Disclaimer: I do not own Bones, sadly.

A/N: Lyrics are from "Cigarette" by The Graham Colton Band. This chapter is written mostly in third person format jumping from different points of view to see each person's reaction to the events as they play out. I may change from third person in later chapters if this plays out like I expect it to. There will be definite angst for this story, at least in the beginning. Hope it's not too terrible! This takes place around the time of 'Judas on a Pole' and 'The Headless Witch in the Woods' and is very anti-Cam and the Cam and Booth romance.

P.S. Dixi is Latin for "I have spoken" and ego diligo vos is Latin for "I love you". These phrases are in the chapter.

Chapter One

Brennan P.O.V.

"You make me wanna smoke a cigarette


You make me wanna be someone else


You make me wanna be somebody you would leave and I could forget"

Red seemed to be all around her; in her mind, on her face, and in her heart. No, not red, anger. Anger was exactly what she was feeling. Cold sweat flew from her forehead and she couldn't breathe, but she didn't notice. The only thing on her mind now was getting out of here without seeing anyone. Anyone meaning not even her three best friends and especially not 'them', those two people were the ones that she couldn't bear to see the most.

She came up with her escape plan almost too quickly; she would sneak out of her office and go down the back stairs until she reached to main museum and go out the public entrance. That way she would escape everything and head for the one place that she could always think- Ohio. She hadn't been there since she'd finished school, but she knew only one thing in this moment and that was that she couldn't be in D.C. anymore. She needed a new life, a new job, and a new apartment; she needed everything to be so new that it didn't remind her of 'him'.

She would just get the first flight out tonight and have Angela pack up her apartment and send everything to her, just like she had done when she moved to D.C. She hated doing that to her friend again, making her old college room mate pack up her belongings for the second time seemed harsh, but she knew Angela would understand just like she had the first time.

Angela had always been there for her, well at least as much as she could, not like 'him'. He had betrayed her in every sense of the word. She couldn't even understand what had made her begin to trust him, open up to him, let him protect her. Sure he'd saved her life from Kenton, the rouge agent, but he only did that because he was her partner, that was very clear to her now. She had let her mind start to play with the possibility of more, of letting him all the way in, letting him see her for exactly what/who she was, but now she only cursed herself for letting her guard down once again. The bitch had threatened to fire her over a work dispute that clearly had nothing to do with her job skills and qualifications and he had still chosen her. She now knew one thing and one thing for certain and that was the Camille Saroyan was no friend of hers and neither was Seeley Booth.

Her chest tightened, but she felt nothing, listening to the voices outside her office door like a hawk, and when she was certain no one was near she took her leave not even closing the door behind her as she fled, for possibly the last time, the place that had been her sanctuary, the place that she had felt the safest and the calmest at. Curse them for having taken that away from her; no curse her for letting them.

Reaching the outside, a sigh of relief flew from her lips as she ran. Her vision still blind with anger and hate as she ran past everything that had once mattered and climbed into her small car, which she would have to get rid of too, pushed the pedal completely to the floor as she navigated her way to her apartment, the last place she'd go before leaving this place.

Knowing she couldn't take her time in the apartment, that would just bring back to many painful memories, she opened her phone to send a text message she knew would explain everything to the woman would be picking up after her.

'Ohio. One hour. Like last time. Explanations later.'

After the message had long sent, and no reply came, she knew it had been understood. Like last time her friend, one of her only real friends, would prove her worth and pick up the pieces that Temperance Brennan would now leave in her wake as she made her hurried, uncaring removal from D.C.

Refusal to cry had now become futile as she burst into her apartment practically dove for her suitcase, and when it was full to the maximum she sat down on it forcing it to shut and zipped it closed hastily.

She knew she couldn't last much longer here. Everywhere she looked brought back memories; the pig in the corner, the CD collection, hell even the refrigerator made her think of him. Especially the flat screen TV that was still in the box made her anger raise and the wetness of her cheeks began to dry as she walked out the door for what would have to be the last time. That was the only thing she knew, this was the last time she would let herself be here. Here she was filled with anger, at herself and at 'him', and everything made her cry in remembrance of the past that had once again caught up to her. It now seemed no matter how hard she tried the Brennan name could not be erased and the pain could not be forgotten or gotten rid of.

Somehow she now entered the airport, though frustration filled her thoughts as she tried unsuccessfully to remember how she had arrived at her current destination. The only thing she could remember saying was 'One ticket to Dayton, Ohio on the next flight' and boarded the plane for its departure.

Angela P.O.V.

Angela had known something was wrong when she saw the office door open, but the light off. She knew that the only reason it would be like that would be if its occupant never meant to return and claim the belongings that lay inside. That scene was all too familiar. The beep of her cell phone had been right on cue and when she opened it the message it revealed brought her suspicions to reality. Angela's mind went into a gear that she had only used once before as she made her way to the dark office, found the already sealed envelope, and exited, stopping only to shut the door behind her.

Her mind seemed to be on calm now, this was nothing new to her, and she motioned for her fiancée and the socially awkward, but selfless, former grad student to make their way to her office. With haste she explained the situation, and they produced sealed envelopes from their lab coats as if they had sensed the storm that had come to the Jeffersonian the minute 'she' had walked in the doors.

They returned to their stations only to collect their belongings as she did the same and printed her own letter sealing it with one very large sticker that had a single quote printed on it. "Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."-Unknown. That seemed to fit the situation more than she realized as she grabbed the last picture frame off of her desk, handed her box of items to the others, and made her way to 'her' office only to find that it was cohabited by another individual and at the sight of 'him' she knew immediately Temperance's reason for leaving. Damn him.

She said nothing to either of them as she laid four envelopes down in a vertical row to reveal the neatly typed name that appeared on the face of each one and walked out the door tuning out their questions as she left the office.

As she made it to the waiting car that was already occupied by her two companions she heard her cell phone beep again. When the phone was opened and the contents displayed she knew that she had done the right thing as they sped off into the darkness. The message read:

'Just took off. Come as soon as possible. Bring ONLY Hodgins and Zach. Hilton by the airport.'

Angela now felt her best friends' desperation as the three of them boarded the last nonstop plane of the evening to the one place she thought she'd never see Temperance Brennan run towards.

Cam P.O.V.

Cam had been sitting at her desk, smiling when the artist had entered her office, so had 'he', but when the woman had said nothing, only leaving those four letters her heart began to race.

She picked up the first one that read 'Dr. Zachary Uriah Addy' on the cover and opened it to find a letter of intent announcing that he would accompany Dr. Temperance C. Brennan as she headed up a dig in Egypt and a letter of resignation from the Jeffersonian.

The letter that read Ms. Angela Pearly Gates Montenegro read almost entirely the same as the young doctor's had only adding that she and the Cantilever Group would be taking possession of the Angelator.

The next letter seemed to be thicker and the pathologist picked it up reading the name Dr. Jack Stanley Hodgins on the cover before tearing it open. Inside it was filled with the same letters of intent and resignation that had been in the other two, and one set of stapled documents with an attached letter that read:

"The Cantilever Group will be removing all support, financial and otherwise, from the Jeffersonian Institution immediately following this business day. We reserve the right to do so without cause or justification, and will inform the Director of this institution of our actions. The enclosed documents have been drawn up by Cochran, Morris, and Robinson, Attorneys at Law, and contain the necessary information for the breach of our contract with the Jeffersonian Institution. The signature of our CEO, Dr. Jack Stanley Hodgins, on the documents' final page is all that is required to legalize these documents. The Cantilever Group will also be confiscating The Angelator and any and all property or research that has been compiled by Dr. Jack Stanley Hodgins, Ms. Angela Pearly Gates Montenegro, Dr. Zachary Uriah Addy, and Dr. Temperance Christine Brennan. We shall do this immediately and without any other warning of our actions."

Dixi,

Dr. Jack Stanley Hodgins

President and CEO of The Cantilever Group, Inc.

Fear passed through the now shaking Pathologists body as she picked up the last letter and thumbed over the name. She had only thought the Anthropologist had been joking when she had threatened to leave until now. After she read the name on the last envelope her numb fingers pried it open to reveal four letters.

The first and the shortest of the typed letters began with:

"I, Dr. Temperance Christine Brennan, without cause or concern hereby resign from the Jeffersonian Institution, effective immediately."

The next letter only longer than the first by a few sentences was the letter of intent which started with:

"I, Dr. Temperance Christine Brennan, take my leave from the Jeffersonian Institution of my own accord and hereby inform said Institution of my intent to join the ongoing archaeology dig in the pyramids of the country of Egypt. My current team, Dr. Jack Stanley Hodgins, Dr. Zachary Uriah Addy, and Ms. Angela Pearly Gates Montenegro, have expressed interest in accompanying me as I take my leave and will be joining me for the length of this archaeological pursuit."

The third and last of the typed letters was addressed to both Dr. Camille Saroyan and Deputy Director Samuel Cullen of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It simply read:

"I, Dr. Temperance Christine Brennan, am terminating my involvement with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. All legal documents have been filed and my contract with the Federal Bureau has been officially terminated as of the close of today's business day as notarized in documents filed by myself and District Attorney Caroline Julian at or around one in the afternoon, the eleventh of December of the year two thousand and six."

The Pathologist's breath became heavy as she closed the third letter. The man sitting across from her had yet to learn of her troubles and she had tuned out his concerned questions long ago.

As she picked up the last letter her breath finally, completely, stopped itself in her chest as she saw the four words that were written on the outside in black ink. 'Special Agent Seeley Booth' was handwritten in a woman's script on the cover and the pathologist only now addressed the man who was now sitting directly in front of her, handed him the stack of notes and ran to the bathroom where she proceeded to get sick more times than she had wanted.

Booth P.O.V.

He knew something had been awry when Angela had entered the room absent of her normal high spirited attitude, and laid the four neatly sealed envelopes on Dr. Saroyan's desk. He had sat in and watched in a state of fear and concern as the pathologist, whose office he was now in, proceeded to open and read the contents of all four envelopes leaving only one note unopened before hastily running towards the restroom.

The only thing that kept him from following her was the note that his eyes now rested on. The handwritten note that he could tell his partner had authored. He needed little imagination to discern what had filled the other notes after seeing the shock that was registered by their previous reader. Hesitant, but firm none the less, he opened to find a tear stained letter that read simply one short paragraph.

'Do not follow me. If you look for me, I will use all my contacts to leave where ever I am presently and go into hiding until you leave off your search. Tell Parker 'ego diligo vos' for me. This will be my last form of communication.'

Tears filled his eyes as he wondered what could have caused this sudden departure and ending of their friendship and partnership as he dropped the other papers in the floor before running to his car and using his siren to try and catch his best friend at the airport before she left his life for good. If he had only known that she had already gone to the one place she knew he wouldn't look.