I know I made you wait like... forever and I have to apology, but I have been pretty busy. Thanks again for all the reviews, in case I overlooked anybody and did not answer, I am truly sorry. Thanks also for pointing out some mistakes / critisicm, I try to improve!

Here we go, I hope you like the following chapter...

Chapter 7:

Booth gathered all his courage, when he approached Cullen's office with slow, measured steps. He greeted the secretary, Mrs. Benton, with a nod, since she was busy talking on the phone. She granted him a small movement of her head.

When she finished her phone conversation, she scribbled something down, then gave him an inquiring look. "You want to meet him?" She pointed towards Cullen's door.

"Yeah. Is he free now?" Booth asked. He was not quite sure what answer he would prefer: a yes – which meant he would be able to get over with the talk or a no – which meant a prolongation... a reprieve. Coward. He frowned at his own uncertainty and straightened a bit. What had Cam called it: Behaving like a school boy in the principal's office. God damn it, he was 35 years old. The only problem was, Cullen fit the image of a principal pretty good. He took a deep breath.

Cullen's secretary gave him an odd look, as if evaluating him. "Something urgent?" She finally asked. He simply nodded.

"He's not free, Special Agent Andrews is in there right now. But I think they should be finished soon. After that he should have time. You can sit and wait here and when Andrews leaves I ask the boss if he is available for you... okay?" Something in her voice told him that she knew he was nervous. She talked to him as if he was a skittish horse.

He shrugged mentally. Rachel Benton was something like the older and less ... free-spirited version of Angela. Trust her to sniff out a secret from a mile's distance.

"You look like you did not get enough sleep, Booth." She commented after taking his appearance in once more. "And you might want to adjust your tie."

He fumbled with his tie and murmured a "Thanks" before taking a seat. The comment about not sleeping enough made him grin. Oh, he did not mind not getting enough sleep if the cause for it was a certain forensic anthropologist. Naked, of course.

Mrs. Benton granted herself another few moments of watching him. After her remark he had corrected his tie... and his posture had relaxed, a grin covering his face. So, it had not been NIGHTMARES, that had kept that man awake. She smiled to herself and continued working.

Five minutes later, the door to Cullen's office opened and one of Booth's colleagues, SA Andrews, left it. His eyebrows rose slightly when he saw Booth waiting.

"Hi Booth... didn't know you were scheduled for a meeting today too..." His voice trailed off and he gave him a questioning and somehow suspicious look. Andrews was four years older than Booth and constantly trying to best all other agents. Booth knew Andrews was working on solidifying his chances for becoming Cullen's successor someday. He was watching the other senior agents' steps like a hawk and tried to hide it all behind a mask of concern and comradeship. Competition at it's best.

Booth shrugged and answered truthfully: "I wasn't... something came up." He never had liked Andrews and contrary to him he never had felt comfortable with feigning sympathy.

He heard Mrs. Benton speak into the microphone of her headset. "Sir, Special Agent Booth is waiting, he asked if you have time to see him... Yes... Your appointment is at half past nine, Sir... Okay, I'll send him in."

She looked at Booth. "He's got fifteen minutes for you, he has to leave at nine to make it to his appointment. Good luck, whatever it is." She winked at Booth.

"Thanks, Rachel." He answered and entered Cullen's office, feeling Andrews' suspicious glance on his back.

Mrs. Benton and SA Andrews watched him both close the door to Cullen's office. With feigned casualty, Andrews leaned a bit closer to the secretary and said: "He seemed a bit nervous. You don't happen to know what came up, do you?"

Rachel Benton raised one eyebrow and answered coolly: "No. Not that I would tell you if I knew. I have kept this job for over twenty years now, and not by gossiping. If you excuse me now, I have work to do."

Andrews' eyes narrowed a little, but he quickly masked his annoyance with a smile. "Of course not. I was merely concerned. Gotta go now."

He strolled away and Rachel Benton followed him until he disappeared around a corner. In those twenty years with the FBI, she had seen agents come and go... Time had let her develop a pretty good sense for people. And she had more than just a faint notion, that Special Agent Julian Andrews was not the jovial guy he appeared to be.

Inside Cullen's office...

"Good morning, Sir." Booth addressed the older man, who was sitting at his desk.

"Good morning, Booth." Cullen gave back and gestured for him to sit down in front of him. "Is this something about the case you just closed?"

"Not exactly, Sir. You already received my report, I suppose?" Cullen nodded and Booth continued. "I wanted to inform you that Bones, I mean, Dr. Brennan won't be able to work cases with me the next few weeks."

"The Jeffersonian is not going to work with us anymore? What did you do?" Cullen frowned. Although he had disliked the squints in the beginning, he had to admit that their work had helped to solve a lot of cases. They had proven to be useful and reliable.

"Oh, no, Sir. We can still work with the Jeffersonian. Dr. Brennan however will not have time to accompany me the next few weeks... she has some identifications to make, and they specially requested her. If I need to take an forensic anthropologist out to a crime scene I can take Dr. Addy." Booth hurried to explain.

"Addy? The kid is a doctor now? Is he any good?" Cullen asked.

"Bones trained him, Sir. Of course he is good." Booth said, not without pride in his voice.

"But he is not exactly the kind of person I can take along when I question suspects. He... is the very definition of a squint, Sir. No social skills."

"Worse than Dr. Brennan?" Cullen asked, grinning a bit.

"You have no idea, Sir. And Bones has impressively improved over the past years." Booth heard himself answer.

"Well, as long as we have somebody for expertise... I don't see where the problem lies, Booth." Cullen raised one eyebrow.

"Well, Sir. Nearly every case I worked on these past years was with Dr. Brennan as my partner... I sort of... grew accustomed to back-up." Booth forced himself to say. It was not entirely true that he had grown accustomed to back-up... he had grown accustomed to HER. But he had a deal with her... and he'd rather have her save in her lab and endure the presence of a partner. Although he had the reputation as some kind of a lone wolf at the FBI, because he had refused to partner with another agent for years.

"Are you asking me for a partner? You?" Cullen obviously thought the reputation of the lone wolf fitted.

"Not exactly, Sir. I heard Agent Saunders is newly assigned to the homicide division... I thought, he could accompany me to the scenes and everything." Booth slowly replied.

Cullen inclined his head thoughtfully. "Not a bad idea. Would be a good training. Hmmm... for how long?"

"I don't know how long Dr. Brennan will be occupied... as far as I know at least five or six weeks." Booth lied.

Cullen considered this and nodded after a moment. "Okay. Saunders will get informed. He will accompany you for the next six weeks, so he can get familiar with the procedures in the homicide division."

"Yes, Sir." Booth replied, fidgeting nervously. Cullen glanced at him curiously. "Is there something else, Booth?"

"Actually, yes, Sir. Uhm... I... would like to inform you that the relationship between Dr. Brennan and me has changed." He finally rattled the words off.

Cullen gave him an astonished, but also amused look. "Changed, Booth?"

"Yes, Sir. We... are a couple now." Booth hesitantly admitted, waiting for his boss' reaction.

When he heard Cullen laugh, his eyes widened in surprise. This was definitely not the reaction he had expected.

"Are you now? So you finally caught up with the gossip?" Cullen chuckled.

Booth's face showed an expression of surprise. "Ah... we... you..." he stammered, he could not quite get around the fact, that his boss had known about the gossip about him and Brennan all along.

"It is my job to know what people are talking... seems there always is that famous grain of truth, right? Since when, Booth?" Cullen asked a bit more serious now.

"Uhm... a few weeks, Sir." Booth replied.

"And you chose to tell me now... why not earlier?" Cullen asked interested.

"We thought you might consider splitting our partnership up. We first had to know, if things between us work out before making it... official and risking this." Booth explained.

Cullen nodded thoughtfully. "I won't lie, Booth... I am not a fan of a romantic involvement between partners. It is dangerous. Between partners at the FBI it even is forbidden, but we both know that we would have to split up a few teams if we were that strict. And a strong friendship can be as ... deep as a relationship, that's both the strength and the weakness of a team.

Dr. Brennan is not FBI, so I can not officially forbid this relationship... which I would not do anyway. Since you are not going to work with her the next few weeks anyway, I don't see a problem for now.

As soon as she is going to work with you again, however, I will keep an eye on you. If I ever get the impression that you two can't handle a relationship and a partnership, I will assign another agent as the liaison for the Jeffersonian. Did I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir. Very clear. Thank you, Sir." Booth eagerly answered, a smile on his face.

"Well, Booth... Is there anything else? I have an appointment..." Cullen looked at him questioningly.

"No, Sir. Thank you for your time." Booth rose and strolled towards the door.

"Booth... Greet your squint." Cullen called after him.

A huge grin spread over Booth's face. His squint, indeed. "I'll do that. Thanks, Sir." He answered, before closing the office door behind him.

"You look a lot better now, Booth." Rachel Benton commented, when she saw the smile on his face.

"I feel better, too." Booth winked at her. "I have a call to make, Rachel... see you later!"

"See you." Rachel Benton called after him and watched him leave. Of course she – contrary to what she had told Andrews before – DID in fact know about the FBI gossip... although she never had played a role in setting up rumours. But she was pretty sure, that one certain rumour just had made the big step to reality. She smiled.

so, was it worth the wait? did you like it? reviews are WONDERFUL!