Disclaimer - I don't own Bones :(

A/N - Here is my oneshot I said I was going to post! It is a really late post-5x16 Parts in the Sum of the Whole. I watched it the other night and thought hey... I should write something for that! I hope you like it and if you do please check out my other story Sweet Peas too! And thank you to my beta, Hannah, for correcting all my mistakes :) Happy reading!

They were in the car now. There was a definite feel of tension in the air, but then again, how could there not be? When you reject someone, or get rejected by them in Booth's case, it's bound to be awkward. Would it even be possible to reach normal again? As of right now it sure felt as if they'd have to cross an ocean or scale a mountain just to reach any sort of semblance of it. Facts were though, they had to try. After all, Brennan's biggest fear was ruining her and Booth's friendship. There was no point to any of this if there was no normal to get back to, right?

After what felt like several lifetimes, Booth pulled the car up to Brennan's place. What happened now? 'Do I say goodbye and get out or act like normal and invite him up?' Brennan asked herself. The latter it is. "Do you want to come up?" she asked.

If Booth was surprised by the offer, he didn't show it. Instead he turned the SUV off and nodded as his answer, like everything was normal. Walking to the door of the building Brennan linked arms with Booth once again. They stayed like that through the elevator ride, all the way up to her door. Entering the apartment, Booth had never felt so awkward. Brennan asked if he wanted a beer and, as usual, he responded in the affirmative. But now what? He sat on the couch and tried to get comfortable. Fail.

When Brennan returned with two beers, she handed one off to him and sat down. He noticed it was further away than what was ordinary. As they sipped their beers in silence, Brennan's mind wandered. 'The day had started off fine, how can it turn into such a disaster?' she thought. 'And it had been fine, too. We just went in to correct a mistake in Sweets' book and came out with a gamble aimed to the gambler: to break the stalemate. How could Sweets have put Booth in such a position? You don't put a gamble like that on the table when this is a possible outcome! What if this ruins our partnership and friendship forever?'

She couldn't stop the flow of thoughts; they were becoming overwhelming and she was working herself up; breathing was becoming more and more difficult. 'Is normal attainable anymore? Or is it too far out of reach to grab?' Irrationally she wished that she could turn back time and stop this before it all happened. But that was impossible; she knew that and scolded herself for even thinking it. All too soon the one thought that had been plaguing her since her rejection came crashing down on her full force: 'Did I make the right decision?'

All of a sudden tears sprung to her eyes and as she tried to take a drink to drive them away, she let out a sob, quickly trying to muffle it with her hand. It didn't do any good though, and she'd never felt so alone while sitting two feet away from someone, especially Booth.

While lost in his own thoughts, Booth did not notice the signs of the internal struggle showing on his partner's face. But hearing the sob, he quickly sprang into action. Setting his beer on the coffee table he turned to see Brennan with tears running down her face, beer in one hand, and holding her other one over her mouth, attempting to muffle the sobs that were now coming full force. The sight broke his heart; he was partially responsible for this. Scooting closer and taking her drink out of her hand, he set it beside his.

Grabbing hold of her now free hand and holding it tightly in his own, he tried to comfort her. "Hey," he said softly, brushing a clump of hair out of her face. "Bones, what's wrong?"

In between sobs, she sputtered weakly, "I'm fine."

Booth could literally feel his heart crushing in his chest at her attempt to brush this off. This didn't happen to Dr. Temperance Brennan. He tried to comfort her as best as he could though. "Please don't cry, Bones, c'mere..." He pulled her to him, her head on his chest still sobbing and her legs curled up almost on top of him. "Bones... baby, shhhhh we'll get through this, we can get through anything; you should know that by now. It's alright, everything will be okay... I'm sorry."

Booth continued murmuring comforting words to her but they had little impact on her crying. 'Did I do this?' he wondered. 'Dammit, why did I have to go and mess with a good thing? Why did I choose to listen to Sweets THIS time? I did this to her.' He continued with his self-deprecating thoughts for a good twenty minutes before he realized Brennan had gone quiet. Then he realized that she had cried herself to sleep... because of him. It didn't help him feel any better.

She had her swollen red eyes and nose resting on his chest, but Booth had never seen anything more beautiful. She looked innocent and fragile and he was completely in love with her. Who was he kidding? He couldn't move on from her. He could try, sure. But in the end, his heart could never be fully in it and, most likely, things would end in a shit storm via fan. No matter what, he was Bones' man through and through, whether she knew it or not.

At the moment though, Booth had no clue as to what he should do. It was late and, truthfully, he wanted nothing more than to rest his head and fall asleep with the sleeping anthropologist in his arms. But that wouldn't be right, he decided. He didn't want to take advantage of her lethargic state. But should he sneak out and leave her there, wake her, or carry her to her bedroom? Out of those options, the latter sounded best to him, but this was Brennan, and carrying her could be deadly if she woke up.

Booth decided it would be rude to just sneak out so he attempted to gently wake her. Untangling their still grasped hands, he put his own on her shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Bones, hey..." He shook her shoulder. "You gotta wake up and get in your bed, alright?"

She didn't budge and just lied there.

Booth shook a little harder. "C'mon Bones... If you don't wake up I'm gonna have to carry you."

This time she moved, but not to get up. Instead she snuggled into his chest, still half asleep and said, "Okay." Then she went back to sleep.

That was all the encouragement Booth needed to comply. Getting up, he maneuvered Brennan and cradled her in his arms. She was actually heavier than she looked. Not too much for Booth, no. But he never realized how tall she actually was for a woman. When he entered her bedroom, he got a whiff of something that was distinctly Brennan. He laid her down on top of the comforter with her head resting on the pillow, then removed her shoes and jewelry. Deciding that was the best he could do to make her comfortable, he grabbed the blanket off the back of the chair in the corner and covered her.

Taking a quick survey of the room, he took a chance and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, whispered goodnight to her, and left the room. Walking back into the living room, he grabbed the two, now warm, half full beers and dumped them down the drain. He took a moment to just think, standing in front of the sink. 'Tomorrow everything will be normal. We'll go back to being partners and pretend that this night never happened. That I wasn't an idiot and that I didn't quite possibly fuck everything up. Like the very much non-brotherly kiss at Christmas and my coma dream, it will get ignored, never brought up again.'

Walking to the door to leave now, though, Booth thought he heard something. He stopped in his tracks and listened. Just when he'd decided his mind was playing tricks on him he heard it again. Brennan had called his name. Sucking in a breath he headed back into her room. When he entered again she was sitting up, legs hanging off the side of the bed. You could clearly see the tear tracks on her still puffy face, but now she was looking up at Booth.

Not knowing what she wanted, he slowly walked further into the room so when she patted the bed beside her he gladly complied and sat beside her. Covering her hand with his own, he waited for her to say something. She looked as if she was struggling internally, like she didn't know herself why she'd called him in there. Finally though, she gained enough courage to voice her thoughts and said, looking almost ashamed, "I'm afraid that I made a mistake, Booth."

This took Booth completely off guard. Whatever he was expecting it wasn't that. The Bones he knew wasn't scared of anything and if she was, she would never admit to it. Nor would she admit that she made a mistake. What was going on?

Brennan continued speaking, "It's just... I don't think that I can be anything besides... what I am. I can't change that. And taking a chance to MAYBE achieve something more… What if it's not worth it? Then what happens?" She was getting worked up again. "What if we're together and you see that I don't meet your expectations or the standard you hold me up to?"

"Bones..." Booth tried to interrupt.

"No, I need to say this! I'm not lovable, Booth, and if we were together, sometime in the future you would find that out. It's... it's impossible to love me." She said it with such genuine truth, it was heart crushing. And Booth was horrified.

"How can you say that about yourself, Bones? Just an hour ago I told you that I love you..."

"No you didn't," she argued. "You didn't tell me you loved me, you said you wanted to give us a shot, a chance. That's... it's not the same thing. You can't love me," she said with conviction.

"What if I do?" he asked, sounding almost hopeful.

"You can't."

If the situation wasn't so serious, Booth would have laughed at her childish behavior. "I do, Bones. I love you. I love who you are... right now. And I don't want you to change, I should have told you that earlier. I just want you, the way you are right now."

"Nothing is forever, though! People change their mind, their preferences change. What if in a few months or years you change yours too? Then what?"

"I won't," he said, short and simple and to the point.

She let out an incredulous laugh. "You can't know that for sure."

Booth didn't know what else to say. He was getting upset himself now, and had tears in his eyes. "You're right," he said, just like he had earlier that night. He had to give it one more shot though. "I don't know for a fact that I'll love you forever... But, I have gut feeling that you're it for me. 30, 40, 50 years down the road? All I see is you and all I want is you... Do you love me, Bones?"

She, too, was crying once again. Softly, she whispered, "Yes." Then she turned and kissed him on the lips. They weren't great big passionate kisses, those were for another time. No, there were gentle, and came in numbers. Grinning throughout, over and over again the couple kissed. Eventually they had to breathe, though, and when they separated Booth said roughly, "I love you."

"I love you too." Brennan replied.

"We're actually doing this?" he asked in awe.

She nodded and cracked a small smile. "Will you stay here tonight?" she asked. Seeing him look uncertain, she explained, "Just to sleep."

That made him smile, and he said, "Of course."

And so he did. He got to hold her in his arms until the early morning hours awoke them.

Thank you for reading! Please, please review even if you only take a second to say you loved it or hated it or somewhere in between! Thank you :)