A/N: So I feel like an absolute Scrooge for taking so long to update this story, but I've been absolutely swamped recently. As for the shortness of the last chapter, it was unintentional. I had partially written Chapter 5, intending to finish it later and then posted it, not realizing it was unfinished. Future chapters will be longer. Thanks for reading!

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"Making you an offer, still runs great

Looking for a brand new start

A special, one-time deal on a pre-owned heart." -Grant Lee Phillips

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"You really need to start working on your list of groomsmen, Seeley. I've already got all my bridesmaids picked out!" Cam nagged playfully.

"Oh yeah? Let's hear it." Her fiancee grinned.

"My sister's the maid of honor. And my friends Lisa and Jen from college, you remember them, right?"

"Vaguely."

"They're the other two."

"So what exactly is it you want me to do?"

"Think about which friends you'd like to have as groomsmen. Oh, and you'll need a best man, of course. Just promise me you'll give it some thought and not ask the first person you see?"

"I guess I can do that."

"That's my good little boy." She grinned at him.

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"Bones! What do you say we go on out for some lunch and-." Booth burst into his partner's office, and was greeted with a glare from her best friend that stopped him in his tracks. "Bones?" He questioned, cautiously.

"What?" She greeted him from across the room.

"Why is Angela looking at me like I'm Satan himself?" Brennan shrugged and the glaring from Angela continued. "Okay...well...I was wondering if you wanted to go get some lunch but if you guys are busy, that's okay..." He broke off uneasily as Angela's eyes narrowed even further. "Bones, can you make her stop? I'm fearing for my life here."

"Angela, would you go take a look at that film Hodgins found?" Brennan sighed. Angela took a few more seconds to glare, before stalking out the door, her flashing eyes never leaving Booth for a second. The door slammed behind her hard enough to shake a few of the ceremonial masks on the wall.

"I'll go to lunch with you, Booth. Just give me a few minutes to wrap up this paperwork."

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"Every time I come here, the pie tastes better." Booth grinned in satisfaction.

"Unless you have some sort of objective classification system for the quality of pie on any specific day, there is no way you could know that." His partner replied.

"Oh, come on Bones. Not everything requires a controlled experiment. It's good pie, right? That's all that matters."

"It is good pie." She agreed.

"I am curious about something, though. Why is Angela so opposed to my presence all of a sudden?" His brown eyes searched her blue ones for any trace of an answer, but she refused to let him in far enough to find it.

"Angela does things her own way, Booth. Who can say why she does anything?" Brennan dismissed the question.

"No, she may be a little on the crazy side." Booth began, "But there's always a reason for the insanity. I think you know why she's giving me the cold shoulder, and for some reason, you won't tell me."

"I don't know, Booth. This isn't a case. There's no mystery surrounding everyone's actions. Let's talk about something else. Maybe why you were so intent on dragging me out to lunch today?"

"No reason." Booth replied very quickly. Brennan raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Well then, it's been a nice lunch, but I have to go back to work now." She removed her napkin from its place on her lap and moved to stand, but Booth stopped her with a hand around her wrist.

"Wait." He conceded. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"I suspected."

"Actually, more a request, actually."

"Uh huh."

"A favor, really."

"I can't give you an answer if I don't know the question, Booth."

"You're my partner, and we talked about how that's like being two guys or something, or two women, you said, but I am definitely not a woman, and-."

"Booth." Brennan's tone warned him to cut to the chase.

"I want you to be my best man." He breathed. She looked at him blankly. "In my wedding. To Cam. Your boss. Bones?"

"I know what a best man is, Booth. I was just wondering why you didn't choose an actual man."

"This is important to me, Bones. I just wanted you to be a part of it."

"Okay." She met his eyes. "I'll do it."

"Thank you, Bones." He stood up to leave, stopping only to hug her on his way out. Brennan glanced down at her half-full coffee cup and sighed.

"Oh boy."

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"He WHAT?!" Angela was livid.

"He asked me to be his best man. And I said yes. I support him, Angela. This is something he's been wanting forever."

"Oh, that is it! This is going too far. It's okay, sweetie. I'll call him now and tell him you can't do it. That you were temporarily insane or weak from hunger or something."

"We had just eaten."

"Okay, just the temporary insanity then." She reached for the phone.

"Angela, stop. It's okay. I want to do it."

"You really ARE insane."

"He's my partner, Ange. He asked me to do this for him. It means a lot to him. I can't just refuse, especially after all he's done for me. It's only one night. What's the worst that could happen?"

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"Where do you think you're going?" An angry voice greeted Seeley Booth as he exited his office. Maybe attempted to exit his office would have been a better choice of words, he decided as an angry forensic artist forced him back through the door he had just closed.

"What's going on, Angela?" He asked tiredly. Cam had been unusually testy about his groomsmen, and he was not in the mood to be dealing with anymore crazy squints.

"You asked Brennan to be your best man? Brennan?! Best man?!"

"Yes." He stated, warily.

"Are you insane?!" Angela threw her hands in the air and began to pace, knocking several files off his desk. He made a grab for them, but a death glare from Angela stopped him.

"What is your problem, Angela? We're partners and friends. It makes perfect sense that I'd want her to be a part of my wedding."

"But as the best man?"

"Well she wanted to be the father of the bride, but unfortunately, that slot was already taken."

"Hilarious." Angela's face told him she thought it was anything but.

"I thought so."

"How can you do this to her?"

"Do what? She was okay with it, Angela."

"Really? She was okay with it? She was okay with her best friend telling her he saw her as a guy? She was okay with standing in front of all her friends and watching him marry someone he doesn't really love? She was okay with planning lame bachelor parties and hanging out in a strip club with a bunch of drooling men for hours? She wasn't even okay with you getting married, Booth. Don't tell me she wants to be the ringleader of this crazy-ass circus."

"Okay, first of all, I love Cam more than anything. Secondly, I did not call Bones a man."

"You might as well have. 'I know you've been abandoned by everyone you've ever cared about in the past, Bones, and I know I'm your best friend and you'll be seeing me a lot less after this, but isn't it fun to stand up here in uncomfortable clothes and watch the me marry your boss, while all the time trying not to cry?'." Her words could have cut diamonds. "I never thought you would stoop that low, Booth." She was genuinely disappointed in him.

"Why are you assuming that Bones is so emotionally invested in this, Angela? She doesn't even believe in marriage?"

"Why are you assuming she's so detached, Booth? We both know she feels things more than most people. Including what she feels for you."

"Her feelings for me are all of the friendship variety."

"Bullshit. And you know it. She loves you, Booth, even though she can't say it. If you get married to Cam, I'm afraid it's going to make Brennan close off completely. From all of us."

"You're wrong, Angela. Bones is not in love with me, and I'm marrying Cam. End of story." He stood and edged Angela out the door, waving exhaustedly at her as she stomped towards the elevator. He pulled out his cell phone, hoping that his best man would be willing to accompany him to the nearest bar. He needed a drink.