To Haunt You

"Agent Booth, you have a visitor. Should I show her up?" Charlie's raised eyebrows and odd vagueness instantly set off alarm bells for Booth.

"Bones is supposed to be here for our meeting with Sweets, Charlie. You shouldn't have to-"

"It's not Dr. Brennan, Booth." Charlie's eyebrows never moved. "It's your ex. The reporter."

Booth released a frustrated breath, simultaneously dreading this confrontation and looking forward to getting it over with. Hannah had been calling him on and off for weeks, and Booth had been fairly successful in ignoring her. In fact, it had become a game of sorts between him and Brennan. She would encourage him to answer, he would refuse, and eventually they would end up not speaking for a few hours or in bed working out their differences in an entirely different and naked way. Booth, quite obviously, preferred the latter.

Rolling his eyes and picking up his discarded jacket, Booth nodded to his colleague. "Yeah, alright. Show her up, Charlie. Thanks."

While he waited, Booth sent Brennan a text, giving her a heads up to the situation. When she replied, asking if he needed some privacy, it only made him grin. The fact that Brennan was secure enough in their relationship, that she trusted him enough to not be concerned that he was seeing his former girlfriend, made the last of Booth's nerves fade away…even as he watched Hannah striding towards his office, looking determined.

Effectively dismissing Charlie with a wave, Booth settled against the corner of his desk, arms crossed in front of him. "Hannah. What brings you by?"

The blonde smiled as she moved closer to Booth, faltering when she finally took in his steely gaze. "Seeley. It's been awhile, I thought…well, I thought we needed to talk." She smiled again, a little less brightly. "You look well."

"Thanks." Booth replied tersely, not returning the compliment. "What did we need to talk about? Because, quite frankly, I thought we'd said everything that needed to be said."

"I…I told you, that night…I didn't think that we were done. I believe that we still could, I don't know, work something out." Hannah sat, finally, in one of the chairs in front of Booth's desk. "I just can't understand why we would end something that was so good over something so easy to work out, that's all."

"Alright. I guess that's fair." Booth felt a little ashamed of himself. He knew for a fact that the end of their relationship was not Hannah's fault, no matter how much he had wanted to blame her at first. "But there is something that I need to put out there, before this goes any further."

"Okay…" She sat on the edge of the chair expectantly.

"I am with someone." Her wide eyes almost broke his determination. "I mean, I have a girlfriend."

"Oh." Hannah cringed, not knowing what else to say. "I don't know why I…okay."

Booth uncrossed his arms and held his hands out. "Look, there probably are some other things that need to be said." His expression softened. "And the first of those things is that I should thank you."

"Th-thank me?"

"Yeah." He moved to sit in the chair opposite her, and took her hand. "You said no, and you did the right thing. For you, for me…it was what you should have done. And I appreciate that."

Hannah shook her head. "And I came in here thinking I had made a big mistake by saying no. What was I thinking?" She laughed mirthlessly.

"No, no…this was my entire fault. I was…hasty. I shouldn't have proposed. I mean, we barely knew each other…in all the important ways that you should know someone that you plan to spend the rest of your life with. I can take responsibility for that, I was not very open with you about certain parts of my life. But then again…"

"Neither was I. Right." She nodded. "You're right. I suppose that since everything else seemed to be going so well, I didn't see…or want to see, what was not going so well."

"Neither one of us did. But please don't think that I regret anything. I don't. You were…there for me, in ways I can't even express, that got me through a hard time in my life. And you dropped everything to come to DC to be with me, and I can't tell you how much that meant. I'm not saying that was the reason I was with you, it just turned out that way."

Hannah nodded again. "I appreciate that distinction. And I am sorry that I hurt you. But…"

"I hurt you, too. I know. And I couldn't be more sorry about that. But I will never be sorry about our relationship. I enjoyed our time together, I hope you know that." Booth's eyes were radiating honesty, and Hannah couldn't help the pang of regret that she felt, again, about losing this good man.

"Okay, then." She finally smiled a true smile. "I guess the last thing I wanted to know was, are you happy, Seeley?"

Booth grinned, unable to contain the feeling of finally being at peace for the first time in a very long time. "I really am. I've realized that I deserve to be happy and I don't have to be someone I'm not in order to have that. I can have it all and not worry that it's all going to collapse around me."

"Wow. That's…I didn't know that was something you worried about. But I'm glad that you're happy." She tilted her head slightly, an idea forming that she couldn't shake. "I wouldn't happen to know this woman, would I?"

Booth nodded. "Yeah. We…it took us a long time and more than enough heartache, but Bones and I-" He was interrupted by a knock on his door. "Come in!"

Brennan pushed the door open, inquisitive look on her face. "Hey Booth, I wanted to see if you were done or if you wanted me to go wait in Sweets' office while you finished." She smiled and nodded at the other woman. "Hello, Hannah. It is nice to see you again."

Hannah pulled her shocked eyes away from Brennan's obviously pregnant belly to stutter out an answer. "Temperance…I-um, it's good to see you, too. How-are you feeling well?"

"I am, thank you. My levels of exhaustion have increased and I am no longer allowed to be out in the field with Booth, but I am very excited about the impending birth of our child and we are both healthy." She looked again to Booth. "Why don't I let you finish and I'll head upstairs?"

Hannah stood abruptly and shook her head. "Oh, no. Please, stay. I believe we've said what we needed to say, right Seeley?"

Booth followed her, getting to his feet as well. "I think so." He moved to hug her, smiling at Brennan over her shoulder as he did. "I'm really glad you stopped by, Hannah. I've never liked how we ended things."

"I'm glad I did too. Thank you for seeing me." Hannah pulled her bag over her shoulder tighter. "Temperance. I hope everything goes well with the baby. Congratulations." She looked back at Booth one more time. "To both of you." They both watched as she left the office and crossed the bullpen towards the elevators.

"Are you alright, Booth?" Brennan rubbed a hand up and down his bicep, concern marring her features. "I know you had been avoiding Hannah, so…"

"No, it was good, Bones. I'm glad she got tired of my ditching her." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the room, heading towards the elevators themselves. "There were unresolved issues we needed to talk about and now…we can move on from it without being angry."

"That's a good thing, then." Brennan agreed, wrapping her arm around his waist.

Booth kissed her temple as they waited for the elevator car. "It is, Bones. It's a very good thing."