Author's Note: I apologize for the delay in updating this. I've been very sick the last few weeks and then after the 100th episode aired, I was a little unsure if I wanted to continue this story given how heart crushing it was (yet I'm hopeful for all that I trust Hart Hanson has in store for us). So, with that said, I hope that those of you who are still reading, enjoy where this goes.

It was way too early on a Monday morning to be be meeting Caroline Julian without the benefit of caffeine, so with a quick stop by the Jeffersonian to pick up Bones and a brief detour to the diner to pick up enough coffee for themselves and the puckish prosecutor herself, Booth ushered his partner towards his office with his best charm smile in place. Caroline had informed them by phone that she was waiting for them so they could go over a few of the finer points of an upcoming case that in her words had better be a slam dunk.

Booth did his best to make a little small talk, he hadn't seen Bones since she'd left his place late Saturday night after helping Parker with his project. "How was the rest of your weekend?" Booth hoped that she hadn't gone out with Hacker, especially after he'd had such a good time watching her and his son having a bit of a Vulcan mind meld over a fake skeleton. She'd stayed for a little while after Parker had gone to bed and they'd lingered over a glass of wine before she insisted that she needed to get going so she could be up early to work on her book.

"Productive." She offered him a smile, she still had a few things to smooth out in her chapter, but it was coming along nicely and she'd even managed to have time for a karate workout. "When does Parker present his project at school?" She had promised him that she would be there since he'd told her he was going to get the bestest grade ever because of her. She'd nearly corrected his grammar, but a raised eyebrow from Booth stopped her words short and she'd just smiled instead.

"Tuesday night. He's really looking forward to you being there." He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "I think he thinks that if his teacher isn't impressed enough with his project that he can use you for his science project."

She let out a soft laugh in spite of herself. "I'm sure he'll do fine - he knew all of the bones on the list he was given by his teacher and despite the limitations of popsicle sticks for constructing a skeleton, it was very impressive."

As they breezed into Booth's office Caroline didn't bother to stand up from where she'd settled herself in one of the chairs in front of his desk. "It's about time you two showed up." She would have kept on ranting too if Booth hadn't handed her a cup of coffee.

"I know how much you hate the coffee in the break room." His charm smile seemed to placate her for the moment.

"Don't even know how they can call that stuff coffee, a complete waste of perfectly good beans." She took a nice sip of the coffee Booth had given her. "Now this on the other hand is starting to put me in a good mood." If Caroline thought that she was going to get right into her meeting, she was sadly mistaken as a soft tap sounded at the door and a rather embarrassed brunette poked her head in.

"Oh, I'm sorry, the agent out there said you had just gotten in. He didn't mention you were in a meeting." Dr. Catherine Klein seriously was beginning to think that she had the worst timing on the planet. Apparently, attempting to surprise Seeley Booth on any level was looking like a bad choice.

"Catherine." Booth suddenly felt as if his tie was constricting his throat. This was definitely not how he wanted to start his day.

She dangled a cup holder with Starbucks in it just as she noticed that he already had coffee. Yes, she really wasn't doing this well at all, so much for making a better impression than she had on Saturday night. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd bring you some coffee, but it looks like you already have some."

"Yes, I do." Booth didn't budge from where he stood at his desk and he didn't dare look at Bones or at Caroline.

As if things couldn't get any more awkward, Deputy Director Andrew Hacker seemed to have found out that Temperance was in the building and appeared in the doorway as well. "Oh, am I interrupting?" Even with his best smile, Andrew could tell that there was a little tension in the air as he stepped into Booth's office and nearly ran into a very beautiful brunette who he smiled at before he turned his attention towards the woman he was in search of. "I was hoping I could borrow Temperance for a moment."

"We're trying to have a meeting, Andrew." Brennan was a professional first and if Andrew couldn't respect that, then that was just one more reason that maybe she shouldn't go out with him again.

"Oh, sorry." He didn't look as sorry as he should have been. "I just wanted to let you know that I was able to get those tickets to Bon Jovi for Tuesday night." He felt a little bit like the nerdy kid who had managed to get the most popular girl in school to go out with him, complete with the sucker punch feeling that something was about to go very wrong.

Booth glanced over at Bones and felt a sinking feeling about how he was going to explain to Parker why she had to cancel on his science fair.

"I have plans on Tuesday. I'm sorry, I promised Parker that I'd be at his science fair." Brennan knew how important promises were, how important something like a science fair had been to her at that age. "I didn't realize that the concert was the same night." If she was honest with herself, she had been trying to compartmentalize it right out of her mind.

"Parker?" He looked momentarily confused, but then as he noticed the subtly pleased smirk spreading across Booth's face it became quite clear to him that he was never going to truly win Temperance's heart. "Oh, Booth's son."

"Yes." She didn't feel compelled to go into any further details.

"Oh." Catherine who had been quiet to this point. Surprising Seeley Booth was definitely a bad idea. One glance at the man and she just knew that things between them weren't going to get any further, no matter that she was a great catch by anyone's standards.

It was all too much for Caroline to resist barging right into now that she'd finished her good cup of coffee. "How is a United States prosecuting attorney supposed to get anything done with all of these love connection interruptions." She took one glance at the embarrassed pair standing at the door and raised a single eyebrow. "Deputy Director Hacker, why don't you just ask Dr. Klein to go see Bon Jovi so I can get our dynamic duo over here focused back on the case we have in court tomorrow morning." It wasn't a suggestion, but more of a command and since no one seemed to complain one little bit, the pair by the door seemed to disappear just as quickly as they'd come, presumably to share some extra coffee and concert tickets.

Booth wasn't sure whether to be relieved or pissed off that Caroline had seemingly taken care of both Hacker and Catherine in one felled swoop, so he decided to be relieved and scrape up the remnants of his manly pride later.

Always the task master, Caroline focused her attention on the purpose of why she'd come all the way over to the Hoover Building this early on a Monday morning and smiled one of those let's get down to business smiles at the partners. "Now, where were we?"