A/N: So, apologies for the long author's note but I wanted to address a couple of things that have been brought up in a couple of reviews. It has been pointed out that Sweets has not done a very good job with Booth if he has only just realised that B&B aren't talking. As I pointed out in my author's note for the last chapter, I am no expert in psychology so any inconsistencies in the psychology are errors or gaps in my own knowledge (Not Sweets' fault!). It has been tricky trying to balance the psychological aspect while trying to craft a believable story line and I apologise if this has detracted from the story. I'm not trying to put the blame on Brennan for Booth's predicament but rather, I am trying to show how a breakdown in communication can affect a relationship even though this storyline is an extreme example! Also, Booth has had a brain injury and during recovery, TBI's can cause changes in personality which is why Booth is not quite acting like himself. Please remember folks that this is fiction and is supposed to be for fun. I have tried my best to keep it believable, but my use of creative license means it might not be entirely factually accurate.

Thank you for all your reviews, it means a lot that you have all taken time to leave them for the musings of my imagination! I just want to reassure a few of you that this story does have a happy ending but I don't want to spoil the story so all I'll say for now is there are still a few more (big!) bumps along the way before we get there.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones

After Brennan drove away leaving Booth on the sidewalk, she found herself driving slowly around the streets of DC not really concentrating on where she was going. All she could think about was she had asked her husband if he loved her and he didn't answer. If he loved her, he would have said so. She knew their relationship couldn't survive this. He would leave her, just like everyone she loved did.

She had feared he would leave her by dying after the incident and his head injury left his life hanging in the balance. But when he had come around, despite his amnesia, she'd had no reason to doubt that they were going make it. She had always believed that they could survive anything, but she also knew they were opposites in many respects and while they had some shared interests, they were still very different people. Their first cases together had been fractious and tense, but their mutual respect and affection for each other had quickly grown and enabled them to work incredibly effectively together. Without that affection, or it being one sided at least, how could their relationship possibly work?

She knew she should head home; if he needed her, he was going to call his own cell phone that was still on the counter in their kitchen. She pulled over for a moment to collect herself and figure out where she was. She had been driving so blindly she hadn't been keeping track of where she had driven to. The radio had been on quietly in the background with the noise of the engine and the road drowning it out. Now she had pulled over, she could hear it. She was about to turn it off when she heard the lyrics of the song that was playing.

'Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark, in these final hours
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power
But you won't, no you won't

The words struck her like a bullet to her heart and as she listened to more of the song, she found tears forming in her eyes once again. She was sick of crying; she needed to be stronger. She should be stronger. But she couldn't stop them no matter how she tried.

I'll close my eyes, then I won't see
The love you don't feel when you're holding me
Morning will come and I'll do what's right
Just give me till then to give up this fight
And I will give up this fight

Brennan began to sob. It wasn't in her nature to give up, but she knew that giving up was exactly what she needed to do if it was what Booth wanted. She only wanted him to be happy and if he couldn't be happy with her, she knew she would have to let him go. It was the only logical decision.

Shortly after she arrived home, Max brought Christine home and Brennan began the process of getting her dinner. Max eyed Brennan with concern as he followed her around the kitchen.

"Is everything alright, Tempe? I'm assuming you found Booth?"

"Yes, Dad. Everything is fine. I found Booth and he was ok. He was at the diner."

Max didn't think everything looked like it was fine. Tempe's eyes were puffy and bloodshot like she had been crying. "See, I told you he couldn't have gone far. Where is Booth anyway? Is he asleep after his little escapade?"

Brennan shook her head. "No, he wanted to take a walk."

Max was surprised. She had been so worried when she couldn't find him that Max found it remarkable that she would now just let him wander around by himself. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Tempe?"

"He's got my phone, Dad. He can call me if he needs me. He made the point that he's a grown man and he can take a walk if he wants to." She was still worried though that Booth had not come back home yet, but she was slightly mollified by the fact that at least he had a phone on him now.

"Yeah, a grown man with amnesia!" Max retorted disapprovingly.

Brennan turned her head to glare at her father "I don't want to talk about it, Dad."

Max could still see something was up, but he knew not to push her. He moved to stand next to her and placed his hand over hers on the countertop. "All right Sweetheart, have it your way. You know where I am if you need me." He patted her hand then turned to kiss his granddaughter goodbye and left.

Brennan put Christine to bed and, despite it still being early, went to the bedroom to begin the process of getting herself ready for bed. She pulled off her clothes, removed her make up and showered before putting on her cosiest flannel pyjamas. She laid down on the bed that her and Booth still shared even though since he had been home, they hadn't touched each other in bed not once. It was almost like there was an invisible wall down the middle of the mattress. She laid down and closed her eyes, but sleep wouldn't come. She found herself replaying the lyrics of that damn song in her head as she began to cry again. The sobs she had released in the car earlier had been nothing compared to the ones that wracked her body now. The tears she had shed recently had been a trickle from a fissure in a dam, but now the dam had been breached and the tears she had managed to hold back broke free all in one go. She sobbed so hard her body ached, but she barely noticed it against the pain of the knowledge that there was a possibility her marriage was all but over.

0-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-0

Booth had been walking for a long time, thinking so hard that his head hurt. He was also starting to get tired and he knew he should be heading for home soon.

He had hurt Temperance. He had seen it in her face. She said she loved him; it had been the most emotion she had shown him since he had woken up from the coma. She had asked if he loved her and he couldn't answer. He felt lousy for not saying anything, but what was he supposed to say? Saying anything other than 'yes, I love you' was just going to break her heart. He should love her. He clearly had loved her before so why didn't he know if he felt that way now? He had found himself thinking about her more and more in the last few days and a few times he had caught himself watching her without even realising he was doing it. He felt protective of her and he didn't want to hurt her any more than he already had. Not being able to remember her was clearly making that more difficult and he still didn't know what to think about how she has been acting. It certainly wasn't what he considered to be normal behaviour.

He had spent the past couple of weeks reading the books she's written, trying to gain some insight into her. He felt certain that the character of Agent Andy was based on him and it gave him a few ideas about what their relationship might have been like. He had a session with Sweets tomorrow and he resolved to himself that he was going to ask him what Brennan's deal was. He liked Sweets; he had even regained memories of him that had made Booth realise Sweets was more of a friend than a therapist. That didn't mean that Booth automatically enjoyed his sessions with him though. He didn't want to be in therapy, but he understood it was a necessity if he wanted his life back.

Booth stopped walking when he found himself at the Lincoln Memorial. It was starting to get dark and figured he should find a cab because otherwise Temperance would be worried. She said she was worried when he went off without telling her. Truthfully, he hadn't done it deliberately and he hadn't realised he'd left his phone at home. He was just sick of being at home and having nothing to do. He missed working and having a purpose and he just wanted something, anything to feel normal. So, he went to get pie. The conversation he'd had with Stacey at the diner had been so normal, so regular he almost forgot about his memory issues. He'd recognised her straight away when he walked in and saw her sitting at the counter. She knew he'd been injured, but she didn't know the extent of his injury, meaning she hadn't talked to him like he was stupid like he found a lot of people did when they found out he had amnesia. They'd talked about work and he had enjoyed it, it helped to remind him of who he was. He didn't think he'd been flirting with her, but now he really thought about it, he could see why Temperance had thought he had been.

He owed Temperance an apology. For the flirting and yelling at her in the street. It was no way to treat anyone, never mind the woman who is his wife. If he were being completely honest with himself, he hadn't been treating her fairly these last few weeks. She had barely left his side since he woke up and even though she hadn't really said much to him, her actions should have given him some indication of her feelings for him. He rubbed his forehead where his headache had intensified. For Temperance to have stuck by him through all this shit, he knew she must be special. He needed to change, he wanted to be the man he was before, he wanted to be someone who is worthy of her love.

He sat down on the steps to rest for a moment before going to hunt down a cab. As he sat down, he got a strange feeling of déjà vu. Not really a memory, but a shadow of one. He'd sat on these steps with Temperance before, and he got the feeling he'd been here with her more than once. For some reason, the déjà vu prompted the name Hannah to pop into his head and he wondered who she was and what significance she had with these steps. He had a feeling the army had something to do with it too, but he wasn't sure how. A fact that was making him feel incredibly frustrated. He still hadn't regained a large chunk of his memory and he had a feeling that somehow, if he could remember Temperance, the rest would come back too. It was almost like she was involved in and woven through every single memory of the last ten years of his life. He worried that if the memories of her were gone, so were the memories of the rest of it.

He got up and wearily made his way back towards the road to hail a cab. His luck was in as one pulled up not long after he had stood in place on the sidewalk. As the cab drove him towards home, he thought about what he was going to say to his wife. Apologise, obviously, but he decided he needed to make more of an effort to get to know her. Even if at the worst case he never regained his memories of her, he reasoned that if her fell in love with her once, he could fall in love with her again. He had accused her of not talking to him, but he realised he hadn't made any attempt to talk to her either.

The cab pulled up outside his house and Booth was concerned to see that despite Temperance's car being in the driveway and it still being reasonably early, the house was in complete darkness. He felt grateful that despite forgetting his phone, he had at least remembered his wallet and keys. He paid the cab driver and made his way to the front door.

Conscious that Christine was most likely sleeping, he quietly opened the door and walked in. He shrugged off his jacket before quietly creeping further into the house. He heard a noise and stopped still. He didn't think he'd made a sound, but it sounded like crying and he immediately assumed he'd woken Christine. He listened for a moment and he heard the sound again, only it wasn't the high-pitched cry of his daughter. That meant there was only one other person it could be. It was Temperance.

Booth felt awful. He knew he had hurt her, but enough to make her cry those gut wrenching sobs? Without thinking about what he was doing and acting purely on instinct, he crept up the stairs to go to her. He followed the sound of her crying to their bedroom. He gently pushed open the door and the sight that met him made him want to cry himself. She was curled up in a foetal position in the bed in the dark, sobbing into his pillow. He quietly slipped off his shoes and jeans before walking over to the bed. He pulled back the covers and slipped into bed behind her, pulling her close to him. He slid his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear "I'm sorry, Temperance. I'm so sorry."

Brennan had been surprised to find herself in his arms. She hadn't heard him enter the house, but she had heard him enter the bedroom and she was unsure of what he would do when he found her like this. She certainly hadn't expected him to hold her and she wasn't entirely sure of exactly what he was apologising for but the warmth of him as he held her and gently stroked her hair was soothing.

Wrapped safely in his arms, her sobs began to subside. She allowed herself to feel comfort from his embrace before falling to sleep; deliberately trying to forget that there was a possibility it could be for the last time. As she laid there, she was reminded of the song again. She would pretend for tonight that he still loved her, then in the morning, she was going to stop fighting and let him go.

A/N: Sorry for more sadness, although I think we all know Booth won't let her give up. As usual, I will post the next chapter in a couple of days.

Credit: The song Brennan was listening to was I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt. Credit for the lyrics goes to her and Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin who wrote the song.