A/N: I've been revisiting my U2 albums, and my latest earworm demanded to become a songfic. My muse complied, and while I'm not entirely satisfied with it, this little piece of drabble is now out of my system and I can get on with finishing the next chapter of The Lady Protector. Warnings for slight OOC, but given the circumstances, I'm sure that can be forgiven. Also, speculation on references made to DB & ED's discussion at CC about whether Brennan would be able to take down Hannah in a fight...

I own nothing. But reviews would be nice...

She's living next week now.
You know she's gonna pay you back somehow.
She hasn't been to bed in a week
She'll be dead soon, then she'll sleep.

You gotta give it away

She already knows it hurts
She's living like it the last night on earth
The last night on earth.

U2 - Last Night on Earth

Booth sat on the couch overlooking the Jeffersonian platform and watched the work unfold below him. He ran a hand over his tired face and sunk farther back into the sofa, sighing. It had been a hard week. His break-up with Hannah had gone better than expected – all things considered – but he hadn't managed to tell her yet. Bones had refused to talk to him, and this case was such that she was needed more in the lab than in the field. Cam walked up to him with a sympathetic smile and handed over the extra cup of coffee she was carrying and sat down to watch the action on the floor. The pair met Angela's gaze, and she gave them a concerned look as she shifted her attention back to Brennan.

"How is she?"

"She hasn't slept in days, and refuses to go home. I'm considering getting security to forcibly remove her from the platform."

"But you won't."

"No." Cam sighed, watching Brennan carefully. "I know where she is here."

Booth felt is stomach twist. "As opposed to her being somewhere else."

"I don't trust her to come back if I send her home."

Booth blinked. "Why?"

"Seeley." Cam gave him a measured look.

"Camille," Booth wondered why everybody seemed to be so antsy around him.

"Brennan had a visitor the other day." Cam watched him for signs of awareness. Booth simply frowned, but didn't say anything, waiting for her to continue. She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I'll bite. What does it have to do with me?"

"Hannah came to say good-bye."

The twisting in his stomach turned into a hard knot. That's why the break-up had appeared so amicable. Still, he'd never pegged Hannah to be that type of girl. He really didn't want to know the answer, but he could guess.

"Do I really want to know?"

Cam's expression turned sympathetic. "No, you probably don't. Besides," she motioned to the floor, "you're witnessing the fallout."

"Hannah took it out on Bones?"

"You sound surprised."

"I am. I was under the impression our break up was mutual."

"Booth, I hate to break it to you, but there's been a war going on that you've been oblivious to for months now."

Booth opened and closed his mouth a few times. He wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Finding the words, and hoping they were the right ones, he almost whispered, "who won?"

Cam smiled. "Dr Brennan, of course."

He stared at Brennan in shock. "And this is the how she handles it? By ignoring me and trying to work herself to death?"

"Seeley," Cam turned Booth's shoulders so that his attention was on her, and not the woman on the platform. "She feels mortified, and granted the respect for her has increased a hundredfold in the last 4 days, the only way left she has to escape lies in her work."

"What the hell happened?"

"If you ask Angela nicely, she'll show you the security footage, but only after you manage to talk Brennan off the ledge."

"Cam, what happened?" His tone brooked no argument.

Cam sighed, she didn't want to be the one divulging this information. "Brennan admitted she loves you. And that she had hurt you, and that you had hurt her, badly, by coming back with Hannah. In essence, she saw that as a type of abandonment. Hannah said something fairly insensitive at that point and had her nose broken for her efforts."

Booth choked. "Wow." With wide eyes, he returned to the scene below him. It explained why there were still so many people working so late in the evening.

"And now she's working like she's going to drop dead at any point, and wants to get as much done as possible before her body gives out."

The clattering of a metal object falling on the platform silenced the lab. Brennan's eyes were glued to the instrument she'd just dropped on the floor. Slowly, her eyes moved up to meet Angela's, and after a few moments, Brennan nodded to Wendell and Arastoo and left the platform. Booth saw Hodgins' stay his wife with a warning hand on her arm, and looked at Cam who was watching him intently.

"Take her home Seeley. God knows you're the only person who is going to be able to." She pushed him to stand.

"Thanks Cam." Steeling himself, he made his was to Brennan's office, all the while feeling the squint's stares on him.

Booth stood in her doorway quietly. He noted that she hadn't closed her office door. His eyes fell upon the woman sitting on the couch, head in hands and shoulders slumped in defeat. He realised that she was waiting for somebody – probably Angela – to find her. Praying to the saints, Booth moved to sit next to her. He felt her stiffen as she realised who her company was.

"Oh Bones," he sighed. "Let's get you home."

"No." She hadn't moved.

"You're going to kill yourself if you carry on at this pace." He noticed her shoulders were shaking. She couldn't possibly be crying. Could she?"

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"Why not?"

The look she gave him, tears running down her cheeks, dark bruising under her bloodshot eyes, was so full of hopelessness that Booth found himself taking a few mental steps back. If Bones had 'won', what did Hannah say to provoke this kind of reaction? It didn't take much longer to find out.

"Because I missed my chance. And I've changed. I can't go back to what I was. There's no way forward as things currently stand." Brennan closed her eyes as her whole frame sagged. "I'm just so tired of pretending."

Booth knew that they shouldn't be having this conversation with Bones in such a fragile state, she needed rest, food, and security, and then they could talk. Vaguely, in some corner of his mind, he realised that he wasn't in really in the mindset to be talking about this now either.

Booth stood, and gently took Brennan's hands to make her stand. She looked confused briefly, as he collected her bag and coat, and manoeuvred her towards the door. When Brennan realised what he was doing she stopped, offering a surprising amount of resistance for somebody so tired.

"I'm not going home."

"You need to sleep, Bones."

"I can sleep here."

"Why not at your apartment?"

"I don't want to be left alone." She dropped her eyes as she whispered her last admission.

"I never left you, Bones. You're not alone, and I'll sleep on your couch. You won't be left in an empty apartment."

Brennan considered this for a moment and nodded.

"Can I take you home now?"

"Please, Booth."

He put his hand in the small of her back, and walked her through the main doors. As he did so, Booth looked back at the lab. All eyes were on them, the relief was palpable. Maybe, just maybe, things would be okay.

Hmmm... it will suffice. Still, what do you think? Anybody?

xox ~CF