Tell me, what you want of me or are you terrified of failure?

You put on a superstitious face behind all this paraphernalia.

We're not living in a masquerade where you only have three wishes.

It isn't easy to see in a lifetime of mistaken kisses.

– Elvis Costello, Clown Strike

"Dr. Brennan?" Sweets knocked on her office door.

"Yes, Sweets?"

"I just uh…here are my notes on the case." He stepped closer to her and offered a stack of files.

"Thank you but you could have just given them to Booth."

"I suppose I could have but I was over this way." He watched her glance over the documents and then toss them aside, "How are you?"

She looked up at him in annoyance, "Fine. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, I just haven't seen you recently and I was just asking. Being personable and all." It had been over a week since his run-in with Charlotte at the park and he wondered if Brennan had had the same type of talk with Booth since then.

"Thanks but I'm fine."

He bobbed his head up and down, "Good to know. Just in case, you know that my door is always open and anything you say is confidential – it stays between you and I."

Brennan tucked her tongue in her cheek and rolled her eyes, "What would I need to discuss with you?"

Sweets gingerly sat down across from her, "Dr. Brennan in all honesty, you don't handle change as well as you would like all of us to think you do and since you've returned from Indonesia there have been enormous changes. I'm sure you'd tell me that Booth's personal life doesn't affect you but we'd both know you'd be lying, wouldn't we?"

"I can admit that it affects me. We work together every day, what happens to him is no doubt going to affect me."

"What's happening to him, Dr. Brennan?"

"My partner is happy, Sweets."

"Are you? Happy, I mean."

Brennan had found it harder and harder to hide her true feelings over the past few months and she knew that Sweets would see through any attempt she made to mask her thoughts, "Not entirely, no."

He narrowed his eyes on her and asked, already knowing the answer, "Why not?"

"Well, for starters I'm certain you specifically stopped by here to gauge my reaction to Booth having a girlfriend and that's far beyond the realm of your responsibilities."

He stifled a smile, "And?'

"And what?"

"You said that was 'for starters' what's for enders?"

Sweets was leveled by the emotion in her voice when she said, "My partner is happy."

B&B

Booth pulled on his jacket, grabbed his keys and headed out of his apartment to pick Charlotte up from the airport. When he swung his door open he was surprised to find her standing on the other side, hand raised in a fist, ready to knock.

"Hey stranger."

He smiled, as he always did when he saw her after several days, "I was just on my way to pick you up."

"I know." She walked into his apartment and threw down her bag. "I came in earlier this morning."

"Why didn't you call me when you got in?"

"I had a few things to do."

He curiously watched as she went into the kitchen and came back with two beers and handed him one.

"What kind of things?" He sat down on the couch, never taking his eyes off her.

"I got in around eight this morning, rented a car and tried your city out on my own."

He smiled faintly, "Why?"

She sat down next to him, facing him on her knees, "Because I'm considering…"

"DC? The job?"

Charlotte nodded and took a swig of her beer, "I went to the paper and met the people, found out what kind of stories they're looking for and what my resources would be and I have to say…" She bit her lip, "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Really?"

"Really. Then I went and looked at an apartment not seriously but… just feeling things out. You know, I haven't had my own place in almost three years – since I gave up my apartment in New York?"

Charlotte was considering changing her entire life simply because he asked her to and there was a primal attraction to the notion of that. He grabbed a hold of her and pulled her into his lap. "You did all of this today?"

"I did." She rested her nose against his neck and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes.

Booth tightened his grip around her, reveling in the tangible evidence that he was worth something to someone. He whispered in her hair, "Thank you."

She pulled back to look him in the eyes, "Did you think I wasn't going to?"

"I-I didn't…I don't know what I thought."

She kissed him briefly, "I was lost outside of Tulsa in the middle of the night a few days ago and it dawned on me that you had a point about me spending two days at a clip here out of 14. That if there is something here, it deserves more time."

He slid his hands up from her back and slipped them into her hair, keeping her in place and bridging the gap between them himself, it was the least he could do considering the gesture she had already made that day. She arched her back and he quickly rocked to the side, securing her between himself and the couch.

Amidst the frenzy of removing clothes, they eventually tumbled onto the floor but that didn't stop the perpetual movement they found themselves in.

After, Charlotte draped a bare leg across his waist and Booth pulled a blanket off the couch and covered them up. Before closing his eyes, he swept her bangs up, kissed her forehead and once again whispered, "Thank you."