AN: So finally I have updated something. I apologise, just be grateful it wasn't a multi-chapter story and you were left hanging for months. Anyway, I haven't been writing much due to personal reasons but I think I am back now. I am working on a long multi at the moment and I'm hoping to finish it soon, so I can publish.

Anyway this is the next chapter in my These Days series and is actually part 1 of 3. They will all have the same title I will just add part 2 and 3 to the next chapters. This is Booth's POV and is a little angsty, but trust me, it gets there in the end.

For three months, I had carried the burden of not being able to tell Bones the truth; and it ate me. I wouldn't go home until late, I would drown myself in copious amounts of alcohol at the bar, realise that I drove there and have to get a cab home. It was vicious cycle of abuse and even though I knew I should stop, I couldn't. I suppose I told myself that it was better to drink yourself stupid, than to gamble all your money away; but I was just pouring the money I would have used to gamble, into making my blood 80 proof.

She noticed, of course she did and I couldn't tell her. I only had myself and Aldo, which in all honesty wasn't helping me because I knew what he was going to say before he said it. I was a fucking mess and she deserved better than me. I wasn't a man in my own eyes, how could I be one in hers.

Then it happened, we got rid of the problem. This afternoon Pelant had been shot dead, I had taken that shot. Right into his chest. I stood over him, watching the blood gush out of his body, he almost pleaded with me to help him; I knew I should have but I didn't.

"This is for me and Bones. For all that you've put us through, you sick son of a fucking bitch." I spat it in his face and then sank to my knees and applied lightest pressure I could to his wound. I didn't care, why should I?

I had called it in and by the time the paramedics arrived, Pelant was dead and good fucking riddance. I felt the world lift from my shoulders, what a feeling it was.

I rang Bones straight away and asked her if we could meet for lunch. I was going to tell her everything. We sat in the diner and shared a plate of fries, I looked deep into her eyes and told her the truth. She stared at me for too long, until she shook her head to clear the fuzz and broke down in tears. I got up and moved to sit next to her, wrapping her up in my arms. She told me that she wasn't mad at me, but proud that I was a strong man. That nearly broke me. I was here with her and she knew everything. We could move on.

It was around 6.30 when I finally got home. The paperwork could wait until tomorrow, the interview was enough for me and Cullen sent me home.

She was waiting for me with a glass of scotch, like I hadn't already drunk enough in three months to drown a small island nation.

I remembered back to that night when Bones told me she trusted me, she had faith in me, when she told me she loved me. I remembered breathing for the first time in a long time, and she had kissed me and it was almost perfect.

"Hi Booth." her voice was soft. She handed me the glass and I smiled at her.

"Hi Bones, thanks." I poured the stiff liquid down my throat and put the glass down on the kitchen bench. She looked at me and I saw her take a deep breath, the first one in over three months and I stepped towards her, engulfing her in my arms.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and her head fell to the crook of my neck, her spot.

She cried so hard, her body racked with shudders and short hiccuped breaths.

"Shhhh, baby. It's over. I got him, we got him. Shhh Temperance." she stopped crying at the sound of her given name and she looked up at me. Her blue eyes swimming in tears, her cheeks red and hot, her hair tussled a little from rubbing against my stubble and she somehow had never, ever looked more beautiful.

"I love you, Booth." her words were barely a whisper against my mouth as her lips took mine and it was the most passionate kiss we had shared in the past few months. In that moment, I knew it was the right time.

I had bought the ring the day after I called of the engagement. I had woken up that morning on the couch, my back stiff and sore and my heart crushed. I knew I had to do it, to buy her the ring so that when the time came I could propose to my girlfriend, the mother of my child, the most beautiful, yet stubborn woman in the world. My Bones. This was the time and I knew it.

"Baby, wait here okay. I'll be right back." I gave her my Seeley Booth charm smile and she whispered,

"Okay."

"Go sit down on the couch and I'll be right back, baby." I bounded up the stairs as fast as my strong thighs would carry me, almost at a run until I reached our bedroom; the one I hadn't slept in for the past five nights. I went to my top draw and fumbled around until I found the tiny little box. I opened it and smiled. Looking up at me, was the most gorgeous white gold ring. It wasn't a typical engagement ring, this was a Bones kind of ring. Inset -so she could still wear her gloves over the top- was a diamond surrounded by two blue sapphires. The blue reminded me of her eyes. I shut the box again, threw it in the air and caught it, then headed back downstairs to propose to my gorgeous woman.

She was seated on the couch, her legs crossed underneath her and a glass of wine in her hand. Her hair was down and she looked beautiful.

I pocketed the box and walked into the room. She looked up at me when she heard me enter and smiled that Temperance Brennan smile.

I sat down next to her and took her hand in mine. It was so small and smooth. Her nails short and polish free. I looked down at our hands joined together and then I looked up at her.

"Bones. First I want to apologise for everything that has happened in the last three months. Things happened to us that were beyond our control and for that, I am so so sorry. I love you, Bones. With all my heart and soul, every single fibre of my being and I want to love you for the rest of my life. I want to be with you, every single day until we die. I want to have more children and see then grow up and get married and give us grandbabies. I want to argue with you about the smallest of things and then make love to you afterwards. I want to love to hate you sometimes, when you do things that just aren't rational to me, but make sense to you. I need that. I want that, so Bones... Temperance, would you do me the honour of being my wife?" I pulled the box out of my pocket and opened it.

Her face lit up with a smile and tears ran down her cheeks. She was happy and so was I.

"Yes, Booth. I will do you the honour and become your wife." I took the ring out of the box, took her hand and slid it onto her finger. It sat perfectly against her skin.

"It's so beautiful, Booth." She held her hand up to get a better look at the ring.

"I'm so glad you like it. You can wear gloves over it too." I smiled at her, she would appreciate my logic to get her this ring over others.

"Booth, can you do me a favour?" her eyes met mine and she was serious for a second.

"Sure baby, anything." I kissed her forehead.

"Take your fiancé upstairs and make love to her."

I grinned at her and I swore my pants got tighter at her request and I lifted her up until she wrapped her legs around my waist. I tried not to fall up the stairs as she planted small sucking kisses on my neck, while undoing my tie.

I'd do anything for Bones and she knew it. I had just proved it to her by keeping her safe. Nothing mattered more to me than my family.

TBC.

Thanks for reading, please leave a review if you liked it and the next chapter should be up in a few days.