A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading. Thanks to Anne Nonymus for the suggestions :) Enjoy chapter 3.
"Well what about you sweetie?" Angela asked defiantly.
"What about me?" Brennan asked confused.
"You are harping on me about hurting Hodgins, but what about all the times you've hurt Booth."
"What? When have I -"
"Don't play dumb Brennan, you know what I am talking about" Brennan lowered her head and stared at the table. She knew what Angela meant.
"It's different" She argued
"No it's not" Angela said angrily.
"You have hurt Agent Booth a lot " Sweets chimed in. She sent him a glare and he quickly looked away muttering "it's true" under his breath.
Hodgins was sitting on Booth's couch. He had a beer in his hands and his left leg bouncing rapidly as he thought about the situation. Booth and Wendell shared a worried look as they watched their friend fight with himself. Finally Hodgins couldn't take it anymore. He jumped off Booth's couch and headed for the door before realizing that Booth had driven him from the Founding Fathers.
"Um, dude what are you doing?" Wendell asked.
"I need to go talk to Angela." Hodgins responded, already putting his jacket on even though Booth and Wendell hadn't gotten up from the couch.
"Are you sure you're ready to talk to her?" Booth asked, finally getting up.
"I've been ready for a long time, I just haven't had the courage to do it yet. And I can't put it off any longer." Booth nodded as the words spoke true to him too and the three of them headed out the door. Wendell took his car while, following Booth and Hodgins back to the bar.
Angela and Brennan were sitting, staring at each other; neither of them saying anything. Sweets was looking from one to the other as if he was watching an intense tennis match. He was about to say something when he spotted Hodgins and Booth enter the bar.
"Oh boy" He gulped torn between wanting to run to safety and staying to see what was going to happen.
"Hey Bones" Booth said as he approached the table. "Angela, Sweets." He added nodding to the other two. Angela looked up at him and suddenly noticed Hodgins standing almost directly in front of her.
"Bones you think I could talk to you outside for a minute?" Brennan, thankfully understood what he was doing,
"Yes of course. Do we need Sweets for this consultation?" She asked, getting up, grabbing her purse and coat.
"Ya, great idea, come on Sweets" Sweets looked like he was about to protest but quickly rose from his chair when Booth took a menacing step forward.
"Do you think that they will work everything out?" Brennan asked as they walked to the diner.
"Ya I think so. As long as Angela is ready to concede that a lot of it was her fear of commitment." Booth answered, holding the door open for her. Brennan had long ago given up rolling her eyes at his alpha male, chivalrous tendencies. She now felt comforted by his behavior. Sweets was being quiet, mulling over the complex lives of his friends and co-workers as he followed Booth and Brennan into the diner.
"Something wrong Sweets?" Booth asked as he took his seat.
"Huh, what? No" Sweets said quickly, Booth gave him a look.
"It's nothing, I am just thinking about everyone and relationships" He sighed deeply, Brennan busied herself with the menu in front of her to avoid looking at Sweets. Booth immediately picked up on her strange reaction.
"Everything ok Bones?" He asked as casually as he could. Brennan looked up, pretending to have been fully concentrating on the menu,
"Hmm, oh yes, I am fine, why?"
"Well it's just, we come to the diner all the time and you've memorized the menu" Booth pointed out, Brennan looked down again.
"What's wrong?" He asked softly. Brennan gulped and looked at Sweets who sighed and got up. Booth didn't even seem to notice as his eyes were focused on his partner. Sweets moved to the bar and sat on a stool, he was far enough to give then privacy but close enough to still be able to hear some of what they were saying.
Angela and Hodgins stared at each other for a few moments, both unsure of what was going to happen. Angela lowered her head then cleared her throat,
"So are you just going to stand there and stare at me all night or sit down and talk?" She asked trying not to sound too annoyed. She was angry with Brennan and Sweets and upset about Wendell and definitely not in the mood to be confronted by Hodgins. Hodgins sighed and hung his head as he sat down opposite her. He gulped and took a deep breath before starting.
"I…It hurt to find out that you were with Wendell." He said quietly. He hadn't wanted to start like that but Angela looked ready to be defensive. "I didn't think it would hurt that much." Angela opened her mouth to point out that she had the right to date whomever she wanted.
"I'm still in love with you" Somehow hearing him say it instead of hearing it through Brennan or Sweets made it worse.
"And I've been waiting for you to come back to me"
"I am not the type of person to come crawling back Jack, I do respect myself." Angela retorted, annoyed. Hodgins stared at the table, willing himself to make it through the conversation without crying.
"That's not what I meant."
"Oh" she said lamely.
"I meant…I was waiting, waiting for you to realize that we were perfect together, waiting for you to give us another chance." He gulped again. "But I can't anymore Angie. It hurts too damn much. And I'm done waiting. Obviously it's never going to happen and you've clearly moved on. So I'm gonna move on. I want a family Angie. I was an only child with parents who basically ignored me. I want a family, a wife and kids that I love..." He sighed as he trailed off. "So, I'm going to move on. I'll always love you, but I have to move on now." He chanced a look at her then got up. He kisses her lips lightly, barely touching, even though he had promised himself that he wouldn't and walked out of the bar, leaving a stunned Angela at her table. Angela sat alone at her table for several minutes before the first sob came out.
"Oh god!" She breathed to herself then she quickly gathered her stuff and ran out of the bar.