7

It was late. Later than Brennan knew it should be, staring over the bones before her, waiting for them to tell her a story. This was perhaps the most crucial story she would ever have to uncover and the pressure seemed unbearable at times. There was something about family that made it to difficult for her to remain subjective and keep her focus.

This was new for her, the lack of ability to detach herself from the situation, letting in the possibility of pain. She had become soft. The thought made her smile for just the briefest of moments. She had the image of Booth leaning over her, smiling down with his charming gaze and his brilliant eyes. There would be laughter in his voice when he said it, whispering it only to her.

"You've gone soft, Bones."

It was his voice fueling her inner monologue, not her own. He was always with her, just a reach away. She could felt his presence in everything she did, saw his eyes in the faces of their children, built her whole world around him. So why, after all these year, from the fighting and the longing to the happiness and the family time did she feel like something was gone. There was a spark that was just not lighting. She did not want to leave him, she loved him more than anything in the world. Something was missing though, something that had slowly faded, making it harder to put her finger on.

She was distracted again. The knowledge was making her angry, her lack of focus on the task at hand was counter productive to the case, only hindering its resolution that much more. She shook her head, pulling her gloves off and glancing at her watch. It was well after nine-thirty, Booth would be wondering where she was, if not well on his way to come and get her. Shaking her head she covered the remains, then left the bone room making her way to her new office. It had once been Zach's space, her trusted assistant whom had let logic turn on him, leaving him in a psychiatric hospital. Working there felt like a good way to honor him and his brilliant work.

Wendell had taken over her office several years ago, and she was not here to take it back. This was purely a trial run, to see if she even wanted this lifestyle again. Of course the answer to the question was already answered, she was just not ready to face the conclusion just yet.

"Dr. Brennan?" Cam's voice startled her causing her to jump a little as she stopped.

"Cam," She said placing her hand over her heart.

"I apologize for startling you; I just wanted to give you this on my way out. I had intended to leave it for you, assuming that you would already be at home." Cam said, placing a large, well wrapped box into Brennan's arms.

"What is this?" She asked, looking startled.

"Consider it a gift from the entire lab." Cam said with a smile as she turned to leave. "Oh, and Dr. Brennan?"

She looked up, raising her eyebrows in question.

"Welcome home." Then cam was gone, only the clicking of her heels against the floor could be heard in the emptiness of the lab.

She carried the large box, the rest of the way to her office, sitting at her desk and looking it over cautiously. With dexterous fingers she slowly and meticulously extracted the silver wrapping paper to expose a brown box with Cam's name and the Lab's address on it. She recognized the Logo of the company it had come from, it was the same one that made all of the embroidered garments for the museum.

Opening it she found a lab coat, still folded and covered in plastic, just like the one she had on, the one she had always worn. This particular lab coat, while it was the same color and size, was different. Above the right breast pocket were several freshly embroidered words.

'Dr. Temperance Brennan-Booth'

Brennan smiled at the coat, touched by the gesture. She was being welcomed back into a family, into her family. For that moment she could not even remember why she had left. She knew that the hardest part from here on out would not be her lack of focus; it would be restoring her balances so that one family could be a part of the other.

She picked up the empty remnants of box and discarded them, before hanging her new lab coat over her chair. Picking up her large bag she pulled out her cell phone and hit the send but, calling home as she made her way out of the lab.

************

Perotta was sitting at the Booth's kitchen table, the open file in front of her. Crime scene photos, eye witness statements, preliminary autopsy findings, it was all there, but something was not adding up. She had studied the body a little herself, having been in the lab earlier that day, trying her best to stay out of the way. She still had no cause of death, and without that they had no hope of solving this case.

When they had reached the Booth's home it had been around nine thirty, coming in from questioning a suspect just a few miles away. Pulling into their large three car garage he had verbalized his thoughts, indicating that empty spot where his wife's car should be. It had irked Perotta, though she had no idea why.

There was a time, not that long ago when she had believed him to be interested in her. He had been so flirty all the time, his eyes twinkling in her direction. She had thought that just maybe the rumors floating around the building were a lie and that he was not shacking up with his brilliant partner.

Though they may have been correct at that moment, they did not remain so for much longer. She had watched him from afar, seen him fall deeper in love with the woman that everyone around him already knew he was a goner for. Deciding it was for the best she let that ship sail, figuring that Brennan would always have one up on her.

Of course that had all gone to shit when Cullen had placed her as the new Brennan. That moment had changed her world, redirecting her unrequited love, making her see what Brennan saw. It was hard not to love a man like Booth; he was kind and understanding with endless compassion. He was a strong partner who was always there for her, watching her back in the line of duty. She trusted him completely; it was hard not to fall for someone like that.

Her love for him had grown over time, the way all good love does, making him more than just another good guy off the market. It was later, say a year into their partnership, that she realized one morning there was a scathing jealousy inside her over his marriage to Brennan. If she had not been second in command, if she had gotten to him before he became a liaison to the Jeffersonian, would this house be hers today?

It was thoughts like that, which left her wanting to smack the brilliant doctor every time she saw her. It may be a sin to covet something so much, but it was one indulgence that Peyton Perotta allowed.

"Booth!"

'Speak of the devil.' Perotta thought, as the good doctors voice flooded the room, wiping away any shred of comfort the blonde had maintained.

"We are in here!" Booth's voice was a little lower, aiming directly to the kitchen, rather than out amongst the whole first floor, the way Brennan's had.

"Hello Agent Perotta. Booth, what's going on?" She asked in what Perotta could only assume was defensiveness.

"We are trying to see if there was something in the reports we missed." Booth said, jumping up from his chair and going to greet his wife. Perotta looked away as he leaned in for a light kiss.

"I was doing the same thing at the lab." She said, a frown coming over her delicate features.

"Find anything?"

"No. Cam said there was nothing in his tox screen and there are no unusual anomalies in his bones, other than those congruent to his age and size." She said, shrugging off her coat and making her way back to the kitchen. Perotta just watched her, moving lithely around the counters, filling a pot with water and setting it on the stove.

" Would either of you like anything?" She asked, rudimentary politeness taking her over.

"No thank you Dr. Brennan, I have something." Perotta spoke for the first time, holding up her nearly full bottle of beer.

" I'm good, Bones. Hey have you eaten yet?" Booth asked, taking his seat by his own bottle of beer.

" Not since…" Brennan stopped a look crossing her face that Perotta did not recognize. " Breakfast?"

"Let's order take out, it looks like it's going to be a long night." Perotta said, her own stomach starting to growl.

"By the time it gets her we will all be ready to pack up and go to bed." Booth said shaking his head in amusement.

"I must admit that was a flaw we did not think of when we moved into the woods." Brennan said taking a sip of her tea and pulling a photo out of the file.

"So what do we do?" Perotta asked a hint annoyance in her voice.

" There is frozen Pizza in the kitchen, I will go ahead and set the oven." Brennan responded, standing up from her chair and making her way to the open kitchen.

Perotta continued to watch her move about, making a snack for them to fuel their brains. She could not help but get the feeling that she was watching this woman live her life. It was life that had taken over her dreams for the last year, the ones that made politeness that much harder. Sighing she got back to her file, but the hurt she was feeling did not go away, in fact if anything it only intensified.