Chapter 4 - Confession

They had to trek into the woods for at least thirty minutes to reach the remains. As they walked, Booth was thankful that he didn't have to manage the conversation. The Ranger did most of the talking explaining the circumstances of the discovery, "This is not a well traversed area of the park. In fact, as you can see there are no well-defined paths through here. The – er – bones were discovered by one of my colleagues while he conducted a semi-annual inventory of the wildlife and fauna. He was following the signal path of a tagged bear in this area when he found the dump site. He immediately backed away from the scene and called in for assistance. We weren't sure what to do so we called in the authorities who called you I assume."

"Yes, most of the parks in Virginia fall under federal jurisdiction." Booth interjected.

"Is there any other information that I should know before inspecting the remains?" said Brennan.

"I don't think so," the Ranger clearly had not dealt with this type of situation before. "There is the site—right through there." The Ranger pointed to the right at a rather thick growth of trees.

Brennan hurried over and kneeled down next to a haphazard pile of bones. She gently and diligently poked through the pile. Turning toward Booth she said, "I see evidence of two males here: one between 35 and 40 years of age and the other between 6-10 years of age. No obvious signs of blunt force trauma. Also, I don't think there was any attempt at burial. The bones are all intermingling together on the forest floor as if the bodies were originally placed here on top of each other or really close together. Given this, I don't think that they were killed here either. As the Ranger indicated, this does appear to be a dumping of sorts. Booth, make sure that the entire area is photographed carefully before packing the remains and particulates for transport to the Jeffersonian."

"Sure thing Bones." He paused for a moment before asking, "Do you suppose that they are related like father and son maybe? It may help us in identifying them."

"That is a logical presumption, Booth. Of course, we will know more after we get them back to the lab."

They stayed while the crew took care of the scene. He watched as Bones dictated instructions and watched carefully to ensure the integrity of her remains. He was always amused by her protective stance towards bones no matter if they were part of their case or in storage. He was still thinking about what he was going to say to her when they started to head back towards the car. As they retraced their steps, the silence between them was deafening. He suddenly did not like the idea of having to talk to her in the car thinking that it would be better if they could make eye contact. This way, if he jumbled his words, then perhaps she could understand what he was trying to say.

"Hey Bones, stop a minute."

"What? We need to get back to the lab, Booth"

"Just for a minute, I would like to talk to you before we get back in the car." At this, she stopped and turned placing her hands defiantly on her hips. It was an aggressive stance and he was suddenly feeling very nervous and awkward.

"What do you want to say Booth?"

"Come sit with me for a minute." Obviously aggravated by the request, she let out an audible sigh and sat down on a nearby tree log. He sat down next to her but could not speak.

She started, "Listen, I don't think we have time for this. We have a lot of work to do if we want to identify these remains."

"Don't worry about the remains for a moment. We will get beck to DC and you will do what you do so well. I need for us to finish the conversation in the car. I don't mean this as a personal criticism, but you tend to get very distant when you have something on your mind and you just accused me of betrayal. You had to know that that would hurt me deeply." He thought he saw her soften a bit and felt that it was safe to continue. "I am not going to talk about my supposed death anymore. I am sorry that you were hurt and angry and I am sorry that I let you down, but that is now in the past. The important thing is, and I hope that this is the important thing here, that I am not dead. I am alive and I am here with you. Bones, you have to know that there is no place that I would rather be."

"Booth," He put a finger to her lips stopping her. He was not about to let her take control of this situation.

"I am not finished yet." She was clearly confused and although she didn't know it so was he. "I know that you are a strong and confident woman, Bones, but you are also extremely insecure and vulnerable. Sometimes it is because you don't understand the real world outside of the lab and sometimes it is because you have had to deal with some serious personal trauma in your life. I feel that I understand you and I don't feel sorry for you but I do feel sorry that you have to build those walls that prevent everyone—even me—from seeing what a compassionate person you really are. You mean a lot to me and I honestly don't know what I would do without you."

She was looking intently at him now. There was no more anger. There was a soft expression of understanding in her eyes that made him feel like he could bare his soul. She did not try to say anything but simply sat there waiting.

"I am not trying to put you in a difficult position here, but I really feel that now is the time to tell you that I feel closer to you both professionally and personally than anyone else in my life. I look forward to seeing you, arguing with you, and spending time with you. I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way I fell in love with you." There, he had said it. Now, he was bracing himself for the fallout.

They sat there for a few minutes looking at each other. He saw that her mouth was open and that she had furrowed her brow a bit. It looked as if she was going to say something a couple of times, but nothing came out. At least, she had not exploded he thought with relief.

"Bones, I know that was a lot to process. You don't have to say anything right now or ever. I just needed you to know what you mean to me and I pray, no I beg you to never use the word betrayal again when thinking about me or something that I have done." She nodded her head in agreement and he even caught the smallest smile forming on her beautiful lips. That was enough for now.

He stood offering a hand to help her to her feet. In a completely uncharacteristic move, she took his hand and following one more emotion-filled look, she turned to head back towards the car.