If you've seen it before then it doesn't belong to me.

Booth walked into Brennan's office with a swagger of confidence that he desperately hoped she wouldn't see through. He needn't have worried with the amount of attention she was paying to the files open on her desk, but he couldn't say that eased his anxiety. He made his way quickly to her desk, drawing the file from her hands and closing it before she had a chance to recognize his actions.

"Come on Bones we're going home."

"Booth I just barely got here, and while we may not have a case going on that doesn't mean I can neglect my other duties as an anthropologist."

"Whoever this is they've been dead long enough that a few more days aren't going to hurt. Right now you need to be taking care of yourself and being here isn't going to help."

"I work though my feelings Booth, that's how I can compartmentalize, that's how I have learned to cope."

"That was before; I'm not going to let you go through this alone, no one should have to be that strong."

"But I am." She tried to hide the crack in her voice by turning away but Booth was too quick.

"I'm not questioning that." His voice was gentle as he placed his hands on her shoulders slowly rubbing the knots of tension that had arisen over the short course of her morning.

"I need to do something Booth, or I'm not going to be able to stop dwelling on everything she almost took from me." She turned to look at him, not bothering to hide the tears that were gathering in the corners of her eyes. The pain of her nightmare the night before was still fresh on his heart as he wished again that he could spare her some of that fear.

Without uttering another word he pulled the surprisingly docile anthropologist from her desk and into his embrace. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder he led her out of her office and out of the lab, silently offering her the support she wasn't willing to ask for for herself.

Neither of them heard the click of photos being taken from the rooftop several blocks away as a pair of hard eyes stared them down from the long range lens of a camera.

.

.

Brennan remained silent the entire ride to her apartment, not that Booth was feeling particularly chatty himself. He had honestly expected a greater fight to get her out of the lab and hadn't planned his morning much beyond that. Brennan made her way to the kitchen when they got inside, calling softly that she was going to make a cup of tea if he would like any. He responded in the negative, an idea forming in his head as he headed towards her bathroom.

He had been here plenty of times before and he was glad to note that she hadn't moved around any of the items he was looking for since the last time he had barged in on her in the bath. Starting the water at an acceptable temperature he quickly scanned the cabinet for matches to light the assortment of candles she had lining the edge of her obnoxiously large bathtub. Surveying the scene he was feeling pretty proud of himself, but something felt off. He didn't see any bottles of bubbles under her sink but his hand did come to rest on several little jars labeled bath salts. He gave them a quick sniff and then, finding one that smelled acceptably relaxing, he added a good amount into the steaming water. Hot water should get her to release some of her tension, and if she was relaxed then maybe he could stop waves of self loathing her discomfort was bringing out in him.

"Booth" her questioning tone came through the door and he knew he was caught.

"Come here Bones," he called quietly, rising to take her teacup out of her hands as she entered the bathroom. Setting it carefully on the ledge of the tub he pulled her into his arms, placing a soft kiss on her lips as he did so. Without thought his hands made their way down her body, slowly undoing the delicate buttons on the work shirt she had thrown on this morning. He gently slid the material off of her shoulders placing gentle kisses on her collarbone as it came into view. His intention was to be gentle and sensual. to remind her that she was not alone this time, that he was going to be here for her and it was okay for her to lean on him, in fact he expected her to. That may have been selfish on his part but despite her words to the contrary he needed to be needed by her in this time of crisis.

Pressing another kiss to her lips he pulled away and quickly removed his own shirt and pants, following his lead Brennan gracefully stepped out of her own remaining clothes until they stood in her bathroom completely bare before one another.

"I would normally question the morality of you using sex to distract me from my thoughts but I have to admit the bath looks very appealing." She had meant the comment to be teasing, to break up the intensity of the anger and fear building between them in the confined space of her bathroom.

Booth said nothing simply stepping into her bath and opening his arms to her. With a sigh she climbed into them, letting the heat of the water and the steady beat of his heart against her back roll over her soothingly. From this vantage point, pressed against his broad chest, she could feel the vibrations of his voice throughout her body as he began to explain his actions.

"I don't know how to make this better, and I know you really don't need me to. But I want you to need me to fix things for you, does that make sense? I'm not used to you being able to take the lead in life matters without me."

"You're rambling," she whispered softly, the intimacy of their contact making up for the fact that she couldn't see his face. From his increased heart rate, the unconsciously tightening grip on her arms and the muddled pace of his words she could tell he was panicking. She was simply unsure what had brought it on.

"Lucky for me my girlfriend is quick enough to keep up." He tried not to tense as she flinched audibly at his choice of words.

"We're partners Booth. Even with the change in our relationship status I feel that term is more fitting than the traditional monikers don't you. Its not like this is a casual thing between us…" her voice drifted off quietly as she felt his tense behind her.

"Bones," he let out a strangled whisper that set the panic off in her own heart.

"Are we not as committed as I assumed? I thought with all we had talked about before, I mean we've said these were the last dates we ever intended to go on… are you still attempting to sort out your feelings Booth, I never meant to rush you-"

He tightened his grip around her as he tried to chase his own swirling mind around her panicked thoughts. This wasn't how he wanted to have this conversation. He hadn't expected her to reach down and find the root of his issue so quickly and the fact that she had was enough to rush the reassurances he offered. "I am in this for the long haul. I told you I was going to prove to you that love can last and I meant it. We can be partners, lovers, crime fighters whatever you want to call us Bones. I'm yours."

"Then, what's wrong? I know this appeal is going to be hard on us, but you're holding something back from me Booth. I thought we said no secrets." The sadness in her voice broke his heart. Here he was trying to sort out his own head so he didn't have to worry her unnecessarily with his panic and he was worrying her anyways.

"The last few weeks have really shown me, today especially how far you have managed to come in terms of opening yourself up. What you did today for Hodgins was, it was something that you wouldn't have been able to do before without me. And you handled it so beautifully that I'm just, I'm feeling a little unnecessary in your life."

"I thought we talked about this already, whether or not you think I need you Booth I want you in my life. You certainly don't need all the baggage I carry and all the difficulty I have interacting with others, but you want to be with me right? I don't see the distinction you're trying to make."

"I need you Bones. You have been the one person who I've let see the darkest parts of me because I knew they wouldn't make you run. You are the first person who didn't simply take me at face value, you challenged me to do more, be better, to live up to the expectations that I never would have thought to set for myself. And what do I do for you? I get you shot and kidnapped; I opened you up to a world of pain. You clearly don't need that in your life and I can't understand why you would want it."

"Is that really what you think Booth," she couldn't keep the hurt out of her voice even as her brain tried to piece together the words to show him just how wrong he was. She leaned forward to add more hot water to the cooling tub, waiting for the warmth to envelop them both again before she returned to her place in his arms.

"You seem to be looking for some sort of evidence that I need you. I almost think it would be easier for me to list the ways in which I don't but I feel that would lack the reassurance I am aiming to provide. I need you to keep teaching me Booth. Everything that I have learned over the course of our partnership, good or bad, was taught to me by you. I learned to share a piece of myself without fear of rejection. I learned that letting others in doesn't always mean they will leave."

She turned slightly in his lap to finish her thought, she needed him to see the truth of her words in the most important lesson she had ever learned. "You taught me that a life full of love, even when that love is unrequited or painful, is still more valuable than a life lived alone."

"I never wanted to cause you that kind of pain," he whispered through the tears choking his throat. ''I will never be able to forgive myself for what I did to you, for making you doubt for any moment that you were worth everything I have."

"We can rehash those months as long as we want Booth but it is never going to make either of us feel any better. We both said and did a lot of things that hurt one another, that's the curse of knowing each other so well, we know how to wound the deepest. And I'm not saying that we won't do it again. But I know I'd much rather run the chance of hurting you while you're a stable part of my life than hurting you so badly you decide to leave it completely."

"I will never leave you the way I did again Bones, I already told you I will spend the rest of my life proving to you how foolish I was to think that I could."

"I'm not making myself clear here. I need you. I need you to teach me to live and to love. I need you to correct my pop culture references and to ask for a guy hug when you can tell I need one. We have proven to one another that we can exist in our lives alone but at the same time I think we've proven that it's no way to live."

Booth's phone chose that minute to chirp loudly from his discarded pants on the floor, effectively shattering the moment around them even as its sentiment soothed worries he didn't even know he had had yet. As he listened patiently to Hacker's explanation of the tactical meeting taking place this afternoon his hand drew lazy patterns across his partner's bare shoulder. The phone call may have brought the ugliness of reality into the bubble of contentment Bones had built for him, but nothing could shake the absolute feeling of love she had instilled in him without even saying the words.

Brennan couldn't help the smile that spread over her face as she felt Booth relax behind her while he spoke with his boss. She may not have fixed everything, as he had shown her so many times before a single action could do more than even the most beautiful words. But she could tell that for this moment, even as their reality crashed back around them, he accepted and believed her words. And in that moment that was more than enough.

She hadn't realized how closely her tension this morning had mirrored his but she couldn't deny the relaxation that had made its way over her body as they had talked. She had always thought Angela's overly romanticized notions of love were simply that. Statements designed to convince those with foolish hearts and minds of the powers of commitment and monogamy. But as she turned to gaze at the man behind her with his love for her shining clearly now that the cloud of fear and doubt had been removed, she couldn't help but admit that she honestly could handle whatever the world had coming at her so long as Booth was firmly by her side.

Happy Bonesday! It's going to be a good night tonight. Thank you all for your wonderful reactions and responses to this story, we're getting to about the halfway point of what I have planned for Booth and Brennan, and in case you missed the signs above we're heading for an action filled next couple of chapters (including the sniper, some more girl time and a real first date). For those of you I've responded to, thank you again for the support and feedback. For those of you I haven't responded to yet, I'm getting there I promise because I really do appreciate everyones thoughts and reactions.

For marple, thank you for the thoughts and don't apologize for the rant. This is my look at how Booth and Brennan can rebuild what they both broke, while still having to deal with the high stress situations that are a part of their everyday life. If you want to chat more feel free to pm me I love to talk (that one goes for anybody, you all know I have no problem being chatty). See you again on Sunday!

Sarah