Yay, a new chapter! But first, thanks to flanmaja, GGjunkie33, MadeOfStars, corik80, Tammy1234, acegrace, CSI-4077, csimesser1, PokerPrincess7 and Andromeda03 for reviewing the last chapter. Your reviews make me grin like an idiot, hee (especially yours did, Leah!). Okay, on with the story.

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At seven thirty in the evening Brennan was walking up the stairs to the third floor where Booth's apartment was. Her steps were slow and heavy. After Booth had left earlier, exhaustion had overcome her. She knew that holding back was no longer an option, if she didn't tell him now, it would eat her alive. That's why, in spite of her exhaustion, she was feeling calm. Serene even.

Finally she had made her way to Booth's place. She knocked the door softly and shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans while waiting for him to open. At least she hoped that it would be him who opened the door this time. Some rustling could be heard from inside, and after a while the door opened.

"Hey, Bones, come on in," Booth greeted.

Brennan stepped in and looked around as if she'd never been there before. She wondered if he'd go straight to the point or if he'd go through all the usual courtesies. Her question was answered quickly as he offered her a beer. She declined.

Booth sat down on the couch. "Feel free to sit down."

"No thanks, I'd rather stand," she said almost absentmindedly and slowly made her way to his bookcase, which had a couple of pictures of Parker on it. She studied them for a moment, comparing the common features of Booth and his son in her head.

Booth watched her from the couch. She seemed very peaceful, nothing like he had seen her earlier today. He had thought a lot about what had gotten her upset. If it really wasn't about Max or Russ, he figured that it maybe had something to do with their partnership being ended. He didn't want to seem selfish, but he knew that the termination of their partnership had upset her. He remembered how hard it had been for her to adjust to the new situation, even though she had never fully admitted it.

Not that it had been easy for him either. He had gone to the shooting range a little more than usual to let off some steam, and he had been somewhat bad-tempered at work. That was his coping mechanism, and distancing herself from others was most likely hers.

Brennan's voice brought him back from his musings. "You and Parker share several similar facial features."

"Well yeah, he is my son after all," he pointed out teasingly. Brennan shot him a look. "Are you sure you don't want to sit down?" he continued.

"Yes," she responded firmly. Immediately she continued. "I believe you wanted me to talk about why I've been acting… how did you say it… evasive?"

He simply nodded.

"There's a reason for it," she said as she walked slowly to the window. "Well, there was no certain occurrence that caused it. It was more like a realization," she continued explaining as she peeked at the dark clouds outside. "When our partnership was terminated, I had difficulties adjusting to the situation. I assumed it was because of the change that it brought to my work day, not going to the field and staying at the lab the whole day. But, like you said that one time, I figured that I'd get used to it. However, as time went by, I often found myself distracted from my work. And that is not acceptable, considering the precision-demanding nature of my work."

Booth shifted on the couch, and she realized that she was probably boring him. She turned away from the window, toward him. She found him looking at her intently.

"Anyway… One evening I did some thinking, and I came to a realization. The reason that I had trouble working was that you weren't part of it anymore. You weren't there with me. And I often found myself missing you, since I didn't see you every day. But I didn't miss you as a friend, more as… someone more important."

Booth felt his mouth go dry. He slowly stood up from the couch and tried to form a coherent sentence in his mind, but she beat him to it.

"That was what I came here to tell you the other night, when you had that blind date. After I left here, I swore to myself that I'd just let it go and never tell you. But that proved to be more difficult than I expected, so here I am now."

Booth was stunned by the analytical tone in which she was telling him this. He wasn't even exactly sure what she was telling him. He finally found his ability to speak again.

"Bones, what are you saying?"

Brennan crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm saying that I may have an interest beyond a friendly level in you," she answered calmly. "And if you're willing, I'd like to pursue that interest further." She looked at the confused look on his face and decided to clarify. "I'd like to have a relationship with you." She waited for his reaction. She had gone through several different scenarios in her head earlier, but right now she had no idea how he would respond.

"Is this about satisfying your… biological urges?" he finally managed to blurt out.

Brennan felt like she'd received a kick in the stomach. Out of all the reactions he could've had, that was the one she hadn't anticipated or even thought about. He was actually questioning her motives, her genuineness. She cast her eyes downward, but didn't move. She was surprised by the hurt she was feeling. This time she was the one at a loss of words.

Booth mentally kicked himself as soon as he had said those words. He had been so shocked by Brennan's straightforwardness that he had just blurted out the first thing that had popped up in his mind. He watched the hurt flicker in her eyes and her shoulders sag. At that moment he hated himself.

"No, Bones, I didn't mean it like-"

"Don't worry, Booth. I get it." She walked to the door without looking up at him. Just as she was gripping the door handle, she figured that at this point she had nothing to lose. Her back turned to him, she said the one thing she could think of. "This isn't about biology. I think… I think I fell in love with you when I wasn't paying attention." With that, she opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her. Taking a deep breath, she walked away with all the dignity she could muster.

Booth still stood at the same spot in front of the couch. His head was spinning; it couldn't process all the information he had received during the last ten minutes. He kept staring at the spot where Brennan had been standing just a moment ago, confessing her love for him. This couldn't be happening. The always-rational scientist had basically admitted that love does exist after all, and he had muttered something idiotic about biological urges. Everything was upside down.

He started pacing around his living room. He kept repeating her words over and over again in his mind, trying to sort out his own thoughts. Of course he had missed her too, they'd been partners for three years before they were separated. He had grown accustomed to her anthropological ramblings, her ignorance of pop culture, her stubbornness… her everything. Now that he allowed himself to think about it, he realized how much he adored her. She was an absolutely amazing woman, and he had just driven her away. She had finally opened up, and he had betrayed that sign of trust.

He was surprised by how quickly he could catch up to his own reality once he got the chance. It was as if some light bulb had turned on above his head.

He was immensely in love with Temperance Brennan.

"I love her," he said to himself, as if making it more real by saying it out loud.

He tried to figure out what to do next. He went to the window to check if her car was still there. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't. So he grabbed his car keys and hurried out of the building to go find her and tell her everything he should've said fifteen minutes earlier.

--

"Hey, Bren."

"Hey, Angela." Brennan was sitting in her car that she had parked outside her apartment building. When she had arrived there, she'd realized she didn't want to go home right now. So she'd dialed her best friend's number.

"What's up?"

"Remember when you said that I could always come talk to you?"

"Yeah…" Angela waited for her to continue.

"Would right now be a bad time?"

"No, of course not. Do you want to come over?"

"Are you sure? You don't have any plans with Hodgins?"

She could hear Angela snort at the other end. "I really don't. He's watching X-Files and I'm bored out of my mind. Come on over, it's been forever since we've talked!"

"Okay. Thanks, Ange."

"No problemo, sweetie." With that she hung up.

Brennan started her car again and headed toward Angela's place. This was one of the very rare situations when she really needed someone to talk to. She knew that Angela was a good listener and that she would know how to handle a situation like this. Angela really was worth her weight in gold.

Twenty minutes later she drove along the very long driveway to the house. The front yard was large, so she had no difficulties parking. Unhurriedly she climbed the stairs to the door and rang the doorbell. Angela opened the door almost immediately, as if she'd been waiting for her behind it. She looked happy to see Brennan, and guided her inside impatiently.

"So, you finally decided to talk to me about what's been bothering you?" Angela walked further inside, expecting Brennan to follow her. She entered the kitchen, Brennan closely behind her.

"Yes," she answered quietly as Angela grabbed two pints of ice cream from the freezer.

"Strawberry or mint chocolate?" Angela asked as she held up the two pints.

Brennan smiled. "Strawberry."

Angela sat down on one of the high stools that surrounded the kitchen island and gestured her to do the same. Brennan sat down beside her and Angela handed her the strawberry ice cream and a spoon. While Angela was taking her first spoonful of the mint chocolate ice cream, she glanced at her friend.

"What's going on?"

"I did something foolish today," she revealed as she removed the lid of the pint.

"What?"

"I told Booth that I'd like to have a romantic relationship with him," she answered calmly, digging into the ice cream.

Angela's eyes widened, but realizing that this was a serious situation, she remained calm. She cleared her throat.

"And what did he say?"

"He thought I wanted to have sex with him."

Angela stopped in her tracks.

"He what??"

Brennan just shook her head.

"Are you sure we're talking about Booth here? The man who you've spent the last three years with, the one that adores you? Seeley Booth?" Angela continued with a look of disbelief on her face.

Brennan gave a small laugh. "Yes, I'm quite sure it was him."

"Well… what did you do after he said that?"

"I left." She glanced at Angela. "And… I may have said that I love him."

Angela looked at her friend sadly. "Oh, sweetie…"

"Don't feel sorry for me, Ange."

"I'm not, I just… can't believe that he hurt you like that," Angela sighed and shook her head. Brennan shrugged.

"Well, at least now I know. I've been so distracted by him the last few weeks that it has affected my work. Now I can finally go back to the way things were before and concentrate on work."

Angela studied her friend. That's what she had been afraid of when she'd heard that she wouldn't be working with Booth anymore. She had worried that Brennan would slowly distance herself from everyone and immerse herself in work again. Fortunately Booth had kept in touch with her even though they were no longer working together, and he had taken her out to eat and kept her company. But now everything was messed up again. She felt like cursing the day Seeley Booth was born.

"Bren, maybe you should talk to him again. I mean, are you sure he didn't just freak out and blurt out something he now regrets? What were his exact words?"

"He asked me if I just wanted to 'satisfy my biological urges'. Or something along those lines." She took a spoonful of ice cream. "I don't think Booth is the kind of man to blurt things out, he's usually very adept at social situations. He must have meant what he said."

Angela didn't know what to say. She felt her anger rising.

"If you want me to go bitch-slap him, just give me a word. I'd be more than happy to do that," she said half-joking.

Brennan gave a genuine laugh for the first time that evening. "I bet you would. But no thanks, I think it's best to leave him alone for now." She studied the label of the pint. "This is very good ice cream by the way."

"It's Italian. I've had like four of these in a week," she whispered conspiratorially. "Don't tell Jack."

"I won't," she promised.

An hour later Brennan was heading out. Angela was walking her to the door and trying to coax her into staying.

"Are you sure you don't want to have a couple of drinks with me? It's Friday night after all."

"Yes it is, and you should spend it with Hodgins. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Angela stuck out her bottom lip. "Fine. But promise me we'll go out next week."

"Yes, I promise." She opened the door. "Have a nice night."

Before Brennan could go, Angela leaped forward and gave her a tight hug.

"Take care, Bren."

The sudden display of emotion surprised Brennan, but she hugged her back. Then she gave the artist a small smile and disappeared through the door.

As she was walking to her car, she noticed how she was feeling a lot better than when she had arrived. She wondered if the ice cream had anything to do with it like Angela had suggested earlier. She climbed in to the driver's seat and checked her cell. No calls or messages. She tossed it on the passenger's seat and drove home.

Feeling exhausted, she decided to take the elevator in her building instead of going up the stairs. When she stepped out of the elevator in the fifth floor, the sight of Booth sitting beside her door made her stop in her tracks.