DISCLAIMER: I unfortunately do not own bones. If it seems familiar, chances are it's not mine!

Prologue-

"Do you really expect me to just let you leave like this, Brennan? Without any explanation?" Angela Montenegro stood with her arms folded across her chest staring, dumbfounded, her best friend. "I mean, I know you love to run away when you feel your feelings are starting to become too strong for you, but to resign from the Jeffersonian? Bren, sweetie, that's not you." Angela placed a hand on Brennan's arm, attempting to reassure the woman that was standing in front of her, almost in tears.

"Ange," Brennan choked out, "you don't understand. I-"

"What don't I understand?" Angela asked in an authoritative yet gentle tone. "Explain to me why my best friend is abandoning her life, her job… her family! Try to explain that to me."

Brennan's eyes widened at Angela's raised voice. She opened her mouth to try to explain everything to her, but found that the words were not forming. She began to tremble, and a unwanted tear began to streak down her face.

Angela saw her friend crumbling in front of her and quickly enveloped her in her arms. "Sweetie, please tell me what happened. What's the matter?"

Brennan fell into her friends embrace and felt her walls that she so carefully built up for moment just like this come crashing down. She began to sob, and only faintly realized that Angela was soothing her by rubbing reassuring circles along her back. Finally she was able to choke out one word, "Booth."

Angela pulled away from Brennan and looked her in the eyes. "What about Booth?" Brennan shook her head and tried to turn away from Angela's caring eyes, but Angela stopped her and forced her to look straight into her eyes. "Please tell me Sweetie," Angela implored. "I won't be able to kick his ass if I don't know what happened."

"I love him," Brennan admitted softly, closing her eyes to try and stop the tears that once again were threatening to fall.

Angela pulled her back in for a reassuring hug. "I have known that for a long time. A lot of people have known that for a long time. It's good that you are finally willing to admit it. I am sure if you told Booth he will-"

Brennan put her hand up to stop Angela from saying the words that she knew were not true. "I already did tell him," Brennan admitted.

Angela looked at her, fury beginning to spread through her eyes, "And what did he say," Angela said through gritted teeth, hoping that the answer was not anything like she had in her mind. But judging from the way Brennan was reacting, she knew it isn't likely.

"He said that Hannah is not a consolation prize, and he loves her," Brennan stated in her tone that showed she was trying to distance herself from the situation, even though in this case there was no way she could possibly distance herself if she tried.

"That son of a bitch!" Angela muttered, growing more angry by the second at the man that was supposed to fall in love with her best friend, make a bunch of babies, and settle her down and live happily ever after. That plan is starting to look a little grim. "I swear, when I get my hands on him, he's going to wish that he'd never been born."

"Angela, stop that!" Brennan scolded.

"Why?" Angela asked, confused, "why do you want me to stop when he hurt you?"

Brennan let out a deep sigh. She felt bad for never telling Angela about how she turned Booth down, but she couldn't bear to live through that again knowing that that night is the biggest regret of her life. But now, since Angela knew half of it, she might as well know the whole thing. "Because," Brennan said, her words coming out much shakier than she would have liked, "I turned him down first."

At Brennan's words, Angela's eyes softened, "what do you mean Sweetie, What happened?"

Brennan looked into Angela's eyes with a sad expression on her face. "About a year ago, Booth and I went to correct Sweets on the book he was writing. He thought our first case was the Cleo Eller case, but it was in fact-"

"Jemma Harrington," Angela interrupted, I remember.

Brennan nodded and continued, "we told Sweets the story of that first case, and when we were leaving Booth said that he wanted to give us a shot. I was too scared to say yes; scared that I would hurt him, so I told him no. He told me he would love me for 30, or 40, or 50 years, and then in the next breath told me he had to move on."

"That asshole!" Angela exclaimed, "Sweetie, that explains so much, but why are you leaving now. Me, Hodgins, Cam, your dad; we can all help you through this; you don't need to run away."

Brennan shook her head, "no! I do have to run away, because if I don't I will always be reminded of that mistake I made; I will always remember that Booth could have been mine. You know him and Hannah are engaged, don't you?

Angela's eyes grew wide in disbelief, "what? That can't be true!"

"It is," Brennan insisted, "he told me earlier this evening. He asked, she said yes, they are both very happy. I can't take it Angela! I can't watch him with her and not feel miserable. Leaving is the only thing I can think of doing that won't make me miserable every time I breath."

Angela nodded. She understood where Brennan was coming from, she really did. "You aren't going to be gone forever, are you?" Angela said in a weak voice, already knowing the answer. If Booth married Hannah, Brennan would never come back; she wouldn't be able to bear that sort of pain.

"I don't know," Brennan honestly admitted, "I- I really don't know." She said, tears beginning to form in her eyes once again.

Angela was filled with sympathy and once again gave her friend a huge hug. "Oh Sweetie, everything will be ok, I promise."

"You understand, don't you Ange," Brennan asked, her voice almost pleading, "I wouldn't be able to bear it if you were mad at me for leaving."

Angela sighed. As much as she wanted to say no, say that she would never be able to understand her leaving, she couldn't. She couldn't bear the thought of her best friend being miserable. Instead she replied, "I understand." Brennan was about to give her gratitude when Angela stopped her and said, "I will understand on one condition- you must not shut me out of your life. You have to promise to call me at least three times a week" she over-emphasized the words at least, "and either you have to visit me, or I visit you at least once every other month. These are the only conditions I have, and if you can't deal with them, I will not give you my blessing to leave." Angela placed her hands on her slight baby bump, "besides, this little baby needs to know his godmother- I won't have it any other way."

Brennan sighed. She knew she would not be able to talk Angela out of those conditions so she reluctantly agreed, "fine Angela, I can accept your compromise."

Angela smiled, satisfied that Brennan agreed, not too happy of the circumstances surrounding the agreement, but she was determined to remain cheerful on behalf of her friend. "Come on Sweetie, I will help you pack."

Later that night Cam sat in her office, looking up from her paper work as Angela approached. "Did you talk some sense in her?" Cam asked, hoping that the best forensic anthropologist in the world, and her friend, wasn't leaving her team.

Angela sadly shook her head, "no, she boarded a plane already."

"To where?" Cam asked.

"I don't know," Angela honestly answered, "she is stopping at a layover in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then she is going to pick a place from there. She promised she would call when she found out where she was going."

Cam sighed in defeat, "I thought you would be able to talk some sense into her," Cam admitted.

Angela nodded, "I thought so too, but she told me something… and I really have no choice but to respect her wishes."

Cam squinted at the artist and asked, "may I ask why she decided to leave us all again?"

Angela sighed. She didn't want to ruin her best friend's trust by spilling her secret, but she also felt Cam had a right to know. Instead of telling the whole story she settled for telling her, "Booth broke her heart, and she couldn't live with that pain any longer. Can you blame her?"

Instead of being angry like Angela had suspected, Cam muttered under her breath, "Seeley Booth you bastard!"

Seeley Booth was just about to sit down to a nice, romantic dinner with his new fiancé when he heard the sound of his phone beeping. Sighing because he knew him and Bones probably had another case; he picked up his phone and read the message. Instead of it being from Hacker letting him know of the whereabouts of a body it was a simple message from Cam:

Seeley Booth! I warned you not to crack that shell

unless you were sure about your feelings. Now she's

gone!

Booth didn't need any explanation; he knew exactly what Cam was talking about.

I don't know if many people like this idea, but it has been floating around my head for the past few months, and I finally decided to put my ideas to paper. I really appreciate reviews, and I would love to hear ideas you have for this story. Hopefully enough people will like my idea to convince me to continue. I am excited for this journey, but I need some followers too