Thanks for all the great reviews - I hope they keep coming! I've decided to make this one a multi-parter so enjoy!

Important story point: doesn't allow for strikethroughs so the underlined part of the note is actually supposed to be scratched out.

Booth sank into his office chair with a tired sigh. He hadn't slept well the night before on Brennan's couch. Between the two of them, they had woken up every few hours with nightmares about the ordeal with the Grave Digger even though they were both in desperate need of sleep. Even with all the coffee he had consumed, he was still exhausted and was only stressing himself out more by worrying about Brennan. Despite his vigorous protests, she had not surprisingly insisted on going into the lab today and he had dropped her off before coming to his own office.

"Hey Booth," a fellow agent entered his office and placed a box full of stuff on the chair opposite his desk. "Here are the personal effects we took out of Dr. Brennan's car after digging it up. Our CSI guys looked at it and didn't find anything but I thought maybe you would want your squints to take a look."

"Thanks Peterson," he said, nodding at the fellow agent. As the other man left his office, Booth headed over to check out the bagged items in the box. A bunch of pens, water bottles, an empty perfume bottle, nothing too interesting. That is until he came across three individually bagged pieces of paper. One was addressed to Angela in Hodgins' chicken scratch and another addressed to Russ in Brennan's neat script which he set aside. But what really drew Booth's attention was another note in her handwriting with his own name on it.

Gingerly, he turned the evidence bag in his hands, wondering whether or not to read it. Obviously, it was a goodbye note and there was no need to say goodbye. 'Thank God' he thought, sending another silent prayer heavenward. He should respect that these were written at a stressful time and were not meant to be read if she was still alive.

But on the other hand, he was curious and it was addressed to him after all. Making a decision, he slid the paper out of the bag and began to read.

Booth-
Do not blame yourself for what happened. I know you probably will anyway, but you shouldn't. I know you and I know you did everything you could.
You've been an amazing partner and friend. Our partnership has enriched my life in countless ways. Thank you for everything.
Love, Temperance Bones

The note was terse and to the point, like most of Brennan's communications, but Booth knew her well enough to see the emotions shine through. More telling than anything was the way she has signed it. That she had thought twice of signing her given name, scratched it out, and signed it Bones touched him. The nickname had long ago stopped being something he called her to get under her skin and became a term of endearment.

His heart ached as his mind conjured an image of a terrified Brennan running out of air, writing what she thought would be her last words to him. He shut his eyes tightly against the image only to find the words "Love Bones" floating behind his eyelids in her tidy script.

Sliding the note back into the evidence bag, he placed it in his desk instead of back in the cardboard box with the other items from the car, then grabbed his keys and headed out to the Jeffersonian.