This is my first BONES fanfic. I obviously do not own BONES because if I did, Brennan and Booth would totally have already gotten together. Hope you enjoy, and please comment!!

Temperance Brennan sat in front of her computer screen, her face an eerie shade of pale blue. If Seeley Booth had been looking at her face in a photograph, instead of in person, he would think she'd been found dead, held down in a body of water. He shook the thought from his head. "Hey, Bones, how's my favorite partner?"

"Please tell me you brought coffee? The coffee pot in my apartment's broken, and the one here has been for a week..."

He smiled as he pulled the cup from behind the door, "Angela called to warn me you just were not yourself without this crap..."

She sighed as she took a large sip from the steaming styrofoam, "Thank God for best friends," she muttered, returning to her computer. Booth gave her a hurt look, "And..."

"What?"

"And thank God for partners who stop and wait for fifteen minutes in a ridiculously long line to be greeted by people who don't know what a "Large Black Coffee" is, just so that his partner can be in a slightly better mood!" Booth's eyes grew wide for a split second before returning to normal. He had not meant to do that, to say those things. It really wasn't out of his way, that "brand name" coffee shop, and it really didn't bother him that much to do favors for her. It made him happy, really. Something about that morning, however, wasn't sitting right with Special Agent Seeley Booth, and he had a feeling the day was going to get much worse before it got any better.

"I heard you're about to start your period, sorry man, I know how tough it is on you ladies..." Hodgins grinned as he patted Booth on the shoulder.

"You do realize I have a gun, right? I mean, I don't just lock it in my car when I come in here..."

Hodgins laughed, "My mistake, sir. Please continue..."

Booth scanned his card and took his place beside Tempe, trying not to be too close. Ever since his little outburst, his cry for appreciation, he hadn't been able to apologize to her. He'd tried, really, but she was good at evasion. "What've we got...?"

"Caucasian female, aged 18-24. Blunt force trauma, but the cause of death was multiple stab wounds to her back. This mark here? This is where the knife literally severed her spinal cord..."

"So she was paralyzed?" Booth immediately regretted his interruption when he felt Temperance's icy glare practically eating away his flesh.

"I was getting to that. Can I finish?" Booth nodded, and she continued, "I've got Zack narrowing down weapons, Angela's working on facial recontruction, and Hodgins is analyzing soil samples and a few of the specimen we found with the body."

"So she was stabbed to death, and then hit on the head..."

"No, she was definetly hit on the head first. See this bleeding on the inside of her skull? If she were dead before being hit on the head, there would be no bleeding. Whoever did this knocked her out from behind, and then when she was down, stabbed her repeatedly. They really wanted her dead.."

"How do you..."

Tempe sighed, pointing to the wound marks in the bone, "The motion of the blade went downwards at a 36 degree angle. If she wasn't already on the floor, the killer would've had to have been well over 7 feet tall."

Booth nodded, "Are we going to talk about this?"

"I thought we just did..." She began to walk away, back towards her office.

Booth grabbed her elbow, holding her back for a split second, "I meant about this morning.."

"I don't want to talk about it, Seeley. Can I please finish my paperwork?" She yanked her arm from his grasp and spun on her heel.

Angela watched the scene unfold from the platform, hearing every word. And, of course, she thought she knew exactly what had happened. Excited, she rushed to an obviously distraught Booth.

"So it finally happened?" She squealed, "Tell me everything!"

"What are you talking about, Ang?"

"You and Brennan, you guys finally got that you're not just partners, right?" She paused, the smile fading from her face as she saw a wave of confusion cloud his eyes. "Damn, I knew it was too good to be true..."

"Wait, what did you mean by that?"

"Oh come on, you have to know, Booth. You both can't be that clueless!" She sighed, touching his arm, "You guys are in love with each other. It's a shame that you can't even see it, when all of us can. Except maybe Bren..." She smiled a sad, lonely smile, the kind of smile you'd expect someone who held the world on her shoulders to have. He stared after her for a long time, thinking about the things she'd said... Of course he knew he was in love with Bones! It's absurd to think he'd not know, after all they were his feelings. However, Angela didn't say "you're in love with Tempe", she said something different. she said they were in love with each other...

Tempe was holding her head in her hands when Hodgins walked in. "Want to talk about it?" He asked as he sat down.

"Oh, hey..." Tempe wiped her eyes in frustration. She hadn't known how long he'd been there, but hopefully he hadn't heard her crying, and didn't see her wipe her eyes.

"Seriously, what's wrong Bren?" Hodgins knealt next to her, looking into her eyes. After the Grave Digger incident, the two had a strong bond that hadn't been there before. He took her hand tentatively, "You can talk to me..."

"It can't be good for you to be in that position..." She smiled, but a tear slipped down her cheek, giving her away. "Jack, please get up, okay? You're still healing..."

"Fine, come sit on the couch with me then." He led the way, still holding her hand. "Talk to me, Brennan. You're crying, do you know how much that scares me? The only other time I've seen you cry was..." He trailed off--he still wasn't up to talking about that incident, and he knew she would understand. "I just want to know what's got you worked up. Maybe I can help... and if I can't... maybe talking about it will make you feel better about it."

Tempe sighed. She knew he was right, and she did really want to talk about it. She'd tell Angela, she wanted to, but she knew Angela wouldn't let it go. "I'm in love, Jack. And it is killing me..." she wiped the tears that seemed to come from nowhere, "because he's my partner, and I'm not supposed to do this! I'm supposed to be strong and independent, not weeping and emotional! And if I tell him, I will lose him, because he's with Cam..." She slapped her forehead, "No one's supposed to know about that... I can't think when I'm like this, Jack!"

He smiled and hugged her, "Our Brennan's growing up..." he laughed with her. "It's normal to feel like this when you're in love. And you couldn't lose Booth if you tried."

"But how do you know? How could you possibly know?"

"I happen to know that he's in love with you, too. It's obvious, when you think about it. All the things he's done to rescue you, to save you... I would do the same thing for Angela. So he's obviously head over heels, stupid-crazy in love... He's a smart guy. He would throw in the towel with Cam in a heartbeat if he knew you felt the same."

"We had a fight this morning. Over a damned cup of coffee!"

"What happened?"

"Ang called him to tell him that I was horrible without coffee, so he stopped and got me some. He told me about Ang calling him, and I said 'Thank God for best friends', and he got mad at me, started saying "What about me? I did this waited in line, etc.", and I meant him! I meant, Thank God for Ang who called him and Thank God for Booth, who went and got me coffee... This is absurd..."

"It's pretty ridiculous. Just... do yourself a favor, and talk to him. It's probably killing him, too, you know?"

She hugged him tightly. "Thanks, Jack. You're a good friend."

"I know..." he laughed, helping her stand up, "Unless you want Booth to worry, though, you should wait a few minutes to find him."

"Worry?"

"It's obvious you've been crying, Brennan..."

"Thank you, again..."

"See you on the platform?"

"Of course... but don't tell Angela just yet. I should do that..." He nodded and left, heading for his office. Tempe felt her head begin to throb, and knew she couldn't wait to tell Booth what was going on.

sorry for the no cliffhanger... hopefully I'll update by tomorrow... :D