Chapter 2

Wow….you guys have blown me away with your reviews, alerts, and favorites! Thank you so much! Keep them coming and I'll write like a maniac to keep the updates frequent for you.

Okay, one more "internal monologue" chapter for Brennan (I strongly identify with her, so it's really easy to write her thoughts!), and then we'll get some action going. Stay with me here, and let me know what you think.

Brennan lay in her bed, having given up on sleep. It was five in the morning. She was wrecked. From the time he shut her out of his apartment, she had been overcome with every emotion imaginable. She was not emotional by nature, and this rush of so many unwelcome feelings took her off guard. She was angry for allowing herself to be ruled by them.

After standing in his hallway, stunned at the kiss and at his reaction when she'd stopped him, she had collected herself enough to get to the lobby and call for a cab. The twenty minutes it took for the cab to arrive seemed like an eternity, and she fought a steady stream of tears while she waited, taking care to keep her back to the elevator in case he happened to come downstairs. She would not let him see her cry. He didn't follow her down, and she was relieved when the taxi arrived, ducking her head as she dashed from the door to the cab so as not to reveal the shine of tears on her face if he happened to be watching from his window.

She turned onto her side in the bed and looked out the window. The tears came back with a vengeance again as she replayed the kiss, which was so much like the last kiss they shared, one that had also ended in her pushing him away. It dawned on her that the reason for his anger tonight was probably due to his wrongly interpreting her actions as rejection. She had rejected him a year ago, not because of him, but because she was so afraid, so inadequate, so damn fearful to even try. It had all fallen apart after that, and in Maluku she had determined that, when they got home, things would be so different. She came back with newfound resolve to be more open, ready to let him in, and he came back with Hannah, and had treated her like a mere acquaintance ever since. The undercurrent of hurt she had felt since then had been ever-present, but now it was paralyzing; although it was impossible for one's heart to literally break, she now understood this debilitating pain in her chest to be a broken heart.

She cried until there were no more tears, and then she berated herself for pining over this man, and for allowing herself to fall for him in the first place. She was Dr. Temperance Brennan: genius, rational to a fault, ever self-sufficient. She had always prided herself in her ability to maintain control in her relationships, and to cut them off before this happened – hurt was to be avoided at all costs. She never let anyone get close enough to hurt her, and she had tried to stop things with Booth before they both got hurt, and damn him for making things so complicated. She had evolved tremendously since that night outside the Hoover. Since then, she had changed because of him, had learned to open herself to others more in the past year, risking everything to put herself out there - and he had kept her at a distance. He had no idea who she was anymore. Her actions tonight – all of them – were out of care and concern for him, and she felt used and taken advantage of now. Tonight she had pushed him away because he was drunk, and there was no way in hell that she was going to let him make her the consolation prize, as he called it.

She wasn't sure how she was going to face him, and she prayed to whomever would listen that they wouldn't get a case tomorrow. She needed time in Limbo to collect herself, work on something old, to do what she did best with her work, and allow her world to – once again – right itself. Maybe she'd speak to Cam about sending an intern in her stead for the next couple of weeks if the services of the Jeffersonian were needed on a case.

She thought about Booth and wondered if he was sleeping. She guessed that he had probably drunk some more once he got into his apartment. She knew that once he walked into his empty apartment and remembered that Hannah was gone, having cleared out her things earlier that evening, he was going to hit bottom. She worried about his safety; worried that he might do something stupid. The thought urged her out of bed, and she grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand, running through a mental list of the best candidates to check on him, until she finally landed on Cam. She scrolled to her number and pressed "send." Cam's sleepy voice answered almost immediately.

"Brennan? What's up?"

Brennan briefly explained the events of the night, leaving out the more dramatic parts involving her, and asked Cam to check on him.

"Sure, okay. I'll go over there. Are you….okay, Brennan?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Cam. I do need to discuss work arrangements with you when we get to the lab, because I need a break from the field…and I would prefer if you don't mention that to Booth when you see him."

"If that's what you need, we'll work it out. I'll see you at the lab."

They signed off and Brennan stood at the window, relaxing a bit knowing that Booth would be in good hands.

That's it for now…. As I said, action is coming. Reviews will make it come faster! ;)