A/N : After The Secret in the Service

It was 2:30 on a Tuesday afternoon when Seeley Booth walked into Paradise Lost.

"We're closed." Aldo Clemens shouted without turning around from his task of unloading glasses.

"Not interested in drinking."

"Booth, you son of a... It's about damn time you showed up here." The two men shook hands, and Aldo lightly slapped the agent on the shoulder.

Booth sat at the bar and Aldo poured a cup of coffee and then studied his friend. He was dressed in faded jeans and a well worn Flyer's T-shirt. He looked tired, a little down, and in need of a shave. "Seriously man, how are you doing? I've been worried about you. You've been ignoring me."

"Come on Aldo, I've returned your calls." Booth said protesting.

"Yea, always at a time when you know I wouldn't pick up, so you can talk to voice mail. You've been avoiding me." Aldo accused and when he saw the agent wince, he knew he'd hit the target.

"Not my confessor, remember?" Booth said somewhat harshly.

Aldo shot back. "That's low. I'm still your friend, and it's not like I wouldn't know that you're having a hard time, I do read the papers you know."

Booth sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. Combination of not wanting you to have to watch me cry in my beer again, and the fact that I've had reporters on my ass off and on the last couple of weeks. Being seen skulking into a bar would have added fuel to the fire you know."

"Damn. Think of the lost publicity." Aldo shook his head in mock sadness. "FBI Special Agent Seeley J. Booth, hero of the recent foiled presidential assassination attempt, husband of best selling novelist Temperance Brennan and inspiration for the Andy Lister character in the Kathy Reichs books, was seen drowning his sorrows at THE trendy new DC bar, Paradise Lost."

Booth just glared over his coffee cup.

"Seriously, how are you doing? I imagine the political pressure on this has been insane. Quite frankly, I'm amazed your name has stayed out of the papers as much as it has."

"Yea. Well, you can thank Hodgins and his conspiracy nut friends for coming up with a second possible shooter, and Angela's computer skills for subtly promoting the idea. Of course, they don't know that I know what they did, but that sent half the press corps on a wild goose chase. And once I told the FBI PR department that I'd be happy to do interviews as long as they didn't mind me bringing up the fact that 2 years ago they had thrown me in prison, they decided that maybe they would let the Secret Service handle everything." Booth snorted. "Turns out going to jail became my get out of jail free card."

"But you're clear, right? I'm asking because either you are going undercover as a slob, or you're still on administrative leave."

"Very funny. IA just finished their investigation this morning, FBI shrink cleared me for active duty yesterday, so back to normal tomorrow."

"FBI shrink. Did you actually talk to him?" Aldo figured he knew the answer, but thought he'd at least pretend it was a possibility that Booth had actually confided in someone.

"The guy has a retirement countdown clock on his desk. The only thing he cared about was that I wasn't overtly homicidal or suicidal. Did just enough to cover his ass if I go postal next week."

"Ok, so no. Back to the question. Are you ok?"

"Yea, I'm fine, or will be eventually. You know how it goes. Lord knows we've done this dance often enough. That's part of the reason I haven't called. Just kept replaying previous conversations we've had on the topic of me killing someone. Figured you didn't have anything new to say this time around that you haven't told me multiple times over the years. I'm just a little pissed that I actually have a routine for this." Booth took another sip of his coffee and stared glumly at the wall.

Aldo laid a hand on his friends forearm. "I know. I'm sorry. But, you know if you need me to repeat myself, I can do it."

"Thanks. I appreciate it. I just need some time." Booth studied the bartender. "You look happy. Take it Marie hasn't come to her senses yet?"

Aldo smiled, thinking of the woman he'd been seeing for the past 6 months. "No, we're good. Still finding it odd to be dating at this stage in my life, but she's good. We're happy. Her kids are home from college for the summer. I meet them next week. Little nervous about that."

Booth smirked at that mental image. The two exchanged updates - it had been a couple of months since they'd seen each other. After a slow start, the bar business had picked up and was a favorite hangout of Hoover employees, so Aldo didn't have a lot of free time. As Booth relayed Parker, Christine and Hank updates he relaxed and smiled. Aldo became more convinced that with time, Booth would be ok and felt his worry lessen.

A little after 3 the chimes on the door rang again. Aldo called out "We're closed." Booth turned and looked at the young vet standing nervously in the doorway, and waved him in. He'd given him his card a few weeks ago at the shooting range but hadn't expected anything to come of it, so was pleasantly surprised to get a call yesterday. Booth had suggested meeting here, but the younger man had been vague about his plans. Booth said to Aldo "It's ok. He's with me. " Turning back to the doorway, "Come on in. Travis Boswell, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine - Aldo Clemens."

Handshakes were exchanged, Aldo poured another cup of coffee and left the two men to talk.