A/N -- I've read fanfic for quite a while, but never written. Please be gentle, I may never write again after this, but I had to give it a try, if for no other reason, but to meet the requirements to be a Beta. Sorry if this is cheesy or out of character. I welcome constructive criticism and I can tolerate regular criticism. I put on my big girl pants today.

Disclaimer--I don't own Bones or any of the characters. This story is strictly for entertainment purposes.

It had truly been a long, hard summer for Temperance Brennan and the staff of the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal lab. Temperance herself was used to overcoming hard situations, but some of the others were not. This "hard" time had begun with Booth's death / undeath. They had literally watched the life flow out of the center of their group on the floor of the Checkerbox Restaurant that spring evening. The team then had to lay Booth to rest. Ironically, they found out that day, that he wasn't dead. After watching Brennan knock him flat only a few feet away from his would be grave, the team wondered if things would ever be the same between this dynamic duo.

Unfortunately, they barely had time to contemplate the ramifications of Booth's undeath before they were faced with another death of sorts. Their friend and coworker, Zack Addy made a choice that would change their team forever. As Hodgins put it, "He joined forces with a serial killer who was the last in a long line of cannibalistic murders specializing in knocking off members of secret societies and building skeletons out of their body parts."

Following that event, things seemed to stabilize for the group; they were working as effectively as ever, even if Brennan was playing musical grad students. Then, toward the end of the summer, the group once again experienced a change with the break up of Angela and Hodgins. Things were quite stressed for a while, but after a few weeks, they seemed to find a balance and were working effectively again despite a very grumpy Hodgins and an awkward Angela.

As fall approached, Brennan found herself working long hours, even by her standards. She had narrowed down the field of interns to five, but still didn't trust any of them to make decisions without her. Cam subtly encouraged her to let them do more, but she just couldn't do it. None of them were as thorough or as accurate as she was. It wasn't in her nature to allow less than stellar work to leave her lab.

Brennan had put so much on the backburner since Zack left. She had not worked out or gone to karate in over 2 months. While she had lost about five pounds, she was losing her strength and stamina. The ever-observant Angela had noticed and had vowed to get Brennan out of the lab again to go somewhere other than a fresh grave.

One afternoon, Brennan was sitting at her desk attempting to work on her book. She jumped when she heard "Sweetie" from her office door.

"Ange, can't you at least give me some kind of warning before you yell from my office door?" Brennan snipped.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you stare at that computer screen like a 'deer in the headlights'. Maybe, if you weren't so edgy, it wouldn't be so easy to scare you." Angela knew she was being a little harsh, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Deep down, Brennan knew Angela was right. She was sure it was a combination of lack of sleep, stress, and grief for Zack that was getting to her, but she would do everything in her power to deny it. "I'm not edgy, I'm just focused. Did you need something or is this just a social call?" Brennan cut right to the chase.

"A combination" Angela said as she walked into the office and sat on the edge of Brennan's desk. "I was wondering if you would want to go to dinner tonight-girl's night out. We haven't done anything in a while and honestly, you could stand to get out of this office for a while." Angela did her best to appeal to her friend's loving nature and convince her to go.

Brennan smiled and then said, "I can't tonight Ange. I have to finish the paperwork on this Thompson case that Booth and I just wrapped up and then I'm going to try to go back to karate class. I haven't been since. . . since before the Checkerbox." The smile on Brennan's face quickly turned to a more solemn look. She soon realized that this put a damper on Angela's mood.

Trying to quickly put the smile back on Angela's face, Brennan developed a plan and said, "It's Friday night. I was thinking about coming in tomorrow morning to work on some remains from Bone Storage, but I won't stay all day. Would you want to do something tomorrow afternoon?"

Just as Brennan had expected, Angela quickly perked up. "That sounds good. I'll pick you up here at the lab at 1:00. We'll go to lunch and then hit the mall. It's almost fall and I know that some of the stores have their new lines out already."

Brennan dreaded going shopping with Angela. Shopping wasn't something she enjoyed anyway, and Angela was like a machine in the mall. She would go from store to store and hand Brennan piles of clothes to try on. In some ways, Brennan was glad that Angela took care of picking out the clothes for her, but she was always drained by the end of their little excursions.

Even though her mind was dreading the event, Brennan smiled and said, "Sounds great. I'll be ready at 1:00." Angela started to remark that she better not be late, when Brennan's cell rang.

Before Brennan could pick up, Angela grabbed the phone. She noticed that the display said Booth, so she picked up. "Hello studly, I'm assuming this is your 'have you forgotten to eat today? It's 6:00 pm phone call." Ange was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Very funny Angela, put Bones on the phone!" Much to Angela's dismay, it seemed that Booth wasn't in the kidding kind of mood this evening. Before she made him mad, she handed the phone to her best friend.

"What do you want Booth?" Angela was slightly surprised at Brennan's tone. She figured Brennan already knew the questions he would ask and her answers and wasn't really mad at Booth, just slightly frustrated at his alpha male tendencies.

"Yes, I ate lunch and no, I'm not available to meet you at the diner. I'm finishing up the Thompson paperwork now. I'll be finished in the next 15 minutes and I going to leave for karate. After that, I'm planning on going by the grocery store to pick up a few things. I'll grab something for dinner while I'm out. I wouldn't eat before karate anyway." By the end of the short statement, Brennan's tone had changed and she was being nice to Booth. "Have fun with Parker on Sunday and if we don't get a case, I'll just see you on Monday."

There was a pause and then a big smile emerged on Brennan's face. "I know you don't buy organic Booth, but I do. Do you remember what I told you about alligators, or do you need me to tell you about the research study I just read about the correlation between pesticides and …" Her statement stopped, Booth had obviously stopped her from continuing. After that, it was a simple "Have a good weekend, Booth" and she pushed end on her phone.

Brennan then looked up from her desk to see a smirking Angela. "The two of you are something else, Bren. That's all I'm saying. Now, I'll see you at 1:00. You better be ready to leave when I get here. I don't want to have to wait on you when Nordstrom's is calling my name."

Brennan sighed and said, "Good night Angela." Her best friend then turned and silently walked out the office door.

When Angela left, Brennan put the finishing touches on her report for Booth. It had been a relatively straight forward case. The body had been found in a park just outside the district. They had interviewed several and eventually ended up finding trace evidence that linked the victim to her ex-boyfriend's newly painted car. Booth had made the arrest and had even gotten a confession out of the man.

Brennan made a few more clicks and hit the print button. She quickly grabbed the papers of the printer, signed them, and put them in the usual brown folder the Medico Legal lab used. She then tucked the folder in her desk to give to Booth on Monday.

Satisfied that she was at a stopping point, Brennan stood, locked her desk, grabbed her bag and walked briskly to the parking deck. She was somewhat pleased with herself. She was actually leaving by 6:45 and had plenty of time to get to the gym for the 7:00 karate class.

Deep down, she knew she would be rusty, but she had to get back into the sport. It had been her way of life for almost 10 years. She enjoyed sparring and loved the fact that she was able to defend herself. Most of the time, she could take any of the women in her class. She had a feeling that would not be the case tonight, but at least it was the weekend. If she did get knocked off her feet, she would at least have 2 days to recover before everyone else, namely Booth, returned to work on Monday and noticed.

Across town, Booth switched off his phone. He was glad he had been able to stop Bones before she gave him a long diatribe about why organic food was better for you. To be honest, he kind of liked getting her riled up about subjects, but didn't want to hear about pesticides reducing his manhood.

He grinned silently as he thought about Angela's remarks. She was right. He did call Bones to make sure she had eaten every day around 6:00. He did worry about her, she seemed as if she had lost some weight since the events of the spring unfolded, but truthfully, he longed for her company. He knew that he could at least call her about dinner everyday and that would be an excuse to talk to her. He wasn't sure what his feelings were for her, but he did know that he enjoyed being around her. She was his best friend. She had been for quite a while.

Booth put the finishing touches on the report he was working on and stood to leave. As he stood, his cell phone rang. He looked at the display and recognized the number as his boss. "Booth" he answered quickly. "Yes sir. . . No, she's not with me, but I can track her down and get her to come with me. Has the scene been secured and photographed yet? What's the location?" These were all the typical questions he would ask when receiving a call to go to a crime scene. After writing down the location, Booth closed his flip phone and walked out of the office.

He had mixed emotions about the call. On one hand, he was happy that he would get to see Bones before Monday. On the other hand, he hated that he was going to have to go pull her out of karate to go recover a body from a deserted warehouse. One good thing he thought, 'at least it's not a child.'

Booth had tried calling Brennan's cell, but didn't receive an answer, so he figured she was sparring. He had decided to just go get her. Deep down, he liked interrupting her life. She was cute when she was trying to be mad at him.

He walked into her gym and as he expected, she was sparring. A smile developed on his face. He had only gotten to see her fight a few times, but had enjoyed it. 'Hey,' he thought, 'what guy doesn't enjoy a good girl fight?' His grin grew wider at the thought.

As he watched, Brennan knocked her opponent off her feet and then looked over in Booth's direction. She immediately said, "What do you want Booth, I just talked to you an hour ago and I told you I'm not going to the diner."

He flashed her a charm smile and said, "I know, but we have a case." Those four words were music to Brennan's ears. For some strange reason, she had an appetite for cases. She loved finding justice. Booth loved that about her.

As she began to walk to him, he stopped her and said, "Go ahead and finish up, I just talked to Grier, and they are still securing the scene and taking pictures. The locals are just finishing up too, so you have time to spar a little more." Booth silently hoped she wouldn't insist on leaving immediately so he could watch her in action.

"Alright, my instructor wants me to spar with a new student anyway. She just started, and while she's good, she doesn't know all the rules yet. He thinks I will be a good opponent for her since I'm tough and can hold back when needed." She finished her statement and walked back over to the mats.

After a couple of minutes, she stated to spar with the new girl. It was obvious that Brennan was holding back, but the other girl was going at it with everything she had. To Booth, she looked tough. She might have just started karate, but she had done her share of fighting in her life.

Booth looked on, fascinated at what he was seeing. That was "his bones" on the mat fighting. He was grateful to have her as a partner.

As Booth looked on, Brennan planted her left foot and prepared to high kick her opponent. As she prepared, her opponent read her next move and turned towards Brennan's right leg as it approached. She intercepted her kick, pushed her right leg in such a way that it knocked her completely off balance, and caused Brennan to fall to the mat awkwardly.

Booth stood up, he couldn't quite tell if Brennan was alright, but it looked as if all of her weight had shifted to her left ankle and that it had rolled as she fell. Just a few seconds after he stood, he had his answer, she was hurt.

He ran over to her. The instructor was already there, but Brennan didn't acknowledge either of them. She was curled on her left side. She had drawn her left leg up and her right hand was gripping at the mat. Booth knew that she was in pain, but didn't speak. He could tell by the way she was biting her lower lip that she was working to gain her composure. She would speak when she was ready.