(Season 11)

I watched 'The Doom in the Boom' the other day and this story idea popped into my head. This story is mostly fluff.

I don't own Bones.

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Booth and Brennan were already at the diner when Aubrey entered the building. Once he was sitting across from them at their table, he signaled for the waitress and placed an order for lunch. "A cup of coffee and a BLT."

Surprised at the small order, Booth placed his cup down and stared at his friend. "Are you sick?"

"Sick?" Aubrey shook his head and protested. "Why do you think I'm sick? Do I look sick?"

"I don't know . . . a cup of coffee and a BLT." Booth chuckled at the idea of such a small meal. "That's not enough for a snack let alone a meal . . . for you I mean. I'm not a human garbage disposal unit like you are."

Irritated, Aubrey leaned back against his chair. "I have a high metabolism. It's a blessing and a curse."

"Have you already eaten?" Brennan noticed that Aubrey hadn't really answered the question and she was growing concerned for his well-being.

Unable to avoid the conversation, Aubrey sighed. "Okay, look, I'm a little off my feed right now. I went home last night and found out my apartment wasn't habitable. A pipe broke in my kitchen and flooded my apartment. The carpet is ruined and so are the lower sections of the walls. A lot of furniture is damaged and I don't have anywhere to live right now. The building owner is going to have to do a lot of major repairs and he doesn't have any empty apartments he can let me use. I have renters insurance, but that's going to take some time. I saved what stuff I could and I loaded up my car. I put some stuff in a storage unit too, but it's just a mess."

"Oh well, you can stay with us until your apartment is fixed." Brennan saw a problem and now it was fixed.

Except Booth didn't think so. "No, no, wait a minute."

"Thanks, but I don't want to be in the way, I guess I can find a cheap hotel or sleep in my car or something."

"Nonsense, we have room." Brennan felt Booth kicking her foot, but she refused to look at him. "Christine can sleep on a cot in Hank's room and you can sleep in Christine's bedroom. She won't mind. She likes to sleep on a sleeping bag in Hank's room at least once a week. If you don't want to use Christine's room you can sleep in my office. It has a day bed in it. Booth has slept on it a few times and it does have an ergonomic mattress."

"Bones . . . remember Sweets." Booth was not happy about what was happening. Not at all. "He was with us for three months."

Brennan sighed and turned to look at her husband. "Yes, I remember. I really enjoyed having him with us. He took such good care of Christine plus he made excellent blueberry muffins. He never did give me his recipe and now . . . anyway, yes, I do remember. What's your point?"

Resigned to the inevitable, Booth picked up his cup of coffee and finished it off. "I guess I don't have a point."

Not sure what was going on, Aubrey looked at Booth and then Brennan. "So am I staying with you or not? I'm a little confused."

Muttering under his breath, Booth looked at the window to his left "Yeah, welcome to the club."

"It means you are more than welcome to stay with us." Brennan smiled at their friend. "You can't really live in your car. You're a Federal Agent. You have a certain gravitas that you must maintain and you can't do that living as a homeless person. Also, you can stay with us because we're friends and that's what friends do for each other."

"Thank you." Aubrey was happy that he had found a place to stay, but he knew when he got back to the Hoover he'd better check with Booth to make sure he was okay with it. The man was his partner, his boss and his friend and there was no way he was screwing that up. Booth didn't trust very many people as it was and it had taken the man a year to really consider him a friend. The man actually treated him like a younger brother and Aubrey didn't want to ruin that relationship. He didn't have any family as it was.

"You're welcome." Brennan watched as the waitress delivered her bowl of lentil soup and Booth's meatloaf and mash potatoes. After a spoonful of her soup was eaten, Brennan noticed that Booth hadn't picked up his fork. "Isn't that what you ordered?"

Aggravated with his wife, Booth picked up his fork and poked the slab of meat. "Yeah. I guess." After slicing off a corner of the meat slab, he shoved it in his mouth and chewed it slowly. Ready for a next bite, his phone rang and Booth answered it. The call was inconsequential and Booth wasn't sure why he'd been called, but he chose to use it as a way to escape the table. The call ended, he placed his phone in his pocket. "I have to go." Booth stood up, leaned over, kissed Brennan and left.

Once Booth was gone, Aubrey pulled Booth's abandoned plate towards him. "Can't let perfectly good meatloaf go to waste." Raising his hand, Aubrey gestured at the waitress nearby. "Hey, can I get some bread and butter and maybe a small order of grilled mushrooms . . . no make it a large order." The agent, picked up his BLT. "Mushrooms are good on meatloaf. That's how my mother made it anyway."

Puzzled why Booth hadn't explained what was so urgent that he would just leave, Brennan waved the waitress back over. "Please make a hamburger and an order of sweet potato fries and place it in a to go container." Once the waitress acknowledged the order, Brennan informed Aubrey. "That order is for Booth. He needs to eat. I don't like him to skip meals."

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Placing the bag of food on Booth's desk, Aubrey sat down. "Brennan ordered that for you."

While Booth opened the bag and pulled out the contents, Aubrey broached a much needed topic of conversation. "Is it okay with you that I stay at your house? You never really said yes, in fact it kinda of looked like you didn't want me to."

His burger unwrapped, Booth's stomach gurgled and he smiled. "Bones wants you to stay so that's fine with me. She has a big heart and she can't stand to see her friends suffer or anything if she can fix the problem."

Aubrey nodded his head. "She is pretty generous. Thanks for letting me stay with you guys. I appreciate it. I wasn't really kidding about sleeping in my car. I can do it if I have to."

"Nah." Booth swallowed his bite of burger. "You can stay as long as you need to. We've done it before with Sweets. It'll be fine . . . oh, you can't use my tub. You have to use the tub in the main bathroom. My bedroom bathroom is off limits."

"Uh, yeah not a problem." Not sure why he'd want to use Booth's tub, Aubrey gave his friend an odd look. "A man's bathroom is sacred."

Pleased that Aubrey understood the situation, Booth smiled and picked up a sweet potato fry. "See this . . . I like regular potatoes, but Bones wants me to eat healthier so sometimes she orders me stuff I wouldn't normally order. I eat it because it's usually okay and I can live with it. She does those things out of love."

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Aubrey felt like Booth was sending him a message, but he wasn't getting the signal.

"No message." Booth sighed. "No message at all. Just a personal observation that's all. If you get anything from it then good."

"Okay." Aubrey now knew that Booth was sending him a message, but damned if he knew what it was. Damn it!

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Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.