Mark had kept in touch, his father's condition was much worse than anyone had anticipated and the doctors were treating him as well as they could under the circumstances. Brennan had always breathed a sigh of relief when he'd called her and given her a progress report, and despite the family crisis, he had always managed to let her know how much he missed her and for that she was grateful because the feeling was mutual.

The time apart had given her a lot of time to reflect on their relationship and she had realised that she cared for Mark deeply. He was easy to care for, his manners were easy and his amiable nature and good looks had helped her to forget about her awkward relationship with her partner. During his last call he had asked her to come up to the family home in Massachusetts for a weekend, and not being able to contain her desire to see him she had arranged with Cam that evening to have the following day off through to the Monday, packed a bag and jumped into her car for the drive. In her haste she forgot to inform Angela or Booth of her plans, but she had her cell with her, and she reasoned she wasn't going into the middle of the Congo, she was within reach. It had occurred to her in the car that she should call, but she surmised that they probably wouldn't have contacted her that weekend anyway. She was right.

Mark's family were warm and welcoming, she had been enveloped in his mother's arms before she'd even gotten over the threshold to greet Mark and he'd stood back smiling at her affectionately from the hallway as he watched his mother fuss over her. Despite the uncertainty regarding his father's health, everyone ensured that she felt as comfortable as possible during her stay.

Mark had swept her upstairs to his room, and if his family had suspected why, they were too polite to let on. No longer had the door closed behind them, he'd swept her into his arms and kissed her with all of the longing that he'd felt in her absence, she could do nothing other than smile against his mouth and return his passion. An hour or so later, as they'd laid in each other's arms in bed he'd whispered against her hair all of the things that he'd been thinking about since the last time that he'd held her and for once she'd felt content.

They'd visited his father in the hospital the next day, despite being in a critical condition, the man had insisted on a hug and kiss on the cheek from Brennan and she'd instantly fallen in love with his warm eyes and charm, in fact she'd been sad to leave, but promised another visit soon, something he'd advised he'd hold her to.

But all too soon the weekend was over and Brennan was watching Mark place her bag in the trunk of her car along with various foil wrapped dishes that his mother had insisted she take home with her. It had dawned on her then that it might be some weeks before they would see one another again, by the expression on his face, he had also come to the same realisation. He'd folded her in his arms and kissed her, and then with his forehead against hers he'd told her that he loved her, he'd told her that it was okay if she couldn't say it back, if she could never say it back, but that he wanted her to know. He'd also told her that he didn't know what the next day would bring, he didn't know if they'd last a lifetime, he just told her that right now, in this moment, this is what he was offering. Tears had sprung to her eyes and she had nodded with a smile and a kiss. The words that he spoke would normally have scared her, made her run, but Mark Richards knew how to speak Brennan-language and she felt a thrill when he'd spoken the words. He was offering her something that she could understand. Something that she had begun to think she wanted.

Her heart had been heavy and light all at the same time as she had driven home, despite her happiness at Mark's declaration she had also experienced an unsettling uneasiness that she couldn't place.

A day later, however found Brennan back at the lab and in the middle of the study of an ancient Indian warrior that had been shipped to the Jeffersonian for specialist investigation. In fact that was exactly where Booth had just found her.

"Hey Bones, come on, I'm taking you to lunch." He skipped up the steps to the platform two at a time and swiped his card through the security scanner, his partner however had not yet lifted her eyes from the remains in front of her to acknowledge that she'd even heard him. "Bones…"

"I'm busy Booth, I'll grab something from the cafeteria later." Her brush off wasn't going to deter him, he was determined to get her out into a social setting, he was desperate to repair their friendship, in fact he had deliberately avoided all contact with her over the weekend so that he could take the time to seriously think about how he could make reparations. The truth was, he had surmised that time would be the only solution, and he was determined now to spend every free minute that he could with his partner.

"Bones, I'm not taking no for an answer, now I can stand here and bug you for the next hour which will distract you from your work, or you can come and grab something to eat with me for the next hour and get back to your bones undisturbed…. What do you say?"

She turned to look at him with a thoroughly bemused expression, but at the sight of his charm smile and hopeful eyes she rolled her own in response and began to snap the latex gloves off of her hands. "Fine…. You are incorrigible Booth." He fist pumped the air and started to pull lab coat from her shoulders. "You know Booth, I think that I was far more efficient before we started to work together."

Throwing her lab coat onto the chair beside the examination table he steered her in the direction of her office by the shoulders. "Aw come on Bones, you love me really." He felt her shoulders stiffen under his touch and silently cursed himself, but just as quickly she returned to her normal poise and shrugged his hands off casually. "Uh, I'll get you by the doors Bones." She nodded silently. He watched her disappear for a second and then rubbed a hand over his face with a weary sigh, he knew that he probably hadn't accounted for the amount of time that this would take.

Lunch was easy and natural, both laughed as though there had never been several continents and a blonde reporter between them, fries were stolen and more than once Booth leaned into her personal space and whispered in an all too familiar intimate hush. There was a time that Brennan would have pushed the boundaries and challenged him by leaning back into his space but for some reason it seemed inappropriate so she remained upright in her own chair. Booth asked about her weekend and all too soon wished that he hadn't.

"I went to Massachusetts, Mark asked me to spend the weekend with him and his family." Booth felt a pang in his chest, he'd often envisioned spending a weekend with his partner, grandfather and son, somewhere away from the city. "Mark told me he loves me."

Unfortunately Booth had been taking a sip of his water as those words left Brennan's mouth and he suddenly found himself spluttering and coughing and trying to catch his breath. "He said what?" Brennan handed him a napkin knowing full well that he had heard her. "Isn't that a bit soon, I mean you've only been dating for a couple of months." He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest defensively watching her sit back in her chair and do the same. The realisation struck him though, of course Mark was in love with her, what man wouldn't be, he himself had fallen for her the very moment he'd laid eyes on her.. a notion that she scoffed at, but it didn't make it any less true. "What do you think about that."

Her brows knit together as she considered the question. "I care for him, very much." Her eyes drop from his probing gaze. "I didn't expect to feel so much, but I do. I like him very much."

Booth was silent for another moment, just staring at her and once she determined to meet his eyes he nodded and forced a smile. "Good for you Bones. You deserve to be happy, and Mark…." He let out a sigh. "Mark is an incredibly lucky guy." They both held one another's gaze for a moment, a silent communication that neither could fully interpret taking place which may or may not have brought them to a mutual understanding had they not been interrupted by the untimely appearance of Sweets.

"Hey guys." Booth dragged his eyes from Brennan's to glare at the young psychologist. "You already eaten, can I join you?"

Brennan pushed her chair back and stood up grabbing her coat. "Actually Sweets, I need to get back to the Lab, you can have my chair." Both men watched her silently, Booth surprising them both by reaching across the table and grabbing onto Brennan's fingers to catch her attention.

"Can I drop by later?"

She seemed suddenly discomposed and Sweets watched the exchange with interest, feeling his eyes on them both Brennan nodded mutely and threw down a couple of bills before smiling at them both and making a swift exit. Sweets watched her leave the diner before sliding into her vacated chair and smiling at Booth. "What's going on between you and Dr Brennan?"

"Nothing is going on okay Sweets, Bones and I just need to work on getting our partnership back on track and putting the past behind us."

"What about Hannah?"

Booth suddenly looked pissed and the Psychologist immediately started to regret the question. "Hannah nothing okay, she's out of town right now on a White House tour, I'm taking advantage of the free time to try and work on my partnership."

"Guess it helps that Mark is also out of town right now huh?"

Booth shook his head and stood up smoothing the creases from his suit jacket before leaning menacingly towards his companion. "Stay out of it Sweets, you're the reason that we're in this goddamned mess anyway." Sweets opened his mouth to protest but was silenced by the agent's glare. "Enjoy your lunch Sweets." With that the agent stalked out of the diner leaving the Sweets to slump in his chair and shake his head in defeat.

Sorry it took so long to update, things have been crazy lately. I wanted to keep Mark around for another chapter or two at least, but I also wanted to get Booth onto fixing the mess that he's created. Review if you want to see more.