A/N: Just a couple weeks left of the hiatus. Hopefully we will get good things in this new year. Thanks to everyone reading this! Enjoy!

Booth sat on the bench near the reflecting pool staring into space. He closed his eyes and breathed sighed heavily. Corporal Jennings had just left after carrying a message from the Colonel. They wanted him back again. He had said no immediately but the corporal had still insisted that he take the assignment papers and look them over. They sat limp in his hand. He sat on the bench thinking about all the tours and assignments he had gone on as an army Ranger. He knew his answer right away, as soon as he had seen the corporal making his way towards him. He knew that he would not go back.

As the sun began to set, Booth decided that it was time to go home.

"Hey, where were you?" Hannah asked anxiously as he entered their apartment. "You didn't answer your phone and I called Temperance and she didn't know where you were either."

"I got a visit from Corporal Jennings." Booth answered, deliberately avoiding her eyes.

"Oh. What did he want?" Hannah asked as she began to peruse take-out menus. She was not someone who liked to cook. Booth sighed and held up the assignment papers.

"They want me to go back again." He said. Hannah put down the menus in her hand and took the papers from him.

"This is great!" She announced after reading the papers. Booth looked at her stunned.

"What?" Hannah looked at him with a wide smile.

"We could go back there together. It could be like before. You teach your stuff and me reporting stories that are actually interesting." The relief that she had hoped to see on his face wasn't there.

"What's wrong?" She asked placing a hand on his arm.

"I don't want to go back." Booth said seriously.

"Oh. Why not?"

"Oh I don't know, the guns, the bombs, the kidnapping of children, everything."

"But you were making a difference. Seeley think about it. All the people that you helped save because the soldiers and Afghani allies had proper training. It would be a great opportunity. Why would you turn it down?"

"I can make a difference here." Booth argued. He had a sinking feeling in his gut.

"But it's not the same. And it would be good to get out of DC for a little while."

"You've only been here a couple months." Booth stated and he knew how this night was going to end now.

"Four months and five days." Hannah promptly stated. It was all the evidence Booth needed.

"You want to go back there." He said, there was not accusation or question – it was a fact.

"Yes." Hannah responded. "And this assignment gives you the opportunity to come with me. We won't have to be separated for weeks." Her logic was perfect. It almost made Booth smile. Logic, logic, logic.

"I'm not going to Afghanistan." He said. "I was away from Parker for seven months, seven months of his life that I'm never going to get back. I am not going to leave again. I can't but more than that, I don't want to."

They stood in silence for a few moments. Whatever Hannah said next would dictate the future of their relationship.

"I want to go back." She said. Booth felt a pang of pain in his heart. Another woman was choosing her work over him. He sure knew how to pick them.

"I know. You don't like working for the Washington Press Corps."

"I came because I missed you and I thought that I could do it. But…I'm bored here. I miss my old job." Hannah explained. Booth nodded.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry Seeley."

"It's okay. I should have realized."

"You are amazing Seeley."

"But not what you need…or want." Booth finished for her.

"I want you, but not the life that you want." Hannah said as gently as she could.

"Can you just hang around long enough to say good-bye to Parker?" Booth asked.

"They want me in Afghanistan on the 20th." She replied.

"When were you going to tell me you were going?" Booth asked slightly confused since she couldn't have known before him about the military wanting his return.

"Soon. I was trying to find a way to make the eight weeks seem less distancing. This gave me; it gave us the perfect opportunity. But you don't want it." Hannah was trying to make Afghanistan more appealing, she wanted to be with him.

"We want different things." Booth said without apology.

"I guess we do."

{}

Booth strolled into the Jeffersonian trying to appear nonchalant. It may have worked had he not avoided the Lab for months since his return. The lab techs pretended to be busy while exchanging speculation on why he was there without a body.

"Booth? Do we have a case?" Brennan asked, already stripping off her gloves and making her way off the platform.

"No. But I wanted to talk to you about something." Booth said, shoving his hands into his pockets and fiddling with his die.

"Oh. Okay, about what?" Brennan asked.

"Could we go somewhere more private?" He asked as he nodded his head towards the platform where their friends were not even attempting to pretend they weren't eavesdropping. Brennan wordlessly turned around and walked to her office, Booth right behind her. He closed the door and stood with his back pressed against it for a moment.

"They want me back." He said.

"Who?" She asked although she believed that she already knew the answer, she wanted confirmation.

"That army."

"Why?" She asked attempting not the let her panic or fear show on her face. Booth could tell though, and it actually calmed him. This was the reaction he needed.

"The same reason as before." He paused a moment. "I'm not going." Brennan visibly relaxed.

"Good. Um..Why not?"

"I don't want to. And there is no good reason to." Booth said with a shrug.

"I'm sure Hannah is very appreciative that you have decided not to go back." Brennan said; they both knew that she was talking about herself and not the blond but Booth decided to use the opening.

"Actually she was disappointed that I don't want to go back." He said. Brennan looked near horrified.

"How could she want you to risk your life unnecessarily?" She asked incredulously.

"She didn't see it that way. She wants; she is going back to Afghanistan. She thought it would be perfect because we'd be able to be together."

"Oh." Brennan understood the woman's reasoning but was glad that Booth was not influenced by it.

"When does she leave?"

"The 20th. She said she wanted to say good-bye to you before she left."

"Are you okay with her leaving?" Brennan asked tentatively after a few minutes of silence.

"I'm used to it." Booth said sadly.

"So she's coming back?" Brennan asked confused by his answer.

"No." And suddenly they weren't talking about Hannah anymore.

"You were referring to me." Brennan acknowledged quietly, lowering her gaze.

"If it makes you feel any better, not just you. Everyone."

"Everyone?"

"Well you, Hannah, Cam, Rebecca, Tessa – I'm used to women choosing their careers over me." There was a slight bitterness in his tone that Brennan missed but she was still able to understand that something was wrong. For once in her life, she had absolutely no idea what to say.

"Hannah came here though, despite not wanting to work for the Washington Press Corps." Brennan argued.

"And she's leaving because of that. We want different things; which is obviously a theme in my life." Booth threw himself onto her couch in seeming defeat.

"I'm very glad that you aren't going back Booth. I…I would have been very worried about you. I prefer to have to stay here." Brennan said, she moved and sat down next to him. Booth gave her a feeble smile.

"Thanks."

"For what? I haven't said anything to warrant your thanks." Booth's smile grew.

"You did." He got up and made his way to the door, just as he crossed the threshold Brennan heard him mutter, "and I still love you for it."