Thank you once again to all who reviewed, guests included. Glad you all rather enjoyed the angst. Poppyblue5(resolution on it's way), FicFanofFanFic, LoveShipper (it's momentary), FaithinBones you're right about that), chanevlovesbones, regbride12 (we all could have benefited from a full season 12), aadams00, 554Laura, Felinxx, gatewatcher, yoshimi0701, jsboneslover, GalaxieGurl (lol, actually I dislike them being at odds too. Won't be dragged out too long).

The morning sun shining on her face woke her and Brennan groaned as she opened her eyes. Her head hurt and the muscles in her body ached. She blinked, trying to gather her thoughts. A momentary disorientation, then her brain caught up. She reminded herself of the events of the past two days. She had been in an explosion that had resulted in her amnesia. She was married to Booth and they had two children together. She was in their house, on the bed that she shared with her husband. Her husband whom her brain still thought was just her partner. This was the second morning she repeated these facts to herself.

Her stomach growled, reminding her she was hungry. The clock on her bedside table informed her it was ten in the morning. She wasn't the kind to sleep in. A memory of Booth making her breakfast flashed in her mind. She was pregnant and they were in the kitchen of his tiny apartment.

Booth. His name brought a brief flash of anger, followed by a deep longing. She missed him.

She slowly climbed out of bed and went about getting ready for the day. She stepped into the shower, the hot water soothing the ache in her body that seemed to be eating away at her bones. She shook her head. That was not physically possible. She stood under the hot shower, closing her eyes, hoping for a memory to return. After a moment, she remembered the feeling of Booth's calloused hands on her naked body. She heard their pleasured moans in her mind. The memory that came back was of them making love in the shower. She groaned, angry at herself that her body wanted him.

Stepping out of the shower she resolved to call him later. It was logical to assume he had spent the night at Aubrey's with their children. Getting dressed she managed half a bowl of yoghurt for breakfast before deciding she had lost her appetite. As she walked past the windows of her house she spied Booth's SUV in the driveway. Curious she opened the front door.

Booth was sitting in the driver's seat, his head tilted back at an awkward angle, seemingly asleep. She made her way to the truck, careful to open the driver side door slowly. The action jarred Booth awake. He grimaced.

"Ouch!" He grimaced. "Bones." His voice was hoarse and he had a day-old stubble on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. What are you doing asleep here?"

Booth gave her a sheepish grin. "You asked me to leave last night."

"I remember that."

"I wanted to give you space. I knew you were really mad at me. But I didn't want to be far. Just in case something happened and you needed me. I got in the car and drove around for awhile, then came home."

"You spent the night in your car?"

"Yeah."

"It couldn't have been comfortable."

"Isn't the first time I've done it."

She tilted her head, looking at him questioningly.

"I mean, it's no different from when I have stakeouts with Aubrey." He clarified.

"You should come in."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You're not mad at me anymore?"

"I realized I may not have been entirely fair to you." Brennan closed her eyes, letting out a frustrated breath. "Things are coming back to me in flashes that do not seem to be in chronological order. I'm hesitant to trust what my brain is telling me."

"But at least stuff's coming back."

"Yes, but we should carry on this conversation inside." Booth looked tired and she felt a little guilty for asking him to leave the night before.

"Right."

Brennan took a step back, making space for Booth to gingerly climb out of his SUV. He stepped out of the vehicle, slamming the door shut. His action sent a stab of pain to his ribs and he clutched his chest, trying to catch his breath.

"Are you okay?" Brennan asked, noticing his discomfort.

"Yeah, yeah, just needed to catch my breath."

"Maybe I should take you to the hospital. You seem in worse shape than I am."

"No." Booth smiled to himself. She couldn't be all that angry at him if she was showing him concern. "I'm okay."

She started back towards the house and he slowly followed behind her.

"You must be hungry. You were always hungry. That much I remember. You should eat some breakfast." Brennan said as they entered their house.

"Now you're beginning to make me sound like Aubrey. I don't eat every ten minutes."

"Aubrey eats every ten minutes? That must be an extremely heavy load on his pancreas."

"Yeah pretty much. I still can't figure out how he's still that skinny though."

Brennan opened the fridge, pouring Booth a glass of orange juice. "It might be attributed to his basal metabolic rate. It must be higher than most people. Would you like some cereal?"

"Nah. I'm not that hungry."

As Booth took a sip from the glass that Brennan had handed him, he marvelled at how much normalcy that moment that just passed had held. For a second, he could forget her amnesia and all the things he had been keeping from her. For a second, they were back to the way they were before the explosion, having a seemingly mundane conversation in the kitchen before work.

"I'd like some answers. I have so many questions." Brennan started.

"Yeah of course." Booth nodded towards the couch, placing the glass back on the counter. The moment was good while it lasted.

The couple settled themselves onto the couch in the family room. Brennan was never one for small talk.

"I remembered your gambling. Your bookie Jimmy came to our doorstep, threatening us harm if he didn't get the money you owed him back."

Booth ducked his head, staring at his shoes, allowing her to continue.

"It happened while I was pregnant with Hank."

"Yeah it happened like that." He turned to look at her, worrying that she would decide he was too messed up to stay married to. "I'm so sorry. That night, I should've just come clean and fessed up. I shouldn't have lied when you confronted me."

"I remember how hard you worked to make things right. You attended GA meetings."

"So you remember everything from my relapse? And everything after that?"

"No. Just that specific memory came back. It helped me remember that I was pregnant with Hank. At least for that part of my pregnancy."

"That's… really good."

"You said you betrayed me."

"Yeah."

"You were referring to keeping your gambling a secret from me."

"Yes."

"I also remembered seeing you with a woman. A blonde. You seemed happy together. I was in your car. I was crying. It was a rainy night. Did you…" trying to say the words hurt. The pain of rejection felt like a scab that had been torn off a wound that had recently healed over. "…did you betray me with someone else?"

Booth stared into her eyes. "No Bones. I would never, ever cheat on you. I swear. When you asked if I had betrayed you, I thought you were talking about me gambling."

She nodded, accepting his explanation. What he was telling her was true to what she knew of him. "Was that woman a figment of my imagination?"

Booth shook his head slightly, sighing. "Hannah. That woman you remember? She was my ex. Look I'm sorry. I – you sure you wanna hear this? I mean you're starting to remember stuff. Maybe it'll all come back tomorrow then you won't have to be hurt again."

"I'd like to know Booth."

"Okay." Booth sighed. "I'll start from the beginning." He didn't want to keep anything from her anymore. Lying to her was taking its toll and he felt it eating away at him from the inside.

"When I left for Afghanistan, I came back with a girlfriend. Hannah."

"You did say you had to move on."

"I tried to build a life with her. Tried to convince myself I loved her. Maybe I did, but not as much as I love you. We were working this case, that night you're taking about, I followed you to a rough neighborhood. It was raining. I saved you from getting run over by a car. I was taking you home when you said you realized it had been a mistake to turn me down. You didn't want any regrets. You wanted to be with me. But I… I told you I couldn't leave Hannah. I'm so sorry Bones. I didn't know what to do. I should've done things differently. But I said no and I hurt you."

"Well something must have happened after that. You didn't marry Hannah but me instead right?"

"Yeah about that." Booth laughed nervously. "So after hearing that you finally wanted to be with me, I stupidly decided that I wanted to marry her. I think I was desperate to convince myself I made the right choice. Choosing her over you. I was too rash. I should've taken some time to think things through. Thinking back, I didn't love her. I was probably in love with the idea of being in love with someone and I just wanted to force things to work. But anyway, she's a reporter. She wasn't the settle down and get married type. Thank God she said no. I was so angry. I was convinced I would spend the rest of my life alone. I was such jerk, even when you tried to be there for me after my break-up with Hannah."

Booth paused to smile at her. "But you… you stood by me. Even when I was an undeserving ass. You took me to shoot Tommy guns on Valentine's Day not too long after the break-up. You were… no, you're amazing Bones. I don't know how I got so lucky."

He nodded at the blue stadium seats down the hall. "Then a couple of months after I broke up with Hannah, we were at the Diner and I saw those seats. I wanted them because – "

"Your Dad!" Brennan suddenly shouted. "That one perfect day when your Dad was sober and he took you to the Vets Stadium!" She smiled excitedly. "I remember! There was a blizzard. We were stuck in the elevator! We had a case to solve and we were trying to get out. You injured your back. We talked about what it would be like to make love. After we got out… we were at your apartment. We talked about trying to be together once I was less impervious and you were not angry anymore. Am I correct?"

"Yeah Bones! It happened just like that!"

"And then the event with Vincent dying. It took place not too long after that."

Booth wanted to jump up and hug her. She was remembering. He settled for grinning broadly at her. "Your memories are coming back."

"Yes." She smiled back at him. "Why didn't you tell me? It wasn't all bad."

He grew serious. "I didn't tell you because I was afraid. The doc said I shouldn't rush you. I guess I took it to mean not telling you anything. I was wrong. I was scared. I made a lot of mistakes. Screwed up a lot. But here you are, still putting up with my crap, my past. I was scared if I had to tell you everything again, you might change your mind about me."

Booth stared at the ground again. Avoiding her eyes. He was determined to come clean with her.

"About Max. He um… he died trying to protect our kids from the men Kovac had sent to kill them. It's my fault. They were at an FBI safe house but Kovac tracked them using the pacemaker inside Max. If not for him, we would have lost Hank and Christine. I couldn't tell you because I didn't want you to know. I didn't want you to leave. I'm sorry Bones, it was all my fault. Your father is dead because of me."

There was a moment of silence, before he felt her take his hand in hers. She squeezed, demanding his eye contact. Their eyes met.

"None of what you just told me puts you at fault for my father's death. You didn't send the men to kill our children. You didn't pull the trigger. You are not responsible for Max's death. I was upset at you for not telling me. Not because I blame you."

"If it wasn't for what I did in the past…"

"No Booth. I know about your past. I accepted it then, while we were partners. Forgetting the life we built together doesn't change that fact. Max must have loved our children. He must have loved being a Grandpa."

Booth nodded. "He did."

"He would have done anything he could to protect our children, including giving his life. He was the same with Russ and me. I don't blame you Booth."

Booth smiled, filled with a rush of relief then joy.

"I'm glad you're not withholding anything from me."

"Actually there's more." His head suddenly felt light but he was determined to continue. "Sweets, he ah… he's dead."

Brennan stared at Booth in disbelief. "What? How? When?"

"I'm not sure how much more your mind, your emotions can take Bones. I'm telling you years of our life together in one morning."

"I have to know Booth."

"Okay… but…" Booth's head started to pound and the room started to spin. He leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes. "'I'm…"

"Booth are you okay?" Brennan asked, noticing his discomfort.

"I just… maybe I need a drink of water…" Booth tried to stand but then the room spun in dizzying circles and his vision started to tunnel. Then everything went black. The last thing he heard was Brennan shouting his name.