A/N: This idea just wouldn't get out of my head and, even though I'm currently working on another big multi-chapter story, I just HAD to write it. It was inspired by a song called "With These Eyes" which got stuck in my head after I watched the look Booth was giving Bones in the last episode (yes, the very same one where he did stuff (I refuse to say the word lol) with a certain boss). Hope you enjoy. Tell me what you think.

Disclaimer (since I forgot about it the first time): I own nothin' except...

The last box was being labelled when Temperance walked into her officer, after getting herself some coffee. She felt tired and sad, the packing taking much of the small amount of energy she had in her. She had spent the previous evening packing her own apartment, helped by Angela, and they had finished late. She had woken up this morning feeling demotivated at the thought that she had to go pack her office now. She had had the surprise of her life when she had found all of her team at the Jeffersonian, on a Saturday morning, already packing her stuff. A quarter of her office had already been done. And now, four hours later, nothing was left in her office but her desk, chair and couch. Boxes were lined up against the wall, all labelled, and just waiting to be shipped.

Temperance walked in to find Zack sitting on the couch, looking exhausted, Angela sitting at her desk and Hodgins duct-tapping the last box tightly. He looked up and shot his boss a small smile.

"That's the last box." He said, hoping that his voice didn't betray the sadness he felt about losing his boss and friend.

"Thanks, you guys." Temperance replied. "It really means a lot to me. I don't think I would have been able to do all of this."

Angela smiled.

"No problem, Sweetie. That's what friends are for. We did it because we love you."

Everyone else nodded.

"I know." Temperance assured them.

Silence filled the room as words that should have been expressed remained bottled up inside of them. It was all so surreal to all of them. Dr. Brennan leaving the Jeffersonian? Nobody could quite believe it, but it was true.

The news had come to the forensic anthropologist a month earlier but Temperance hadn't felt the need to tell her team until it was a hundred percent sure she was moving. She had been offered a job by a Californian university and she had gladly accepted it. Sharing her knowledge with young adults who were as passionate as she was of forensics and anthropology simply just appealed to her. Finally, she was going to be able to teach everything that she had learned and, at the same time, still work on cases as a forensic anthropologist.

The rector of the university had given her a few days to think it over but they were short of teachers and needed an answer quickly. Brennan hadn't thought twice. Two days later, she was calling the man back and accepting his proposal. Two weeks later, she was telling her team.

"I can't believe you're leaving us." Angela whined for the hundredth time... that day.

"I know but it's not like I'll be gone for ever."

"Does that mean you'll be coming back?" Zack asked, suddenly getting hope that his teacher and mentor wasn't going to abandon him.

Brennan immediately looked away.

"No, Zack. I won't be coming back, except to visit once in a while."

They all fell silent for a couple of seconds. Then Hodgins felt the need to voice the question that had been bothering him for the past few hours.

"Does Booth know about this?" He asked as he got up and took a seat on the side of the couch unoccupied by Zack.

Brennan shook her head.

"No." She replied, in a small voice.

Hodgins, Zack and Angela looked at one another. Silently, it was decided that Angela would be the one to respond to that answer.

"Oh Sweetie, you have to tell him."

"Why?"

Hodgins rolled his eyes.

"Because he's your friend and it's not fair to him if you just leave and don't tell him." Angela replied, ignoring Hodgins' 'duh' expression.

"Well he'll find out eventually." Brennan replied, hoping that this conversation would soon be over so she could go back to the comfort of forgetting purposely that she had to tell her partner she was leaving.

The first thought she had had after her second phone call with the rector had been about how she was going to tell Booth. Millions of thoughts had raced through her mind, several scenarios had been invented but she just hadn't had the guts to reenact them in real life. So, she had started with her team, hoping it would give her the courage to eventually make her way up to Booth. It wasn't that she didn't care about her team, she loved them dearly. It just wasn't the same.

She was closer to Booth than she was to her team. There was a connection between the two of them, a profound friendship and respect, an immense trust, and a bond so strong it could barely be broken. Every time she'd think of telling him, she felt like a part of herself was being ripped out of her. Then he had left for Florida, a week ago, with his son, and she hadn't had the guts to tell him before his departure.

She had run, avoided the situation. She had acted normally, pretending that she wasn't moving to another state on the other side of the country, that she wasn't going to work as a professor and a part-time forensic anthropologist for the FBI in Los Angeles, and, more importantly, that she wasn't going to have to work with a new partner. But she couldn't lie to herself anymore. She was going to do all of that, away from her friends, family and Booth.

Angela's voice brought her back to reality.

"So, what? You're not going to tell him? He's just going to walk in on Monday to find that your office is empty and we'll have to explain to him that you left? What exactly would you like us to tell him when he'll ask us why you left without telling him?"

Brennan looked down, unable to stand the gaze of her friends on her. She felt guilty just at the thought of leaving without saying goodbye to her partner but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. It just hurt too much.

She felt tears well up at the back of her eyes. She forced them in. She had promised herself she wasn't going to get all emotional and cry.

"Just go see him, Bren. The man's been on vacation for the past two weeks and I heard he's back from his trip in Florida. He doesn't have a clue about what's been going on with you. He deserves to know."

Brennan nodded.

"Fine. I'll go."

Angela smiled.

With an eye roll, Temperance turned around. She was about to step out of her office when her best friend stopped her.

"Bren, one more thing."

"Yeah?" Temperance said, looking over her shoulder.

"Do us all a favor and just tell the man you love him, will ya?"

"Whatever, Angela." Temperance replied as she turned back around and headed out of her office.

Once she was out of earshot, Zack dared to voice his question.

"Do you think she'll tell him?"

"Nope." Hodgins replied.

"Daddy! Look what I can do!" Parker said as he rolled forward on the ground and came back on his two feet.

"That's great, Parker." Booth replied, only glancing briefly at his son. "Now, please, come sit down. Lunch's ready. I don't want to tell you a third time."

Parker sighed loudly.

"Fine." He growled as he stomped off towards the table.

Climbing onto the chair, he grabbed his fork and quickly scanned the content of his plate.

"I don't like carrots." The boy said, putting his fork back on the table and crossing his arms.

"Well you better eat them. If you don't, do you know what's going to happen?"

"What?" Parker asked, suspiciously.

Booth sat down on the chair beside his son. Looking into the little boy's eyes, he tried to remain as serious as he could as he replied:

"Because if you don't eat your carrots, you'll become blind. Blind as a bat."

Parker's eyes widened in surprise for a split second.

"Noooo! That's not true! Don't tell lies, Daddy."

"Oh I'm not lying, Parker. You know your grandpa on your mommy's side?"

Parker nodded.

"Grandpa Leon."

"Yes. Guess what? Grandpa Leon never ate his vegetables when he was a young boy like you. Do you remember how thick his glasses are? He can't see without them because he never ate his carrots."

"Really?" Parker asked, still unsure about the whole deal.

"Yeah. Ask him the next time you see him. He'll tell you."

Parker turned his gaze back to his plate. Eyeing the carrots suspiciously, he picked one up with his fingers. Sticking out his tongue, he quickly tasted the vegetable.

"Yuck!" He said before taking one deep breath and biting into the orange vegetable.

He chewed slowly and painfully swallowed his mouthful seconds later, grimacing.

"Yep, Grandpa Leon... blind as a bat." Booth said, winking at his son.

Any response from Parker was stopped by the ringing of the doorbell. Frowning, Booth got up and walked to the door. He wasn't expecting anybody. Rebecca wasn't supposed to pick up Parker until the next evening and nobody knew he was back from his vacation with his son.

He opened the door and was shocked to find his partner standing outside.

"Bones? What are you doing here?"

She evidently looked uncomfortable.

"Can I come in?"

Even her voice sounded weird.

Booth nodded and stepped aside. He looked worryiedly at her as she walked into the house. Closing the door behind her, he tried to think of the reasons that would bring her here. She never had the habit of stopping by his place, especially out of the blue.

"What's up, Bones?"

She opened her mouth to speak but the words got stuck in her throat as her eyes fell on the blonde child sitting at the kitchen table.

" 'Ello, doctor Brennan." Parker said, from the kitchen.

"Parker..." Temperance replied, turning to Booth. "I see this is a bad time. Maybe I should just come back later."

"No, no. This isn't a bad time." Booth replied, grabbing her arm and stopping her as she stepped back towards the door. "You're not interrupting anything. Parker's just eating lunch."

"At two in the afternoon?" Temperance asked, confused.

"Yeah well he was busy doing gymnastics before."

Upon seeing her even more confused expression, Booth just told her to never mind.

"You were here for a reason?"

"Actually, yes. There's something I have to tell you."

"Okay. Shoot." Booth replied, glancing briefly at Parker to make sure he was still eating.

He looked back at his partner to find her looking anywhere but at him. He immediately wondered what was wrong.

"You see, Booth..." She started. "I... What I'm trying to say is that... I... The thing is..."

"Just say it, Bones, geez." Booth said, annoyed.

Irritated, she simply blurted everything out.

"I'm moving."

"What?" Booth asked, confused.

"I'm moving." Temperance repeated, relieved to have gotten the hardest part out. "To California."

"Whoa, whoa why?"

"I got a job offer and I took it."

"What kind of offer?"

Booth could feel his heart beating hard against his chest. Bones was leaving? His Bones was leaving? It wasn't possible. She hated change and now she was moving out of state to California?

He stared at her, wide-eyed, as she explained what had happened during his two-week vacation. He immediately blamed himself for leaving for these two weeks. Maybe if he would have stayed in Washington, he could have changed her mind about all of this.

"So yeah. That's basically it. I'm leaving tomorrow. My boxes are being shipped over there as well. I rented this apartment near the university. It's not big but it's not too small. It's just perfect for me. I mean, I doubt I'll be spending too much time there anyway."

But Booth wasn't listening. All he wanted was for this conversation to be a dream. He simply wanted to wake up in his bed, possibly still in Florida where his parents had a small beach house, and realize that this had been all a crazy dream. But as Temperance laid a hand on his arm, the pressure of her touch told him this was very much real.

"Are you okay?" She asked, concerned.

"Yeah." Booth replied, shaking his head slightly as if doing that would rearrange his thoughts. "It's just coming as a shock to me. I mean, I leave on vacation for two weeks and I come back to find out that I'm losing my partner. It's just a bit too much."

"I'm sorry, Booth."

"No, hey, listen. I'm happy for you, Bones. I know how much you like teaching. I know you'll be happy there. If you're happy, then I'm happy too."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Thanks, Booth."

"No problem." Booth replied as he pulled her into a hug.

Temperance stepped in his embrace willingly and even wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. They held on each other for several seconds before stepping back.

Millions of thoughts ran through Booth's mind as he looked into her eyes but only one kept coming back. He needed to tell her how he felt about her. He knew that it wouldn't change her mind about going to California but at least he wouldn't spend the rest of his life hating himself for not having told her how he felt when he had the chance.

"Bones, there's something I should tell you."

Temperance felt her heart speed up and was barely able to reply.

"I know. There's something else I need to tell you too. But you go first."

Taking a deep breath, Booth opened his mouth to speak.

"Bones, I..."

But the rest of his sentence was cut off abruptly by a crashing noise which was followed, seconds later, by a cry. Booth and Temperance immediately turned their gaze to Parker's now vacated chair at the table.

"Daddy!" A scared and bleeding little Parker said as he ran to his father at the front of door.

Booth's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh my God, Parker. What happened?" Booth said as he crouched down in front of his son.

Parker's lips began trembling.

"I wanted some milk and you were busy talking to Dr. Brennan and I thought I could get it myself. Please, Daddy, don't be mad."

Booth immediately brushed the few tears falling from his son's eyes.

"I'm not mad, Parker. Come on, let's get you cleaned up. You probably got glass in your foot. Does it hurt when you walk?"

Parker nodded.

Picking up his son, Booth turned to face his partner.

"I'm sorry, Bones but we have a little emergency here. We'll have to finish this conversation later."

"It's okay, Booth. I have to go home, anyway. I'm tired and I have an early flight tomorrow. Bye Booth."

"Yeah. 'Bye Bones."

Seconds later, as Booth reached the bathroom, he heard the front door close.

With these eyes
I've held you in my arms
And love was all I had
But you had to end it all