Title: Every Mile A Memory (version B, aka The Happy Ending)
Summary: Booth has a bit of a nightmare about Brennan.
Warnings: none for version B
Rating: G
Pairings/Characters: Booth/Brennan est. ship
Series: Long Trip Alone, part 11/11 (can be read as a stand-alone)
Length: 1,400 words
Genres: fluff?
A/N: Well, it's here. The end(s) to Long Trip Alone. A long five months after I started the series. Whew. Anyway, an explanation on the different VERSIONS of the story: originally, I planned a tragic ending to the whole story arc. But then my sister got peeved at me for the whole idea, and so I realized that the tragic ending wasn't going to work for everybody. So I created an alternate, happy ending. The story is set up so that you can read either ending (or both) and chose to believe whichever you wish. Version A (chapters 2 & 3) is the original, tragic ending. (Version A1 is the original, full-length, Version A2 is editted down to a manageable length). Version B (this chapter) is the happy ending.

Read on, and review!


Every Mile a Memory

(version b)

(Long Trip Alone, part 11)

Booth could tell by Brennan's sudden, uncomfortable silence she had something to say. He doubted it had something to do with the case they'd been discussing since before dinner out, but was more likely something personal, about their relationship. And the fact that Brennan, who was rarely if ever apprehensive, was indeed uneasy made Booth quite worried himself.

"What's wrong, Temperance?" he asked nervously.

She shifted awkwardly and he knew for certain that she was uneasy. "Well, nothing's wrong," she answered shortly, and she looked down at the floor, not meeting Booth's eyes. "At least you won't think so."

Confused, Booth just blinked dumbly for a minute. "Oh-kay, then." He rephrased the question. "What's going on, Temperance?"

She looked unsure and hesitant for a very long, very anxious moment. Booth wondered if she was thinking up a way to try and dodge the question, or if she was going to even bother answering at all. But she was, after all, Temperance Brennan, and she answered the question in a typical Temperance Brennan way.

"I'm pregnant." Bluntly.

Immediately shocked beyond words and thought, Booth very nearly crashed before a blaring honk from someone behind him snapped him back to reality. He quickly swerved back onto the road and glanced over at his partner.

"WHAT?" he exclaimed.

"I'm pregnant," she repeated slowly and matter-of-factly. "There's a baby growing inside of me." Tartly and sarcastically in a way she'd learned from too much time around him, she added, "I thought that you'd know what that meant."

"How did this happen?" Booth stammered. At Brennan's pointedly raised eyebrow, he corrected, "Well, I know how it happened, but, you know, how did it happen? I thought we had… protection?"

Brennan shrugged with a single shoulder. "I've got no more of an idea than you do."

Booth sighed deeply as he realized something. "You want to terminate, don't you?" He asked this softly and sadly, fearing he already knew the answer. And he didn't know if he could stand having created a baby with Brennan, only to have it so abruptly taken away before he could even hold it in his arms… It would be just—

"Actually, I don't know," Brennan answered.

Booth blinked dumbly again, and exclaimed, "WHAT?"

"Well… I know how much you would want a baby," she said slowly. "I still haven't changed my personal opinion on wanting children, and would abort, but… I don't know if I could do that to you. Besides, I think I would learn to love the child."

"You'd do that for me?" he asked breathlessly. "Raise a child, just for me?"

She bit her lip, then nodded. "Yes."

Even though he was rounding a turn, he glanced sideways at her as his heart welled with love for her. "Temperance, you have no idea what that would mean to me."

She looked up at him then, smiling and eyes sparkling, even in the dark. Then her form was lit from behind by a white light that Booth's mind automatically registered as headlights. And the light rapidly brightened as the car approached at a speed too fast for any sane, sober person.

Nanoseconds stretched as Booth realized what was happening.

But even with that, there was nothing he could do, and he realized it. Still, he opened his mouth to yell something, anything, at her that might warn her. Nothing had a chance to escape his throat before the world-shattering impact threw him around like a rag doll.

Even before the blackness took him—which was quickly—he knew that he'd just lost not only his lover, Brennan, but also his unborn child within her womb.

------------

Gasping sharply, Booth sat bolt upright in bed. It took him several moments and deep breaths to re-orient himself.

Then, with a deep sigh, he reached through the early-morning darkness to the other side of the bed to touch Brennan and reassure himself that she was still there. To separate that nightmare from this reality.

But his hand went right through where she should've been and hit only sheet.

His head instantly snapped towards the empty side of the bed, and his eyes confirmed that Brennan wasn't there. The sheets stuck to the sweat on his body as he tried to swing his legs quickly over the edge of the bed. He very nearly tripped and crashed to the floor instead.

But with rough determination, he snatched the blankets away from his legs and stumbled out of bed. A quick, frenzied check of the apartment revealed that Brennan wasn't there at all.

Forcing himself to calm down, Booth went back to the bedroom and swiped his cellphone off of the bedside table. He quickly pressed the speed dial for Brennan's phone and prayed she'd pick up.

Apparently, the prayer went unanswered.

A few seconds after Booth dialed, a ringing sounded across the room. He stood frozen for a moment, then slowly crossed to the other side of the room, with the ringing becoming slightly louder the closer he came to Brennan's side of the bed.

From Brennan's bedside table, he picked up her ringing cellphone.

Swearing under his breath, he closed his phone and dropped it beside Brennan's on the night stand.

He dressed in a rush, quickly jerking on a wrinkled—and probably dirty—suit and stepping into the nearest pair of shoes without even bothering to check if they matched. Then he pocketed both his and Brennan's cell phones, grabbed his car keys, and rushed out the door.

As he drove towards the Jeffersonian—the one place he could think of to check for Brennan—he forced himself to calm down. There had to be a logical explanation for this. He had to just be worrying for no reason.

Despite his attempts at tranquility, though, he found himself going a little faster than he should. He forced himself to slow down and turned on the radio for a distraction. When every song seemed to be about losing someone, he figured it wasn't helping at all and quickly shut it off.

He noticed again that he was going a little fast, but this time he didn't bother to slow it back down.

Then the faintly sparkling stars still left in the part of the sky not yet lightened by the rising sun reminded Booth sharply of Brennan's twinkling eyes in his dream. He tried to stay calm, but found himself becoming more and more anxious by the moment.

Then a pair of headlights from a car on the opposite side of the road startled Booth. And instantly he flashed back to his dream, back to the other car's headlights as it rammed into his.

And he panicked.

Already going a little fast, he was now flying down the road towards the Jeffersonian.

And each of the remaining miles resurrected another memory of his cursed nightmare, and he became more panicked by the minute. And the more panicked he became, the more speed he coaxed out of his SUV.

By the time he finally reached the Jeffersonian, he surprised he hadn't been pulled over for speeding.

Pulling haphazardly into a parking space, he turned the SUV off and flung open the door. He bounded out of it and across the rest of the parking lot to the front doors. He blew through the security checkpoint to the lab platform, eyes searching frantically for Brennan.

Forgetting about the alarm, he bounded up the steps to the platform, taking them two at a time.

He spotted Brennan and rushed across the platform towards her as the alarm sounded behind him. The alarm drew Brennan's attention, and when she saw Booth rushing towards her, her eyes widened.

Barely slowing enough to avoid tackling her, Booth threw his arms around her appreciatively. "Oh, Bones," he murmured. "Thank God!"

She coughed pointedly, but Booth ignored the hint and didn't let go. "Uh, good morning," Brennan said slowly, awkwardly. "I know I had to come in a little early this morning, but—"

"You're not pregnant, are you?" Booth blurted, interrupting her.

Her eyes widened and she blinked dumbly for a moment. "Um, no," she answered.

His grip on her tightened. "Oh, thank God," he repeated.

Again, her eyes widened and she squirmed a little bit in his embrace. "Um, Booth?" she asked awkwardly. "Are you high or something?"

THE END


Please review!

And, if you dare, go on to read Version A!