."

Booth walked up behind her and started to look at her answers. "Come on, Bones, the teacher's not in the room, let me see."

Brennan brought the packet to her chest to cover the answers and shook her head, "Is this how you got through school, Booth?"

Booth answered, "No. Well, maybe algebra, but..."

Angela walked in then and smiled as she saw her two friends bickering, again. "Hey, Booth, I got your I.D. Franklin Curtis, age 54. His wife Margie reported him missing yesterday."

Booth took the paper that Angela gave to him and read where their victim was from. "Whoa... Augusta county. He was rich."

Angela nodded, "Yeah. Founder of the Natural Sun organic supermarket chain."

Brennan loved going there. "There's one near ou-, erm, my apartment. Excellent selection of local produce."

Booth looked at her. This was one of their regular 'debates' that they had before they went grocery shopping. "Totally overpriced. A carrot is a carrot."

Angela added, "Hey, it's worth it. Organic, there's no pesticides. It's from sustainable farms. Every time that I buy something there, I feel so virtuous."

Booth read some more from the file, "Guy started off with a single roadside produce stand, which he grew into a nationwide supermarket chain."

Brennan nodded at that. "An organic capitalist."

Booth had seen people get killed for a lot less. "Ambition like that is bound to create a few enemies."

Hodgins walked in then with some results. "I tested fabric samples from the victim's pants They were covered with chloropicrin."

Booth had no clue what that was, but by the look on Brennan's face it was something important. "Why the pinchy face, Bones?"

Brennan told him, "Franklin Curtis built his whole career on organic produce and chloropicrin..."

Hodgins finished for her, "Is a pesticide."

~BONES~

They were back in Sweets office, at another session. "Two independent people often find themselves...Agent Booth, are you listening?"

Booth had his knee up against the table flipping his phone for any possible messages. "What?"

Brennan touched his arm and told him, "The judge will call when the warrant is issued, Booth, pay attention."

Booth couldn't believe that they had to be there, that early in the morning. "What, I'm in the middle of an investigation. I get distracted."

Brennan glared at him slightly, "So it's not my investigation, too?"

Booth shook his head. "It's too early in the morning for this."

Sweets jumped on this disagreement. "No, no, no, this is good, let's talk about conflict. When you guys argue, how do you come to a resolution?"

Brennan told him. "We don't argue."

Sweets snorted at that. "Come on, remember, zone of truth, right here."

Booth agreed with his wife, they didn't argue. They just… "Fine. We might bicker a little bit, but that's not arguing."

Brennan did not agree with that either. "Bicker? I don't bicker."

Booth gave her a pointed look. "No? What about the whole environmentalism thing?"

Brennan shook her head. "That was a discussion."

Booth laughed at that. "You pretty much told me my penis was going to shrink if I didn't eat organic food."

Brennan smiled slightly and said, "That's not bickering, that's being a good friend."

Booth straightened his jacket as he said, "My penis is just fine, thank you."

Brennan didn't have any argument there and she smiled knowingly at him as Sweets said, "Now we're getting somewhere. All right, I think we're in that truth zone."

Booth felt himself start to respond to Brennan's heated look. God, the woman was going to be the death of him. He snapped at Sweets, wanting to get out of there, "Stop with the whole truth zone thing, alright? Bones and I are trying to catch a guy who cooked a tree hugger. So just score the personality test so we can get back to crime fighting."

Sweets nodded as he saw Booth's anger flare – or what he thought was anger. "Yeah, that's good, Agent Booth. Now let the anger lead you to the fear. You can't be whole, you can't do your job to its fullest, unless you get in touch with that fear you feel. Now Dr. Brennan and I are going to close our eyes. Follow the anger, all right? Feel it? Feel it softening. You feel that?" Booth and Brennan look at each other and tried their hardest not to laugh. Sweets opened his eyes as he heard them chuckle. "Very mature, guys."

Booth's phone buzzed as he got a message. "Got to run, Sweets. Got the call. Let's boogie, Bones. And, um, look, next time, you really should tell me if there's going to be an essay on the test."

~BONES~

They were back with Sweets in his office as he asked them, "So, case finished?"

Brennan answered, "Yes."

Sweets smiled and said, "Congratulations."

Booth didn't really feel like being congratulated for this case. It was a hell of a mess of heartache. "Yeah."

Sweets made his observation of Booth known to them. "You don't seem too happy."

Booth told him honestly, "Well, because sometimes, if you win, you end up with somebody else's pain and screwed-up life. You work for the FBI, you should know that."

Sweets tried to dig a little more. "Must be a challenge for you to access those feelings."

Brennan's own anger flared at Sweets remark. He didn't know Booth. She put a comforting hand on Booth's knee while she snapped at Sweets. "Okay, stop. You don't know Booth. You don't know me, you have a limited view of us based on superficial data you've accumulated on a standardized questionnaire, and a subjective analysis from talking to us that is not at all scientific. So. Back. Off."

Sweets was glad to see such a fierce reaction from Brennan, but he was puzzled by her show of comfort for her partner. "Just trying to help."

Brennan glared at him. "By questioning his humanity?"

Booth unknowingly slid his hand up and down her arm trying to relax her as he said soothingly, "Okay, Bones, now you're going a little bit overboard. He's just a kid. Right? I mean, the worst thing that's probably ever happened to him was he lost at Mortal Kombat."

Sweets observed Booth's actions and noticed how Brennan did seem to relax. He asked her, "Are you normally this protective of him, Dr. Brennan?"

Brennan answered honestly, "We are partners. Our lives depend on being protective of each other."

Sweets asked Booth, "And you feel the same way, Agent Booth?"

Booth squeezed Brennan's hand as he answered, "Sweets, I can only hope that one day you know what a real partnership is."

Sweets smiled at them. "You two are very close, that was evident in your superficial, standardized questionnaire and my unscientific observations."

Booth perked up a little at that. "Yeah?"

Sweets nodded, "You complement each other."

Booth smiled and shook his head, "No, she never compliments me. Did you compliment me in the questionnaire?"

Brennan smiled a little at Booth's mix up. "'Complement,' not 'compliment.' 'Ple.' He means that we complete each other," she smiled at him before she added for Sweets sake, "as a team."

Booth smiled at that and nodded, "Yeah, right."

Sweets didn't know how to place those smiles, but he decided that it was a good thing and probably something they did without realizing it. "Now, we've got a lot to work on over the next few months."

Brennan looked at him in joy. "Meaning we get to stay together?"

Sweets nodded, "Yes."

Booth sighed, "I'm sensing a 'but'."

Sweets said, "However…"

Brennan whispered to Booth, "It's the same as 'but'."

Sweets went on as if they hadn't said anything. "I have observed some underlying issues that need to be addressed."

Booth didn't like the sound of that. "Issues?"

Sweets nodded, "Yes. There's clearly a very deep emotional attachment between you two."

Booth jumped at that. He didn't want their relationship to come out like that. "We're just partners."

Sweets narrowed his eyes at that comment. Interesting. "And why do you think I would have thought otherwise?"

Booth joked, "'Cause you're 12."

Brennan tried to divert Sweets skeptical look, "Don't read into anything that Booth said. We're professionals. There's a line that doesn't even need to be there."

Booth went along with her. "Not at all, I mean, if there were no more murders, I would probably not even, you know, see her."

Brennan nodded, "That's very true."

Booth couldn't help but add, "Might have coffee."

Brennan shook her head, "Probably not."

Booth looked at her in confusion, "What?"

Brennan looked at him as she heard his sad emotions in his voice. "What?"

He didn't understand why she wouldn't even have 'coffee' with him. "You wouldn't even have coffee with me?"

Brennan told him logically. "Well, in your scenario, we wouldn't even know each other because there are no murders."

Booth clarified. "Were. I said 'no more murders.'"

Brennan sighed in slight relief. She didn't like the idea of not knowing Booth or being with him. "Then fine. I mean, we could have a coffee. So that's clear, then? I mean, we'd have coffee and that's our relationship? Coffee."

Booth nodded as he saw her love for him in her eyes. He then looked at Sweets and how he was observing them. "Yeah, let's move on."

I'm sorry I haven't posted I've just been busy alot. Right I have a headache but I still posted for you guys

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