Here it is; same beginning, different outcome.

Here Forever and Always

He was dead. Cullen's words echoed in my brain. I went numb, my knees went weak and the next thing I knew Angela was asking me if I was okay. Apparently I had fainted. What an idiotic question, of course I wasn't okay, the one person I had truly ever loved had just died as a result of taking a bullet intended for me. He was dead and I had never got to tell him how I felt. He was dead and it was all my fault. I could feel the tears threatening to fall so I excused myself and once I finally reached the bathroom I let them fall. They refused to stop so I called a cab to take me home.

For the next to two weeks I worked every possible hour that I could. I didn't want to go home, I didn't want to go because nearly everything I possessed reminded me of him, the couch where he sat whenever he came over, the television that I owned only because he encouraged me to buy it. I remembered that day like it was yesterday, 'Booth, exactly why do I need a tv? Because everyone should have a tv, preferably a large screen plasma…' The next thing I knew I was in an electronics store browsing the entertainment section. So yes, for two weeks I worked, then when I did go home I cried and I cried.

I was looking over a set of bones when the rest of the team approached me. I simply told them that I wasn't going. Angela pulled me over to the side and told me that she needed me to be there for her. I thought she would want Hodgins but I done the whole best friend thing and reluctantly agreed to go to the funeral.

I stood there listening to Caroline talk about what a wonderful man Booth was, I tried telling Angela that I would have happily taken the bullet that was meant for me. The Honour Guard moved into place and then all of a sudden there were two men fighting in an front of me. I stare on in horror as they knocked over the casket and a mannequin falls out. It only took me a few seconds to realise that Booth wasn't inside the casket, and that he was fighting with the other man. All of a sudden the man pulled out a gun so I grabbed one of the mannequin arms and hit him over the head with it. As he lies unconscious I throw the arm on the ground and stare up at Booth.

"Thanks Bones." That's it, that's all he has to say to me. 'Thanks', no sorry or anything. He was alive this whole time and didn't see fit to tell me, do I honestly mean that little to him. So I punched him and stormed off.

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Later in the lab Booth tried to explain to me why he had pretended to be dead and he was genuinely shocked that I hadn't been told what was going on. I acted as if I don't really care and simply told him that I won't be at his next funeral. Sweets joins in and starts babbling about how the funeral made me face emotions that I wanted to keep hidden, thankfully Zach intervenes and hands me a package. It contained a jawbone with silver screws. I identified teeth marks on the mandible. They all connected it to Gormagon at the same time and as much as I hate conjecture I agreed with them.

So we spent the rest of the day working on the Gormagon case, Hodgins checked for trace amounts of minerals, Cam searched for DNA and Zack worked on the teeth marks. By the end of the afternoon we hadn't come up with much so everyone else stayed behind and seeing as there wasn't an awful lot for me to do I decided to leave.

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I finally arrived home, for the first time in over two weeks Booth had driven me home. I spent the entire car ride silent and Booth seemed content enough to just listen to the radio. Meanwhile I contemplated everything that had occurred, not only over the course of today but also the last two weeks. I collapsed on my sofa and cried once more, only this time my tears were tears of joy. I was so happy that he was alive, I was kind of sorry that I punched him and I was furious that he didn't tell himself that he was having to fake his death. All of a sudden I knew exactly what I was going to do. I wiped the tears from my eyes, stood up, grabbed my keys off the coffee table and left my apartment.

To be continued…