A/N: SEASON 6 SPOILERS! I know, I know, I've done a million of these. This one is not my favorite, but it was bugging me all day, I found it hard to concentrate in class today (although that might have also been because my Prof reminds me of Sweets). Anyway let me know what you think! And thanks for the reviews and alerts on the other chapters :)

"You're still in love with her."

"Yeah."

"It was a statement, not a question Seeley." Hannah said sympathetically.

"I'm sorry." He said after a moment of silence. "I didn't want to hurt you; I thought…I thought…"

"You thought that if you suppressed your feelings for Dr. Brennan enough you could make them go away." Hannah explained for him. She had gotten to know him well over the course of their relationship. She had begun to see the Seeley Booth who was a father and a partner to a brilliant woman, not the Seeley Booth she had met in Afghanistan; the hardened solider who had seen too much.

"You were doing a good job until today." She said seriously. Booth looked at her.

"I'm sorry." He said again.

"You followed your heart Seeley. That's who you are."

"Normally that would mean protecting your girlfriend over your partner." Booth said, ashamed. He, Hannah and Brennan had been standing together outside of the Founding Fathers when the shots had started. Booth had pulled Brennan down first and made sure she was safe before remembering that Hannah had been standing on his other side. No one had gotten physically hurt but the tension in the SUV on the way back to the Jeffersonian afterward had been palpable. The proverbial giant purple elephant in the room had taken up most of the space. Booth felt like a horrible person.

"I'm not going to lie, I am hurt. It hurts to know that the man you're with is in love with another woman." Hannah said; she raised a hand to preempt his apology. She knew he was feeling horrible about the situation. "But I know it wasn't deliberate, you wouldn't do anything to purposefully hurt me or Dr. Brennan. You just can't help it that you love her."

"I wish I could." Booth said, his heart breaking all over again as he thought about that fateful night he had gambled his love on her and going over the current situation he was in.

"I don't think you really mean that. You love her and you want to love her. And you want her to love you back." Hannah said with a sad smile. She reached over and placed a comforting hand on his arm.

"You're not a bad person Seeley." She stated. He was unconvinced. "Your partner would say the same thing."

{}

Hannah walked into the Jeffersonian; she was clearly very uncomfortable. Brennan was surprised to see Hannah walking towards her office. She was also worried. She hadn't really known what to think about what had happened the day before. Being shot at was less scary than the fact that Booth had protected her over his girlfriend.

Hannah paused for a moment just outside of Brennan's office door.

"Hi." She said.

"Hello." Brennan replied.

"Can I talk to you?" Hannah asked.

"Yes." Brennan stayed silent as Hannah made her way into the room and sat down in one of the chairs across from Brennan.

"You can probably guess why I'm here." Hannah said after a few more moments of silence. Brennan nodded.

"Yes." Hannah nodded absentmindedly.

"I'll get right to the point. Seeley and I ended things last night." Hannah said quickly.

"Because of what happened?" Brennan asked. She did not want to be the reason that Booth and Hannah had broken up. She wanted Booth to be happy.

"Yes." Hannah could practically see the wheels turning in Brennan's head. She decided to speak before Brennan could try to rationalize what had happened.

"It wasn't just the fact that he went for you first Temperance. It was what that action represented." Hannah said.

"It represented Booth's need to protect people, that's all." Brennan found herself trying to rationalize what happened. Hannah gave her a small amused smile. She had expected this.

"It showed all of us that he is still in love with you." Hannah said. "You can't deny it. You know Seeley; he goes with his heart and his gut…and his first instinct was to protect you. I have no doubt that if Parker had been there, neither of us would have been first." Brennan couldn't argue. From what she knew about Booth it made complete sense. It was a perfect argument.

"I'm sorry." Brennan said, she couldn't think of anything else to say. What would be appropriate for the situation?

"I know. So is he."

"Despite the fact that I was irrationally jealous of you for being with Booth, I do want to thank you. For being there for him and making him happy." Brennan confessed suddenly. Hannah was more than a little surprised by Brennan's confession but she was also a little grateful.

"You're welcome. I know I'm leaving him in very capable hands." The two women smiled at each other.

{}

"Booth?" Brennan was surprised to see him there, although definitely pleased.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. Booth stopped just inside her door.

"I just wanted to make sure that you are alright after what happened yesterday." He said. Brennan smiled slightly as his concern.

"I'm fine Booth. I wasn't hurt."

"I was talking more you know, emotionally, rather than physically." Booth said awkwardly.

"Oh." They stood, facing each other and their eyes locked.

"I came here because Hannah's packing." Booth admitted finally.

"I know." Brennan said.

"You know?" Booth he asked confused.

"Yes. Hannah came to see me earlier today." Booth moved to one of the chairs opposite Brennan, ironically the same one his now ex-girlfriend had occupied only hours previously.

"What did you guys talk about?" Booth asked curiously.

"You. We don't really have another other points of common interest." Booth gave her a small smile.

"More than you'd think." He told her.

"She told me that you broke up."

"Did she tell you why?" Booth asked uncomfortably.

"She said it is because you are still in love with me." For some reason it was more awkward having the conversation with Booth than it had been to have it with Hannah. Brennan momentarily tried to think of a reason why that would be before focusing back on the conversation.

"Yeah."

"So what she said is true?" Brennan asked.

"If she said that I'm still in love with you, yeah that's the truth."

"You said you were going to move on."

"I did try. I actually thought I could. I actually thought I had succeeded too…until yesterday."

"Hannah made the argument that you protecting me over her was an indication that you still loved me."

"Yeah, you don't need Sweets to figure that one out." Brennan nodded. They sat quietly. The awkward silence was suffocating.

"There were a lot of nights, when I first got to Afghanistan, when I really really didn't want to love you any more." Booth confessed. He could see the hurt in her eyes but he felt he needed to explain everything so that they could [hopefully] move forward. "It hurt so much and I just kept thinking that if I didn't love you any more the pain would stop. So I started pushing down my feelings for you, pretending they weren't there. And then I met Hannah and it became easier to suppress my feelings for you while she was around. She distracted me from you. And I thought I was falling in love with her. I had actually convinced myself that maybe I was falling…and then yesterday…"

"Listen Bones, I know you don't want a relationship with me, that's you know, like that, but I obviously can't help how I feel. I just, I just want to make sure that you know I'm always going to be your partner. No matter what." He said seriously.

"That is impossible Booth, at one point you will have to retire. Or you could be offered numerous well-deserved promotions that would take you out of field work." Brennan responded logically.

"I'll always be your friend then." He amended his statement. Brennan smiled at him.

"Booth, if I was to change my mind some day…." Brennan trailed off; her eyes were locked with his. Booth's heart began to beat faster as hope filled him but he covered it up with a charming, loving smile.

"I'm always gonna be here Bones."