Hey look! Squints!! (sans Zach because he's technically overseas right now).
Chapter 21—Hug
"Hey guys," Booth called to the squints as he entered the lab. "Is Bones in her office?" he asked when he noticed his partner's absence from the platform.
"Hey Booth," Angela and Hodgins chorused, looking down at their favorite agent from their places on the platform.
"She should be up there, she went up a little while ago and we haven't seen her since," Angela replied, taking her attention from the drawing she was currently working on.
"Do we have a case?" Hodgins asked excitedly, eager to have something more productive to do. They hadn't had a case since the couple returned from their "honeymoon" and he was eager to get back to doing what he loved.
"No we don't, sorry. I'd love to stay and chat, but Bones and I are late for a meeting," he explained, turning to head up to her office but stopping short when he saw her walking towards him.
"No we're not, Booth, so calm down," Brennan told him, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him quickly when she reached him.
Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he gave her a tight squeeze before releasing her, dropping his hand back to its usual place on her lower back. "Ok, well, let's get going," he said, leading her toward the double-doors.
"I'll be back in a couple of hours," she told Angela and Hodgins, who were both staring at her with stunned expressions. Raising one eyebrow in question, she let Booth lead her out of the lab.
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A few hours later, the pair returned to the lab to find Angela and Hodgins in deep discussion on the platform. They immediately stopped talking when Brennan and Booth approached the platform, looking away guiltily.
Swiping her card, the pair was granted access to the platform, where Brennan grabbed a file and handed it to Booth. "That should be everything you need," she told him.
"Thanks, Bones," he replied, pulling her into a one-armed hug. "We still on for dinner later?"
"Sure, just call to remind me," she smiled at him, returning the hug.
"Of course. I don't want to be left there alone like last week," he teased, walking toward the stairs.
"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?" she asked, letting out an overly-exaggerated sigh.
"Probably not," he shot back, offering her a charm smile as he walked backwards toward the main doors.
The minute he passed through them, Angela let out an ear-splitting squeal that was loud enough to wake the dead.
"God, Angela! A little warning next time!" Hodgins whined, his hands covering his ears.
"Please," Brennan agreed, her own ears still ringing from the sound.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly, quickly moving back to the subject at hand. "But you've got a date with Booth tonight, Sweetie!"
"I do not, Angela. We're just getting dinner like we do every Wednesday night. You know this," she sighed, not sure what Angela was making such a big deal out of.
"Fine, fine, but the two of you never talk about getting dinner, you just meet there."
"The only reason he mentioned it was because I got caught up in my writing last week and forgot. He had to call me from the diner to remind me I was meeting him," she let out another sigh, wishing the topic would just get dropped before the conversation went into territory she wasn't prepared for it to go.
"Alright, fine. But when did you and Booth start hugging all the time?" This was the question that had been bugging her the most since Booth had come to pick her up; the hug when he dropped her off just feeding her curiosity.
"What do you mean?" Brennan asked, slightly confused. She wasn't hugging Booth anymore than normal, right?
"When he picked you up and dropped you off, you hugged to say 'Hi' and 'Bye'," she explained, waiting for Brennan to understand.
"Oh that," she brushed it off, "that's nothing new. We've been doing that for a while." How long have we been doing that? she wondered to herself, trying to think of the last time she hadn't greeted him with a hug. It was probably before the "wedding," she finally decided.
"But Bren, Sweetie, this is you. And you don't do displays of affection very often. Even with boyfriends or significant others," she tried prying a little bit more, wanting to know who had initiated it. She assumed Booth, but Brennan had been the one to hug him earlier, although he did initiate the hug when he was leaving.
"I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this, Ange. It's not a reason to interrupt work to talk about it." Please drop it, she wished, slightly worried where Angela was trying to take the conversation.
"Temperance Brennan, this is huge! It is definitely worth interrupting work for, not that we have much work right now anyway," Angela replied excitedly, almost bouncing where she stood in the middle of the platform. "It means you and Booth are making progress toward being a couple!"
"Ange, how many times have I told you Booth and I are not going to be a couple? We're partners and friends, that's it," she explained to Angela for the millionth time, hoping she sounded convincing. Apparently she didn't.
"Who are you trying to convince, Sweetie? Us, or yourself?" she asked, giving Brennan a knowing look.
"I've got work to do," she stated simply, shooting a glare at Angela as she turned to walk toward her office.
"You can't run away from this forever, Bren!" Angela called after her, praying Brennan would see the truth and act on it.
"Angela, please keep your voice down," a disapproving voice came from the stairs. "Some people do work around here."
"Sorry Cam," Angela said, turning back to her drawing she had abandoned hours earlier.
"What were you yelling about, anyway?" Cam asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"Oh nothing, we're just trying to convince Brennan that she needs a dog," Angela explained quickly. The last thing she wanted was to tell Cam they were trying to set up Brennan and Booth. She knew Cam was still head-over-heels for Booth, and insanely jealous of his relationship with Brennan. The less she knew the better.
Hodgins had gone back to cataloging his bugs and Angela was deep in thought, plotting ways how to get her favorite non-couple together without their boss finding out. Neither heard Cam when she spoke again a moment later.
"I don't see Dr. Brennan being much of a dog person…"
