CHAPTER 2: Brennan vs Therapist

"It is my duty to inform you that the Brennan-Booth partnership is officially severed, and that you, Dr Temperance Brennan, will be required to assist a new Agent, assigned by Special Agent Booth, in future consultations to the Jeffersonian Institute."

As she left her office, no one had the courage to stop her. Even the security guards shrank away from her impressive, absolute fury. Heads turned to watch her and then turned away, blinded. By what? Even she didn't know.

Six days earlier…

"Sweets got fired because of malpractice. I wonder what he did? Five bucks says it had something to do with his age!"

His voice over the phone sounded metallic and didn't capture it's full richness, but she knew it enough to be able to perceive the slightly worried undertone beneath the amusement.

"Booth, I'm parking right now. I'll see you in two days when we have our session together."

"That's okay, I'll call you later so you can tell me how this went."

"Bye."

She walked out of the car, not noticing how her footsteps subconsciously quickened until she left the dark parking lot, and entered the elevators of the J. Edgar Hoover building.

Her eyes immediately noted the minute details which would have escaped someone less observant. The obvious was the addition of a desk. Less obvious were the curtains, half drawn, couch about two to three inches forward, table one to two inches to the left, different books on the bookshelves.

Dr Lenney was sitting behind his desk, unlike Dr Sweets, who sat closer to them.

"Hello, Dr Brennan."

"Hi."

She sat down without being asked, and Dr Lenney wrote something down.

"I haven't even said anything yet."

"You sat in the left side of the couch."

"Obviously."

"Not the middle."

She didn't answer.

"Agent Booth usually sits on the right side, am I correct?"

She nodded, but still didn't answer, a strange look on her face. As if… almost as if she had just failed a test and was disappointed with herself.

"Well, I'd like to-"

"I think you should know I don't believe in psychology. It's unscientific and subjective. I've been told my refusal to alter my opinion about this can be difficult. I will try, however."

"Thank you, Dr Brennan."

She nodded.

"Well, the initial purpose of the evaluation was to determine whether you and Agent Booth were fit to work together, due to trying circumstances at the time."

"My father's trial."

"Yes. But I'd like to talk about something else right now. Dr Sweets wrote in his notes…" Dr Lenney consulted some papers for a moment. "Agent Booth was shot, five months ago?"

Brennan nodded.

"A bullet meant for you, Dr Brennan."

She didn't speak. He hadn't phrased a question, and she felt no need to reaffirm that sentence. It was hateful to her.

"As I was saying, Dr Sweets wrote this in his notes: The unfortunate incident regarding Agent Booth's shooting was excellently coped by Dr Brennan, who kept working despite her partner's supposed death, as a way of dealing with her feelings of grief over the loss of a friend. Later, the events surrounding the incarceration of Dr Zack Addy and the closing of that particular case seemed to re-establish the bond between both partners and make them compatible to work with each other once more."

Brennan had to admit that she was impressed with Sweets' language skills. She had thought his reports would be filled with "Totally"s and "Dude"s.

"You kept working after you thought Agent Booth died?"

"Yes."

"How soon after?"

Brennan shifted uncomfortably for a moment. This was the answer everyone seemed shocked about, the answer Angela had once tearfully told her was sad and wrong.

"The next day."

"I see. Dr Sweets wrote that you worked as a way of dealing with your feelings of sadness and, I would add, guilt."

"Guilt? I didn't ask him to save me!" her voice didn't grow much in volume, but something about the way she said it must have been wrong, because he wrote something down again and Brennan felt betrayed by her feelings. If only Booth was here, to help her watch her emotions, to help her get it right. "Agent Booth made a decision which could have gotten him killed, but didn't, and I-"

"Dr Brennan, did you cry?"

"Excuse me?"

"Did you cry Agent Booth's death. He is a close friend, you have been working for him for almost three years. Did you cry?"

"With him. Working with him, not for him. And I absolutely refuse-"

"I'm afraid you have to answer, Dr Brennan. If you don't, I'll have to write something down about it. Something… important."

She looked winded. And angry.

"No." she said finally. "I didn't cry."

He didn't ask why, and she felt she'd missed something again, because she had thought that an obvious follow-up.

And suddenly something clicked.

"How did you know I wasn't told Booth was alive?"

The FBI had the list, so it they must have thought she had been informed.

"I… well, I don't see why I shouldn't tell you the truth. Your reaction to his death was very, very close to actual, physical shock, Dr Brennan. Dr Sweets was quite wrong in his notes, you see, you didn't work so intensely as a way of coping. You never began coping at all. And Dr Saroyan informed the FBI that you were not to be… bothered… during at least a month, due to the way Agent Booth's death had affected you."

The couch was sinking, or she was sinking into the couch. For a moment that's what she felt, a suffocating sinking sensation, until Temperance Brennan took control again. Although she registered Cam's kindness, she spoke with resolution.

"I'm sorry but I am completely in agreement with Dr Sweets' report, Dr Lenney."

He ignored her comment.

"I don't know why the FBI decided not to inform you, but it was obvious from every angle that you were unwell, extremely unwell, and that you didn't know he was alive."

He didn't know Sweets had been in charge of notifying her! Well, she wasn't going to tell him.

"All right, I'm satisfied with your answer, even though I can't agree with it. I can compartmentalise very well, which is what I did when I believed Booth to be… deceased."

There was a short silence, and suddenly Dr Lenney stood up.

"Dr Brennan, I think our session is over."

"Really?"

"Yes. I have learnt all that I need, and you may go."

She hesitated for a moment at the abrupt departure. Then she stood, and looking down at him, unknowingly said the words that would put the final stamp on the letter she would receive in six days.

"Agent Booth and I are just partners, Dr Lenney."

He didn't answer, and Brennan felt a twinge of unease. She wasn't good at guessing people's emotions, she knew and acknowledged Booth's superiority in this area, but it seemed to her as though Dr Lenney looked… victorious.

As she walked swiftly to her car, Brennan replayed the strange session in her mind, and for the first time in her life came to a conclusion without processing and cataloguing all the facts: she had just made a big mistake, and it would cost them.