"Noo… please don't go." Brennan pleaded, shooting up in a cold sweat. Her eyes darted back and forth across her bedroom as she placed her head back against her headboard, trying to assure herself it was nightmare and nothing more. But she knew the truth. She was living her nightmare.
"What is wrong honey?" Her new flavor of the week rolled over, "I told you not to have that last glass of wine but…"
Before he had finished his thought he found the shadow of the woman he was once in bed with fade into the night. He knew he now had the bed to himself. They had been seeing each other very casually for three weeks now and when she asked him up to her place a week ago he thought the tides had finally turned and he would have his chance to crack the impenetrable shell of Temperance Brennan.
The evening had went very well, he believed, but at 2:04 a.m. when he was rocketed out of his sleep by the shrills of the woman to his side he knew something had gone horribly wrong. He had done everything but practically grovel for a response but after a few minutes of ignoring him, Brennan stood and walked out of the room to be perfectly fine in the morning when he woke up. For the first few nights he had tried to stay awake to see if she came back but soon he found it was a lost cause.
'At least the sex is good' he thought to himself before rolling over on his side of the bed and falling quickly asleep.
"Bacon and eggs! Score!" The young man walked into the kitchen, basking in the early morning sun. For all her faults there were two areas were Brennan shinned, breakfast and sex. And if he had to deal with her insanity to get those two things daily, it was a risk any man was willing to take.
Brennan turned to the man, smiled and turned back toward the stove. Hopefully he wouldn't notice the bloodshot eyes or tear stained face. He had never before, why would he now?
"What is that around your neck?" He asked, shoveling eggs onto his plate.
Brennan's eyes went wide as she glanced down at the two dog tags hanging very low around her neck. Normally she remembered to lock them up safely but last night time must have gotten the better of her.
"No… nothing." She stuttered.
"Oh, it has to be something…" He placed his plate down and wrapped his hands seductively around her, "I may not have perfect vision but I know I saw something…" As he ran his hands over to the dog tags Brennan visibly flinched. Normally she didn't even let anyone see them but his slimy hands were all over her most prized possession. She could take the way he left his stuff all over her apartment and even the bad sex but this was much more than any sane woman could take.
"Out!" She barked, pushing him against the kitchen table.
"But baby it is only six…"
"Peter, Jack, James, Matt… I don't care what your name is. I just want you out of my house as soon as possible!"
"But Tempe…" He sweetly smiled, "I haven't had my morning kiss yet."
Brennan's glare held firm. The man slowly turned and walked out the front door, refusing to even pick up his belongings. He knew that look, the passion that burned within. The woman standing before him was a woman who had face immeasurable loss yet still had the strength to live day after day. How she did it was beyond him.
As soon as the door slammed behind him a flood of relief fell over Brennan. Another man gone and although she was alone, she once again was free. Free to let the tears flow and grieve what she never deserved in the first place. Her eyes slowly fell, mesmerized by the glistening white gold band that clashed sharply with the sand warn dog tags.
"He promised me forever…" She whispered as the tears began to flow once more. "But forever was never enough…"
It had been two years and ten days since her life was shattered and she learned that forever was not good enough by any means. He said he would be gone for a week, only seven days and when he came back he would give her the wedding she deserved. When he came back he was not the man she knew, not the man any of them knew. He was a hollow shell of a man.
Something inside him had changed on the fateful mission. Something she never knew he had. If getting him back took until her dying breath, it would have been worth it in her eyes. All she wanted in life was to get her partner back, her life back and most importantly her husband back.