Pops drops by more often than usual.
Jared calls at least once each week.
Rebecca keeps making sure that he's okay.
He gets phone calls from colleagues: current and past. His and hers.
Sully.
Dr. Filmore.
Michael Stires.
Dr. Goodman.
Zack.
But one call he isn't expecting; isn't quite sure what to make of it.
Her voice on the line renders him speechless at first.
Her concern is obvious.
Things between them hadn't ended well but their feelings had been real. And they had been intense.
He had been willing to spend the rest of his life with her.
But she hadn't been willing to accept his offer.
And for that he would be forever grateful.
He keeps their conversation short. Thanks her for calling. Tries, but fails to keep the tears out of his voice.
"Temperance would never murder someone. Never."
There was a sincerity in her voice. An unmistakable sense of worry.
He wonders if Bones knows how many people care? The question only serves to make the tears come faster.
"I love you, Seeley."
He had almost forgotten they were still on the line as he let his sobs escape, unchecked. "I know," his voice hitches in his throat.
"But it's not the same is it? The same as it is with her?"
"Not at all." Despite his heartbreak, his confidence was impossible to miss.
"She'll be home soon. I promise."
And with that their conversation was over.
He feels like he has been punched in the gut by the regrets that stir inside of him. The endless parade of "what ifs" that are running through his mind. How close he had come to losing it all.
Brennan didn't see it that way. He knew that. She liked Hannah. She didn't hold anyone at fault for what had happened between the three of them.
It just was.
No one, himself included, understood that. No one, except for Brennan.
And the reminder of exactly who his partner is just amplifies his heartache.
A birthday ficlet (TM JenaAlways) for my friend NatesMama, who didn't think I had the nerve to write a Hannah fic for this series. She obviously underestimated me. I hope this lives up to what she wanted to read.
Happy Birthday evil genius!