A/N: Continued thanks to nicolemack for her handholding, and to you all for your wonderfulness. I've been a prolific little fic-writer lately; it's all I want to do, probably because I know once this semester is over, my dissertation data collection will be done and I'll have no excuse to put off the REAL writing I have to finish. I'm embracing the ability to spend time on fic right now, however, so I do hope you enjoy the projects that I'm devoting my dwindling time to.

--

Bones brought him a conciliatory coffee and bagel on Saturday morning, looking almost comically ashamed.

"So I talked to Sweets," she said, her eyes not meeting his.

"Yeah?" he prodded, closing the door behind her and opening the brown paper bag she'd handed him. Peering inside, he nodded his approval; poppyseed was his favorite. He prepared to take a big, doughy bite.

"He helped me see that my actions, no matter how well-intentioned, were a violation of your privacy and the trust you demonstrated by telling me about your sister. And I'm very, very sorry about that."

"Awh, now you told Sweets?" Seeing her stricken look, as if realizing how else she'd messed up, he decided to make both their lives easier by simply accepting her apology. "We all make mistakes sometimes, Bones." He gave her a reassuring, if not forced, smile and rubbed her arm. "Even genius scientists, occasionally." A tinge of lingering resentment remained from the decision she'd forced, but looking into her genuinely repentant, misty blue eyes, there was no way he could be short with her.

"What I should have done was talk to you more and explained why I thought you should do this."

Sighing, he pointed her towards the kitchen. "Well, as it turns out, you don't have to. I've managed to guilt myself into doing it, all by myself."

"Guilt?" she asked, making her way in and setting her coffee down on the table.

"It's not Gabrielle's fault that my Dad was the way he was. I'm going to sit down with her. Resolve her curiosity. And then…we can go back to normal."

Bones pulled two small plates from his cupboard, glaring a little when he waved off the offered dishware in favor of eating straight from his napkin. "So you aren't curious at all? Booth, this girl is your sister."

"My half-sister," he replied automatically.

She was quiet for a moment. "Maybe you should talk to Sweets about this too. He might be able to help you resolve your conflicted feelings."

He tried to hold back his frustrated sigh. "Bones, I've become an expert on dealing with conflicted feelings on my own. The only thing Sweets is going to do is turn it into some sort of…issue." The word came out particularly distastefully.

"I don't know, Booth. It seems to me that it's already an issue. Once these things are out in the open, they are difficult to re-contain."

His eyes narrowed. "If you keep talking, I'm going to tell Sweets that you like psychology."

"You wouldn't."

"I would. He'll start to call you up and want to have lovely chats about psychosexual stages and superegos and emotional intimacy. Unscientific stuff, Bones. For hours."

"Alright, alright," she groused. "Don't talk to Sweets."

They ate for a few minutes in not-quite-uncomfortable silence. But it was clear both of them couldn't quite let it go.

Finally, she spoke as she dabbed sesames off her lips with a napkin. "Do you want me to come with you when you meet Gabrielle?"

His first thought was immediate…Of course, I want you with me everywhere…but it was followed by another that was just as strong…I don't want to share you.

And he didn't; he was resigned to meeting this person so that maybe they could both reach some peace, but he didn't particularly want to give any of himself to her. And Bones was one of his most precious commodities.

"This might be one of those things I better do alone," he told her, unsure if the look he saw on her face reflected relief or disappointment. "But thank you."

She nodded. "I really think you're doing the right thing, Booth."

"That's what I aim for," he said a little tightly.

But he couldn't help but wonder why doing the right thing felt so unsettling.

--

They'd agreed on a coffee shop, although not the one he frequented with Bones; he preferred somewhere more neutral, with no memories attached to it. He went early, wanting some time to prepare himself and think of what he wanted to say. In the eighteen minutes he sat alone, he didn't come up with anything. Combined with the coffee Bones had brought him this morning, he'd already had four cups and was starting to feel the jumpiness of being over-caffeinated. At least, that's what he convinced himself was making him jumpy.

He saw her enter and remembered her immediately; her curly brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing a gray Rams sweatshirt and those unsettlingly familiar eyes. Before he could greet her, he saw that she wasn't alone; following her was a young man not too much older than Gabrielle herself, darker skin, and intelligent-looking with glasses sitting atop a strong nose.

She saw him before he could call attention to his position, and she smiled and make a beeline for him. "Seeley! It's good to see you again."

Standing, he returned her smile, and was gratified when she chose to shake his hand vigorously rather than attempt to hug him. "Hello, Gabrielle."

"You can call me Gabby, if you want. Not many people call me Gabrielle."

The nickname seemed to suit her, but still felt a little personal for his liking.

She took the arm of the man behind her, presenting him to Booth. "This is my boyf-…fiancé," she corrected herself; obviously the engagement was new.

The young man extended his hand. "Evonis Mitchell. You can call me Von."

Gabrielle was watching the exchange with anxiety. "I hope you don't mind. He didn't want me to come alone this time."

Truthfully, he'd prefer as few witnesses to this as possible, but he understood…Gabrielle didn't know him much better than he knew her. If the woman he loved insisted on meeting a strange man she thought was her brother, he'd insist in kind that he accompany her. "It's not a problem. Have a seat."

She gave a small relieved smile as she sat down, and the two men followed; Von beside her, and Booth across from her. "I can't tell you how happy I am that you agreed to meet me. I wasn't sure it would happen after…"

"After I slammed my door on you?" he said bluntly, taking a lesson from Bones in telling it like it was.

Gabrielle looked downward, flushing a bit.

"Yeah, that wasn't my best showing. I apologize," he said, surprising himself by meaning it. He prided himself on courtesy to others, and no matter how much this girl had surprised him, he should have behaved more maturely. "I…wasn't expecting you."

She was fidgeting. "I know. I couldn't find your phone number, or I would have called. Just had your address."

"How did you find my address?" he wondered.

"Google," she and Von both said simultaneously, with an air of 'duh.' He made a mental note to go home immediately after this meeting was through and change every one of his computer settings.

"Von's doing a summer journalism workshop in D.C.," she told him. "When he told me he was coming…I knew I had to go to, and try to meet you. It just…felt like it was time."

"How did you find out about me?" It was the more important question.

"I've always known about you. You weren't a secret. You or Jared."

The use of his brother's name shouldn't have surprised him, but it did, and that feeling was quickly followed by one of discomfort.

"I'd been waiting…I guess for Dad to do it himself. To stop being so ashamed. But…" She trailed off. "I was tired of waiting, I guess. And I figured, considering the history there…you might be hesitant to open the door to this."

Well. Apparently his thought about being a stranger to Gabrielle was mistaken. He was practically an open fucking book.

She barreled ahead. "Mom and Dad met at AA. She said there was something romantic about meeting someone who's as much a loser as you are. They got married on the 1 year anniversary of Dad's sobriety, and I was born 5 months later." She paused, as if considering her next words. "They're not losers anymore."

He'd been prepared for ambivalence when Gabrielle started talking about her…his…father. Because he had known she would…how could she not? It was what they had in common. But he wasn't prepared to be sucker-punched by it all over again. Trying to repress the half-sick feeling that swirled in his gut, he took a sip of coffee before speaking.

"Listen…Gabrielle…I agreed to come here and meet you. Talk to you. And I know that you probably hoped for something different, but that 'you' is very specific. I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about…him." Despite the presence of another man at the table, there was no doubt left about who 'him' was.

The young woman across from him looked just a little taken aback, before she looked downward and let out a breath through pursed lips. "I guess you really are mad at him."

"It's not anger," Booth replied, not one-hundred percent sure if that was true, but feeling compelled to say it anyway. "I've put it to rest. And I don't necessarily feel like…what did you say?...opening the door to it now."

"No, I understand," she said quietly, but her face reflected a disappointment she couldn't hide. Still, her empathy seemed genuine. "I can't even imagine…having experienced him the way that you did." Her fiancé, who'd been allowing them uninterrupted interaction, seemed to recognize her struggle and he took her hand comfortingly.

A sense of irony struck Booth then; Gabrielle was the one who'd had the good father, yet she was the one who was being comforted. A desire to have Bones here swept through him, then quickly departed. He didn't want her to see him this way.

Anxious to make this just a little less awkward, he shifted the topic. "But we can talk about you. Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

She brightened, just a little. And she talked. She talked about her time in university; she was an English major and Women's Studies minor. She played bassoon in the concert band, and lacrosse is the fall. She had met Von during her freshman year; he was the precocious sophomore editor of the university's literary journal and she his most enthusiastic contributor. He'd proposed two years later on a euphoric whim when Gabrielle scored the winning goal in the last game of her junior year. It had taken them two weeks to decide to take the request seriously. "I told him I'd rather have a new laptop in lieu of a diamond. He refused to accept that offer," she said, twisting the modest pear-shaped ring on her finger with a rueful smile.

Booth found he was amused in spite of himself; Gabrielle was charming and interesting, if not too young for him to really relate to. If he had wanted to relate to her.

After about twenty minutes of her storytelling, she stopped and took a breath. "Wow, I really just went for it, didn't I? I want to hear about you, Seeley. From the man himself." She smiled for real now, and it struck him again, the similarity. It made his heart squeeze just a little painfully.

What did he want to tell her? What did he want to share? "Well…" he said slowly. "I suppose you know I work for the FBI."

She nodded vigorously. "I read the article. About you and your partner. It's very impressive, what you do."

"Thanks." He paused. "I used to be in the Army. I…like hockey. Big Flyers fan. And…" He hesitated on this one, not sure if he wanted to share something so personal, but knowing it was a huge part of who he was. "I have a son. He's eight."

"Really?!" Gabrielle's eyes got wide. "That's amazing. I never thought I'd have nieces and nephews. What's his name?"

"Parker," he told her, still feeling uncomfortable.

"I'd like to meet him someday," she said, eyes sweet and sincere, and he didn't want to have to tell her that he still wasn't sure he wanted to be a part of her life, let alone Parker.

He told her a few more minor things, and was relieved that she didn't push for more. Eventually, she excused herself to the restroom. It would have been a good time to regroup, except he was now left with her fiancé, who seemed to be studying him.

Von had been mostly quiet through this whole get-together, really speaking up only when Gabrielle had asked him to clarify part of the story she was telling. Booth couldn't tell whether he was shy, or simply was just there to support and protect his fiancée, but now they were alone, he appeared more intense. Booth forced a small smile at him.

"It's great that you came here with her," he told him, to break the silence.

"This was important to her," Von responded quietly, taking a drink from his mug. "She's been talking about it for a long time."

Another moment of silence, and Booth squirmed a little bit.

"You know," the younger man finally said, adjusting his glasses, "I promised I'd stay out of this, as much as I could. But I have to tell you something. You'd be a fool not to have her in your life, when she wants you there."

Surprised by Von's bluntness after his relatively hands-off approach to the rest of this encounter, Booth was momentarily at a loss for words. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. She's a remarkable person. A good person. And no matter what the circumstances, I have to say you're one lucky son of a gun to have her as a sister."

As uncomfortable as the confrontation made him, Booth didn't begrudge Von for saying what he did. "That's because you love her. The woman you love is always the most incredible, precious thing in the universe, and you'd think it no matter how much someone might try to convince you otherwise." He smiled ruefully despite his momentary distress.

"That may be true," Von agreed. "But I hope you'll consider it nonetheless. It's not her fault, you know."

"I know that." He did know it; had told Bones that very thing, just this morning. Despite his youth, Von seemed like a smart young man, and Booth figured he didn't have to tell him that sometimes knowing a fact wasn't enough to convince your heart out of a feeling.

Gabrielle came back a minute later, her ready smile in place. The smile still familiar even though his father had used it so rarely. The smile that Gabby herself had likely seen much more often, had put on her (his) father's face, because she was part of the family that had saved him. The family he had loved, and who loved him. The family that had been good enough.

"Well," she said brightly. "Should I get us some more coffees so we can chat some more?"

It was getting to be too much now…had been too much for awhile. "Look, Gabrielle…it was really nice to meet you, and I appreciate the effort you put into finding me." A lie. He wasn't appreciative. Not one little bit. "But I'm not really interested in…further family reunions. I wish you a lot of luck in your senior year, and both of you with the wedding, but…I think I should go."

Her smile faded. "You can't stay for a little longer?"

Dammit, she wasn't making this easy. "I don't think so." He forced what he hoped was a kind expression as he stood up. "I'm a busy guy, and…yeah. A lot going on. I hope you understand." He patted her hand awkwardly as he tried to back away at the same time. "Take care of yourself. And Von, take care of her." He didn't hazard a look in the eyes of the other man, knowing he'd see wrath there for what he was about to do.

He turned, trying to escape and forget about how her face crumbled right before he looked away, because surely it would haunt his dreams.

"Seeley."

He willed himself not to stop when he heard her voice, but felt helpless to it, letting go of the glass door he'd just started to open and slowly turning back to her. She'd followed him, was right there with her pleading dark eyes.

"Before you leave…this is the last thing I'm going to say about this, okay?...I don't know why he didn't come back to you after he got better. When you grow up in a family of recovered alcoholics, the Program is gospel, and I know and he knows he should have made amends with you and your brother and your mother. But he's so full of shame…he just can't get past it. He's gotten past so many other things…"

"Gabrielle," he interrupted, heart pounding, but she was on a roll now, red-faced and a little breathless.

"…But it doesn't mean he doesn't love you. I can hear it in the way he talks about you. He does, and God, I understand why it might be hard for you to believe, and even harder to forgive, but the man who hurt you isn't the man I know. I'm sorry, but it's not." She wasn't crying yet, but her eyes shone with frustration and he felt guilty and awful in a way that still couldn't cancel out his anger at this whole situation.

"You shouldn't be sorry about that."

"But if I understood better, you wouldn't want me out of your life," she whispered, and Von approached her, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Gabs," Von said quietly into her ear, still audible to Booth, "this isn't something you can control. We have to walk away, okay?"

Her eyes wouldn't leave Booth's, torturing him with their desperation. "I know, I know," she said, but her face reflected no understanding of that knowledge.

He was feeling a similar desperation for her to understand him. "Gabrielle, this is nothing personal at all. You seem like a wonderful young woman, with a great life. And I'm doing fine too, so…why should we complicate things? We've lived different lives, we are different people…Neither of us should feel obligated to have a relationship just because we share genetic markers." Now he sounded like Bones, but he had no idea how else to get it across.

"We're family," the girl insisted stubbornly, and it twisted at his heart.

"You said yourself…the man who raised you wasn't the same one who raised me," he reminded gently, and his excuses rang hollow in his own ears.

"C'mon Sweetie, let's go." Von was pulling her gently, and she was gradually relenting.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't be what you need," Booth said helplessly, and he hated himself that the last thing he noticed before her reluctance to leave turned to weak acceptance was that her eyes looked exactly like his son's. And exactly like his father's.

--

She didn't look particularly surprised to see him at her door, but that changed when he pushed himself inside without his typical affable smile and pleasant greeting.

"Why did you make me do that?"

"I'm pretty sure, barring our initial collaboration as partners, I've never been able to make you do anything even when I tried," she said uncertainly, shutting the door and approaching him gingerly. "Things with Gabrielle didn't go as well as you hoped," she predicted.

"I never thought it would go well," he fumed, pacing. "The only thing it accomplished was upsetting her, and making me feel even more like an ass for disappointing her, because now I know what a nice girl she is."

"Booth, what happened?" she asked, off-put by his agitation and knowing that simple disappointment on either end couldn't have caused it.

He spun mid-pace and exploded at her. "Gabrielle happened, Bones. With her damn smile and her fucking eyes and her ridiculous optimistic hope that we can erase the past just because we share blood."

Bones put a tentative hand on his bicep. "Booth…"

"But you know what? Now the shitty thing is not only can't I erase the past, I can't erase her, either. So now what am I supposed to do??"

"I'm so sorry." Her face looked pained. "I don't like it when you hurt."

Her expression of honest caring nearly knocked the wind out of him, almost as much as the previous events of the day, and part of him crumpled in the face of it. "She says he got better. My family couldn't do a damn thing to help him, but he gets away from us and suddenly he's goddamned father of the year"

"I'm sorry, Booth. I'm so sorry."

He felt a little better, the next ten minutes he spent standing in her arms, feeling her pulse against his cheek as he pressed it to her throat, finding comfort in the warmth of her embrace and the soothing stroke of her fingers on his back. But he knew that when he let her go, the world and his memories would still be there, and he could no longer deny that he had to deal with them.

--

A/N: Happy holiday season to all of you. As always, I appreciate every response from every one of you.