Sorry it's been a while, school sucks sometimes. Anyway here is my last one-shot before the 100th. It's based on the promo pictures and you know the ones I'm talking about. I realize the episode already aired in Canada but the rest of us have to wait.

Now according to word this is exactly 1000 words, the count on the chapter is longer, because of other things. So read on.

I don't own bones if i did I would have been at the party this evening and would know how the season ends, as much as I would like that I'm stuck in suspense with the rest of you.


A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

"Sometimes I think not following you was the biggest mistake of my life." He said quietly as they descended the stairs of the Hoover building to walk to the metro.

She just stopped on the stairs and looked at him. In the course of recounting the tale of their first case, she had known that they had dredged up some emotions that had been forgotten and had brought to the surface ones that had been boiling below the surface for months now. She should've expected him to bring it up as soon as he could, but part of her had hoped that he wouldn't and they could slide back into the comfortable place they had been in until this morning.

He went down a few more steps before he realized that she stopped. "Bones?" He asked worried, climbing back up the steps.

"What do you mean?" her brain whirling, trying to find the possibility that fit best into the context of their day, she just couldn't seem to make anything fit.

Quickly his hands shot out and rested on her waist trying to calm her. "Just that if I had followed you we might be in a really different place."

Confusion became more pronounced with that statement, "Do you not like where we are now?"

He was angry with himself now why couldn't he communicate it to her properly. "Bones where we are now is great, you're my best friend, my partner, but sometimes I can't help but wonder if I had followed you that night…" He trailed off as comprehension seemed to dawn in her face, even though her eyes looked worried.

"You think that if you'd followed me we might be in a committed romantic relationship instead of being friends?" She was still trying to make the puzzle pieces fit.

"Well yeah." He shrugged squeezing her waist a little bit, as fear came back into her eyes.

"Is what we have not enough?" Now he was making everything worse and he's kicking himself mentally for mentioning it.

She brought her hands up to his chest as if she was trying to determine what his heart was saying. He shook his head briefly, lowering his head to capture her gaze with his own. "What we have is great Bones, but don't you ever wonder what would be like if there was more?"

Silence. A few cars drove by and they both felt like it was any eternity before she finally gathered the courage to simply ask, "More what?"

She broke his heart, she just looked so sad and venerable, and he didn't know what to do besides answer the question that in his heart he almost wished she hadn't asked. "More to us than just partners and friends. I don't know. Just sometimes I wish there was more." She looked up at him with her clear blue eyes sparkling and he decided to just go for it.

He leaned in and brushed her lips with his, just like they had all those years ago. At first, she stood stock still, frozen in shock at what he really meant. Before she responded in kind slowly warming to him, allowing him access as he asked for it, marveling that he still had a minty fresh taste, along with coffee and something that was unmistakably Booth. And for a moment every thought left her brain and her heart took over.

As she responds to him, his heart swelled with hope and sheer joy. He always knew that she would taste better than pie, she did that first time all those years ago and now she tastes even better. So Bones, that any thoughts of this moment that he'd ever had were completely washed away in that moment because nothing was as good as the real thing.

That was until breathing became necessary and they both pulled back. The earth felt like it was playing catch up, all of the sudden every irrational thought came crashing back to her and she stepped back disengaging from him. His hands fell to his sides and he could see the look on her face that told him that this was all going horribly, horribly wrong.

This wasn't how he'd ever imagined this going, hell this wasn't how anyone ever imagined this going. She inhaled deeply never taking her eyes from him as she slid her hands into her pockets. She bit her lip in that tell tale sign that she doesn't know quite what to do, and know he wishes that they could take the whole day back, and have never gone to see Sweets about the book.

But it's too late for idle wishes so he has to play the cards he's been dealt, even though it seems his luck has turned.

She watched him knowing that he's waiting for her to say something that he's panicking on the inside afraid of what her reaction is going to be. And she knows as his hand goes into his pocket to play with the chip that he's cursing his luck because he can read her so well and he knows that this is not going to end the way either of them wants it to. But despite how much her heart is telling her to abandon everything and believe in the "happily ever after," she can't. Her brain remains the rational actor that tells her that if they go down this path then she may lose him, and that neither her heart nor her brain can tolerate.

She steels herself to say the words that will simultaneously break both their hearts and keep everything the way it belongs. Looking at those warm brown eyes, she tells him what she needs.

"Partners, Booth. We're partners." If he has any reaction, she doesn't see up because she turns and walks away.

The instant she'd pulled back he knew it was coming, so he let her go with those words. Unaware there was a tear rolling down her cheek.

Well what are your thoughts?

Happy 100 episodes every one, may their be many more to come.

Babyrose