"I know."
The letters sat unopened for days. Aside from the few she had already read, they sat organized in neat piles.
She stared at them,
She touched them,
but she wouldn't open them.
Angela gave her a hard time, coming into her office at least once a day to see if she had made any progress.
She didn't.
She had spent the last twelve months attempting to forget Seely Booth, and she couldn't bare to read the private thoughts he had such a high interest in telling her.
She didn't want to forget him, but arround him she was not herself anymore.
She wanted, for the first time in her entire life, to will herself to fall in love with him.
She struggled, tossing in her bed at night. Wanting to promise him the thirty, fourty, or fifty years that he found so easy to say.
She wanted to tell him she loved him, regardless of her brain screaming that it was just a chemical reaction.
This terrified her.
She just wanted to be normal. Booth deserved normal, not this rational literal scientist who was terrified of nothing except her feelings.
She had stared down the shaft of a gun.
She had taken abuse,
both physical and mental.
She lived through her work,
She hardly slept,
she hardly ate.
She found it ironic that one person could break her whole world, as she knew it, in the best possible way.
However, she was still a scientist. She wanted Booth to be happy, but she knew that she couldnt provide the relationship that he wanted.
So, she distanced herself.
She didn't meet him at the coffee cart.
She didn't call, or stop by his office.
If a case happened to be brought to her, she did everything privately from the lab - allowing Cam to deliver the information to the FBI.
She didn't go to the diner.
It was what she needed to do for Booth.
They both needed time, time and space.
xxxxxxxxxxx
Weeks passed, and after her uncountable sleepless night, she drove to the Jeffersonian well after 1am.
She couldn't take it anymore.
She had to know.
She tore into the letters,
at random.
She cried.
She cried for her regret,
for her mistakes,
for the way she was.
For the way she wanted to be.
Most spoke of his day,
the weather,
the lives he had to take.
She wished that she could have been there for him.
To help him with his 'cosmic balance sheet.'
Some said how much he missed her.
How he still knew.
Others spoke about God,
and his faith,
and how it had been shaken.
But how he knew that he would get it back.
He quoted her often.
She found warmth simply in the way each letter began, and ended.
Some letters addressed her as Temperance,
others Bones,
'My Bones',
or 'Dearest Bones.'
He signed the letters as Seeley,
or Booth,
or with a simple B.
Her decision was still unwavering, however, that is until she opened the last envelope.
She had purposely put the newest looking envelope aside.
Taking a deep breath, she opened it.
Her own faith in science and rationality shaken when she read the simple nine words.
" I love you, Temperance. Always. I will wait, forever."
She turned the letter over, it was blank.
The most powerful letter of all, the shortest.
She left it on the desk,
grabbing only her keys and running out of the institute.
The drive over was a blur.
She ignored stop signs,
she raced yellow lights.
And then there she was, standing in the familiar hallway,
in front of the most familiar door.
She doubted everything, herself, just briefly when she rang the doorbell.
xxxxxxxxx
His sniper senses had him up and out of bed before the bell had finished its familiar ring.
He wandered to the door,
limping slightly,
his body had taken a beating in Afghanistan and he was still getting over the aches and pains.
He figured it must be Hacker,
or Cullen, with a case.
Maybe he missed a phone call.
He was wrong.
xxxxxx
He opened the door to find her staring back at him.
Hair drenched from the rain,
no coat,
silent.
"Bones.." he said, opening the door further.
Still, silence.
"I waited for you." He finally said softly,
and with that she stepped towards him,
circling her arms arround his neck and drawing his lips to hers.
She kissed him pationately,
and after a brief moment of shock,
he kissed her back,
arms wrapping arround her waist and drawing her closer towards him.
"I know" she finally said, in a half sigh, kissing him again.
He drew her inside and kicked the door shut, lips not leaving hers.
"I cant change," she continued between kisses, fingers feathering throughout his messy hair.
"I dont want you too." He replied, pushing her against the closed door,
supporting her ass as she lifted her legs to circle his waist.
"I love you" he said, his breath growing heavier and faster.
She lifted her chin as he kissed down her throat to her collar bone, and back upwards and acrross her jawline until he captured her lips again.
"I believe you." She moaned, sharing his air.
xxxxx
Please review, I am loosing motivation in this story because
I feel like no-one is reading!
Thanks!
~EHE