Probably the chapter everyone has been waiting for...

Hey, Bones? He'd just flown all the way across the country and that was all he could come up with?

"Is there something wrong at home, Booth?"

"No, Bones," he was quick to reassure her. He ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe we could find someplace to talk?"

Booth, and Parker, were in Arizona. Brennan was sure what it meant, but wanted Booth to explain it to her.

They'd been so careful with each other the last several days. He'd been sick and tired and she knew he felt bad about Hannah leaving, even if he didn't appear as upset as she'd expected.

But for the first time in months, they'd been comfortable in each other's company. They'd ordered take out and watched movies. Brennan talked about the museum in Arizona and her enthusiasm for the project had been clear.

Booth loved every second of it, as had Brennan. But both had been waiting, for something, neither quite sure what it was.

Someone needed to break the last barrier between them. Were they finally going in the same direction?

She waited for him to come toward her and then took his hand. Leading him, she took them into a small anteroom, filled with bird specimens. "Really, Bones?" he asked, drawn to something brightly colored near the door.

"You don't think they are creepy? The way their fake eyes seem to follow you around?" Booth walked slowly back and forth in front of the bird.

Brennan looked around the room. "They don't bother me." But she wouldn't let him get distracted. "So why are you here? This isn't like you, Booth. You couldn't have been worried about me already."

"I always worry when you're out of my sight. Sometimes even when you are right in front of me." He shook his head as if he couldn't believe she didn't know that. "I had all these great speeches in my head. Practiced them on the plane. Now I can't remember any of them."

She tilted her head. "Speeches? About what?"

"About us, Bones. You told me how you feel and I was afraid maybe I wasn't clear enough about what I saw in the future. Our future."

"Our future?" she echoed.

Booth nodded solemnly. "I just flew across the country after Christmas to find you. Airports this time of year are a nightmare, by the way. I let my son go off with a woman I've never met, relying on your word that I can trust her. I'm talking to you in a room filled with stuffed birds."
Recognizing when her own words were being tossed back at her, Brennan's eyes softened. "So you came all this way to make clear what you saw in our future? Based on evidence I'm assuming that the two of us are together in this future?"

He reached up to run his fingers down the side of her face. "It's not the right time. I don't want you to ever doubt what I feel for you, coming so soon at the end of my other relationship. I only want the chance to prove to you that what I feel for you is true and runs deep. But I want to do this. With you. We're going to do this, and it's forever, Bones. I won't let you walk away from me. Not again. Not ever again.

"And if it takes some time to move on from here, I think that would be okay. In fact, I'm sure that it's okay. Give us some time to find our footing, as partners, and friends, and as a couple. It's a lot of changes for us all at once. I don't want to go too fast, for either of us. But I needed you to know that I'm going in the same direction as you. This time, I'm a little behind. I'll catch up, if you give me a chance."

Pulling back, she stepped away for a minute and Booth let her, knowing it would take her a moment to sort her emotions and her words. It took all his strength not to shake some sort of response from her, but Booth trusted her enough not to do that.

Finally she turned. "I'm not walking away either, Booth. Or running across the country, or the world. I told you I was ready, and I meant it. I told you as much in your kitchen."

He nodded his agreement. "You did, but after you left, I wasn't sure. Wasn't sure I was clear enough." There had been enough misunderstandings between them. If this, if they were going to work, they needed to talk more. Now was as good a time as any to start.

"Then that book was waiting for me, and I needed you to know. To know that I'm with you. That you are just as important to me." Bones was everything. "I see a future with the two of us as the center. Because the center always holds and we will hold. I have no doubt of that. I never have."

"Booth," she said softly. He was a little alarmed to realize her eyes were a bit too bright. "I don't think I can come up with better than that," she admitted, wiping at her eyes. "I've always known that I'm important to you. We need to take it slow, because we can't get this wrong. Losing you would kill me." She shook her head. "I'm not sure when everything I am was tied up with everything that you are but it happened and I can't separate it, separate us, anymore."

Pulling her to him, he held her, until her breath wasn't quite so shaky. "If you didn't practice that, it was still amazing," she said into his chest.

Booth chuckled. "I have always been pretty good at thinking on my feet."

Brennan leaned back enough to see his eyes, without leaving the circle of his arms. "And maybe we keep it just ours, at least for a little while. Give ourselves time, to just be together. Make our own way. But as far as I'm concerned, we are together. In all the ways that count."

"What ours is ours?" he asked.

She smiled and lit up the room. "What's mine is mine. And for a little while, I don't want to share. Let's start on a new path. Together, we'll be okay."

BbBbBb

"So you found the gift?" she asked. They were slowly walking across the main floor, holding hands, on their way to grab Parker.

"I found it." He paused. "Was it as hard for you to go through mine as it was for me to go through yours?" he asked her.

"A little," she admitted. "First, because it was from you and everything between us was wrong. Then, I blamed myself for everything that had happened to everyone. Except Angela, of course. I have had no impact on her ability to draw."

"Maybe all of those things would have happened, Bones. But if you hadn't been here, those people you consider family, might not be here anymore either. Sometimes things work out the way they are supposed to. And I blame myself for most of the injuries that have happened to you, so we are similar that way."

Brennan stopped and looked at him. "None of it was your fault," she reassured him.

"Then how can anything that happened to your friends be yours?" he asked.

She smiled and continued walking, pointing toward a door. "I see the merits of your argument."

"Wait," he said. Pulling against her hand, he stopped her from opening the door.

"Why?" she asked. Turning in time to capture the brush of his lips to hers she managed to school her features into a severe look when they were done. "Booth. We are in a professional institution."

He laughed, reassured that some things about her would never change. "When we open that door, you are Dr. Brennan again and I'm the guy who flew across the country to find you. Sarah will know what's going on, she seems pretty level headed, but Parker just thinks we are on vacation. If you want to keep this secret, he can't find out or the whole world will know."

Given that the argument was logical, Brennan smiled and reached down to squeeze his hand.

Booth sighed, content He'd waited a long time for exactly this.

"Let's go get your son. And figure out what the two of you are going to do while you're here. I'm sure I can come up with some suggestions."

"No museums," Booth said, following her into the room. "Don't suggest any museums. I see enough of those at home."