Spring semester (junior year)

"Thanks for agreeing to help me, Adam. You know how suspicious Booth can be so I'm sorry if he gets mad at you. But whatever you do, do not tell him about the party."

Booth's friend nodded. "Your secret is safe with me, Bren. This is going to be one kickin' party…as long as Booth doesn't ring my neck for hiding it from him. Or for talking to you."

Brennan laughed. "I'll make sure he doesn't kill you. Plus, he knows he'll need you next year if he wants to keep the national title streak going. You two are the most formidable duo in college football history. Now, I'm no football expert but you two are going to be the best. Ever."

Adam laughed this time. "Well, thanks, Bren. But all I do is play football. They pay for me to learn so I figure…the least I can is win a few football games."

The wide receiver walked Brennan to the door. When they opened it, Booth was standing on the other side of the threshold.

"Bren?" Booth was surprised to see her with his best friend. He was extremely confused as to what was going.

"Booth. Uh…what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Adam was gonna give me a ride to practice. What are you doing here, Bren?"

They stared at each other, not breaking eye contact until Adam broke the silence.

"Uh, Seel…we gotta go. Practice starts in ten. Bren, we can drop you off at your place on the way."

"Sure, that'd be nice. Thank you, Adam. Come on, Booth."

Brennan walked around Booth toward Adam's car, nudging him on the way, but Booth's eyes never left Adam. Despite the fact that Adam played football, he was a small guy. As a wide receiver, Adam's small stature helped him move quick on the field but it didn't give him much leverage against Booth. Booth's height and bulk compared to Adam's scared the shit out of him. Adam smiled nervously at his best friend and followed Brennan.

Booth was suspicious that his girl and his best friend were hanging out. Alone. In his empty apartment. While he was supposed to be in class.

He trusted Brennan with everything he had but something wasn't adding up right to Booth.


Practice ended early that day and Adam knew Brennan, Angela and Jack wouldn't have the apartment ready in time. Adam saw Booth head into the showers and he followed quickly.

"Hey, man! I gotta question for ya! You wanna go down to Shorties for a burger?"

"Yeah," Booth shouted over the running water, "give me five minutes."

Adam was going to drive by Booth's apartment to see if the signal was up. Brennan was going to put a lit candle in the kitchen window.

Booth finished his shower quick and the boys took off for Shorties for a fast dinner. Surprisingly, the candle was lit in the window when Adam drove them by and he kept their dinner short.

"Dude, why are you so desperate to come up to my place?" Booth questioned when Adam was adamant about coming upstairs.

Adam shrugged and blushed. He kept pushing Booth up the stairs.

"You want my girl, don't ya, Adam?" Booth questioned, "You have the hots for Bren!"

Adam blushed again. "Even if that's true, man, I know she's yours and I am not getting in the way of that."

Booth laughed. "So why are you coming up to my place?"

"Just to see your girl," Adam laughed and pushed Booth up the stairs.

Booth stood in front of the door listened closely.

"Did you hear something?" Booth asked his friend. Adam just shrugged but he knew he had heard Angela giggle and Brennan Shh her.

Booth opened the door and flipped the light switch as he walked in.

"SURPRISE!"

People shouted at him and Adam busted up laughing behind him.

Booth looked back at him, trying to look pissed but he couldn't help but laugh.

"Happy birthday, man," Adam said between laughing fits.

When Booth looked back into the apartment he shared with Brennan, she was standing in front of him, wrapping her arms around him.

Brennan kissed him and he didn't hesitate, even though the entire football team was behind her.

The guys hoot and hollered when he pulled Brennan back after she released him.

"Happy birthday, Seeley," she whispered in his ear. Brennan smiled at him and Booth grinned back.

"Hey, Seel! You gonna go get us a keg now? You're twenty-one now, ya know!" his friend, Brandon, asked jokingly.

"You can go get it, man. I'm not gonna get in trouble for giving the little freshmen on the team liquid gold," Booth told him with a laugh.

Their little one bedroom apartment was packed and people were spilling out onto the sidewalk below and going in and out of the grocery store they lived above.

Hours late into the night, people emptied the apartment and headed down to the campus bars for more late night fun.

"What are you still doing here?" Brennan asked Booth. They were the last two left in the trashed apartment.

"I'm going to help you clean up and then we can go out."

Brennan shook her head. "No, go with the guys. I've got this. I'll see you in the morning."

"No, if I'm going out, I'm going with you."

Booth hugged her tight and she breathed in his scent, something she desperately tried to memorize as much as possible, like Greta Garbo had memorized the room in the inn in Queen Christina. It was Bren's favorite Garbo movie and Booth didn't understand why she loved watching old movies except that it was something she used to do with her father.

They had gotten nowhere fast on the search for her parents. With Booth's criminology major, he made it his project to submit to the head of the criminology department to use the search for Matt and Christine Brennan. Getting the go ahead on the search from the department meant Booth could use funding to help find them and he could earn course credit at the same time. Brennan had refused to let him search for her parents if it was going to take away from his academics. This was the only way she would agree to let him help. But every lead went nowhere. The high school her dad had worked at burnt down and they had lost all records on Matt. Finding where her mother had worked was the hardest. They found nothing on that front and they hit a dead end. Brennan was surprisingly okay after the search ended. She was upset that they had tried and failed but she didn't expect much either.

"We'll I'm not going out," Brennan told him, "I have class at seven tomorrow."

Booth didn't say anything but he held onto her still.

"Thank you," he said finally, "That was a good surprise. Is that what you were talking to Adam about earlier?"

She nodded and said, "I was afraid you'd get upset that I was there. I didn't want to get Adam in trouble, but I needed him to make sure you didn't come home too soon."

He laughed. "Well, I was a little suspicious when it was just you two at his apartment but it all makes sense now."

Brennan looked up at him and kissed him. "I love you. Happy birthday, Booth."

"Thanks, baby. I love you, too."