Sorry it took so long to finish, to everyone who's been reading this. My computer's been down, and it took all of my smarts and effort to upload this. SO. As a reward, I should get a few reviews out of this, mais non? Enjoy:) Oh, and you are to assume that the Booth/Brennan wedding has already happened at the time of the funeral.
Temperance Brennan did not cry in public. It was a fact. A fact she trusted as much as science itself. She did not cry in public and she was not about to start over something as natural and expected as death.
The day of the funeral was the nicest of the year. It was sunny and bright and the sky was clear and blue. It seemed to mock the situation.
Brennan stood, stony faced, in the front row of the audience. Angela stood on one side of her, Booth on the other. Angela wept openly, but not for herself, or the dead, but for her best friend and the pain she pushed so far down inside her.
Booth took Brennan's hand. The warmth of the contact startled her.
"He was a good man." he whispered in her ear. His breath made involuntary goosebumps run down her spine. She was surprised when she felt her eyes well up with tears.
"I don't know about that."
"I do," he said honestly. "He was a good man, Temperance. He loved you, he loved his family and he was a good man.
She began to protest meekly, but he squeezed her hand and she just nodded. She let the tears come freely, and she buried her head in his shoulder.
"My father, Booth," she whispered. "He's gone."
"It's okay," he soothed. "You'll see him again."
She didn't scoff as she usually did when he spoke of the afterlife. She just nodded again and hugged him tighter. It surprised them both.
"I love you so much," she mumbled into his black suit, her voice breaking. "Don't leave me."
He smiled, his own eyes thick with tears.
"I won't."
On that day, as Max Keenan was lowered into the ground, a part of Brennan that had been buried beneath layers of protection arose, coming to the surface after so long in the dark.
She felt different, she felt lighter. She felt more alive when she ever had before.
Her father was dead, but she, she was still alive. She was free to live every day, and she swore to live them as bravely as she could.
Because Brennan knew more than anyone else - life is short.
ALL DONE! Sorry about the weird-ish conclusion, I was in Math when I wrote it and was slightly distracted by my teacher spitting in excitement about