Author's Note: Next chapter. I am sorry this took so long to post...and for those of you reading my The Snippets in the Stories fic, I am sorry that I haven't posted the next snippet yet. I am, however, going to post a sequel to the previous snippet and plan to do on Monday. Thank you for your patience. :)

I do not own Bones or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/reviewing this.

JoanneLikesVolleyball: Thank you. I figured that I might be throwing a curveball there given my normal fare...Thank you for the review, and as far as this chapter goes...be prepared for more, "aww".

Peanutmeg: Thanks for the review. I agree that Booth bursting into Sweets' office (along with the rest of them) is a common sight and while it's often in a humorous vein, I do wonder at times if it wears on Sweets...As for he and Booth reaching an understanding...well I think you know that nothing comes easy in my fics...:)

Rankor01: Excellent points. I do think that sometimes Sweets brings his own unhappiness onto himself with his traits of jealousy and inability to trust, but you are also right in saying that Booth can be a bit of a bully at times...and once in a great while to those closest to him...Also, I agree that often the shrink jokes are meant to be humorous, but as I mentioned to Peanutmeg, I do think that it can wear on Sweets at times and perhaps chip away a little at his feelings of respect. Plus, I think that recently the therapist side of Sweets' work is not given a real treatment and wanted to explore that side of him here...But yes, you are right in saying that they both played a hand in this argument...but Booth took it too far. As to how things will progress from here...this chapter should start to show the direction I am going.

Gandalf3213: Thank you again for your continued support. :D And believe me, I completely understand the desire to "bash" Sweets despite the fact that he is clearly my favorite character. :) I am sorry that this took so long to update, but I think you will find that your wish came true...

The Break in the Ties—Chapter 4

One mindless evening of pizza and television and a dreamless night later, Sweets showed back up at his doctor's office and went over to the lab section of the building. His doctor had wanted him to have some blood drawn for additional tests and had set up for him to drop by the lab sometime in the morning.

Once he arrived, Sweets signed in on the clipboard sitting on the ledge of the reception desk, and a bored-looking nurse informed him that he would be seen in the order of his appearance on the list. The psychologist nodded and found an empty corner of the waiting area to sit down.

Sweets tried to find ways to pass the time while distracting himself from the reason for this visit, but found it to be an uphill battle. He eyed the stack of magazines on an end table next to him for a few seconds before coming to the conclusion that none of them were ones he would enjoy reading and theorizing that they were probably all hopelessly out of date. He then started to watch the people around them, but was slightly horrified to find that he could only come up with depressing ideas about who they were and why they were here.

"…you've moved on to other test subjects?"

Booth's angry words echoed in his mind, and Sweets put his head into his hands. He had managed to keep his blowout with Booth out of his thoughts last night, but now the incident continued to replay in his brain. He kept asking himself repeatedly last night why he hadn't tried to defuse the situation better when it happened, but could not come up with a satisfactory answer. He then tried to tell himself that it was no use to keep agonizing over the past.

'I wonder if Booth would have cared if I had told him the truth.'

Sweets lifted his head out of his hands. At first, such a thought seemed outlandish to him, but then he reached up and rubbed his arm where Booth had grabbed him and where he had found purple, finger-shaped bruises last night.

'Booth's working partnership with Brennan means more to him than most things,' Sweets thought. 'It makes sense and is perfectly understandable really. There's no room for anyone to possibly disrupt that arrangement and that makes me…an obstacle. And who's to say that Booth wouldn't have asked me to just do my job even if I had told him? After all, that's what I'm here for: shovel out the shrinky stuff, sign a form, make sure that Booth is certified to be in the field, make sure that he and Brennan can do their thing….'

The psychologist had tried to remain calm while mulling this over, but he wasn't able to stop his hands from starting to shake.

'I should have expected Booth to get angry at me. Why didn't I foresee it? I wasn't fulfilling my role: the shrinky role. I'm just the hand that signs off on Booth, the mouth that spews out random psych stuff in the hope that it produces a lead for a case, the warm body that sits in a chair while the rest of the team exist in their own world. Anything I do outside of that is just…noise and interruptions….'

"Mr. Sweets?"

The sound of a nurse calling for him broke Sweets' line of thought, and the therapist did his best to put a smile on his face. He followed her into another room and sat down in a chair that she indicated with a wave of her hand. He rolled up his sleeve and then turned away from her as she approached. A piece of him registered the nurse's good-natured chatter, and he made sure to nod appropriately when needed, but the truth was he was trying hard to not focus on what was coming next.

The nurse tied a strip of rubber around his arm, putting it in place with a snap. Ever since he was a child, Sweets hated seeing blood, especially his own. He had learned to handle it in a more clinical fashion so that he would be able to visit crime scenes, look at corpses and the like. He had even learned to not flinch too much when he had to submit blood for medical reasons or when he occasionally participated in a blood drive.

But even with all that training, Sweets had trouble dealing with the sight of his own blood in particular and could never actually watch it being drawn. Seeing that scarlet liquid flow from his skin had been a reoccurring image from his nightmares since he was a very young child. The smell, the color, the accompanying pain from the injuries that would bring it forth…all of it came back to him in a kaleidoscope of memories.

"Ok, all done," the nurse said as she slapped a band-aid onto his arm. "The doctor will go over the results with you during your appointment on Monday."

Sweets thanked her and looked over at the bandage she had put on him. It was covered with yellow smiley faces. He tried to not think about the fact that now he was going to have to wait an entire weekend to find out how these tests turned out. He succeeded for the most part.

But as he unrolled his sleeve, Sweets kept thinking about how appropriate a stiff drink seemed right now.

An hour later, Sweets sat in front of his office computer, correcting the same typo for the third time in a row. He had managed to avoid stopping by a bar on the way to work, but the way he felt right now did not seem much better than intoxication. His mind was rambling in a fog and his heart was still heavy from the events of yesterday. He kept thinking about how normally when he came in, he would catch Booth by the coffee pot in the break area or at his office, but Sweets hadn't been able to find him in either place. For a brief time, the psychologist couldn't shake the feeling that he was being avoided, but he continued to try to put that worry aside.

Instead of brooding, Sweets picked up his cell phone and tried calling Agent Thompson for the third time that morning. The therapist had hoped to reschedule their appointment from yesterday as soon as possible to make up for their interrupted session. Sweets had been dismayed, however, at how Thompson never answered any of his calls…including this one.

Trying not to sigh, Sweets left yet another voicemail and hung up. He was now starting to worry about how much damage had been done during that aborted session and it was enough to make him mad at Booth all over again even with the ache he felt over how strained things were between the two of them at the moment.

'It could be weeks before Thompson is ready to reach that point again…and I don't even know if I'll have that kind of time…I should have known that Booth has as little respect for my work as Brennan does. I was just fooling myself when thinking otherwise. He just isn't as straightforward about it as she is.'

Sweets glanced down at the clock on his computer and realized that by now, Booth and Brennan were finishing up their first session with Doctor Ellis. The psychologist pondered how Ellis would not have been the first person he would have picked to evaluate them, but the more he thought about it, the more he could see Warner's logic in choosing him. As he tried to calm his rage over Thompson, Sweets wondered how that session had gone.

Suddenly there was the sound of his office door handle turning and Sweets was startled to see Brennan walking into the room.

'Well I guess I am about to find out how it went after all,' Sweets sighed inwardly. 'At least she didn't walk in while I was conducting a session.'

"Doctor Brennan," Sweets said as he stood up from his office chair. "I take it that this is about your and Agent Booth's session with Doctor Ellis."

"It is," Brennan nodded. "Booth is speaking to his superiors now and might be visiting yours as well about possibly having you transferred back to our evaluation. Although, given how agitated Booth was by the end of our session, I believe that there will be less discussion and more arguing."

"I see," Sweets said as he clenched his hands tightly. "And Agent Booth didn't feel as if it was relevant to discuss such a move with me first?"

"I suspect that Booth felt that you wouldn't care," the anthropologist said. "But I will admit that I am surprised by his actions."

"So the reason you're here is because….?" Sweets asked.

"I thought that it would be appropriate to discuss the matter with you," Brennan answered. "Booth seemed very upset about something that happened between the two of you yesterday, but he wouldn't tell me what happened. And I don't completely understand why we were transferred to another therapist."

Sweets plopped down into his chair across from the couch and Brennan settled onto the couch itself.

"Did your superiors force this transfer?" she asked. "Because I am sure that either myself or Booth could…."

"I requested a suspension of all of my mandated evaluations and therapy assignments," Sweets interrupted her. "Agent Warner was simply carrying out my request when he reassigned you."

"That doesn't make sense," Brennan said, crinkling her brow. "Booth mentioned that you were seeing a patient yesterday." At the mention of that session, Sweets felt his insides clench.

"Thompson is currently the only patient that I am seeing," he replied. "His is a special case that needs my attention."

"But Booth also mentioned that this other agent took off upon him arriving," Brennan said. "So it's possible that this agent does not share your sense of urgency about his sessions with you."

All of this had been said in a straightforward, clinical manner which Sweets was aware was Brennan's style. Still, his emotions had become increasingly fragile over the last day or so and thus it was impossible for him to remain impassive in the face of her callousness.

"Doctor Brennan," Sweets said, his tone brittle. "You're stated many times that you do not regard psychology as a valid science or field of study. Has your opinion changed?"

"No," Brennan replied. "Psychology holds little in the way of solid scientific basis and has too many inherent flaws in its execution. And I would like to add that this evaluation that the Bureau has assigned to us is needlessly intrusive and pointless in assessing Booth's and my ability to work together professionally."

"Then given your conclusions on my field of study, and for that matter this examination of your partnership, why does it matter if I conduct the evaluation or not?" Sweets asked her.

"Logically, it shouldn't make a difference," Brennan nodded. "But unfortunately, logic does not seem to apply here. Doctor Ellis is argumentative and I found him condescending."

"Did you express your opinions about psychology to him?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "And at one point Booth tried to leave because he got a text. Booth said that it was important, but Ellis threatened to report us as non-cooperative and implied that there would be consequences for attempting to cut the session short. This made Booth very angry, and I think that he might try to hit Ellis at some point."

"It wouldn't be wise for Agent Booth to do that," Sweets warned her. "I know for a fact that Doctor Ellis is a fourth degree black belt and that he would carry out his threat about reporting the two of you if anything were to happen. You should also know that Doctor Ellis is very serious about his work and will not take kindly to having his profession belittled by you or Agent Booth. The best thing I could advise the two of you to do is cooperate and accept the fact that things will be different with him from what they were with me."

"Actually, I agree with Booth that the best thing to do is to either convince his superiors that this evaluation is unnecessary or to arrange it so that you will perform it," Brennan said. "Because you seem to better understand the situation."

Sweets narrowed his eyes at her as he felt his blood begin to boil. A tiny part of him insisted that it was flattering that she and Booth were so determined to have him as their therapist, but that part of him was overshadowed by the much bigger part of him that was angered that Booth or Brennan would be willing to go over his head and force this decision while giving him no say in it.

"As far as the evaluation goes, I doubt that the Bureau will back down," Sweets said. "I imagine that they feel as if they are already being more than accommodating toward the situation. And as far as whether or not I will perform it…Agent Warner understands my decision and will stand by it…as will I."

Now it was Brennan's turn to be angry, her lips turning downward and her eyes becoming stony.

"Is this another one of your experiments?" she asked. "To see how we interact with another therapist? Because I thought that I gave you sufficient warning about such actions."

Brennan's words cut Sweets to the bone. Ever since that incident, Sweets had kept his reasons for not telling the anthropologist about Booth surviving Pam Nunan's failed attempt to kill her to himself. He did it because he always felt that the truth was even worse than her assumptions. It had been a selfish, petty act of revenge against her for her consistent mocking of him and against her refusal to listen when he had warned both her and Booth about Nunan. Somehow, it had been easier for him all these years to let her think that it was an experiment and that he had been a cold, calculating psychologist than to attempt to face the truth.

'I thought that she had forgiven me for that,' he thought to himself. 'Not that I deserved it, but….I guess I was wrong. And really, I shouldn't have expected it. I crossed a line…and sometimes there just isn't going to be any forgiveness.'

"I can assure you that I am in no way involving myself in this evaluation or in your partnership," Sweets said quietly. "But obviously, I cannot prevent you from forming your own conclusions. And now I have a lot of work to do, so if you'll excuse me, Doctor Brennan."

Brennan glared at him for another minute before getting up and walking out of his office without saying another word. Once she had left and closed the door behind her, Sweets placed his head back into his hands. Soon he let loose the tears he had been holding back since yesterday.

Sweets felt his life falling apart….and he doubted that he would be able to stop it.