A/N: Here's part two! Please enjoy!
The next day, Tuesday, Angela strode into Brennan's office and sat down across from her desk. Brennan looked up, meant Angela's eyes and immediately knew what she wanted her to ask.
"How did it go?"
Angela playfully feigned ignorance, wanting Brennan to say the words. "How did what go?"
"Your…," there was a pause, as though the word was stuck in her throat, "date."
"Oh my god! It was wonderful. Probably the best date I've ever had." Ok, maybe she was laying it on a little thick, but it was necessary. She wasn't lying, after all. It had been a great date.
She watched Brennan's face carefully. She looked thoughtful, but guarded, as though afraid of revealing too much. Angela then launched into a narrative of the evening, starting with his arriving late and the conversation at dinner.
When she got to the part where they discussed work, Brennan's face took on an expression of curiousness. Angela grinned inwardly. She wanted to ask if he'd mentioned her, but couldn't decide how to without sounding needy.
Throwing the anthropologist a bone, Angela threw in, "We talked about you."
"In what context?" Her eyes were narrowed with suspicion.
"Nothing bad! He talked about the case and your name came up a few times." More than that, really.
"Oh."
She then told about their good-bye in front of her apartment, hoping Brennan would give into her inner woman and gossip a little, throwing the scientist out the window for awhile.
"He…kissed you?" she asked, trying, but failing, to hide the hint of dejection in her voice. Angela felt for her friend in that moment, but hurting her a bit was all part of the plan, so she'd know what she was missing, and make the right choice when the time came to make it.
"Yea, and let me tell you, the man can kiss! He has the softest lips…" she ended this on a little sigh, and watched Brennan for facial cues. Angela caught the slight tilt of her head and the quick nibble on the lower lip. "In fact," she went on. "I'm surprised he refused my invite to come in."
Abruptly, Brennan's head straightened. "He what?"
"Aha, gotcha," Angela thought at the strained enthusiasm in her friend's voice. On a superficial level, it looked as though she was merely curious about the whole date, indulging Angela's wish to share all the details. To a careful observer, such as the artist herself, Brennan was hanging on every word, waging a battle with herself and her emotions. Part of Brennan, Angela knew, was happy that she was happy, but the part that she kept trying to tamp down couldn't help but feel a little distraught over the fact that Angela was dating him, and despite every verbal indication she gave, wanted him for herself.
"I invited him to come in after we kissed, and he refused. Said it was getting late. Ah, well, I do love a challenge. Maybe after we go out tomorrow night, I can get him to come in, and hopefully, he'll be making me coffee Thursday morning." She grinned and waggled her eyebrows at Brennan. "If you know what I mean."
Brennan nodded, deep in thought. "I do know what you mean, but I don't want you to get your hopes up."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that you said he was late. Perhaps he was having second thoughts." The scientist was gone. She was now dealing with Brennan the woman, who latched on to possibilities without any proof, anything that hinted at a lack of genuine interest on his part. Something that could give her some hope that this wouldn't last, despite her wanting the best for her friend.
"He said something about traffic."
"That's another possibility. There's also the fact that he did refuse your invitation."
"It was getting late."
"Yes, but it is also equally plausible that someone else was on his mind and he didn't want to take advantage of you like that."
Oh, this was working out too perfectly. "Like who?" Angela asked innocently.
"I don't know. I saw him talking with an attractive female agent several days ago when I stopped by his office. There was some flirting taking place between them." She shrugged.
"Uh…huh." Not quite the answer she'd hoped for. She'd aiming more for a 'maybe someone he works closely with and feels close to' type of answer, something that hinted at herself.
"You said you were going out again?"
"Yep, tomorrow night. Wish me luck!"
"Luck has nothing to do with it." She stopped at Angela's raised brow. "Good luck Ange." She said it solemnly, not quite managing to pull off sincere.
They were interrupted from further conversation by a soft knock at the door. Both women's heads snapped up at the intrusion, and Angela gleefully caught the slight blush in Brennan's cheeks as she motioned Booth in.
"Hey!" the artist greeted. "We were just talking about you." The blush reappeared and Angela wondered if Booth had caught it.
"That can't be good," he said with a grin that could have been aimed at either one of them. Then he focused on Angela. "You weren't in your office. I wanted to see if you wanted to go for lunch."
Perfect. She could launch the next step in her plan. "That sounds great actually." She glanced at Brennan, who looked a bit put out, but was attempting to hide it by paper shuffling, indicating that she had a lot of work to do. Angela imagined she had thought she would get the lunch invitation. After all, the partners had eaten lunch together many times.
"Bones, you ok?" Apparently, her heart was on her sleeve for all to see. Angela saw her friend steel herself and clear her throat.
"I'm fine. I just have all this work to do. Have a good lunch." And with that, the conversation was closed.
"I'll bring you back something, k sweetie?" Angela said kindly, feeling sorry for her friend, despite the projected outcome of her plan.
"Thanks Ange."
Once they had eaten, Angela began, reaching over and taking his hand. "I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow night."
"What about it?"
"Well, look, the thing is, you're great, and I like you. A lot. And I hope you like me too."
"I sense a 'but' coming."
"But, I believe that, while we could be good for each other, there are people out there who would be better. So, I think we should just be friends, and maybe pursue something with those people."
He was silent, meeting her gaze and absorbing her words. Finally, he nodded knowingly. "I think I know what you're getting at."
Angela sighed in relief.
"Hodgins," he finished.
A look of pure confusion took over her face. "Excuse me?"
"The person who would be better for you; it's Hodgins."
"Why do you say that?" Hodgins? Of all people.
"You guys just seem to mesh." Great. He noticed she and Hodgins meshed but he couldn't see that the same applied to him and Brennan. Men.
She played along. "You got me!"
He smiled then. "I thought so. I agree with you though. We should be friends. Truth is, I like you too Angela, but I don't want to be in a relationship with you knowing that your heart wouldn't be in it, and that I'm keeping you from Hodgins. It wouldn't be fair to either of us."
Angela's face remained bemused throughout his little speech. His words mirrored her thoughts from the previous night. He was as blind as Brennan. On more points than one. Hodgins? Really?
"Do you still wanna go out tomorrow night? As friends?" he asked her.
Time for part three. "I'd love to; I really would. But, I feel a cold coming on, and I should just stay in."
His face fell. "I already made reservations."
"Well, how about taking someone else."
"Like who?"
Oh, he really was being adorably idiotic. Unfortunately, it was wearing thin. She'd have to be direct. "How about Brennan?"
"Bones?" He asked it incredulously, as if she had never occurred to him.
"Well, sure. You spend a lot of time with her anyway. She's the obvious choice."
"And you know you want to," she thought.
"Yea. Ok. I'll ask Bones." He pulled out his cell phone. Angela smiled inwardly, glad she would get to witness this.
"Hey Bones. Look, Angela and I decided to just stay friends, so I was wondering if you were free for dinner tomorrow night. Maybe a movie too….Yea, like a date; I mean if you want it to be. Do you want me to pick you up? Ok, you can pick me up…reservations are at seven…6:30 sounds good. I'll see you then. Bye."
He hung up and smiled at Angela, who returned it. "I have a date with Bones. A date." He seemed surprised by this; as though he hadn't known until now that he even wanted a date with her. Angela didn't doubt that that was the case.
"You two have fun," she said, not realizing she was still holding his hand until she gave it a squeeze.
"Thanks Angela. You go get Hodgins."
Yeah, right. Like that would happen. He dropped her off at the lab and she strode in, her eyes unconsciously finding Hodgins working on the platform. Her and Hodgins, huh? Maybe Booth was onto something. After all, if you were too close to a situation sometimes you couldn't see what was right in front of you. Booth and Brennan were a perfect example of that.
Then his head came up, seeing her across the room. "Hey Angela! Come here! My fly eggs are hatching! We got maggots!" Angela shook her head. Nah, Booth was way off.
A/N: Hope you liked it!! Thanks much for reading. I really appreciate people taking a chance with this and all the wonderful responses.