Thank you for the reviews, guys!! Actually, I WAS planning on finishing this story before Christmas… sooo… the more reviews, the faster I finish it!

Even to me it sounds oddly like blackmail… hmmmm…

CHAPTER 8 – Lie

She walked inside, and with each step everything around her crumbled a bit more. But she had a purpose, an objective. And that objective would make everything good again.

"Angela!"

"Brennan! Sweetie what happened? I heard… is it true? They won't let you and Booth work together anymore?"

"Please, I need your help."

Everyone in the lab had stopped working. Most technicians had seen Dr Brennan storm out of the Jeffersonian a few hours before, and everyone had heard by now about Agent Booth. There were a few bets on how long it would take for Booth to shoot a Candy Van already.

Hodgins looked over at them worriedly and Cam had begun removing her blood-soaked gloves and was walking towards Brennan.

Panicked, the anthropologist grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her toward her office.

"Please, Angela, I need to talk to you for a moment."

"Sure, Bren. Anything." With a look, Angela indicated to Cam that she shouldn't follow.

They entered Brennan's office and she shut the door behind them.

"Angela, you need to answer me two questions, okay? A simple yes or no will suffice for the first, but I will need your help with the second."

"Please, tell me what's going on, Bren."

"No time, I'm sorry. They want to…" but this was not a sentence she would finish. "Please, just listen."
Angela sensed there was no point in arguing.

"Okay, okay, ask me."

Brennan asked the first question.

Angela's face transformed. From worry and pity, she was now happy. Wonderfully happy. Her eyes glowed, she took a step towards her friend and smiled a wonderful, wide smile.

"Of course! Of course you are! I've been waiting for this moment for so long you can't believe… oh gosh, Bren, of course you are! And you'll see, he's also…!"
"No. He isn't. He said so. But there's something else."

"What? But... wait, let's talk about this first. How did you realise? I mean… how come, now of all times…? And he said he isn't? Because if he did, he lied, Bren!"

"It was the therapist. I… I don't know how he knew, I don't understand those things, I only know that he saw. And Booth did say, but I don't want to talk about that, all right?"

"Bren, you have to…"

"No! No I don't. He said it and now… that's not why I'm here!"

Angela put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Relax, Brennan. We can fix this."

Brennan nodded. They would fix this, and she knew how.

"Yes, please sit. I… the problem is, I didn't know. I had no idea that I… That it had got to this… you are sure?"

"Am I sure of what? That you are in…"

"Yes." She couldn't hear that sentence again. Not say it, not hear it, not think it.

"Yes, Bren. I'm sure. And I think you are too. I think you already knew the answer to that question before you asked me."

Brennan took a deep breath.

"All right. I accept that as a fact." No one knew how much it had taken for her to make that into a truth. To accept how she felt. Or perhaps… it wasn't acceptance, it was more a realisation. Feelings can break internal organs. "Now, I have a second question."

"Shoot."

"Can you teach me how to lie?"

*

He was driving home, but he wasn't thinking about the road. He thought the one thing he'd been sure about: her. That she… cared.

That they were united in their anger, that they were one in their quest for the truth, the horrible truth he'd already known. And so, that they would stand together when it came to getting their partnership back.

He knew she didn't feel the same, he'd always known that. But he'd thought she cared about him. At least, that he was her best friend, like he'd told Dr Lenney. They'd saved each other's lives so many times, they'd been strong and brave together, strong and brave apart. But always connected, somehow.

His rational side told him she did care. Not on the same level, but she did care. The problem was that his observations were so subjective. He hoped he made her happy, so he thought she smiled a bit wider when he was around. He wanted to make her feel safe, so he imagined her standing a bit straighter if he was there.

They were friends. She had something she had to do, that was fine. They would meet tomorrow. She had her own reasons, her right to privacy. Her right not to want to ride with him in his car. But they were friends. Of that he was sure. And she cared. Of that he was trying to convince himself.

With a strangled curse, he realised he wasn't paying attention to the road, and that he was about to park automatically without checking his side view mirror.

And suddenly he punched the steering wheel. He let his full strength fuel his muscles, because the wheel hadn't taken him to his house.

It had taken him to his home. To her home.

*

"Teach you how to…?"

"Lie. Yes. I accept that I'm not a very good liar, and I'd like you to teach me how."

Angela raised her eyebrows, trying not to feel hurt. Obviously Brennan was unaware of the fact that she was implying that Angela was a good liar.

"But… why, Bren?"

"I have no time! Please, Angela, I'm not good at this sort of thing. You… oh."

The penny dropped, even though Angela knew that if she said that an "I don't know what that means" would probably follow. Or perhaps a search for the dropped penny.

"I'm sorry, I'm not saying that you are a good liar. But… well, you know what I'm trying to say, right?"

"Yes. But why do you have to lie, sweetie? Just tell me this so I know what you mean."

"I have to lie to Edwards."

"Booth's boss?"

"Yes. We are going to talk to him tomorrow and explain to him why Dr Lenney's evaluation was wrong and that we're not going to start failing and… and that I don't… that we don't…"

"Okay. Okay, Bren."

"I have to lie and say that I don't… even though I do…"

Angela stood again and sat her friend on the couch next to her.

"It's okay, you'll be fine…"

"I'll be fine as long as I can lie about everything I feel, Ange."

"I know. But you will. If that's what it takes to save your partnership, you will, Brennan."

.

Two chaps to go. Will Brennan be able to lie? We've all seen Knight on the Grid, right? ("That's why we'll need the mRI IN BETHESDA!" I love that scene) What about Booth? How can they possibly keep working together after all of this?

Is it very sad that I am asking exciting questions about my own story?;)

Cya in the reviews, hopefully! Thanks again, guys!