Brotherly Love

Chapter 7: FBI Hunk, Ex-Lovers And A Possible Love Interest

A/N: I'm so sorry for the late update. I just spent the last few days in hospital so no computer-time for me unfortunately! Anyway I'm home now so enjoy!

I would like to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to a very clever reviewer BGWGscienceteacher who guessed our mystery guest when I thought I was being all coy! So this chapter is dedicated to you BGWGscienceteacher you clever thing!! -wired2damoon-

"I believe this is one of those incidents where a person states the clichéd - oh my God…" croaked the stunned Dr. Temperance Brennan as she stood, wide-eyed and open-mouthed at her surprise visitor.

"Yeah it probably is", replied the beaming Tim "Sully" Sullivan as he ran his eyes over the woman who had occupied his thoughts for a long period of time.

"So…can I come in?" Sully continued tenderly, straightening himself, trying to look over Temperance's head and into her apartment.

"Uh…" Brennan mumbled (noticing she was getting rather incoherent) glancing behind her searching for Booth.

Right, left, her eyes darted in search of him, down on the ground, up on the ceiling (okay now she was being ridiculous) but alas Special Agent Seeley Booth was nowhere to be seen.

Utterly bewildered and slightly annoyed that Booth had done a disappearing-act Brennan (muttering an embarrassed apology) motioned wildly for Sully to enter her apartment.

He smiled wryly at her, knowing instinctively that there was something wrong with her, but did not find it suitable to question it as of yet.

"Its nice seeing you again Tempe", Sully smiled, he never wanted as much in his life then embrace another human-being as he did right there, staring into those wonderful blue orbs.

"Its nice seeing you too Sully…would you like something to drink?" Brennan asked distractedly already walking into her kitchen, unaware that Sully was hot on her heels.

"Yes, yeah, that would be great…" Sully muttered in reply. This wasn't exactly the reaction he expected when he returned from a near-two-year-long absence. But, now that he thought about it, anything that Temperance Brennan did never was to be expected.

"Soda, mineral-water, uh…smoothie?" Brennan asked, ducking her head into her fridge to observe it's contents.

"Uh a soda please", he replied nervously, smoothing down his shirt and shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Temperance handed him the soft-drink, trying desperately not to show her nervousness.

She had no clue right at that very moment what to do, say or how to act. She was completely lost (not literally of course but in a figurative sense). Oh how this was the moment she would admit was when she desperately needed Booth!

"Temperance?" Sully questioned as he watched her eyes dart around the room obviously in search of something…

He couldn't help but worry that it was for the best escape-route.

"Look Tempe, I know my being here has come to a shock and all but would you please look at me?" he asked stepping closer to her, to his relief she did not back away.

"I'm sorry Sully. What kind of welcome back greeting am I providing?" Temperance replied, her voice slightly higher then normal as she struggled to calm herself.

"I missed you", Sully blurted suddenly.

Brennan's eyes widened but she remained silent.

"-Terribly. I even considered turning around and heading back to shore the second I began to sail away, convincing myself that I was an idiot", Sully continued, stepping closer and closer at each word.

"I kept asking myself 'am I making the biggest mistake of my life?' But I couldn't come up with an answer right away. So much lay ahead and yet so much lay behind, you can understand my dilemma can't you Temperance?" he asked his unease evident in his tone as he took that one last step towards her.

Brennan did not know what to do.

Her mind was screaming for her to step back and regain her personal space but her heart was screaming to embrace her long-lost…love? Was it love?

She shook her head distractedly, trying to banish away those thoughts, but they kept coming back.

Was Sully what Booth was talking about? She didn't believe in soul mates or love but when Booth described that one time where you have a person that apparently "completes" you that's the person you're meant to be with. Brennan found herself wanting to believe him.

So…was this it? Was Sully it?

"Sully I-"

Suddenly there was a loud knock on her door.

Temperance rolled her eyes to the ceiling, irritated by all the interruptions tonight.

"Hold on-" she mumbled before practically storming to her door and flinging it wide open.

"Hey Temperance, I just came here to-"

"Jared hi…" Brennan cut across her new visitor with a fake politeness as she was eerily aware that two pairs of eyes were boring a hole into her. Sully's and Jared's.

"So…who's this?" Sully asked, striding towards the door swiftly and standing behind Brennan with somewhat of an authoritarian pose.

"Oh…uh…this is, Jared, Jared Booth", Temperance mumbled gesturing between the two. "Jared, this is Tim Sullivan".

The two men regarded each other for a moment, before slowly (and briefly) shaking hands as Temperance looked warily on.

"Booth? As in Seeley Booth?" Sully asked as the hand-shake broke, his eyes piercing Jared's.

"Yeah, yeah he's my younger brother. You know him?" Jared inquired as he returned the icy glare.

"Yeah I do. Used to work with him in the FBI", came the curt reply.

Brennan watched the interaction between the two males with vivid interest. This was indeed another wonderful anthropologic observation opportunity.

"Pssst!"

Temperance's head swung around instantaneously at the sound of the hissing noise coming from her bedroom doorway.

Her mouth hung open as she saw that the door was open ajar and the dark, hazel eyes of her partner was staring at her, trying to gain her attention.

"Pssst! Bones!" he hissed as quietly yet demanding as he possibly could.

Brennan bit her lip when she saw him and nodded her head slightly.

"Uh, would you two mind excusing me I won't be a moment…please make yourselves at home", she muttered, remembering to be courteous before darting out of the room like a frightened rabbit.

Both the eyes of her ex-lover and partner's brother followed her out of the room, before sceptically glancing at each other and sitting down… on opposite ends of the sofa.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Brennan almost yelled as she stormed into her bedroom (knocking Booth backwards into the wall in the process), whirling around and slapping him roughly on the arm.

"Oww! What was that for?" Booth asked frowning, rubbing his arm gently where she slapped him.

"Where the hell did you disappear to Houdini?" she asked, folding her arms and not looking a tad remorseful at hurting him.

"Woah…I'm surprised you know who that is", Booth replied, before walking passed her and sitting on her bed.

"Of course I- my dad told me- that doesn't matter! Honestly Booth!" Brennan spat (this time her voice raising a lot) as she pushed him off her bed and onto the floor.

"Shhh! Bones! Your two lovers outside will hear you…" Booth mock-cautioned her, motioning to her door.

She glared down at him, her hands on her hips as he just sat motionless on the floor.

"Booth that isn't funny! They are not my lovers! Well…one of them used to be but now I-"

Booth held his hands up to silence her. "You want to get rid of them?"

Brennan uttered a sigh of relief as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Finally they were getting somewhere!

"Yes! I want to get rid of them! I can't deal with Sully right now, not with everything…and…well your brother is, well, he is-"

"-irritating? Insulting? An ass?" Booth replied helpfully.

Brennan remained silent but her expression told Booth everything he needed to know.

"Well okay then. Let's get rid of some unwanted visitors", Booth smirked, clapping his hands together and jumping up off the floor.

Unfortunately Brennan decided that that would be the precise moment she would spring into action and slammed straight into him, resulting in rather a nasty tangling of limbs as Booth's arms wrapped around Bones' waist to prevent her from falling.

A split second passed and Booth found himself looking down into his partner wonderfully blue eyes for a fraction of a moment.

As the two breathed heavily, their heart beats racing they were temporarily off guard.

"Tempe what-" came the voice from the doorway, the door swinging open revealing two curious men.

"What the hell is going on?" Sully demanded as his view came into focus and he glanced at his ex-lover and former-colleague wrapped around each other.

Booth and Brennan snapped out of their reveries as if been scaled by hot water and began scrambling away from each other.

The two suspicious men in the doorway merely looked on silently as the partners straightened themselves out.

"Uh, hey Sully, Jared", Booth smiled nervously at the two men, taking a large step away from his partner.

"Hi Booth…" Sully replied sceptically his eyes darting from Brennan back to Booth. "Not interrupting anything are we?"

Booth's eyes widened as he practically jumped forward and began exiting Brennan's bedroom, the two men and Bones straight behind him.

"No, we were just talking weren't we Bones?" Booth muttered, rubbing his neck nervously.

For a moment Brennan looked startled but she recovered quickly. "Yes. Case work…Booth was just leaving", she finished, giving her partner a rough shove to the shoulder.

Jared and Sully continued to look upon the two partners that were now hissing at one another by her doorway.

"I can't believe-"

"-Just go-"

"-I thought you wanted to get rid of-"

"-I will"

"How?"

Brennan glared up at Booth for a moment deciding her next course of action, before loudly announcing, "I'm sorry gentlemen but I really would like to be left alone. I am not feeling too well…cramps…"

She couldn't help but smirk at the results she got from the rehearsed statement she heard Angela recite many times.

Booth, Jared and Sully reacted immediately, jumping around and squawking replies to the anthropologist and making their speedy way to the door.

"I'll see ya later Bones…"

"I just wanted to drop off your jacket Temperance".

"Its good seeing you again Tempe. We'll talk soon", Sully mumbled as he exited last, holding onto her hand for a number of seconds.

"See you tomorrow Booth. I must of left it in the diner, thank you Jared. Yeah, soon, its good seeing you too Sully…" Brennan responded all at once whilst smiling slightly.

The three men halted in the doorway and watched intently as Temperance Brennan closed her door with a snap.

They stood awkwardly in the hallway staring at one another. Neither moved first and the air was so thick with tension it could be cut with a knife.

When he couldn't take it any longer Booth broke the silence, "so Sully…how was your trip?"

Inside her apartment Brennan sat on her floor leaning against her door-frame. Taking a deep breath in, she exhaled heavily and closed her eyes.

What a day this was turning out to be.

"So they all just showed up at your apartment?"

"Yes. First Booth. Then Sully. Then Jared. It was all rather stressful".

"Of course it was sweetie! I mean having your FBI hunk, past-lover and possible love interest who happens to be related to your FBI hunk all in your apartment at the one time. Woah…I would have so bought a ticket to that orgy", Angela breathed dreamily, biting her lip with glee.

"Ange!"

"Sorry sweetie but you gotta admit, with those three deliciously sexy men after you the possibilities are endless-"

"-Okay first of all, Jared and I have nothing in common, he lives hundreds of miles away and is the brother of my close friend so he is definitely a 'no-possibility'. Second of all Sully, yes, was a lover but I just don't know if I can go back there, I mean what if he sails off again?" Brennan asked to no-one in particular, storming back and forth around her office as Angela on-looked.

"And what about Booth?" Angela asked with a slightly coy smirk gracing her beautiful face.

"What about Booth?" Brennan asked, obviously confused by her friend's line of questioning.

"Is he a 'possibility'?"

"Ange, we've been through this before. Booth and I are just partners. Partners who work together, nothing more", Temperance replied, determined that her tone was suitable to get her point across.

Angela was hearing her loud and clear but refused to believe anything that came out of her best friend's mouth when it came to her hot piece of FBI candy.

"How was his mood when he first came in? Ya know, before he hid in your bedroom?" she inquired, trying desperately to hide her ever-growing smirk.

"Well he was all down in the dumpster-"

"Down in the dumps sweetie-"

"Right. Down in the dumps about something I don't know. He starting asking about his brother and did we have fun on our date-"

"-Uh oh…"

"Why uh oh?"

"Booth thought you were on a date with his brother!" Angela exclaimed matter-of-factly.

"So? And I put him straight anyway".

"Doesn't matter sweetie, the shit has hit the fan now…and with Sully back…" she left her words hanging.

"What?" Brennan asked, seeing the obvious unease wash over her friend.

"There's going to be trouble in the water sweetie".

"I don't know what that means".

"Well…you're about to find out…" Angela replied nervously nodding towards Brennan's glass door.

Brennan turned her head and glanced that way.

A pair of grumpy, irritated men were storming towards them at an alarming rate.

Brennan and Angela only had time to share a look of distaste before they heard a familiar, aggravated tone.

"Bones, we need to talk…now!"

A/N: So…what is the matter with Booth? Humm…could be a number of things! Jared sneaking in on his partner, the return of the dreaded Sully…care to take a guess? Lol! Anywayz thankies to everyone that has reviewed it means so much to me, and well done to BGWGscienceteacher!!

-wired2damoon-