A/N: While it isn't my favorite piece that I have written, I had a desire to write something after the heart wrenching season 5 Bones finale tonight. It definitely brought tears to my eyes. Obviously there will be spoilers for everything through the Season 5 finale. You have been warned.
Anything you recognize is not mine. It belongs to Fox and whoever else lays legal claim on it.
Dr. Brennan was all ready to go to as she stood in the lobby of the airport. She had her boarding pass and passport in hand and now all that was left to do was to say goodbye.
She looked at her friends gathered. Hodgins, Cam, and Angela had all come to see her off.
She missed one important face though. Booth had said he would be here but he wasn't. A lump started to rise in her throat but she swallowed it. She wouldn't cry. It wasn't logical.
She heard Daisy fretting over making their flight so she started saying her goodbyes.
As she hugged Cam goodbye, Cam cracked a joke about how she never was boss and it had always been Dr. Brennan. As they pulled apart, Dr. Brennan noticed tears in Cam's eyes. It made her sad to see all of her friends sad to see her go.
Hodgins was next to say goodbye and gave her a bunch of pamphlets on different wildlife to look for on the Maluku Islands.
She could tell he loved her based on his advice and for the first time since she was little uttered the words "I love you too" to another person.
Hodgins looked startled.
She hastened to explain herself and told him what Booth had told her about unsolicited advice. She gave him a hug and he moved out of the way.
Finally there was Angela, who wished her luck in finding something profound about the human race. As she pulled away from hugging her best female friend she still saw no sign of her partner.
She was about to give up at Daisy's insistence when in the distance she saw a flash of Army greens. She, ignoring the pleas of Daisy who feared they would miss their flight, walked as quickly as she could over to meet Seeley Booth, her partner, friend and something deeper that she couldn't describe.
He told her he snuck off base just to see her.
A warmth filled her heart after hearing that. While she normally would pass it off as chemicals flowing through her body causing that reaction, she chose to ignore that fact for right now. She cared for this man so much.
He told her to be careful and tried to offer her last minute advice. She in turn did the same for him.
Booth stepped closer. She saw him looking at her lips as though he desired to kiss her. She knew that if he did, she would not be able to fight him. She almost was mentally willing him to close the distance between them. Instead, she felt him take her hand. The spark she felt when he touched her was still there, stronger than ever.
They exchanged assurances that it was only a year and arranged to meet a year from that day.
All too suddenly she knew she had to go and turned to head the other direction towards customs. She got a little ways away and turned around to see him one last time. She saw him looking back at her.
The part of her that Angela would likely call her heart, even though the heart was only a blood pumping organ in reality, screamed for her to run back to Booth and jump into his arms.
This time, as usual, her mind won and she turned and kept walking, towards the greatest research opportunity of her life and away from the man she cared deeply for, the man who had had her back for the past five years, her best friend and the man she now admitted to herself, loved.
Just as she was about to go through the first security checkpoint, she realized that she had to tell him. She had to tell him how she felt.
Leaving her stuff behind, she ran as quickly as possible in the direction she had last seen Booth. She reached the entrance where he must have come in and looked around. There, getting into his car she saw him.
"Booth!" she shouted.
When he didn't hear her she tried again.
"Booth!"
Finally seeing her, he stepped out of his car with questions written all over his face.
"Bones…what are you doing out here? You are going to miss your flight."
She reached the car and bent over resting her hand on the hood to catch her breath.
"I love you" she responded breathily.
Booth reached over and tentatively tilted her chin up so he could see her face.
"You…love me?" he asked the markings of pure joy beginning to cross his face.
"Yes…yes I do. I love you Booth." Booth beamed before leaning his head down to sweep her into a fierce kiss. This time, unlike their past two kisses, there was no hesitancy. They poured all their emotions into that kiss.
Only when the need to breathe took over did they separate.
"I still have to go to Maluku Booth," Brennan started.
Booth nodded "I know. I still have to go to Afghanistan."
"So, this is it then"
"Yup"
Sweeping her into one last kiss he told her "I love you. Be careful" and let her go.
She quietly said "I love you too Booth" and then she was heading back to customs with a considerably lighter heart to meet a likely frantically worrying Daisy in order to catch her flight overseas.
She would see him again and now she knew she would be able to leave without regrets.
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