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BOOTH

Booth drove up to Founding Fathers at a little past seven. He was meeting Brennan for drinks after a very long day. It had been about a week since the horses at Haywood farms had been found. They had made little progress. Today, unlike the rest, had been successful. Two possible suspects had been brought in to the FBI for questioning after Angela's sketches got a hit. They had admitted to going to the farms to scout out the property. They weren't saying who the caller had been. Booth had decided to keep them detained. He had confiscated their cell phones to hopefully track down some numbers. He figured keeping them would be his best bet on catching the bad guy. He paralleled park his SUV across the street from restaurant. He set the alarm before looking both ways and crossed the busy street. He walked in and found two empty stools at the end bar. He sat down and the bartender without asking brought over a glass of scotch.

"Is the doctor joining you tonight?" Jack, the bartender, asked Booth as he wiped down the bar.

Booth took a long sip of his drink before answering, "Yeah, she should be here in a little bit."

The bartender smiled before heading off to get another guy at the bar a refill on his drink.

After Booth had finished off his second scotch he looked down at his watch. Brennan still had about twenty minutes before they were suppose to meet at eight. He pushed his glass forward motioning for another. The bartender was quick to refill. Booth pulled his drink closer to him swirling the amber liquid around the short glass. He heard someone sit down next to him.

"I'll have what he's having." The female voice called to the bartender. Booth looked over knowing that wasn't Brennan's voice or her drink order. He saw Hannah in the stool next to him.

Her playful blue eyes met his confused ones, "Hey Seeley, mind if I have a drink with you?" she asked turning herself to face him.

Booth sighed, "I said I would call you." Booth explained, "How did you know where to find me anyways?"

Hannah took a sip of her glass of scotch, "You're not hard to figure out, Seeley. It was either Barney's or Founding Fathers." She said with a crooked smile, "I wanted to ask you a few questions about the case."

Booth smiled, he knew Hannah better than that. If she was really after questions about the case she would have called him. She wouldn't have sought him out.

"That's not really why you're here. What's going on?"

Hannah's smile faded, "I actually wanted to see how you were holding up." She admitted looking at her drink before meeting Booth's gaze.

Booth looked away, "I think you lost that privilege when you left me." He knew that was why she had come here. She either wanted a second chance or a chance to explain why she left. She knew she had messed up. He felt sad for a moment before he reminded himself that he had moved on. Actually, he never had to move on. He just needed to get over the fact that yet another woman had left him. No matter who he was with he had always loved Bones. Now he didn't need other women to try and make him feel whole. He would wait for Bones this time. He had a feeling deep down that Bones would eventually be accepting of the idea of them. He would never try to fill that void with someone else again. He didn't do either of them any good. When the two of them were separated by other people someone always ended up getting hurt. He wasn't going to put anyone through that again. He did sometimes wonder what would have happened if Hannah had stayed with him. How would his life have changed? You can't live in the past and what could have been. He reminded himself as soon as the thought entered his mind.

Hannah winced, "I know that I wasn't fair to you. But you weren't the same person either." She argued, "I'm not asking for a second chance." She said looking down at her drink again, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You did mean so much to me, Seeley. I just freaked out. I regret how I handled things." She said looking back up at him. He eyes were filling up with tears. She was able to control them quickly.

"I wasn't fair to you either." Booth admitted, "I was angry about it for some time. I was angry over all of it." He saw her eyes filled with tears. He put his hand softly on her arm in a friendly and reassuring gesture, "Thank you." He said with a weak but meaningful smile, "That does mean a lot to me. I had trouble accepting the things that went wrong in our relationship for a long time." He sighed, "But Bones helped me. She was just what I needed to get back into the game. I might be rusty but I'm getting back to my old self."
Hannah smiled, "That's great Seeley. I'm happy for you." She stated, "I just thought I owed you my explanation. You are a good man. You deserve someone who will take you for you."

Booth looked over at Hannah. There was one question that he still wanted an answer. It was one subject that had nagged at him since they had broken up. He at one point thought she was 'the one'. Brennan hadn't returned and he did love Hannah. He was for some time thinking about marrying her. He had gone and looked at rings and contemplated the idea for months. That was one questioned that he needed answered. It needed to be answered in order for him to fully get over Hannah.

"Can I ask you just one question?" Booth asked softly watching as Hannah sipped her drink. Hannah took one more sip of her drink before looking over at Booth, "Anything."

"I was going to ask you to marry me. Would you have said yes?" he asked feeling a sigh of relief after he finally said the question out loud. If felt good to get the question out in the open.

Hannah smiled sweetly, "You really want the truth?" she asked running a hand through her sandy blonde hair.

Booth nodded, "Yes."

She smiled again, "I'm not the marrying kind." She paused letting Booth soak up the answer before adding, "I loved you. But, where we were in our relationship it wouldn't have been the right time." She smiled reassuring, "Was that the answer you were looking for?"

"Back then definitely not." He laughed, "Now though, it makes things a lot easier."

Hannah finished her drink setting it down on the wood bar, "Well I'm glad we cleared that up." She raised her hand and ordered some shots. She raised her glass, "A toast?" she asked softly. Booth smiled and raised his glass, "What's the toast?"

Hannah smiled, "To answered questions and to moving in the right direction."

"To answered questions and moving in the right direction." He repeated clinking his glass with hers. In unison they both threw back their shots of alcohol. He put the shot glass down on the bar. They finished off the other shots that were in front of them. He put the final shot glass down on the bar and looked at his watch again.

Hannah noticed him look at his watch; "Meeting someone?" she asked fishing her wallet out of purse.

"Bones." Booth admitted rubbing his forehead. He was going to regret all of the shots in the morning, "She should be here any minute."

Hannah put a twenty on the bar, "Then I'll get going. Sorry for intruding. I just felt like I needed to clear up some things." Hannah got up from the stool and put her purse over her shoulder and grabbed her purse, "I'll see you around Seeley. Take care of yourself, okay?" she asked pausing in front of Booth.

"Thank you." He smiled, "Take care of yourself too." He added as she headed for the door.

Hannah disappeared through the open door as Booth pulled out his cell phone checking to see if Brennan left him a text or voice mail. Nothing, where was she? He wondered.