A/N: Just a short little drabble, because I wanted something kind of bittersweet. Review review review, they make my day!!
Disclaimer: Yeah. No.
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Rain pelted down from the skies; hard and angry, this rain was unforgiving. It pounded down around her shoulders, burned into her cheeks like fire. They assaulted her body, furiously splashing the grass around her. There came a time when she was so wet that she became unaware of whether or not it was still raining. It didn't matter anyways, she guessed. Rain was fitting for today.
Dr. Temperance Brennan had never had a normal relationship with her father. Both her parents had left when she was a teenager, and after that, things never were quite the same. How could they be? He's a criminal, she repeated to herself time and time again, and he left you. She didn't want to love him, to need him, because that would just lead to hurt. It always did. She would trust him, just as she had as a child, and then he would leave. And once again she would be ripped apart. No, the independent Doctor Brennan was not about to let that happen.
She let her fingers run across the smooth, damp concrete of the tombstone. She felt the depressions as her fingers traced the letters, the words she herself had picked out. The sky was smoky, heavy with billowing black clouds. Almost as if they knew that it was a time for mourning, as if they were trying to pay their respects, too. They were sad and dark and depressed, just like her. Raindrops mixed with tears, and she knew the sky was crying for her father, too. Just like her. Brennan couldn't quite pinpoint when she had let herself get attached to her father again. She hadn't meant to. She hadn't wanted to. But she did, and he had left her, left this world. Just when she was beginning to need him again.
She hated herself for being right. Just once, she thought, it would have felt good to be wrong. It would have felt good for someone to prove he wouldn't let her down, wouldn't leave when she finally let him in. Trees swayed around her in the stormy breeze, leaves rustling in the wind. It all seemed distant and far away. The rain was steady now, and she could feel the hairs on her arms standing on end. Goosebumps. She blamed it on the cold.
He found it somewhat comical that she never saw him. Dr. Temperance Brennan, world renowned forensic anthropologist, was known for catching all the little details. She was observant, aware of everything around her. And yet as he stood leaning on an old oak tree fifty feet away, arms folded across his chest and brow furrowed, she never saw a thing. He walked slowly, not wanting to disturb the tranquil peace surrounding them. Placing a hand soothingly on her shoulder, he made his presence known. He knelt beside her, not saying a word, simply rubbing small circles on her shoulder. He would wait until she was ready.
"Booth," she breathed. It was less than a whisper, it was a sigh. A sigh of relief, a sigh of thanks. She leaned into his arms, her head finding the crook of his neck like it was a reflex. She felt so small, so weak. She wasn't used to feeling like this, to feeling so vulnerable. With his arms around her, she felt so drained. So tired. She found herself thinking about how it was Booth who had always been there for her, through all the hard times. A montage of all the moments, good and bad, that they had shared together ran through her head. And she realized that she already had someone that had proven her wrong. Someone she needed, and who had always been there. Who would always be there, she knew now. For the first time in days, the tired lips of Dr. Temperance Brennan tilted upwards into a small smile.
Max Keenan, Brennan's father, had uttered four simple words to him. "Take care of her." Booth promised himself that day that he always would. He sighed, leaned down, and pressed a small kiss to the top of her head as he pulled the woman he loved tighter in his arms. It was the easiest promise he ever made.