Booth watched as the blank walls came back to life but this time, the scenes that were portrayed flickered through the more important aspects of the last five years. There was mistletoe, smurfs, guy hugs and emergency rooms, but through it all, Booth felt the longing of something that he couldn't have. As the squeezing sensation pulled him from the home movies, he found that he was placed in Brennan's office. She was talking to Hannah. Just the sight of her made his heart squeeze a little in his chest. Too soon, he realized.

"One thing, Hannah. I want you to be sure about this." Brennan said, somewhat reluctantly, but sure of what she was demanding.

"The phone?"

"No, although I understand the misunderstanding." She said. "No, about you and Booth moving in together. Booth will give himself to you completely and it would be very painful for him if you aren't as serious about the relationship as he is." No kidding, Booth muttered to himself.

"I am." Hannah said. "But thanks though. You're a good friend, Temperance. Seeley's very lucky."

"You are very lucky." His mother said with a smile. "She always puts your interests ahead of her own." She informed her son. Booth pondered that while the scene morphed again. Brennan was in her apartment on the phone. Judging by her face, she was not pleased.

"You told him no?" Brennan said, her eyes closed as she listened to Hannah's excuses. "I told you from the very beginning…" She paused in her frustration to gather her thoughts. "I told you that if you weren't all the way in this relationship that you should get out before you broke his heart." There was another long pause as she listened to Hannah speak. "Yes, I did. But I broke his heart because I wanted to save him eventual pain. I saw what he wanted and I knew that I couldn't provide it so I walked away. Yes, I regret that decision, but I would rather regret that decision now than lead him on and break his heart even more down the road." Brennan was upset now and there was no dealing with Hannah at that point. "I have to go. Booth needs me." She hung up the phone, Hannah's words clearly upsetting her. She rubbed her eyes in frustration and shook off the feeling. "Booth needs me." She repeated to herself, pushing her own feelings aside as she grabbed her coat. Booth watched as she stormed out of her apartment, ready to race to his side. He shook his head, unable to believe that she would do such a thing only to have him yell at her in a few minutes.

"Now we've come full circle." His mother said as Booth found himself standing in his own apartment, watching as his shade stumbled into his bedroom. His mother watched the drunk version of himself for a minute before turning to look at him. "You wanted to know why her?" Booth nodded as he watched himself climb into bed. Sure enough, Bones was right behind him, washcloth in hand. "Because she's everything you need even when you don't want her." Booth watched as Brennan wiped his forehead with the washcloth gently, taking such care with him, telling him that he was important to her. He turned to his mother as she put her hand on his cheek again. "You're a good man, Seeley. Hank made sure of it. Please, listen to your heart. It hurts because you've been ignoring it but it won't steer you in the wrong direction, baby, I swear. Everything will work out in time. You just have to trust the process." She took a deep breath and kissed his forehead. "Be good." She said.

"Ma, wait." He said as he watched her walk out of the room. "Ma!" But she was already gone and she took the illusions with her. Booth closed his eyes as he felt the room spinning one more time. When he came to a stop, he was sitting up in bed. He was drenched in sweat and the entire room was bright. He glanced at the clock. It was mid afternoon. He had slept half the day away.

OOOOO

Booth heard the pounding on his door and had to stop and verify that it wasn't in his head. No, this was a different pounding entirely.

"I'm coming!" He yelled, wincing at the sound of his own voice as he padded towards the door. He didn't bother checking the peephole but once he opened the door, he wished he had. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Brennan told me that you went on a bender last night." Jared said as he walked into the apartment uninvited.

"I must have been a wreck if she sent a drunk to check in on me." Booth said, only half-teasing as he shut the door behind his brother.

"Seriously." Jared agreed. "Are you okay?" He asked. Booth nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just had a bad night." Worry from Jared, this was a new low.

"Did you gamble?" Booth stared at his brother like he was crazy. "Hey, I'm not out of line for asking." He said, defending his question.

"No, I got drunk and came home and…." He stopped, not wanting to sound crazy.

"And what?" Jared asked.

"Fell asleep." He said, covering his tracks.

"You fell asleep." Jared repeated, not buying it for a second. Booth stared at Jared, not sure how much to reveal.

"I had a dream…where I sort of, talked to Mom." Booth admitted quietly.

"As in our dead mother?"

"She came to give me advice."

"Seeley, I've been drunk before, but I've never seen ghosts."

"I told you, it was a dream. I think." He said, still unsure of what it actually was. He would probably never know. Jared didn't believe him, but wanted to hear where he was going with this.

"Well, what did she say?"

"A lot of things." He said honestly.

"She talked to you about Temperance, didn't she?" He said, venturing a guess. Booth looked at him, unable to hide his reaction. "You know that deep down, there's a piece of you that is glad that Hannah did what she did." Booth sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

"I don't even know what I know anymore. The whole thing was just so…real. Even things that I forgot, like our old house, or her clothes…" Jared was envious of his brother's memory. He could barely remember their mother. Booth caught the stare and realized that Jared didn't have enough memories to dream about their mother, even if he wanted to. "She used to sing lullabies." He said, throwing his brother a bone. "You would cry and Dad would get angry but she could always make you be quiet with a song." Booth said, trying to help. "I used to think her voice had magical powers over you." Jared paused.

"The only thing I remember is her smell." He said. "She always smelled like baby powder." Booth finished the last two words with him and smiled. "I remember hanging on to her apron or in her skirts, but after that…" He didn't finish. Booth looked at his brother.

"Did I ever tell you what the last words that she ever told me were?" He asked his brother. Jared shook his head. "She kissed my forehead and she looked me in the eye and she said, 'Be good.'." Booth said as he leaned back into the couch. "It was just a simple command. She probably didn't even think twice when she said it." Jared had to bite back the sigh that threatened to emerge. That explained a lot, he thought.

"Do you want my advice?"

"No." Booth said adamantly.

"Take some time. Get over Hannah and think about what you really want. Then, when you know what it is, go get it."

"Life isn't that easy." Booth said, amazed at how foolish his brother really was if he believed that it was.

"It is if you make it." Jared argued. "Your whole life you've carried the weight of the world on your shoulders, even when people didn't ask you to. Just live your life, Seeley. Do what you want for once. Be a little selfish."

"That's your advice? Be selfish?"

"For you? Yeah." He said.

OOOOO

Monday morning, Booth knew that he had to stop by the Lab to talk to Bones. He hadn't gotten in touch with her since she had dropped him off on Friday night and he needed to apologize and make things right. He knocked on her door frame and waited for her permission to enter. She glanced up in surprise at the sight of him.

"Hey." He said sheepishly, sorry for causing her to jump.

"Hi." She said, the joy at seeing him mingling with the surprise of seeing him here, so soon after… It must be business. "Do we have a case?" She asked him as she stood up, preparing to leave.

"Oh, no." He said, wondering if she even wanted to see him. "I just, I wanted to talk to you, if you have some time to spare."

"Of course." She said as she pointed to her couch. He took a seat and she joined him. "Jared took care of you, okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, thanks for that." He said.

"I didn't want you to wake up alone but I figured given your state of mind, you wouldn't want to see me or Cam so Jared was the next person on the list."

"That's actually why I came here." Booth said. "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry." She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at his apology.

"For what?" She asked.

"For what?" He muttered incredulously at her cluelessness. "For Friday night." He said.

"Booth." She shook her head. "You don't have to apologize. Your behavior was completely understandable."

"Even so, you sat next to me and endured all of it, even when it wasn't directed towards you." Brennan looked down at her hands.

"Some of it was directed towards me." She said softly, knowing it was true. "And with good reason." Booth's hand immediately went to her chin. He needed to look her in the eye.

"Never." He said. "What I said, how I acted. None of that was meant for you. You're one of the best things that ever happened to me, Bones. I mean that." She stared up at him, wondering when she would stop feeling shocked by him. "Can you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive, Booth. You would do the same thing for me. I know you would." She said, believing it fully. "Remember when I identified my mother and you brought me Chinese every night just so I wouldn't feel alone?" She smiled. "We take care of each other. It's what we do." He stared at her, really taking her in. Brennan felt the shift in his attitude towards her and she stared back just as confused. "Booth, what's really worrying you?" She asked, knowing him better than this. He leaned back and sighed.

"You would never believe me." He said, knowing he was right.

"Try me." She said.

"I had a dream…" He started reluctantly, expecting the worse reaction possible. "Have you ever seen 'It's a Wonderful Life'?" He asked.

"Yes." She said, both surprised and proud that she understood the reference. Although she was confused as to why he was bringing it up now.

"In this dream that I had, I talked to my mother." He said quickly. Brennan's face was blank as she waited for him to continue. "She basically, took me through a variety of possibilities of how my life could have gone. With or without you, dating you, not dating you…There were many possibilities."

"You talked to your mother?" She wanted to make sure she understood.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess it was a dream, but it just felt…really real."

"What did she say?" Booth looked surprised at her question. She knew that the dead could not speak to the living, but she knew that if her mother came to her in a dream, she would want to hold onto the delusion. She would play along, for Booth's sake.

"She likes you. She thinks you're good for me because you keep me on my toes." He smiled as he thought back to that one memory in particular. Brennan smirked, wanting to believe that it was true, despite the fact that she knew better.

"And this dream, it worried you?"

"I saw some scary things, Bones." He said, trying not to let the images flood back into his brain. "If I hadn't gotten to you in time during the Kenton case or if you hadn't been there when I was shot…" He paused. "There was some good things too, but I just, I need you to know that I believe that my life is better because I've known you and I'm not angry with you." He said honestly. Brennan felt pressure exerting on her lungs and throat. She didn't know if she was trying harder to keep breathing or stop herself from crying. The truth was she had really believed that he had a good reason to be angry with her and this past weekend, she had let the guilt from her actions sink in. Hearing that he wasn't angry was a huge relief.

"I believe the same about you." She said as she reached out her hand to hold his. He gave it to her and he squeezed hers.

"So we're okay?"

"Yes." She said succinctly.

"Good." He smiled, glad to have cleared the air.

OOOOO

Brennan stared at the bone in her hand longingly. There was a time when absolutely nothing got in the way of her concentration at work. She could put up the metaphoric steel walls in her mind and focus. However, after her meeting with Booth, she couldn't concentrate at all. He had been shaken by his experience, whatever it was and that, in turn, shook her. She had been relieved to hear that he wasn't angry with her, or at least, not angry anymore. She did worry about the effect that Hannah's leaving would have on him in the long run. His heart had been broken and she wasn't sure how many more times he could allow it to break. Would he ever get his happy ending that he wanted so badly? Would he lose his all-encompassing belief in love?

She sighed as she put down the bone in her hands. Clearly, this was not going to work. She needed to just call it a day and come in early tomorrow when she was more capable of focusing. As she removed her gloves, she headed for the door. Angela met her in the hallway, a surprised look on her face.

"Finished already? You just got started."

"I'm finding that I'm having a hard time focusing. I'm going to go home and come back tomorrow."

"Well that's understandable." Angela said.

"It is?" Brennan said, surprised by her friend's comment.

"The man you love just broke up with his girlfriend. Go home. Think things over. Get your game plan in order and when he's ready to talk again..." She suggested, as if it were the acceptable thing to do.

"Angela…" She cut her friend off.

"Bren, I'm serious. There's a reason things didn't work out with Hannah." Brennan couldn't listen to this, because in reality, there was a very small piece of her that was not only glad that Hannah was gone, but hopeful that something might finally be able to come to pass between them. She could not let that small piece gain any ground. It would just set her up for disappointment again.

"I'm going home, Ange." She said as she walked into her office and shut the door. What she really needed was a nap. She hadn't slept at all over the weekend, worried about Booth and the way he had reacted on Friday night. Maybe she would just lie down for a few minutes on the couch instead. Then she could get back to work with the right mindset. Yes, a nap would most certainly do the trick.