A/N: I can't believe this is the end. Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, or reviewed this story. I appreciate everyone taking the time out of their busy lives to do so. I hope you enjoy this final chapter.

~OOOOO~

There was snow falling gently as they left the Jeffersonian and made their way to the SUV. In her hand, she held the watch, her thumb rubbing over it periodically.

"Did you need the watch a lot?" she asked him.

He shot a glance at her. "To check the time?" he asked.

Her laugh was soft. "No. You said it kept you safe. Did you need it to do that for you frequently?" When he didn't answer right away, she felt the need to fill the silence. "I worried about you, a lot, while I was in Maluku. And when you came back, we didn't talk about it much. Now, you're here and we're together. So I feel comfortable asking about your time over there. But you don't have to answer."

"No," he said, "it's okay. It had its moments," he said, knowing she'd be able to read into what he didn't say. "But it wasn't as dangerous as you think it might have been. I needed the watch for protection a few times. I needed the company more."

"I'm sorry I didn't write."

"I could have written," he said, taking his eyes from the road to look at her again. "So I'm sorry too." There was nothing but contentment and happiness in her eyes and he knew his looked the same.

After such a perfect evening, Brennan wondered how she ever could have been afraid of something like this. Realistically, she knew it wouldn't always be easy between the two of them. But after tonight, she was confident they could get through whatever came their way.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked when they were stopped at a traffic light. After asking about his time in Afghanistan, she'd fallen silent again, staring at the window as they traveled the almost empty streets of the city.

"Do you remember when we sat outside my apartment and talked about where we'd been and where we were going?" she asked. "I was thinking about how far we've come and how different this moment is." Her head turned toward him. "I'm happy, Booth. And it's different from the happy I always thought I was." She shrugged. "I didn't know I could feel like this. You were right about gifts not always coming in wrapped packages."

His eyes softened. "Who knew you were such a romantic." When the light turned green, he kept his foot on the brake for another heartbeat or two before letting them start toward her apartment again. They'd had one of the moments where everything they wanted to say could easily be conveyed with a glance. One more thing lost and then found again.

Like the two of them.

When they arrived, Brennan exited the vehicle and stepped toward the door before stopping again. The snow still fell and she tipped her head back and let it fall on her cheeks and eyelashes.

"It was raining when I sent that first email," she said, bringing her head back down. Flakes remained in her hair, making it sparkle. "Now it's snowing. So many changes, big and little."

"Good changes?" he asked. There were snowflakes in her eyelashes now. She was so beautiful she took his breath away.

"The best," she said.

He cupped her cheek, kissing her while the snow fell around them. When she shivered slightly, whether from the cold or the touch of his fingers on her skin, Booth took her hand and led her inside.

~OOOOOO~

Nervous, Brennan dropped the knife she was using to decorate the cookies she'd baked a few hours before. It would have been easier to purchase them, but she wanted something special. No, she corrected herself. Who made the cookies wouldn't matter to her. But it would matter to Booth that she'd put the effort in.

They'd spent the night and morning together after making it into her apartment. In the afternoon, she'd kicked him out, wanting to prepare for the evening and the remainder of the gifts she'd chosen for him.

No longer able to see a future without him in it, Brennan knew that her happiness depended on his. A small part of her would always regret the time it took her to accept the role he played in her life, but there wasn't time to worry about it when the path they would walk together was wide open in front of them.

She'd planned to save the words until this evening. But after what he'd said the previous night, Brennan could no longer deny him the knowledge she was carrying in her heart. Love, that emotion she'd always equated to hormones and chemicals, was real. And she needed him to know. It didn't matter if there was a scientific basis for what she felt.

The cookies were her own creation. Baking was easy. It was only a chemical reaction and a mixture of ingredients. But she struggled through the decorating, giving a lot of credit to people who did this for a living. Or just for fun. Because she was not having fun right now.

Fine, detailed work wasn't anything she didn't excel at. But the frosting never went quite where she wanted it to and she couldn't get the consistency right. First the designs ran together, then the frosting was too thick to spread. When she finally got to a point she was comfortable working with it, there was very little time left to finish.

At least the design on the cookies was simple. Anything more complicated and she would have given up an hour ago.

Despite all her silent complaining, she was pleased with the final product. Placing the last cookie on the plate, she centered it on her table.

Hurrying to clean up the mess, she disappeared into her bedroom. Rushing now, because Booth would be arriving soon, she showered and changed into a red dress. It wasn't the right season for it, but as long as she remained in her apartment, she'd be warm enough. It was the color she was going for, not the look.

Candles were lit and the final gifts placed next to the cookies when the knock sounded. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, smoothing the dress down.

She wasn't fast enough and Booth caught the motion. He raised one eyebrow and looked at her curiously. "You look amazing, Bones. Though you didn't tell me I had to dress up for this." A quick kiss was delivered as he moved past her into the apartment. "It's a very festive color."

"I wanted it to be in the holiday spirit." She smoothed the dress down again, even though nothing was out of place.

Booth noticed immediately. "Why are you nervous?" Everything was going well between them; he couldn't imagine how it could get better. There wasn't a reason he could come up with for her sudden case of nerves.

Looking down at her bare feet, she hadn't wasted time with shoes, she pressed a hand to her stomach. Took a deep breath and drew on everything she'd learned about herself over the last two years. "I have good nerves, not bad nerves. I think." Then grimaced. "That may be the worst explanation, scientific or otherwise, I've ever said." Bemused, she looked at him. "What have you done to me?"

He couldn't help himself and laughed. Because what sounded terrible to her had made perfect sense to him. "It's okay to dumb it down for the rest of us once in a while, Bones."

Coming back to her, he kissed her with more heat. "Whatever it is," he said, enjoying the slightly dazed expression now in her eyes, "I'm sure that it's good nerves."

Last night still felt unreal. He kept waiting to open his eyes and find himself in an empty bedroom. Alone. Or worse, back on the other side of the world, reliving the days where contact had been as much of a dream as the words she'd said.

She loved him. It was hard to stop smiling each time he thought about it. He hadn't expected to hear it last night. Wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to say it. Now, he had a memory to treasure for the rest of their life.

Stepping back, she walked away from him and pulled a chair out at the table. "Sit, Booth. I have two more gifts I want to give you."

"Okay," he said. It frustrated him when he couldn't pinpoint her exact mood. Underneath all of those good nerves she was claiming to have was genuine nervousness.

He noted the cookies. He wasn't sure what the frosting was supposed to represent, but it didn't appear to be holiday related. Asking was an option, but afraid she would descend into an anthropological explanation, he kept his mouth shut.

"Your first gift is this one," she said, presenting it to him.

It was the present from Maluku. The one she'd never sent. Booth toyed with a corner of the paper that had come loose before looking up from where he sat. "Are you sure? Like I said before, these aren't who we are anymore, Bones."

"I'm always sure." Pulling out her own chair, she sat with him. "I want you to have it."

"Okay," he repeated. It was a little amusing to realize he was down to short answers. But she'd always made him feel off-balance. Usually in a good way.

For a change, he opened it carefully, like she did. When the newspaper, still in one piece, was spread out beneath it, Booth realized it was some sort of journal. He placed a palm on top of the leather cover. "Did you write this? Or write in this?"

She nodded. "During my time in Maluku. Some of it is journal entries, some of it sketches of the flora and fauna." Her finger traced along the back of his hand. "Some of it is drawings of you. It's yours now. No matter what was happening between us, I wouldn't have been able to send it last Christmas because it wasn't complete. I wrote the final entry the night before I left. But this year, it's done. So, it's yours now."

"But you apologized for not writing to me," he said. Accepting this gift would be easy. He had a feeling that reading it was going to prove to be a whole lot harder.

"I meant letters you could open. I did write. But until recently, I wasn't sure I would ever show this to anyone. Like the watch, you need this now more than I do. Proof that you were also by my side, even when we were far apart."

His hand shook a little when he opened the cover and flipped through the pages. Her neat script filled many of them. Sketches of plants and animals included scientific names and her observations.

Even as he turned the pages quickly, there were things that caught his attention. A phrase he'd heard her use before and the neatly organized entries that reminded him of the reports they'd completed over the years.

The first page that included a drawing of him was after many pages filled with her handwriting. He knew there was no way he'd ever be able to read or look at this in front of her. Or anyone. His emotions and what he learned would be something he would deal with privately.

It was a window into her heart she'd never share with anyone else. He wasn't sure he deserved it. But she thought he did and that was going to have to be enough for him.

Swallowing hard, he allowed the book to fall shut again. "I know what's in here is very private and you are trusting me with it. I can't tell you what this means to me. I will never be able to tell you."

Pleased to see him so moved by her gift, she gave him a smile. "If you have any questions about anything, please ask. Some of it is more personal, but from the beginning you asked me what happened in Maluku. I think this will explain it better than I could right now. Or ever."

In some way, this book was going to break him. He knew it. And wanted it anyway. Because it was that link to her he'd missed during their separation.

"There's one more gift," she said, moving the journal away from him.

"That was enough, Bones," he protested. "The book, last night. I don't need anything else." He couldn't conceive of anything that would come close to what she'd given him.

Her brows furrowed. "Okay, if you would prefer to consider the book and what happened last night as the last gift, I'm okay with that. But this is still something I want you to have. Along with a question."

"This gift comes with a question?" he asked, curious despite himself. What else could be left?

She pushed the plate of cookies toward him. "It starts with this." While she looked at him expectantly, Booth tried to figure out what they were supposed to represent.

When he remained silent, she sighed. "I should have purchased them. They are the flag of Scotland. I made them."

"Why?" was the only thing he could think to ask. She was going to Scotland, not that he needed the painful reminder that she was going to be an ocean away. Again.

Ignoring the question, she pushed a white envelope toward him. Then rose and stepped back.

Looking from the envelope to her and back again, he picked it up and opened it. It took him a lot less time, and no explanation, to figure out what this was. "It's a ticket to Scotland, Bones. Why are you giving me your ticket to Scotland?" He looked up at her. "I know you said you were including my name on your presentation but do they want me to go instead?"

She gave him the look that made him feel like a fool. "It's your ticket, Booth. Not mine."

He rose, wanting to be on even ground. "You want me to go to Scotland with you?" He was feeling exactly like that look she was giving him. "That's the question? Will I go with you? That is a much easier question than I was expecting." Studying the ticket, he wasn't looking at her when she spoke again.

"I love you, Booth." His eyes flew up and stared into hers. It was ridiculous to react like it was the first time he'd heard it but he couldn't help himself. He knew that for the foreseeable future his heart would beat faster every time she admitted to feelings that at one time she didn't believe in.

"I will never get tired of hearing that." he whispered hoarsely. Then a new thought occurred to him. "They don't want me to present too, do they?"

She laughed at the horrified tone in his voice, then turned serious again. "Booth, I want you to go to Scotland with me because I'm in love with you and I can't imagine spending one day away from you. And definitely not more than that. I know that work will sometimes send us away, but this isn't one of those moments. I…, or we, missed too many minutes and I will not willingly give up anymore of them."

He tossed the ticket down next to the cookies and crossed to her. "Are you…nevermind," he said when she gave him that look, "you wouldn't ask if you weren't sure. You want me to go to Scotland with you?"

"You seem surprised," she pointed out. "Why wouldn't I want you to?"

"I've spent more than a few minutes worrying that we were going too fast. I never wanted to push. And then you do something like this and I wonder why I wasted all that time thinking about it at all."

A warm hand pressed against his cheek. "I love you. Come with me."

"I'd follow you anywhere, Bones. I love you, too."

"So it's yes?" she asked, needing to make sure..

"Yes," he said, picking her up and twirling her around until she laughed. "Always, yes."

And next to a real pine tree, still decorated with only one skeleton ornament, they ended Secret Santa with a kiss. And the knowledge that the best gifts were still to come.

The End