A/N: I have seen MANY FF's now about Bones confessing that she missed her chance with Booth, but I haven't seen the episode. Aussies are STILL waiting for the sunglasses episode, and won't get it till' next year, so… forgive me if I made a mistake. I wanted to take this FF in a slightly different direction to everyone else, but someone else MAY have already done it, so… anyways, just messing around, this is what I got. =)

Booth bawled his hand into a fist, clenching it tight and then releasing it. His gaze lingered on the TV screen, but if asked what he was watching, he would have had a blank answer. He didn't know. His eyes remained on the pixel images, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about his partner… his friend… his Bones, the woman he had loved for six years, the one he tried desperately to get over, and when he had convinced himself he had, by bringing back Hannah Burley from Afghanistan, Brennan decided to throw him a curve ball.

The last thing Booth needed was an excuse to fall back into old habits. He had done well without her; he had found a measure of happiness, no matter how small. And this was how she repaid him, telling him she had made a mistake, that she'd missed her chance with him.

Booth was livid.

What right did she have to tell him this now, when for six years he had been giving her opportunities left, right and centre, why now when he had accepted that she was never going to love him back, did she offer him hope?

He snatched the glass of scotch by his recliner, in the corner of the lounge room, and gulped down half a glass of the liquid. It ran hot down his throat.

"You okay?" Hannah asked from the couch.

He met her eyes across the room, and felt guilty, that emotion was quickly followed by anger as he turned his gaze back to the TV screen. He hadn't even done anything wrong. He had nothing to feel guilty about. He was angry, no, he was beyond angry, he was furious.

Booth chose not to answer Hannah's question, worried he would take out his frustration on her. She didn't deserve that, and Booth didn't trust himself to remain calm and collected, not when his mind was echoing the words of his partner.

I missed my chance…

Maybe she had, he reasoned. Maybe waiting for six years, was a sign that they weren't meant to be. Booth wished that he didn't care about Brennan anymore, at least that way. He wished that her feelings didn't matter to him, and that as she wallowed in self-pity about the choices she made, she knew that it was her own fault. But maybe it hadn't been, maybe Booth had been too quick to let her go. No, he told himself, I waited six long damn years for her to see me. He forced himself to look at Hannah, but he looked away again before she could meet his eyes. He wished that he could look at Hannah and know that she wasn't a mistake. That his feelings for Brennan would pass, that being with Hannah gave him the same joy as being with Brennan, his Bones.

But he was kidding himself. He couldn't even convince himself falsely of that.

Booth gulped down another scotch, but his purpose of riding the thoughts in his head, were in vain. The remained stubbornly, torturing him.

Booth shook his head to himself and stood from the recliner.

"I have to go out," he announced unable to look Hannah in the eye.

She tried desperately to catch his gaze, but he refused, fearful of what she might discover if she saw the emotion in his eyes, or lack of as the case might be.

"Where?" she demanded. "It's late… and you can't drive, you've had too much to drink!"

He felt his anger boil to the surface, and he couldn't stop himself. "Don't tell me what to do!" his words came out harsher than he intended. Ordinarily, he could control his outbursts. But he drink had somewhat lowered the control of his speech.

Hannah challenged him. "It's her, isn't it?" it was not an accusation as much as it was a statement. "That's where you're going… to see, Temperance?"

The name made him wince.

"Yes," he told her bluntly. "I have to tell her something."

"What?"

"Just…" he shook his head. That she was a pain in the… whatever the scientific word for rear end was she was a pain in THAT. "I just have to go…" he finished. He headed for the door.

"Seeley!" she called.

He turned back.

"If you love me, you won't go…" she pleaded.

Well, that just made Booth feel even worse. He dropped his tense shoulders, and stared her in the face. "I wish I could see…" he struggled to find the words. "I wish I knew how to make you…"

"I understand," she nodded sadly.

He didn't think she did.

"I'll be gone by the time you get back," she announced. "I don't have much to pack. I'll leave the key on the table, and… for however long it lasted, I did enjoy what we had, Seeley. I did."

"Me too," he said. He meant it. He had enjoyed her for a while, in those times when he had convinced himself that she would make him happy. But he knew now, that as long as Brennan felt something, that's where he had to be. Like a compulsion. Like two halves of a whole.

"Drive safe," she warned.

Booth nodded. "I will, I promise."

He didn't kiss her goodbye, knowing that this was the last time he'd see her face, he didn't embrace her with a hug and tell her he was sorry, like he should have. It would have only angered Hannah, because he was still going to her, he was leaving his life with Hannah Burley for something he knew he wanted more.

One last glance at her, and he turned and walked out.

This was gonna be a one-shot but now it's a two. Haven't done a B&B one in a few weeks, so… and remember I haven't seen the CAR episode as people refer to it. So if I made a mistake there, feel free to point it out.

As for the next chapter, what will Booth do now, how will he approach Bones, care to guess?