"I wish you'd stop doing that."

"Doing what?" Well, she'd caught me now, no sense in not coming all the way in, now.

"Stand just around the corner out of sight and watch me before coming in." She hadn't looked up from her computer as she said it, but then, she often didn't. "I know that you're there. I have for a while now."

"How long was I there, then?"

She looked over, and shot me a level, expressionless stare. "Today? This week? This month? This year? Last year? Do you want an analysis broken down by time of day, number of visits in a day, whether it's a late night or a weekend, whether we haven't talked in a few days, whether one of us has been recently shot at? Because it varies, as you well know."

Goddamnit. It was my own fault for thinking I could get much up on Bones, but I honestly didn't think she had noticed-- no one else did, but then, God knows I was still around because I was good at staying out of sight. I should never underestimate Bones' ability to hide her reactions to things, I guess. Which was, of course, why I watched, in the hope I'd see something unguarded, a little more clue into what she was thinking. I didn't say anything, just raised my eyebrows as I sat down on her couch.

"If it was anyone else, I'd have gotten a restraining order long before now." Her mouth half-quirked, and she let a little annoyance steal into her expression as she turned in her chair to face me.

"But it's me, so you'll put up with it?"

She snorted. "Something like that. Although it's a neat trick how you always manage to evade the security cameras whenever you enter and exit the building. You should teach me that, it might come in handy someday. Unless you swipe your access card on the platform, no one would ever know that you're here."

"Except you." She'd checked the security tapes? Well, who knew what she got up to when she was bored or wanted a break from whatever she was working on. I mean, she did crossword puzzles for fun. Hard, three hundred clue ones, that had no TV or pop culture references. Well, maybe a couple of weekends spent teaching Bones about clandestine activity could be fun, especially since it would mean close quarters and skintight black clothing.

She snorted and half-smiled again, cocking her head to the side. "I'm emotionally suppressed, Booth, not observationally challenged. There's a difference, you know." Okay, and she's telling me she's emotionally suppressed why?

"Well, can't blame me for wanting to gauge my possible reception, can you, Bones? I mean, you get pretty snarly when you're interrupted." The part about 'well, maybe I just like watching you?' Definite restraining order material.

"I'm your partner, Booth, not a target. There's no need to scope me out before entering my office. You could just walk in-- you're a strong person, you can handle a cranky forensic anthropologist. Unless there's something you're not telling me about why you feel the need to scope me out." Her eyebrow went up as she finished. Okay, time to dodge that one. My own damned fault falling in love with someone too smart for my own good. It's getting harder to stay a step ahead of her, she was definitely picking up all my tricks and making them her own.

Okay, time to evade the question with another, off-topic question. "So you're saying I'm always welcome?"

She laughed. "More like I've given up being annoyed with you when you interrupt me. You usually have a good reason, and you usually get lost when I really want you to leave. Unlike some people." Her expression soured. If Angela's been at her again since our little talk, I'm going to kill her. Well, not kill, but definitely muzzle.

"Why? Who's bothering you, Bones?"

She turned her sour glance on me, then thought a moment, and answered. "Oh, just, Sully's going to be in town next week and he keeps calling me to see if I'll have dinner with him. I told him I was busy, but he keeps on calling."

My stomach dropped out on me, but I managed to keep my poker face on. At least that part of my poker savvy stuck around. Sully's back? Note to self, there, Booth-- do not, under any circumstances, lose your temper and shoot something until he's gone again.

"I hadn't heard he was back," I said, neutrally. "He coming back to work or just in for a visit?"

She shook her head. "He has a meeting at the Hoover, so I presume he's thinking of coming back. He didn't really say, and I didn't ask. But it's quite annoying that he keeps calling me back, as if I'll drop everything after not hearing from him for almost two years."

"Really? I always figured you two kept in touch." She arched her eyebrow at me.

"I told the man I wasn't in love with him and wouldn't take a year out of my life to try to find out if I might change my mind. There wasn't that much to keep up with, under the circumstances." That's my Bones, blunt and painfully honest. When did tact cease to be on my list of desirable qualities in a mate? It was irrelevant, really, it just had. And when had I started picking up her anthropological babble? I mean, mate?

"You never told me that before."

She shrugged her shoulders. "It was over, and done, and once I make up my mind about something, I don't feel the need to further analyze it. Which I suppose is why Angela is so dissatisfied with my level of 'girl talk,' as she terms it."

"Well, just tell him the only time you're available would be for coffee at the diner, and I'll show up in fifteen, twenty minutes, and have something vitally important on a case to drag you away on. That way, he'll stop bugging you, and you can get out of it with a minimum of fuss, and have an excuse to avoid him the rest of the week."

"That's a little duplicitous."

"Then I'll call him and tell him to buzz off."

She snorted and stood up, then stretched her long arms up over her head, her gorgeous shape shifting with the motion. "There's no need for that, thank you. It's rather annoying, his apparent presumption that I would of course jump at the chance to see him again. But I suppose the diner ruse would work perfectly well. If he calls back again, I'll let you know when I'm meeting him." What a relief. I'd always secretly worried about Sully coming back-- she'd seemed genuinely torn about leaving with him, and was quiet and sad for a few weeks afterward, and I'd been afraid to ask her if she had any regrets, not going, because I was certainly overjoyed that she'd stayed.

She shucked off her coat, and tossed it over her chair. "Come on, it's late, stalker-boy. I'll let you buy me some Thai food."

"Boy? Bones, if you're going to call me a stalker, at least use the appropriate term. Stalker-man, okay?"

She smirked as she slapped me while passing me to grab her bag and her jacket. "Nope. I mean, look at those socks, definitely a boy." What? I thought blue and red polka dots were pretty sedate.

She just shoved me, a little, when I slung my arm around her shoulder, but not enough to push me away, as I pulled her close enough to get a whiff of her hair and perfume-- but not before she gave me another swat on the chest.

"No hair sniffing, stalker-man." Oh, shit. She was definitely on to me-- I was going to have to re-evaluate my position, and big time.