The Id in the Bones

A/N: I've always had an issue with Bones calling psychology with a soft science. I guess this is my one-shot in response to it. I wish I had highlighted more psychological work, but if I continue this, then I probably will. Granted, it is not my area of interest, but I know enough and am good enough at research to support the topics.

On a seperate note, I will be updating Cloths of Heaven within a week or so. I had been stuck with the plot, but I've reached a good point where I can progress. Please read that as I've written a few seperate scenes and finally figured out how to connect them. Thank you for your patience. Good night, and good luck.

I0I

He watched them enter, well more or less watched her. He had been off tilt since they had started coming into his office, and really he was at his wits end about it.

"We're going to try something different today." They both rolled their eyes, and he could not help the smile at their discomfort. So often through their surrogate relationship, they were able to get people to bend to their whim. Or rather, Booth was able to get people to bend a bit toward what Dr. Brennan wanted.

"More role playing? You know I hate that Sweets." Of course Booth was the one to speak up first. Drawing attention away from the defensive stance his partner held.

"No, we are going to talk about the cultural significance of emotion." This sparked both of their stares, Dr. Brennan's being the more intrigued, Booth daring him to push.

Sometimes, security had to be released before you could become safer. Or at least, that was how he believed it worked.

"Dr. Brennan, what can you tell me about Margret Mead?" Undoubtedly, one of the more influential cultural anthropologists of her time, she knew who Mead was.

"Mead was a cultural anthropologist, who worked with Samona tribes, the Arapesh, Mundugamor, and the Tchambuli," She looked between the two of them before continuing, checking as if Booth would be comfortable most likely. "She dealt with social-sexual issues, determining sexual activities were very common. Her findings were centered around incestuous relationships helped by them, as well as woman forgoing traditional marriages for casual sex." Sweets smiled lightly at the uncomfortable look that crossed Booth's face as he shifted in his seat. It was probably best to move onto the next topic, because it seemed like she was ready to go into depth about the

"What about Paul Ekman?" Her look was more of confusion now, like she was unsure of her statements that were about to follow.

"He was a psychologist, whose theory was about the universal nature of emotions." Booth moved to face her, putting one arm behind her on the couch and another on her knee.

Sweets caught a look in Booth's eye, slightly surprised to see the man had figured out what was going to happen. He hadn't even looked over at the stack of papers on his desk, which awaited both of them.

"He conducted a study that supported the idea of six basic emotions that are recognized across cultures." Brennan turned to look at Booth, who had completed the answer. Sweets knew that Booth would recognize the name: Ekman had spoken to the FBI on several occasions on the subject of deception. Emotion played a large role in determining deceptive behavior, or at least that is what Ekman believed. "Happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, disgust, and anger."

"Contempt has recently been recognized as the seventh, but you are correct." Sweets leaned back, taking the moment to watch Dr. Brennan. This would be a moment that could make or break their professional relationship. Their personal relationship could follow a similar pattern. "What I want to know is if you knew how he came to that conclusion?"

"From what I remember, he interviewed the Fore people of Papua New Guinea." Brennan shifted closer to Booth, moving back into his arm on the couch. Her posture remained rigid, and Sweets could tell that he needed to tread lightly at this point.

"Do you agree with the assessment?" She nodded, though it was slow and obviously difficult for her to accept.

"What's the point of this, Sweets? Why does what Ekman did matter?" Booth snapped at him. He spotted the technique of drawing the attention to himself. Sweets had known the agent to do so many times in the past, in an effort to protect the good doctor. He also knew that she would spout techno-babble at times to draw the attention to herself, or state things so bluntly, everything else had to be ignored. Including her partner.

So people for who watched the forest, they were so blind to the trees.

He wanted them to see what he, and likely anyone who met them, did. The point of his book on their surrogate relationship would be lost if they did not realize how much more they could have with each other. First step, however, was getting Brennan to recognize that that psychology had much to offer as a science.

"Ekman did not just interview the Fore people, nor did he just show them pictures of American faces." Sweets moved to look at Booth, who had settled to glaring at him, as if willing his head to explode before he finished speaking. It probably was a life saving move to focus on Brennan who still looked confused and a little lost. "He also presented American people images of the Fore people, providing culturally similar stories and asked them to identify the emotions."

"His findings were supported by other anthropologists." Brennan looked between the two of them, before letting her hair create a veil over her face. Booth's arm had moved off the couch and was now protectively around her.

"His findings was supported by psychological experiments, Dr. Brennan." She flinched at this, and Sweets knew he was reaching the point that would get through to them. "Experiments founded in the scientific method that you also support." He took the silence for her absorbing the information, and the glare from Booth as telling him to back off. But he needed her to admit that his science was valid, so that she could benefit from his conclusions. A conclusion that could only bring more stability to her life, something he knew she desperately craved.

"Now, I admit, psychology is a young science, less then a hundred and fifty years ago. But that does not mean that the people who conduct the research in the field are not serious about the scientific method." Sweets leaned back in his seat, grabbing the stack of papers on his desk. He placed them on the coffee table, getting a little satisfaction out of Booth's groan.

"As a clinical psychologists, I use the research of others, similar to you Dr. Brennan, as you use the research of others primarily in your development of theories in the field."

"What does that got to do with these?" Booth waved the hand on Brennan's knee at him, keeping the one behind her on her shoulder. It looked like that she was still in shock or at least processing what he had said for the moment.

"I want you to read a few papers. Some are selections from books published in the area of relationships, others are studies done on relationships."

"Why do you want us to read us this stuff?" Booth was the one to speak, but Brennan reached for them before settling back in his protective stance. She did not notice his actions, or if she did, she had taken them for granted. Part of his efforts here to today were to get her to understand how much value she placed on Agent Booth's work, and effort.

"I want you to read it, and understand how important your relationship is, to not only yourself, but others around you as well. To do that, you need to recognize the type of relationship that you have."

"Why? What does it matter what type of relationship we have?" Brennan looked between the two of them, and when her eyes were not on him, Booth seemed to be willing him not to go any further, to not talk about what Booth had figured out.

"It matters as relationships, just like people, evolve over time. If you want to appreciate what I wrote about the two of you, then you have to understand that I did so from an objective standpoint, with some of this," he motioned toward the stack of paper in front of them, "as the research I used to develop my conclusions about you."

"What does it matter? This is the reflection of a Western modern culture-"

"Which you live in, Dr. Brennan, that you primarily interact with on a day to day basis. This is your culture, and this is how the rest of the culture views the world as well." He sat back in frustration, trying to figure out how to get her to understand.

"Dr. Brennan, I want you to explain to Booth what enthocentrism is." He knew that the two of them responded to information gained from the other, over information just given to them by outside sources. The further outside of their tight circle, the more difficult it was to impact them with information. Sweets knew he was treading in deep waters, but he had to try.

"Okay," she shifted more, so that her entire body faced Booth. The dynamic between them was terrifying as it was wonderful. He knew how terrifying it was because he had seen it when she threatened to tell Booth about his unethical experiment. An experiment he regretted to this day.

But he was able to see the wonder in it now, the subtle touches the two of them shared, the progression from friends into more than just colleagues and co-workers. He had told the truth to Booth about the CAT scans, because he did believe it was a manifestation of his coma dream. A manifestation of his dormant desires and beliefs. Booth deserved so much more then he allowed himself, and only Brennan was able to get through to him.

Hence the asking for patience before diving into everything. Not because he was ready and Brennan wasn't. But because neither of them were ready to face the strength behind everything.

"When you look at a culture from your point of view, instead of through theirs." Booth said before she could speak. His casual shoulder shrug and smile at her brought a smile on Sweets face as well. "I listen to you."

"I never thought you didn't." Her words were whispered, and Sweets knew she had never consciously thought that he did not pay attention to her words, but subconsciously? He believed there was still that lost little girl, trapped in the trunk of a car, begging to be heard and saved.

The look of endearment on Booth's face was enough for him to realize that Booth had come to the same conclusion. Or at least half of the conclusion.

The other half, the part that Brennan held to, was that Booth needed someone to protect him as well. Because although he stepped in to prevent others from being hurt, he never had someone step in for him. Not until her, and her clumsy, yet endearing manner.

"So what does that have to do with psychology? It deals with anthropology?" Booth asked, letting Brennan rest a moment.

"Do you know what cultural relativism is, Agent Booth?" He shrugged his shoulders, a delaying response that neither acknowledged his knowledge nor his ignorance of the term. A self defense mechanism that Dr. Wyatt had warned him about.

"Roughly, it means to view the culture through its own terms and devices," Brennan said. "It is considered the most appropriate and best way to interact with cultures, without criticism of their beliefs from an outside perspective."

"Okay, that makes sense. How else would you get reasonable information and cooperation from the natives." Booth's intelligence often was cast to the way side, with himself doing most of the casting. He was good at making people underestimate him, and really, Sweets knew he had fallen prey to the man's talents more than once. It hadn't been until Dr. Wyatt had pointed it out to them while on a case, that he began to see how much he downplayed his abilities.

"Exactly Booth. I want both of you to read these as if you were cultural anthropologists. I want you to read this from a culturally relativist stance." He tapped the stacks of research, looking at both of them. "You may not agree with what you find, but I want you to respect the fact that these researches and theorists took their time to come to these finds."

"You want me to trust the theories of psychologists?" Brennan's confidence seemed to be returning as Booth's hand ran silent shapes over her shoulders. Sweets doubted that either of them knew what he was doing, or the comfort that he was bring to her. It was natural, and he felt like a voyeur at times, watching them interact.

Still, forward progress was often met with challenge.

"No, I want you to question it, look for flaws, and come back to discuss it with me. You never accept things on blind faith, why should I expect you to accept this?"

"He's got a point Bones."Booth finally picked up his stack of papers, flipping through them. "You know, there a quite a few of these." Sweets let out a sigh, knowing that this is going to bite him somehow. "I mean, I'm not a fast reader by any means."

"And I am going to have to do a lot of background research to confirm any of my questions." Brennan picked up his tactic, and the two of them turned into that amazing double team that solved so many cases. And managed to get out of so many sessions with him.

"Plus we've got to discuss them afterward, maybe come up with a few questions to ask about them." The two of them shared a smile, one that could have meant anything to an outsider.

But to him, their psychologist, Sweets knew that the smile was their way of unconsciously showing their support for one another. They worked on such an unconscious level that he wondered how they had progressed forward at times.

Sweets leaned back in defeat, knowing both that the successful step forward and the step back the two of them just took was going to be worth it once they realized the depths of their feeling. Their ability to work together was never in question when he evaluated it. What was a question, was what could happen if they failed to communicate the depth of the feelings for one another. That was the only scenario that he saw where he would need to recommend a dissolution of their partnership.

Even then, he doubted he could bring himself to sign off on the paperwork. The two of them worked so well together, it made others want to work just as hard, if not harder, to match their level of commitment to the case and each others.

"Then I'll schedule our next appointment for two weeks from today." Sweets looked at them both, and they nodded, finding it acceptable that they got out of at least two sessions the following week. The most likely scenario was the two of them would not be here for another month, but he could wait.

He may have started the game late, and stuck on the sidelines as the two of them boxed around each other, but he was patient, if nothing else. While others were willing to give them ancedotes and tales of how much they loved each other, he gave them the facts that they could build off of, to build something worth living for.

He gave them facts, knowledge that others had been building upon for decades. These were things they could find comfort in, as the facts were truth. An important value for them both.

They left without a goodbye, but that was their way. And he realized that the others, including himself, believed you had to convince one partner at a time. Maybe it was for the best that they worked together on this, just like they always did.