Thank you guys for the reviews! =D I'm happy because I haven't written in a while, so I'm hoping this goes well. It should be three or four chapters; I haven't quite decided yet. Enjoy!

Chapter Two - Mistakes

Dr. Brennan sat at her desk, pondering her next move. Should she wait for Booth to arrive, or should she call him? Normally he was at her office by this time, stopping by with a donut in his hand to chat quickly before work; A little habit that had started only a few months ago. She didn't want to leave her office, just in case he stopped by, but she needed to talk to someone. These emotions were confusing her, causing her work to be effected. And in reality, if her work was effected she needed to resolve whatever was the cause of it. Which, in fact, meant talking about what was bothering her. In order for her to do that she needed to find someone to talk to. But Booth hadn't stopped by yet. Maybe she should call him and see if he was too busy to stop by that morning. Yes, that would be a good idea.

Dr. Brennan picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. She waited for it to ring, but was disappointed when it went straight to voicemail. "That's odd, Booth almost always has his phone on." She hung up, dismayed. The longer she sat at her desk staring at her computer screen, however, the more frustrated she became. Perhaps she should talk to Angela. She was always good at giving advice about things Temperance didn't understand. So quickly she headed down to Angela's office.

"Angela!"

The artist looked up. "Sweetie!" She smiled and stood, then frowned at the look on her friend's face. "What's wrong?"

Temperance sat down. "Angela, I need to talk to you." Her face was troubled.

Angela closed the door behind her, and sat down across from her friend. "What's going on, you look like you've seen a ghost."

"There are no such things as-"

"It was an expression, Sweetie." Angela gave her a small smile of understanding. "What's wrong?

Temperance took a breath. "I need to know what love is."

The artist gave her a confused look. "Sweetie, love is different for everybody. There really is no scientific definition."

"But," Temperance urged "What is love to you? What does it do to you? Booth is always telling me to follow my gut, and that love comes before the chemistry. I need to know if that's true."

Angela smiled and crossed her legs. "Well, to me, love is…" She paused. "Love is when you kiss somebody, and you get a bubbly feeling inside. It's when you love spending time with that person, and even when they irritate you or make you mad, you can't stay angry for long, and you just want them to smile. Love is when you care so much about the other person you're willing to sacrifice anything of yours to keep them safe." She paused again to see if Temperance was taking this in. "When you love someone, sex goes beyond that, it turns into something you don't want to share with anyone else. And when they say things to you that are only meant for you, it makes you happy. Are you getting this sweetie?"

Temperance had a frown on her face. She was lost in thought. Angela decided to help her along.

"Do you feel any of those things? When he kisses you, what do you feel?"

Temperance frowned. "I don't exactly know. I feel warm, like I just had some hot coffee."

"Okay," Angela nodded in appreciation. "That's a good start. Now what about spending time with him? Do you ever want him to leave, or don't you care if he stays until two in the morning talking to you, or doing other things?"

"I feel… I feel all of those things. I'm not good at feeling things, Angela."

"Sweetie, you have to listen to Booth on this one, because he's right." She patted Temperance's hand. "If you feel that way, Bren, it's love."

It was as if Temperance had seen fireworks behind her eyelids. Something sparked within her mind and her eyes shot open in slight shock. "Ang, I love him."

"I know sweetie."

Temperance looked at her, confused. "But I just figured it out myself, how could you possibly know before I did?"

Angela laughed. "Sweetie, it's so obvious that you two love each other. We were just waiting for you two to realize it." She smiled, then frowned as she watched her best friend's face fall. "What's wrong now?"

"Ang, I think I made a mistake."


Booth stared out at the ocean, his eyes taking in the colors of the sunset with numbness. He missed her. He missed her terribly. And the worst part of it was she didn't want him back. He blinked behind his sunglasses, hoping he wouldn't cry. Not here, and not now. He stood from his chair, feeling the warm sand under his feet. The view was making him sick. He'd always wanted to take Temperance to the beach; To feel her warm hand in his as they walked along the water's edge, to watch her hair blow gently in the wind, to see her smile as she took in the sunset.

But none of that would happen now. And he was sick of looking at so many couples enjoying each other's company. He shouldn't have come here, but it was the last thing he had left. He knew he would have to return soon, if not for anyone else than for Parker, but he didn't want to go back to face her. He didn't want to listen to her talk and brag about her sexual encounters with other men, to see her eyes glimmer mischievously. He would call as soon as he got back and request another partner, or request that she stay in the lab.

He made his way back to his hotel room, sinking further into despair with each step. No matter how much beer he drank, or what was on the tv, or how loud he could hear his son's voice over the phone, it wouldn't repair his heart. A few years back he might have bounced back from something like this – picked up the pieces and moved on quickly. Not this time. This was different. This was a woman he loved, more than any other he'd been with. No, this broke him. It shattered his way of thinking. As he opened his door with his key, he thought of how nice it would have been to see her smile waiting for him on the other side. He shut the door behind him, letting his forehead sink against the door. Nothing would be the same. He had to face that.

But as he lay in bed, staring up to the ceiling, he wondered if it'd ever be over. She'd already forced him into something he'd never have done before – leaving. What was next? No, he had to end it. He would call and request another partner. She may be the best, but he was fine before her, and he'd recover after her.

He had no choice.


Dr. Brennan knocked on the door, expecting silence. Which is exactly what answered her. She wanted to respect his privacy, but this was important. It had the potential to be life-changing. So why wasn't he answering? Obviously he didn't know what had occurred that day, he hadn't shown up at all. But this was obviously important, she wouldn't be continuously knocking at his door if it wasn't.

"Booth?" She called his name, softly at first then louder. "Booth? It's me, Brennan. I want to talk to you."

Silence.

"Booth I know you probably think bad of me after yesterday, and it is my fault. I shouldn't have rushed something like that without knowing the truth. I know-" She took a breath, "-how important that is to you."

More silence. Nothing came from inside the apartment, not even the sound of rustling or of his feet padding around the apartment. Nothing.

"Booth?"

Finally she took out a bobby pin, tired of waiting. She wanted to respect his privacy, but this was important to her, and she knew it would be important to him as well. After fiddling with the lock for a few moments she managed to open the door. Slowly she walked in, calling his name once more. It was dark, almost menacingly so, and so she groped around for the light switch. The lights turned on to illuminate the simple apartment. There wasn't any garbage, minus a few beer bottles lying around. She walked around a bit, calling his name, and still heard nothing. She collapsed on his couch, disappointed he wasn't home. "I'll just wait." She spoke aloud, almost as if he were there. Then her eye caught a glimpse of something that seemed out of place on his coffee table. She picked it up.

"Flight to California, 9:10 am?" Her voice cracked a little near the end. "Flight plans? There's no return date…" She then picked up the picture next to it. "I remember that…" Temperance looked closely at the picture. It was a picture that had been taken a long while ago during one of her book signings. He had stopped in to say hi, and bring her coffee. They had ended up having some woman take a picture of the two of them. It was folded, like it had been in a book or such. "He still has this?" she muttered to herself. He looked so handsome in that picture, casual in his normal work uniform.

She needed to talk to him. When was he coming back? The paper didn't say… "What do I do?"

Temperance Brennan fell asleep on Booth's couch, worried and frightened that he may not come back.


End chapter two! =] Reviewers get cookies of their choice! =] Sorry these chapters are so short, but I have such a short attention span I sort of need to cut them up, haha.