Brennan held the pipe in her hands, the purple smear resembling the elephant in the room that was simply begging to be acknowledged. Waiting for the glue to dry, and trying to ignore the hard muscle pressed up against her side, Brennan wondered about when the teacher had become the student.

It would be illogical to disprove the impact Booth had had on her life. When she had first met him, the thought of anything outside the Jeffersonian had been an unwelcome distraction from her work. Reading bones and interpreting the stories they told had become a passion that she had worked hard at cultivating. While many struggled to understand her attachment to forensic anthropology, to Brennan it had become a way for her to connect to a world that had largely been hostile to her. She could tell if someone had been a swimmer, dancer or writer. She could tell how tall or short, how much they weighed, what their faces looked like.

Where people saw bones, Brennan saw people. It wasn't that she felt nothing towards the skeletons laid out in front of her. If anything, Michael Stires had revealed how very much she invested in the dead so she could bring them to life.

Bones were less disappointing in a way. They never left you – you left them. She was able to dictate the terms and conditions of their relationship. There was no need for mutual respect or reciprocity. In the end, Brennan held the control. She was able to determine what and how this person was dealt with. There were no uncertain variables, no need to consider whether her words were harsh or considered uncouth. The bones were thankful she was there, happy that someone was able to close the last chapter of their lives.

But Booth had changed all that.

Now bones were still people, but there were also people out there that needed her.

Special Agent Seeley Booth had showed her that it was okay to put her faith in the living again. There was more than one kind of family, he had told her. Brennan had looked around at her team and realized he was right. These people that she worked with everyday weren't just pieces of skeleton that she could do with as she pleased. Booth had taught her the meaning of reciprocity, the way that relationships weren't about control but rather about the course two people sought to chart.

He had taught her about love.

And it had seemed, for that brief moment before when he had told her he loved her on the sidewalk outside the Diner, that maybe she had taught him something about love too.

But then he had grinned and said in a professional, atta girl kind of way.

Brennan wrinkled her nose.

'What's wrong?' Booth asked her.

'Nothing. This stinks,' she replied back, making sure her eyes were fixated on the pipe.

'Yeah, well. This coming from the woman who sees nothing wrong with sniffing decomposed bodies,' Booth said. Brennan swallowed, making a noncommittal sound in the back of her throat.

'So we hold this in place for a few minutes to let it set,' Booth told her, reaching over and placing his hand on top of hers. The tingle she felt when her skin came into contact with his made her shiver slightly. Booth cleared his throat, settling his hand next to hers instead. Silence enveloped them, broken by the groan of wood.

'So, an anonymous donation huh?'

'Yes. I'm happy that Wendell managed to secure the funding needed to continue his internship. I've grown accustomed to his presence. Not to mention that he possesses above average intelligence,' Brennan pointed out. Booth bumped his shoulder against hers.

'C'mon Bones. We all know why you gave him the money. It wasn't because of his mind. You like him.'

'How do you know I gave him the money? Cam said there were three donations made, not just one.'

Brennan felt Booth's gaze on her and pressed her fingers tighter around the pipe.

'It's okay to like him Bones. Zach isn't going to hate you for it.'

Instinctually, Brennan felt her eyes begin to burn.

'This has nothing to do with Zach. My feelings towards Dr Addy are not affecting-'

Booth snorted. 'You tried to distance yourself from Wendell so you wouldn't get too attached to him. I know you Bones. You're afraid that you're going to adopt him into your family, and then he's going to end up like Zach and you're going to think it's all your fault.'

A beat. 'That's a huge supposition.'

Booth sighed. Brennan saw her knuckles turn white. She remembered going to see Zach at the hospital, after Caroline had left.

'I was already proud of you Zach. So very proud.' Hands balled into fists. 'You were an excellent scientist. You were able to push aside your emotions and yet remember that even though objectivity and sanity called for coldness, that feeling something was allowed after. Booth will never understand that. When there's a skeleton in front of you that barely covers half the table, you have to be able to look at it and see nothing but a pile of bones, not a little boy who loved to climb trees and wanted to be a pirate.'

'It's okay to want to like Wendell Bones. Zach wasn't your fault or mine. He was a grown man and he did what he did.'

'He killed someone,' Brennan whispered.

'Yeah, but you haven't left him yet,' Booth told her. 'You still visit him, so do the squints. He made a mistake and you forgave him. Wendell isn't going to do the same thing. Zach was an anomaly-'

'Zach was a lot like me,' Brennan countered. 'He understood why I did what I did. He understood why I needed to be the way I am. None of you do.'

'I understand Bones. It's taken me a while to figure you out, but I have.' She felt Booth lean into her.

He sees what's inside and he's dazzled by it.

'I've been shown that financial and personality contradictions aside, I can still be close to people. That I can trust them.'

'Well, you're a good student.'

'I'm only as good as my teacher,' Brennan said, focusing her blue eyes onto his brown ones.

And now the student needs to become the teacher.

'I'm glad we have no secrets from each other,' Booth commented, gently easing their hands off the pipe. He draped his arm across her, reaching to turn on the water. 'That we can say whatever's on our minds.'

Except the fact that you can't tell me you love me.

'See, what did I tell you? Who needs to pay eight hundred bucks to a plumber when you can fix it yourself?'

'Because we don't do it for money right?' Brennan asked, leaning on her elbows and listening to the water screech through the aged pipes.

'No, no we don't,' Booth replied, his voice low. He reached over to smooth a strand of hair behind her ear.

Avalon had told her that Booth knew her, understood her, accepted her for who she was. That he was dazzled. While she didn't believe in tarot cards and psychic fiction, Booth's feelings towards her were something she felt she could put her heart into.

Because as they sat there, both sputtering as the pipe burst and she exclaimed over the fact that her Rolex might be broken, she realized that whatever they did, they did it for love.

She just had to show Booth that, just like he had shown her.

a/n: the visit Brennan makes to Zach can be found on my profile, titled 'Against Utility'.