Disclaimer: Not mine, if you recognize them.

A/N: So, I was listening to James Blunt the other day (hence the summary for the story, it comes from the song "Same Mistake") and this idea sort of came to me. I thought it would be interesting...you might think otherwise but I'll try and have some fun regardless. My first multi-chapter (God willing) "Bones" fic. Obviously set in an AU universe for "The Wannabe in the Weeds." I'm sure this episode has been done to death, beaten and then beaten so more but what can I say...I like tragedy. And I like repetition. So please review, if you feel so inclined! It gives me a reason to check my e-mail.

The Way Things Were

It all happened so fast. Too fast for even someone like Temperance Brennan, brightest in her field, weighted down with accomplishments, to process and understand. It was like she was suddenly living in two different universes; in one (the one she liked) she was on stage (maybe she wasn't too jazzed about that part) she was on stage, belting out "Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun" with all her friends laughing around her, his eyes on her, his smile just for her. And in the other, the one that had suddenly become reality, a shot was ringing out through the club, people were screaming and he was on the ground, in an unnatural way, not the way someone would be if they were simply taking cover. Not that Seeley Booth was the type of man to take cover when there was a shooting anyway.

And from then on, everything went by in a blur. Brennan was aware of things happening only because of what happened afterwards. She must have dropped the microphone and jumped off the stage because she was kneeling on the ground by Booth, holding him in her arms, shouting his name over the screaming and chaos in the club. She must have picked up the gun and shot Pam because the woman was suddenly laying dead against the bar.

Angela was screaming somewhere behind her and different voices were shouting for help, for an ambulance, or just shouting but Brennan was suddenly focused on one thing and one thing only, like a horse with blinders, seeing only what was right in front of her. Booth, bleeding. Booth, gasping for breath. Booth with his eyes wide in confusion and shock and pain and she shouted his name, trying to bring his gaze back into focus. "Booth! Come on!" She put her hands on his shoulders, his neck, his face, holding it steady, forcing him to look into her face. "C'mon Booth, you're going to be all right. Help's on the way." Brennan leaned down to hug him gently, pressing her face against his neck.

When she leaned up again, she could see Booth's lips moving but no sound was coming out. What was he trying to say? It looked almost like her name. "You're going to be all right." Brennan assured him once more but her voice was shaking and she didn't feel like herself at all. She felt like something was squeezing her insides so that she couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't do anything but hold onto him tightly, trying to anchor them both. In her grasp, Booth exhaled deeply and relaxed slightly and Brennan felt her eyes grow wide and her heart jump into her throat but he still breathing, faintly, barely but he still was and that was the important thing.

Brennan was so focused on Booth that she didn't realize that the EMT's had arrived until someone took her from behind, pushing her none-too-gently out of the way. She looked up in surprise, trying to understand what was happening but suddenly there was a wall of EMT's between her and Booth and she was standing on the wrong side of the wall, her hands open, still feeling the warm of his skin. And suddenly Angela was beside her, pulling her into a hug, saying words that didn't connect together in a sentence, wiping away the tears Brennan didn't even know she had. "Oh, Sweetie…Booth…" Angela looked over her shoulder at the scene behind her and then back at Brennan. "Everything's going to be all right." But Angela was crying too and suddenly Brennan felt cold because, for the first time, it was hard to believe what her friend was saying.

The EMT's had Booth on a stretcher now and her wheeling it out of the Checker Box and Brennan tore away from Angela, hurrying after them. Angela was following after her, calling her name but she ignored her friend, hurrying after the stretcher, her eyes settling on Booth. He was white and motionless and there was an EMT holding pressure against the ugly wound in his chest but it was still an angry red and growing redder by the second.

As though altered by her presence, one of the EMT's turned toward her, the others ignoring her and going on. They, too, were wearing a horse's blinders, focused only on Booth. "Ma'am, you're going to have to stay back." His voice was calm but forceful and he held up a hand.

Brennan pointed toward Booth. "I'm going with you." She informed him, going for calm and forceful but her voice just shook and she was suddenly aware of her tears.

The EMT pursed his lips and his eyes settled on something past Brennan before he looked at her once more. "I'm sorry, ma'am. Only family in the ambulance." Again, he caught eyes with someone standing off to her side and gave a faint nod.

"I'm his partner!" Brennan shouted, figuring she might as well give up on calm anyway. "I'm going with you god damnit!" She felt Angela take her arm and realized that the EMT had been luring in her friend to ambush her. She pulled her arm away. "He needs me!"

The expression on the EMT's face was that of someone who dealt with so much tragedy, handled so many grieving loved-ones that he was no longer affected by her words. "We're doing all that we can, ma'am. You can meet us at the hospital." And, as though seeing something in her eyes, softened slightly. "You can be with him then." A shred of hope that wasn't his to give out.

"Come on, Sweetie." Angela's voice was soft, soothing and Brennan turned to look at her. The EMT was gone when she looked back and the ambulance was all ready heading out of the parking lot. "Cam's going to drive." Angela took her hand and led her over to Cam's car, where the other's were all ready waiting. Brennan had never Cam look so pale, so shaken, not even when she was fighting for her life in a hospital bed. "Booth's going to be all right. He's tougher then this."

They drove in silence, though for the first five minutes Zack had started babbling about Booth's injuries and the trajectory of the bullet and other things that would have made sense to Brennan in another time until Hodgins punched him in the arm and unkindly told him to shut up. Brennan rode with Angela's arms around her, as though she knew how in danger her friend was of coming apart in that moment. Brennan still felt like she couldn't breathe, like there was a gaping hole in her chest and that was what she needed to keep together. Booth needed her, she needed to stay whole. What use would she be to him otherwise?

Finally they reached the hospital and Brennan rushed through the doors with Angela on one side and Hodgins on the other, like they were her personal guard and it made her wonder if maybe there really was something wrong with her. She didn't want to think that it had anything to do with Booth, like maybe things were worse then she thought.

A no-nonsense nurse informed them that they needed to take a seat in the waiting room and a doctor would be with them shortly and when Angela tried to get smart with her she informed them that if they didn't sit they could wait in the parking lot. And so they sat.

Angela held her hand as they sat in silence; Brennan stared at the ground, at her feet, trying to focus on her breathing. In and out. In and out. She tried to give the rhythm to Booth, to help him somehow. What good was she here? Sitting in a waiting room? Waiting.

Sighing, Brennan leaned back against her chair. "It should have been me." She shook her head. "It should be me back there now. She was aiming for me." Angela opened her mouth to say something but she was ignored. "Booth shouldn't have taken that bullet for me. I'm not worth it."

"Sweetie, in case you didn't notice, Booth is madly in love with you." Even in situations like this, Angela managed to speak with her usual frank, day-time-talk-show-host voice. "You were worth it to him."

Brennan shook her head. "It should have been me." Angela's words didn't even register on her, except for the word "love." Was that what she was feeling now? The reason she couldn't breathe, the reason she was falling apart in her? Her feelings toward Booth? Had she been oblivious or just in denial? Unwilling to admit them to herself or anyone else for fear of being hurt. Like she was now.

Knowing that nothing she said would help Brennan, would help her get such ideas out of her head, Angela fell silent, settling instead for just holding her hands. Brennan grew quiet as well, counting the black tiles on the checkerboard flooring to see if they were even with the number of white tiles, occasionally losing count just so she would have to start over and still have something to do.

Years later, and all too soon, an exhausted looking doctor appeared, the front of his scrubs slightly stained with blood; Brennan felt her heart join the black and white tiles on the floor. The doctor flipped through the chart in his hands. "Is there anyone here for…" He had yet to find the name but she was all ready on her feet. "An Agent Booth? Seeley Booth?" The doctor lifted his head to find Brennan standing in front of him and he blinked, surprised. "You with Seeley Booth?" He questioned unnecessarily.

"I'm his partner. His FBI partner." Brennan told him frankly, quickly, in a let's get on with it tone. She could feel five pairs of eyes on her back, watching the doctor but not intruding on their conversation, even though it was hardly private. "Where is he? Can I see him now?"

Clearing his throat, the doctor pursed his lips. "Miss-"

"Doctor. Dr. Temperance Brennan." As though it were important now.

Again, the doctor only cleared his throat. "Dr. Brennan. Unfortunately…the damage that your partner sustained from the bullet far greater than we anticipated. By the time he arrived in the OR he had lost too much blood…" Brennan was staring at the doctor's face but she wasn't seeing him anymore. All she was seeing was Booth, smiling at her, laughing as she danced on stage…Booth laying in her arms, losing too much blood. "I'm sorry, Dr. Brennan, for your loss…"

Behind her she could hear the rest of them reacting to what the doctor was saying. Angela, who drew in a deep breath and immediately burst into tears; Cam just inhaled sharply and Brennan could picture her pursing her lips to keep from having a similar reaction to Angela's, even as her eyes were filling with tears. Hodgins would undoubtedly be taking Angela in his arms, smoothing down her hair and holding her while Sweets leaned back in his seat and tightened his hands into fists. And Zack, just trying to make sense of it all.

But all Brennan could do was stare at the doctor. She no longer felt like she was in the room, felt like she had left herself somewhere far behind. She was cold, empty and somehow it felt like she were drowning, unable to surface. "Booth is dead." It wasn't a question, nor did she need the clarification that the doctor's slow nod gave her. "Can I see him?"

The doctor looked almost surprised. "Dr…I don't believe…"

"I need to see him." Brennan's voice was firm and calm, rational, as always. "I would like to see him. Please." The last part was a courtesy, the type of thing Booth would whisper for her to remember to do.

Again, the doctor hesitated but then nodded. "For only a moment, Dr. Brennan." He gestured for her to follow him down the hallway. "We're going to need the OR." Brennan knew little about this part of life: the part before death, the part that ushered life to a close. But it didn't strike her as odd; it made sense that life and death would still continue on, that she couldn't expect the cycle to give her a chance to slow down and process the way things were.

Inside the OR there was a nurse, cleaning up what they would no longer need, what would no longer help Booth. She looked up when the doctor entered and her eyes fell on Brennan and she was only too eager to give the room up. And there was Booth, on the table, a white, but crimson spotted sheet pulled up around him. He had been disconnected from the monitors, it was only him now, or what was left of him.

The doctor started to say something, then thought better of it and left the room, the door swinging shut silently behind him. For a moment, Brennan stood by the entrance, staring at the still lump that was now her partner. She had never been afraid to approach Booth before.

Slowly, she walked to his side and pulled back the sheet. His eyes were closed and his face still with the serenity that only death could bring to some. Brennan stared down at him, finding it hard to recognize the person that she was now seeing. This was not Booth, not her partner. There was some mistake, she thought with relief; her partner was recovering nicely, eating pudding and watching old black and white movies on the hospital television.

Again, Brennan wasn't aware of the tears in her eyes until they fell on her cheeks and she wiped them away angrily. "Why did you do that?" She all but shouted at the still form in front of her. "You should have let her shoot me." But there was no response. "What's Parker going to do without you now? What am I going to do without you?"

Pursing her lips didn't keep her from crying. "What am I going to do?" Brennan rested her hand on his cheek, growing colder by the second. "You never even gave me a chance. You should know better…I'm not smart." Booth would have argued with her. "Not smart about what you're supposed to say to people, how you're supposed to act." She kept her hands on his face and she just wanted him to open his eyes. "Maybe…Booth…Angela was right. Angela was right about me…about us…I should have said it before. I love you…" Her tears fell on his forehead. "How could you leave me?"

Brennan didn't try to keep from weeping now, leaning down so that their foreheads touched. There was so much to cry for it seemed; it seemed impossible that she would ever be able to stop. The regret was consuming her now, regret for all the times she had teased Booth, been a pain in the ass and made his life and his job far more difficult. Regret for never being able to tell him how she really felt, for missing her chance to be happy, to make him happy. She had subconscious told herself that she had kept her feelings from herself, from Booth to keep from getting hurt but her heart was breaking more then she ever thought possible. Maybe it was best that she hadn't told him, hadn't opened herself up because things probably would have ended the same, if not tonight then some other time and it would have been far worse.

But why wasn't that consolation? Even with that logic, Brennan couldn't argue the fact that she wished, more then anything, that she hadn't been afraid to trust Booth completely, to allow him to have that part of her.

The door opened so soundlessly behind her that Brennan didn't hear the room's new occupant until he spoke, causing her to jump in surprise and turn in his direction, angry that he had dared to interrupt her and Booth one last time. There was something strange about the man that she couldn't quite put her finger on; perhaps it was the fact that he seemed to have no determent age other than adulthood, no definite features or characteristics. "Lot of regrets?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Brennan thought it looked almost as though he were about to smile. "What do you want?" She questioned, wiping her cheeks angrily. Why couldn't they just leave her alone for once, leave her with Booth for these last few minutes.

"You look like you have a lot of regrets." The man continued, ignoring her question. "Hard to live a life…all those regrets."

For a moment, Brennan almost informed him that whatever she had now wouldn't be considered a life, not without Booth to show up and bust her chops every waking moment (and in her dreams at times) that it would be little more then a zombie existence. But he didn't deserve to know that much about her. "If you need the room…" She cast one glance at Booth before starting toward the door.

But the man didn't move from her path, holding up a hand to keep Brennan from leaving the room. "If you had a second chance, would you be able to use it wisely?" He was smiling now, an oily kind of gesture. "No regrets?"

Now Brennan looked at him, really looked at him, her brow knitting in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She questioned sharply.

"A second chance…" The man looked from her to Booth and back again. "You must want one now. To say all those things you never got to say…" He grinned wider.

Glancing over her shoulder, Brennan found that it physically hurt to see Booth like that. "Yes…" That simple word left her lips before she could even think.

She felt the man's hand close around her wrist and then everything went black.