2.

Another sleepless night had both Booth and Brennan at their worst the next day. Brennan had discovered cause of death on the victim, and he had been identified as a young professor in art history at a small university. They were discussing the case over breakfast, and because Sweets had cancelled, they were together for the first time since Brennan's revelation.

'Did you get some sleep last night Bones?' Booth asked, concerned for his partner. She didn't look good.

'Yes, thanks,' Brennan answered. It wasn't the truth, but lately the truth seemed to hurt.

Booth sighed. 'You remember that conversation we had, a long time ago, about faith and how it sometimes got shaken?' he tried.

Brennan looked him in the eye. She remembered, she didn't need to answer him for him to see that.

'I suppose you're going to remind me that two plus two equals four and that therefore it will all be ok again? I don't believe that anymore.'

'Bones.. You'll be fine, trust me.'

She looked at him again, her eyes more expressive than he'd ever seen them. 'You can't promise me that and then turn around and go have sex with Hannah. It's not fair.'

'It's also not fair that you turn me down and when I'm finally over it, you take my heart and shatter it once again, Bones!' Booth almost yelled.

Brennan almost jumped back in her chair, the entire restaurant looking at them.

'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled,' Booth said. 'Let's get out of here, we have a suspect to interview.'

'I won't be coming with you.'

'Why not? Come on Bones, I need you there,' Booth said, but he could see there was no arguing with her so he just nodded and after paying the bill, left Brennan in the restaurant.

That afternoon, Brennan had fallen asleep on her desk when Booth came to update her on the case. He stopped dead on her doorstep, not wanting to disturb her. He decided to continue reading the case files on the suspect on her couch, so he would not miss the opportunity to update her if she woke up and left when he wasn't there. He also knew it was an opportunity for him to go over his feelings for Bones, so he sat down on her couch, put a pillow in his lap and opened the first file.

Half an hour later, he was also asleep.

Brennan woke up, disoriented at first. Then she remembered resting her head on her desk for just a minute, after which she must have fallen asleep. She looked around, eyes settling on Booth who was asleep on her couch. She couldn't help but smile. She went to get two cups of coffee, and when she got back Booth was just waking up.

'I thought you could use some,' Bones said, putting the cup down in front of him.

'Bones, we should talk.'

'No we shouldn't. I can deal with things on my own.' She crossed her arms in front of her, a sign for him to stop trying. The armor was back up.

He nodded and sipped from his coffee, knowing she should at least know that he'd talked to Hannah.

'I told Hannah about us,' he said.

'There is no us, Booth.'

'There is Bones. We are partners, that counts for something. I would be dead if it weren't for you.'

Brennan dropped her eyes. 'Me too.'

Booth put a hand on hers. 'And that's what partners do, but Hannah didn't know much about our partnership. I thought she should, it is complicated enough as it is. I just want her to know everything.'

'You were right to tell her. She deserves to know everything, because there's nothing for her to worry about.'

Did she really not know how he felt about her? Did she think there was nothing for Hannah to worry about? How was he going to get through to this woman in front of him?

'Bones, can I ask you something?' He needed to ask her something but he was unsure she'd want to answer.'

'Sure.'

'Why did you think I wanted to give us a try, you know, before Hannah?'

Her eyes watered again, and she looked at him with a devastating look of sadness in her eyes. 'I don't want to discuss that, Booth. I'm trying to forget, please don't make it harder on me'. It came straight from her precious heart, and he saw it so he dropped it. They drank their coffee, Booth filled her in on the case and after seeing his presence wasn't helping her, he left her alone with her thoughts.

An hour later, Angela showed up at Brennan's office with a plate and a steaming cup of tea. 'Honey, you need to eat something.'

Brennan looked at her, grateful for Angela's concern. 'Thanks Ange. Time got away from me.'

'That can happen. Are you ok though? You look.. Bad.'

'Thanks,' Brennan smiled, but Angela saw her best friend was making an effort but failing miserably.

'Come on Brennan, tell me what's on your mind. You can't live like this you know. It's going to eat you alive.' Angela knew not to push too far with her best friend, but this time things were different. She also knew that sometimes, Brennan needed more than a little encouragement to come to terms with things she didn't even realize were in her way. This was one of those times.

Angela put an arm around her friends shoulders and sat down on the couch with her. 'Come on sweetie, tell me. I won't breathe a word, I promise.'

That shattered the last bit of control that Brennan was desperately holding on to. She burst into tears, leaning into Angela and putting her arms around her. Angela hugged her back, knowing that that was all Brennan needed from her right now.

'Shh, it's ok. We'll figure it out, you'll be fine,' she soothed. Brennan just cried and cried.

Neither of them noticed Booth approaching the office, seeing the scene, dropping his head, turning around and leaving.

After crying on Angela's shoulders for a few minutes, Brennan regained control, released her tight grip on Angela and sat back. 'I'm sorry.'

'Don't be sorry Brennan. You needed that and you'll need it again, just let me know when.'

'Thanks Ange. I'm just.. Lost. I don't know what to do. It's like back to those days when Sully wanted me to come with him.. The tears came again and Angela handed her a tissue. 'Booth's leaving us?'

'What? No!' Brennan frowned. 'I didn't mean it literally, I'm sorry.'

Angela nodded. 'Good. And don't be so sorry, just tell me what happened, please?'

Brennan nodded and picked up her tea. The warmth of the mug gave her the courage to tell her best friend everything.

'I turned Booth down a while ago. I think you noticed that.' Angela nodded.

'Well, last Tuesday I finally admitted my mistake to him. I've never been more sad and alone than the past months, Angela. Booth is just the pillar that holds up my entire life. I've tried being happy for him and Hannah, and I think he thinks I am genuinely happy, and I want to be.. But it's just not right. I can't be happy for him. I know that's not logical, I mean Hannah seems a suitable partner and Booth deserves that, but something is just eating away at me. I've never felt it before.'

'Jealousy.' Angela nodded. 'I know how you feel. You want to be happy but you know you've made a mistake.'

'I never made a mistake like this, Angela. I don't know why I did. Did you know that I spoke to Rebecca about Booth and marriage once? She said that people have one single moment, in which they catch fire or don't. I'm afraid I missed that moment..'

'You didn't miss it, you postponed it. He still loves you deeply, Brennan. It's in his eyes.'

'The perception that feelings can be seen in one's eyes is irrational,' Brennan said, realizing too late that she was completely destroying her own reasoning by crying earlier. 'But I've learned it to be true,' she added.

Angela smiled.

'So, you admitted your feelings to him?' she tried to get Brennan to continue.

Brennan nodded. 'And he said he couldn't. That he was with Hannah now. And I don't know what I expected from him, but it wasn't what I got.'

'You thought he'd save you. You were falling and you needed him to save you, but he didn't.'

Brennan realized that with that, Angela had hit it right on the head. 'Yeah.'