Author's Note: I thought I wouldn't get this finished, but it was a lot easier to write than I thought. IMO, this is how Brennan should have responded to Sully's infamous proposition on the show, instead of acting like a lovesick teenager about him when she barely knew him. The Brennan I know and love is made of sterner stuff. IMO, she was totally out of character during most of that story arc. Your comments are appreciated.


Sully ignored Brennan's unwelcoming expression and stormed past her into her apartment. "Tempe, where have you been? I've been trying to get hold of you since last night, but you haven't returned any of my calls," he said in an aggrieved voice.

"I left you a message that I had been called away on an urgent matter," she replied calmly, "As a matter of fact, I was just about to leave."

"I can't believe that you were just going to leave town without at least discussing it with me! What could possibly be more important than our trip? Is it a case? Did Booth get you to cancel the trip for a case? Is that it?" Sully yelled. At the mention of the name "Booth," Brennan's expression changed subtly and Sully caught it.

"I knew it! I knew Booth would pull something like this to try to ruin our trip. Don't listen to him, Tempe. Believe me, there's no case right now that can't wait a week. You can deal with it when you get back. Booth is just trying to break us up because he wants you all to himself."

Brennan's expression had grown colder and colder at Sully's petulant rant. "Actually it has nothing to do with a case," she said in an icy tone. "It involves my personal business, and as such it is none of your business whatsoever. And it is a great deal more important to me than our vacation."

"Tempe, you don't believe that. I know you, Tempe, better than anyone else, better than you know yourself. We're so alike, so compatible. We enjoy being together and we're interested in the same things. You need to get away from your work here and enjoy life before it's too late. You need me, Tempe. You need me to show you how to enjoy life and have fun."

Infuriated at his arrogant presumption that she needed him for anything, Brennan had had enough.

"You think you know me better than anyone else?" she sneered. "How can you possibly know me? We met less than two months ago. We've been dating for five weeks and we've been having sex for less than that. That amount of time is not nearly enough for you to know anything about the real me! I'm an intelligent, complex human being, not some two-dimensional, superficial Barbie doll you can learn all about in five minutes! How dare you assume that you can know all about me in that length of time?"

"All right, all right. So we can spend this time learning all about each other, " Sully wheedled, backpedaling as fast as he could.

Brennan ignored his attempt at a placating expression. "The more I learn about you the less I like it. I am nothing like you. I can't give up the work that I love to become some kind of beach bum. I need something to occupy my brain other than lolling on the beach and admiring you and your muscles while you fish. I'd be bored to tears in less than 24 hours with just you for company. Now if you'll excuse me, someone very important to me needs me right now," she continued, "someone who has been a better friend to me than you could ever be. If you think I'm going to risk my friend's life and health for a few days of sex on a stupid boat with you, then you don't understand me at all, and you never will."

As Sully stared at her in flabbergasted silence, Brennan picked up her bags and said frostily, "Now get out of my way. I've wasted enough time talking to you already." She waited for Sully to exit. Then she walked out the door, slammed it shut behind her, locked it, and stalked off toward the parking lot, leaving Sully fuming impotently behind her.

"Good riddance," she thought angrily. "I can't imagine what I ever saw in an idiot like him. The nickname 'Peanut' must have been a literal reference to the size of his brain."


As she drove down the mountain road, Brennan kept trying to call Booth, but there was no cell phone service this far away from any town. "Damn it," she muttered in frustration. She had gotten a call from the sheriff's department saying that Booth had apparently been to the cabin, but hadn't been there when the deputy knocked on the door. He had left a message for Booth to contact them when he returned. Meanwhile, she had been driving for hours, and was beginning to wish she had hired someone to fly her here. It was almost dark. Even with Hank's map, she had made a couple of wrong turns and had had to stop for directions three times. She finally found the stone marker that indicated her turnoff, and drove carefully down the gravel road.

She gave a huge sigh of relief when the cabin came into view and she saw Booth's car parked under a carport next to it. She went up the steps and tapped on the door, but there was no answer. She tried the door and found it unlocked, so she went in. She looked around the rooms, but there was no sign of Booth, unless you counted the half-empty bottle of scotch on the table by the rocking chair and the box on the kitchen table. She turned and headed back outside to see if she could find any sign of where Booth had gone. She hoped he hadn't gone walking in the woods and broken an ankle or something. She didn't like to think of him in pain and with no hope that anyone would come looking for him.

"Don't worry, Booth," she promised under her breath, "I may be a little late, but I'll be here for you from now on."