*Guilty look* Um... hi everyone! So, it's been what? Three weeks since I updated this? I could bore you with excuses, but I think 'writer's block' will suffice. I hope you enjoy this despite how long it took me to get it up.


Three Days Later

"Are you absolutely sure about this?"

"One hundred percent," she answered confidently, but she knew that her eyes had flashed for just a split second. She also knew that he'd noticed. But he nodded anyways, squeezed her hand reassuringly, and then started the engine again and turned down onto the small side road.

She stared out the window intently, her eyes searching up the street until they locked on the large yellow house that she knew was the right address. Booth pulled over in front of a stretch of woods a short distance away, and they both remained silent.

"You're sure that-"

"Positive, Bones," he assured her. "If you don't want to do this, you know, we can..."

"No. I can handle this. I just... want to see. That's it."

He nodded gently, and her eyes immediately swung around to look back at the house again with an intensity burning in them.

She hadn't wanted to see the picture, even though Booth had been able to dig up information and had found school photos all the way up until current. She wanted to see him in person. To just... see. She had to know.

"He looks like you," Booth said suddenly, softly, from beside her. Almost instantly her gaze swiveled back to him, and she bit her lip to keep the emotion that was crawling in the back of her throat from escaping. How did he always know exactly what was worrying her, and exactly what to say to make it all feel so different... so much better?

"He does?" she managed to whisper.

He nodded, smiling softly at her, his eyes shining with a gentle concern and a light of kind sympathy. "Yeah, he does. Your eyes and everything. Same color hair, too."

She just nodded, and resumed biting her lip. Eyes on the house once again, she managed to speak up once more, without meeting his gaze. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"...that I'd want to know that," she whispered.

There was a silence, and she waited in equal quietness as she watched the front door, feeling as though if she just never took her eyes away from its handle then somehow time might freeze right here. And she might never move again.

"I know you," he answered softly. "And I know how worried you were... that he might... not look like you."

That he might look like... him. Those were the words which they were both thinking. She just nodded, still not looking at him.

And then, as if on cue, the door slid open. She felt herself tense as a girl stepped out, with light brown hair, wearing a green soccer uniform. Behind her came a woman in her early forties, and then a man of about the same age, with already slightly graying hair. They were laughing, talking with one another, although she couldn't make out the words. She rolled down the window, and Booth did not object as she peered out of it, trying to make out anything that she could.

"Come on, Travis!" the girl shouted towards the door, which still hung partway open. The name sent a crashing force over her, and she felt her breath stop short as she continued to watch as though as a statue. A golden retriever bounded out, almost knocking the father down. The man scolded the animal, which paid no heed and continued to bounce around all of their heels.

And then a tall boy of about sixteen came out, a soccer ball under one arm and wearing khaki shorts and a pale blue t-shirt, stepped out and bounded down the stairs.

She almost stopped breathing entirely, and she was fairly certain the rhythm of her heart altered for a short moment before racing faster than it had been before. His facial structure was so similar to her own, although a bit longer and thinner, that it was unmistakable that they were related. His nose, his ears... every detail seemed to be an exact image of her own, only differing in size relative to his face. And then his hair... it was long and messy, hanging partly in his face, but the look suited him. When it caught the light, the ends of it glinted auburn.

"That's him," she whispered, although it was obvious.

"Yeah," Booth murmured softly next to her. "That's him, Bones."

She didn't even notice it, really, the fact that she was smiling, that tears were slowly sliding down her cheeks.

His laugh, the very sound of it and the way he tilted his head back as he tossed the soccer ball in the air and the dog butted it off his head... the way he dropped to the ground and rolled around, grinning and just smiling... it was all so clear that he was happy. This was the evidence faced to her, as clearly as she could remember her own memories from before her parents went missing. He had everything she hadn't at his current age. A family that loved him, a sister, a dog, a sizeable house and a spacious yard... and hand-eye coordination for sports, which she had lacked, he had apparently attained.

"We're going to be late," the girl complained, although she was laughing slightly as well.

"Come on, Travis," the man instructed, "Get Samson inside and... well, you might want to change, too. Make it quick, though, we're already running behind schedule because of you."

"Sorry, dad," he said quickly, springing to his feet. "Come on, Sam!" he called, and he and the dog bounded into the house.

All too soon he came running back across the yard... got into the backseat of their car. Then they turned up the road and rounded a corner. Gone from sight. She continued to stare at where they had disappeared, until she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and she was startled out of her thoughtful and sorrowful silence.

"I'm sorry, Bones," he whispered.

"No... it's... it's okay, Booth. I said I wanted to see him, and now I have. And maybe... someday I'll meet him. If he wants to. But... like I said, I shouldn't be the one to interfere. Not when he's got everything he could possibly want right now. That doesn't... mean I wouldn't... wouldn't really still want to talk to him... but, I know that... that I can't."

He reached a hand up, brushed away the tears from her face. "You're the strongest person I know, Bones. And I know you're right, too. Someday you'll see him again, I promise."

She nodded, and the feeling of his hand, still cupping her cheek, relaxed her more so than anything else in the world could have at that moment.

"There's... a lot that we need to talk about," she murmured.

"Yeah," he agreed softly, but with a seriousness to his voice.

She glanced away, "I... never answered your question." Her eyes flickered back to his again, nervously. His eyebrows were raised, but he was clearly going to wait for her to continue rather than questioning her. "You asked," she struggled onwards forcefully, "If... I felt the same way as you did. Like you... told me before. And I... I said I didn't know. But... I do know." Her eyes were pleading with his, desperate for him to understand. "And... I want to... I want to try," she whispered.

"You have to be willing to more than try, Bones," he answered her, his eyes never once straying from hers. "You have to believe that this is going to work out. Because there is nothing that I will let happen which would break us. I will always love you, no matter what. I'll do anything to prove that to you. Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you," she whispered. "I always have." She hesitated again, though, not quite sure how to continue. So she chose not to... to let herself have more time. Come up with something that made sense. But she was not going to tell him no. Definitely not. But she was going to try to figure out exactly what this... meant. "Can I... can we discuss this later? When we... get back?"

"Take as long as you need, Bones. Do you... want to finish this up now... head back to DC tomorrow?"

She nodded, and he started the engine once more. They still had one more thing to do, before they went home.

They'd already been back, technically, she thought as they turned out of the street and began navigating through the small town. Booth had gotten them on a plane the following day after he'd found her in Boston, and when they'd arrived at the airport... well she'd never gotten quite a greeting like that before.

She'd spoken to Angela on the phone, after Booth had called her and filled her in what was going on. Her friend had been crying, which became evident to her after she first spoke into the cell and received a sob in response. That had hurt, cut deep, to hear full well just what she had done to someone who she meant so much to and who meant so much to her.

And yet she was so easily forgiven, as soon as she had sworn that she would never take off again, that it almost made it worse. It only added to the weight of her guilt that was already pulling her down.

Booth's support, too, had been enough to make her want to hide herself in shame. She didn't deserve all the attention he gave her. All the love he said that he felt for her.

How could she have ever thought that it might have been reasonable to just get up and abandon all she had known, leave them behind and expect them to move on? After all, she should know better than anyone what if felt like to be left with no answers, no explanations, no contact whatsoever. Just the sense that someone had not cared enough to bother.

She did care, though, and now... well, now she was going to have to prove it. And she would, no matter how much it took. She would not disappoint them all again; they deserved better than that. And they were more important to her than anything else ever had been.

"How far is the drive?" she asked softly, more to break the silence then out of genuine curiosity. She felt the... need, to say something to him, as though the silence in itself was a betrayal of him on her part, by keeping herself isolated in the protective silence.

Who needed silence, anyways, when she had Booth right here... more than willing to fill the emptiness with his personality and humor?

"A half hour or so," he answered with a shrug. "Although we really should stop for lunch before we get there. You're stomach was just grumbling, and don't try to pretend it wasn't because it was really quite loud."

She laughed softly, the action in itself a relief to her system. She felt herself relax more fully into the seat, a tension she hadn't even recognized beforehand now fading away and leaving her almost tired... but peaceful nonetheless. It was calming, even though the realization that she was able to be so quickly placated by simply his voice should have alarmed her as it once had. It no longer really mattered, though, did it? She could be happy now, if she let herself.

Oh, if only she could let herself...

"You okay over there, Bones?" he asked, breaking through her thoughts. She started guiltily, immediately noticing that she'd done what she'd been willing herself not to do... internalizing and leaving him in the dark.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about some things. Lunch does sound really good, though."

He nodded, eyes watching her with concern. She winced and looked away, which, frustratingly, only seemed to make him more worried about her.

"I'm fine," she muttered.

Silence.

Sigh.

"Booth... I'm sorry. I just... everything is confusing right now. And I want to process it, but at the same time I feel like I've already done too much thinking recently... and that I should just take your advice and go with me heart..."

"Hey, Bones, you do whatever it is you need to do... I can wait. As long as you are completely certain of your decision when you come to it. I need to know that if you... want to try for this, for us, you're going to stick with it. I need that from you, or else... I don't think I could do it." He shook his head, frowning out of the windshield as he continued driving. She noticed that they'd picked up speed while he'd been speaking... probably subconsciously on his part from his reaction to the stressing and serious conversation.

More silence... and more guilt from that.

She found herself wishing that she was alone, so that she would be able to just process and not have to worry about hurting him further by plunging the vehicle once more into an almost painful silence. Because he wanted to talk; she knew he did.

Could she do that, though? Convince herself to risk it all on a relationship, when relationships were simply not meant to last, when the very nature of such a thing might tear them apart and destroy the closeness they'd formed over the years? Would she be able to stay with it, when things got tough, when all she wanted to do was take it all back and return things to the easiness and relaxed understanding that had connected them before?

...Why wouldn't she, when she'd been so ready to give it all away... for no reason but to escape? What did she really have to lose? And what had she been told before... if you were willing to risk your life for someone, why not your happiness? Booth was worth that. It would all be worth that... if it worked out. And she had to have... faith... that it would.

In the blunt and efficient way that only she could, she said the three words to change the silence completely, and to alter the future beyond her control. And in saying them... she let go, and grasped at the tendrils of hope and trust in him, holding them as tightly as she could once the words had slipped out and clung to the air between them.

"I love you."


I feel like I didn't do Brennan's reactions to seeing her son for the first time justice... but I'll try to go back to her thoughts on the matter later. I don't plan on having them meet in this fic, though, so I'm sorry if you were hoping for that.

Next up is a reunion with Jamie.