It had been a fellow agent who had told him, approached him outside his office to let him know he was working on the case. The family had mentioned that they'd dated a long time ago and so naturally the agent had wanted him to be updated, at the very least, so that he might decide to pay his respects.

To say that he was shocked was an understatement and it wasn't long until he pulled up the case file and studied the notes. The notes indicated another murder, another girl from his hometown but he was strangely relieved to note that he didn't recognise her name.

He'd shown up at the funeral, dark glasses hiding his emotional eyes and a bunch of white lilies in his hand, her favourite from what he could recall. Her parents had embraced him and thanked him for coming, and long after everyone had left he remained by her graveside to pay his respects. He talked of the old days, his beat up Chevy and how she'd always crunched the gears when he let her drive it, he talked of skipping classes so that they could sneak off to the lake, and then he told her that he was sorry that he'd lost touch, that they'd drifted apart and that she would always hold a place in his heart.

At that, he laid the flowers on her grave and closed his eyes in silent prayer before walking away, leaving her to rest.

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A couple of weeks later...

He knocked on her door tentatively and hung his head waiting for her to answer, and when she opened it her smile was enough to lift his spirits slightly. "Booth. Come in."

He accepted her invitation and wandered past her, she had a dishcloth slung over her shoulder and he picked up on an amazing smell that wafted through from the kitchen. "I'm sorry Bones, I didn't think that you would be eating... I don't want to interrupt."

"Don't be sorry, I was just thinking that I've made enough for a small army... besides, you've have to eat right?" He smiled at that, not just because of the well used phrase between them, but because she was making an effort and the idea of being in her company was lifting his mood.

She ushered him to sit and walked into the kitchen to begin dishing up. When she returned he had already poured them both a glass of wine, she smiled appreciatively as she laid his plate in front of him. His eyes widened at the sight of the food in front of him, "You cook Italian?"

She smiled and concentrated on piling her fork with food "I've been dabbling with it..."

As the first mouthful made it's way down his throat he smiled and cocked his head to the side to get her attention. "Well from the look and taste of things, it's more than just dabbling... this is amazing Bones... maybe even better than your mac and cheese."

She watched him cautiously as he took another bite, when he questioned her with his eyes, she let her fork rest on the plate. "What's going on?" His jaw clenched and he turned his focus to his plate.

She reached across the table and placed a soft hand on his wrist, his eyes changed focus to her hand and he let out a small sigh. "There's another body... I'm not on the case, but I know the girl."

She pulled her hand back from his wrist and he looked up to meet her eyes. "You dated her too?" He forced a grim smile and nods. "Who was she, when did you date?"

He ran a hand over his face and nodded toward her food. "I'm sorry about ruining your dinner.. I should go, we'll do this tomorrow." As he started to move from the table she placed a hand on his arm.

"No, you came here to talk, and I would really like to be here for you." Her earnest expression made him sigh in relief and she pushed him towards the sofa as she cleared the plates from the table. She returned with their forgotten glasses of wine and curled her legs under herself as she sank into the sofa. Booth dared not look at her and stared at the endless shelves of books.

"Claire was my girlfriend in College. We were inseparable, I thought that she was the most incredibly intelligent woman I had ever met, she was gunning for a high flying medical career and me... I just never saw myself as being good enough, I broke my own heart and hers when I told her I had joined the Army."

"You loved her." There was no accusation in her voice, no false pity, it was a statement. He nodded at her as he allowed his eyes to meet hers. "I'm sorry Booth... It must be hard to lose two women that you've loved within a few weeks of each other."

He shook his head and his eyes darkened. "Whoever this is, he's targeting women that I've dated... they won't let me on the case, I have no valuable information to contribute to the case, no idea who would be doing this.. I mean I've tried everything, everything except..." He'd looked at her nervously and she seemed confused for a second but then realisation dawned.

"You want me to work on the body..." Again no question, a statement. She let out a shuddery breath and looked at her hands awkwardly.

"I know what I'm asking here... I just want to make sure that this bastard is caught."

"Okay... I'll have a look."

He saw the reluctance, the hesitation... this case was too close to him, she didn't want to be the bearer of bad news... but his selfishness pushed her into it, he looked at his hands guiltily. "Thank you." He pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his jacket from the chair. "I'll contact the SAC and let them know your involvement... Night Bones."

She sighed when he left and bit her lip nervously...

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