This is the chapter that coincides with The Truth in the Lye. Obviously I am not going to follow this one close to canon, as Booth ends up in bed with two different women. At different times, but still…

This is what happens when you make plans. You learn to adapt.

I do not own Bones aside from the 206 I was originally blessed with.


Sorrow

Rebecca hung back and watched as her ex-boyfriend and the father of her child danced with his new wife. She was happy for them, she really was. She and Seeley had made their peace some time ago, and she was grateful for the friendship they shared now. And Temperance had become someone very dear to her, and she seemed to love her son as much as Rebecca did, which comforted her. But still…no matter how happy you are, when you see what you could have had and could have been standing right in front of you…it was hard not to wonder.

Although he never really believed it would ever happen, that never stopped Zack from thinking about what it could have been like. His hyper-rational brain realized a long time ago that Dr. Brennan was completely out of his league, but the man inside the boy knew nothing of rationality. All that part of him knew was the way she smiled at him when he found a particularly elusive anomaly on the bones, the way she smelled…like gardenias…when she leaned over the exam table close to him, or when she strode across the lab with that confident but feminine swagger. It made his head spin in a way he had never experienced before. He wanted to give her everything. And now, watching her sway softly in her husband's arms to a song he'd never heard before, he knew something else. The way she looked at Booth…that was love. The other man had already given her everything she could ever possibly need. And truly, Zack could be nothing but happy for her. And that was also love, in its own way.

Not invited to sit at the head table (and not really surprised about that fact), Camille chatted amiably with Booth's boss, Director Cullen, as she glanced occasionally at the couple on the dance floor. There was no way the jealousy was going to stay completely down, but she had taken Booth's words about the woman she used to be to heart. She was a good person, she really was. But the lonely had a way of creeping up on you and bringing out the worst. She knew that now. And she had tried, very hard, to make peace with Dr. Brennan and even forge a tentative but tenuous friendship. They were getting there, but it wasn't like the other woman was making it any easier. She tended to speak her mind, and in Cam's experience that made for uncomfortable situations on a daily basis. But she meant well, and she supposed that was the important thing, in the long run. Cam suppressed a wince as Seeley gently cupped Brennan's face and ran his thumb along her cheekbone, leaning in to whisper obvious words of devotion in the other woman's ear. And the look on Brennan's face was breathtaking. If her eyes were any brighter, any more luminescent, they would have lit up the room. And that look was what helped settle the final seeds of want in Cam's heart. Seeley deserved someone who looked at him like that, that loved him that much. And the good person Camille had been before took back control, and all she felt was, finally, happiness for her friend. And also, a little for herself.

Standing in the shadows of the reception hall, he watched as his baby girl danced with the love of her life. He tried to take in every detail, every nuance of the scene in front of him so that when he visited his Christine's grave later he could tell her all about the beautiful dress Temperance had worn, how handsome her groom had been, how delighted and proud their Russell had looked as he walked his baby sister down the aisle. The con man in him had checked out the FBI agent as soon as Temperance had begun working with him, and the father in him had silently approved of their relationship as he lurked in the background, always keeping tabs on the adored children they had left behind all those years ago. He knew that Booth would always take care of his girl, and that he would never willingly leave her. Not like her mother and he had. In truth, he hadn't wanted to go. He begged Christine to let him take the children with them, but she was terrified that they would be in too much danger and he had never been able to deny his wife anything. Even if it meant leaving half his heart behind, bleeding. And seeing this good man gently whisper in his daughter's ear, drawing a look of pure adoration from her, Max finally realized that they had done the right thing. Their journeys had been rough, and they all had ghosts and demons still to fight, but at least now his beloved Joy could finally say that she wasn't alone…and never would be again. That thought alone gave him the strength he needed to turn and walk away, again.