Author's Note: Hey guys. So sorry for the delay...I got really busy with Christmas shopping and gift delivery yesterday, and then I ended up not having time to finish the chapter. Today's been crazy, too, but this chapter is longer than the others (not to mention the biggest one so far, obviously), so hopefully that makes up for things.

Enjoy.

Chapter Five

Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow…

By the time they had made their way down another unfamiliar street (one that definitely wasn't the location of Booth's apartment), Albert was walking a good ten feet ahead of her and Brennan felt like her heart had twisted in her chest.

Albert eventually came to a stop in front of a small brick house Brennan had never seen before. Instead of joining him, she froze instantly, suddenly dizzy with panic.

Calm as ever, though, Albert sat down on the curb outside the house. "It's okay," he told her reassuringly. "We've got a few minutes."

Nodding hard, Brennan ran a hand over her face, trying to calm her nerves.

From his perch on the curb, Albert was peering at Brennan in concern. "Come sit, doc. It'll be good for you."

Brennan obeyed without thinking, thankful to relieve her legs of the suddenly difficult tasking of holding her up.

As she sank down beside him on the curb, Albert watched in concern as Brennan raked her hands through her hair, cradling her head in her hands. "It's okay to be scared," he told her softly. "I know you've had a rough time of it, tonight-"

"I'm fine," Brennan gritted out, thoroughly unconvinced. She closed her eyes, not daring to look at Albert.

He was right, though; she was terrified.

Except Brennan didn't know what scared her more: that she'd be forced to see Booth in some devastating situation, similar to the others she'd seen tonight.

Or that she wouldn't. That he would be fine without her, unaffected and unchanged.

Several quiet, agonizing minutes passed as they waited, though Brennan was afraid to even ask for any sort of forewarning and information.

Finally, though, an SUV pulled into the driveway of the house, and Albert was scrambling to his feet just as Booth stepped out of the car.

For a moment, her insides froze, and Brennan could only stare fixedly at her partner, walking swiftly up the walk to the house.

"C'mon," Albert called, beckoning her forward to follow Booth.

Clumsily, Brennan got to her feet, if only so she could move close enough to get a better look at Booth as he stepped under the golden glow of the porch light.

It only took one glance to realize that something was off. In the next moment, Brennan realized what it was.

Black tie, black socks; no cocky belt buckle.

No rebelling, no signs of a maverick. Standard government issue.

A strange burst of relief surged Brennan; she'd had that much impact, at least. It was such a small, inconsequential detail, but so defining at the same time.

She was only a few feet behind Booth on the porch, as he unlocked the door to the house and Albert waited beside him, when Brennan stopped dead, all relief falling away as she caught sight of another anomaly.

The gold wedding band on Booth's left hand.

Brennan's knees buckled, and Albert, alarmed, shot his hand out to grab her, steady her. Booth disappeared into the house, shutting the door behind him.

Her expression stricken, Brennan turned to Albert."I quit-"

Anxiously, Albert stepped in front of Brennan, blocking her escape route from the porch. "Doc, trust me… you need to see this."

"I can't…." Brennan whispered, her voice cracking. "Please-"

"Appearances," Albert said seriously, gently turning her around. "…can be deceiving."

This should have been a useless platitude, a cliché with very little meaning, but for some reason, Brennan let Albert push her forward and through the door of what was apparently Booth's house.

There was a sort of morbid curiosity driving her, but Brennan was shaking when she stepped inside, just in time to see Booth head down the hallway to a room. When he reached the doorway, Booth opened it only slightly, peering in and suddenly a smile lit his face.

The knot of dread in Brennan's chest tightened, but her legs propelled her forward anyway, even as Booth entered the room. She glanced back, once, at Albert, but he remained in the foyer, waving her forward on her own.

Then, Brennan heard a female voice she hadn't expected. Small and excited, someone cried, "Daddy!"

Throat tight, Brennan made it to the doorway and peered in ,observing the scene in front of her.

A tiny girl was sitting up in her bed as Booth approached and knelt down beside her. "Hey, baby," he whispered, kissing her forehead.

The girl was blonde and blue eyed, and couldn't have been more than four years old. Her expression serious, she stared up at Booth. "Santa's coming tonight, Daddy."

"I know," Booth agreed solemnly. "But I think I found something of his in the driveway….it was looking for you."

She gasped, eyes suddenly huge. In an awed whisper, she asked, "What was it?"

Smiling, Booth reached under his coat and extracted a tiny stuff reindeer, causing his daughter to squeal softly as he held it up. "He said he needed a home. Now I told him I knew a little girl who was up for it…"

"I am, I am!" She took the toy and hugged it to her.

"Thank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome, Joy." Grinning, Booth parroted her exact tone back to the little girl.

Brennan stiffened, a jolt hitting her at the girl's name, but before she could think much about it, someone brushed past her into the room.

All Brennan needed was a glimpse of long blonde hair and the cry of "Mommy!" before she was turning away from the bedroom, hurrying blindly down the hallway, tears streaking down her cheeks.

"Hey, hey, hey…." Seeming somewhat startled to see her barreling towards him, Albert hurriedly caught Brennan's wrists, positioning himself directly in front of the door.

"Let me go," Brennan demanded, a catch in her voice. "I don't want to see this, I can't, please-"

"It isn't what you think, doc-" Albert hissed urgently. Her face twisting, Brennan started to protest, but Albert suddenly cut her off, his eyes snapping to something in the hallway behind her. "See for yourself."

In spite of herself, Brennan whipped around, just in time to see Booth and his wife closing the door to their daughter's room.

Getting her first good look at the blonde woman, though, Brennan drew a sharp intake of breath, unable to stop herself from gasping, "Tessa?"

It was true. Though Brennan had instinctually assumed the blonde had to be Hannah, it was undoubtedly Tessa standing beside Booth.

Glaring at him with a look that could almost be described as hateful.

"…come home hours past her bedtime on Christmas Eve and you wake her up just so you can win her over with toys?" Tessa was hissing at him. "I have spent the past two hours playing Santa and you come in and buy her affection, as always, looking like the good guy?"

Booth glowered back at her. "Always a competition with you," he spat. "Great parenting."

"Where the hell have you been this time, Seeley?"

"I was working-"

"Working, oh, I see," Tessa repeated with a smirk. "How much did you lose while you were working?"

A muscle in Booth's jaw began to jump, but other than he made no response, simply continued, "-and I stopped by to drop some gifts off for Parker."

They were heading down the hallway now, away from their daughters room, toward Brennan and Albert. "Of course you were. You get lucky for awhile and you think gifts will make everything better."

"It's Christmas," Booth said tersely, rolling his eyes.

Tessa whirled. "Exactly. Yet it doesn't seem to get you home any earlier, does it?"

Their arguments were heated and practiced, the kind of instinctual rhythm that showed the words didn't even hurt anymore, they were so familiar.

Booth's hand went to his pocket suddenly, and he pulled out his phone and stared at it briefly. Without sounding apologetic at all, he stated flatly, "I have to go."

Tessa laughed harshly. "Of course you do."

"I have to work, we've been waiting on a subject." Pulling on his coat, mere inches from Brennan, Booth glared at Tessa. "Just because you've got a judge to conveniently adjourning court at the end of every workday doesn't mean actual crime is like that."

"Fantastic, Seeley," Tessa bit out. "Feel free to skip Christmas tomorrow as well."

Booth didn't even look back as he shut the door behind him.

Brennan was frozen, her heart throbbing in her ears, but Albert began gently shoving her forward, his tone urgent, "Come on, we need to go with him, hurry…."

Numbly, she allowed herself to be dragged out of the house and through the yard, where she and Albert climbed unnoticed into the back of Booth's SUV just before he sped off.

~(B*B)~

For two minutes, the ride was silent. Booth, in a strangely similar manner to Brennan earlier in the evening, had turned off the radio after a quick scan provided only warm Christmas tunes.

Brennan spent the beginning of the ride staring fixedly at Booth from her place in the backseat, trying to piece together some kind of logic to explain this life he was living.

Finally, though, she broke the silence, addressing Albert without ever sliding her gaze from Booth. "This doesn't make sense."

Albert laughed slightly. "According to you, doc, nothing that's happened tonight has made sense."

Brennan didn't crack a smile. "Even using your logic, I…I don't see the correlation between my lack of existence and…this."

"You know," Albert said thoughtfully. "Angela was right from the beginning. Tessa was threatened by you. And Booth, well…when you two became partners, he started going for drinks with you instead of heading home to his girlfriend. He realized he preferred…your company, to hers."

Shaking her head, Brennan replied, "That doesn't automatically suggest they would have been married without me. It's ridiculous."

"On its own, yes, I quite agree. But there are other circumstances-" Albert stopped talking abruptly as Booth eased the car into a parking lot. "Oh, we're here."

Brennan glanced at the car window, and instantly frowned. They were in the parking lot of a tiny, run down bar…whose sign proclaimed it was closed.

As she and Albert followed Booth out of the car and toward the building, Brennan asked Albert, "Is he here to question a suspect or-"

"No, doc, he's not," Albert answered bluntly. "He lied before, Booth wasn't called about work…."

Uncertain, Brennan grabbed the door and followed Booth inside….where he was instantly greeted by seven or so men, already sitting around a table. One of them was shuffling a deck of cards; the other passed him a beer.

"Merry Christmas, Seel," one of the guys who Booth sat down beside greeted him. "Hope you saved some of your spending money."

Booth smiled, but his eyes were already intense and focused. "Don't worry about me, Matt."

"Feelin' good tonight?" Someone else asked.

"Always."

Someone began to deal cards, while another passed Booth some chips…finally, Brennan made herself look away and stare questioningly at Albert. "This doesn't make sense."

"It's simple really," Albert murmured, his eyes following the game."Without you…he wouldn't have stopped gambling."

Though this fact was undeniable as the scene in front of them played out, Brennan shook her head. "No when….when we met he said he was already working on that…"

"He was," Albert conceded. "Parker was almost three at the time, and Booth was falling behind on child support payments….Rebecca was threatening to limit his time even more than it already was, so Booth was trying to stop. But they call it an addiction for a reason. A little while after that, after the time you would have met him in a different world, he got on a lucky streak and decided it was no longer a problem."

Brennan watched Booth for a moment, her chest aching. She knew he credited her at least partially with getting control of his gambling, but the truth of it had never really hit her.

Now, he was tossing chips in the middle of the table. There was conversation between the men, teasing and laughter, but there was something about Booth's demeanor that suggested utter seriousness.

He seemed harder, somehow, more serious. It was something Brennan vaguely remembered from the beginning of their partnership, but hadn't seen in years.

Until now, Brennan had never considered why.

"That still doesn't explain why he's married to Tessa," she asked finally, ignoring how bitter the words tasted, just hoping to distract herself from Booth.

"Well, as I said, without you, they stayed together longer. Long enough to catch Booth on a bad streak. He was behind on child support, and having trouble coming up with rent money, right at the end of his lease. So Booth asked Tessa if she'd like to live with him…knowing she'd want to keep her place, which was bigger."

Brennan slowly turned to stare at him. "But that's…Booth wouldn't do that, not for those reasons."

"He was desperate," Albert explained simply. "It happens fairly often. So they lived together, and both of them worked a lot so it was never an issue back then. But then Tessa got pregnant, and Booth proposed. Except unlike Rebecca…."

"….Tessa said yes," Brennan finished, her eyes inadvertently flitting to Booth's wedding ring.

"She did." They were silent for a moment, "Neither of them are happy, not that it needs to be said after that little scene back at the house. Tessa cut back on her client load when the baby was born, but obviously Booth couldn't really alter his hours, so he works a lot. And he spends a lot of nights coming here, or a pool hall and, well…."

"What about Parker?" Brennan asked softly.

"Booth's a good father," Albert intoned quietly. "That much hasn't changed. But he sees less of Parker, much less. There's a lot of bitterness between he and Rebecca…lots of years of inconsistent financial help. And she and Tessa don't care much for each other, either, so that doesn't help."

Brennan caught her lower lip between her teeth and turned her attention back to Booth. They watched the game in silence for nearly half an hour.

At one point, then, a round came down to Booth and another guy, whose name seemed to be Drew. The bets grew higher and higher, until Booth was out of chips.

But there was a strange sort of gleam in his eyes, and for a long moment, Booth scrutinized Drew's expression. Brennan recognized it as the look he got when he was staring down a suspect in interrogation. Finally, Booth undid the watch on his wrist and held it up. "This oughta be worth a couple hundred."

Brennan's eyes were huge. "No, that's…that's his grandfather's old watch, he shouldn't…"

Albert, appearing to be wrapped up in the poker game, patted her shoulder distractedly. "Nothing we can do…"

Apparently, the bet had been fixed, because when Brennan returned her attention to the game, Booth was saying. "What have you got?"

A triumphant gleam already in his eyes, Drew splayed his cards across the table. "Royal. Flush."

Though she had no idea what Booth had, Brennan saw the moment his face tightened in disbelief. She saw anger flash through his eyes as he flung his cards away without revealing how badly he'd been beaten.

And she saw the moment of realization, the descending panic as Booth's eyes snapped fixedly to his watch, oblivious to the whoops and cheers around him. He stared, looking vaguely sick but saying nothing, as the other man slowly pulled the watch toward him.

Brennan's voice was shaking in anger, "That man's just going to keep it?"

"He won it fair and square," Albert reminded her.

"But Booth should explain, it's important to him-"

"He won't do that."

She started to push the argument, as though she had any influence on the events playing out in front of her, but suddenly Booth's phone vibrated and his devastated expression changed.

"I've gotta go, guys, that's work…"

"Ah, don't be a sore loser, Seel, no need to run off-"

His tone uncharacteristically biting, Booth replied, "Yeah, I definitely arranged for a suspect to return right at this second, on the off chance that I started to lose."

"Pretty good chance lately," someone else ribbed him, but Booth ignored him, addressing someone else.

"I need to settle."

Brennan looked away as Booth got out his wallet and checkbook, not wanting to see how much he was losing. To Albert, she said, "Is he lying again? Because he wants to leave?"

"Not a lie this time, sadly."

"On Christmas Eve?"

Albert shrugged, "There's a guy who's a prime suspect in his wife's disappearance a few months ago…he's been MIA since her body showed up last week. That text let Booth know a neighbor reported the guy's car pulling up to his house….and they want him to hurry in case he's stopping by now to get some things, thinking the surveillance won't be high on a holiday."

Brennan nodded; that all seemed logical. As Booth headed out of the bar, Albert followed, indicating that Brennan should follow.

"We're, um, going with him? Still?" She was hoping that this, the bar and the proof of Booth's continued gambling problem, had been the end of it.

Albert merely nodded as they once again hopped in the back of Booth's car.

Brennan had the sudden thought of how strange it was to be in the backseat, rather than her usual place in the passenger seat, but she pushed it aside. After all, that was nothing compared to the strangeness of being in the car without Booth seeing or acknowledging her.

Instead, she turned her attention to attempting to discern the benefit of following Booth to a suspect's home. Finally, she asked, "Is this so I can see Booth partnered with someone else?"

"Booth doesn't have another partner," Albert answered. "They tried him with several, but it just never clicked, so they didn't work out."

"Oh." At that, Brennan fell silent, keeping her eyes on her partner as they drove.

Soon, they were pulling up the curb of a house, and Booth, with Albert and Brennan following, walked through the yard to the house next door.

Brennan hurried to keep up with him; there was a flash of movement, and Booth glanced at it as he reached the front door.

For a moment, the scene was familiar to Brennan. Booth pounding on the door, announcing himself as FBI. No response. Booth pounded again, and seemed on the verge of forcing his way in, the door swung open and a tall man with sandy hair opened the door.

"Agent Booth," the guy said, a note of false welcome in his tone. "Come on in."

"Don't mind if I do, Kurt," Booth said flatly, his eyes flashing. He followed the man into the living room, and Brennan and Albert went unnoticed behind him.

Kurt, seemingly unbothered, picked up one of the two beers sitting on the coffee table and took a sip. In spite of his apparently relaxed demeanor, the man didn't sit down. "Assuming this isn't a social call, how'd you get the bad luck to work Christmas Eve?"

Booth didn't crack a smile. "Can't control when you chose to show your face again, Kurt. You can see how it would seem a bit odd to me, that you'd take off the minute your wife's body was found."

The man looked at him, eyes wide and innocent. "I'd planned for weeks to go see my mother for the week. Christmas, you know. Should be with family."

"That's very interesting, because coming home Christmas Eve doesn't really give me a strong sense of your commitment to family holidays."

Sighing, Kurt shook his head. "Wasn't feeling up to the whole Christmas thing. First Christmas without Jen…it's tough." He waved a hand mournfully around his apartment. "As you can see I haven't even decorated."

Booth snorted, unmoved. He pulled out his handcuffs "That works out well, then…you won't mind giving up…." For a second, Booth paused, glancing around. Brennan, too, had heard something, seeming to come from somewhere else in the house. Booth, though, seemed to decide it was nothing, as he kept going. "You won't mind giving up your Christmas Eve to come down to the station with me and answer some questions."

Her gaze fell on the beer bottle Kurt hadn't picked up, still sitting on the coffee table, and Brennan realized it was nearly full. She turned suddenly, expression alarmed. "Someone else is here."

It wasn't a question, but Albert nodded anyway.

Meanwhile, a strange smile twisted on Kurt's face, and for the first time he sat down on the couch. "We can talk here, Agent Booth."

"I'd prefer we didn't," Booth snarled, stepping towards him. "You don't wanna make this difficult…"

In a quick motion, Kurt reached behind the couch cushion and whipped out a gun, which he trained instantly on Booth. Booth, too, was quick, aiming his own weapon at the man.

"Drop the weapon," Booth gritted out.

Terror was coursing through Brennan's veins, and she turned instinctually to see, as she'd suspected, a second man creeping around the corner, behind Booth, pulling out his own gun.

"Booth!" She yelled without thinking, his name tearing from her throat. She turned to Albert. "You have to do something, you have to warn him-"

Before Albert could refuse, a gunshot cut through the silence, from the second man.

Brennan whipped around in time to see Booth's leg buckle, but he stayed standing, spinning out of instinct and firing a shot at the newcomer….

Just as Kurt opened fire on Booth's turned back.

The scream seemed to come from all around them , strangled and animalistic, pain stripped through the sound.

Only when it cracked, falling to pieces as her breath rushed out of her, did Brennan realize it came from her.

Albert had his arms hooked around her from behind, and Brennan was fighting him, trembling all over. "Let me go, let me go…."

The men were bent over Booth's body. They flipped him over and checked for a pulse. His face was ashen, his eyes open and unseeing.

The men were talking, words that seemed to be coming through a fog, miles away.

"We better hurry, he may have back up coming…"

"Do we leave him here?"

"May as well, we can't come back no matter what-"

"And we don't have time to get the blood up…"

Just like that, they left the room, and Brennan succeeded in pulling free of Albert's grip. She ran forward, her legs going boneless beneath her as she dropped beside Booth.

His eyes, those warm, chocolate eyes she knew so well, were glassy, drained of life. Brennan's heart felt like it was swelling in her chest…surely it would burst at any moment, surely that's what this pain was…

"Booth? Booth… Booth!" His name tumbled from her lips, her fingers brushing his hair. "Booth, wake up, you can….don't do this, please, don't…"

The bulk of the blood seemed to be pooling beneath his head and Brennan yanked off her coat, gently lifting Booth's head so she could tuck it under him, pressing it against the wood, still murmuring, "Please, Booth, you can make it, you're okay…." Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she only noticed she was crying when her vision of Booth began to swim in front of her.

Albert knelt beside her suddenly, and Brennan glanced at him and screamed, a note of hysteria inching its way into her voice, "Do something!"

"I can't."

"You have to!" Brennan yelled. "I don't even believe in you, in angels, he does! Help him, please, just forget about me, you have…you have to…"

"I can't," Albert repeated, his voice heavy. "You see? He needed you. He needed a partner…"

"Shut up."

"You've saved his life so many times. You always protect each other…"

"Shut up!" Brennan lifted a hand from Booth and shoved Albert away from her. "Stop talking and do something!"

"I ca-"

"You can, you can, you've done everything that defies logic and science tonight…you can fix him, you have to, Booth can't…." Her voice faltered. "He, he can date Hannah, or Tessa, I don't care, I don't care, but you can't let him die!"

Her voice collapsed in on itself, violent sobs ripping through her. Beneath her palm, Booth's heart was still.

Brennan pressed her face against Booth's chest, her whole body shuddering as she cried. Her hands, red with his blood, clung to Booth, fisting the material of his shirt.

She knelt there, crying, for several long minutes when she felt Booth being dragged away from her.

Blinking back tears, Brennan looked up. The men were back, dragging Booth's body away.

Panicked, she tightened her grip, pulling ineffectually away. "No! No, no…" Finally, though, they pulled him away from her completely, and Brennan was left kneeling alone, her hands suddenly empty, as Booth disappeared from view. "No, no, no…." The final 'no' turned into a long, keening note , pulsing with grief and pain.

Standing now, Albert put a hand on Brennan's shoulder, his tone sympathetic. "Doc…"

She ignored him, scrambling shakily to her feet and following them to the basement door, which slammed in her face as he they dragged Booth downstairs. Brennan turned the knob and found that, unlike every other door she and Albert had encountered that day, it was locked.

"Booth!" She screamed, despite knowing that he couldn't hear her, couldn't have heard her even if he was alive. Brennan beat her fists against the wood of the door, voice raw as she yelled uselessly for him, "BOOTH!"

Albert griped her arm gently. "Let him go, doc." He pulled her forward, and Brennan turned, intending to tell him to get away from her, only to find herself once again, inexplicably, in the middle of the street.

Brennan whipped around, staring in every direction. "We have to go back, we have to…we have to help him…"

"We can't save him," Albert told her quietly. "It's too late."

Tears were still rolling steadily down her cheeks, and Brennan stared in horror down at her blood stained hands.

A small whimper escaped her, and Brennan's legs gave out beneath her. She knelt in the middle of the street, slamming her hand against the rough asphalt. Screams built up in her chest, tearing her throat, but no sound came out…Brennan didn't even think she could breathe.

"You see it now, don't you?" Albert voice penetrated the fog surrounding her, low and solemn. "How important you are to your friends, your family. How much impact you've had, how much better they are for knowing you…every single one of them was worse off in the world where you don't exist."

"If I don't exist," Brennan choked out. "I shouldn't feel this."

For a long moment, Albert just looked her, her bowed head, trembling body, crimson streaked hands. Then, he said softly, "You may have a point there, doc. But what you're feeling now…it's because you care about them. And they care about you…they need you."

Brennan didn't answer.

"You mean so much to them, doc. I know that…sometimes it doesn't seem like it. Sometimes you can forget, and so can they, everything you've done for them." He touched her chin, making her look at him.

Rubbing the shoulder of her shirt against her wet face, Brennan slowly looked up to meet his eyes.

"Please," she begged, her voice ragged and pleading. "Please just…I don't want this anymore, I want….Angela and Hodgins and Cam and Michelle and Sweets and my dad and Russ…and, and especially Booth," Her voice splintered. "Just…let them be okay. I don't care if I'm alone, just fix them."

"You still don't understand, do you?" Albert asked, but his voice was gentle. "Temperance, think of everything you saw tonight! You aren't alone. Someone who has done so much for her friends lives…no way they aren't there for you the second they know you need it." He paused, making sure she was paying attention. "And as for Booth…may I counsel patience? You've given him more than anyone else in his life, doc. That means something."

Brennan's throat narrowed,, and very slowly she nodded. "So you can…you can bring him back?"

A smile lighting his face, Albert took her hand and squeezed it once. "Of course. All I have to do is bring you back."

A/N: Phew. okay. One more chapter to go, guys. My plan is to have it up tomorrow, earlier than it was today. A Christmas Eve conclusion. Please do let me know what you think, because I've been really looking forward to this chapter, and can't wait to hear if you guys liked it. Thanks for reading, tune in for the finale tomorrow.