Hey guys,

Sorry it's taken so long. My creative juices seem to run out after two chapters and I got really busy. The other day I got a burst of an idea though but it took a bit of formulation. Read and Review (hopefully I haven't lost you all) :)

Cali

Chapter 3

Brennan was tired, after spending the entire day with Booth working on this missing child case. That coupled with the near constant prodding and reminders from Booth and Angela. She needed to get away. The escapes and hiding places used by others simply did not work for Temperance Brennan, simply because she did not have them. Her family had abandoned her and left her heart in a million tiny pieces, as had romance and most of her friendships. All except Booth and Angela. And most of her close colleagues at the Jeffersonian, for that matter.

But right now, they were part of the problem.

I need to go there.

Since going to Guatemala wasn't an option everytime Brennan had a problem, she had a few places in the city where she could just run to when things got overwhelming.

Brennan arrived at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial sooner than she expected, time flying quickly in her silent reverie.

This whole wedding, I mean since when do I care what Booth says. Angela, yes, because it would be impossible to avoid her opinion but, I acknowledge that our views are very different.

Brennan had learned that long ago. Her and Angela viewed love differently. Love is transient for Angela and the loves of her life are not necessarily in a romantic sense. I suppose that makes it easy for Angela. You could move from love to love forever, giving away more and more of your heart as you go. If love is more than a chemical reaction, it shouldn't be transient. There is a fault in the logic of falling in love. If you can fall in, you can fall out and thats why love isn't worth it.

Brennan had been burned so many times by those who claimed to love but it was as transient as Angela's view of it. It was in a different sense though.

Love, as I've seen it, comes and goes. It is free to leave when it wants to and it thinks its okay to just come back when it wants and for everything to be okay.

Brennan forced the tears back as she thought of her father and her mother and even her brother.

And sometimes love never comes back. Sometimes it just dies. Sometimes it just ends.

Brennan thought of Sully, picturing in her mind the back of that boat as it sailed away without her. The tears flowed freely now. But then the picture in her mind offered up something else.

She remembered turning around and seeing Booth. Ever the picture of solidarity. Always there, always ready to help, always ready to just listen if thats all that she needed.

Do I love him? I don't want this to be love if all it means is he's going to walk away. The pictures Brennan's mind conjured just confused her. Booth rescuing her from Kenton, rescuing her from the Gravedigger, still waiting, everytime she pushed away. I can't see him walking away. From the day I met him, I knew he would never go. He never seemed like the type. He's challenged every ideal I've ever had.

Brennan then realized something. There was only one thing she hadn't let him near and that was her heart. Her very definition of love was at stake. Her very heart.

I've trusted him with everything else. He's trusted me with everything. If he runs, it'll be the death of me. He's the only risk I won't take. I love him though. Maybe it's time I disprove my own hypothesis.

Brennan got in her car with a lighter step. Doing this, just having a chance to think always cleared her mind. She drove to his apartment, ambitiously.

She knocked on the door.

A one shot may come out of it giving a deeper explanation of the "place to run to" idea. But I won't make any promises :).