A/N. Thank you warmly for the FANTASTIC reviews! This chapter is mostly from another point of view. I find that on the show, B&B aren't always aware of their actions towards each other, and how they may be perceived and interpreted. I also found Brennan's conversation with Angela in the finale very enlightening, and wondered if Angela understood all the subtext. I will also unashamedly admit that for some very irrational reason, Angela and the team bonding with, and warming so quickly to Hannah on the show, annoys me, so it has been inconspicuously omitted from this story ;). I hope I've managed to convey that while the team accepted and respected Booth moving on, it did not mean they welcomed the development with wide open arms.

joybrennan, you rock!

Disclaimer: Neither Bones, nor any of its characters belong to me.

Angela studied the tissue markers carefully. She would never really get used to the magnitude of dealing with death. She'd been told by Dr Goodman that she was the best out of them all because she gave victims a face. Brennan had told her that she had the most difficult job in the team because she dealt with faces, and therefore couldn't simply detach herself emotionally from the victims.

Brennan. She felt a pang in her chest at the thought of her best friend. Brennan was making an amazing recovery, to nobody's surprise. She'd even let Angela look after her when she was released from the hospital - as long as it didn't put a strain on her pregnancy. Angela rolled her eyes. She was constantly reminding people that she was pregnant, not incapacitated.

As she gave the victim large almond shaped eyes, and elegantly curved eyebrows, her thoughts wandered once again to Brennan. Since they'd all cut their yearlong sabbaticals short, things had been very different. Brennan had returned having gained clarity on her life, and her feelings for Booth. Booth had returned in love with a journalist he'd met in Afghanistan and their relationship, as Brennan had told her, was as serious as a heart attack. When Angela had heard that, she'd almost had one herself. Brennan had come back ready to be partners with Booth, in every sense of the word, only to discover that Booth had moved on. "Out of sight, out of mind," Angela thought bitterly.

She knew it was a little unfair to be angry at Booth, but she couldn't help it. Angela had watched her best friend as she had observed Booth's and Hannah's happiness. She'd watched as Booth went off on dates, and Brennan worked herself to death. She'd seen the sadness in her friend's eyes when the team went for celebratory drinks without Booth because he'd already made plans with Hannah. But Brennan had changed. She wasn't running from her feelings anymore. and she accepted her part in the situation. Angela had managed to make her talk, and what Brennan had revealed had been heart breaking, although she insisted that she was ok, and getting on with her life too.

Before Brennan had left, she'd told Angela that she'd needed perspective, that being around everyone had caused her to lose her objectivity. And boy, had she gained perspective. Angela smiled ruefully as she remembered that conversation. Brennan said that she had thought of Booth every single day while she had been away She'd realised that everything that had been between them, all the feelings she'd had, had culminated in fulfilling the definition of romantic love. She'd written to Booth weekly, and never received a reply, and that she had felt irrationally hurt, and sad by it. She had concluded that the feelings she had experienced stemmed from the sting of rejection by the man she loved. Once it had been established that Hannah was going to be a live in type of girlfriend Angela had been determined to be the best friend that Brennan needed to reassure her that she wasn't alone, that she had family and friends who would always love her.

Angela gave the victim a prominent chin. She had been very pretty. "Poor girl," she thought. She'd had her whole life ahead of her, and it had been cut tragically short by some scum of the earth. She added the finishing touches to her sketch, and thought back to the hell, the last month had been on everyone: Brennan and Booth had argued spectacularly in the middle of Brennan's office, Brennan had gone after him, Hannah was not who Booth had thought she was, and both Booth and Brennan had been hurt. Brennan had lost enough blood to need a transfusion, and had relied on a machine to breathe for her for two days.

When Cam had told them that Brennan had been shot, three times, and that the doctors in the ER weren't sure she'd make it through surgery, Angela had lost the ability to think straight. She'd felt faint, and put her hand protectively over her tiny belly, as her husband had bombarded Cam with questions. Jack had been beside himself. He was very fond of his Dr B, and within minutes he was navigating them through afternoon traffic as they'd rushed to Washington General. Angela couldn't comprehend what had happened. All she had known at that time was that her best friend was bleeding to death, and that she wanted to punch Booth hard in the face, flesh wound or no flesh wound. He had made the biggest mistake of his life, and her best friend was paying the price.

Everything was still so vivid and clear in her mind. Jack had had his arm around her the entire time they'd waited. Sweets had arrived after being informed by the FBI, and Max had walked in with fear and panic all over his face. Angela's heart had gone out to him. What must have been going through his head then? The fact that he'd only had his daughter back for a few years, and now there was a chance she'd leave him forever? She had cried harder, over the injustice of it all. Why wasn't anything ever fair?

Brennan had been in surgery for two hours when Booth had walked in, to the quiet waiting room. Cam, who had been staring at her lap and pursing her lips as she took deep breaths, had stood upon seeing him.

Booth hadn't responded and walked past her to slump his body against the far wall. Cam had made to follow him, but decided against it and heavily sat back in the plastic chair.

Booth had looked an absolute mess. He'd been treated for his flesh wound, and probably held a gun to some poor nurse's head to secure his release. The blood on the front of his shirt and his sleeves had made Angela's stomach churn nastily. All that blood… Brennan's blood. "It shouldn't be there," she'd thought. "It should be in her body. She shouldn't be having surgery to live, she should be talking excitedly about identifying some boring skeleton from the iron age." Angela had studied Booth's face and found nothing but anguish there. She didn't even have the energy to be mad at him like she'd wanted to.

They had waited for hours. Nobody had spoken except Sweets, who had tried to make Booth talk, only to be grunted at. Around 8:45pm a doctor had emerged from the ER with blood spattered all down the front of his scrubs, and a grim look on his face. Everyone had stood, but Angela's legs had turned to jelly, and she felt the urge to empty out the contents of her stomach.

She hadn't processed much through the haze of fear which had gripped her. She remembered the surgeon's mouth had moved, as her ears had caught singular words from what he had told her husband and her friends. Severe blood loss. Transfusion. Complications. Heart. Flat lined. Thirty-six seconds. Flat lined. Incubator. Flat lined. Observation. Flat lined. Not taking any chances. Flat lined. She'd felt the room start to spin. Brennan's heart had stopped, for more than half a minute. She'd died for thirty-six seconds. Her big, tender, broken heart had given up. She had been on the brink of life and death and the person responsible had been right in front of her. Through her haze she'd gotten up from her chair and walked towards Booth. She'd seen his blurry face through her tears as she lifted her hand, and her palm had connected sharply on his cheek. The Doctor had stopped talking immediately, while Jack had had his hands on her arms trying to calm her down, and get her away from Booth.

"This is all your fault!" Her voice had broken as tears cascaded down her face. "You...you have no right to be concerned for her, not anymore. Did you hear what he said?" She'd pointed at the Doctor who had been staring at them in shock, "She died. She gave up. Her heart was too broken. She gave up, just like you did." Jack had attempted to gently guide her away from Booth, but she hadn't finished. She wasn't thinking straight, and the room was spinning in a teary blur. "Even if she pulls through this and forgives you, I will never ever forgive you for this." Jack had practically begged her to go with him, and she'd let herself be guided out of the waiting room, through emergency, and out into the chilly D.C. air. She'd grabbed her husband and sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder. He had simply held her and whispered gentle reassurances in an attempt to calm her down.

Brennan had been in hospital for twelve days, and had been released two weeks ago. She had let Angela fuss over her to her heart's content. Not that she would have had a choice, since the woman obviously didn't know what was good for her. Brennan had spent a lot of time sleeping and regaining her strength. A nurse had visited daily to check on her healing wounds, and change her bandages.

Sometimes Angela had watched her sleep and wondered how Brennan found the courage and strength to deal with whatever life dealt her. She had told Angela that she'd had to reconcile with the fact that Booth had moved on and didn't need her. She was lucky to still have Booth be a part of her life, as her friend, and her partner. She had learned to be happy with what she had, because if she dwelled on what she'd lost, and what she could never have, it would make her bitter, and unbearably sad.

But Brennan had been sad, and Angela had found it unbearable. Her scientist, skeptic, relationships are temporary, love is temporary, friend, had disproved her own theory all by herself. She had showed love in its deepest form by allowing Booth to be happy without her, with someone else, even if it killed her inside. She'd told Brennan once that they would talk when she caught up with her own reality. It had turned out, that Brennan had known more about her reality than anyone had given her credit for. She had changed her entire life after she'd met Booth. She'd localised her career, and created a team to help him catch murderers and give them their due. She'd struggled with her feelings for him, and fallen in love - head first and hard - and hated herself for crossing Booth's stupid metaphorical line. She'd pushed the feelings down deeper and deeper in the hope that if she pushed hard enough, they might disappear for good, and never dare to bother her, and her world of logic, and science, and reason, ever again. But her clever plan had failed: Booth had offered her the world, (only to have backed down at the first sign of resistance) and forced her carefully hidden feelings to the surface. Now she was left with nothing but those feelings to haunt her.

And what about Booth? He had practically lived at the hospital until Brennan had put them all out of their misery, and woken up. Her room had been filled with various flower arrangements that her family, friends, and interns had sent her. Angela didn't miss the beautiful, long stemmed daffodil, hidden carefully behind the Singaporean Orchids. There hadn't been a card, but Angela knew who had brought it and as Brennan had gazed warmly at every single bouquet, her eyes had lingered on that single daffodil.

He didn't visit her until her 8th day in hospital. He'd dropped by to tell her that Graham Steele had been arrested in Washington State, as he'd tried to cross the border into Canada. He'd been charged as an accomplice to the murder of Terrance Gilroy, as well as to seven counts of kidnapping. Heather Taffet had been found dead. She'd knocked out a prison guard, and shot her in the chest, before turning the gun on herself. The prison guard had miraculously survived.

He hadn't visited after that until Brenan been home for a few days. Angela thought back to what had happened, and felt guilty that neither of them was aware of what she had witnessed.

Ten days earlier.

Jack had just left after bringing over a bag full of glutinous junk - at her request, since Brennan's low fat, non-fat, sugar free, and soy snacks weren't going to satisfy her. She had long inhaled and disposed of the Baskin Robbins' Peanut Butter and Chocolate she'd found in the freezer. She was just about to raid the bag, when there was a tentative knock at the door

After checking the peephole, Angela paused. She felt guilty for slapping Booth, especially since she had come to learn that he'd had a serious concussion, as well as a flesh wound. She opened the door are found that Booth had already turned and started to walk away with his hands in his pockets.

"Booth." Angela had half stepped out of the apartment as she watched Booth turn around and look at his shoes. He had made the effort to come and see Brennan hadn't he? She wasn't going to stop him. They'd been apart too much, for too long. She wasn't going to add to that because of her own anger at him.

"You can come in. She's asleep, but I think it would mean a lot to her, knowing that you were here."

She held the door open as he slipped past her into Brennan's spacious living room. He took a deep breath and looked around at her things, as if he hadn't been there in a while. She broke the silence and told him that Brennan was making a speedy recovery and regaining her strength bit by bit. She had accused Angela of being bossy a few times, but other than that, she was being a star patient.

Booth nodded, but his attention was on the picture frames in front of him on Brennan's shelf. The polished mahogany frame in the middle contained a shot from the Christmas they had all spent together before splitting up for seven months. The team, and Sweets were gathered in front of the Christmas Tree and, around Brennan and Booth, each face shining with joy and the effects of too much wine and Brennan's highly alcoholic eggnog. To the right stood a delicate white porcelain frame. This one showed Brennan, her father, her brother, Amy, and their daughters, standing in a park with a beautiful blue sky behind them. Hayley and Emma were on either side of Brennan, clinging to their aunt as they beamed at the camera. In front of this frame and to the right had stood a black and white picture of a beautiful laughing woman, with cheekbones, a strong jaw, and large almond shaped blue eyes. It was a young, happy Christine Brennan. Angela saw Booth's eyes shift to picture on the far left. It was encased in beautiful intricately laced polished silver.

Angela's eyes softened as she realised she'd given this picture to Brennan about a year ago. Brennan looked perfectly beautiful as she smiled at her partner, who was grinning softly at her, just as handsome. They'd -with the exception of Jack, who'd been getting a tattoo without his knowledge – been celebrating their success at wrapping up another case, at the Founding Fathers. It was late, and everyone, with the exception of Brennan, Booth, and herself, had left. She too had decided to call it a night and said good-bye to the duo, who hadn't stopped bickering since Brennan had explained that Booth wasn't stupid. As she had grabbed her hand bag and barely walked away, she'd turned back to see that the mood between them had instantly become intimate.

He had turned his body towards her and whispered something in her ear, prompting her to smile brilliantly at him, her eyes sparkling. He had reacted and smiled just as brilliantly back, and Angela, who had taken out her phone to call her father to interrogate him about whether he'd killed Hodgins, had seized the opportunity and eternalised the unguarded moment between them as their expressions softened. Just in time, too. She'd later enlarged the picture, fixed the lighting, and wondered when would be a good time to give it to Brennan. Eighteen months later, when plans had been finalised for yearlong separations, Angela had slipped the photograph into her friend's handbag when she wasn't in her office. She had a feeling the photo had been to Maluku and back.

Brennan had clearly loved the picture. It was obvious she had taken a lot of care in selecting the frame. It was very different from the others, and she had picked one which complimented the picture beautifully. Angela had known her best friend long enough to know that in Brennan's life, everything had a place, and Booth's place was made clear by how she had arranged her photographs. This was Brennan's family on a shelf. He was not only part of her extended family; he made up one of her three families. They had their own little world, separate from everyone else. That family, was everything Booth and Bones.

She watched as Booth stared at the picture, the cogs turning in his head. Angela smiled gently; maybe, just maybe there could be a happy ending to this painful mess.

"I think everyone she loves is right there", she said softly. "Well, with the exception of Parker. She loves that kid. Wrote to him and sent him all sorts of weird stuff while she was away."

"Yeah. He showed me. He was the coolest kid in school for a while there. He read her letters to his class in show' n' tell." Booth had a proud look on his face as he thought of his son. "He's very fond of his Bones too, like his great-grandfather."

"And his father", Angela thought. Except he'd been too busy stupid, trying to make a point. Angela's mood had shifted to mad again. Being pregnant suited her.

"You want a drink or something? Because I was sort of, in the middle of satisfying my cravings for two."

Booth looked at her and, for the first time, she saw a genuine smile, "How's that going for you Ange?"

"Yeah, good, although I feel like a hippo and I'm not even five months along yet."

"I'm glad you're happy Ange. You look great. You and Hodgins, you deserve it." He told her sincerely.

"Yeah, thanks...Did you want to uh...?"

"If it's ok, I mean I don't want to disturb her, if she's resting."

"It's ok. Just try not to wake her up. She needs the sleep."

"Ok. Thanks. I'll just..."

He turned and walked slowly down the hall towards Brennan's bedroom. She watched him pause for a few seconds outside the door, then turn the knob slowly and slide inside. He closed the door, but did not shut it completely. Angela grabbed a giant packet of Skittles from the grocery bag, and put her feet up on the couch. She was curious, but she wasn't going to let it get the better of her just yet.

Twenty minutes later, she'd made a significant dent on the Skittles, and also demolished a packet of BBQ Sakata's, a giant choc-chip cookie, half a jar of peanut butter, a bag of peanuts, and washed it all down with cranberry juice. She was stuffed, but extremely satisfied. If Brennan was feeling up to it this afternoon, she'd ask her to go for a nice walk.

At the thought of Brennan, the curiosity, which she'd managed to sedate before, with food, got the better of her. She only wanted to make sure Brennan was alright. Yeah, because Booth was going to attack her while she slept, she chastised herself. She crept to Brennan's bedroom door and what she saw through the slight gap made her throat seize up. Booth was lying on the covers in the unoccupied half of Brennan's bed, and simply gazing at her sleeping face. One arm was tucked under his head, and his other hand was stretched out towards Brennan's hand, resting on the mattress between them. Their fingers were almost touching. Angela wondered if Booth was afraid to touch her. In a way, she couldn't blame him.

The first time they had been allowed to see her, in the ICU, they could barely recognise the woman in the bed. She was breathing through an incubator, and a green mask looked like it was covering her entire face. She was also hooked up to a heart monitor, and an IV tube was running along her forearm. There were machines which Angela hadn't known the names or functions of. When she'd entered the room, she couldn't stop staring at the person in the bed. The Brennan she had always known was tall and intimidating. This person lying before her looked like the endless white bed and all of the machines surrounding her were swallowing her up. Her rich chestnut hair had contrasted harshly with her deathly pale face. At that time, Temperance kick-ass, no-nonsense, scary intelligent, trekked through Tibet, beat up a gang-banger Brennan, had looked breakable.

Angela was shaken out of her thoughts as Booth shifted carefully off the bed and adjusted the blankets more snugly around Brennan. Already feeling guilty for having witnessed such an intimate moment, Angela made a bee-line for the living room, and proceeded to attack the half eaten packet of Skittles as she plopped herself on the couch pretending to look like she had been too comfortable to move. Booth joined her in the living room.

"Angela, I'm gonna go. Thanks."

Angela got up from the couch. "Sure. I'll tell her you came by."

"Yeah." He turned towards the door, before looking back at her. "Let me know...let me know if sh...if you need anything."

"I think we're ok. Cam's found her the best medical care, and Jack has got pretty much everything else covered."

"Ok."

With a last glance at Brennan's photographs, he had turned and let himself out….

Angela sighed and stood up from her desk. The sketch did not get any hits on the Missing Person's Database. How awful. Nobody had reported this beautiful girl missing. She stepped out of her office to notify Brennan and Cam. She found Brennan on the forensic platform, bent over what was left of the poor girl.

"So, I have a face, but I couldn't get anything off the Missing Person's Database."

Brennan took the sketch pad from Angela, and studied the face.

"I could tell from her bone structure that she had been very attractive."

Angela sighed, "Yeah she was." She looked at Brennan closely. "Hey, are you ok."

Brennan was still staring at the picture. She'd been examining the victim's remains for the most part of the morning, and had determined that cause of death had been from a fatal blow to the back of the head with a heavy object, some sort of bat. The killer had then administered a second blow, probably to ensure that the victim was dead. Since Angela had been unable to find anything on the MPD, they would need to wait until Cam was able to match the victim's teeth with dental records.

"E-mail the picture to Booth while we're waiting for Cam's results. He might be able to locate her in the Witness Protection Program, or a government watch list. "

Angela nodded, but she continued to search Brennan's face.

Brennan, you're doing great. I know it's not the same for you, not going into the field, but it won't be long until you can go back to bossing the crime scene forensics team around."

"It's not the same. I guess I just feel like I don't have as much control. It's quite silly."

"It's not Bren. I get it."

"Thank you Angela."

Angela squeezed her arm and steadily walked back to her office.

Thank you for reading! Hang in there, part 1 of 'the' chapter is coming up next! Here's a sneak peek.

Panic and fear were roaring through him uncontrollably. He couldn't let those feelings take over. He had to go with his instincts. He had to get himself and Bones out of this alive. First though, he had to stop her from making that fatal call.

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