It's been awhile! I've been busy and I've also been avoiding deciding what direction I want to go next. Like I already said, it's mostly all written, it's just the dragging and dropping and making order of things that I don't really want to do. But here I am, thanks largely to Rachel (rburry01) and her encouraging message to me a few days ago! So you can graciously thank her for this chapter. (:

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Booth's phone rang at 2:21 AM. He glanced blearily at his glowing alarm clock before flipping open his phone. "Booth." he said groggily.

A sniffle, then a small, "It's me."

He sat up. She was crying. Was she okay? Did she need his help? Was someone hurting her? She didn't sound good at all.

"Bones, are you okay?" he asked, forgetting how tired he was. He jumped out of bed and pulled his pants on, walking through the house to get his keys.

"Yes. Booth, I'm fine, no one is holding me captive or anything like that." she chuckled at the alarm in his voice.

He sighed. "What do you need? I was sleeping."

She must have heard the alarm in his voice swiftly turn into irritation, because she said quickly, "I was wrong. I was so wrong, not to trust you. Of course you were right, you don't insist on following a lead unless you're confident in your ability to read a situation, and I took my frustration about the lack of adequate results on you and made you feel-"

"Bones, slow down. Seriously. Apology accepted." he said, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He ached for her, and he didn't want to waste time rehashing that case.

"What? But Booth, you were so angry! Just like that, it's done, you've forgiven me, we're fine? I don't understand." she sounded confused.

"Look, Bones… I'm sorry as well. I said some pretty harsh things to you, and I made no effort to make it right. I was wrong, too."

"It's that easy? We've been avoiding each other for weeks and reconciliation could've happened in a sixty second conversation?" she sounded irritated and confused.

He laughed at her. "I guess so. Bones, I miss you. Wanna get lunch tomorrow?" He grinned so widely he was sure she could hear it through the phone, somehow. He thought about saying this aloud, just to hear her refute the silly observation.

"Sounds great." she replied.

When he got off the phone with her he reached for a bill on his kitchen table. He flipped the envelope over and on the back, wrote simply, "I respect Bones very much."

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