(After 'The Scare in the Score')

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooo

Though it had to be done, Brennan was dreading going through her father's things in his apartment. His death still felt heart crushing, but she needed to inspect the contents of his apartment and determine what needed to be thrown away and what needed to be kept. She'd have to turn off the utilities for the apartment soon and prepare to turn over the keys to the apartment manager. Mr. Thompson had been kind and told to take her time, but she was never one to waste time and she knew the manager could rent the apartment fairly quickly since it was in a nice location.

Booth had offered to help her, but at this moment in time she didn't want any help from anyone. Russ hadn't bothered to come to the funeral of their father and she felt betrayed. His excuse had been feeble at best and she knew it would be hard to forgive him. She didn't mean to take her anger out on Booth, but she felt unmoored. Her father was dead and a murderer was still a threat to her family. Max had protected his grandchildren from Mark Kovac and had been injured during the attack. An FBI Agent had been killed and several were wounded while protecting Hank and Christine in a safe house and no one knew where Kovac was. It was frustrating and she felt alone in her grief even though Booth kept reminding her she wasn't.

The trip Booth took to Canada had helped her deal with Max's death and seeing her old friend Sully had been bittersweet. Her ex-lover's visit had helped her see that she had changed more than she'd realized and that she had made the right decision when Sully had asked her to go with him and she had stayed. She hadn't been sure why she had stayed and at the time it hadn't seemed logical, but now she knew she'd stayed because she hadn't wanted to give up her career and her friends. It was an emotional decision, but it had proved to be fortuitous.

Booth had become a close friend and eventually her lover then her husband. She had not planned for these events to happen, but she knew that she was happier than she had been before she had met Booth and Angela. She had let her metaphorical walls down and become attached to Angela then Zach and finally to Booth. The emotional bonds she had feared for so long had proved to be a blessing. She wasn't alone anymore. She had two wonderful children, three if she counted Parker and she chose to do so. She had a family and that wasn't something she had thought would ever happen.

Her children were safe and she knew that was because of her father. She had hated Max when she'd first found out he had abandoned her when she was fifteen and it had taken years for her to learn to trust him. In the end, he had earned her love and trust and now he was gone. She regretted the time spent keeping her father at a distance and now that he was gone there would be no more visits, no more conversations and it made her feel sad and lonely and oddly grateful that Max had tried so hard to break through her barriers. He had been a terrible father and yet he had been her father and in the end, she excepted who and what he was.

The apartment was quiet and since it was in the back of the building, she didn't hear any road noise. She found the rooms to be pleasant, the walls painted a soft cream color and the furniture was comfortable and fairly new. Max had made sure to buy quality furniture and it showed. He had excellent taste and it showed in his possessions. She thought she'd ask Mr. Thompson if he wanted to keep the furniture. She didn't need it and it might be of use to a future renter.

The quiet of the room felt oppressive, so Brennan walked over to the stereo and turned it on. Soft rock began to play and it made her smile. Her parents had loved rock music as well as jazz and blues and suddenly a memory about her mother came to mind. She remembered her mother dusting furniture with the radio on. Christine would move around the room, dancing a few steps here and there, a cloth in her hands as she wiped the dust away from her furniture. The furniture always seemed clean to Brennan and the dust imaginary, but her mother believed in a clean home and her daughter appreciated her efforts, not then but she did now.

Missing her mother, Brennan sighed and picked up a photo album lying on the shelf next to the stereo. Curious, she carried it over to the couch and sat down. "A few minutes and then I have to get to work." A quick glance at the door and the empty boxes next to it reminded her that she had an onerous task ahead.

The pages of the album were filled with photos and Brennan flipped through each page, staring at pictures of her parents, her brother and herself as well as people she didn't know or recognize. There were a lot of things hidden in Max's and Christine's past and she knew she'd never know what those secrets were. Her parents had led two lives and had been careful to keep their jobs as con artists and safety deposit thieves separate from their family life. She had learned about some of Max's past over the years, but the man still had secrets even though he had claimed there were no more secrets to tell. She knew there was, but that part of his life was now closed to her.

Satisfied for the moment, she closed the album and placed it back on the shelf. Glancing around the room, she estimated that her father had over 100 books on the shelves near the bedroom door. She'd have to read each title and decide if she wanted any of them. The rest would be given to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. She couldn't throw books away, so giving away the books that didn't interest her was her only option. Booth didn't understand that throwing a book away was somehow wrong, but she knew he accepted her thoughts on the subject even if it made no sense to him.

Moving into the bedroom, she noticed the neatly made bed, the room neat and clean. Moving over to the closet, she checked the clothes hanging there and decided they could all be given to Goodwill. They were good quality and nothing appeared to be worn or torn. Her father had been a fastidious man and Brennan could appreciate the care he took with his clothes.

After she had removed them from the closet along with the shoes lined up on the closet floor, she carried everything into the living room and packed them in two boxes. Reentering the bedroom, she began to open dresser drawers and unloaded the clothes she found within. When she got to the bottom of the dresser she found the drawer filled with electronics such as a CD player, an old fashioned camera that required film, a tape recorder and a video camera. There was a box of movie videos neatly labeled and she noticed one was labelled 'Christine'. She assumed it contained images of her mother and knew she'd look at the video when she got the chance.

The dresser now empty and the contents boxed, she unmade the bedding from the bed and took the comforter and sheets into the living room and placed them in a box. She found the spare linen in a closet in the bathroom along with towels and wash clothes and boxed those too. The toiletries on the sink and the bottles and lotions in the cabinet went in to a trash bag and with that the bathroom was empty of her father's presence

Returning to the living room, she began to box up the books. The titles were eclectic and she was amused that there were a few romance novels among her father's book collection. The man was a romantic and it showed in his taste in books and music. Her husband was a romantic man too, but he loved to read murder mysteries and 'how to' books. If Booth had ever read a romance novel she knew he'd never admit it to her.

The sound of the door opening surprised her and she turned to face Booth as he entered the room.

"Bones, I know you said you wanted to do this on your own, but I thought I'd come and load boxes into my truck. I don't see why you should do the heavy lifting by yourself." Booth had wanted to check up on his wife and he knew this was the way to do it. She was a very independent person and didn't need help very often but packing up Max's stuff had to be a hard thing to do. "Okay?"

Grateful for the company, Brennan smiled at her husband. She suspected he was at the apartment to check up on her, but she decided to accept the offer. He cared about her and she knew it. "Thank you. I'm packing up books now. I plan to give most of them away, but there are a few I'd like to keep." She saw the sour look on his face and laughed. "You know I'm a bibliophile, Booth. It's who I am."

A smile was his answer. She knew that Booth would grumble about more books in the house, but in the end he would accept them like he did everything else she did.

"Well, as long as it's just a few. I'm going to have to build a new bookcase to hold the books that are on the floor as it is. I guess a few more won't matter." Checking the boxes at the door, he found them marked 'Keep', 'Goodwill' and 'Salvation Army'. He appreciated her thoroughness. He wouldn't have to keep asking her what she wanted to keep and it would make packing the truck easier. "Any surprises?"

Brennan knew what her partner meant and smiled a sad smile. "No, I think he really was retired and was no longer committing crimes . . . He was living a quiet life it would appear." Turning to face the bookcase, she felt a tear slide down her cheek. "He . . . he promised me he was retired and . . . and." More tears fell and at that moment, she felt Booth's arms wrap around her, holding her against his body.

"Hey, he loved you and he loved the kids and he wanted to be a better man for you." Booth heard her sob and he knew his wife would grieve for a while. "You're not alone, Bones. Not anymore and never again . . . I love you."

"Yes . . . thank you." Brennan wiped the tears from her face using a tissue she had in her pants pocket. "I love you too." She was living a life she hadn't planned, but it was a good life and she was happy.

Ooooooooooooooooo

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