Disclaimer: Not mine
Spoilers: None
A/N: Short. Sweet. Enjoy.
"You can't save them all, Bones."
She looked up into his eyes, embarrassed for being found here, but comforted in the fact that he knew her well enough to do just that.
"I know that. Despite the irrationality of it, failure still hurts. But when my failure affects other people I lose my ability to compartmentalize."
He held his hand out for her and helped her up from the sodden earth, looking quickly at the flowers she had left.
"I know. It's going to hurt for a long time. But that's the life we chose, Bones. We decided to have careers that force us to see the depravity in life, to try to make sense of it and stop it. But we can't change the world. People are people and they're going to let their rages take over. We should care, but we can't let it consume us."
Her mind zipped from one response to another, but didn't settle anywhere. She just didn't know what to do.
"I need to go home," she said finally.
"I'll take you."
"Thanks."
"Why aren't you wearing a coat? It's cold out here."
"I didn't notice."
He shrugged out of his own coat and put it around her, keeping his hand between her shoulder blades, his thumb stroking her neck. They walked slowly back to his car, Brennan's eyes focused on her feet. Booth watched her out of the corner of his eyes, noting the way the end of her nose moved as she tried not to cry. A strand of hair fell into her face and he stopped their walking and turned her to him, tucking the hair behind her ear.
"It's okay to feel it, Bones. It's okay to cry."
"It doesn't accomplish anything."
"Bones, have you ever gone for a run?'
"Yes."
"Have you ever done it because you felt like it? Not to stay in shape, not to improve lung function, but just to run? Because it felt good?"
"I think I know what you're getting at."
"You need to have a release. Otherwise you're like a volcano that erupts without warning, and me and the squints are the ones caught in the pyroclastic flow."
"I understand the simile."
He nodded and they walked the rest of the way to the car in silence, letting the peace of the place swirl around them. They stood on the asphalt parking lot and she waited for him to open her door, then reached out and grabbed his arm.
"You're right, we can't save them all. But you… you… you save me, Booth."
He slid his arms around her waist and her head settled in the crook of his neck.
"You save me too Bones. Everyday."
He kissed her cheek gently, an invisible sign of mutual redemption, then pulled back and looked into her eyes. All of it was right there for him to see bare as the granite angels that adorned the gravestones. She'd always be there to save him, he'd always be there to save her, and that was what would save them all.