Booth soon found that he couldn't be calm anymore. "Bones, that's not true. I told you there was never anything between me and Hannah. She's just a colleague. I mean, maybe she wanted something more, but I kept telling her that she needed to understand how things are…that I'm married to you and that I'll always stand by you. You know I'm not cheating on you, right?"

He looked at her with sadness in his eyes, because right now, at this moment, it felt exactly like he really had cheated on her. Maybe because they'd never actually been romantically involved with each other, it wasn't really cheating but he knew he'd cheated on their partnership…risking their friendship, and everything that had been a part of their relationship. It was now painfully clear to him. He had to admire Brennan all the more because no matter how hurt she was, she still stood by him, and even supported his relationship with Hannah. Suddenly he realized how much she valued their friendship…how much she loved him…and he'd hurt her so badly! How could he make it up to her?

Brennan continued quietly. "I don't know what to think any more, or what to believe. All I know is that instead of getting better, it only got worse, and that's probably why we're here, because we don't know what to do any more." Pausing, she looked at him in expectation. She was obviously waiting for him to describe his point of view.

After hesitating, he nodded. "Okay, okay, you're right…things are rough right now, but I've never cheated on you…at least not in the usual sense. However, I'll admit that I spent time with Hannah that I should have spent with you. I realize that now. I was a friend who wanted to help her after a failed relationship, and unfortunately, I didn't realize that my own relationship was going downhill, too. "

He shifted a little closer to his partner as she sat on the couch so he could take her hand. "I'm really sorry. I was an idiot. I should've noticed how you felt. Can you forgive me?" He looked deep into her eyes, and saw sadness lingering there. Her acting role and her current situation were so mixed up that it was difficult to separate what was real and what was undercover.

She had a lump in her throat and couldn't answer. What should she say? What would her undercover persona say? What would she say to Booth in real life? She was helpless.

Emma recognized the situation and spoke up. Obviously, the two had reached an important point in their conversation. It was now her job to get this couple back on track.

"Booth, what were you doing during Temperance's absence? How did you feel? It's important that your wife knows how you felt as you went through it all."

He now looked at Emma and cleared his throat. "I was angry…really angry and disappointed. We've had our problems, but instead of facing those problems, she left like she always does. As soon as things get complicated, she goes on a journey. There's always some important dig happening in some remote part of the world." This sounded very harsh, but Brennan knew Booth was right. As soon as feelings were involved, she fled. He described it as it really was.

"And once again I was left alone here in DC. Did I miss her? Of course, I missed Bones…but she had decided to go totally silent. Barely a message…nothing much, really. So I was angry, disappointed, and lonely. Of course, Hannah recognized this and sensed her chance. Yes, we've had dinner together a few times, and yes, I sensed that she was quite willing to start a relationship with me, but no, I wasn't cheating on Bones! Absolutely not! I'm not an adulterer, okay? And when Bones suddenly appeared in the diner's door, I was totally surprised. Of course, I was happy to see her, but somehow I realized that something was wrong. She didn't want to talk about it, either, and then our relationship really went bad."

Emma nodded. She turned back to Brennan. "Tell me what has hurt you the most. What has been the hardest part of the last few months? What has been really intolerable? What made you decide to sit here with me today?"

Brennan took a deep breath. "We'd grown apart for some time before Maluku, and this also meant that we were no longer intimate with each other…no more caresses and kisses were exchanged. However, we still hugged every now and then, and whenever we were out together, Booth was always by my side. Somehow he has always been my protector, showing everyone that I belonged to him. There was always some kind of contact…he would grab my arm, or take my hand…and especially if we were walking together through a crowd or something, there was always his hand on my back to protect me."

Brennan paused and looked at Booth. "But after my return, he never touched me again. He hasn't touched me, not once, since we hugged at the diner when I got back. We lost contact with each other, and I think that's what hurts me the most. I've always seen this as a sign of our friendship, but he doesn't touch me anymore."

Now she was making direct eye contact with her partner. "You don't touch me anymore!"

Booth was in shock. She was totally right. He really had completely withdrawn from her. Of course, Hannah was one reason that he was spending less time with her…that he'd withdrawn from her…but he hadn't been her friend anymore, either, and that was the real cheating he had committed. That's exactly how she'd felt it. For her, the physical contact had been a sign of his friendship, and his affection…and now it was gone.

He knew that she wouldn't allow anyone else, maybe except Angela, to be that close to her. She kept everyone at a distance, but he'd been allowed to touch her from the start. Only now did he realize what a privilege that was. What had he done? Had he destroyed everything? He would've loved to take her in his arms right here and now to comfort her but that didn't fit the roles they had to play, so he sat still and looked expectantly at Emma. What advice would she give them?

Emma now turned to both of them. "Seeley, Temperance…I think we've come to an important point here, so we're going to take a break now. I'll think about how we can get you both back on track during lunchtime." She smiled at them. "I think I already have an idea. Now let's go to lunch."

She rose from her seat and Booth and Brennen got up, too, following her out of the room. They were both dying to talk, but now wasn't the right time.

§§§

After lunch they got back together. They hadn't found time to discuss anything. There was so much that was weighing heavily on their hearts, but somehow a private conversation hadn't been possible. They didn't have enough time to go outside, and anyway, Angela was always there too, if only through the earpiece in Brennan's ear. She could overhear everything, so there wasn't a chance to say even a word.

Booth and Brennan were both a little nervous. What had Emma planned for them this afternoon? She took a seat in a chair across from them and glanced at her notes before turning to Booth and Brennan.

"In order to solve your current difficulties, we'll approach the matter systematically. That means going back to where you started. How did you get to know and love each other? What was it that you found attractive about the other? What beautiful memories do you share? Sometimes it helps to think about the feelings of why you were attracted to each other.

I learned something last night from the words you spoke to each other, so I think we'll start there. How did you guys get together? What are the good memories of that time period?"

The counselor gestured towards Booth. "Seeley, maybe you'd like to start?" She looked at him encouragingly.

Booth shifted nervously on the sofa and cleared his throat. "Well, as I said before, I knew from the start that Bones was the one for me." He laughed softly. "I just had to convince her that I was the one for her, too." He rubbed his palms together. "It wasn't an easy task, because it took a lot of persuasion and charm to convince her to go out with me, but I remember an evening right at the beginning, when we were still getting to know each other."

He glanced at Brennan, wanting her to know that he was now sharing a memory they both had. "One evening Bones cooked dinner for me. It was mac and cheese, my favorite dish. I've never had a woman make an effort to cook for me before."

Rolling her eyes, Brennan chuckled. "Booth, that wasn't anything special, and it certainly wasn't much trouble."

He shook his head vehemently. "Yes, it was special, Bones. Most of the women I dated expected me to take them to a fancy restaurant, and then maybe to a bar afterwards or something like that. You just asked me to come over for dinner. There was no pressure, okay?"

He looked over at her and smiled. "I think that was the night I fell madly in love with you. It was all so natural, you know? We had so much fun and like I said, the food was phenomenal."

Brennan just shook her head. "I had no idea that evening was so important to you." Was he playing his role here or did he really had feelings for her back then? Unfortunately, she couldn't ask him, since so much was unsaid between them. Then she looked directly at him. "But you're right, it was a wonderful evening and I was starting to get the feeling that this thing between us could be something serious."

Emma looked at them both. "Now that was an important memory for Seeley." He pointed at Brennan with an open palm. "Okay, I would say for both of you. Temperance, do you want to tell a story now?

Brennan put her hands in her lap and thought for a moment. "Ah yes. This was an important point in our relationship." She smiled at Booth. "We went ice skating together." She glanced at Emma briefly. "I'm not good at ice skating, but Booth is. He plays hockey and is quite proficient." She motioned to Booth. "So Booth tried to teach me to skate, but it was difficult. Most of the time he had to pull me across the ice with his hands or push me all the way." She gave a short laugh." Whenever I tried it on my own, I usually fell down."

She looked at Booth, a little uncertain now, because she was going to add something about the evening that hadn't happened. "And after Booth had picked me up for the third time and my legs were more and more unsteady, he hugged me tightly. Somehow everything around us seemed to disappear and it seemed inevitable that we'd kiss." She nodded briefly. "Yes, that was our first kiss."

Booth nodded in agreement while Brennan continued. "It was around Christmas time, and we had the second kiss in my office. A mischievous colleague had hung some mistletoe there and insisted we kiss under it. She thought it would bring us together. Little did she know we were already working on a relationship."

This was really a very far-fetched and overblown story, and yet Booth knew exactly what event from their past she was referring to.

"Oh yeah." Booth gave her a dreamy look. "That kiss really blew my mind."

Brennan giggled softly. "Yes, we were more or less together then, but we hadn't really kissed like that before." She put her hand on Booth's thigh to get his full attention. She'd now be sharing a memory that didn't fit in the timeline.

"Oh, and I remember it was getting harder and harder to just stick with kissing and cuddling." She thought for a moment. "Remember the night we were fixing the drain pipe under your sink together? Suddenly the pipe broke and we were both soaked to the bone."

Booth grabbed her hand. "God, yes! I remember your white blouse was soaked and stuck to your body. It really took all my willpower not to rip it off your body and make love to you right there on my kitchen floor." He laughed out loud. "That scene haunted me for days and I kept calling myself an idiot for giving you a towel and dry clothes and then letting you go home."

Brennan smiled mischievously. "Oh, believe me, I felt the same way." They both had been very excited about this shared experience, but it hung in the air awkwardly, since they'd probably both had their own thoughts about how that evening could have ended. It seemed they both immediately had the same idea about what to do with this memory and how to fit it into the session right now.

Now it was Booth's turn to share a memory. He knew exactly what he wanted to tell, but it didn't fit the timeline because it had happened around Halloween. No one would believe that they hadn't slept together by then, so he had to cheat a bit. Hopefully, Brennan wouldn't correct him.

"Then came the night we made love for the first time." Brennan looked at him, very curious, wondering what he would tell…what memory would he use to describe this event. She didn't have to wait long. Booth cleared his throat briefly.

"Angela and Jack, who are friends of ours, had invited us to a party for Carnival. I know this isn't really celebrated here, okay? It's mostly celebrated in the southern US, like in Louisiana, but I think they just wanted an excuse to throw a party. Anyway, the guests had to come in costume." He looked deeply into Brennan's eyes, hoping she'd know which memory he was talking about. "You were dressed up as Wonder Woman." He sucked air through his teeth and shook out a hand like he'd been burned on something. "You were looking so hot and I couldn't take my eyes off you all evening, and as it turned out, I couldn't keep my hands off you, either. That costume was just way too seductive."

Brennan looked a little insecure. It was clear he was making things up now, but had he really found her so alluring on Halloween? He hadn't said anything along those lines at the time. Maybe that was because it was still early in their partnership, even though they were very good friends by then.

Booth continued. "All evening I had only one thought: how I was going to get you out of that tight, low-cut top and then convince you that the rest of the costume had to go as well? I remember urging you to leave the party as soon as possible."

Brennan now wanted to add her 'made up' part to this memory as well. "Yes, I distinctly remember you running out of patience, and as soon as I closed the door to my apartment you pressed me against it." She smiled smugly. "And the rest is history."

Booth grinned at how quickly Brennan had come up with that idea. He couldn't help but wonder if she perhaps had somehow thought about the evening at one time and that this outcome was part of her own imagination. He'd ask her about it sometime, but right now they had to concentrate on their roles.

"Speaking of history…" Booth now put his hand on her arm. "I think neither of us will forget the evening we spent at the museum for the opening of the Egyptian exhibition, right?"

"How could I forget that?" Brennan replied. She wasn't sure what Booth would tell about that evening, but the situation was immediately in her memory. They'd almost kissed that night and who knows? Maybe if things would've been different, there would've been no Maluku, Afghanistan and noHannah. They both would've been spared a lot of pain.

"You were beautiful." Booth was looking straight at her now. "The evening was beautiful, perfect, festive." A smile ran across his face." And I can still hear your slight gasp when I suddenly got on my knee in front of you and proposed to you. I guess you didn't expect that."

Brennan took a deep breath. Of course, she knew that this was all fictitious, but that he used that evening to describe the marriage proposal touched her deeply. What might've happened if Angela hadn't interrupted them? The situation had been very intimate. If he, maybe, had kissed her…

She sighed softly. There had been many... what if... situations in their past together. On many occasions, a small gesture, a touch, or the right word at the right time could have changed everything. Unfortunately, that was now in the past and could not be changed.

Then he completely surprised her. He turned to Emma and pulled out his phone. "Here, I even have a photo on my phone from that evening." He proudly showed a picture Angela had taken. Booth and Brennan stood close together, cheek to cheek, beaming at the camera. Angela had asked them to stand like that and Brennan remembered how much she had enjoyed being so close to Booth. However, the fact that he still had the photo on his phone, even during his time with Hannah, touched her very deeply. This photo must have been of great importance to him, suggesting that he wanted to keep the memory of that evening alive.

Brennan gave him a quick look and he smiled back. He knew what it would mean to her if she knew he still carried this photo with him. Would she now understand that he had always loved her, even during the time with Hannah? Bones was the person he loved the most. He felt his heart expand a bit more. He could now allow his love for her to come back. It felt like he could breathe again.

Emma noticed the exchange of looks and thought about it, quickly writing it down for later. Then she looked expectantly at the two in front of her.

"So tell me, how was your wedding? How was the honeymoon?"

Brennan immediately felt panic rising. She could call up absolutely no experience that would fit there. She wasn't the romantic one anyway, compared to Booth. She gave him a helpless look.

Of course, he knew right away that she was totally helpless when it came to answering that question, so he took over that part. After all, it was he who wanted to get married his whole life, so he'd already thought about it, and imagining Bones as a bride was a very beautiful thought for him. So he sat back and his eyes actually started to shine as he started reminiscing about their wedding.

"It was just indescribable." He smiled at Brennan, then turned back to Emma. "As you can surely imagine, she was the most beautiful bride I've ever seen".

"Booth," Brennan uttered, a little breathless. He was now describing something that never happened, but it still touched Brennan's heart. Would he really see her like this?

"Yes, Bones, it's a fact. In any case, for me, you were the most beautiful bride in the whole world. We had a huge celebration with our families, friends and colleagues, partying and dancing until late in the morning."

A smug smile formed around his mouth. "Then we went on our honeymoon, to a secluded but very comfortable cabin in the mountains." He turned his head to Brennan. "I will never forget that week."

Brennan returned his smile and decided to contribute to this fantasy as well. "What I remember most vividly is the hot tub that was on the porch. Making love in that tub was quite satisfying. "

Booth immediately blushed. The picture she was painting was too seductive. For a moment they just looked at each other and said nothing. It seemed to Emma as if they both remembered that time, when in reality they were imagining what it would be like at the moment.

Emma cleared her throat, breaking their eye contact. They both looked at her again now.

"Okay, now we know how it all started and also how it all kind of went wrong. It's still not entirely clear to me how you got lost like that, but since you're sitting here in front of me, I have to assume that's the case."

She leaned back in her seat. "I want to be completely honest with you. I've rarely seen a married couple who are obviously in such a deep crisis, but at the same time it's clear how much you love each other."

Booth and Brennan both turned their heads at the same moment to look at the other. How could Emma get that impression?

He may have loved me once, but not anymore. That thought raced through Brennan's mind.

I love her, yes I love her, but I'm not ready for a new relationship yet. How can I make her understand this? Obviously we're not good at hiding our feelings. Booth shook his head. How are they supposed to go on from here?

And worst of all, they couldn't talk openly about the situation. There was still a job to be done.

Emma looked at the clock. "You know what? We're going to take a short break now. Why don't you have some coffee and I'll figure out how to get you both back on track." She got up and smoothed her blouse. "I'll meet you again in 15 minutes,"

Then all three of them left the room to go to the dining room, where coffee and some pastries were waiting for them. The other couples had probably also taken a short break. In any case, the room was already filled with a few participants who were chatting animatedly.

Again there was no chance to exchange a private word between the partners, but they did exchange a meaningful glance.

They finally had some hope of repairing what had been broken.

AN: I really went through all the 13 episodes in season six when Booth was with Hannah to check if he didn't touch Brennan. I didn't notice one touch. So maybe it was an issue.

What do you think? Let me know in a review.