Brennan sat in her office chair, and pulled off her lab coat. It was almost humorous.
The way it happened, Brennan almost burst out laughing. Mere minutes away being found out, and she had no clue.
This was the last thing she thought would happen. The last person she expected to notice.
She had been busy hiding from Booth and Angela.
And Hodgins too, she had to suck it up, because he would most definitely mention something to Angela. If he noticed.
However Brennan wasn't counting on him noticing the lies in her eyes.
It was very energy to work all day, all night, and to pretend that she was jolly, and happier then just getting by.
That is- if she was even 'getting by' at all.
So when Brennan thought she was alone, after a long day, because there had been a case, and that meant seeing Booth and Sweets, not just Angela and Hodgins.
When Brennan was in her office alone, when she thought everyone had left, she felt the first tear fall- it fell slowly down her cheek, and then the storm came. Each tear fell quicker then the previous. She didn't bother to cover her face.
She didn't bother to hold it back, she just let her head fall, hiding in hands.
When she noticed Cam was in her doorway, she realized that she had been there a long time.
Cam stood by the office door awkwardly, but then she noticed something.
Her eyes snapped to Brennan, her expression showing that she felt betrayed, but that she was sadly not surprised.
Brennan followed Cams gaze. Her hands. Her wrists.
Her cuts.
Brennan quickly tried to hide them, but they were just too red, and it was just too late.
And that was it; someone knew. Someone Brennan considered part of her family.
But not someone she ever thought would notice.
"I should have known." Cam shook her head, walking toward Brennan.
"No- you shouldn't and you don't."
"I do know. I've known you were depressed, despite your perky mood around Angela and Seeley. I should have known. When you weren't around them? You showed your true colors."
"No, Camille." Brennan shook her head, firmly sticking to avoidance, and trying to make her believe the lies that every one else did with ease. "I'm fine. I'm not affected at all by Booth's relationship. Hannah is a wonderful person, and I can't think of anyone else who could ever love him more."
"Yes, you can."
"I may want to, but I can't. I'm incapable."
"Temperance, I don't know what happened between you and Seeley last year, but what ever it is, what ever you said to each other? You obviously didn't mean it."
"Booth did."
"He told you he loved you, didn't he?" Cam asked, her eyebrows raising suspiciously.
"No- he told me he wanted to give us a chance. He never said that he loved me. Just that he was the gambler, and that he knew, from the start, that it was me. And I told him that I couldn't ever feel the same, and he said he had to move on. And he did, and he is happy, and it doesn't matter what I feel."
"It will to Booth." Cam assured her.
"But if I tell him he can't ever truly be happy, like he is now, because I can't love him as much as she does. She does it so much better then me. I can't ruin his dreams. I can't break him all over again, for selfish reasons."
"If you don't tell him what you're doing to your self, then I'll put you on suicide watch. The hospital, and FBI will force drugs." Cam threatened.
"I'm already on drugs! And they don't help. I can't turn my feelings off anymore, and it's because of what I did to him. I'm stopping my self from not feeling, beucase he can't shut himself down, and it isn't fair. But he's okay, and I quess I'll just have to feel this forever."
"Forever?"
"Time doesn't heal. It allows distance, but broken hearts? They don't mend. Humans aren't capable of that. I was crushed, and now I'm broken, but it doesn't matter. So don't tell him, Cam. Just don't ruin it."
"You're hurting you're self."
"It helps."
"What's next, Doctor Brennan, cigarettes?"
"I can't do that. That's too obvious. They would notice the smell."
"So you're hiding from everyone?"
"No. I'm just allowing them to move on. They won't miss me, anyway, Cam, I'm just a burden. I'm someone that was put into their life- not someone they chose to be there."
"Maybe not at first, Temperance, but now? I consider you family. The whole team does. That's why I was mad at you for leaving. You left for selfish reasons, and you didn't even realize that you kept everyone together. You were the glue, Brennan. The glue can't fall apart."
"I'm sorry, I'll stop Cam."
"Do you honestly think I'll believe that crap, Doctor Brennan? I was a cop, I've come across drug addicts. You're addicted. I'm going to have to tell someone, Doctor Brennan. I'm going to call Sweets."
"If you do that, then I'll quit."
"You would never, you love your job."
"Not as much as I love Booth."
"Doctor Brennan, I have no choice."
"You'll receive one month notice, and then I'm gone."
"You won't see Booth."
"It will be easier that way."
"Easier?"
But Doctor Brennan was gone, her coat on, and her office door closed.
Cam dialed Sweets' number, her fingers shaking, thinking about how she would convince Booth to believe her, thinking about how screwed up her extended family was.