The Missing Part Of The Whole.

Previously...

Booth has Brennan backed against a wall outside the Jeffersonian. He's angry and she's stony-faced...

"I have nothing to say."

"Nothing to say!"

He stepped so closely into her personal space that her heart leapt into her mouth.

"You and I kissed Bones! We kissed alot."

She flinched at this, unable to look at him and he realised.

"That's what scares the heck out of you isn't it? That's what you don't want to talk about. You'd rather pretend it never happened! Well enough! You can't make this go away Bones! I won't let you. I'm sick of pretending! We need to talk about this! For God's sake look at me!"

She looked at him but her expression was sullen and hostile.

Refusing to back down, Booth looked her in the eye and spoke challengingly.

"Six years ago we didn't just kiss and you know it! The truth is we didn't stop kissing! You let me kiss you and you kissed me back Bones! Over and over again! In the cab! In my doorway! In my bedroom-"

"THEN WHY DIDN'T WE HAVE SEX BOOTH? !"

Part 2.

Run Tempe Run.

Oh God.

Where had that come from?

He'd just made her so angry...

The words just came out...

And now...

Brennan stared at her partner.

Booth stared right back.

He looked as shocked as she felt.

His eyes were huge, his mouth hung open.

He looked... speechless.

And so was she.

For the first time in her life Temperance Brennan did not know what to do.

She prided herself on always being in control.

She was the calm and collected, ever-professional Temperance Brennan.

The woman who simply did not do emotional outbursts.

Right now she was certainly understanding why.

Shock.

Dread.

Regret.

One emotion after another overwhelmed her as they stared at each other.

And God she was angry.

What was there to gain from dragging up the memory of that night?

Brennan had spent the last six years trying to forget it.

She didn't want to remember.

Anything.

Not one single thing.

But at this, she couldn't stop the tidal wave of images that came flooding back to her-

She and Booth drinking tequila in the bar.

Downing shot after shot of the clear liquid and laughing...

The first time he kissed her.

His soft lips gentle against hers...

His fingers cupping the back of her head as they kissed again and again.

The cab ride to his apartment... the desire growing between them...

She remembered the way he'd struggled to put the key in his front door...

They'd fallen onto his bed, a tangle of limbs and heated skin...

How he'd ghosted his fingers over her lower back in the most erotic way and-

He'd rejected her.

That was when he'd rejected her.

Brennan visibly flinched.

Memory was harsh and painful.

And he was making her remember.

That just made her angrier.

Her face contorted in fury and she found her voice.

"Forget it!" She spat bitterly. "Just forget this whole dam conversation! I'm going home!"

Then she whirled around and stalked away from him.

Booth was stunned again by her sudden departure.

For a moment his feet were rooted to the floor and all he could do was stare after her...

The sight of her leaving triggered something.

A memory.

Temperance Brennan storming out of his apartment six years ago...

Her angry face as she yelled at him:

"I swear Seeley Booth, if you let me leave now you've lost me! No second chances!"

And a regret.

Because Booth had not stopped her leaving.

He'd always thought of it as his biggest mistake.

It was only now, all these years later, that Booth could see maybe it wasn't a mistake at all.

Maybe it was a gamble.

A gamble that he would get a second chance with her.

And then Booth realised.

His second chance was walking away from him.

He had to stop her.

"I'm in love with you."