A/N: I didn't have a beta for this story because I couldn't make up my mind on who to select. If anyone is interested in beta-ing the rest, let me know. I have about 5 chapters already written, but I'm only going to post updates once a week, maybe more frequently if I write a lot. I'm going to school too, so I have to make time to study as well, so writing this isn't my first priority. As the summary stated, this is my first case fic and I'm a little nervous about how it will be received. I wasn't even going to start posting this until I had it completely written out, but I couldn't wait any longer. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, please leave a review!
Seeley Booth had never been in quite the quandary that he was in right then. He was living with a beautiful blonde named Hannah and felt maybe one day he could have a future with her. The only problem was he was in love with another woman and had been for what seemed like forever. On this particular April evening, he was heading home after a long day of doing paperwork as there wasn't a case on his desk at the time. He opened his door carrying in the Thai take out he had picked up for he and his girlfriend.
"Hannah? You here?" he called as he rounded the corner into the kitchen to set everything in his arms down. "Hannah?" he called again as he walked into the living room. There his girlfriend stood, her spring jacket on and a few cases of luggage at her feet.
"Hi, Seeley." she said simply.
"Are you going somewhere? Is the Post sending you somewhere again?" he asked, knowing Hannah's job at the Washington Post as a reporter could take her anywhere at anytime.
"No, I'm leaving." she said, looking down to her luggage. She met his eyes once again and dove into her explanation, "I can't keep living this lie."
"What lie?" Booth interrupted.
"Seeley, let me get through this." she said harshly. "I can't keep living this lie. I know you don't love me. I know you still love her. I can see it in your eyes. They light up when she enters the room. And don't deny it, I've seen it happen every time she is with us. I can see she loves you too" A tear fell down her face.
"I've moved on. I told you my partnership with Bones is strictly a work thing. Nothing more."
"Seeley, you are lying, we both know it. You never moved on. I was simply a rebound girl for you."
"Hannah, you are not a rebound…"
"I've made my decision." she asserted. "I'm leaving tonight. I will come by for the rest of my stuff another time." With that she picked up her bags and moved toward the door. Booth didn't stop her. She opened the front door, stepped out into the apartment corridor and closed it silently behind her. She was gone and Booth stood in his living room, unsure of what to do next.
Temperance Brennan considered herself a rational human being, so it came as a big surprise when she found herself feeling that irrational feeling called love. While away in the Maluku Islands, she had a lot of time to think about her relationship with Booth. She didn't come to any big revelations while away, but when she came back, she never expected Booth to have moved on and have a serious girlfriend. She was blown out of the water, so to speak, by her reaction. She was jealous, although it took weeks of confirmation from Angela for her to realize this. After a particularly hard case though, one that left Brennan reevaluating her life, she found herself in her best friend's office, searching for advice.
"How do you know when you are in love?" she asked Angela, slumping down into a couch in a defeated manner.
"Why, sweetie? Is something troubling you?"
"I never told you this, but last year, Booth said he wanted to give us a shot and I said I couldn't do that. I essentially told him I am a scientist incapable of love.""Sweetie…" Angela began, looking sad for her friend's ignorance when it comes to matters of the heart. "You are more than capable of love. You do love Booth, maybe not romantically, although I think you do, but at least familial. You love me. You love Hodgins, Zack, your dad and Russ… You are more than capable of love, you are too afraid to acknowledge it."
"I don't know what love is. I need evidence of love. Physical signs that prove love."
"You can't compartmentalize love like that. It's a feeling you get. You just know. You know that you never want to spend a day away from this person. You feel happy just having them in the room. Your face flushes, your hands tingle, your heart skips a beat when you look into their eyes. You smile because they are smiling. You just know that without them in your life, you wouldn't be complete."
Brennan sighed and began to ponder what Angela had just said. "I think I feel that way about Booth. I think I already knew, just hearing your definition of love, solidifies what I had suspected."
Angela grinned widely, "oh Sweetie, I'm so glad you finally realize it."
"I'm too late though…" Brennan said sadly.
After outwardly admitting her feelings for Booth to another person, granted not the person she needed to tell, Brennan tried her best to neither let her newly discovered love affect her partnership with Booth nor affect Booth's relationship with Hannah. As much as it hurt her to see Booth fall in love with another woman, she knew his happiness meant more to her than being the woman he loved. Brennan had begun to grow used to spending her nights in, alone with her laptop working on her latest novel. It startled her this particular night, though, when there was a familiar knock on her door.
"Booth! What are you doing here at this hour?" Brennan asked, eyeing her partner, who looked upset and ragged. "What's wrong?"
"Can I come in?" he asked, rubbing his hand over his five o'clock shadow.
"Yes, of course!" she said, moving out of the way so he could enter her apartment. Booth moved toward the couch and plopped down into it. "What's wrong?" Brennan asked again.
Booth sighed deeply and rested his head on the back of the couch, looking dejected. "Hannah and I broke up tonight."
Brennan was sad for Booth. She didn't like seeing him this way. She was used to his perky self and seeing him so down, made her feel down as well. She walked over to the couch and gently lowered herself next to Booth. "I'm so sorry, Booth." she said sincerely.
"It wasn't working out. We weren't going anywhere." Booth said, honestly.
"What happened?"
"I came home and she had her bags packed and she told me she couldn't keep living this lie anymore. She knew that I didn't love her." Booth wanted to tell Brennan the reason he wasn't in love with Hannah was because he was in love with her. He so badly wanted to tell her, but his deep seeded fear of being rejected once again stopped him, so with that he left out the most important reason for the break up.
"I'm really sorry, Booth." Brennan said, reaching her arms out to him and embracing him. Her heart started beating wildly and she knew the close proximity to the one she loved was the reason why. Little did she know that Booth's heart was doing the same thing.
