(The Skull in the Desert)

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Her best friend was in emotional pain and Brennan wanted to help. Angela's boyfriend, Kirk Persinger was missing and a skull had been delivered to the Sheriff's office in Merville County that could be Kirk's. She had flown out to New Mexico to look at the skull and when she tried to take custody to send it back to the Jefferson for identification purposes Sheriff Dawes had denied her request. She was not used to her expertise being ignored and that had infuriated her. She was the leading forensic anthropologist in the world and the Sheriff had refused to allow her to help with his missing person's investigation and the identification of the skull. She felt his decision was shockingly incompetent and Brennan would not let that stand.

Contacting her partner had been the first thing she had thought of. If Sheriff Dawes didn't want to allow her to help search for Kirk and his guide Dani Weber then she would force him to do so and Booth was just the man to help her do that. It had taken one phone call to get Booth on a plane to Santa Fe. That was what partners did for each other. Brennan had learned that working with Booth. She knew that he had her back and would make sure that justice would be taken care of even if the Sheriff didn't want her help to do it.

FBI Agent Seeley Booth was not really a fan of deserts. He had worked in deserts during his career in the Army Rangers, but he never got used to the intense heat and the lack of greenery. Sand was insidious and could work its way under your clothes and in to every nook and cranny of the human body. The only reason he had agreed to come was because his partner needed his authority as an Agent of the FBI to get Sheriff Dawes to cooperate with Brennan. It's what partners do. She needed his help and he owed it to her to give it to her.

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The case had been bizarre and turned out to be a case of Kirk and Dani being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had witnessed a drug plane land in the desert and one of the local artists, Wayne Kellogg had greeted the plane which meant that Kirk and Dani had seen too much. Kellogg had panicked and he had taken care of the situation. Or so he had thought.

Kirk had been caught, killed and his body was taken for a ride on the plane. His body was dumped from the plane many miles away from the murder site and was later found in a remote area. Dani got away, but was left with hard choices. She was in a remote area on foot with little water and with no way to call for help.

With the help of Booth, Brennan and Angela, the Sheriff's sister was found. She was barely alive, but help had reached her in time.

Angela had been devastated. Her boyfriend had been murdered and she felt guilty for not being with him more often. He had loved her, but she was a free spirit and she was only able to give him three weeks a year of her time. Now those three weeks seemed to haunt the artist. Brennan could see her friend was sad and that Angela regretted not giving her boyfriend more of her time, but she thought that Angela didn't see that Kirk was willing to give her the freedom she needed to be in a relationship with him.

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She stared out of the window of the Royal Diner at the passing traffic and wondered if Angela would be alright. "Angela is very sad that Kirk is dead. She thinks she doesn't have a generous heart because she only saw him three weeks a year."

Booth stirred some sugar in to his cup of coffee. "Love is complicated. Angela loved Kirk, but not enough to live with him permanently. Some people might think that was odd, but she's an artist and kind of a wild spirit. People like Angela don't want to be give up their freedom, but I think if the right guy comes a long some day and if she loves him enough she'll be willing to give up some of her freedom to be with him. She might have loved Kirk, but not enough to commit to him. He just wasn't her soulmate."

"I don't believe in soulmates nor that love is real." Brennan felt that love was a myth created to tie people together in a permanent relationship. She approved of Angela's life style. She didn't see why it was necessary to commit to anyone permanently only to have their heart crushed when that person left. "Angela believes in love and now her heart is crushed. I don't see how committing to someone and then watching them leave is emotionally beneficial."

"Kirk didn't leave Angela. He was murdered and taken away from her." Sometimes he didn't understand his partner. He saw signs of her generosity and her kindness from time to time, but her disbelief in love was frustrating. "There is a difference. He loved her and I guess he would have continued to see her for three weeks a year forever if he could have. He was committed to her. Angela wasn't committed to Kirk and I think she feels guilty about it. She shouldn't be. There are different kinds of love and her love for Kirk wasn't true love . . . I get that you don't believe in love, but you're wrong. Love exists. Sometimes you can love someone so strongly that you're willing to get that love anyway you can. Kirk knew that Angela would never marry him, but he was willing to love her as she was. Sometimes you have to give up a lot to get a little. I'm pretty sure those three weeks meant a lot to him." At this point in his life, he wondered if he was ever going to find someone to love him and commit to him. So far, he had given his love to a few only to be rejected. Perhaps that was his fate. He hoped not.

Brennan sipped her coffee and rested the cup on the table when it was empty. "Whether Kirk was killed or he left voluntarily, he is still no longer in Angela's life and Angela is paying the price by being sad. She gave a piece of herself to Kirk and now she is alone. This thing you call love is not worth it. To have your happiness contingent on someone else being in your life is foolish. I don't need anyone in my life to make me happy."

He felt sad for his partner. She was so afraid of love and was so unwilling to risk her heart for a chance at happiness. "I know your childhood sucked. Your parents and your brother abandoned you and you didn't have any family to rescue you from what you were going through, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to find someone to be with that can share your life with you . . . I don't have very much family either. Just my son and Pops and my brother, but I wouldn't trade my life with anyone. My little boy means the world to me. I'd die to protect him from the bad in this world and Pops would have done the same for me if he had had to. I may not have had much love in my life, but what love I've experienced was enough to save me . . . Like I said love is complicated, but you can't just give up on it because of bad experiences. Angela will move on because she does have a generous heart and she'll find someone to share it with someday and someday I'll find someone too . . . I think if you give it a chance, you'll find out that there is someone out there waiting for you too. All you have to do is risk a little bit of your happiness. Just a little bit, Bones."

"I can't do that. Love isn't real." She wished that Booth would understand, but he ignored her when he didn't like the message. He was a romantic and her sound advice wasn't what he wanted to hear. "I think Angela will eventually find someone to replace Kirk. Perhaps she can get her three weeks a year again."

"I hope she finds someone that she's willing to share more than three weeks." Booth bit his lower lip. His partner was being stubborn, but he knew she was just protecting herself. "I hope she finds forever love."

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