Just another Bones story (:

I Don't own Bones

xxoo,

alx0x0

Booth looked next to him at Hannah. He sighed. Meeting Hannah was everything he could have hoped for, at first anyway. She was beautiful and intelligent; the sex was great, but still. She is no Bones he thought sadly. Lately he had been trying to convince everyone, including himself, how happy he was. It started as soon as he returned from Afghanistan. Showing people Hannah's picture got him the encouragement he was looking for and he really tried to put Brennan's face out of his mind. He wanted to love someone he could have a real future with. Unfortunately, it is impossible to choose to be (or not to be, for that matter) in love with someone.

This issue was causing problems with all of his friends. He had to steer clear of Cam who always seemed to know him just a little too well; he avoided being alone in a room with Angela, whose keen insights on men scared him, and he had to make a break for it whenever Sweets went all shrinky on him.

The worst was Bones; seeing her felt like a punch in the stomach. At first he was angry with her beyond belief. Especially, when she made that comment about picturing the two of them together while she was away; what right did she have to say those things to him, especially when he was trying so hard to move on? He distanced himself from her a little bit and he could see it was hurting her. He just didn't know what to do anymore.

Hannah truly was a good person and stringing her along if his heart wasn't in it felt wrong. He had been doing exactly that, though. He had been moving the relationship forward quickly; he thought it would start feeling right at some point. Booth had asked Hannah to move in with him without any hesitation or thought, but he knew he needed to stop this practice before he ended up married to someone he didn't love.

The next morning came quickly. Booth hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. He still had no idea what he was going to tell Hannah.

"Seeley," Hannah said rolling over and smiling sleepily at him. He used to think this was adorable, now he just smiled back wearily.

They got dressed and headed to the diner for breakfast. Booth still had no idea what the right thing to do was. Even if he did break it off with Hannah it still didn't mean he could be with Bones. She had made that blatantly clear when she took off halfway around the world the last time he had admitted his feelings.

Still he couldn't stop this nagging feeling that he hadn't tried hard enough. He had told her things like "Let's give us a try" and he might have disregarded her fears. He basically told her their relationship would be a gamble. She was too smart to ever gamble with so much. He was beginning to wonder if he really was as good with people as he thought he was.

"What's going on Seel, you've been awful quiet this morning," Hannah asked.

"Huh? Oh, um I'm sorry," he smiled sheepishly at her.

"Something on your mind?" she asked.

"Nothing important," he lied.

"Well listen, if you're up for it I was wondering if you'd like to meet my parents this weekend," she told him.

"And, I mean I'd love to meet Parker sometime."

Booth opened his mouth to tell her that that sounded great, when an image of Bones invaded his mind once again. "Oh boy," he thought. "Here goes."

"Listen, Hannah…" Booth started.

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Brennan sipped her coffee. She was sitting at her desk. It had been quiet around the lab lately. She knew she could be working on her next novel, or even identifying remains from limbo. Still, she didn't get up. Her mind wandered to Booth. She wondered what he was up to. "Probably enjoying his time with Hannah," she thought bitterly before sternly correcting herself. She had wanted Booth to move on and Hannah seemed to be an admirable person, "So then why do I feel so sad," she wondered.

"It's all my fault," she thought. Booth told her he wanted to give their relationship a try. Every cell in her body ached for her to accept, but once again her brain got in the way (metaphorically speaking, of course). Even if they had attempted a relationship and it failed, Brennan did not see how it could get more painful than this. She had no idea what to do.

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"I understand," said Hannah.

Booth had told her how he really did care about her, but his heart just wasn't in the relationship anymore.

"Listen, you can stay at my place as long as you need, I'll find somewhere else to stay," he told her. She nodded.

Booth got up to leave and he pulled Hannah in for a hug.

"Thank you," he told her.

"Go get her," she urged.

"How did you…?" he trailed off.

"I may not be as smart as Temperance, but I'm not blind," she told him rolling her eyes.

"You really are a good person," he said hugging her once again before dashing out of the diner's door.

A few minutes later, Assistant Director Hacker entered the diner and looked around. He spotted Hannah and walked over.

"Hey, I've seen you around with Booth and Dr. Brennan, correct?"

"Oh yeah, you're Seeley's boss right?" Hannah replied.

"Yes, have you seen them lately, they have a case and neither one of them is picking up their phones; I know they sometimes come here before work," he told her.

She snorted, "Well I'm guessing they're together."

He looked at her questioningly, and then understanding flashed in his eyes.

"Oh, did those two finally get their acts together?" he asked jokingly.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I'd been trying with Temperance for like ever, then one day I heard some other FBI agents placing bets on how long it would take them to get together," he told her laughing.

"For my ego's sake, I'm going to go with that being explanation for why it only went past one date."

She laughed. And they went on talking about their lives. He really was charming and funny, and hopefully wasn't secretly in love with his partner. So, when it became time to get to work and he asked:

"So Hannah, would it totally outlandish of me to ask you out for drinks sometime?"

She answered, "Pick me up at eight?"

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Booth burst into Brennan's office like a tornado.

"I need to talk to you," he told her out of breath.

"I'm working, Booth"

He stepped daringly close to her and looked into her eyes; she had trouble catching her breath.

"Please, it's important," he said.

"Okay," she said quietly.

He led her outside on the steps of the Jeffersonian.

"Hannah and I broke up."

Brennan looked shocked and she wasn't sure at all what to say.

"I'm so sorry Booth."

"Don't be, I'm the one that broke it off," he told her.

"I don't understand; I thought you were in love with her," she said confused.

"I wanted to be," he said.

"You don't know how badly I wanted to be in love with her. It was so easy in Afghanistan, she was pretty and smart and then…" he hesitated.

"And then what?" she asked cautiously.

This was it; this was the moment of truth; it was all or nothing now.

"And then I saw your face, and I fell in love with you all over again." He said.

Several moments went by, which felt like an eternity to Booth.

"Say something." He almost begged.

"Booth, I came to a conclusion in Indonesia, but I wanted to give you a chance to be happy with Hannah."

"I won't ever be happy with anyone but you. I want you to know that." He told her.

She remained quiet.

"What was the conclusion?" He asked.

"That I'm in love with you too." She replied.

And it seemed like the whole world stopped as their lips finally met in the best kiss they'd ever shared.