Disclaimer: I do not own Bones. Fox does. However, if I did own the show, Angela would get a lot of screen time to rant at her pleasure.

"Say you missed me."

The voice in her ear made Temperance jump up startled and swing around to face her partner. And for the first time in their joint careers she realized she wasn't happy to see him. Her decisions echoed loudly in her head as she steeled herself against his smile.

"Why should I say that? Is that some kind of joke I don't understand again?" She desperately grasped at the first thing that came in mind that had a chance to change the subject.

It had been a week since she last saw him and today she had finally managed some sort of acceptance and calm over her situation thinking everything would work out. That she was in the right path to get her emotions under control. But now he was standing in her office, whispering in her ear that surely a friend wouldn't have… No, she refused to follow that train of thought. Everything was over and done with and the conclusion she had reached was concrete and supported by two-year's-worth of evidence.

"Just wanted to know if being away from me for a week made you miss your favorite FBI agent, Bones." He flashed a smile at her again and she found herself slightly smiling back.

"Considering your presence here always suggests another set of unidentified remains found every time, and that I strongly dislike such occurrences, I would say that no, Booth I haven't missed you." She congratulated herself on logically presenting her argument but the feeling of triumph deserted her when she saw Booth's frowning expression as he approached her and stood right in front of her.

"I didn't ask whether you missed the cases, I asked whether you missed me." His eyes were serious and for several moments Temperance found herself unable to look away from him. Struggling not to stay where she was and tell him what he wanted to know, as she would have done a week ago, she turned away from him and walked behind her desk.

"Of course I missed you. You're my partner. It is proved that people get used to a certain event after twenty-one days of continuity, during which while-" Realizing she was rambling she summoned her best 'easy smile' to lighten the air between them. "Never mind. Yes, I've missed you. I'm your friend why wouldn't I have?"

The statement rolled off her tongue so easily, even as she felt the pain inside her escalating. She felt Booth watching her closely, but ignored him for a moment trying to understand the reason she felt as if she was playing a role for the first time in her life. What she felt inside was hidden behind a façade of nonchalance, just so she could hide her desires, her wilted hopes in front of a man she now knew was her friend.

Why was she doing this?

She had always prided herself on being honest, and Booth on occasion accused her of being blunt as well. Why was she lying to someone that by all accounts was her friend and she trusted above all others?

The answer was quite simple and came as she stared into his watching eyes. She lied because she had no choice. If he knew, he'd leave her because he wouldn't want to give what she asked from him. She had to hide, she had to lie; it was clear that this whole act was as important as air to her, for if she let herself go he'd leave.

Temperance watched his eyes searching her face, not knowing what he was looking for but averting her gaze nonetheless. When she heard him speak again, his voice was mild but sent chills down her spine at the same time. It was the voice he used in the interrogation room.

He was facing her office. "Hey, Bones? Where's Jasper?"

Cursing her luck that he would choose this moment to realize any differences, when she had finally succeeded in being calm she recalled the practiced excuse she had worked on earlier in the week. "I took him home one night by accident, so he's probably somewhere in my living room." Knowing what the little toy represented for them she wasn't surprised to see Booth's head snapping towards her at her trivial reply.

"Yeah?" His brows furrowed. "Anyway, I thought I'd come by to take you out to dinner. Are you busy?" He asked slowly raising an eyebrow and she knew he had some suspicion of something being different.

"No, nothing that can't wait for tomorrow." She smiled in what she hoped was reassurance.

"Great. Let's get out of here."

She paused only to grab her purse and coat and followed him out of the lab, steeling herself for an evening of role-playing. And by doing that she completely missed the apprehensive look that passed between Booth and Angela.

The evening turned out normal, Booth thought, as he watched Bones disappearing behind her building's front door.

Except it had all been fake.

Sighing in frustration he ran through the past couple of hours in his mind, mentally pointing out the continuous smiles she gave him, the ever cheery voice she talked to him with, her silence every time they broached a more delicate subject that until now would have been talked about like her father's trial.

Damn!

Letting his head fall back he closed his eyes realizing that Angela had been correct. Something was wrong with Bones. No, scratch that! Something was wrong between them! He ran his hands blindly over the steering wheel trying to remember the last time Bones had hidden things from him, or hadn't trusted him. He went back a couple of months ago…then a year…a year and a half.

Oh, God. She hadn't had that look on her face since they first started working together. Back when she didn't trust him at all.

Feeling anger pulling at his muscles he punched the center of the steering wheel.

"What happened?" he wondered out loud not bothering to question his intense feelings. Bones was drifting away from him and it had taken him several days to notice according to Angela. He didn't care about his decision to put his feelings aside. Right now he felt betrayed by her.

What was so wrong that would cause her to lock herself away from him like that? Had he done something? He tried to think back on their last case, and remembered that it had ended with both of them in the diner, laughing and being comfortable with each other; proud to have caught another murderer. Sure before they came this close this behavior would seem normal. But now…He felt as if tonight she had left him out in the cold.

They were partners…friends. She was his best friend. They should talk to each other about things; go through things together.

He lowered his head to the wheel.

Damn it, they should be together. Period.

Sighing loudly he raised his head and turned the key in the ignition. Before he put his foot on the gas he finally admitted to himself what he knew was inevitable for months now.

He was hers.

And now that she wanted to get away from him he wanted her to become his as well.

Noon of the next day found him in the diner expecting Angela to arrive, while he pushed the cup of coffee in front of him around in its saucer.

He had stayed up all night thinking of his late night admission to himself. When dawn had come he was unable to remember why he had waited all this time to come clean. But then he knew the answer to that.

During all those months while he and Bones came closer each day he was aware that the feelings he was having weren't sneaking up on him…he knew the seed between them had been planted from the moment they had first met. And these years they'd been working together the feelings for her grew inside him, not changing in their foundation though.

That's why he waited. Because he knew that the moment he would let those feelings surface he would be lost for the rest of his days. Given. Done for. Hers.

He had known it was inevitable, so he had been passing the time, suppressing the feelings until he could see she was ready. Until he knew her better than anyone else. Until he could see in her eyes emotions mirroring his own. Emotion carefully hidden but always ready…always there. And he'd been seeing that in her eyes, as much as he wanted to disregard it, for the past year at least. But he had not been ready. He hoped to God he hadn't lost his chance.

"Hey, handsome."

Angela's greeting brought him back to reality and he glanced up to smile at her half-heartedly. This was the first step he had to take. "Hey, Ange."

"That bad, huh?" She smiled sympathetically.

"Yeah…and no."

"How did it go last night?" She motioned to the waitress for a cup of coffee and settled on the edge of her seat, waiting for him to tell her. Boy would he ever.

"You were right. Something's wrong. Very, very wrong. We went to dinner, and we were laughing and talking."

"What's wrong with that-"

"Her eyes were lying. She was lying. I could see that a mile away. She's shut me out." He explained desperately, waiting for some kind of denial from the artist.

She sighed, reaching over to pat his hand. "Yeah, that's what I figured." Seeing his eyes flash with desperation and lower, Angela hurried along. "But we can fix it, Booth. That's why I called you in the first place. She's been acting as she did before you two started working together, that's why I knew something was wrong."

"Yeah, but why? Why is she pushing me away?" He hated the anger and hurt that tinged his voice.

"Booth, remember how I asked you for honest answers?" At his nod she continued. "Good, I want one now. Why does this bother you so much?"

Looking into Angela's face, Booth took a deep breath and proceeded taking the first step he had known was inevitable. "I want her, Ange." God, if that was true. Every time they had been close to each other, he had to play with the poker chip in his pocket to keep his hands from reaching out and touching her. Different parts of her, all of her; it didn't matter. He just wanted to touch. At the smug, self-satisfied smile that met his statement though, he smirked ruefully.

"That's all?" she asked. "All this time of torturing us poor observers for just that little piece of information?"

Palming his forehead he shook his head. He knew he wouldn't be let off the hook that easily with this woman. "Fine, Ms. Smartass. I'm in love. With Bones. The forever and ever and blah blah blah kind, okay?"

"Excellent." The smile that he was treated with now was a full blown one of delight. "Now, Sir Knight, what are we going to do about the princess in the tower?"

"You're kidding? I have no idea! I thought you'd have a plan, or something."

"As a matter of fact I do, but I think it would be best if we discussed the best course of action in this one."

True, it was his life they would be playing with, so she had a point. "Shoot."

"Okay, here's what I thought…"

A.N. 2: Thanks to everyone for your wonderful reviews and encouragement. I hope I haven't disappointed you with the characterization in this chapter either. I know we all love a clueless Booth, but I can't help but believe he does know what's between them and in this chapter I gave a reason why he wouldn't have acted on his feelings all this time. Hope you liked it and if not, tell me what's wrong.