"I… Bones after all these years…" Booth choked in brutal anguish. "I just… can't." The word slowly rolled off his lips as his heart begged for it to just be a dream; not a memory of the moment his whole world shattered into small, unrecognizable pieces and the man he once was died. The love he felt for this woman was sometimes so deafening he was sure she could hear it but in that small, undeniable moment all he could hear was silence. The silence of heartbreak.

The one moment he had spent the last six years pleading for was slowly unfolding before him and all he could focus on was the many faults that still bled his heart dry. And this woman had faults, more than he ever expected but in his eyes she was still perfect. But the faults… they were where his heart and soul lay dying.

Faults, stupid insignificant faults that had tainted every good act this woman had ever done. She had saved his heart, body and soul on countless occasions, and all he could focus on was the one glaring fault that started the slowly unraveling of his heart.

She left.

For all her faults she was still the mother of his child. A mother who left, betrayed, and destroyed the only thing he had managed to do right. She had tried to do the right thing, he knew that now but the blow was too much for his fragile ego to take. He had failed. Maybe if he had tried a little harder, been a better lover, or even hugged a little harder she would have known it was okay to stay. But feeling betrayed he let her run with the wind, betraying her heart the night he whispered goodbye.

Faults, the secret ghosts everyone hides behind vainly lit eyes. Sure, the woman staring back at him was full of those fateful figments but the hollowness that filled her red rimmed eyes spoke of redemption mere mortals could only beg for.

"I understand." Brennan solemnly whispered, "After all these years I shouldn't even expect to you to even look at me. I knew the risks when I left my family but I left without a second thought. I… I just thought after all we had… " Brennan's voice suddenly fell as the tears overwhelmed every word trying to force its way out.

"Bones…" Booth rasped as he watched the woman before him shatter into a thousand self-deprecating pieces. His heart pleaded for her to just look up into the eyes that spoke more than words ever could, but that was a risk this once adventurous woman could not take.

"It was irrational for me to think that just my presence would make you rethink our arrangement. It has been years, it is logical to conclude you have moved on and do not feel the same way. I knew then you loved me and… felt as I still do. Just because my world has been frozen in time since that moment doesn't mean yours had as well. You should have moved on, Seeley. You deserve it. "

But the truth was he hadn't. The few dates he had been on over the years were sad, pathetic and draining. Sympathy was a word that swirled around his brain every time his co-workers had brought up the dating scene and some perfect woman they had found for him. All he had ever really wanted was to be at home with his daughter, a figment of the woman his heart still longed for. It took years but people stopped setting him up. With every friendly hug and walk home the glaring hole in his heart became apparent even to strangers. You couldn't help mend a heart that was never really his to begin with.

Now he couldn't even get a date if he had tried, and he really hadn't wanted to until now, when the woman that set his body on fire was before him. Now more than ever he longed for more than just a pity hug. That was, if his body could ever muster up the courage to do more than wrap his arms around her delicate form he had destroyed.

"Bones…" Booth growled as he clamped his hand down on hers, ceasing her jagged, and frightful movements, "It is not as simple as you think. I love you… I'll always love you but…"

"We… we just won't work." Brennan's voice shook as she tried to piece together his words as quickly as she could.

Brennan's tear filled eyes twinkled up as a solemn tear streaked down her face. Had she not lost her chance to be with the man of her dreams because of a stupid character flaw?

"Things are not as simple as that and you know it." Booth treaded lightly, trying to not snap her fragile state of mind, "We cannot just pretend that it is only our hearts that need mending. There is someone else who matters more than us. This just isn't you and I anymore."

"Booth," Brennan pleaded, "I love you. I want you. I need you. Why can't you just love me?" And as his eyes flicked toward the mirror image of the woman in his arms, she knew the answer.

He loved her, looking up at those twinkling blues it was more evident than ever, but as hard as it was, he knew Joy losing her mother again would destroy her fragile little soul. That little girl had become his world, and even if it meant losing the only woman he would ever love he would make that girl smile once more.

"I didn't say I ever stopped loving you. Hell, I couldn't even stop myself if I tried." He humbly confessed, "It has been years and not a second has gone by that I ever stopped. You're the mother to my child, my other half and the only woman who will be able to love me for who I am. My heart has always been yours and you know it."

"Booth, I-" Brennan spoke as Booth's words slowly catalogued and his surprising confession fell against her broken heart.

"I know, Bones, I know." He tried to soothe the tears drenching his shirt. "After all these years as much as it pains me I cannot fall into what we once had. There is damage there that needs mending before we can even try. I'll always love you but…" Booth's words trailed off as her hands gripped his body flush to hers.

"But your tone dictates that my love is not enough." Brennan sniffled, trying to keep her vulnerability from showing.

"I know you love me, Bones, but things like this take time." He soothed with his calming strokes, "We just need to do things right."

"Mommy! Mommy!" Joy giggled as she ran toward her parents with a large stuffed animal covering most of her body. "Look what I got… Daddy, why is mommy crying?" Her eyes frantically fell between her parents. She had just met her mother, she couldn't lose her again.

"Dad!" Joy protested as her mother squirmed out of her father's grasp.

"Joy…" Booth spoke softly as he patted the spot his partner had vacated, "We need to talk."