A/N: SPOILER ALERT! This is based on sides from 6x13.

Thank you for all the reviews for the first chapter! This is going to be a three or four chapter story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones. If I did, we'd all be saying "Hannah who?"

Angela stormed out of Booth's office as quickly as she'd stormed in, leaving Booth to contemplate what she'd said. He pulled the small, black velvet box out of his pocket and looked at the ring inside. Everything Angela had said was true, every last word.

There was only what part of the conversation that's veracity he questioned. Had Bones really changed her mind? Booth thought back over the last several months. What was it she'd said when he had asked if she'd met anyone special – after commenting that she'd met many special people then realizing that he was referring to "sexual intercourse"? Bones had said something about not having the inclination. Since when did Bones, who'd been known to "date" two men at one time, not have the inclination to have sex?

God! It was there right in front of him from that very first conversation when they returned. He'd been too blinded by this hurt to see it. The two voices that had said "You're welcome" to his thank you for the phone; the sad expression when he reached for Hannah's hand across the table; it was right in front him the whole time. Angela may have prevented him from making the biggest mistake of his life. Booth had to know the truth, and he had to hear it from Bones.

He pressed the speed dial on his phone; Bones still held the first slot, after voicemail.

"Brennan."

"Hey, Bones. I was hoping that we could grab some dinner at the diner in say an hour?"

"I am very busy, Booth. I don't think I can," Bones replied.

"Please, Bones, it's important. Besides, you have to eat."

Bones smiled, it had been a long time since Booth had dragged her out of the Jeffersonian for a meal.

"Fine. I'll see you in an hour," Bones said.

"Great, thanks, Bones," said a relieved Booth.

"Booth?"

"Yeah?"

"Is everything okay?"

Booth wasn't quite sure how to respond, but said, "Yeah, everything's fine. I just need to talk to you."

"Oh, okay. I'll see you soon," Bones said.

Booth arrived at the diner ten minutes early and sat at their usual booth and waited nervously. Bones was five minutes late and greeted him with a smile.

"Hey," she said taking the seat across from him.

"Hi, Bones. Thanks for coming."

"Is Hannah joining us?" Bones asked hesitantly.

"No, just us today."

"Oh, okay, so what's going on?"

"I just wanted to talk, because we haven't really spent much time together lately. I miss that."

"Me too," Bones said with a sad smile, "I thought that maybe you were going to tell me – never mind."

"Tell you what?" Booth said leaning into the table.

Bones hesitated then said softly, "I thought – I thought you were going to tell me that you and Hannah were going to get married."

Booth looked at her, for a moment stunned into silence then said "What?"

"Just something that Angela said to me when I told her I was meeting you."

Barely above a whisper, he uttered, "I bought a ring."

Booth watched the news crash over her like a wave, and the knot in his stomach twisted ever more tightly.

"I have to use the bathroom," Bones said hurriedly getting up for her seat.

"Bones!" Boot shouted after her, but she'd already disappeared into the bathroom.

Bones pushed open the door of the diner's bathroom and ran into a stall. After emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet, she sobbed. She was losing him. Forever. Never before had a decision that she'd made been more irrevocable then the one she'd made last spring when Booth asked her to give them a "shot". Bones considered slipping out the back entrance of diner. Booth would know that she'd been crying, but she supposed she would at least be saved the humiliation of him seeing her physical reaction to his news. No, she would go back to that table after pulling herself together. Compartmentalize, she told herself, knowing that coping mechanism had failed her miserably recently.

Bones splashed some water on her face, took several deep breaths, and emerged from the bathroom. When she returned to the table, Booth quickly rose; his instinct to draw her into an embrace.

Bones shook her head and sat down.

"Bones, I am sorry. I shouldn't have done this here. I -."

"When are you planning to propose to Hannah?" Bones asked, cutting off his apology.

"I'm not," Booth replied with a sigh.

"What?" Bones said.

"I have to know. Have you changed your mind about us, Bones?" Booth said in desperation.

"I won't sacrifice your happiness with Hannah for my own," Bones stated.

"That's love, Bones, putting someone else's happiness first," Booth said with a sigh, "But I'm not happy with Hannah, not in the way I could be with you."

"You don't know that," she muttered.

"Yes, I do," Booth replied resolutely.

"So you would leave Hannah when only a few hours ago you were going to propose marriage to her?"

Booth was speechless. Angela's words came back to him.

"If you propose to Hannah, you might as well tell Bren that everything you've said in the last six years about love was a lie."

"I have to get back to work," Bones said with a disappointed sigh.

"No, Bones, please," Booth pled, reaching for her hand "Yes, I would leave Hannah but that doesn't mean I would leave you."

"I have to go," Bones reiterated, wrenching her hand from Booth's grasp and running out the door.

Booth ran out the door after Bones.

"Please, Bones. Please. Say something," Booth said as the cold evening enveloped them.

"What do you want me to say Booth? That every day we were apart I thought about you, worried about you, even dreamed about you? That I came to the reflecting pool filled with hope that I would get a second chance? But it was too late, you came back proudly displaying Hannah's picture, saying your relationship was as serious as a heart attack. Do you want me to say that every loving gesture between you and Hannah felt like I was being kicked in the gut? Is that what you want me to say?" Bones challenged, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Bones," Booth said, tears welling in his eyes as well, "I never meant to hurt you."

Wiping away her tears, she replied, "I know."

Tentatively, Booth wrapped his arms around her, fearing she would pull away. Instead, Bones leaned into his embrace and instinctively, rested her head against Booth's shoulder.

Softly, he whispered in her ear, "Please, Bones, give me another chance."