Forgot to say it in chapter 1 but I don't own Bones or anything else you might recognize

Chapter 2

"Let's see, peeling paint: check. Roaches: check. Barely cold fridge: check. One smelly ass pullout couch in the middle of a room barely big enough to walk in: check. Broken AC: check. Yep, it's official. This place is a shit-hole."

A very frustrated Seeley Booth once again bangs on the broken AC window unit, which still refused to work. He opens the other windows in a vain hope that God will take pity on him and send a breeze his way. Standing there, his muscular six foot one frame coated in sweat, dressed solely in a pair of white boxers, he is quite a sight to see. He runs his hand through his already tousled short brown hair and turns back to the couch as his newly healed feet start to bother him again. With a groan, he lies on the couch, propping his feet on the armrest. A huge sigh is followed by a smirk as his hand reaches down into a bucket full of ice to bring up a wrapped ice cream bar.

"Wonderful, cheap ass Milk Blast Bar. Come to papa."

He rips off the wrapper and bites off half of the ice cream with a moan, relishing the sticky, chocolately sweetness and recalling all the previous moments that he shared with the frozen treat. Sixteen, sitting with his best friend Cam Saroyan on the steps outside of school, joking about his performance in the last football game. Sitting under a strong summer sun with Pops and Jared, fishing on the lake at 13; finally realizing that he and his brother were safe. Eight years old, sitting on his window sill, taking a bite then placing the still wrapped portion on his bruising cheek, unfelt tears rushing from his eyes, wishing with all his heart that God would let his mother come back to him.

Shaking his head to clear the memories, he glances at the phone that he had set up the day before, feeling a pang of guilt go down with the last bite of his ice cream. He has been a regular American citizen again for two weeks, and still hasn't called his grandparents. He knew that they had left Philadelphia shortly after he enlisted, moved to what his Grams called "a beautiful little manor" in Washington DC, to which they had written him letters with the new address and stories of their new life. When he was discharged he just couldn't bring himself to drag his demons home to them. Pops was perceptive, he would be able to tell in an instant that his grandson was hurting, it wasn't as if he hadn't seen it before.

Joseph Booth, Seeley and Jared's father, was always a mean drunk, even before their mother, Elena's, death. But after an embolism suddenly took her life, there was no one left to shield the young boys from their father's now violent drinking.

On the day of Elena's funeral, Joe filled the part of himself that wasn't already full of anger and sadness with good old Jack Daniel's. When he saw a boy's tie hanging off the back of the couch, he completely lost it. Seeley and Jared ran into the room at the sight of their father breaking whatever he could reach, screaming words their young minds couldn't comprehend, but knew were forbidden for them to say. When Joe finally spotted his sons, he demanded to know whose tie was left out so disrespectfully. In the second it took for Seeley to realize it was his three-year-old brother, he made a decision that would change his outlook for the rest of his life. That night was the first time he sat on the widow sill full of bruises after taking the blame for his little brother, but it wasn't the last.

The next four years became almost unbearable for Seeley. The beatings increased to the point where Joe didn't even need a reason, that was until Seeley's twelfth birthday, when Pops showed up to take his grandson for a surprise gift. When he entered the house and saw Joe beating an unconscious Seeley, he himself lost it. He grabbed the man who was his son, threw him into the wall, and gave him three good hits to the face before demanding that he leave and never come back. Waking up to the sight of his Grams face as she cleaned his wounds, learning that he and Jared would never see his father again, Seeley wept. He was filled with relief that he wouldn't die at a young age at the hands of his father. But he also felt rejected, his father had left without a word, after a lifetime of beatings, what had he done for his father to hate him so?

High school was the highlight of Seeley's life so far. He was an all around athlete, a good student, and an absolute catch to the girls. Although his reputation was being "that guy", Seeley's heart wasn't in it. He wanted a purpose, to give back, to do something that would make a difference and make his grandparents proud of him.

Joining the Army seemed like a dream come true to Seeley. He quickly stood out as an amazing marksman, and became a lead sniper in his Ranger unit. He dealt the best he could with the horrors of war, bonding as much as he dared with his fellow soldiers, becoming the ultimate blackjack and poker player in the unit as no one was able to bluff their way against him. The thrill of gambling and winning gave him a slight reprieve of his guilt, but the taking of lives started to eat at his soul. After taking the life of a man in front of his son, Seeley decided to not re-enlist when the time came, instead he was going to take advantage of the army paid for college education and become something that would make himself proud. His last mission involved letting one of his men that he became the closest to, Corporal Theodore Parker. But things went wrong.

"Booth? Hey Booth, you waking up man?"

Booth opens his eyes and groans at the shooting pain. He squeezes them shut for a few moments before trying to open them again.

What the hell is that?he thinks. He sees a dark shadow he can only assume is a person's head but has to blink for a few seconds before it comes into focus.

"Welcome back Sarge. You had us worried there," says the grinning face of Corporal Michael Angelo, an average sized Mexican American man with a solid build, and one of Booth's regular poker players. "You've been out of it for a few days. Man, what the hell happened?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth Angelo."

At the sound of their commanding officer's voice, Angelo quickly snapped to attention as Booth painfully tried to sit up while a medic assisted him. He grimaced gratefully at the medic, while he steeled himself for the questions that were sure to follow. Come on Ranger, keep it together, he tells himself.

"Dismissed Corporal." As Angelo moved to a soldier in another bed, Master Sergeant Edwards takes his seat next to Booth's bed.

"At ease, Booth. We'll take your official statement later, for now just tell me everything you remember. You went to take out your target, with Parker along to show him how it's done. Did you take out the target?"

"Yes, sir. At 23:00 hours, the target exited the main building and crossed the compound to his living quarters. As soon as I had the target in my sights, I took him out. Then all hell broke loose," Booth pauses, staring at his bandaged feet sticking out of the covers, willing his increasing heart beat to stay in control. "One of the guards must have seen where the shot came from. Teddy-um Corporal Parker didn't keep his head down or didn't duck down fast enough-"

"Did you remind him to keep his head down, out of the enemy's sight?"

Booth's head jerks up, his face indignant anger and guilt. But he shifts his features back into a neutral expression. Of course I told him! Maybe he didn't hear me. But I told him, I told him to keep his head down…didn't I?

"Ahem…yes sir. Umm…When I saw Parker was down, I-I-I crawled to him, checked him, he was still breathing, and uh, I carried him out of there as fast as I could." He was so heavy, but I had to get him out of there. "I headed southwest, where I knew the rendezvous point was located. They were right behind us, the whole time." The shouts, bullets going past, inches from us. The smell and feel of Teddy's blood rushing down my back. God Teddy, you were a kid!"A shot hit me, in the right shoulder…took me down. I uh- Corporal Parker didn't make it…I-don't-remember what happened, but when I woke up I was in a basement? It was dark…they asked about our location, my mission, stuff like that. They uh-there were beatings, um…canes, and they-they tied me up, my feet-they…rubber hoses on my feet. I-I-I-I don-don't know how long I was there-"

"Easy, Sergeant, relax. I got the story from there," Edwards waits for Booth to regain some composure, looking on him with deep respect. He is impressed with how much Booth endured and his retelling of the events; most soldiers begin to weep and shake with the memories of the horrors they were subjected to. Yes, Booth shifted, as much as he could, as he talked, and there were tears building in his eyes, but he refused to let them drop.

"A week." At Booth's confused expression, Edwards clarified. "You were a POW for a week. A scouting unit saw them moving you from one building to another and went in for a rescue mission. Two of their men were lost, but ten other soldiers were recovered."

At Booth's nod, he continued with a more professional, crisp tone. "Well, the doctor has informed me that you will be on bed rest for about three weeks, then ready for missions again about six weeks after that. So, for those six weeks, you will be-"

NO!

"All due respect sir, but…I was told this was my last mission and I want to keep it that way. I'm not re-enlisting. I've done my duty, served my country, and done it well," Booth looks into the older man's eyes, determination clearly written on his face. "I'm done."

Edwards stares at Booth for a few moments, seeing in his eyes that no matter what arguments that might be made, he would not change his mind. So he simply nods, stands and returns Booth's salute before walking out. Angelo reclaims his seat next to Booth's bed.

"So, what are you gonna do when you get home?" Booth chuckles.

"Eavesdropping, Corporal?" he sighs, "I don't know. My Pops and I used to restore cars together, I guess I could get a job in a mechanic shop."

"Fuck that! You're smart, man. Don't waste that by working in some car shop. Hey, Uncle Sam said if you join the army, he'll pay for college. Take advantage of that man; it's what I'm gonna do when I get done."

"College? Go to college for what?" he pauses, thinking. Going to class, taking notes, seeing beautiful intelligent women. Explaining why a 22 year-old is still in the beginning stages of college. "Forget it, its not for me," waving his hand, dismissing the idea.

"Hey, you told me that you got good grades in high school. You took some correspondence course while you were here and passed, didn't you? If you're struggling, they got tutors to help you out! As for what major, criminal justice."

"Get the hell out of here, you're giving me headache" Booth tells him jokingly. As Angelo stares at him, he sighs, then grudgingly "I'll think about it ok?"

"All right. We all got potential, just don't waste yours. You got to at least try, man," With a shake of his head Angelo left Booth to his thoughts.

Two weeks before Booth was to return home, Angelo and his unit were ambushed and killed, so Booth returned to Philadelphia. He moved into the first apartment he could afford and spent all of his days trying not to think about his memories while failing every night as he woke up in a cold sweat.

In an effort to soothe his troubled thoughts, Booth jumps up from the couch to pace in the tiny room, running his hands through his hair and over his face. He finally surrenders to the need to get out, to find some kind of relief to save his sanity. He takes a quick icy shower, dons the most lightweight clothes he owns and walks out the door. With any luck, he thinks, I can find an air-conditioned bar with ice cold beer, a TV, and maybe a poker game or a pool table.

AN: Okay so the reviews and alerts I got astounded me. WOW! Thank you so much! Downside: now there is pressure! Lol. So, I don't know anything about the military so if I made a mistake, forgive me. I'm gonna try to post every weekend, hopefully. I want to say thanks to my beta coilerfan35 (who has some awesome stories, including the one that inspired me to write this, The Protector). Also, in upcoming chapters, I'm gonna bend some rules. I know that real life is different but this is my universe so I'll change what I want lol. Booth and Brennan are gonna be together in this fic, they will meet in chapter five (probably). Just stick with me. If you feel in the mood, I would love a review lol. Thanks