He knows you only get one chance to give your heart away like that, whether you want to or not it can't be controlled and it can't be undone. You don't get to decide who to give your heart to it just knows, and if you're strong enough you can ignore it and spare yourself the imminent pain but he's not. Its been six years of waiting and dreaming. It has been six years since his heart knew and as much as he has tried to fight it, to give her time, to protect himself he knows that in this moment he has gone too far.
He will never get his heart back, it is hers, and it always has been. She has given him pieces back over time, when she is with his son, or sharing a piece of herself with him he gets a little piece of his heart back and he holds them deep within himself hoping that they will be enough to keep him going, because even he knows enough science to know that you cannot live without your heart.
He can see the fear in her eyes and it cuts him to the quick because she should never have to be afraid of him. But he has no heart left and he knows it. He knows even as he says that he is going to move on to find love with someone that he won't, how can someone love him when he has no love to offer back. She has taken his love without returning it, he has offered up a piece of himself and she is not going to respond in kind, she is not going to give anything back. She clutches his arm as they walk into the night and he knows that she is with him even as he pulls himself away, he has to do something to protect the few pieces of his heart he has left.
~B~BB~B~
She knows that there is a statistical possibility, no matter how small, that anything in the universe could happen. She knows that what he is offering her is one of those infinitely small probabilities and she knows that the probability is so small in the first place because it will not work. There is no proof that love is real, there is no logical explanation for the constriction in her chest when she looks into his tearful eyes.
He says he wants to give them a chance, he wants to gamble with them and she can't let him. If they stop working together that's as good as saying they're through. He may be offering more, but it is a more she has never had, a more she doesn't know how to do and it is not worth losing him. She wants to believe, she wants to feel she wants to know what this more is, how it could possibly hold them together closer than they are because he is the closest she has ever been to anyone. She can see how much it hurts him to say they can still be partners and she knows that physical comfort is not appropriate in this context, but she can't help but leaning into him as they walk into the night, she cannot risk giving into his dreams but she cannot pull away. His presence has been a constant force in her life and it is all she can do to tamper down the anxiety over this new dynamic in their universe.
A/N most first attempt at a Bones fic but from the emotions at the end of the episode how could I not? Opinions are welcome and thank you for reading.