Tag for The Finger in the Nest which is owned by Fox, the wonderful producers of Bones. I dedicate this to my puppy. She was a really, really good dog. She had a better life than the fictional Ripley, but her brown eyes were just as warm and reassuring. She saved my life, a lot.

Booth had known for some time that Doctor Temperance Brennan, world-renowned forensic anthropologist, was important. But he had only recently realized she was second only to Parker - the only two people in the world who commanded him in daylight and worried at him through the night. The two people who could take him to heaven with a smile, and condemn him to hell with a word.

On her part, Brennan had barely started realizing her influence in Booth's life. Regardless of her skill at reading the faintest gleams on a splinter of bone, it took her three years to analyze the accumulated evidence: An earring, Jasper, Brainy Smurf, guy-hugs. She now realized that the only woman Booth had a problem discussing sex with was her. In their last session with Sweets, he had stated he "did alright." But a conversation with Angela challenged her to commence a cautious inventory of Booth's schedule – though not in so many words! She now conceded there was insufficient time in his day for his assertion. And now, there was this new evidence of her power, evidence from their most recent case:

"It's not his fault; he's actually a very nice dog – aren't you? He reminds me of you."

"Really?"

"He's got warm and reassuring brown eyes, and he's capable of great violence."

His response had been too pat, too quick. She knew Booth loathed violence; death and killing tore at the soul he believed in, even if she couldn't. Thinking back, she saw that something about her words affected him.

He was more like Ripley than she would ever know. He killed to protect her, and at his weakest, the most he would allow was half-hints and shrouded meaning. Every day he worked with an angel he was no longer good enough for, she deserved someone whole, undamaged. He lacked the strength to banish himself from her presence, and so he would be her partner, as long as she willed it; and he would never leave her, while he still drew breath. Because everything she would say of Ripley, could be said of him. She herself had said, "He reminds me of you…" But he had only heard, "…capable of great violence."

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"He killed someone, and they had to put him down"

"No, it wasn't Ripley's fault. People made him do what he did!"

"I know. I'm sorry…"

"You can tell he's a good natured dog. They put him down?"

"Yeah."

There was very little in their lives that ever made Booth look so crushed, so hopeless, so sad. The last time she saw that look, he was testifying at her father's trial, his eyes begging her forgiveness.

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"This dog would still be alive if he wasn't forced to fight."

Booth and Ripley, Ripley and Booth. Man and dog forced to fight for different reasons and different masters. To the world perhaps, Ripley had paid a higher price. But there were nights, after the paperwork had been signed, when he would have to wonder if Ripley hadn't gotten the better ending after all. But it would only be later, when she begged him, that he would admit ever needing his own life to be saved. At least from the only person who had ever really had the power to threaten it.

…

"I told him to walk away if it's for himself and to stand up and fight if it's for someone else. I don't know if that was the right thing to say, but …"

"You're a very, good father"

She hated seeing the doubt in his eyes, the fear and sorrow that crept in whenever Parker came into the conversation. She had yet to learn of his dark childhood empirically, but already her impressively steep learning curve saw the signs of self doubt, saw kindred damage exacted by another failed parent on a fellow lost child. It would take almost a year before she remembered the lesson the best, bravest man she knew taught his son; almost a year before she understood that Booth would always walk away when it was just for himself.

He would stand behind her in resigned support, as Sully begged her to sail away. He would take the blame for missing a funeral, if she was safe from a crime lord's fury. He knew she was too precious to stay alone forever, but he would let those cards fall where they may – he didn't gamble anymore. He could buy her plastic pigs and daffodils and order take-out to cheer her up. He would step in front of a bullet and exchange his blood for her safety. But at the end of the day, once she was happy again and safe in her apartment, he would walk away.

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"Ripley was a good dog, he didn't want to fight, but he did it to please his master. He didn't want to attack a human being, but he did it to please his master. You know, it wasn't Ripley's fault if his master was cruel and selfish. Like all dogs, Ripley only saw the good in people. Dogs are like that. People should take a lesson. Is that enough?"

"Yeah, as much as any good dog could hope for, even with limited vocabulary skills…"

Her ability to cut him always took him by surprise. He knew her literal nature, knew she was truly talking about Ripley. But she was always going on about his limited vocabulary. And when his master, The United States of America demanded death, Seeley Booth obeyed. Bones thought he didn't want her to have a gun because he was an 'Alpha male'. But that was not the truth, not even close. He would always portion Cain's Mark for himself, because Jasper was the one gift he had never wanted to give.

She didn't realize Booth's answer wasn't for Ripley. She didn't recognize her other loyal companion who would only leave her in death. The other lost soul who would do anything to please her, who longed to live in the safety of the last name of Brennan. Right now she could only see the man who was holding her; it would be another day she would recognize him as her other stray who wanted so very much to be good. Today, her own limited vocabulary was inadequate to express what her mighty intellect already knew: Another day, she would open her heart one last time, and she would provide a home and a comforting shelter to this pair of warm and reassuring brown eyes.