"Who are you?"
For one second, the kind that seems to stretch out and last for an eternity, Temperance Brennan could not breath. Her heart stopped beating and for the first time in her life, her brain could form no thoughts. Since coming to realize how important Booth was to her, she'd imagined a million ways in which he could leave her. She figured that if she were prepared, when it happened, it wouldn't hurt as much. She had imagined bullet wounds and car crashes, a transfer out of state or a recall over seas. Never in a million years had she imagined that she could possibly lose just a piece of him.
Ironic, though, that this would be the piece she lost. Not his great heart, which had opened up to include her years ago, though she had given him a million reasons not to. Not his caring arms, which had held her when she was upset, offering a 'guy hug' to soothe her pain. Not his powerful legs, the ones that had carried him down a massive pile of sand to dig her out of her early grave. Not his playful tongue, which could offer her reassuring words or funny jokes, depending on their moods. Not his deep eyes, the ones that could always see right to her own soul to know her exact feelings, the ones that held her gaze so often. Not his soft lips, which she'd only gotten a chance to enjoy once, but had fantasized about on multiple occasions. Not his strong hands, the ones that he had used dozens of times to defend her, be it as fists or trigger fingers.
No, she had lost his mind, his memories. Every conversation that they had shared, missing. The little moments which she held so close to her heart, deleted. The trinkets that he had given her to cheer her up, gone. The nights spent filling out paperwork over take-out, erased. The last four years of their lives, in which she had finally allowed someone to enter her heart, and he could not remember them. It presented a life worse then the one she had faced when he had been shot. To stare into his eyes day after day, knowing he would never be able to understand her, seeing a void that should be filled with love and trust, it would be a pain worse than any she had encountered so far in life.
Then the second was over, shattered by the charm smile that spread over his face. "Just kidding, Bones. I've always wanted to do that."
She couldn't help the hundred watt smile that spread over her face, even as she reached behind her back to pull the pillow out and throw it at him.
"Hey, now, easy. I just had brain surgery." His laughter was infectious, and she began to giggle as well. "Bones, did they bring the pudding yet?"
Temperance Brennan let out a sigh as she crossed the room and picked a pudding up off of her own lunch tray. She handed it to him, along with a spoon. She chastised herself for her momentary panic, having so little faith in Booth's mind. It was much stronger than he let on, and she knew it. As she watched him eat the pudding, she smiled. Booth could never forget her, just as she could never forget him.
Seeley Booth looked up at his partner. He noted the smile on her face and the twinkle in her eye. He knew she had been worrying about him before the surgery, and he must have really scared her when he didn't wake up. But seeing her standing there, knowing she had not left this hospital, as evidenced by the duffel bag by her chair and the take-out bags in the trash, he realized she might have finally realized what he had seen so long ago. Maybe now that she had changed her mind about children, he should see where she stood on marriage. And maybe they could also talk about erasing a certain line that never should have been drawn…