Booth groaned softly as he shifted in his bed. Sleep had often eluded him over the past few weeks since Max's passing, but tonight he'd fallen asleep easily. He was so comfortable and relaxed...lying there with his eyes closed listening to the quiet house in the middle of the night. He opened his eye to peek at the clock on his bedside table...1 AM...hmm...he yawned widely before rolling over to give his wife a gentle squeeze. She wouldn't mind indulging him in a little bit of sex...after all, she loved him...but she wasn't sleeping next to him in their bed. Thoroughly surprised, Booth turned on the lamp and sat up in bed, wondering where his wife was. He glanced toward the bathroom...no light coming from under the door...but there was some noise coming from the hall. Nodding to himself, he got out of bed and went to check on his wife.

He walked quietly, not wanting to startle her as he stood outside her office. He peered around the door that was slightly ajar. There she was, sitting in the armchair next to the window, sobbing as she held a cardboard box on her lap. Pushing the door open, he spoke softly. "Bones? What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, Booth. I didn't mean to wake you." She quickly wiped away her tears. "I was just...this will sound really silly…" She sniffed loudly as she tried to explain, pointing to the box on her lap. "I wanted to look at this again."

Stepping into her office, he pulled her desk chair over to where she was sitting. "What is it? Can I look at it?"

Brennan hesitated before nodding. "Yes, of course." She tried to smile as she handed the box to Booth. "I've kept that box stored in the closet here, but for some reason…"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Bones." Pulling the flaps of the box back, Booth reached in and pulled out a large sea shell. Surprised, he looked at his wife. "What is this?"

"My father gave that to me when he came to visit me once...it was when Jacob Broadsky shot the Gravedigger, and Max had been named to the suspect list, remember?" Brennan chewed her lip slightly as she reminisced about those past events. "He met us at the diner after you were finished at the emergency room. I remember how angry I was at you that evening, Booth...almost getting yourself killed because you hadn't told me you were going out to the acreage by yourself to bring Broadsky in…going alone to prove something, I suppose."

"Bones, that was a long time ago…" Booth sighed sadly as he thought about that evening. They had been in an awkward place in their relationship then, and it hurt once again as he realized what he'd almost lost.

"I know. I forgave you eventually." She smiled faintly before continuing. "In any event, Max and I were leaving the diner, and he wanted to know if I had believed him when he said he was innocent of that crime...of the Gravedigger's murder, and he was most pleased when I finally said that I'd believed him even without the evidence to back up his claim. We laughed and talked for a few minutes, and then he gave me a gift...that ceramic conch shell with my name painted on it." Chuckling softly in spite of her tears, she reached out and ran her fingers over the small openings on the side. "It's a toothbrush holder."

"Really? I don't think I've ever seen this in our bathroom…" Booth gave Brennan a skeptical look as he inspected the large shell. "This is ceramic? It looks real…"

"It looks very real, and it works." Taking the shell from her husband, she held it up to her ear. "You can hear the ocean…" She held it up to Booth's ear so he could listen. "Do you hear it?"

"Yeah. I can hear it." Booth swallowed hard as he remembered how he'd felt when he'd looked out the diner window to see her holding the shell against her ear that evening. She looked so beautiful...so happy and so innocent as she enjoyed her gift, and he'd been devastated as he realized how much he still loved her and how it had seemed he'd screwed up his life for good. "That's pretty cool."

"Yes, it's very 'cool'. Max told me that he knew that I would tell him it was the blood rushing through our heads, but when I was a little girl, he'd told me it was the ocean…" Another wave of tears threatened to spill from Brennan's eyes. "I had a dream about my dad tonight, Booth. He was standing on the beach somewhere, holding a shell up to his ear, happily listening to the ocean…" A lone tear trickled down Brennan's cheek. "I used this for awhile in my apartment, but it's rather large to sit on a small bathroom counter, so I boxed it up. I couldn't part with it, even though that's not practical. It's just an object with no intrinsic value…"

"It has value, Bones, because it reminds you of Max. I know it's hard now to think about him without being sad, but someday, you'll be glad to have something like this to help you remember him." Booth took the shell from Brennan and tenderly placed it back in its box. "In fact, someday in the near future, if you want, you can put it in our bathroom and we can use it for our toothbrushes."

Laughing softly, Brennan took the box from Booth and put it back on the top shelf of the closet. "That's a lovely thought, Booth, but I actually think it's rather unattractive as a toothbrush holder. It does, however, serve as a nice reminder of my father." She brushed away another tear. "Do you think I'm being silly for keeping it?"

"Of course not. I mean, after all, I've got all sorts of things scattered all over our house that came from my Pops. You might as well have some keepsakes from Max to add to the mix." Booth shrugged at Brennan as he snickered softly. "We'll let the kids worry about getting rid of our stuff when we're gone, okay? You can keep whatever you want from his things and bring them home...you said Russ didn't care…"

"Max didn't keep a lot of things from his past. He'd always been rather nomadic, and except for some old photographs, his watch and his rings, there aren't a lot of things left…" Brennan sat on the edge of the armchair's seat. "I miss him so much, Booth…"

"I do, too, Bones." Booth smiled sympathetically as he took his wife's hand. "It's gonna take awhile for us to get over losing him like we did, but we can work through this together, you know? We're gonna be here for each other, supporting each other, and eventually we'll get through it, okay?"

She nodded before yawning. "Okay." Rising from her chair, she gave Booth a kiss. "I'm going back to bed. Care to join me?"

"Sure." He rose from the chair and returned it to the desk before engulfing Brennan in a hug. "I love you, Bones. I always have...even that night at the diner...I loved you then, too, but now I love you even more. I'm so grateful I got a second chance with you…"

Brennan chuckled as she took her husband's hand in hers. "You were most likely going to have as many chances as you needed, Booth, just like Max did. Thank you for bringing my father back into my life, Booth. I love you, too...I always have, and I always will."