Thank you everyone for your reviews and tremendous support for this story. RobinAngelena (tough but she will try), LoveShipper, Vmf447, GalaxieGurl (he does have people around him who care and of course Brennan), Lauwy (yes Caroline is the bomb lol!), mendenbar (we'll find out if Booth's gut is right soon), Tatiana Carina, kareneb (there is more), FaithinBones (thank you), 554Laura, bookwormlady (your questions would be answered in the course of the story), mphs95 (she will try her best to help him), ZinaR, regbride12.

By storming out of his office, Booth knew he had caused a stir in the bullpen. He also knew with his reputation, the other junior agents would know to leave him alone. He headed for the shooting range, feeling the need to blow off some steam. He hated his father, hated it even more that after so many years, his old man still had it in him to get under his skin. Methodically shooting at the head of the targets at the FBI range did little to dissipate his raging anger. Frustrated he left the Hoover, wanting to seek out a better way to numb his pain.

Booth's words hurt. He had accused her of making a mistake. She knew she could not afford one. Especially not in this case. She worried about her husband. After leaving his office, he had been uncontactable. Aubrey had worried he had gone after his father, but Brennan had assured him he would not. He had then offered to look for him but Brennan knew Booth needed his space. Instead, with Max out of town, she asked Aubrey to watch Hank and Christine as she returned to the lab, wanting to make sure she did not miss anything in Rita Myers' remains.

The day ended with Brennan returning home late. Aubrey had put the kids to bed. No one had heard from Booth since that morning after Edwin Booth's interrogation. Again she turned down Aubrey's offer to track Booth down. She was confident he would return to her when he was ready.

After Aubrey left, she checked on her children, kissing them goodnight. It was late and she sent a text to Booth, informing him that she loved him no matter what and invited him to come home when he was ready. It was only then did she have a moment to process the events of the day.

Seeing her father-in-law, the man who had hurt her husband on an almost daily basis, making his childhood a living hell, had brought up a flourish of emotions in her. She hated him for making Booth suffer. She despised him for having to goad Booth into anger that morning at the FBI building. Her husband rarely spoke of his father and from what little she knew about him, he had been a very unpleasant and hateful man. It had been evident from the morning's encounter that Edwin had hardly changed. He was still a very unpleasant man. She knew if she hadn't stopped Booth, he would have hit his father and gotten himself into trouble. She knew that unlike her own father, or Booth's mother, she would never allow Edwin to have any part in her children's lives. Exhausted from an emotionally charged day, she undressed and fell asleep in bed, her mind still worried about her husband.

Hours later, she was woken by Booth sliding into bed next to her. He had discarded his clothes on the ground and had climbed into bed with her. She felt the coolness of his skin pressed against her. Wordlessly he flipped her onto her back, proceeding to kiss her with a urgency she hadn't felt in him in a long time. She tasted the alcohol on his lips and smelt it in his breath. He had been drinking. His hands caressed her body as he kissed the column of her neck and her body started to respond to his actions. She could feel his pain as he moved to capture her lips in his, his tongue probing, asking for access. She knew he needed comfort and that making love to her was the only way he wanted to be comforted then. She ran her hands down his back, then back up, one hand tunnelling his short hair, wordlessly urging him on. In the early hours of the morning, she allowed him to make love to her, the way she knew he wanted.

He rolled off her after his climax, and as she took measured breaths to calm her breathing, she felt his hand reach for hers, intertwining their fingers in the dim light of the room.

"I'm sorry." The first words he had spoken since he came home.

"There's nothing to be sorry for." As the words came out of her mouth, she hoped he was not apologizing for relapsing into his gambling addiction. It was one of his coping mechanisms and that worry had been at the back of her mind throughout the day.

"Yeah I was a little rougher than usual." Booth knew his actions had been desperate and he had rushed her. Even in the heights of their passionate love-making, he often remembered to be thoughtful and considerate. He knew he had not this time round.

"More than a little, but you know I don't mind. Our love-making was pleasurable for me, as it always is."

"You were sleeping and I just took you. I…" His voice cracked, as if weighed down by a great burden.

"You're hurting, I understand." She remembered when she had went to Booth after Vincent had been killed. She had sought out physical comfort from him then too.

"I just… I really needed you."

"I know." She wanted to ask him where he had been but knew he would tell her when he was ready.

"I love you Bones, more than you'll ever know." His voice was raw with emotion and again she worried he had done something she would disapprove of.

"I love you too."

There was silence again and after awhile she felt his breathing even to a slow rhythm. She realized he had fallen asleep. She hated that he was still hurting and wished there was something else she could do. She tried to fall asleep but her mind was awash with worry and after trying for almost an hour to fall back asleep she concluded that her efforts were futile. It would be time to be up soon and wanting to let Booth rest, she slowly slipped out of bed and into the bathroom, intending to get an early start to the day.

As she exited the bathroom from her shower, she found Booth sitting up, his legs swung over his side of the bed. He glanced up at her, his voice rough from sleep. "I didn't mean to disturb your sleep. You must be tired."

"Thought that was supposed to be my line."

She sat down on the bed next to him, studying his face. He looked tired and there was evidence that he had been crying.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, in my office."

"You were upset."

"Yeah, still not a good reason."

"The circumstances were unusual."

"I thought I'd left all this behind you know? The memory of him, what he did. We have this beautiful family now and I never thought I'd ever see him again. Never wanted to see him again."

"It was a shock for you to see him after so many years. I'm sure it evoked many emotions inside you. I know it did when I met my father again."

Booth nodded. "Yeah."

She rested a hand on his thigh, offering him comfort. "I'm sorry you're hurting."

"He must have loved her. Rita. I wonder if he ever loved us."

"I'm sure he did."

"Then why'd he do those things to us?" Booth chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. "Actually I do know why. He was home from the war, he drank, drinking made him lose control. What I don't get… how he could do those things to us, to family. Jared and I were just kids. Mom, she tried. I know she did. She was never good enough for him. Even when I gambled… I knew I was hurting you. Did he know what he was doing?"

"Alcohol clouds judgement."

"I could never do that to you, to our kids."

"I know."

"There was this time he threw me down the stairs. Dislocated my shoulder. I cried and he hit me for crying. Said I was a coward. Said boys don't cry. Mom tried to stop him but… you can guess how that went. We'd try so hard especially when he was home not to make him angry. Every little thing set him off. We learned how to tip-toe round the house, be at home but not really there, hope he wouldn't notice us. Maybe that's what made me such a good sniper huh? All those years of pretending, not wanting to draw attention to myself."

"You have excellent hand-eye coordination which translates to you being an excellent marksman. It has nothing to do with your upbringing."

"I grew up knowing nothing but fear, hatred and violence."

"And when you saw him again today, all those feelings came back."

"Yeah. I guess old habits die hard. Called me a coward. He used to call me that all the time."

"He was trying to get an emotional response out of you. He was provoking you on purpose."

"I hate him."

"And yet he's your father. You must have loved him. Those stadium seats in our hallway. That one perfect day you told me about. You wouldn't have wanted to keep those seats otherwise."

Booth sniffed, struggling to hold back his tears.

"It's okay." Brennan said as she pulled him to her for a hug.

He knew he didn't have to pretend with her. He knew he could afford to let her see his weakness. He let his tears fall.

"He was my hero. This amazing pilot who flew in the war. Saved lives. When I was little, I wanted to be just like him. I'm glad I didn't."

"I'm glad too." She touched his shoulder. "That's why your shoulder was so easily dislocated in that explosion while you were chasing Jacob Broadsky. Due to childhood injury. I've always known that. I've seen it in your x-rays."

Booth smiled. It was the little things like that, that made her his everything. The fact that she knew him intimately, inside and out, knew things about him no one else knew.

"I know you disagree but our initial findings corroborate what happened to Rita Myers. I re-checked everything we discovered at the lab today. It's very improbable that your father killed her. Aubrey checked your father's alibi. He was indeed at work. He further interviewed Rita's colleagues. She was last seen at Johnny's, a bar she frequents. The bartender there remembers seeing her staggering out drunk. He offered to call her a cab but she refused. Hodgins recovered her purse in the river. Her money is still inside, so it's unlikely that she was a victim of a robbery. Angela crated a scenario using the location where her body was found, taking into account river currents that night. The location where she fell in is near the bar. Rita's cause of death is accidental drowning as a result of her inebriated state.

"You said her bones showed evidence of abuse?"

"Yes. But they're not near time of death. I'm not sure how long she and your father have been seeing each other, and if indeed he was the person responsible for those injuries."

"It's best to let sleeping dogs lie. If the squints think that her death was an accident then it must be true right?"

The couple sat in silence. Booth content to let Brennan rub soothing circles round his back.

"I went to the shooting range, after I left my office. Emptied a couple of magazines, then went to the pool hall down by Baltimore Avenue."

Worried that he might have gambled again, Brennan decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. She waited for him to continue speaking.

"I wanted to get dead drunk you know? Drown out the pain. After a couple of drinks… there were these guys playing pool. One of them asked me if I wanted to join. Bet that he could beat me. I almost did take up that bet. Figured I'd play that one game, beat his ass at it, win a little money, feel good about myself. My Dad, he made me feel like I was useless. Always had that special ability to make me feel like I'm nothing. But then I thought of you, and how I let you down the last time. I knew I couldn't lose you or the family we have. I couldn't let my Dad win. So I left, before I could get drunk or gamble."

"I tasted the scotch when you kissed me. So I knew you had to have drank. But I had faith you wouldn't let me down."

Booth offered her a sad smile. "You're the only one who's always believed in me. Even before we got together."

"Your assumption is erroneous. Your friends, your children, we all believe in you. Don't let your father mislead you to believe otherwise. You're neither a coward nor a loser."

"Thanks Bones."

"Will you see him again? Your father?"

Booth shook his head. "I don't wanna."

"I understand."

"Thanks for this, all of this. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You've always been there for me. I love you. It pains me to see you like this."

"I'll get over it. I have you now, and it means the world to me. I just want to put this all behind me, move on."

"You should, when you feel up to it, at least see your father again. You've taught me that forgiveness… closure is important."

"I'll think about it."