*Several hours, multiple bags of Doritos, and more than a little alcohol later*

"Ok, I think you're just a little too buzzed to drive home. You wanna stay here tonight? I have a guest room," Brennan said, a little tipsy herself.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea…" Angela trailed off, not remembering what she was going to say.

"Oh, do you feel a little better now?" she asked, remembering what it was.

Brennan got a thoughtful look on her face.

"Yeah, a little. That might just be the alcohol talking though. I mean, I know Booth is going to come back. It's Booth. He got blown up, then he got tortured, then he got SHOT in the chest, and he's still around. I think he'd probably survive even if all three happened at once."

Angela had a thoughtful look on her face as Brennan was talking.

"You know, the only reason any of those things happened is because he was protecting you."

"Well, not when he got tortured. That was just to give us time to find him and so they wouldn't kill him before we could get to him," Brennan said.

"True, true," Angela said, nodding. "But seriously, you might not have seen it, but he's loved you for a long time."

Brennan was curious now.

"How long?" she asked.

Angela waved her hand around a little and said, "Well, since before the Gravedigger incident."

Brennan looked shocked. "Really? That long ago? Wait, he was dating Cam," she said, confusion creasing her brow.

Angela smiled. "Yeah, I know. He seriously freaked out when we couldn't figure it out. You know, he threatened that Thomas Vega guy."

"Seriously? Why?"

"Oh, well Vega said something along the lines of 'Just face it. If you can't put the ransom together in time, your partner is dead.'

So Booth got really pissed, pinned him to a table holding his throat, and said,

'If that deadline comes around, and my partner is still underground, I will END you. You understand? Three hours to live.' And all of this in his office at FBI headquarters, no less."

Angela laughed at the stunned expression on Brennan's face. It took a lot to shock her, so this was a rare expression.

*But I think she's completely sober now,* Angela thought, laughing again.

"He- he did that?" Brennan asked rhetorically, still in shock. She started thinking about everything Booth had done, realizing the list was extremely long.

"No Angela, I think it was even before that." Angela looked confused, so Brennan decided to elaborate.

"I'll be right back."

*What's she up to now?* Angela thought, trying to figure it out. She gave up and just decided to wait for Brennan to come back. Brennan walked back into the room, holding something Angela couldn't quite see.

"Do you remember the Epps case?"

Angela gave her a "duh" look.

"Ok, I mean the one with the accomplice. The second time we dealt with him?"

Angela nodded, shuddering at the memories.

"Well, I had to shoot someone. And I killed him. Anyway, it kinda freaked me out a little. So when I was still at the lab, late one night, Booth showed up. We talked about everything to do with the case a little, then he told me he had something for me. He reached into his pocket and brought out this."

She showed Angela the pig figurine in her hands.

"At the beginning of it all, when we found the body and the dog was guarding it, he asked if I had ever had a dog. I told him I always wanted a pig. Later he asked me what I would name a pig if I had one. So he bought me a pig, and named him Jasper," Brennan finished, looking at the figurine she held in both hands.

Angela had remembered something about halfway through Brennan's story.

"Yeah, Booth was asking Hodgins and others if we could buy you a pig together. I think he was being completely serious. But I think once he realized a real pig was a little impractical for D.C., he got you the figurine."

Brennan smiled at the thought of Booth asking everyone to help him buy a pig. Brennan reached into her pocket, and pulled out her mother's earring, the one she lost in New Orleans.

"Even before that, when we were in New Orleans, and I called him and told him I would be late getting back and he asked why and just flew down to help me out. And he found my earring… he risked his job for me, Ange, even then," Brennan said, tears in her eyes. "How could I be so stupid!? It was SO OBVIOUS!" Brennan said, shocked again, only this time at her stupidity.

Angela laughed.

"It's ok sweetie. This is always how this happens. Everyone on the outside can tell that the two friends are in love, but the two friends have no clue. Booth didn't figure it out either."

Brennan looked kinda confused. "What do you mean? I haven't done anything like what he has."

Angela laughed.

Again. (Hey, she's tipsy. Prone to laughter)

"Sweetie, remember when he was kidnapped? You had YOUR FATHER help you. Your father, who you weren't even sure you liked. You LIED to the FBI to save him. You had faith he would rescue you when you were kidnapped by the Gravedigger. You don't have faith. In anyone or anything. You shot a man to save his life. There are so many things you have done for him. There's probably more that I don't know about, but I know enough to know that you've loved him for a while too."

Brennan looked at her friend, and made a decision.

"I kissed him. When Russ came back, my dad told him to go to the FBI. So Booth arrested him. Russ asked to see his little girl, and I asked Booth to let him, so he did. When we were at the hospital, I thanked him. And he said, 'Don't thank me. According to the FBI, I found him here, 15 minutes from now.' So I kissed him on the cheek, and thanked him again," Brennan finished, waiting to see Angela's reaction.

Angela's eyes widened. "You kissed him on the cheek? That's so sweet!!!!" she said, in full squeal mode.

"Oh, and Christmas…"Brennan trailed off, not sure she wanted to have broken ear drums from the massive squeal that was coming.

"What about Christmas? What did you do?" Angela asked, desperately needing to know.

"Well, you know how I set up that Christmas thing for my dad? Well, I had to ask Caroline to write the letter to the judge. And she said she would, but only under one condition. So, IhadtokissBoothunderthemistletoeforfivestemboats," Brennan said, all in a rush.

Angela sat shell-shocked. "Could you repeat that?"

Brennan sighed. "Do you really need me to?"

Angela nodded. "Yeah, I do, cuz I could have sworn that you just said that you kissed Booth at CHRISTMAS and are just NOW getting around to tell me!!!!! And what does five steamboats mean?" Angela asked, her curiosity piqued.

"It's like, one steamboat, two steamboat….it's a way of counting off seconds," Brennan explained.

"So, wait, it wasn't just like a peck?"

Brennan blushed.

"Oh MY GOD!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN"T TELL ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! But getting past that, is Booth a good kisser?"

"Ange, do we really have to discuss this?"

Angela gave her another "DUH!" look, but of much greater magnitude.

"Of COURSE we have to discuss it!!! That's what girls do!!!"

Brennan sighed. "It's Booth. Of COURSE he's a good kisser. But it's not like you're probably imagining. Caroline was right there. It was perfectly tame."

"Yeah, tame, you and Booth. Wait, if it was 'tame' how do you know—" Angela cut off, comprehension dawning on her face. "You kissed him AGAIN!?!?"

Brennan covered her ears a little. They had taken quite a beating already, and she was sure they would continue getting abused.

"Yes, I did. But it was just today, well, yesterday technically. It's after midnight. He brought Parker with him to breakfast, and we all just chatted until Rebecca picked up Parker. Then I asked him to dinner for when he gets back. He said yes, and we just made small talk for a while. Then he asked if I wanted to leave, so we left and walked around the park that was nearby. Then he kissed me. We walked back to our cars, and he kissed me again, only this time it was goodbye. Then he left."

Brennan finished her story, her voice sounding a little rough, and she felt like she had a lump in her throat.

"Oh sweetie, he'll be back. Soon. I know he will," Angela said, giving Brennan a hug.

"Hey, I got some ice cream. You want any?"

Brennan smiled a little. "Yeah, sounds good."

Angela and Brennan ate their ice cream, talking about more things Booth had done, and things Brennan had done.

Angela squealed again when she heard about the Christmas tree, accompanied by an "aawww" at the thought of Parker helping his dad out. Other than that, though, it was relatively quiet until the two of them decided to go to bed, with no intentions of waking up any time before 10, at least.