Heaven

Booth walked out of baggage claim at the airport and, judging by the line in front of him, resigned himself to a long wait for a cab. Great. Just the cherry on top of the crap sundae his vacation had turned out to be.

He had tried to enjoy himself in Jamaica all alone, he really did. The bed and breakfast was beautiful. The reefs were amazing. The water was a perfect crystal blue. And he was absolutely miserable the entire time. In a small part of his brain, he acknowledged that he was sad that Tessa hadn't come with him. That same part knew that, for all intents and purposes, their relationship was probably over as well. Booth held no animosity towards Tessa, there wasn't any reason to. They both would probably admit that they had no intention of ever getting that serious. The sex was great and they had a good time when they were out, but they really didn't have anything in common. And Tessa had confessed more than once that his job was too intense for her at times. She didn't want to hear the details, and he really didn't blame her. You had to be a special kind of person to understand what they did on a regular basis. The death, the danger, the lack of humanity people showed each other…it was not for the faint of heart.

Faint of heart. That was the last phrase he would use to describe his partner. Brennan embraced the baser realities of their work…almost seemed to relish them. Booth knew that she was affected by the sadness and loss, but she reveled in the hunt and he couldn't deny that it did the same thing for him. And the fact that Brennan found it as fascinating as he did turned him on just a little bit. Alright, it turned him on a lot. He was the first to admit that it was probably a little twisted, but everything about his "relationship" with Bones was twisted, really.

As if he had conjured her up just by his thoughts, he heard her calling his name. "Booth!"

He looked at the end of the line of cabs and saw her standing next to a small sports car, waving at him. He smiled and grabbed his bag, jogging over to where she waited.

"Bones! Thank God, I thought I was going to be here forever waiting for a cab. How did you know I was coming back today?" He threw his bag into her open trunk and jumped into the passenger's side of the car.

Brennan threw the car into drive and cast him a sidelong look. "Tessa told me." Booth raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to explain. "She stopped by the lab last night, said she couldn't be there to get you, and would I mind picking you up? Since I couldn't think of an excuse why I couldn't fast enough, here I am."

Booth laughed. "Gee, thanks Bones. Glad to know that you care."

She smiled and glanced at him quickly, maneuvering in and out of the airport traffic with ease. "I'm kidding. I was happy to do it. And, um…" She reached into the side console and removed an envelope with "Seeley" written across it in Tessa's flowery script. "She also asked me to give you this." She handed it to him, and then turned her attention back to driving; purposely not looking at him while he read what was, essentially, a 'Dear John' letter.

Booth crumpled the letter after reading it, shoving it into his jacket pocket and sighing. "Thanks, Bones. I really appreciate this."

"Hey, that's what partners do, right?" Brennan wanted desperately to ask Booth what the letter said, but even though she often lacked social skills and was generally awkward with interpersonal relations, she knew exactly what message Tessa had conveyed. "So, are you hungry? Want to stop at Wong Fu's?"

Suddenly Booth felt exhausted. "No, thanks. I think I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed. But I appreciate the offer."

"Home it is, then. Hang on!" Booth grabbed the door handle as Brennan weaved through the DC rush hour traffic at breakneck speeds. He said a silent prayer as she whipped the car up and down the one way streets, only stopping when she pulled up in front of his apartment.

Brennan had tried the whole ride home to think of something comforting to say to Booth, but she was drawing a complete blank. Not for the first time, she wished she had Angela there to tell her what to do. "Booth. Do you…um, want to talk about it?"

Booth gave her a half smile and shook his head. "Nah. It's not like I didn't see this coming. Nothing to talk about." He opened his car door and stepped out, waiting for Brennan to pull the lever, opening the trunk. He grabbed his bag and walked around to the driver's side, where Brennan had opened her window.

"Thanks again, Bones. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of this. Really."

"Anytime, Booth. Now go get some sleep and try to enjoy the weekend!" She smiled at him, getting ready to pull away.

Suddenly, Booth let his instinct take over, and leaned into the window, brushing her cheek softly but firmly with his lips, lingering a moment longer than he had planned. 'She smells amazing.', he thought.

"Thanks, Bones. See you Monday." He walked in front of the car and waved with a smile, walking up the steps and into the building without a backward glance.

Brennan sat stock still, hand unconsciously going to the spot on her face where his lips and touched. 'Wow.' She thought. 'He smells amazing.'