Thank you all for the reviews and messages- you're amazing, honestly. Btw- Camden, VA is a made-up place… to me lol. It is real… I should have done some homework. But this story is definitely not based on the real place. In my mind, it's just a small town that, despite Brennan's own previous horrors there, is actually quite charming and quirky. Enjoy!

-Mac

Chapter 16

Brennan walked into her old high school nervously but the moment she was inside, it felt so… small. In her memory of those many months spent teased there and alone, it had felt so large. She had felt small. She walked towards the sound of nostalgic music – it seemed Whitesnake was making an appearance on the stereo – and found herself inside of the only room that felt and still seemed to be massive, the assembly hall and gymnasium.

She looked around, seeing unfamiliar faces laughing, catching up, joyfully reconnecting. The women looked like a million Hannahs. They were dressed up like they were going to a dance club afterward.

The music flooded her senses. She used to love this song.

I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams

And here I go again on my own
Goin' down the only road I've ever known

And suddenly, she loved this song even more.

"Thank god you came."

She turned to see Rob approaching her and smiled. "Of course I came. It's why I took this trip, remember?"

He nodded and smiled. "I thought you took this trip to swim illegally in the lake."

She laughed at that. "The night is young."

Rob walked her over to the open bar, and she grabbed a beer. "So," Rob said. "Who are you hoping to see here?"

Brennan shrugged. "I was hoping to see you," she said. "Because I did not have friends in high school."

He frowned at that. "None? I wish we'd known you back then."

"Me too," she said. "I did have one friend for a few months. Jana. I think it was Jana King."

Rob nodded. "I know her. She is here. I saw her before you got here. I never really knew her well in high school."

"Who are you hoping to run into?"

He shook his head. "The guys I used to hang out with… they were kind of mean. I didn't always see it. But… we didn't stay close. Once I saw how they thought and how they judged, I had no desire to keep on hanging out. I found my guys in college."

Brennan nodded. "So, then, why come?"

"Because you were coming." Rob clinked their beers together and smiled. "And I had a feeling from the moment I met you that you'd be a friend I'll keep forever. If you were coming, I thought, why not."

Brennan smiled. "Those high school friends – they used to tease Amy. Was that what did it for you?"

He sighed. "For the most part."

Brennan regarded him closely. "You teased her, too."

He laughed. "She told you about that?"

Brennan nodded. "She did. She said before you were ever friends, you were more or less enemies."

Rob smiled. "I was definitely a tease. But I'll bet she left out that she used to prank me. If I'd wanted to call it a truce, I couldn't because she'd have just dumped water on my head or made me step in super glue or made me ruin my school picture by rubbing ink on my glasses frames."

"She did not mention any of that."

"She wouldn't. She likes to present the story with me as the mean kid and her as sweet. But she was not little miss innocent. She could take care of herself quite well."

Brennan smiled. "I guess she had to."

He waved his hand at someone to get their attention and Brennan turned, seeing a woman walk over. After a moment, she realized it was Jana. Jana's eyes got wide as she realized, probably at the same moment, who she was walking towards.

"I'm going to grab another beer. You two catch up," Rob said. Brennan looked after him as he walked into the crowd. Another boy from this place with no real friends here to look forward to connecting with. She suddenly wondered, as she shook hands with Jana, if moving on didn't have to mean facing down everything and everyone from the past. Maybe it just meant picking up the pieces and really, finally, leaving all of it behind.

B*B*B*B*B*B*B**B*B*B*B*B

Booth got into his rental car. He'd managed to sleep during the flight, though it had been a fitful sleep. After his talk with Sweets, his mind was all jumbled, the experience of her kidnapping years ago fresh and raw. In between flashes of that experience were words. Sweets. Angela. Hannah. Hacker. Even himself.

The FBI is terminating your partnership.

I'm that guy.

I gotta move on. Find someone…

I know that you're sort of friends.

Booth… she doesn't want to be found right now.

You just work together and that's 99% of the relationship. There doesn't seem to be more.

I'm telling you to do what you've been doing for months now and don't worry about her.

She's gone.

When the plane landed, his heart was racing and his head was hurting from just everything – from years of friendship and partnership that he'd just left, like it didn't matter at all. Like she didn't matter.

He didn't know where to go. It was 7pm. The reunion was tonight, but… he didn't want to drive her away. What she was doing, and why she needed to do it… these were hers. And while she used to face things like this with him by her side, used to lean on him, trust him with all of it, he'd made so damned sure to leave her on her own. Seeing him could just make everything worse, but he was so desperate, all the same, just to see her.

He tapped the name of an inn by the lake into his gps.

B*B*B*B**B*B*B*B*B*

Brennan had been talking with Jana for ten minutes during which time she learned that Jana had become a principal, gotten married to her college boyfriend, and adopted six children. She seemed wonderful, actually, but… they lacked the connection they'd had for those few months where she'd had at least one friend. In her memory, Jana was a saving grace during a horrible year. She was a friend who outgrew her and left her – leaving her wishing she were different. Changed. More normal. Better with people. But, as she kept looking around for Rob, she realized that her friendship with Jana was just a brief, meaningful exchange of conversations. They'd never really been friends. And catching up was a whole lot easier with that in mind.

When they finished their catch up, Brennan moved to walk away but Jana grabbed her arm. She looked suddenly nervous.

"What is it?" Brennan asked.

"It's just… I'm sorry, Tempe. I wish I had done more for you back then. I think about it all the time and I just wish I'd done better."

Brennan smiled. "You befriended me when no one else did. That got me through a lot. Please don't apologize. Forming stronger friendships with others is natural. Anthropologically speaking, it's—"

"I heard the others making fun of you and I was just so obsessed with being cool. I liked you more, but I just… I was weak. My proudest moment was that moment at the lake but it was then immediately followed by total shame. Again."

Brennan froze. "You… you were there?" Her heart suddenly started thumping faster, the night replaying itself in her mind. She remembered Molly and other girls. Was Jana in that crew? Mocking her? How could she block that out? And… why was that a proud moment?

"You don't remember me being there? Telling you… telling you to never come back?"

Suddenly, Brennan's eyes filled with tears. That night, when she'd sat up after nearly drowning, she was coughing, her hair was sticking to her face, she had mud all over her face. She couldn't see. But someone had thrown Molly off of her. And whispered to her to never come back. She couldn't see. She'd never known. She'd never even wondered.

"That was you?"

Jana nodded. "My husband is the only one who knows that story. I get sick when I think about it – about what they did to you."

"You came to the lake with them?"

Jana's eyes got wide with realization. "No! One of Molly's friends told me what they'd been planning. I was here at the prom, and she'd told me. She'd laughed." She rolled her eyes, though Brennan could see the emotion hiding in there. "I had always felt like such a loser for ditching you, I just couldn't do it again. I had to do something." She took a step toward Brennan. "I don't know why they targeted you, Tempe. You were struggling and they just kicked you when you were down. They did it in these hallways. In this gymnasium. In the cafeteria. They made your life a living hell and they just couldn't stop. That's why I told you to never come back. But… it's stayed with me that the last thing I ever said to you was to leave and not come back. And then I never saw you again. I always imagined that you just left because we all – even me – bullied you. Constantly."

Brennan swallowed and wiped her eyes. "Actually you saved my life. And I did come back."

Jana bowed her head, trying to control her own emotions. "You changed my life, Tempe. After that, I stopped caring what people think. And because of you, I have fostered – and now adopted – all of my children. I'm a principal so I can help try to control bullying at least in my school."

Brennan smiled at her and pulled her into a tight hug, squeezing her eyes shut. "Thank you," she whispered, emotion seeping into her words. "Thank you."

Jana held her before letting go and walking away.

Rob touched her shoulder and Brennan turned to him gratefully.

"You okay?"

Brennan nodded. Rob rested a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry if that was intense. I thought you two were just going to reminisce about Science Club or something."

Brennan laughed. "No. We talked about prom night actually. I never knew that in a way she had always stayed my friend. She left. So many months before. But… she never really stopped being my friend. So… I did have one friend here. I just didn't know it."

"And now you have two. Well, four if you count Keeley and Amy."

Brennan sipped her beer, feeling like that small revelation changed so much about her memory of this place. If she'd have been able to see that night – seen that Jana had shown up after all – it might have changed her life. Maybe she wouldn't have put so many walls up. But… maybe it wouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have changed the trauma of being bullied and then nearly killed twice in one night.

But still… knowing that someone still thought she had something worthy to give might have made a difference.

"My prom night left some permanent scars, too," Rob said, breaking into his thoughts.

"Amy?" she ventured, looking at him.

He nodded. "I'd been so in love with her back then. But… she made it clear she didn't feel that way about me. How different life would have been if she'd just…"

"Taken a chance?"

"Yeah." He looked over at the DJ and shook his head. "This song – this song haunts me. It played that night and every time I hear it, I feel like it's taunting me."

Brennan listened as they walked over to the bleachers and sat down.

"Poison, man. 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn.' I am in my thirties and I hear this… bam. I'm 17 again and my heart is breaking."

Was it something I said or something I did
Did the words not come out right
Though I tried not to hurt you
Though I tried
But I guess that's why they say

Every rose has its thorn

Brennan looked around at all the faces. And for a moment, she realized she didn't care if Gary was there. Or Molly. She just listened to the music with Rob, though her mind, try as she might to stop it, kept going to Booth.

I know I could have saved a love that night
If I'd known what to say
Instead of makin' love
We both made our separate ways

But now I hear you found somebody new
And that I never meant that much to you
To hear that tears me up inside
And to see you cuts me like a knife I guess

Every rose has its thorn

"I always assumed Amy was just scared that night. People used to make fun of where she lived, and I… I know she let that eat her up inside. She would make jokes but I could see the truth in them. She thought I deserved better than her."

"Someone more like the woman you almost married?"

He closed his eyes at that. "She mentioned Laura?" He sipped his beer and frowned. "She was never going to be the perfect match for me. But for a bit there, she made a pretty damn good runner up."

"Just for a bit there?"

"Yes. But… you find out that someone you thought you loved was hurting – over and over – someone who means the world to you, well… you can't forget that. You can't forget that person getting your best friend – someone who never had one night stands, who'd seemed to only have sex like three times in her whole life – so completely wasted that she ends up sleeping with your very sober best man. No. That happens, and you call it off. You leave. You're done. With the fiancée. And with the best friend. Because he and every single one of my friends knew. She was off limits. Always had been."

Brennan looked up at him, shaking her head. "How come you've never told her? After your broken engagement, I mean? It seems to me that you love her."

He nodded. "And now she's pregnant with my former best friend's baby. And there's a million reasons that this is my fault. She'd been protecting me, not telling me how she was being treated, thinking I was so happy and whatnot. And I'd failed as her friend when she needed me most. And now… she's in this situation but also none of that changes the fact that she told me – here in this very school, many moons ago, that she could never love me."

"What if she was lying? Like you said – out of fear. Thinking you deserved better."

"She wasn't lying. She swore on Coco."

Brennan tilted her head at that. "I don't know what that means."

"It was her grandmother's name. When she died, she always swore on her soul so I'd know she was telling the truth. So… she doesn't love me. Never will. She swore on Coco."

They sat there in silence for a moment. Brennan knew better but… she couldn't say. It wasn't her place. But it was depressing to think that two people could miss their chance because while they could communicate their feelings so well with other people they failed miserably to do so with each other.

Brennan saw the door swing open to the hall and looked over – and then did a double take. After a moment, she smiled softly and nudged Rob. He looked up at her and she looked again at the doorway.

In a moment, he was on his feet and walking to the door. Because Amy had come. She saw Rob pull her into the kind of hug that made her ache inside.

The love song ballads gave way to Cyndi Lauper. 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun.' Her heart rate sped up. She told herself to stay in the moment. Because it would be over soon. But it could never be over, when this was a song that played on an endless loop in nightmares she had for weeks when he was gone.

I come home in the morning light

My father said when you gonna live your life right

Oh daddy dear, we're not the fortunate ones

And girls they want to have fun….

Before she could leave, she heard the gunshot.

Booth. Stay with me. Stay with me, Booth.

It's so much easier being shot at than dealing with things like this.

… and girls they want to have fun…

Outside, the air sounded like a vacuum as the distant buzz of the music boomed inside. She threw herself onto the bench outside and put her face in her hands, letting the tears run.

Tears for Jana saving her life, for Booth leaving her, for prom night, for the moment Booth was shot, and the weeks he was dead…

…girls, they want to have fun. Oh girls just want to have fun…

"Bones?"