Title: Daffodils

Author: skagengiirl

Rating: K+

Spoilers: Spoilers for S5 finale.

Disclaimer: Leave it up to the professionals to decide what's best for our favorite characters & non-couple.

Summary: An unexpected homecoming brings some unexpected news.

A/N: This idea got in my head waay before the season finale was aired, but I had gotten so many different scenarios in my head and got it kind of mixed up with a lot of other fic ideas I have in mind, so I had some trouble writing it down. Finally I decided to just start writing and see where it went and this is what came out of it. I hope you like it :)

Chapter 1 – A Memory

Brennan arrived home in D.C. 10 months earlier than planned. The first 6 weeks had been okay – despite the obvious annoyance that was Daisy Wick. Her excitement just never faded away. Every chance she'd gotten, she would express how happy she was for being there with Dr. Brennan. And whenever they'd found something important, she would squeal – not unlike the time she found out she'd been accepted to go on the dig.

Brennan had realized that she would never be able to sort out her life with Daisy constantly right on her heels. She had gotten so frustrated that in the end, she couldn't take it anymore. She had apologized to the Indonesian government for putting them in this situation, but told them that she had an emergency back home. It wasn't a lie per se. She didn't have an emergency back home, but she was in a situation that needed her to be home.

So, here she was. Walking through Dulles, rolling her trolley behind her with memories of the last night she'd been home running through her head.

Their closest friends and Daisy had just left Brennan's apartment a few minutes ago. She had told Booth that she would take care of cleaning up, but he insisted on helping – any chance of extending his last night with his partner, he would take. Brennan was glad that he offered to stay and help. She wasn't ready to say goodbye to him yet. She didn't know if she ever would be ready, but she knew it was inevitable. Even if she'd decided to stay, there was no way he could get out of his commitment to the army. Unless he broke an arm or something, causing him to be unable to hold a rifle.

Prolonging the inevitable seemed like insanity. But her heart felt so heavy at the thought, though – figuratively speaking, of course. She hoped that it would get better the more time she spent with him tonight.

They were both silent as they cleaned the dishes. Music was playing softly from her stereo. It was no specific CD. By the beginning of the evening Angela had hooked up Brennan's iPod to her stereo and just let it play silently. The night had been nothing huge. Just a quiet night. Just the two of them, the squints and Sweets and Daisy.

"What did Catherine say about you leaving for a year?" Brennan asked to break the heavy silence.

Booth tensed by the mentioning of the woman he'd went on three dates with. "Uh…" He wiped the back of his hand over his forehead, and then answered: "We stopped seeing each other after the third date."

Brennan was shocked to hear this. She'd expected him to tell her, if they stopped dating. She told him she had stopped seeing Hacker, not long before the Gravedigger trial. Things really had changed since the night he'd asked her to give "them" a try and she'd rejected him. They were still the same; they were still Booth and Brennan and she thought everything had gone back to normal, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"Why?"

"She just, uh…" He cleared his throat. "She didn't meet up to the standard."

She frowned. "Of course she didn't." She replied. "I couldn't imagine it would be possible to find someone that resembled me, even just a little bit."

He gave her the last glass for her to dry and sighed. "Bones…" He leaned on the kitchen counter and looked down.

She detected a warning in the tone of his voice, which caused her to stop drying the glass. She sighed, too and cursed herself for not being able to be more sensitive of his feelings. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a breath, then opened them again. While she'd had her eyes closed, Booth had turned around and was now leaning back against the counter, instead of leaning over it.

"I'm sorry." She said and looked up at him. "Are you still in love with me?"

He placed his hands on the edge of the counter and looked down at her. "It's not exactly something you get over after only three dates."

"I'm sorry, Booth." She said softly.

He placed a hand over hers and said, "It's not your fault," trying to get her to stop apologizing.

It really wasn't her fault that he'd fallen for her. It wasn't exactly his fault either. There was no one to blame in love. The heart chooses what it chooses, but he knew she'd never believe that, if he told her. He could just hear her say, "The heart can't choose for you. It's nothing but a muscle." It was amazing to him sometimes, how his heart could choose her. They were so different. They weren't compatible and they'd never end up together. She'd made certain that he knew that on that fateful night about a month ago.

"And yet I feel the need to apologize." He heard her say.

Booth nodded, not knowing what to say. They looked at each other for just a few seconds until Brennan turned to put the forgotten glass up in the cupboard, where it belonged. She retrieved two mugs, silently inviting him to stay longer and hoping he would accept. She still wasn't ready. Booth took the hint and poured water into her electric kettle to boil for coffee. He knew where everything was, so while she put a teaspoon of decaf in each mug, he got the sugar and a spoon. When they'd each gotten their coffees, they sat down on the couch in silence.

Booth stared at the daffodils he'd brought for her tonight, wondering whether or not to tell her what they meant; how it somehow fit their current situation. Against his better judgment, the words practically flew out of his mouth, wanting to break the now intolerable silence.

"You know, the daffodil actually means 'unrequited love', among other things."

"Yeah?" She said, bringing her mug up to her mouth. "Is that why you gave them to me?" She asked and then took a sip. "Because you think I don't love you?"

"No. I bought them for you, because they're your favorite." He explained. "I just thought it kind of fitted our current situation."

She put her mug on the coffee table and moved around on the couch to face him. "It doesn't."

Booth looked at her then, straight into her depthless and extremely light blue eyes. What did she mean? He loved her, but she didn't love him. At least not in the same way, but it still fit.

"I never said I didn't love you."

One thing had led to another and another and it ended with a promise and something growing inside of her – a piece of Booth. And that's why she was back in D.C.

She was pregnant with Booth's baby.

Tbc…

A/N: I hope you liked that. Took me a while to get done, but I got it out :) I realize that this is something that is highly unlikely to have happened on the show, but it had gotten stuck in my head and I had to get it out.

This will be a story with 5 chapters. And unlike my other multi-chaptered fics – none of them about BONES – this one will be updated regularly. I promise you that. Now, why don't leave a little review? Constructive criticism, praise or whatever never hurt anybody ;P