My muse made me write this because when I don't listen to it, it doesn't let me sleep. For the purposes of this story, Brennan's grandfather did get her out of foster care. It was mentioned once on the show but since then she has said that she didn't know she had any extended family, so ignore that and assume he got her out of the system.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Bones.

Guilty. She did her best to try not to hear that word today and yet she had prepared herself that she might, but the reality was so much worse than she imagined. All the science and all the anthropology she could muster up were not enough to save her father from being sentenced to death.

She closed her eyes and felt her brother's hand on her knee. When she opened them, a tear gently fell from her eye down her cheek; she swallowed and mouthed the words "I'm sorry," to her father. She got up and walked out of the courtroom ignoring her brother who was calling her name and Booth who was telling her to wait up.

Brennan kept walking. She walked all the way home, ignoring the ringing of her phone. When she got into her apartment, she changed out of her clothes into sweatpants and a tank-top and crawled into her bed. She was exhausted, physically and emotionally. She was exhausted from working against her team; her best friend and her partner especially. But what she was most exhausted from was the guilt that she felt. The guilt of being the reason Max let himself get arrested in the first place. The guilt she felt because she failed as a scientist to find a way to get him acquitted. The guilt she felt because she failed her family.

Just as she began to feel the sleep take over her body it was interrupted by the ring of her cell phone. She rolled over, picked it up, and looked at the caller ID to once again see Booth's name. She hit the ignore button and turned off the phone then turned off the ringer on her house phone. She knew it was irrational to be angry with him. Booth had to testify against her father; it was his job. He had to tell the truth; it was his job. But yet there was this small part of her that was mad; mad that he delivered testimony that sent her father to death row. She tried to ignore that feeling, but she couldn't and she couldn't talk to him, because she knew that all of this pain she was feeling, she would take out on him. She pulled the covers up to her neck and decided to let the sleep overtake her again, because if she was sleeping, she could ignore him, she could ignore the tears in her eyes that were just dying to get out, and she could ignore the pain in her heart that was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

The next day Booth walked into the Jeffersonian and straight to his partner's office. He was met with a dark room with the door closed. He made his way to Angela's office next. Angela was sitting at her desk doing paperwork.

"Hey, Angela," Booth said.

"Hey," Angela said in a somber tone, looking up from her work

"Where's Bones?" he asked.

"She's not in today," Angela replied returning her eyes to the papers on her desk.

"What do you mean she's not in today? It's Thursday; a work day. She comes in on the weekends, why wouldn't she be here during the week?" Booth asked frustrated.

Angela just looked at him and then back down at her paperwork.

"What's going on Angela?"

Angela put her pen down and shifted her attention towards Booth.

"You know Brennan pretty well. You've seen her vulnerable, you've even see her cry," Angela began, "but even in those instances you haven't seen her at her most vulnerable."

"What do you mean?"

"When Brennan found out her mother was dead, it was different. She barely had any memories of her; she hadn't seen her in 16 years. Brennan is a strong woman, but she can't always be strong. There are times when she can't fake being okay, when she's too upset she can't hide it and when those times come, she doesn't come to work, she doesn't answer her phone, she just stays in her apartment and ignores everybody because she doesn't want anyone to see her that way."

"Is that why she's ignoring my phone calls?"

Angela nodded her head in agreement.

"If she ignores everybody, how do you know?" Booth asked.

"Don't tell Brennan I told you about this. I don't know how much you know about her grandfather, but he got her out of foster care, and she lived with him until she went off to college. She kept in touch with him, they were never extremely close but for awhile he was the only person she had. About 6 years ago, he passed away and Brennan didn't come into work, she didn't answer my phone calls. She had given me a spare key to her apartment so when she didn't answer the door I let myself in. She was lying in bed just staring at the ceiling. She wouldn't talk to me."

"What did you do?"

"I just sat with her. Booth, every time she gets close to a family member, they leave her in some way. Maybe not intentionally but they do. She just needs to know someone is there for her, so I was there for her. I didn't leave until she was ready to come back."

"You're a good friend, Angela, now about that key to Brennan's?"

Angela looked at him questioningly then sighed, "She's going to kill me," she said as she took the key off of her keychain.

"You're a good friend, Angela," Booth repeated as he took the key and left.

When Booth arrived at Brennan's apartment, he knocked on the door. No answer. He tried again with a little more force and again got no answer. He gave up and slid the key into the lock and opened the door. There was no sign of Brennan in the living room so he slowly walked down the hallway and stopped at the doorway to her bedroom. He found her curled up lying on her right side.

"Angela," she said.

"Not quite," Booth said.

"What are you doing here, Booth?" asked Brennan angrily.

"I came to see if you were okay," he said as he walked over to the side of the bed she was facing. She turned her body to the other side so she was no longer looking at him.

"Go away, Booth."

"You know I'm not going to do that."

"Please, Booth, just go."

"Well since you said please … Nope, still not going."

"I do not appreciate you trying to be funny right now. Just leave me alone," she tried again.

"Bones, there are appeals. And you know what the criminal justice system is like. Your father could end up on death row for many years. You still have time with him. You have other family too."

"Russ made his own family," Brennan said as Booth heard the cracking in her voice as she tried to fend off tears.

"I meant the squints," Booth began, "And me."

"All the people who got my father convicted," Brennan began and Booth could tell by the sound of her voice that the tears were beginning to fall, "I can't talk about this right now," she said coldly.

"Fine," Booth said as he kicked his shoes off and climbed into the bed behind Brennan. He leaned over to where his lips were just inches away from her right ear, "I'm sorry, Bones, I'm more sorry than you could ever possibly know. The guilt will eat away at me for the rest of my life. If I didn't have to testify, I wouldn't have. I'm really sorry."

Brennan finally turned over and faced Booth, "what are you doing, Booth?'

"I want you to know that you're not alone. You're not ready to talk about it, but when you are I'm going to be here," he said as he wiped the tears that were straining Brennan's cheeks.

Brennan nodded her head and closed her eyes as her and Booth let the warmth of each other overtake the guilt tearing at their hearts.

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