Second Chances

I don't own Bones

Booth takes a seat at the bar and looks at his partner. She had taken his breath away when he saw her at the lab. She always thought she was beautiful but, the year away had just added to her looks. "I guess it's true, absence does make the heart grow fonder". He thought to himself.

"So Bones, tell me about your trip." He stated.

"Well Booth there's nothing much to tell. Sully and me spent most of the time sailing to Africa and Europe. It was beautiful but, it can't compare to home."

She looks him in the eyes and sees a flash of hurt at the mention of Sully. In an instant it's gone but, she had seen it. It gave her hope that she could still get everything she ever wanted. She had messed up once, she'll be damned if she does it again.

He gives her his charm smile and says, "Well, I've missed you Bones. Getting a random letter every four months or so wasn't enough. I mean who else is going to tell me to stop my alpha male tendencies."

She has a genuine laugh.

"Come on Booth, I'm sure someone else has been on the receiving end of your alpha male tendencies. Didn't you say you had a girlfriend at the lab."

"And the oscar for best female actor goes to Temperance Brennan." She thinks to herself. It took all of her strength to say that last sentence with a straight face.

Booth is oblivious to his partners turmoil and smiles.

"Yeah, I met her four months ago at an FBI charity auction. She's a friend of Rebecca's if you can believe it. Rebecca went with her to the auction and she thought we'd hit it off. So, without anyone's knowledge. Rebecca placed phone bids for her. When she won, she gave Rebecca the biggest death glare."

Seeley starts to laugh remembering the story. This brings a frown to Tempe's face.

"Anyways, guess who fetched the highest price at the auction." He says wiggling his eyebrows.

Tempe begins to grin a little.

"I swear. I thought when I left your ego couldn't get any bigger."

Booth looks at her with a mischievous smile and says, "Bones trust me. The size of my ego is bigger than you think it is and I know how to use it."

Tempe catches on to his double entendre and blushes.

"Shut up Booth. You shouldn't be flirting with me, you have a girlfriend." She says while laughing.

"But flirting with you is part of the job description Bones. Actually, it's one of the perks."

Tempe just slaps his shoulder, trying to ignore the many unpartnerly thoughts going through her mind.

"Anyways, Rebecca had better matchmaking skills than I thought. When we went out for our date Tracy and me just clicked. We ate dinner, danced, and talked all night. By next evening, I found myself calling her for another date and here we are three months later."

The rest of Booths story dampens Tempe's mood considerably. One minute she's joking with him like it's old times and the next minute she wants to get away from him. To make things worst Booth seemed pretty happy with his life. Tempe needed to talk to Angela, maybe she could help her out of this situation.

"All this can wait until tomorrow. Tonight, I'm going to enjoy myself." She thought to herself.

It was then that Booth told Sid to change it to the six o'clock news. Sid obliged.

Tempe looks at Booth and says, "Since when do you watch the six o'clock news instead of a hockey game?"

Booth smiles and says, "Well, things change in a year Bones. Plus, my girlfriend would kill me if I missed her show."

Brennan looks at the tv and their on the local news was Tracy Stevens. She was blonde, beautiful, and by the looks of her current interview, she was very intelligent. If she was depressed before, she was damn near hysterical now.

She swallows her drink and quickly asks for another.

"Whoa, slow down there Bones. The night is still early."

She smiles a fake smile at him and says, "Come on Booth. I thought this was a celebration."

Booth thinks he sees a flash of pain across her eyes but quickly denies it. He hasn't seen her in a year and he thinks it's just the stress of coming back. If she wanted to celebrate tonight, then Booth was going to make sure she wasn't alone.

"Alright Sid, hit me too."

This was going to be a long night both of them thought.

Hope it wasn't too boring. Please review. I can't tell if this story is bad or not without reviews.