Bones stood looking dumbstruck, first at Jim then at Sam. He started to say something, but there were no words, nothing that his head could put together that made sense. He closed his eyes, not looking at Sam for a moment, couldn't, didn't know what to say.

After a few minutes he finally spoke. "Jim, we haven't even talked or anythin' 'bout this. Hell, I don't know... " His eyes sought out Sam'a but he couldn't see them, so he turned back to Jim. "I love you," he told him, "and I care 'bout him, a lot." It was too soon to know any more than that.