Disclaimer: I own nothing, not Fox, not 'Bones' not anything ok? Are you happy? There I said it!! Though I would like to own David Boreanaz… ;p

Also don't own song lyrics used at beginning and inspired the story: Stay by Shakespeare's Sister

A/N:

Can't think of much to say really, just me hope you likey!

Spoliers:

Don't think there's any really, perhaps from the episode where she talks about the man from El Salvador…which off the top of my head I can't remember the name of.

B/BFOREVER!

If this world is wearing thin,
And you're thinking of escape,
I'll go anywhere with you,
Just wrap me up in chains,
But if you try to go out alone,
Don't think I'll understand,

Stay with me…

She opened her eyes abruptly as the noise of somebody pounding on her door rang out in her ears through the empty apartment.

I must have fallen asleep on the couch. She thought to herself. She really must have been exhausted, to have put off the more important issue and give into sleep.

She groaned as she sluggishly rose to her feet to answer it, scuffing her feet on the floor as she walked, not particularly in the mood to see anybody, considering.

As she looked through the peep-hole she saw the one person she least wanted to talk to standing the other side of the door. She cursed in her mind that her door was too thick to hold a conversation through, so with long hesitation, she unchained the door and twisted the bottom lock.

No sooner than she had turned the knob, Booth strode into her living room announcing that he needed to talk to her.

She let out an aggravated sigh and turned to walk towards him, aware she was in for a lecture.

"What the hell happened Bones?!" he asked loudly, as if he were scolding his son for doing something he shouldn't.

She exhaled heavily.

"I just…I couldn't handle it anymore." She said no more plainly than if she were ordering a cup of coffee at the diner.

"Oh so the thought didn't even enter your mind to perhaps talk to me about this before hand? I am your partner for Christ's sake."

"I'm sorry Booth, I just…"

"Sorry. Sorry? For what Bones huh? What would you have to be sorry for, well let's think shall we!? Uh for lying to me, for quitting your job without a second thought, the fact that I had to find out from Hodgins, HODGINS!" as he ranted she could tell how angry he was simply by watching his body language.

"Booth you're over-reacting-" she began, only to be cut off by him once again.

"Over-reacting?!" he laughed as if this was the single most ridiculous statement he had heard all day.

"No trust me Bones, this is under-reacting. I mean c'mon how exactly did you think I was going to react?"

"I don't know." She responded in a small voice, he was frightening her, he wasn't violent, he was passionate. This act showed her that he really did care for her a great deal more than she'd previously thought. This fact scared her more than his harsh words as the feeling of dread grew stronger of what she had to do.

He sighed, steadying his breathing, hands on hips in a still aggressive stance, yet he appeared to be a lot calmer. They stood in silence for a few moments.

She could feel him staring at her but she avoided his eyes.

Finally she gave in and met his gaze, he breathed in and bit his lip in frustration with himself.

"Look Bones," he began, striding across the room to meet her.

"I'm sorry I just…I couldn't believe that you just, up and left without even saying goodbye to me." He paused for a long while.

"I thought I meant more to you than that?" he said softly.

"You do Booth." She replied.

"So why didn't you tell me about this huh?" He asked, now growing a little angry again.

"I didn't tell anyone Booth." She said quietly.

"Still, why not me?" he asked, the hurt swimming in his voice.

"I just…didn't. I'm sorry." She said in a monotone.

He shook his head, looking away from her to the ceiling.

"No your not." He said to himself, though intentionally loud enough so that she would hear.

"Booth-"

"Why?" He asked simply.

"Why what?"

"Why did you quit?" he said, fighting back emotion that threatened to show in his words.

"I can't tell you." She said finitely.

He frowned with confusion and hurt.

"Why not?"

"Because I…I just can't, you wouldn't understand…" she trailed off, he knew that she was lying, he always knew.

"Bones." He simply spoke her endearment to let her know she had to tell him.

"It's…look Booth if I told you I'd be endangering your life and that is something I am absolutely never willingly going to do ever so just drop it, please." As she told him this, she walked away into her bedroom, and he followed, she wasn't getting away that easy.

"Oh no, uh-uh not gonna happen, you are going to tell me right now what the hell is going on Bones or-"

"What?" she retorted, turning to face him.

"Or what Booth? What are you going to do?" He turned his attention to her bed, where on top lay a suitcase half packed with her clothes.

"Where are you going Bones?" he asked, now scared himself, a lump forming in his throat at the thought of her leaving him.

"I can't tell you." she turned and packed some more clothes that lay aimlessly on the bed into the case.

"Alright that's it." He stated, grabbing her arm and turning her to face him.

"What the hell is going on Bones!?" He asked her for the last time.

She breathed in, fighting tears, although they still welled in her eyes.

She couldn't hold herself together anymore.

"It's my brother." She blurted out.

He frowned in confusion.

"What?" he asked her softly to repeat herself.

"My brother, my father everyone I…" she began to cry.

He moved his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, she buried her face in his shoulder and held him so tight she was sure she was hurting him.

She turned her head so that she was facing away from him.

She spoke in a whisper.

"There's, there's this man, he, he held me captive for three days when I was in El Salvador," she began

"He uh, he came to Washington, and somehow he found me and, he threatened that if I didn't leave the Jeffersonian that he would have Russ murdered, then my father and it would continue on from there. I think he has connections with people in the prison I…he said he'd know. If I tried to warn them or tell anyone else, and I believe he will. I don't know how but, I believe he can do it Booth."

"Bones this is just the same as any other psycho who comes after us, after you…" he reassured her as he stroked a hand over her hair.

She shook her head and pulled away from him so that she could see his face.

"No it's not Booth, he's more powerful than you know. Trust me, I've experienced what he can do first hand…we can't beat this one, I just have to get away so that he doesn't hurt anybody else." She tried to pull away, but he held onto her tight.

"No you don't. You don't have to go anywhere, you can stay right here with me and we'll fight this." Booth said sternly. He couldn't lose her. He knew it would destroy him.

"I have to Booth. I can't risk losing anyone." She whispered as a tear escaped her eye and cascaded down her cheek.

"And I can't risk losing you." He said matter-of-factly. They stood for a few moments, then she silently turned and resumed packing as if the conversation had never taken place, trying to block out the meaning behind what he'd just told her.

He stood there shell-shocked at her coldness.

"So that's it? After everything… you can just leave, that easy?" he said, fighting back tears.

"I never said it was easy." She stated.

"And what about us? What about me, did you never think about how this would effect us? Not being able to see you everyday…I couldn't handle that, and I don't think that you could either so-"

"I know. But I have to. This is the way it has to be Booth and you know it." She said, turning only her head to him as she closed the suitcase and locked the clasps.

"No it doesn't Bones." He moved in the way of the door when she tried to push past him, suitcase in one hand.

He hadn't taken his eyes from her face. She clenched her jaw, looking up into his eyes, hers glistening in the light as they once again filled with fresh tears.

"Will you move out of the way please Booth?" she asked in a tone he didn't recognise.

He shook his head and drew in a shaky breath.

"I won't let you leave, you can't just…"

"Yes I can Booth, and I am." She stated and moved him out of the way and strode down the corridor and out in to the living area again. He stood in her bedroom for a moment, an actual physical feeling of his heart breaking stabbing in his chest. He exhaled as if the wind was being knocked out of him, closing his eyes, then stormed out of the bedroom towards her, spinning her round to face him.

"You can't do this Bones. What about us?"

"What about us Booth?"

"I know that you feel something Bones, I don't know how strongly but I know you do."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She lied and pushed past him once more stepping to the kitchen area to search for her passport.

He turned and followed her.

"I think you do Bones and don't even try to deny it 'cause I can see it in your eyes."

He stood motionless as she continued to rummage through drawers, trying not to listen to him, though finding it exceedingly more difficult when he was stood as close as he was to her. He simply stared at her.

"I know you love me back."

She stopped what she was doing and turned to face him. His chocolate brown eyes melted her heart, and she felt the emotion rising in her chest again, triggered by the obvious emotion Booth unknowingly displayed in his expression. He swallowed hard.

"Booth, I can't…" she tried as he took a step towards her, a determined look in his eyes.

"Tell me you don't love me." He said simply, raising a hand to hold her face, weaving his fingertips through her hair and his palm resting on her cheek.

She tightened her lips and shook her head, looking to her left away from his touch.

"Don't do this." She pleaded through her tears.

He pressed his forehead to hers.

"Say it. Tell me you don't love me." He said his desperation growing, sliding a hand around her waist and pulling her body closer to his, his hand still holding her face close to his.

"Booth stop it I can't-" she continued to cry harder now, struggling to release herself from his hold on her.

"Tell me you don't love me, tell me you don't love me." He repeated it over and over again, each time getting a little louder and more desperate.

"Booth please just go, I can't do this right now." She finally broke free from his grasp and pushed him to the door, he stepped backwards as she pushed his chest away, staring at her face, his jaw clenched and a rim of tears lining his eyelids threatened to escape.

He allowed her to open the door and push him out into the hallway. She slammed the door shut, and he heard even through the thick wood of the door her chain, lock and then kick the door, sliding down it and crying so hard that it hurt him to hear it. He breathed in through his nose, his eyes flickering fighting the emotion. He rested both hands on the frames either side of the door and stood leaning away from it, looking down to the floor of her hallway.

He only just heard her hands and nails scrape the floor as she got up.

She walked into the kitchen, this time going straight to the place she knew she stored her passport, before she was so distracted she had completely forgotten where it was.

He stood there simply waiting for her, there was no way he was leaving that spot, letting her just walk right out of his life.

He heard the chain unlock on the door.

He looked up and she opened it slowly, suitcase in one hand, purse in the other.

She didn't say a word, stepping into the hallway and dropping the bags to the floor to lock the door after closing it.

She fumbled with her keys, unable to find the correct key to fit the lock unlike hundreds of times before when she had left the apartment. Her hands began to shake, and Booth took this to be his que. He calmly stepped towards her and gently took hold of the trembling hand. She froze, breathing through her mouth, her nose blocked from crying, looking down to their hands. She turned and leaned into Booth chest, and he instantly wrapped his arms around her body, encircling her in a comforting embrace. She slid her hands inside his jacket and around his lower back.

After a few moments she pulled back and placed her hands either side of his face, and after she had he did the same, pressing their foreheads together.

"I'm so sorry Booth. You know that if I had a choice I'd stay with you at any cost but, I just can't risk it. I will not put your life or anybody else's in danger if I can prevent it, and I can. So that's what I'm doing. God I just wish you would understand how hard this is for me. Please forgive me Booth please." She began to cry towards the end of her sentence, causing Booth to remove one hand from her face and take hold of one of hers, kissing the point where her wrist met her palm.

"I can't let you go, I don't know how." He said softly, now struggling not to cry himself.

"You have to." She told him.

He shook his head and grimaced as he could feel her attempts to move from his embrace.

"Booth." She said plainly. She felt the tears falling as she stroked her fingertips along the sides of his head as he looked to the floor shaking his head, now crying with her.

He lifted his head and pressed a kiss to her lips. They both moved their arms around each other shoulders holding each other close as their lips broke apart and met countless times in a series of short kisses. When they finally broke apart they melted into one another, Brennan burying her face in Booth's shoulder. She didn't want to let him go.

She sobbed into him whilst he pulled himself together and sniffed away the few tears he had shed and closed his eyes, turning so that his lips were mere centimetres from her ear.

"I love you so much Bones please don't leave." He whispered into her ear as a last quiet plead with her.

"I have to go Booth. But I love you more than you'll ever know. I always have."

"No Bones, I'm giving you an ultimatum." He ordered, pulling away from her but not so much so that he let go of her entirely.

She frowned at him in question.

"I'm gonna get this son of a bitch with or without your help. And I know what you said about him being more powerful than anybody we've ever known, but I don't care. If he succeeds in driving away from me the woman I love, then there's not a lot else to live for, so I might as well die trying to catch the bastard. So here's the deal: You walk away and leave right now, and I go hunting for this asshole alone and probably get killed in the process, or you can stay here with me and we can catch him together like we always do. So what's it gonna be Bones?"

"Booth, that's blackmail." she began hesitantly.

"Bones, you know we're stronger together than apart. And I also know that you're just trying to protect me and that this isn't what you really want." He glanced at her suitcase as he spoke.

She was silent for a moment, and drew in a shaky breath.

"Ok." She finally said.

"Ok…run off and leave me or stay here and be with me?"

"I couldn't leave you Booth… I wouldn't survive a week without seeing you!" she laughed.

The broadest smile spread itself across Booth's lips as he kissed her once more, this one deeper and more passionate than the previous desperate kisses they'd shared minutes before.

They broke the kiss and both laughed at how they had turned the whole situation round with their love for one another alone.

B/BFOREVER!

Please review it makes me smile!

xxx