This is an immediate continuation of Monday's finale...so yes, there are spoilers! I don't own anything, I've never written for Bones before, so I apologize if there are any discrepancies with anything. This gave me a lot more closure than was given (that we all desperately needed!). Enjoy!

mmmm..the beer helmet.

They sat that way for a long time. She wanted to say so many things, how disappointed she was in Zack, how angry she was she didn't realize he had lied. I wish it was Sweets. She felt ashamed to even think it, but it was the truth. Neither of them really liked him much anyway.

She wanted to say so many things.

"I'm glad you're still alive," she mumbled into his shoulder.

After a moment, she felt a warmth on her knee, and found his hand had covered hers. She stared at it, wondering how many times this had happened. Somehow she knew she'd remember this time over all the others.

She felt his smile in her hair. "Me too."

She and Booth went to the diner. It wasn't unusual for them to remember food so late, especially after a day like today. Even Booth had forgotten dinner that night.

They sat across from one another, Booth with his apple pie and Brennan with french fries. Both, of course, had already had a few cups of coffee. She didn't really think about fries and coffee together, and an unsettling feeling was spreading through her stomach. Then again, there were plenty of other things that could be upsetting her other than a bad combination of foods. "I just...I feel like its my fault."

Booth's cup clashed against the coaster. "How many times have we had this conversation, Bones? You always blame yourself for things completely out of your control."

"Yes, but this time I was directly involved! Zach was working for me, if I had spent more time with him, outside work..."

"Bones, we work almost 24/7, and so did Zack..."

"Maybe I wasn't paying him enough..."

"He made more than I do, and you don't see me blowing myself up for a serial killer!"

Her eyes dropped suddenly, and Booth thought maybe he went too far. She was concentrating very hard on stirring her ketchup. "He shouldn't have gone to Iraq. I could have tried harder to keep him here. Said I needed him for a high security case in the lab..."

Booth stared at her as she trailed off, realizing no matter what he said it wouldn't be exactly right. He sighed heavily."Look, Bones, the military affects different people in different ways. But there's no way to tell that Zack's decision to kill that man was influenced by his time in Iraq."

She seemed to be contemplating his words, but she still didn't look up from her plate. After a minute or two, he gave up, sitting back and taking another long sip of coffee. Bones glanced up just as he was shaking his head. "Jesus, you think you know a person..."

"See, that's just it!" She blurted out, startling him so much that he spilled coffee all over his hand. "I don't believe you can know a person that well. I mean, there is no way you can predict with one hundred percent accuracy what a person is going to do based on a personal relationship!" The fry she had been holding was flailing, limp and waving as she illustrated with her hands. "Human beings aren't predictable, we're rational. We can't forge such intimate connections because, deep down, we're all in competition against each other. We're too complex."

She shoved a handful of fries in her mouth. She chewed in silence, watching her partner sip his coffee. Now he was the one staring into his food. Their silence was comfortable, but he was definitely going to say something.

Sip. "I think I know you."

One of their many defining moments in their partnership, over coffee and pie and fries in a diner. She could argue, their serious conversation could continue until things got awkward and they left.

Instead, she eyed up his pie. "Oh, really?" she asked, nodding toward his plate. "I want some of your pie."

He almost choked on his coffee. Almost. "You don't like pie."

"Booth, I want some of your pie."

"Okay, fine! But just because you eat my pie doesn't mean that you're really enjoying it."

And the two of them sat in silence, eating Booth's pie, sneaking glances at one another and trying not to smile. There was definitely something other than the pie that left her with a warm, fuzzy feeling in her stomach.

She looked out the window of the SUV the whole way to her apartment. "I'm going to miss him."

Pause. "Me too." It was a repeat of hours ago, when he took her hand that rested on her knee. This time, she didn't let go.

They were still holding hands when they reached her front door.

It took her a minute to get her key in the lock. He was standing so close he was shadowing the light, and making it extremely difficult to concentrate. The door finally swung open, and she walked across to the kitchen, taking off her coat and hanging her keys on their rightful hook. Breathe. Deep Breaths.

"I think I'm gonna go." He gave her a half smile, a half wave, and turned on his heel for the door. She noticed something and said a silent thank you. "Wait!"

He turned back just as she made her way hastily towards him. She reached up, and for a moment, he thought she was going to kiss him. Oh God. But she extended her long arm and pulled something crunchy out of his hair. "Leaf," she laughed, and he was surprised to notice she was actually out of breath, and blushing?

But before his mind could make any more dumb observations, her arms were around him tightly. And now he understood.

They stood that way for a long time. He wanted to say so many things, how he worried about how much she was working, how sorry he was for not telling her he was still alive. Could he handle it if she had died? It wasn't something he wanted to think about.

He wanted to say so many things.

"I would never leave you without saying goodbye," he whispered into her hair.

She said he should leave, he insisted he'd stay. They hugged again, she brushed her teeth and he washed his face with her soap. There were little lines from his stubble, and she'd probably keep that bar of soap forever.

They had crawled into her bed, and he put his arm around her without hesitation. "Goodnight, Bones," he'd said, and in a few minutes he had fallen asleep. That's when she'd felt his socked feet against her own, and she'd fallen asleep peacefully under his arm.

Now she stirred awake, her movements making him pull her even closer. His hand had crept underneath her tank top, and she smiled a little to herself. She placed her hand over his, and her heart skipped a beat. That apple pie feeling was back, warm and heavy in her stomach, spreading all over until it reached her fingertips. She couldn't be angry, not when he came back to her, snoring softly in her bed, wearing Bugs Bunny boxers and Christmas socks.

She knew one day they'd be here, again, under much different circumstances. But she could wait.

It's worth the wait.