She had arrived last. Seeley was relieved once he spotted her, she always had him worried. He was almost positive she wouldn't show. He didn't like that she had no cellphone, there was no way he could keep track of her. Not that he needed to keep track of her, she was a grown woman now that could obviously take care of herself. But still, knowing where she was would be much more of a comfort to him.

"Get lost?" Wendell asked after he had waved her over to their table. Charlie smirked as she walked up the table they were standing around.

"No, I found it just fine. Seeley gives excellent directions." She said, giving him a smile.

"I try," he said with a shrug. He was surprised she came at all. He was still almost sure that she was a figment of his imagination. That he had imagined running into her this morning, that she wasn't sitting right across this round table from him, right between Wendell and Angela.

"I was just about to go get a drink Charlotte, you want to come with me up to the bar?" Angela asked, and Charlotte nodded, following her. Seeley couldn't help notice Wendell watch as the two girls walked away. He tried to pretend he wasn't watching the way her black skirt clung to her as she moved away.

"Angela has taken a real liking to your friend." Temperance said, taking a sip from her cocktail glass.

"Charlie's pretty likeable." He said, Wendell turned back to the conversation.

"So, did you two date or something?" He asked. Seeley's jaw clenched

"We were very close." He was staring at Wendell, trying not to glare.

"Dude," Hodgins leaned over towards Wendell, and shook his head. "Don't get into it." Hodgins laughed.

"What? There's nothing to "get in to." Charlie and I, we're..." Seeley went quite as the girls came back.

"Well, I'm happy to say I've found a new drinking partner!" Angela laughed as they came back to the table.

"Oh stop, Angela. That was all you." Charlie laughed, but her cheeks looked red. She was blushing.

"What happened?" Seeley asked, his curiosity peaked.

"We just got our drinks bought for us, it's not a big deal" Charlie took a sip from her beer.

"Oh, Sweetie," Angela shook her head, then turned back to the table, "they offered to pay for our whole night if we just danced with them!" Charlie laughed.

"What? Girls are so lucky." Hodgins shook his head, looking at his own beverage.

"Lucky? It feels more like prostitution than luck!" She said, and everyone laughed.

"I agree!" Brennan said through laughter.

"So, how come you came to D.C.?" Angela finally asked, after they had all stopped laughing. Seeley turned to her, this was a question he was dying to hear the answer to. The only other questioned that was burning in the back of his mind was why did she leave in the first place?

Seeley was a polite boy. He was honest, and just all around nice. He tried to remember his usual temperament as he banged on the door of Helen Grate's door.

"I'm coming!" Yelled the elderly voice behind the door. Seeley stopped knocking, and stepped back. Charlie's Grandmother opened her door, her face twisted a bit when she saw him standing there. "Seeley…What can I do for you?" She asked.

"Where is she Helen?" Seeley asked. "Her mum's in a rage about her disappearing. Is she here?" The woman was silent. "She's not here, is she?" She wouldn't speak, or even move. "Helen, where did she go?"

"She's gone, Seeley." She said, her voice shook a bit. She was nervous, scared of him. "She wanted to leave, so she did." He shook his head.

"No. She would have told me. She would have told Mike." The elderly woman just stood in the doorway, her curled white hair bounced with her as she shook her head 'no'

"She wanted to leave. She didn't want either of you to know because she didn't want you to come after her, or try and bring her back."

"So, I can't even talk to her?" The old woman shook her head again. Seeley was furious with her, or so in thought. Really, he was just in such a rage that Charlie had left without telling him. He just didn't want to admit it. "Why?"

"You know the saying dear. If you love something, let it go." She said softly. "She deserves a fresh start. So I gave it to her. I'd let you know where she was, but I know her. She'd come back if you asked her to. She'd give up having a normal life away from her mum for you." And as much as Seeley wanted her back, he knew now why she had left. It was all about escaping her past, even him. She needed to separate herself from it all. "You're a good boy, Seeley Booth. You've got your heart in the right place. I'll let you know the moment she comes back calling for you. But until then, you leave her alone. Let her make her mistakes, fall in love, get her heartbroken, and live her life all on her own. No more interfering from you. Be a good boy Seeley. If you love her, let her go."

"Honestly?" Charlie asked, and everyone was waiting for her answer. "My Grandmother knows the guy who owns the apartment I live in. She set it up for me." Seeley looked over to her, but she wasn't returning his stare.

Her Grandmother sent her here. He knew Helen was aware of where he lived. He wondered if she had sent Charlie here to him.

"Where's your apartment?" Temperance asked. Charlie's eyes flinched a bit. Seeley was wondering the same thing. She had been a bit too secretive about where she was living, but he hadn't wanted to pry.

"No where, glamorous." She said with a smirk, taking a sip of her beer. "But it's a nice place to sleep." Just as always, Charlie was downplaying her problems, he knew it. She was smiling, but Seeley gut was twisting inside. He was worried just how awful her apartment really was.

"Well," Wendell pushed away from the table," I can't afford to buy all your drinks, but I'm still gonna ask you ladies to dance." He said with a sleek grin. Seeley gripped his beer tightly.

"You wish Wendell." Angela laughed, looping her arm through Charlie's. "You can watch, though." She pulled Charlie, who laughed and looked over to Seeley with a smile, over to Brennan. Angela looped her other arm with Brennan. "Come on, Sweeties."

"I'm good with that." Wendell said quickly.

"Same here." Hodgins said, following the girls. Seeley watched from the table as the group enjoyed themselves, and kept a close eye on Wendell's proximity to Charlie.

He tried to get close, but Angela wouldn't give him the chance to cut in. Seeley had never loved Angela more.

It was Temperence who broke away from the group first, she walked over the table, and grabbed her coat.

"Too much fun?" Seeley asked.

"I've got another date with Andrew." She said, checking her watch. "I'm supposed to meet him for a movie at 10:00." She said, throwing her coat over her shoulder.

"Tell Hacker I said hi." Seeley calls after her as she scurried out of the car, throwing her hand up behind her in a half hearted wave. He loved that woman. He'd been sure she would be the one. But, he poured his heart out to her, and she had rejected it. Shut him down completely.

After the Temperance fiasco, he was almost convinced he just wasn't meant for love. The mother of his child didn't even like him, Temperance had rejected him, and he'd never really been close with any other woman. Except for Charlie, but they had never been in love. They had always been friends.

That wasn't quite the truth. They had never been in love with each other. Seeley had loved her. He had protected her when they were children, teenagers, even now all he wanted to do was save her from whatever might be wrong, and he was sure something was wrong.

But she had left. She turned 18, and she left; and once she had gone, he had realized what he had lost. He had lost the love of his young life. He let her go only because of her Grandmother's words. "If you love her, let her go." So he had. Sure, he might have tried to find her a few times, but only for Mike. Only so Mike could know she was safe. Seeley himself had been a little concerned with her safety, but he was she her Grandmother would have said something if she was in any trouble.

"Not feeling in the dancey mood?" Angela had come back to the table. Seeley turned his eyes over to where Charlie was, making sure she was fine without Angela. "Oh Sweetie, you need to relax!" Angela laughed. "She's a big girl, and I'm sure she's very capable of taking care of herself. Stop watching her like a hawk…" she took a long sip of her neon colored drink, "and just go dance!" She finished.

"I don't…dance." He said, watching Wendell and wondering how he would look doing what the boy was doing.

"Fine." Angela quipped. "Let Wendell have all the fun." Seeley glared at her as she gulped down the rest of her drink, then scampered back over to their friends.

"Your friends are so fun!" Charlie whispered to Seeley when they finally came back to the table. She was working on her forth beer now, and was all smiles. It amazed him how her mother could become a monster when alcohol was in her system, but Charlie was just bubbly and goofy.

Everyone chatted loudly across the table, Angela told Charlie about cases they had all worked on, and explained exactly what everyone did.

"You must be an excellent artist!" Charlie was shocked Angela could reconstruct faces just from bones.

"She really is." Hodgins said, looking sideways at Angela with a sleek smile. Booth wondered how long it would be before they got back together.

The group continued to chat and exchanges laughes. Seeley loved how each time someone made a joke, Charlie would laugh, then look over to Seeley, like she was making sure he thought it was funny too. He couldn't stop smiling.

"Waking up for work is gonna be awful" Angela double checked her watch, as if she had read it wrong and it wasn't 1:30. They moved as a large group, Angela and Charlie in the front, arms looped. "Hodgins and I are going this way" Angela said pointing off through the streetsm "what about you Charlie?" She was hoping Charlie would wanted to share a cab.

"I'm the other direction." Charlie said with an apologetic face.

"Darn. Well, we better see your face around more often." Angela said, and wrapped her arms around Charlie, who Seeley just noticed was at least 5 inches shorter than Angela.

"I'm sure I'll see you guys around." Charlie said, waving as Hodgins and Angela got into one cab, and Wendell got into another.

"I know you're going to say no, but do you want me to give you a ride home?" Seeley offered after his friends had driven off. Charlie turned around, a hint of a glare in her eyes, wearing a snarky smile. "Didn't think so." Her look was enough of an answer.

"I'm really glad I ran into you, Seeley." She said, her hands ran around his back in a tight hug. She looked up at him, smiling. "I still can't believe my little Seeley's all grown up," her hand slipped under his tie, pulling it away from his shirt as if to examine it, "you look like a real adult in this get up, you know?" She said, looking lost in her thoughts.

"That's kind of the idea." His voice seemed to bring her back. She stepped back.

"I'll see you around Seel. Gimme a call sometime." She said with a wink.

"Very funny," he called to her as she stepped into a waiting cab, "you don't even have a phone!"