A/N: I own nothing and make nothing from it. ;)

I started this a while back - in the summer, I think. I've tackled it off and on as I've had time during this crazy fall. So, it may seem a bit disjointed, but then I'm not a linear thinker so that's to be expected. It contains most of the facts from season 6 so far, but maybe in a slightly different context, so it's a bit AU. Also, T just to be safe...

Dr. Temperance Brennan stopped at the entrance to the communications tent, pausing to catch her breath. She'd been called from the dig to take an "emergency" phone call. Though she was not one to jump to conclusions, preferring to have evidence before giving credence to the myriad of situations that could be considered an emergency, her thoughts had immediately gone to Booth. Her heart had begun racing the minute she heard the word "emergency" and she had run the entire route from the dig site to the tent. Now she was chiding herself and trying to regain some of her composure.

Her hands were still shaking slightly, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest and her breathing was still accelerated but she could no longer wait to learn the details of the emergency. She had to know what had caused Caroline Julian to call her in the Maluku Islands and insist on speaking to her immediately. She found a stool to sit on as she put the phone to her ear.

"Caroline?" Brennan said into the receiver and hoping the connection had not been broken.

"Cherie? Is that you?" Brennan recognized Caroline Julian's distinctive cadence even through the bad connection of the satellite phone.

"Caroline? What's wrong?" Brennan asked. "They told me it was an emergency."

"It is an emergency," Caroline exclaimed. "You and Booth up and running off. Dr. Hodgins and his wife up and running off. You all left Dr. Saroyen here to fend for herself. What were you thinking?"

"Caroline, what's wrong with Cam?" Brennan asked. She was breathing easier now, though she wouldn't admit to herself that it wasn't only because she was recovering from exertion. Booth wasn't the emergency. In fact, there probably was no real emergency. Brennan doubted that she and Caroline shared the same definition of the word.

"The case she's working on has gotten complicated and that sorry excuse of a replacement for you blabbed to the wrong people at the wrong time. Now Cam's in danger...of losing her job at the very least."

"I don't understand," Brennan said, trying to imagine what would cause Cam's job to be in danger.

"Basically, the dolt implied some DC power broker was involved before Dr. Saroyen and her pathetic team of replacements actually had the evidence needed for a conviction. That big whig is gunning for Cam and I wouldn't put it past him to make her disappear if he can't manage to throw his weight around enough to get her canned."

"What is it you want from me, Caroline?" Brennan asked. She thought she'd grasped the gist of the situation, but she wasn't entirely clear why Caroline was calling to tell her all of this.

"I want you to get your skinny butt back her to find the evidence Dr. Saroyen needs to get this conviction." Caroline said and Brennan could hear the frustration in her voice. "I've already contacted Dr. & Mrs. Hodgins. They're already on a flight back to DC. It took longer to get a hold of you."

"Jack and Angela are flying back from Paris?" Brennan was only mildly surprised by that revelation. It didn't take long for her to make her decision. If the truth were told, she'd been a bit disappointed by the findings of the dig up to this point and she was feeling a bit more melancholy than she would have expected. She wasn't sure if what she felt could be termed homesick or whether it was something else entirely. She also wasn't sure returning to DC would alleviate that feeling, but part of her felt a little bit excited about being back at the Jeffersonian with Cam and especially if Hodgins and Angela were there as well.

"I will get the first flight out I can find, Caroline, but it will take a while to get back," Brennan said.

"Just get here as fast as you can," Caroline said and her voice sounded softer.

"Caroline?" Brennan couldn't help herself, she had to ask. "Have you heard from Booth?"

"No, Cherie, I haven't."

"I'll see you in a few days. Thanks for calling."

The minute Brennan was back in Jakarta, she'd begun making phone calls. After her flight was booked she called a few of her contacts in DC. She asked no questions about Cam's case, preferring as always to examine the evidence without hearing other's theories that might prejudice her findings. The calls were made to pull strings. Though she was loathe to call in favors and in fact, she never had before, she felt compelled this time. She'd come to the realization that being back in DC and working on a case would not be the same without her partner.

She'd missed Booth more than she had thought it possible to miss anyone. He never left her thoughts and she had found it extremely difficult to compartmentalize him away. Many nights had been sleepless due to nightmares she could not banish or regrets she could not resolve.

So many nights she'd gone over their conversation in front of the Hoover building that changed everything. Though she'd insisted to Booth that she could not change, she realized that she had already changed. Spending time with a group of scientists over the past few months had made her realize just how much she missed who she had become with Booth. She was not comfortable with any of her companions here. She didn't know any of them well enough to share any part of herself, but she missed sharing with her Jeffersonian family and especially with Booth.

She'd feared the changes she sensed were coming after that night. She'd been overwhelmed by Booth's what? Confession? Revelation? Proposal? She wasn't sure what term fit his request best.

With Angela and Jack getting married, Booth asking to give a relationship between them a try...it was as if everyone she knew was trying to force her out of her comfort zone and she had resisted fiercely. Now, however, she knew she had made a mistake. She had been the one to quote Einstein to Booth when she'd said the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Yet, she realized, that was what she had done. She had left for a sabbatical hoping to rekindle her love of archeology and restore her partnership with Booth. But she realized, she was secretly hoping for a different outcome. Being on her own again had shown her how much she wished she wasn't.

Brennan knew she bore the responsibility for everything that was happening now...for Booth being in Afghanistan, for Cam being threatened, for the loneliness she'd been feeling for more than seven months. If she could do anything to help set that right, she would call in a favor or two.

Booth was surprised to say the least when he walked out of his CO's tent. No, the feeling he felt went beyond surprise, beyond stunned. It took him a couple of minutes to even process what he'd just been told. When it finally sank in, he had to pinch himself to ensure he wasn't dreaming. Then he was moving as quickly as his feet would carry him back to his tent with the brightest, biggest smile he'd worn since arriving in this hot, sandy, hurry-up-and-wait refuge. He was going home...early.

He reached his cot and started packing up the meager belongings he brought with him or received as care packages over the past seven months. The helicopter that would transport him out of this alternate reality was coming soon. There would be no time for goodbyes, no time to reminisce about the lives he'd encountered and the people who'd touched him over the past seven months.

He was sitting on the helicopter lifting away from the remote base before he started to wonder why he was leaving. His CO had not really given him a reason, he'd simply called him to his tent, thanked Booth for his service, complimented him on a job well done and told him to pack up because a transport was arriving in less than 10 minutes to get him started on his journey home.

His wondered if there had been an emergency, if someone had been injured or worse. It would be a while before he was able to ask those questions and it made him anxious. His first concern was for Parker, but he pushed those thoughts aside knowing there was nothing he could do until he arrived back in Washington. Then he wondered about Bones. No, they wouldn't send him home if something had happened to Bones because they weren't family.

That reminded him of an odd conversation he'd had a few weeks before with a newer arrival to the base. He'd been sitting in the mess tent reading a copy of Bone's most recent novel. Cam had sent it in a care package and he was on his second time through the book when this Sergeant Major in special forces took a seat across the table from him.

"What's that you're reading there, Sergeant Major?" the other Sergeant Major asked.

Booth had straightened up the book so the guy could see the font cover.

"Bone of Contention," he read. "Hmm...is it any good?"

"Yeah," Booth replied and set the book down. He reached a hand across the table offering to shake the other man's hand. "Booth," he said by way of introduction.

"Conner," the other replied as he shook Booth's hand and smiled. "So, what's it about?"

"The book? It's a murder mystery," Booth said. "I guess you haven't had much time to read lately?"

"Nah. But maybe I'll borrow this when you're finished, eh?" he said as he reached out and picked the book up to look it over. "Hard back too. Somebody must like you."

He turned the book over and paused as he saw the photo of Bones on the back. A puzzled look came over his face and he turned to the front to see Dr. Temperance Brennan's name under the title. "Hey," he exclaimed, "I know who this is."

"Yeah?" Booth asked, wary of what Conner would say next.

"Yeah...it was a couple of years ago. I was assigned to a protection detail. She was the assignment. She's a piece of work, that one," Conner said. His eyebrows rose in a look of disbelief as he shook his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Booth asked as he struggled to maintain his cool.

"She was always spewing all these fifty-dollar words, coming across all aloof and indifferent, but a few weeks into the mission, she started to relax a bit and it became apparent why we'd been assigned to her. She was amazing. So smart. So gorgeous and so unaware of it. I seriously think she could have handled anything without us there to protect her."

He paused and picked the book up again. He turned it over and looked at the photo on the back again. A smile crept back onto his face and Booth was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to hear more of this man's encounter with Bones.

"I didn't know she wrote books."

"What was the mission?" Booth asked.

"Well, I could tell you," Conner said with a smirk. "But then I'd have to kill you." He chuckled and Booth returned his smile, though less enthusiastically.

"Nah, seriously, it was a classified mission. I guess everyone who reads this knows what she does for a living. She identifies remains. That's all I can say about it," Conner said and the smile left his face. Booth noticed a haunted look wash over his features briefly.

"Yeah, I know what she does for a living," Booth said and sighed. "She's the best in the world and she's my partner...or she was before I took this gig."

"What's that?" Conner's head snapped up. "You know her?"

"Yes, I do," Booth said and thought, probably better than anyone else in the world.

"Well, what did you do before getting this gig?" Conner asked.

"I was an FBI Special Agent and liaison to the Jeffersonian Institute which is where Bones and her squint squad work. We solved murders together for five years."

"Five years...wow. And you walked away from that to come here?" Conner asked.

"Not exactly," Booth said and took a deep breath. "Bones was invited to work on a big dig in Indonesia. It was very important to her. It might unlock some secret to the evolution of mankind sort of important and she was going to be gone for a year. Coincidentally, the Army came after me to do this training stint and it seemed like a good idea at the time..."

"Bones?" Conner asked. "Is that what you call her? And she lets you?"

Booth chuckled a little. "Yeah, she hated it at first, but..."

"She warmed to the idea," Conner finished for him, nodding in a knowing way.

"So, you really can't give me any more details about your mission with Bones?" Booth asked, though he was sure he'd get a negative response. He just had to try.

"All I can tell you is she was asked to identify some remains and special forces was asked to provide protection...and it wasn't the first time she'd been asked to do it. From what I heard, she's got a very high security clearance and has been asked to identify remains in some of the most volatile areas of the world by some of the highest power brokers in DC."

Booth sat back feeling sucker-punched. "Huh," Booth replied.

"She wouldn't talk about it," Conner said. "She can't. All of that would be classified."

"Yeah," Booth said. "I know. Thanks for telling me what you could."

Booth hadn't seen Conner after that. He and three others had died when an IED hit their vehicle on a tour of a neighboring village. Pushing those thoughts aside as well, Booth suddenly felt exhausted. He leaned back into the seat of the helicopter and tried to fan the flame of excitement he'd felt when he'd heard he was being sent home.

Brennan was beginning to feel like she was back where she belonged. She had been back long enough to greet her friends, take a shower and get briefed on Cam's case. Now she was back in the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal lab on the platform examining the remains that had caused all of this unexpected chaos to ensue.

Hodgins and Angela were beginning to work their magic with the particulates and other details that had been gleaned by Cam and the interns. Brennan was going over the remains as only she could, looking for anything that had been missed. It was taking longer than she liked because she was having a difficult time focusing. She was tired from lack of sleep, edgy from wondering how long it would be before the the most important person in her life returned.

Some part of her had known he was the most important person in her life when she left seven months previously. At that time she had been confused as to what that meant and how she should deal with that knowledge. She had been comfortable with knowing by denying. And then Booth had gambled and asked her to give them a chance. She'd wanted to say yes, but experience had taught her that saying yes would be tantamount to saying goodbye and she could not bear to do that.

Seven months away from Booth had given her time to reach some new conclusions. Booth was different. The way she felt about him was different. The way he treated her was different. What they shared was different. Thus she hoped a different outcome was indeed possible.

The only roadblock was whether or not he could forgive her for her unintentional rejection of his unorthodox declaration. If the situation had been reversed, she was unconvinced that she would be able to forgive him...at least right away. But Booth was different. He had an open heart. She hoped it was still open to her.

She was lost in thought and surmised that was how he managed to get all the way to the platform and set off the alarms before she knew he was in the room. Hearing the alarms go off caused her to jump slightly and turn toward the steps to the platform. There he was, looking exactly as she remembered him, smartly dressed in a suit & tie with a sheepish grin on his face.

"I guess my card expired," he said. She was down the steps, ignoring the alarms and wrapping herself around him in a hug before he could say more.

"Booth!" she exclaimed as she hugged him.

Cam was behind them swiping her card to shut off the alarms before Booth could even respond to Brennan.

"Hey, Bones," Booth said as he hugged her back and smiled at Cam standing behind her. Booth started to pull back after an average length of time, but stopped when Bones would not let go. She clung to him for several more seconds before finally pulling herself back.

"You made it back in one piece," Bones said as she took another step back and looked him up and down. "You kept your promise."

"I did my best, Bones," Booth said. "But then, we didn't quite make it a year did we? You and I will have a talk about that later, ok?"

"OK," Bones said.