(After season 5)

I don't own Bones, but we all know that.

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"I've got a meeting with the Deputy Director tomorrow morning." Booth was slicing up zucchini to add to Brennan's stir fry. "I can't wait much longer to tell him about our relationship. Sooner or later those nosey bastards I work with are going to figure out something has changed between us and I need to get in front of that . . . I mean, we've been professional at crime scenes as far as I'm concerned, but um . . . Harris told me that I was acting too happy at the crime scene this morning and it creeped him out. I have no idea what he was talking about, but . . . was I too happy? I try to be professional since the last thing I need is some snoopy reporter taking my picture laughing at a crime scene and accusing me of being unprofessional . . . I wasn't, was I?" He didn't know what he had done to make Harris make a comment like that and it irritated the hell out of him that his agent wouldn't tell him.

Not sure, Brennan thought about it for a moment. "You did laugh at my joke this morning . . . you normally don't do that."

"Hey, I laugh at your jokes . . . well, I normally don't laugh at them at crime scenes, so . . . okay, don't tell me any more jokes when you've got your hands in someone's guts . . . Harris doesn't like it and I don't want to hear him bitching to me about it."

"Well, he was promoted to be your lieutenant and I think he's taking his responsibilities very seriously." Brennan liked Agent Morris Harris and she felt he was going to be a big help to Booth. "So, yes, I will refrain from making jokes at crime scenes . . . you do seem to enjoy my sense of humor more than you used to."

Booth cleared his throat. "You've really developed your sense of humor over the years and your jokes are cute. I want you to know that." Her sense of humor tended to consist of very old jokes, but the fact that she liked them made them somehow adorable. "I apologize if I didn't use to laugh at your jokes . . . I was just being professional and you know we have to do that. Murder is serious business so we have to be serious when we're dealing with bodies and John Q Public."

"Yes, I understand . . . Do you think Deputy Director Bishop will sever our partnership?" Brennan was nervous. She wanted to continue to work with Booth. "If they sever our partnership, I will sever my contract . . . I will not allow them to go unpunished if they break up our partnership."

"Our working partnership, Bones. This has nothing to do with our relationship, so don't worry about that and if you want to punish the FBI for screwing with us then go ahead." Booth believed in revenge and if the FBI took his partner away from him, then he and Brennan could make sure they regretted it. They weren't completely helpless in the face of the bureaucracy they had to deal with. Not by a long shot.

Oooooooooooo

Bishop had taken over his position after Deputy Director Kirby had been killed by Max Kennan. Regardless of what the jury at Max's trial had decided Bishop and everyone else at the Hoover knew that Kirby had been killed by Max. Not that Kirby didn't deserve what he got, the bastard. Kirby's life of crime and his death had been an embarrassment to the FBI and it was his job to clean up the Hoover and make sure that the bad seeds were gone. It helped that he had men like Seeley Booth at the Hoover. The man had uncovered corruption in the FBI and he and his partner had managed to get some documents to prove it. They owed Booth and Brennan a great deal and the Director had told him that he wanted Booth to move up further in the hierarchy and head of Major Crimes was a stepping stone in that move. Booth was given a lot of leeway to do his job and Bishop made sure he could do it by giving him Harris as his second in command.

The silence of his office was broken with a knock on his door. Prepared, he sat back against his chair and witnessed Booth enter his office. Pointing at the chair in front of his desk, Bishop hoped this wasn't going to take too long. He had a meeting in an hour he couldn't miss. "What can I do for you, Booth?"

Settled on the chair, Booth felt a little nervous but was careful not to show it. The next few minutes were too important to him and his partner. "Sir, I need you to know that Dr. Temperance Brennan and I are in a personal relationship now."

"Just like that." Bishop stared at his head of Major Crimes for a moment. "We do have a non-fraternization rule about dating around here."

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth decided to be blunt. "Since Bones dated Andrew Hacker a few times last year . . . I assume that the rule doesn't apply to Dr. Brennan. She is an employee of the Jeffersonian and not the FBI or at least Hacker thought so."

"I see." Bishop hadn't known about Hacker dating Brennan so he didn't appreciate finding that out second hand. "Well, since we know Hacker would have made sure that dating Dr. Brennan was kosher, we can assume that applies to you too . . . I guess congratulations are in order . . . I must warn you though, that it is important that you maintain a professional relationship with Dr. Brennan while you're on the job . . . The FBI has a reputation to maintain and I will break up your partnership if you two don't toe the line."

"Of course, Sir." Booth knew he needed to be careful or his bosses would take his partner away from him. "Dr. Brennan and I are serious people . . . nothing is going to change that."

Slowly nodding his head, Bishop decided to trust Booth for now. "Good." Glancing at his watch, the Deputy Director sighed. "Unless you have something else earth shattering you want to share, I have a meeting to get to and since the traffic is bad this morning, I need to leave now. God forbid the people around here learn how to drive in the rain."

Booth took the hint, stood up and left the room.

Once he was alone, Bishop made a quick call to his assistant Deputy Director. "Andrew . . . I need to see you this afternoon . . . two is fine." Once the call was ended, he grabbed his phone and placed it in his jacket pocket. "Andrew has a lot of explaining to do. I don't appreciate him dating Dr. Brennan and not tell me about it."

Ooooooooooooo

Booth found Brennan in her office. "We're good Bones. I mentioned you dating Andrew Hacker to Bishop and I could tell he didn't know anything about it . . . Since you're a Jeffersonian employee then the non-fraternization rule doesn't apply . . . He couldn't say it didn't apply when you dated Hacker then say it applied to me . . . I'd hate to be Hacker today. Bishop wasn't happy . . . He did say we have to be professional when we're working in public, but that won't be a problem since we already are . . . no jokes at crime scenes, Bones. That's important."

"No, I understand." Brennan smiled at her lover. "I think we shouldn't say anything to anyone else about our relationship. It will be a fine joke on them . . . they're too interested in my . . . our personal business. We should keep saying we're just partners and see how long our friends will allow us to get away with that."

Amused, Booth laughed. "You're pretty naughty when you want to be . . . yeah, let's see how long it will take them to figure this out and how long they'll let us get away with the just partners thing . . . this should be fun."

Brennan chuckled. "Angela is already suspicious, but she has no proof that anything has changed between us." Her expression suddenly serious, Brennan sighed. "Sweets came to see me this morning and expressed his displeasure that Ms. Wick stayed with the dig in Maluku. I told him that my intern wants to be there if the dig turns out to be successful. Her career is just starting and she needs the experience. Even an unsuccessful dig will teach her something."

"Yeah, I told him that too, but he's mad at Daisy for staying there and you for coming back and me because you came back and I have my partner back . . . the kid is messed up . . . if he gets to be a pain in the ass let me know. I told him to get his shit together, but I don't know if he can . . . it's not like we can tell Daisy what to do. He needs to grow up."

"Yes." Brennan didn't need Booth's help with Sweets' anger. She felt she had handled the situation properly. "I think Ms. Wick will stay as long as Dr. Bashear is willing to continue the search . . . She'll be back eventually and she will be wiser from the experience. Not all digs are successful. Both she and Sweets need to learn that lesson . . . I appreciated that you didn't behave towards me the way that Sweets is behaving towards Ms. Wick."

Booth shook his head. "Once you told me you were going, I knew I had to let you do it. You have to live your life and you have to do your job the way you see fit . . . I won't try to change you, Bones. You just be you and I'll be me . . . We'll figure this relationship thing out." He glanced at his watch. "I have some work to finish." He wanted to kiss her, but the glass walls in her office meant that was out. "I'll see you tonight . . . I'm going to make Eggplant Parmesan . . . you know you like my Eggplant Parmesan."

"I really do, Booth." Brennan smiled and once she was alone, turned back towards her PC and continued to answer emails.

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