I've always wondered if Bones knew, truly knew, what it cost Booth deep inside to be a sniper, despite his own admission of the importance of what he did in the military. In this two chapter story Booth decides to show Bones the cost to a person, a good person, who takes a life by way of being a sniper. I hope you enjoy this one. Gregg.

Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Booth was in the office of his old friend, and former commanding officer, Brigadier General Tom Harding. He was making an odd request, but it was something he felt was necessary.

"You want to train your partner to be a sniper?" Harding asked, somewhat surprised. Booth was a damn good senior NCO and also a dependable friend, so there had to be a good reason behind the request.

"Yes, Sir, but not exactly," Booth replied. Then he sighed. "Bones is a good shot, and has a respect for life, and the victims of tragedy, that is way above anything I've ever seen. But she doesn't understand, or recognize, the difference in cost between taking a life in self-defense, and taking a life from the position of a sniper. To her, they're the same, or so it seems from what she's said at times. Death is death and sometimes shit happens. Now that we're together, I want her to be able to understand my demons, and what my military service cost me inside."

Harding gave it some thought for a minute. It was his base and training facility, so the decision was his. He mentally went over the training schedules for the next few weeks and knew that there were some range areas that could be used by Booth and his partner, and the more classroom related material could be covered by Booth away from the base. As Booth regularly updated his qualifications on the off chance he may come back on duty Harding didn't have a problem with it.

"Alright," he said finally. "I'll e-mail you the range schedules and you can let me know when you want access."

Booth stood. "Thanks, General," he said and offered his hand. He almost saluted, but as he was not in the Army anymore, he simply offered the hand.

Later That Night

"Hey, Bones, I need to talk to you for a minute," Booth said as he slid into bed with her. The warm contentment he normally felt when in bed with her, even when they weren't doing anything, was eluding him.

Bones put down the anthropology journal she was reading and looked at him. "What's wrong?" she asked, noting the tenseness in him.

"Remember the day when Vincent was killed?" he asked her.

Bones hid the shudder that went through her body. It was one of the most horrible days of her life, yet also one of the best days of her life considering that she and Booth finally bridged the gap between them and became a couple. She nodded. "Of course," she replied.

"We argued about who should be on the couch and who should be on the bed," Booth reminded her anyway. "You said something that's bothered me ever since."

Bones frowned. She replayed the conversation in her mind. "I don't know what you mean," she told him.

"You said I have to kill Broadsky," he told her.

"Booth, Broadsky needed to be stopped," she said, still confused.

"I know," he said, sighing. "But you said I have to kill him. There's a difference, Bones."

"I'm not sure I understand," she admitted.

"I know, and I'm not upset with you," he assured her. "But it does make me wonder if you understand how far my inner demons run when I use my sniper skills as opposed to simply using a gun in self-defense, or defending someone else."

"I know it's hard for you whenever you've had to take a life," she offered. She knew he went to confession whenever he had to use his gun against another person regardless if a life was taken, and that when he did take a life he was emotionally broken for days afterward as he tried to deal with it. She always felt so inadequate as a friend, and now as his lover, when something like that was dragging him down emotionally.

"True," he told her. "But I want you to understand the difference. I think it's important for you to understand a very big part of me, and some of the inner turmoil that I live with."

Bones suddenly understood what he was doing. Early on in their partnership he had told her that partners shared things with each other. Later on he had said that couples shared even more. While he had given her glimpses into the pain he felt when he took a life, and he had spoken a little about being a sniper and his desire to atone for his work as one, he had never shared the depth of his troubles. She had never pushed, but it seemed that he was ready now.

"I'm not very good at understanding emotions," she pointed out, quietly, but firmly because she wanted him to know that while she was wanting to know what it was he had to tell her, she was also nervous about possibly not understanding, and possibly hurting or disappointing him by that lack of understanding.

"I think what I have in mind you'll understand," he told her. "I'm going to give you the training that a sniper and also a spotter are given to be qualified as a military sniper. I'm going to forgo the map reading, compass guided field work, and PT as I know you're more than capable of all that, but I am going to work with you on the calculation side, best shot location determinations, and all the preparation elements of being a sniper. Then will come the actual sniping where we will go out and you will qualify with the weapon of choice, and then we will go and place a target. You will be spotter for me, and then you will be the shooter."

She knew he was not talking an actual live target, but something that could take the place of a living person. In some ways it excited her as it would be one more skill in her arsenal of taking care of herself and also helping keep him safe when the situation warranted. On the other hand it was a deadly serious skill that she was a bit unnerved being excited over.

"When do we start?" she asked.

"We're on vacation for the next three weeks, so I figured that we could use that time for this," he replied. "Among other things," he added, winking at her with a knowing charm smile.

Bones chuckled. "There better be a lot of those other things," she said with a flash of her eyes and a flare of her nostrils. "And you better plan on some strenuous physical activity in the bedroom. You know how I am when I'm learning a new skill."

Booth chuckled, too. When she was focusing on learning something she always got tense. Sex was an excellent tension reliever, and he knew she had not had a lover since the deep sea welder guy three years before until she decided that she was ready to give good old Seeley Booth a try in the relationship department. Three years of pent up tension had only barely been tapped so far, so he could imagine what the next three weeks was going to be like outside of his training her. Yep. This was going to be one very nice vacation, especially if she finished it with a better understanding of what his demons were, and why she was so important to him in that regard. He loved her deeply, but from the moment he had met her, she had also given him something tangible to focus on to keep the demons at bay. First as a partner, then as a friend, now as a lover and the mother of his unborn child. He was being given a second chance as a Father and he was deeply grateful, not only to God, but to her, as well. The fact that Parker loved it that he was now dating Bones was an added bonus.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he told her. "Now how about a little preview of the strenuous activities?" he suggested, waggling his brows in invitation.

Bones threw the covers off of them and pulled off her oversized T-shirt, giving him a lusty leer. "Someone is a bit overdressed," she commented with an exaggerated glance at his boxers.

A/N: There's chapter one which explains what is going on. The second chapter, which will finish the story will be where Bones has progressed in the training and they are on the range with a target. I hope you enjoyed this one. Gregg.