I don't own Bones, I know I have 206 in my body, but the Bones from Fox isn't mine.

I had a difficult time in writing this chapter. I wanted Max to show Bones that a marriage can survive different problems, but Max would have never cheated on his wife, so I created a story. Please comment if you think it fits; but remember to be kind. I still don't like it, but I'll let it go.

Decisions

Booth knocked on the door again about an hour later.

"Bones, your nurse and therapist will be her in a little while, please come out. I won't talk about it if you don't want to, but I want you to eat. I made you some lunch."

"Oh, no I forgot about them coming. I'll come out if you will leave my door. Did you sleep there all night?"

"Yes, I didn't want to be anywhere else." He knew that once the nurse and therapist arrived maybe enough time would pass so Max would come. He hoped Max would be able to talk to her.

"Ok, I'll go upstairs and get changed; your lunch is on the table." Booth left the doorway and started to go up stairs. He watched the door to make sure she didn't leave. Why did Max say that, now he was terrified he would lose her.

He heard a knock on the door and realized the nurse was there. He came down stairs to let her in. Bones was walking toward the door as he reached it. He looked at her disheveled appearance, and the dark circles under her eyes. Those beautiful eyes, that seemed to look right through him. Those eyes that could see deep into his soul. Why couldn't they see the love he had for her? He went back upstairs.

He stayed in his room until the therapist came, then he went into the living room and put in a movie. After her therapist left, she came into the living room and sat on the chair staying away from Booth.

"Are you still upset with me?"

"I'm not ready to talk yet."

"Ok, I'm going to make dinner."

Booth left the room and started to cook dinner.

Bones sat in the living room all alone, she felt drained and empty. She wanted to be near him, but at the same time, she didn't want to be near him. She was so confused.

Booth heard a knock at the door; he silently prayed that it was Max.

Max came bursting into the house with more energy than Booth and Bones together. He went right into see Tempe. "Dad, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see my little girl."

"But you just left."

"I know, but I had a meeting in California and I thought I'd stop by on the way home. Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Sorry, Dad, I'm always glad to see you." She got up, went to him and gave him a hug.

"Look at you, your walking alone!"

"Yes, my physical therapy is going very well. My leg was so strong with the cast on, that when they took it off; I was stronger than they thought. How long can you stay?"

"Only a few days, I need to be back East by Monday."

"So, have you decided when you are moving back?"

"I'm not sure if I'm going back, I'm starting to like it here." Booth was listening to this conversion, and his heart sank.

"What are you talking about, your whole family is back East, and everyone can't wait for you to return. Russ and the girls really want to see you, and I know your friends at the Jeffersonian cannot wait for you to come back. What does Booth think about this?"

"I'm not concerned with Booth's thoughts, I 'm trying to think about what is better for me. I think I could write better here, and I don't know if I want to go back to work. I'm already behind on my writing contract; I don't want any problems from my publisher."

"Tempe, come and sit down here with me."

"Why?"

"Because I know when something is bothering you, and right now you are using every excuse you can to avoid something."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Did you have some memories return?" Tempe slowly made her way over to sit near her Dad.

"Yes." She whispered. Booth felt that he was intruding, so he said he had to go upstairs for a bit and call Rebecca. This left them alone.

"Booth proposed."

"Tempe, that's great. What did you say?"

"I told him yes, and then I remembered Hannah."

"Oh, and what do you want to do now?"

"I want to run, but I can't leave him, I don't understand why it hurts so badly, but I still want to be near him. Shouldn't I hate him?"

"Tempe, that's love. You love him, I know this is hard to understand, but you need to talk to him, you need to sort this out. You can't run away from this. You will regret it for the rest of your life. Let me tell you a story about your mom and me. When you were only four years old, your mom and I had a bad fight Russ remembers it. "

"It was about how we were always moving around and you never had a safe place to live. I wanted to tell everything to the state and get into witness protection, but your mom didn't, she thought we were doing ok, on our own. Your mom didn't trust the witness protection, because there were too many crooked cops. You see, we had just gotten used to your new names, I was terrible at that, I would always forget and call you Joy, but she said we would have to learn that all over again, and she also didn't want you to remember anything about our past, and since you were getting older, you would remember a name change. So we argued for about three weeks, I wouldn't sleep in the same room as her, and we hardly ever talked."

"Well, I went out one day and I saw someone get shot right in front of me. It was an older couple and the wife was shot during a robbery. I watched that man, hold his wife in his arms, while he told her he loved her and he would miss her, and then she died. Tempe I will never forget the look on that man's face. It still haunts my dreams. You see he loved her, and he didn't want to live without her. I read in the papers a few days later that he died of a heart attack. Well, I knew at that moment that no matter what your mother did or didn't want to do I would do it. I never wanted to be without her. I loved her too much to lose her, so I never turned state's evidence. Then when you were fifteen, Vince McVicker found us, and your mom and I ran. Two years later he killed your mother anyway, but Tempe, at least I had eleven years with the most wonderful person in the world. If I had been stubborn and didn't try to talk things out, our marriage would have ended when you were four. I had to put aside my thoughts and actually listen to your mom. I found out later that the man I was going to turn myself in to was on McVicker's payroll, if I hadn't listened to your mom, we all would have been dead and you would have never seen your fifth birthday."

"Tempe, you need to stop being afraid, and go to him, he made a mistake, but don't make him pay for it forever. He's proven his love for you repeatedly. During all the times you have worked together, he has done everything in his power to protect you." Why can't you forgive him one mistake?"

"But, Dad it just hurts so bad."

"I know, but did you let him explain, have you talked about it?"

"No."

"Tempe, talk to him, listen to him, that's what a relationship is all about. You need to communicate. You need to talk."

"Well I'm going to bed. I'm staying at a hotel just down the street, so you can be alone. You have had company since you came home from the hospital; you don't need your old man hanging around, besides the beds are more comfortable than the couch. I'll be back tomorrow."

Max kissed his daughter on top of the head and left.