A/N - thank you for the reviews of the previous chapter.
After a split second, Angela recovered her wits and began to grin. Hodgins saw her face lighting up out of the corner of his eye and he felt a smile spread across his own features. He loosened his grip on his friends' arms and began rubbing his bearded chin thoughtfully.
Angela took a few steps forward and then turned back to face them, "Come on guys, I think Bren and our resident G-man have some explaining to do."
"Damn right!" Hodgins muttered under his breath, before clapping a still confused looking Zach on the back, "Snap out of it Zach, come on."
Hodgins hurried after Angela, unobtrusively placing his hand on the small of her back as they wound their way through the crowd.
Within moments they were face to face with a blushing forensic anthropologist and a grinning FBI agent, whose arms were still firmly linked around the other's waist.
"Hi guys." Booth said nonchalantly, his familiar cocky grin in place, looking for all the world as though there was nothing unusual about him and Bones kissing.
Temperance added her own more subdued greeting. Then, after a tiny pause, she looked straight at her three friends and dazzled them an uncharacteristically bright and infectious smile.
For Angela, the smile was the final straw. With an excited exclamation, she embraced her best friend and then Booth, before folding her arms, "Well?"
Booth and Temperance exchanged a silent look and shrugged.
Angela tried to glare at them, but her delight in her friends new found understanding made it rather difficult, "Come on..." She pleaded.
"Well Ange, it..." Temperance paused, "it just is."
Booth stifled a laugh at hearing his own lame explanation sounding even less convincing coming from Bones. He was about to speak when Scott, the Exiles' team captain yelled at him to join his team-mates on the pitch where they were waiting.
"Gotta go." He flashed smile at the squints before leaning in towards Temperance.
"Sorry." He whispered in her ear, before kissing her gently on the lips.
They stood back and gazed at each other, oblivious to everything else, "Pob luc, Booth."
He laughed quietly, realising that his linguistic advantage had been short-lived.
"Be careful." She admonished, before reaching up to kiss him.
Scott's shouts from the pitch were getting rather more insistent and Booth reluctantly pulled away. Their hands linked and then slowly falling to their sides. With a brief wave, he turned and jogged onto the pitch.
"Ready for the game?" Temperance asked, her hand gesturing to the pitch as she turned to watch.
"Sure." Angela said making the word sound very uncertain, but moving to stand alongside her friend next to the rope edging the pitch.
Hodgins surveyed the scene and came to a decision, "I need a coffee." He announced. "Angela? Brennan?"
They exchanged a glance and then nodded.
"Your usual?" He queried and got two more nods.
Zach's face was settling into a frown as he listened to the exchange. He was about to say something when Hodgins clapped him on the shoulder again.
"You're with me Zach." Hodgins said, leading Zach away from the other two. Hodgins added in a quiet undertone, "We want gory details, but our best chance is to give Angela some space to wring a confession."
Zach looked nonplussed at the reference to gory details but followed the older man with only a brief, curious backwards glance.
"Game's about to start." Temperance announced brightly, her eyes glued to the pitch, and Booth, who was warming up with the rest of the team by running along the edge of the pitch. After a moment she realised that Angela hadn't said anything and she turned towards her.
Angela still had her arms folded and was looking questioningly at her.
Temperance smiled nervously.
There was another pause, before Angela cracked, "Come on sweetie, the suspense is killing me."
Angela peeled off the bright pink raincoat, which she was wearing but didn't look likely to need, and spread it out on the grass. "Come on, sit down and tell me everything."
Temperance hesitated for a second, thinking, and then realised that actually she did want to speak to someone about her and Booth and the seismic shift that had overtaken their relationship. She nodded slightly and sat down next to her friend.
As he stood in line waiting to be served, Hodgins could occasionally catch a glimpse of Angela or Brennan as the crowds between them shifted and parted. First it was a fleeting image of Angela, arms waving, mouth open in surprise, then the crowds obscured all again. A moment or two later, he caught Temperance, blushing rosily and looking down at her hands with a shy smile, before a boisterous group of children hid them from view again. Finally he saw Angela reach across and clasp her friend's hand, as they shared a quiet moment of reflection.
"Why are we waiting in this queue?" Zach asked, bringing his attention back to the line for drinks.
"We want coffee." He replied.
Zach's forehead scrunched into a frown, "But we walked past two booths with shorter lines."
Hodgins tilted his head on one side, "And, obviously, we're killing time."
"Killing time?" Zach repeated.
For the millionth time Hodgins wondered how he ended up working with two geniuses who could be so dumb, although he had to admit that it looked like Brennan had finally figured things out.
"Yes Zach." He said patiently, "We don't want to rush back before Angela's finished grilling Brennan."
"Oh." Zach responded and nodded slightly.
As he jogged around the pitch, Booth watched Bones slowly opening up to Angela. He was reassured by the gentle smiles and the occasional laugh. In his own mind he began to adjust to the idea that he and Bones were now partners in a whole new sense of the word, as he had wanted for so long.
The warm-up ended and he stood on the 22, not far from where Bones was sat.
She looked up and their eyes met.
They shared a smile.
Partners. Just as they had always been - and now more. Just as they always would be - and who knew who much more.
The end
A/N - Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this story. Hope it was enjoyable.