This is the final chapter for this story. In this one the anger is there between them, but they also realize that they have to temper that with the realization that mistakes have been made and if they want to accomplish the result they both have wanted, a rational discussion is necessary. I'm glad that everyone liked the story and I hope that you'll enjoy the work being done on the other stories I am writing just as much. Thanks for the great reviews. Gregg.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Bones and Booth arrived separately, but at almost the same time, at the restaurant that Bones had made reservations for. It was a quiet, small restaurant in Alexandria with the perfect ambiance for a somewhat personal conversation. The table she had requested was in the back and somewhat hidden from public view. She didn't know how this was going to work out, but at least she had chosen a good location. Neutral territory Angela had mentioned. This fit that description very well.
All afternoon Bones had been in a highly agitated state. Angela's anger and the points she had made had been deeply felt. The idea that she had hurt Booth so much, not just with this issue, but so many others in the past three years, was very unsettling. In looking back she had to admit that Booth had been much more of a gentleman than she had ever given him credit for. When he had told her that his short lived fling with Cam was none of her business, he hadn't been saying it to put her in her place, but, rather, he had been exercising that discretion that made him who he was. His discomfort about discussing sex was now seen by her in an entirely new light. Instead of being embarrassed by it, he was actually showing, or trying to show her, that there were more appropriate times and venues for such discussions.
She had also ended the relationship with Booth's supervisor. She'd called him and told him that while he was nice, she was not really comfortable dating Booth's Boss. He'd been as understanding as possible, though she could detect a bit of disappointment in his voice. No doubt he'd heard of her and her predilection for dealing with her "urges" from other men who knew of her and had wanted to be included in the list of men who had "helped" in the past. At least she could go into this conversation having removed the obstacle that she now knew would have been a major miscalculation on her part. That didn't mean that she would let Booth off the hook. He'd hurt her, too, and needed to know it. She took a seat at the table and ordered a carafe of wine, taking a sip when it arrived.
Booth arrived a few minutes late for the dinner. He'd gotten a phone call from Parker as he was leaving his apartment to come over here, and he just couldn't tell his son to call back. When he'd finally alleviated the massive headache that morning, he'd actually been able to get some work done. Then Angela had called him and let him know about the dinner that Bones wanted to have with him that evening. That had been followed by another serious lecture on the consequences that would befall him if he screwed this one up. A mental image of Billy, a desert, and a tattoo needle flashed through his head and he'd promised to go and never sin again. Maybe that last was a bit much, but fucking things up with Bones once more was a sin of the highest magnitude in his opinion. When he entered the restaurant he immediately saw Bones sitting at a table in the back and told the hostess know that he was expected and that his party was already seated. He made his way carefully towards the table and when Bones looked up he saw something that he had only seen once or twice since meeting her: nervousness.
"Hi, Bones," he said when he stepped up to the table.
Bones looked up and saw him. He was here and she was at a loss as to what to say. She'd felt so horrible all afternoon she hadn't really thought what to say when she was with him. She stood up. "Hi, Booth," she told him as she gestured to the seat across from her.
Booth took a seat and sighed. It was time to face the music for his own words that had led to this mess. "So, I assume Angela talked with you, too?" he asked somewhat rhetorically. He was still recovering from the ass chewing Angela had dished out to him in his office that morning.
"I owe her a day at a luxury spa for slapping her," Bones admitted. She had a difficult time looking up at Booth considering what had led to this moment. "Why did you lie to me?" she asked, not really wanting to waste any time, and especially not on talking about Angela.
Booth didn't like the sudden plunge into that discussion, but he knew that Bones wouldn't let them be sidetracked from it for long. He swirled the red wine in his goblet, pondering how best to answer that question. Finally he said the only thing he could. "Because I was lying about being back 100%, and telling you that I love you without the certainty that I was all there was too much of a risk," he told her.
"Risk of what?" she demanded. She felt her temper rising for some reason, but she worked to keep it in check until she understood what he was saying. Was he saying that to love her was to take a risk? Could he be validating all those fears she'd had for so long about the whole idea of love? What about what Angela had told her? Where was the Booth that supposedly loved her so much?
Booth could see that she was getting upset. "The risk of losing you if I made a mistake because of my fucked up memory," he revealed.
"You've risked that by lying to me, Booth," she shot back. She was at once angry and confused. She was well aware that he was not himself, and hadn't been since she got back from Guatemala, but just how off was he?
"I can see that now," he admitted. He leaned back in his chair. "The truth is I pushed Sweets to sign off on me coming back to work, and maybe I should have taken some more time."
"Then why didn't you?" she asked, though given the glares and statements of disapproval she'd gotten from Angela and some others over her trip to Guatemala, she had an idea.
"Because I was going stir crazy and you being gone didn't help," he told her. He knew that a little of his own anger and hurt feelings over her going on that dig were coming through in the words and tone, but he needed her to understand that he had some things to work out.
"But I was led to believe that you would be back to work in a few days," she pointed out, though she knew it sounded very pathetic given the seriousness of what he had gone through.
"I would have canceled any trips or assignments if the situation had been reversed," he said softly, letting the real hurt show through.
"Angela said the same thing," Bones admitted.
"Seems Angela's been doing a lot of talking lately," Booth observed with a half smile. He could do without Angela's ire, but he had to admit he needed that swift kick in the ass. "Let me ask you something, Bones."
"Okay," she nodded. She had a damn good idea what he was going to ask.
"I know that you dating someone was likely, considering what I said a few weeks ago, but why the Hell did you decide to go out with my supervisor?" he asked. He kept his voice calm and neutral because he did not want to cause any more problems by coming across as angry and demanding.
She slumped slightly. The question was a valid one, and one that sooner or later she was going to have to answer, but she'd already spent the afternoon beating herself up over the issue and now she would have to discuss it with him.
"I knew you lied that night when you qualified your statement that you love me," she told him. "I was really hurt by that, Booth. For the first time that I can remember, I was actually ready to hear those words from someone. Then you lied and I felt like I was being abandoned all over again, even though you were still physically here. The last few weeks we've actually made progress on some issues that I think have always held us back to some degree, but still you were holding back. Even an honest conversation where you laid it all out and asked for time to find yourself would have sufficed. But it's also become painfully obvious that unless pushed, you won't discuss it with me. So when your supervisor asked me out, while surprised, I decided to accept and hoped that you would react and confront me."
"But my Boss, Bones," Booth groaned.
"I never knew you didn't like it when I dated Sully, Booth," Bones told him. "I never knew you were angry when I dated anyone. Essentially you've lied to me for years about the one thing that we should have been able to be honest about."
"What about you, Bones?" he asked. He knew she was absolutely right. He had lied for a long time, even though it was on just the one subject.
"What about me?" she asked.
"You never said anything about the Line I drew, and now I find that you never agreed with it, and Sully and every guy afterward was a way to deal with it," he replied. "It may not be a direct lie, Bones, but a lie of omission is still a lie."
"It may not seem like it, Booth, but when you say something about how things should be professionally, I take you very seriously," she told him. "I may not like it, and I may ask questions, but I do follow your lead. When you drew a line, I felt horrible, I admit. I wanted to see if there was something between us that we could explore, but you foreclosed that. I won't ignore my sexual urges and need for physical intimacy as I wait for you to change your mind, if that ever were to happen. The fact that I haven't slept with a man since I had the two boyfriends over a year ago is only because I saw us getting closer to what I was hoping for, and also because I wanted to rebuild our friendship after I hurt you so bad during the incident with Jared."
"So you haven't slept with my supervisor?" Booth asked, knowing he sounded like a real shit for asking that question.
"No," Bones replied honestly. "I won't say I didn't consider it, as I've already acknowledged that it has been over a year since I last had sex, but I did not have sex with him on the first date. And to let you know, there won't be anymore dates. I let him know this afternoon that I won't be seeing him anymore." She paused before asking a question that had bothered her since Angela had confronted her that afternoon. "Would you have given up on me over this?" she asked, a nervous, almost fear laden tone pervading her voice.
Booth had to force himself to answer that one, especially given the emotion behind the question that he picked up on. "I really don't know, Bones," he finally replied. "I mean, professionally we're solid and that won't change, but personally? It doesn't feel right being such close friends with someone who was so willing to date my boss, and also who is willing to admit she loves me, which your whole explanation implies. You say I hurt you with the line, but you hurt me just as much with Sully and all those others, and now this."
Bones, for whom specificity was important, noticed the very specific implications of the words he used and couldn't help but ask. "Does that mean you've already given up?"
"No," Booth admitted to her. "I spent most of today, when I wasn't wishing I was dead from the hangover I had, thinking about all of this, and what Angela threatened me with if I fucked this up again. The one thing that came back to me the whole time is that I can't be happy anymore without you in my life. You're my best friend, Bones, and outside of Parker no one means more to me than you do. But I can't deal with this kind of stuff anymore."
For her part, a massive weight had been lifted that had been on her shoulders since Angela told her that Booth was having doubts about being there for her anymore. The complete adoration that Booth showered on Parker was something that she loved about him, and to hear him place her in that general category was a balm to her bruised emotions. She decided to be honest with him.
"After you drew that line, I spent a lot of time being with men, starting with Sully, to try and ignore how much you had hurt me with the line," she revealed. "No man I've been with has been able to equal you, though. As I've said, I haven't been with a man since I tried to juggle two boyfriends a year ago, and I won't insult your intelligence by saying that I am comfortable without having a sexual component in my life. I really don't know how far this would have gone with your supervisor. Maybe we would have slept together, maybe not. After my 'talk' with Angela I ended it. As to why him, I don't really think I thought about it. He asked, and I accepted. You slept with Cam when she first started working at the Jeffersonian, so perhaps I felt that it was a similar situation."
Booth groaned. He had known that someday his dalliance with Cam would come back to haunt him, and now it had. "So where do we go from here?" he asked. He knew that they had a lot more to work out and discuss between them, but that could be done over time. Right now he needed to know if the idea of being together had been salvaged.
"Even though I know we've hurt each other and made each other very angry, Booth, I think that that depends on you," Bones said after a moments reflection. "I need to know what you feel about me, honestly. I want a straight forward answer, not one that's qualified. I am genuinely ready to hear something specific, but you have to say it. I won't say it first."
That caught Booth's attention like a lightening bolt. There was only one thing that she could be referring to, and he knew that he had to do this right. Images of waking up in the desert with a few new tattoos courtesy of Billy swiftly ran before his eyes, so there was no room for error on this one.
"I love you, Bones," he said directly. He didn't add a word.
Bones didn't smile, though inside she was extremely happy and relieved. "Do you want us to be together in a relationship?" she pressed.
"Yes," he replied. Again he was direct and no extraneous elements were added.
"I love you, too, Booth," she said with a smile that was widening as she said the words. "And I want us to be together in a relationship, as well."
"I'm really sorry I hurt you like I did, Bones," Booth told her with a really soft undertone to his voice that conveyed just how horrible he felt about it.
"We both have a great deal to be sorry about, Booth, beginning with you drawing that line three years ago, and ending with me accepting a date with your supervisor," Bones replied, dulling the blade of sorrow that both felt very deeply. "I just have one question," she continued.
"What's that?" Booth asked.
"Why does Angela want me to call Sweets Dr. No Nads?" she asked.
Booth smiled, the grimaced. He explained about what Sweets had done and how Angela had dragged the little pimple down to his office and really laid into both of them. He could see Bones getting extremely angry as he told the tale, and ended it with his threat to hurl Sweets through the wall in his office if he didn't get out.
"I know exactly what we're going to do about Dr. No Nads," Bones said with a positively evil smile.
"You mean I get to be a part of it?" Booth perked up. He liked this turn of events.
"Of course," Bones said as she reached over and took a hold of his hand. Their food arrived just as she did so. "You are my partner, and boyfriend, aren't you?"
"Definitely, Bones," Booth said as he slipped his hand form hers and looked down at the fabulous meal.
The next morning Sweets walked to the door of his office and did a double take. The nameplate on the door didn't read Dr. Lance Sweets like it always did. In it's place was a new one that read Dr. Lance "No Nads" Sweets. He had a sinking feeling about all of this. The guard at the front desk that handed him his security badge had been in awfully good humor. He quickly held up the badge that was on necklace badge holder. He groaned in mental agony. In the spot for his name was also written Dr. Lance "No Nads" Sweets. He removed the nameplate from the holder on the door quickly and shoved it into his pocket. Sweets then went to his desk and sat down, wondering what else had been done to him. He knew right away when he saw his notepads and also his official stationary all had the new, and downright offensive, name plastered on them. Then he said a note on the top of his desk, with Dr. Brennan's letterhead on it.
Dr. Sweets,
I am now fully aware of what you said and did to Booth. You should be warned that I am very angry over this intrusion into our lives. Your new nameplate, badge, and letterheads are only a taste of what I will do if you ever try and interfere like this again. If I feel that you are not behaving in an honest, and professional, manner from this moment on, I will inform Booth as to what your real reasons were for not informing me that his death had been faked. I will also forward that information to the psychiatric licensing boards that have licensed you to practice your soft science. You have crossed a line, Dr. Sweets, and my patience is at an end. Booth and I will continue to come to our sessions for the moment, but you are being scrutinized by both of us.
Dr. Temperance Brennan
Sweets reread the note and almost passed out. He was still alive, thankfully, but he knew it had to have been a close call. He picked up the phone and made an appointment for another lengthy session with his own therapist. Sweets had a feeling that he would be making a lot of visits in the next few weeks.
A/N: There it is. Sorry about the delay, but I wanted this one just right. I know some may want it to continue, but I felt it would be wiser to let it end here and then deal with the other elements of their relationship in other stories that I have ongoing, such as Booth's Lie. I want to thank everyone for the great reviews and continuing support. I hope you all enjoyed this one as well. Gregg.