Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me, you won't regret it, i promise.

---3 Weeks Later---

Brennan and the squints left the courthouse, grins everywhere.

"I knew we'd nail that S.O.B." Hodgins nodded as if he'd been saying it all along, but all of them had had their doubts throughout this case.

"Oh! Zach you were fabulous on the stand. Kept your cool, weren't too squinty sounding. I'm so proud of you Sweetie!" Angela snatched Zach into a tight hug and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks Angela." He said, blushing profusely.

Brennan smiled and it was pretty close to a real smile, though it was obvious to anyone who knew her that the spark was gone from her eyes.

Grasping at some normalcy, she suddenly turned around to face the rest, who were unable to keep up with her brisk pace.

"Wong Fu's?"

They all stopped and looked at her, Hodgins and Angela exchanged glances. It had been rare in the past month for Brennan to go anywhere other than her lab and her apartment. She had, quite literally, shut herself off from the world.

Angela smiled, glad she seemed to be trying to step back into it.

"What?" Brennan frowned at their strange looks and pushed down the impending guilt creeping up her chest. She hadn't been to Wong Fu's, hadn't gone to a movie or left the apartment for any reason in the past weeks. Angela had brought groceries and could often be found in Brennan's apartment when the silence became too much for her to bear.

She knew it was worrying her friends…but she was afraid. Afraid to enjoy life without him, afraid she wouldn't be able to.

"Why are you looking at me like that? We always go to Wong Fu's after we win a case."

Angela stepped forward and out of the arm Hodgins had wrapped around her waist.

"You're right Sweetie. Meet you there?"

Brennan nodded, glad she still fit behind the wheel of her car. "I just have to drop by the babysitters and pick up Matty."

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"Foo's Foo's Foo's!!" Mathew chanted, bouncing like a 'fwoggy', his left arm drawn up high over his head in Brennan's hand as she led him inside the restaurant.

Once inside, Brennan was relieved to find only the squints and one other couple were in the restaurant. She didn't think she could handle a crowd.

At the sound of the dinging bell Sid came from the back of the restaurant.

"Hi Sid!" Mathew wrenched his hand out of Brennan's grip and took off through the restaurant toward Sid, who scooped him up and walked back toward the squints.

"How are you Matty?" He asked, bouncing the child just enough to elicit a squeal of delight.

"Fine thans." He wriggled out of Sid's arms and went over to booth where he slid in beside Angela.

"Hey," Sid approached Brennan who had spaced out near the door. "How're you holding up?"

She shrugged, a sad smile on her lips.

"I'll be okay." She said softly. Aside from Angela, Sid had been her saving grace these last few weeks. He had been at her place constantly, helping with Matty, with food or housework. She could never thank him enough.

"Yeah, you will be bone lady. You're tough." He smiled reassuringly and led her to the Booth. She sat facing Matty, next to Zach, looking away from the door.

"I'll be right back with your food guys."

They thanked him and resumed talking, including Matty who chattered constantly, saying things that were mostly garbled gibberish that Hodgins and Angela found hilarious and Zach kept straining to understand.

"I think he just said Subdural Hematoma!" He exclaimed over a plate of individual-sized pizza.

"Yeah Zach," Hodgins clapped him on the back, nodding in mock agreement. "Sure."

Brennan was content to watch their conversation take place and try to keep Matty from getting his macaroni and cheese everywhere.

Just when the squints were in a fit of laughter over whatever it was Mathew had just attempted to say, he said something clear as a bell.

"Daddy!"

Angela caught her laughter in a gasp and threw her eyes over at Brennan, who'd cracked a smile at her son's nonsense but it had now completely disappeared.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Mathew started bouncing in his chair, attempting to scoot out of the booth.

Brennan dropped her eyes to the tablecloth and Angela reached for Matty.

"Shhh. Matty..." Angela attempted to quiet the boy, but to no avail. Mathew slipped from the booth and took off, running past Brennan and toward the door.

Angela's eyes followed him and then grew wide, as did Hodgins' who could see what she could from where he sat next to her.

"Oh. My. God." Angela put a hand over her mouth while reaching the other one across the table to take Brennan's.

"Sweetie…look!"

Brennan raised her eyes and saw her friends staring past her, all with a similar shocked expression on their faces.

"What?" Brennan twisted around in her chair and her eyes landed on the door. Or rather…the man standing in the door, ruffling Mathew's curly blonde hair as the child clung to his pant leg his thumb firmly in his mouth.

Brennan stood slowly, mouth hanging slightly agape with shock.

Taking methodic, calculated steps, Brennan approached the man. Her eyes roamed over him as she moved closer, trying to be sure he was who she thought he was. He wore jeans and a t-shirt, his left arm in a sling, his hair disheveled.

Then she looked into his face. Those brown eyes were glassy, betraying longing and amazement, and though she didn't know it, hers looked exactly the same.

Booth watched as she approached, confusion, shock, longing and apprehension crossing her face in turn. As she got closer her eyes got shinier with standing tears and his fingers itched to touch her, hold her like he'd been waiting to do for so long. Her hair was longer and she was carrying, rather gracefully, the weight of another human being growing inside her. The love that washed over him at that moment made his heart want to swell and burst.

Brennan came to a stop directly in front of him, still staring into his face, unable to bring herself to believe he was standing there. Alive.

She held her breath, his eyes held the same loving affection she remembered…but it couldn't be. Could it?

Slowly, she raised one trembling hand and hesitated before touching his face, afraid it would pass right through and this would be revealed to be a dream like so many times before.

Ever so lightly her fingertips brushed his cheek and she gasped. It was there. He was there. She could feel the warmth of his skin, the roughness of his unshaven face. She blinked back the tears and her lungs burned, she realized she hadn't breathed in a few moments and made a mental note to do so.

Booth shut his eye for a fraction of a second, he could feel herskin. He'd waited so long and now he was here. Reaching up, he took hold of her wrist with his good hand and brought her fingertips to his lips, kissing them tenderly.

Brennan gasped and pulled her hand back to cover her mouth, she could feel the tears in her eyes, the sobs in her chest and she didn't want to let them out.

Booth watched the emotions playing in her eyes and knew what she was doing. Without a seconds hesitation he stepped into her and wrapped his good arm around her back, pulling her close.

"Let it go Temperance." He said, barely above a whisper, his own voice tight with tears.

Brennan hesitated and then nodded, melting into him, she finally allowed the tears to drop. Her shoulders trembled and shook and Booth held her only tighter, knowing she probably had not allowed herself to cry in front of anyone since the Marshals told her he was dead.

He was still angry about that, but now wasn't the time.

Brennan suddenly looked up into his face and saw the tear tracks on his cheeks. Her eyes widened as if seeing him for the first time and she quickly reached up, pulling his face down to meet hers in a desperate kiss, passion overflowing.

Booth responded immediately, pulling her as close as he could get her and hardly aware of the pressure doing so was putting on his still healing injuries, he only knew her. Her lips on his, her body, her skin. He couldn't believe this was happening. He closed his eyes and willed this moment to never end.

The kiss tasted of relief and joy and salt from the constant stream of tears on their cheeks. They couldn't speak and didn't know how long they'd been standing there, but made no attempt to move when they left off kissing and simply embraced like they thought the world would end when they let go.

Angela sat beside Jack, Matty settled on her lap as they, along with Sid and Zach, watched their friends get wrapped up in each other. Two lost souls finally found.

You didn't think I could actually kill him did you? One more chapter to wrap this up.