Lostone16: Glad you like it!

Xoxokiss210: Thanks! :)

SouthunLady: Haha. Me too. Silly me, not thinking up plots before I write.

Chrystal Rose: Thank you! There will most certainly be more...once I stop typing this...which should be...about now. XD

"Temperance, what were you even thinking?" Booth growled as he paced back and forth along her bedroom floor. It was a wonder he wasn't wearing a hole in it. If the fact that he was practically giving her a lecture didn't let her know that he was completely serious with her, the use of her first name did.

"Booth..." Brennan began as she sat on her bed, trying to find the right words to calm him down.

"I can't believe you'd do something as stupid as that!" Booth exclaimed.

"I wasn't going to jump," she replied, feeling more and more like a little kid being yelled at by her parents.

"What were you trying to do then, Bones?" He paused in his spot on the floor and sighed, running a hand through his dark hair.

Brennan bit down on her bottom lip, trying to figure out how to answer the question without being called crazy. She couldn't tell him. He wouldn't understand what it was like to feel nothing, would he? He had a loving girlfriend and a great kid. No. He wouldn't get it. There were some things she just had to keep to herself.

"What were you even doing here?" Brennan decided it was a good time to change the subject.

"After I started to head home, I knew you weren't okay," Booth began, cutting Brennan off as she probably began to say something about how he couldn't know that. "It's happened a lot, Bones. Don't tell me it's impossible."

Brennan sighed softly. "Thank you, Booth. But Hannah must be worried sick about you."

"I called her. Everything's fine." Booth took a seat beside Brennan on the bed.

"I don't know how I can live like this, Booth," Brennan murmured suddenly after a long moment of silence, continuing before Booth had the chance to apologize or reply. "It's not just you...it would be derisory of me to expect you to break Hannah's heart just to be with me. You told me you had to move on, and you did. It's not your fault. But...I'm afraid. If I died tomorrow, I'd die with regrets. Everyone has regrets, but I feel powerless when I'm unable to turn them around. Nobody would be around to miss me aside from the people I work with. I'm just like her, Booth."

Diamond tears were sliding down Brennan's cheeks now, which were flushed, no doubt reluctant resultants of the frozen December air. Booth, acting on instinct, pulled her into his warmth and wrapped his arms around her, giving her back gentle rubs and pats of comfort. He didn't feel ashamed of it. He loved Hannah, and he knew Hannah knew it too. But that wouldn't change the commitment he felt to Brennan, which he refused to admit was more than a very strong partnership.

"Bones, you're not powerless. You've never been powerless. And I don't want to hear that 'if I died tomorrow nobody would miss me' crap from you. I know it seems like having your strongest bonds formed in the place you work is pathetic, but it's not. We'd all miss you, but I can tell you that nobody could miss you as much as me. You and I have formed one of the strongest connections I've ever felt, and I know that if I died tomorrow you'd feel the same way about me." Booth stroked her windswept auburn hair as she sniffled against his shoulder.

"Thank you, Booth," she murmured hoarsely. "Nobody's ever made me feel so...close."

He nodded his 'you're welcome' as she looked up at him, watery eyed and a weak, seemingly forced smile planted on her face. Tentatively, he used his thumb to swipe a tear from just under one of her clear blue eyes.

No matter who he was with or what kind of connections he'd form with others, he knew none would ever come so close as to force his connection with Brennan out of his life.