Chapter 21

Booth was sweeping up the remainder of the glass in the kitchen when Hannah arrived home looking cheerful, but a little tired.

"Hey," he looked up in surprise, glancing at his watch as he considered the time difference. It was 9:00am. "You guys got an early start this morning, huh?"

She came over to him and they shared a chaste kiss. "Yes, too early and I'm only stopping by for an hour or two to freshen up before I head in to wrap up the follow up story from this trip. I didn't expect to see you. Wait . . . " She turned his head to see the bruise on the side of his face and took in the scene around her for the first time. Booth had mostly straightened up everything, but broken windows and holes in the wall still made themselves glaringly obvious and she looked down to see what Booth had been sweeping.

"Oh my God, what happened here? The last time I talked to you, you were in the hospital, but sounding just fine. Are you all right?"

Booth shrugged. "Yeah, yeah –we're all fine. Had a bit of a showdown last night, but we have Escala in custody now."

She eyed him curiously. "I would think you would feel more excited by that outcome. What's going on?"

"It's just . . . well, nothing ever goes down easily. Escala took out the guy that lived in the place across the way so that he'd have access to me." He did not feel able to expand on all of the events that took place the night before. The unnecessary deaths only compounded the weight of all the emotions he had experienced the past few days. He could feel Hannah's questioning look, but did not have the energy to respond to it. He felt he had never known how to give her what she wanted in this regard.

"Babe – " Hannah started.

"Looks like Gates is coming clean." Booth pushed through. "Escala had some pressure on him with threats to his family. I'll probably be fully re-instated later today, but I gotta go in and wrap up a bunch of paperwork."

Hannah snaked her hands up along his chest under the lapels of his suit jacket and seductively around his neck. "Wanna relax a bit before we both have to go in?"

He gave a light chuckle as he dipped into her eyes with his own, but what she saw in those eyes told her that relaxing was not on his agenda that morning. He gave her a tender kiss, but gently stopped them from moving forward.

"Not this time. I have to work through some of this stuff differently right now."

Hannah looked at him warily. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'differently'."

"We've . . . I've been skating along with the idea that we can just be together, that there doesn't have to be more than that, but there's too much at stake, now and you don't even really know who I am."

"And whose fault is that?" Hannah asked in irritation.

"Mine," Booth responded without hesitation, "it's all mine." There was no sense in arguing it. He knew he had been consciously holding back and saw no reason for her to feel any responsibility for his choices.

Hannah gave him a stunned expression, then sighed. "No, not all yours. I know how to ask the right questions, but I haven't done it. It takes two, right?" He gave her a sad smile in agreement. "We aren't working, are we?"

Booth sat down heavily on the stool in the kitchen. "No, I guess not," he said reluctantly. "I'm sorry. I really am."

Hannah sat on the stool next to him. "I know. Me too. I feel like the events of the past couple of weeks threw the spotlight on all of the parts that we'd been kind of ignoring along the way."

"I love you," he said sorrowfully.

"I know. I love you, too," she said with equal sadness.

"But, it's not enough, is it?" He stroked the side of her face gently.

"We had a great run." She smiled warmly and took a hold of his hand. "You've given me so much, Seeley. I won't forget that."

"Not nearly as much as you gave me," he returned sincerely. "Look, you know you can stay here until you find alternate arrangements."

She gave a light laugh. "I think we both know that is not such a good idea. But I love you for offering it, anyway." He chuckled in return. She continued. "You know me, nomadic lifestyle, it will be easy for me gather up my things and move on to the next adventure. Although," she paused briefly, "not as easy as in the past. Being with you showed me that the idea of settling down is not so scary as I once thought it was."

Inasmuch as he knew that parting ways with Hannah was right, he still found himself slipping into a different kind of sadness after her line about settling down. He didn't understand how he had ended up here, alone again.

"It may sound really, really weird of me to say this right now," Hannah said hesitantly, "but I'm going to say it, anyway." Booth gave her a puzzled look. "Temperance. I know she's just your partner, but . . . I get this feeling that she feels more than that for you, that she would be open to something more—"

"She doesn't." Booth interrupted swiftly, flatly.

Hannah saw the flash of emotions run through his face and let the final pieces of the puzzle fall into place in her head. "Oh, Seeley. I'm sorry."

Booth could tell she really was and it floored him. "You're sorry?" He gave a chuckle. "Wait, why are we breaking up again?"

She couldn't help but laugh as she, too, realized the absurdity of the situation. Booth pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed the top of her head. "Stay safe," he whispered roughly before releasing her, grabbing his keys, and walking out the door.