It's me again. With a bit more Booth angst. Sorry, I think I'm like writing it too much. Ah well, it may be slightly depressing but maybe there will be a good ending… who knows?

I am starting college tomorrow (here in the UK that's different to America, I'm only 16) but that means I will probably have a bit less time to write than I would like. So updates will probably be only twice a week, sorry. I'll try to update whenever I can.

Okay, I'll stop rambling. I really hope you like it. Drop me a review if you do, and if you didn't let me know what you didn't like about it. But, you know, nicely. Self-confidence is a commodity at my age =D

Enjoy. Thanks for reading.

Chapter One

"Here's your suit. I got it dry-cleaned for you."

Booth, sitting motionless on his couch, didn't move. Or speak. Or even look at Cam. He had barely spoken a word to anyone since that day at the hospital. He lived like his soul had been removed; he didn't shave, didn't sleep, didn't shower, didn't speak. He'd only eaten when someone had forcibly put food in front of him, and even then he'd only picked at two or three forkfuls before walking away. He'd managed to throw up three times, despite his lack of food.

He hadn't smiled since she'd gotten shot. At this point, Cam doubted that he ever would.

"The funeral's at 3 o'clock." She said gently.

Still, he made no move.

"You are going, aren't you?"

"She didn't believe in funerals."

His voice was like him; empty. There was no more spark, nothing alive about his voice. It was so desolate that it should have echoed.

Cam felt like crying. She had already spent four days in tears, trying to deal with the loss. She and Brennan had had a shaky start but they'd eventually managed to reach a point where they could be called friends. All of them existed as a family, and Brennan had let her come into that family, despite her original misgivings. Her chest strained at the thought that she wasn't going to be around anymore.

If it caused her pain to lose Brennan, she couldn't imagine what it was doing to Seely. She could look at him, and guess, but she knew that she couldn't comprehend what he was going through. He had survived so much, but this time he'd been pushed too far. She had never seen him like this before. It was as if he was so desperate for the pain to stop that he'd shut himself down. He's stopped himself from feeling anything.

She and Jared had taken it in turns to watch over him. Hodgins had come round, but he was too distraught himself, and he was trying so hard to console Angela that he'd only been once.

They were all going to the funeral today. She had to make sure that Booth was there. He'd regret it for the rest of his life if he wasn't.

"She didn't believe in funerals." Cam repeated. She spoke slowly and carefully to him, like she had for the past few days. "But she went to yours."

A flicker of emotion passed through his face at that. It was… pain, shame? It was gone too quickly for her to be sure.

"You need to change. We have to leave in 10 minutes."

Again he said nothing, but he drank from the glass of water she'd put in front of him, long and deep, as though he was trying to inhale it, absorb its innate blandness. When he finished he slowly leaned forwards and sat the glass on the coffee table in front of him.

"She went to mine." He repeated.

He got up without looking at Cam and picked up the clothes she'd laid over the arm of the couch. Silently he walked into his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Still in the living room, Cam breathed out a sigh of relief and rested back against the wall. She closed her eyes and tried not to cry.

A few minutes later, Booth emerged, dressed in a plain black suit. He wore a plain black tie and a simple, metal belt buckle. Cam watched as he put on his shoes, and saw that his socks were standard black. He still hadn't shaved, but she didn't want to push him. The stubble wasn't too thick yet anyway.

When he straightened up from putting on his shoes, Cam said, "Okay. Let's go."

*

Right so… thoughts? I know it's short, but the next one will be longer, promise. Cheers for reading.