Liz could tell, from all the times she'd been with Maria and Michael, that Bones and Booth had feelings for each other. Of course, it wasn't her place to intervene. But when she thought of how much time it had taken Alex and Isabel to form a solid relationship, she couldn't stop herself from raising the subject when she was alone at the table with the anthropologist.

"So..." she began, not quite sure of what to say, "how long have you and Booth been partners?"

"A little more than five years. What about you and Max? You two appear to be very young to be living on your own, and in such a committed relationship."

Liz couldn't stop herself from smiling as she remembered just how young they had been when all of this began. "It was such a long time ago, when we were teenagers. But I love him, you know?"

Bones knew that there was something she was hiding, presumably, but she didn't want to try to figure out someone's brain; psychology. "Yes. You've been together with him for such a long time and with such a strong partnership that your feelings are not only of loyalty, but adoration," Brennan reasoned scientifically.

Feeling an affinity on that point, Liz nodded back. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Not just about me and Max, but you and your partner, too."

That seemed to catch the anthropologist off-guard. "Well, yes," she stammered, "but that's in a completely different context and relevance. You can't truly make such a comparison through total generalization. Booth and I are friends, professionally and personally. You and Max are involved intimately."

Recognizing that she'd hit a nerve, Liz continued. "You know, there's a difference between love and...and sex." She blushed at having stumbled over the word. No matter how intimate she and Max were, Liz was still very conservative about it.

Bones leaned back into her seat. "I am still not entirely sure about the reliability of love; it's not rational. It's a chemical reaction that causes delusions in the brain. Or you could call it sexual attraction."

"You're so literal," Liz answered almost immediately. She took a sip of her coffee and looked off into the distance. "But, I think that you have delusions about Booth." She said "delusions" with an untrusting tone, as though she knew that Brennan was lying.

"Look, Booth and I work as we are. That's why I said 'no' to dating him," she answered sternly. But when a look of surprise crossed Liz's face, she had a look of horror.

"He offered to date you?" Liz asked, giggling slightly. Before Brennan could answer, she added, "Temperance, you will have a better partnership if you get together. I mean, it's just so much easier to be around the person. Before I dated Max, we were so awkward around each other. We stopped the…FBI from getting anymore information from us. But after that, we both took down the entire Special Unit."

"Which includes Daniel Pierce. Who killed him?"

"Michael, but it was an accident," Liz answered resolutely. "So, the point is that it'll make you even more in sync."

"But I don't think of him in that way!" she insisted, a lie in attempt to evade feeling something serious.

"Your pupils are dilated," she answered, tilting her head in its usual way when she's telling someone something uncomfortable.

Brennan stayed silent while she waited for Liz to berate her, but she didn't.

"Max, what exactly can you do?" Booth asked slowly.

"I can manipulate…"

"Multi-structures, yes, I know," Booth said, drinking a sip of coffee to have something to do.

"Molecular. It means that we can change simple molecular structures. Which means that we change the molecules in objects at will," Max corrected, looking directly at Booth while he ate a fry. "But we each have special powers. Well, Michael and Kyle don't know, but we don't know why. I can heal people, using the molecular thing, and I can create force fields that can withstand a few bullets. It also has a green hue, so we can mess with that a bit." Max was remembering when Michael and he interrogated the man from Roger's Army Base.

As Liz approached, Booth turned back to his food. "Can I talk to you?" Max looked at Booth before leaving with her. "I think we have more than just rescuing on our hands. I think that we should do something else good."

"Like putting the two of them together? I thought so, too," Max answered, looking at the two of them, trying to entertain themselves. "What would make it the right thing?"

"Not being together will complicate their relationship."

"They already work fine as it is. Besides, it's not really our business to do something like that. They'll blame us if it doesn't work and if it does, we'll become match-makers. We don't want to end up like that."

"But we have to do something about it. Booth doesn't have a problem, but I think you need to convince Brennan that she's in love, if she is."

"She's completely in love. I mean, she's almost in more love than me!" Liz said quietly, giggling as she did so. "We better go before they think that we are doing something wrong! Just change the subject. I have an idea for Brennan." She kissed him and walked back over to Brennan.

"What did you guys talk about?" she asked before Liz sat down.

"We just talked about a little something," Liz said, trying to avoid lying. She finished her meal and instructed Brennan to follow after leaving enough money to pay for it.

"Maria, where are they?" Isabel inquired, pacing impatiently.

"No one has even told me the entire story," Maria whined edgily. "I'm sure they'll be home soon," she said, though unsure herself. "Kyle, do you have any ideas?"

"I've already tried annoying her to sit down."

"You changed the color of her shirt so often, and you had to touch the shirt to do that," Maria thought through out loud and slowly. "Yeah, that would get her even angrier."

"Look, I was trying to cheer her up. I'm sorry I failed."

"Go practice your sheet-changing."

"Did you guys not wash them?"

"No, I meant the color." She shook it off and went back to Isabel's issue. "Okay, Isabel, what is bothering you?"

"I mean, what if that FBI Booth person turns them in? We can't afford that. I can't live without my brother. I just…can't!" she vented quickly. She finally sat down after Maria didn't say anything, but she still breathed shallowly. "Thank God," she breathed when she heard the lock click. "Where have you been? I've been so worried about you. Max, don't ever do that to me again!"

"Isabel, we're all safe," Max assured her, pushing her further into the room with her hug."We have Booth here; we need to talk." He looked at her seriously as she took her time to answer.

"He doesn't trust us, Max. We need to get away from here before he turns us in," she advised.

"That 'he' can hear you," Booth responded, moving into the tiny apartment. "How long have you been living here?"

"A couple of weeks. We live on the edge of civilization. We barely get by with money. In fact, I have no idea why Liz gave you our names. We obviously can't trust you because you're FBI. You're our enemy," Isabel said, looking at him angrily.

"I want my son to be safe," he answered, affronted.

"Even if that means trusting your enemies. I've heard the phrase: 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Is that what you are trying to do?" Isabel prodded, now twisting again.

"Thanks, I just got her to calm down a little more," Maria snapped, moving to watch Kyle with boredom.

"Isabel, we have no choice but to ask his help. If he turns us in after that, it's his conscience. Please just trust him until then," Liz pleaded.

"He's going to turn us in. Max, why won't you listen to me?"

"I don't want you to trust me. I want you to help me. If my son is in danger, I will do anything to keep him safe."

"Then we'll come to an agreement. I'm only doing it that way," Isabel said, somehow towering over Booth. "In exchange for helping you and your son, you take my family off the list."

"I'm not even sure it exists," Booth answered.

"My brother has proof of getting tortured. The Special Unit exists. Do we have an agreement or not?"

"I'll do everything I can to get you off the list. But only if you save my son's life by catching the bastards who did it," he answered sternly. "I promise."

"Max."

Max leaned forward and took the hand of the Special Agent gently. He did it slowly and stopped when the Agent twitched away. He put a finger over the bottom of his wrist and implanted the picture they made in Florida, the one that was in River Dog's cave, and the one on the necklace. "I'll make it go away when you've held up your end of the bargain. Try to keep it hidden from the other Agents, though."

"Then why did you give it to me?"

"Because it's our best symbol that wouldn't offend the aliens above."

"There's more of you?"

"Yeah, but they're stuck on the planet," Max answered. "Just like us. So, we're safe."

"So here's what you're going to do," Liz began, staring at Brennan intently. She stifled her smile as she began to advise her.