Chapter 7... 'Psychology'

It had been a week since their encounter at the Lincoln Memorial. Brennan was holding up, focussing now, more than ever, on Limbo cases. Booth was always reserved around Jennifer, something which Jennifer easily picked up on, but never mentioned it.

Working at a distance from each other, Brennan and Booth managed to close their first case with ease. They mutually decided that the usual celebratory 'end-of-case drink' might be a bad idea, knowing that an excess of alcohol could lead to the events of the previous week.

One afternoon when Booth and Brennan were in Booth's office discussing their last case, Sweets walked past, and noticed something different.

"Agent Booth, Doctor Brennan. Welcome back. I hope you're both settling in well."

Brennan and Booth both turned and looked at him. He had his goofy 'psychological intuition' smile painted all over his face. They could tell that he could tell something was up.

"I was hoping we could start up our sessions again. If you both are free this afternoon, we could start then!"

"I think that that is a logical suggestion, Dr Sweets, however I still do not acknowledge psychology as a science."

Sweets just nodded, and mentally noted Booth's displeasure with Brennan's acceptance of the invitation.

"I'll see you in my office at 1 o'clock." Sweets turned and left Booth's office leaving Brennan and Booth to continue their previous conversation.

"Why'd you say yes? It's obvious he knows something, Bones!"

Brennan couldn't understand why Booth was so upset with her. He can't know about the kiss... Can he?

"Booth, he'll probably just sit there silently, waiting for one of us to crack, or he'll play the game where he answers our questions with questions. There's nothing to worry about."

In Sweets' office, the tension was thick. Booth and Brennan sat in their usual spots at opposite ends of the couch, and Sweets sat opposite them, focussing intently on their actions.

"You've both been back now for about two weeks" started Sweets. Booth and Brennan both knew that it was going to lead to something more.

"Do you feel that since you got back, your relationship as partners has been hanging by a thread?" pried Sweets, hoping that it would force a reaction from either of them.

Brennan looked confused and she turned to Booth. She got no response from him. Booth just ignored the question.

"I don't know what that means."

"Let me rephrase the question. Do you, Dr Brennan, feel that since you came back, things between you and Booth have been different?"

She wanted to cry out her pain to Sweets, but knew that it would not help. And she couldn't do that while Booth was in the room. It wouldn't be fair to force him to face his emotions like that. Booth never forced her to face her emotions or her feelings towards anyone, especially him. Instead she thought carefully.

"Not really. Meeting Booth's girlfriend was a strange encounter, but everything has remained the same, just the way we left it" she lied.

Sweets' eyebrows lifted in surprise at the mention of Booth's girlfriend.

"Congratulations, Agent Booth. But, do you believe that your relationship will have negative effects on your partnership with Dr Brennan?"

Sweets could sense the unease that this question made both of them feel.

Booth sat there silently, not wanting to answer the question.

"Perhaps I should speak to you individually before our next session. That might relieve some of this tension that I'm sensing between the two of you."

Booth stood up quickly. "Great, does that mean that we can go?" smiling brilliantly as Sweets nodded back at him.

Brennan was the first of the pair to be cornered by Sweets.

"I have worked with you and Booth for quite some time now, Dr Brennan. I've developed a sixth sense for changes in your partnership and..."

"There's no such thing as a 'sixth sense' Dr Sweets. There's only five – sight, sound, taste, touch and smell" she said indignantly.

"Well, either way, Dr Brennan, I sense that there's something going on between you and Booth. When you parted a year ago, he was sure of his feelings for you, but he was ready to move on. Perhaps, throughout this year apart, you learned of your true feelings for Agent Booth. But seeing him with another woman is causing you to feel jealous."

Bingo, she thought. He'd hit it right on the head. But strong, unemotional Dr Temperance Brennan wasn't about to admit to Sweets that he was right.

"I don't get jealous" she stated blatantly, knowing that, in this situation, it was a complete lie.

"You said in our session that you met Agent Booth's girlfriend. It does not bother you that he has someone else?"

"It was awkward because I felt like a third wheel. He's had girlfriends in the past, Dr Sweets, and it never bothered me. It was awkward because after a year apart, I was hoping when we met up it would be just us. But, Dr Sweets, I am happy for him" said Brennan, as she forced a fake smile.

Sweets signalled for Brennan to take a seat on the couch. He sat looking into her eyes for a while, making mental notes of her reactions.

"You're lying" he said suddenly.

"What? ... You're just guessing Dr Sweets. You can't tell from someone's eyes if they're lying or not!"
"Booth can!"

It panged when Brennan realised she was defeated with that argument. You're not Booth! She thought, wishing she could blurt it out to Sweets. Sweets just sat there, still looking at Brennan, thinking of what to say to get her to crack.

"Did Booth ever tell you how he really felt about you?"

He wanted to give it a shot between us. Angela says he was, and probably still is, in love with me. She's almost always right about those things. Cam said once that Booth told her how he felt. He did ask me to imagine that I was madly in love with him, but that could be an exaggeration.

"He never told me. But I knew how he felt about me when I left for Indonesia."

"Who told you, Dr Brennan?"

"Daisy, for one. She constantly reminded me about it for the first few weeks in Indonesia." Brennan's tone was arrogant, and almost mocking of Sweets. She saw Sweets' look darken, and she knew she'd hurt him. But somehow, she couldn't seem to care. "Angela has been telling me for a long time that Booth is in love with me. And Booth told Cam that he was in love with me." Brennan paused for a moment, thinking about what happened after Booth came out of his coma. "I know that you know how he feels... or felt, Dr Sweets. Except you pulled the information from brain scans and not Booth's own..."

"You believe that the heart is just a muscle, Dr Brennan, that it can't actually produce these feelings. I understand that you do not consider psychology as a reasonable field of expertise. You can find the truth of someone's life... and death, even decades or centuries after they have passed, and quite often can pull these details from a mere X-Ray. You believe that the brain is responsible for every thought and feeling. If the brain is in control of all thoughts and feelings, and brain scans can represent which parts of the brain are thinking or feeling what, then what, what could possibly make you question them, given your puritanical scientific beliefs?"

Brennan started to get furious. She started to shout. "Because it's psychology! It has nothing to do with actual science. It's an interpretation!"

Sweets knew he'd overstepped a boundary and hit a nerve. He paused for a while, waiting for Brennan to calm down, before introducing a new topic.

"I noticed you threw in a 'felt'." Sweets leaned forward in his chair. "You don't believe that Agent Booth is still in love with you?"

She thought back to that night by the Lincoln Memorial. He never said he loved me, and he never expressed his feelings. But the passion... the tenderness. There had to be something there. He wouldn't let me walk away, yet he was allowed to. I should've stopped him. I should've fought. But he's with her! He mo...

At that moment, Sweets cut in. "Dr Brennan?" She'd obviously gotten lost with her thoughts.

"I don't..." She hesitated, the anger brewing inside her. She looked up at Sweets, staring him straight in the eye, and in her most serious tone, and quite loudly too, she blurted out "He doesn't love me anymore!"

The words cut through her heart as they burst from her, uncontrolled. The pain that she felt was evident in her speech. But not for one second, in her heart of hearts, did she believe that it was true. He moved on.

Her head was down, like she'd done something wrong. Sweets ducked his head to try and make eye contact. Sweets realised that she'd relinquished control, of both her emotions and the conversation at hand. She had no leverage against Sweets, and he knew how vulnerable she had just become.

"Dr Brennan, as much as I hate to admit that I'm wrong, I have to in this situation." He paused, hesitating, the sweat starting to form on his brow. He had to tell her. She'd opened up to him; he could only return the favour.

Brennan looked up at him, utterly confused at what he was getting at. Sweets was, considering psychology was just guessing, usually never wrong about what he said.

"I told Agent Booth that those feelings he had for you when he first came out of that coma would fade away. But I was wrong. They stuck with him for many months. It was evident in all his actions, not just those that involved you. He just never had the courage to even think about the possibility of breaking up your partnership. He knew that it was better to suppress his feelings for you, than to risk losing you from his life forever. Dr Brennan... feelings like those don't just fade away."

For once, something that Sweets had said to her was reassuring. She smiled, even though it was only a fraction of a smile that Booth could make her show if he'd said the same thing.