I know, I'm so horrible, I'm a tease… We're all waiting for Dr Lenney to yell those words, come ON! WHEN is the next chapter coming already!!!

Um… wait, this is me writing this stuff right? Ehe… ehe… ookay, I'm going to go write some more now. *goes to write some more*

In case anyone's wondering, that T rating will make more sense in a future chapter. This one is a bit more angsty.

I think there are going to be 10 chaps in total!

CHAPTER 7 – The Nile

"Of course. The faked death of Agent Booth, that odd trip to a Ceramics Class, even ninety percent of your day to day meetings all shouted one thing, and, in an effort to hide that thing, Dr Sweets lied in every line. That is why he was fired. He lied about your relationship so that you could keep working together."

"Lied about… what?" she wasn't angry anymore. It had all left her in one blow, so that all that was left was a terrifying hollow.

"Dr Brennan, surely you are a strong, intelligent woman. You haven't guessed?"

She swayed where she stood, and Booth immediately grabbed her arm and steadied her.
All it took was for her to turn her eyes to him and step away, as though his touch burned. And now they both knew.

"There. The record is set straight. I'm glad you can now face-"

"No."

"No, Agent Booth?"

"No. You're wrong, okay?"

"I'm not wrong, Agent Booth."

"Yes you are!" she sounded… relieved. "Of course you are. We're partners. We're friends, and that's all. You can't separate us based on incongruent conclusions and imprecise knowledge of us gained over the course of three meetings."

"Dr Brennan, listen to me-" Dr Lenney sounded annoyed.

"No, you listen" Booth said, his voice a low rumble. "You listen good. We're friends. Best friends, even. We are partners, and we share something you can't understand, which is fine because you haven't been through what we've been through. So you can't stop us from being partners because of a stupid recommendation."

He turned to face her for the first time since he'd touched her arm, and the look on his face right before his eyes met hers was a look of fear, not lost on Dr Lenney. Once they locked gazes, however, he was brave and resolute.

"Bones, let's go talk to Edwards again. He'll reinstate us once he hears us out. Don't worry."

"Yes, I agree."

She spun around and wrenched the door open, with much more force than was necessary. Her face was pale, and Dr Lenney knew why, of course. He also knew why, for the first time, Booth's hand didn't rest on the small of her back, and instead he simply walked behind her.

"Dr Brennan! Agent Booth, wait! Your feelings will severely affect your working relationship! That is the reason for your crime-solving rate to drop! What happened today constitutes as much of a catalyst that you might be completely unable to work together again! Even if by some miracle you convince Edwards of something that's untrue! Such strong repression is very bad for-"

But Booth had slammed the door shut.

*

"Booth, are you going there now?"

Those were the first words she'd spoken since they got in the car. In fact, the first since they'd left the office.

"Yeah. Don't… don't you want to?"

"Of course. Of course I do. But first… well, do you think we could go first thing tomorrow? It's late, and I need to do something."

He tried to hide the disappointment and the insecurity in his voice.

He failed.

"Oh, no problem. This can wait. It's not like it's… urgent. Yeah."

"No, it's not that. I'd like to go now, but Edwards probably isn't in his office, and I really need to go to the Jeffersonian first. It's important, otherwise I'd come right now. Even though Edwards has probably left. I mean, it's late." She spoke in redundancies. Any other time he would have realised something was wrong.

"Sure, Bones. I'll drop you off."

Booth had always been so good at reading feelings. At guessing when a suspect was lying, at knowing when she was telling the truth. But today he'd made so many mistakes already that, if he'd been able to see them, he'd have handed in his badge.

Basic mistakes, too. Like not knowing that pushing this lie was a great, fantastic, utterly useless effort. Like being unable to sense, through the haze of feelings spinning around him in a dizzying crescendo, unable to sense how irrevocably things had changed between them.

She got off the car with a thanks.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at your place, okay?" old habits die hard.

"No, that's all right, I'll drive myself."

This time he worked even harder to hide the pain her rejection brought, and he fooled her.

Not himself, nor anyone else if they had been watching, but she was lost in her own emotions, and hardly noticed anything as she walked swiftly away, back to the lab.

OOOOooooooh, what is this thing Brennan has to do in the lab? Why does she have to go there before facing Edwards? Has she suddenly changed her mind? Is de Nile REALLY only a river in Egypt? Did you get my fantastic pun? ReviewwwwwwwwwwwWWWWWWWWWW! Please. ;)