Disclaimer: Neither Bones nor the song belong to me. Oh how I wish they did, think of all the fun I could have.

Chapter 2: A Confession

As Booth pulled into the parking lot of the store a song came on that caught his attention.

GOD, I FEEL LIKE HELL TONIGHT
TEARS OF RAGE I CANNOT FIGHT
I'D BE THE LAST TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND
ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO BE MY MAN?

NOTHING'S TRUE AND NOTHING'S RIGHT
SO LET ME BE ALONE TONIGHT
CAUSE YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE WAY I AM
ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO BE MY MAN?

LIE TO ME
I PROMISE I'LL BELIEVE
LIE TO ME
BUT PLEASE DON'T LEAVE

I HAVE A FACE I CANNOT SHOW
I MAKE THE RULES UP AS I GO
IT'S TRY AND LOVE ME IF YOU CAN
ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO BE MY MAN?

WHEN I'VE SHOWN YOU THAT I JUST DON'T CARE
WHEN I'M THROWING PUNCHES IN THE AIR
WHEN I'M BROKEN DOWN AND I CAN'T STAND
WILL YOU BE STRONG ENOUGH TO BE MY MAN?

LIE TO ME
I PROMISE I'LL BELIEVE
LIE TO ME
BUT PLEASE DON'T LEAVE

As the song faded away he got out of the car, went in and got what he needed. As he shopped, the words from the song played again in his mind. Booth knew that what he needed to do was to show Bones that he was strong enough, for anything. Shopping done, he headed to Brennan's.

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Brennan's Apartment

Brennan was standing in the dark looking out the window when she saw Booth pull up. She wasn't surprised that he came over, though she was surprised that he hadn't shown up sooner. Then she saw the shopping bag and Wong Foo's bag and knew what had kept him. He was always there for her; he was the one thing in her life that she could count on. She turned and headed to the door.

As Booth raised his hand to knock on Brennan's door, the door opened. Brennan was standing there in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. She was looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"What took so long Booth?" she asked as she moved aside to let him in

"How did you know I was coming Bones?" he inquired while he was kicking off his shoes

"Because I know you Seeley Booth." She said with a smile, although the smile never quite reached her eyes. She took the food bag from him and led the way to the dining room. "You probably thought I shouldn't be alone, you know you have that alpha-male thing going on and you've always been overly protective."

"I am not overly protective" he protested weakly

"Yeah right Booth, come on let's eat."

As if by some unspoken agreement, they ate in silence. When the food was gone and the dining room cleaned, they moved to the living room. Brennan headed back to the window and stared out again, just as she had been doing before he arrived. Booth retrieved something from the other bag he brought, placed it on the coffee table, settled onto the couch and waited.

"Booth, why did you come? I knew you would, but why?" her back was still turned to him, her arms wrapped around her middle. To him she looked like a lost little girl, he imagined her like this at 15 when she was left by her family the first time.

He rose silently and made his way to stand behind her. She started as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest. She could feel the heat from him through both of their shirts and she started to relax. Then she felt the rumble of voice as he told her.

"Quoting what a very smart person once told me 'I'm your partner Bones, let me be your partner.' I came because this is where I wanted to be. My partner is hurting, so I'm hurting. Besides, I didn't have anywhere else that I needed or wanted to be.'

'What about Cam, surely she would that this goes above and beyond normal partnership. And it does you know.' Brennan spoke in a soft voice; she was afraid he would remember Cam and leave her here alone.

"Cam and I will only be seeing each other through work from now on. After everything that has happened the last few weeks, I've started realizing that being with Cam wasn't what I wanted or needed. It was just a fling really, what did you call it 'satisfying biological urges'. I think that Cam though, may have started feeling it would grow into something else, but it wasn't going to happen so I ended it." His words were honest and she was relieved to hear them. Booth placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. 'You're right Bones, it does go above and beyond for partners."

Brennan gazed up into chocolate brown eyes and searched their depths, but didn't see anything dishonest there. She did see something that confused her, not sure what it was. Not sure of what he was trying to tell her.

"Booth, earlier when you told me that there was more than one type of family what did you mean?"

As he looked down into her eyes, he hoped that he could get through to her his real meaning without scaring her away.

"Well obviously there is the family that you are born into, you have no choice they are your family. They are supposed to be the ones that you can depend on no matter what, but that's not always the case, you know that." Her head dropped at these words. Booth reached down, just as he had at the diner, and lifted her gaze to his "Then there is the other kind of family, the family that you choose. That family is the one that you make for yourself. That family is one you make out of your friends, people that you can always count on, people that you know will be there for you. You have a family Bones, you Angela, Hodgins and Zach."

He saw a flicker of hurt in her eyes when he didn't include himself in her family, so continued on.

"You make a family for yourself from the people that you love and from the people that love you. I love you Temperance, I'll be your family, Parker and I, we can be your family too. Choose us, choose me, I'm your family. Let. Me. Be. Your. Family." He put all the love he had for her into those last words, hoping she would believe him and know that he meant every word.

Tears came to her eyes, she finally recognized what she saw in his eyes, it was love. And it scared her to death, she jumped back out of his arms.

"Booth, I … I don't know what to say." She stuttered. She wanted to reach out to him, but the fear was too great. What if he left her just like everyone else? He was the one thing that she couldn't stand to lose.

He could see the confusion in her face and knew this is where things were going to start getting rough. He saw the war going on inside her, he knew it would be tough for her, but she needed to choose. Booth watched as she backed away from him, shaking her head.

"No Booth there's too much at stake, like you said before too many strings, too much to lose. I can't, I've already lost enough."

"Temperance, listen to me, please." He tried to keep his voice as calm and reassuring as walked towards her "I am the one thing that you won't lose, I'm not going anywhere. I will be here for you no matter what you decide, but I can't deny what I'm feeling anymore, you needed to know. I know that there are an awful lot of strings, but trust me there is nothing to lose, nothing except for the chance at something greater than what we have now."

She kept backing away from him until her back was against the wall. Booth kept going until he stopped just inches away from her. He raised his hands, putting one on either side of her face, forcing her to look into his eyes. He wanted her to see the love and honesty there.

"Even if you say no, I'll be your partner, I'll be your best friend, I'll be your family just like Angela and the guys are. I'm not going anywhere, you won't be alone anymore. I promise you Temperance." he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, one on each cheek "Temperance, you just have to brave, take a chance and make a choice. Choose me. Choose us." With that he lowered his head one more time and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
After a moment, he raised his head and stared into her eyes. He saw the confusion there, but he also desire. That gave him hope.

"Temperance, I'm gonna go okay."

"What? I thought you said you weren't going anywhere, you said I wouldn't be alone." This time he saw hurt in her eyes.

"Baby, you will never be alone again. I'm just giving you some time and some space to think about what I'm offering you okay?" he placed one more soft kiss on her mouth, then he dropped his hands and went to gather his things. He stopped at the door and turned back to her.

"Just so you know, I'm strong enough." He said this and flashed her the 'charm' smile. Then he waited for the inevitable response. She didn't disappoint him.

"I don't know what that means." Her face was one of confusion

"I know Bones, but you will, I left you a little something on the coffee table."

And with that he walked out the door and closed it gently behind him.

Booth didn't go far though, he sat down with his back against the wall opposite of Temperance's door to wait again. Hopefully the wait wouldn't be long