Chapter One: Late Night Confessions

Booth had always known that things were going to be different, they had to be. Yet even though it had been months, her sobering confession still rocked him to the core. She loved him, she damn well loved him, and what had he done? He had done what any righteous man would do in the face of unabated love; he had snapped his heart closed so fast he knew he could hear hers shatter. But what else was this honorable man left to do after the bind her denial had put him in?

That night when his heart shattered he had made a vow to love again, even if it cost him the little bit of his heart that beat only for Temperance; he knew he had to at least let his heart learn to soar once more. He had told her he needed to find someone who would love him, in forty or fifty years; and he had every intention of doing just that but hers was a love he could never shake.

He loved Hannah, sure, but the love he shared with his partner was one that had its way of creeping into every second of his life. It had molded itself to every waking second of his life in such a way he didn't even know if he could live without the heartache he had grown to desire, but Hannah deserved more than just the shell of a man. She had proved time and time again that she was a great woman and a great woman deserves a wonderful, loving man. So as the days turned into weeks of passion with a woman he could finally call his own; Booth had gone so far as to finish the paperwork alone in his office, night after night, just so he didn't have to see the angelic face that had been haunting his nightly dreams.

But as he walked into his dimly lit office one night his false reality came crashing down in shattered whimpers and twisted limbs. He knew that delicate frame anywhere, his nightmare had finally hunted her prey.

Shit.

"Bones," Booth gasped as he stumbled over the mound of a woman before him, "I almost broke your neck."

"So." The meek woman replied, "It is not like it would have mattered to you anyway."

"You know that's not true." Booth softly replied, pulling her up to see the moonlit tears glisten off her paling face. For weeks now he had been hearing the tears she had long since denied but as he watched them flow his heart couldn't help but crack against the icy exterior years of love had created. It was much easier to deny the devastation her love had caused, but as the salty liquid pooled in his palms Booth could fell the torture fall down upon him like a mountain of sorrow and anguish.

"Ha." Brennan hissed, unable to keep the doubt off her lips, "You destroyed my soul and ran away with my heart; taking my life would be a piece of pie."

"It is cake, Bones, and what in the world are you talking about?" And as her gaze fell, a sinking realization washed over Booth and the answers to all his questions became abundantly clear. He had tried not to hurt her, but as the days turned into weeks he couldn't help but put up a barrier to save his own soul. And the barrier he had erected to save himself from inner turmoil was slowly destroying everything he had helped create. Their love was slowly disintegrating and the only one left to save it was the one woman who had denied it all along.

And the pain that this honest omission had caused was much more than he knew he could take. He had watched her walk from hell and back on more that one occasion, but as the light began fading from her bright blue eyes he wondered if he would ever be able to get the woman he had grown to love back. But as her clammy skin pressed deeper against his taunt body he knew somehow deep down she would always been the woman his heart ached for. Even if it was hidden behind a mask of pain and fear he knew the truth and the truth was beautiful.

"You know..." Brennan growled as she felt her partner's resolve weaken against her own, "Don't doubt your intelligence with those silly little games. You know exactly what you have done to me."

"Only you know what your response to our partnership has become, Temperance." Booth hissed with little defiance but hell, after all this woman had caused him over the last six months she deserved just as much as she had given him.

"Seeley..." Brennan huffed in retort her partner's anger without remorse.

At the sting of his name Booth's eyes finally flashed open in clear annoyance but the stern glare on his partner's face seemed to dissolve any rational this man had left. He could feel the control slipping from his grasp but as a man of valor and moral he knew he could never give up this easily. She would have to pay for all the amoral things she had made him do over the years starting with tonight.

"If you really needed to do your half of the paperwork together, you could have just told me." Booth spit, trying to keep the spark from engulfing what little sanity he had left, "It is not only my fault our partnership is not as strong as it once was. It is yours."

As his eyes rolled closed, Booth knew it was a lost cause. Any other woman have just stood up and walked away but not his partner; oh no, he was in for a wrath that would put God himself in his place. She would see through his words so easily he didn't even know why he had tried.

"No!" Brennan barked as she thrust her partner back against the door, "Don't try and turn this into a discussion about the disillusion of our partnership, not now. You know exactly what I am talking about. You ache for me, Booth, it is just the two of us and there is no sense in denying it now. I messed up, I destroyed all we had created and I know that now. But what you did was much worse. You left me and found some bitch to shack up with for a while, leaving me with nothing more than a broken heart. I hurt you and have apologized countless times for it, but Booth, you tried to kill me. And for that there is only one price that can be paid."

Wearing not much more than her seductive smile, Brennan crawled toward her partner radiating a desire that few could ever possess. He knew she shouldn't still have this control over him but the innocence in her stride sent the this once strong man on the verge of the edge. She was pushing buttons he did not even know existed and while he may have a lot of explaining to do in the morning, in that moment all that mattered was before him.

"And tonight will be the night you will pay your debt." Brennan murmured as she slid within inches of her partner.

"But Bones yo-" With a firm, slender finger against his lips Booth knew there was no sense in arguing anymore, their fate had been sealed long ago and all that was left was to collect what was due.

"All those sleepless nights spent crying myself to sleep because you were hurt, all those hugs that should have been more..." Brennan smiled as her hand trailed down his check, sending her partner ablaze with every delicate touch, "I bled, cried and almost died for you, Booth." Brennan snapped her hand back as vulnerability shook every word, "A price I knew I shouldn't have had to pay for love, but I did and would have done it ten times over. I did it all for you and all I got in return was hell. The hell you created by just being so damn irresistible, and what did you get Booth? You got to just walk away from the love we had for another woman who could never come close. You left, leaving me to pay debt for our love... well now it is your turn."

"Bones, you know I am with Hannah now and..." Booth fumbled, trying to keep himself from falling further into her trap. Yet as her light blue gaze flashed before him he knew there was no sense in lying anymore. The woman of his dreams was pleading in her cute, rational way for a chance to mend what she had broken and who was he to deny her? "I... I'll always love you but... you see... I am not that kind of man." A man of dignity, that's who.

"I... I just thought..." Brennan began to cry, "maybe if I was honest with myself that I would finally be enough for you. That is all I have ever wanted Booth," Brennan humbly confessed as the tears flowed harder, "I just wanted to be what you deserved."

The silence in the room was destroying them both but Booth knew he had to stand firm. He was never a man to cheat on a woman, no matter how tempting the offer had been and even if this was his only chance at pure happiness he wasn't about to start now.

"I... I just want to be your one." Brennan's voice shook as the tears finally ceased, "It doesn't matter how long it takes, I have learned that love is worth it. I just hope... wish that one day I could be the one you grow old with."

And with the brutal honesty flowing from his partner's lips Booth could feel his resolve shatter in thousand pieces. This woman really him in the palm of her hand and for the first time in months only she mattered.

"Hell Bones, why do you always have to do this to me?" Booth sighed as he wrapped his arms around her delicate frame, "You say just one thing and I go from this cool, collected man to a ball of frenzied passion."

"Show me, Booth." Brennan demanded as she pulled him further into her trap, "We both know you have always been a betting man; well, put all the chips in and prove that all these feelings were not just a lie."

With a sharp swallow, Booth knew the risks were much steeper then he was willing to losing; but the heat radiating between them short-circuit any chance his brain had in being rational.

"Fuck." He huskily growled as he lunged at his smiling partner, "You better make this worth it."

And as he body wrapped tightly around his own Booth knew being worth the world would never be something that Temperance Brennan ever worry about.