(After The Change in the Game)

A new story. I hope you like it.

I don't own Bones.

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"Bones, you're never going to guess what I overheard in the parking garage at the Hoover." Booth closed the front door behind him, removed his jacket and draped in on the back of one of the chairs in the dining room. "There's a pool about us."

Not sure she understood what Booth was talking about, Brennan left the kitchen to confront her boyfriend. "A swimming pool with our name on it? Why . . ."

Amused, Booth chuckled as he leaned over to kiss her. "Not a swimming pool . . . a betting pool." He liked the kiss and felt he needed more. Pulling her against his body, he initiated a kiss that Brennan escalated into a breath taking moment. Once they were truly breathless and their lips finally parted, Brennan patted his chest. "A betting pool about what exactly?"

Pleased with Brennan's welcome home kiss, Booth released his hold on her and nodded at the kitchen. "I'll explain while we cook dinner. I'm hungry." As he followed Brennan into the kitchen, Booth explained about the pool. "I overheard Charlie talking to Agent Burnside . . . They have a pool going on about when we're going to get together . . . you know as a romantic couple."

Irritated with the news, Brennan huffed. "People find too many ways to waste valuable time and money. Gambling is bad enough, but to wager when we're going to get together is just ridiculous and no one's business but ours."

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth grabbed the cutting board from the cabinet and started chopping vegetables for salad. "I think we have a great opportunity for a great prank here . . . if you want to go along with it."

Curious, Brennan removed the lid from the pot on the stove, checked her bok choy soup and gave it a quick stir. "What kind of prank?" She didn't consider herself very good at jokes or pranks even if she did keep trying. "What will it entail?"

"Well, I'm thinking it would be cool if we don't tell anyone about us being together for as long as possible." Booth grabbed a bell pepper from the fridge, lopped off the top and removed the seeds. "I know we were going to tell everyone next week, but why should we? If they have a pool then someone is going to profit from this and I don't want them to. We just keep quiet about us and when they finally do find out we don't confirm the date when we got together. It'll create chaos with the pool. Get it? It's funny and it'll teach them a lesson about sticking their noses in our business."

Her hand rubbing a small circle on her still flat stomach, Brennan frowned in thought. "But, I'm pregnant and Angela already knows we're together."

"No she doesn't." Booth waved his knife in the air then turned back to the cutting board and started to chop up celery. "You told her we slept together after the English Squintern died, but you told me that you didn't tell her we're a couple, so that's covered and you're not showing yet. When it becomes obvious then the chaos will begin . . . Come on, it'll be funny."

She didn't really see the humor in the situation, but if Booth thought it would be funny then she would like to make him happy and go along with his plan. Perhaps the humor would reveal itself in the end. "Alright, but Angela has been asking me about us and when we are going to commit to a monogamous relationship. I haven't told her yet, because I thought we were going to make a formal announcement. I believe that is the socially acceptable way of doing it."

Using his knife, Booth pointed at her stomach. "Since when do we do anything the conventional way? We do everything ass backwards as far as I can tell."

"Well yes, we do seem to defy social convention." Brennan thought about it for a minute. "Perhaps it will be amusing after all."

"That's my girl." Booth tossed his cut up vegetables in a large bowl with some romaine lettuce and felt his salad was almost ready. "I think this would be better with bacon in it."

"Booth!" Brennan exhaled deeply. "You promised to eat a meatless dinner tonight."

Booth shrugged his shoulders and stared at the colorful salad. "How about some bacon bits? They aren't really meat. It's just some soy shit that sort of tastes like bacon. It would still be vegetarian."

Her nose wrinkling, Brennan shook her head. "Bacon bits are disgusting. If you wish to use them in your salad I suppose that would be alright, but I don't want them in my salad. "

Grateful for the reprieve, Booth grabbed the bacon bits from the fridge. "Thank God for pretend meat. My taste buds would go on strike if they didn't taste at least something that tasted like meat on my tongue."

Rolling her eyes, Brennan checked on her risotto and knew that changing her boyfriend's diet was likely to fail, but she'd keep trying. It was her goal to make sure he lived as long as possible.

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Hodgins had recently placed another bet with Charlie at the DC about the Booth and Brennan 'couple' pool and he was quite certain he was going to win that pool. Angela had let it slip that Booth and Brennan had already slept together and he was certain there was no way they weren't a couple yet. He just wished they would make an announcement so he could collect his winnings. Of course if more wagers were added to the pot it would just make it that much sweeter. He loved it when he won. It didn't matter what he was winning whether it was a wager or an award, he just liked it when he was right and everyone else was wrong.

Observing Booth leaving Brennan's office, Hodgins decided to see what was happening with the crime-fighting couple. "Hey Booth, hold up."

Not in a hurry to be anywhere, Booth stopped and waited for Hodgins to jog across the hallway to join him. "What do you want?"

"I just thought I'd say hi and um . . . how are you doing lately?" Hodgins knew he couldn't just right come out and ask what he wanted to know, but he thought he could be subtle. "Anything new in your life . . . a promotion, maybe you're dating someone."

Careful to keep the amusement off of his face, Booth scowled instead. "My private life is private bug boy. When are you going to learn that?"

"I know, I was just being a friend." Hodgins wasn't sure how to get around Booth's privacy hangup, but he thought maybe a push here and there might help. "I have a friend I can hook you up with. She's beautiful, 30 years old, single, no kids and she's got a great job. She's a neurosurgeon. I think you'd like her."

Booth was well aware that Hodgins was on a fishing trip and he was trying to force his hand, but Booth knew how to play the game. "Nah, I'm not dating right now. I'm giving myself a break. When I'm ready I'm going to make sure I'm not dating a freaking genius. I'm not interested in dating anyone that makes me look as dim as a 40 watt light bulb anymore. I'm done with that. When it's time I'm going to find an average woman with an average job like me. Get it?"

A little alarmed with Booth's answer, Hodgins frowned and tried to figure out if Booth was playing him. There was no way Booth wasn't interested in Brennan and Hodgins didn't want to buy what Booth was selling. "You have a type man . . . Dr. Brennan is your type, smart beautiful independent women. You would never be satisfied with anyone other than Dr. B."

A fierce scowl crossed the Agent's face which made Hodgins step back. "Look Hodgins, don't think for a minute you know me. You just think you know me." Booth stepped up the intimidation which he knew he was very good at. "You mind your business not mine and we'll both continue to be friends, got it?"

His stomach was fluttering in fear and Hodgins wasn't sure he should press Booth any further. "Um, yeah, sure. I was just trying to help. A man like you and not dating seems a shame . . ."

"A man like me?" Booth knew what Hodgins was talking about and he was actually flattered, but this was a game that Booth intended to win. "I do fine and I definitely don't need the help of a squint to find dates." Booth decided he needed to leave. The look on Hodgins' face made him want to laugh and that would ruin what he was trying to achieve. God he's so easy.

Once Booth left the Lab, Hodgins rubbed his lower arms trying to press the hair on his arms down. He really liked Booth, but sometimes the man scared the hell out of him.

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"Babe, I don't think Booth and Dr. B are in a relationship after all." Hodgins leaned against her doorway and studied the way Angela reacted to the news. Anger and disappointment mixed in with disbelief were most of the feelings that the entomologist picked up. "I talked to Booth and I thought I could get him to let something slip, but that didn't work so I offered to find him a date. Man his reaction . . . he was pissed. He said he's done with independent genius women and when he starts dating again he's going to date average women with average jobs like him. That doesn't sound like he's with Brennan at all."

Disgusted that Brennan and Booth seemed to be fighting the inevitable, Angela stared at the painting she had just finished of Michael Vincent and thought about the situation. "I don't get it. I just don't understand. They slept together. My God they slept together. What's it going to take to make those two see that . . . I just don't know what to do."

Hodgins moved into the room and over to where his wife was sitting. "Maybe they just aren't meant to be together. Maybe they just want to be friends."

Not willing to allow that to happen, Angela shook her head. "No that isn't right. They're at their best when they're together. They were so happy the day after they slept together . . . I mean, yes they were sad that Vincent was dead, but Brennan was happy and she's still happy . . . I think there is more to this than meets the eye. There has to be."

"Maybe, but you didn't talk to Booth." Hodgins sat down on the chair next to her chair. "He scared the shit out of me when I offered to fix him up. He . . . he was pretty ugly about it."

Angela reached out and grasped her husband's hand. She had never met a couple of people that were so determined to keep each other at a distance and it was so damn frustrating.

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Let me know if this is any good. Thanks.