Chapter Two: The Cheat

Just one night, one stupid mistake that should have never happened. Booth willed himself to believe the only rational conclusion he was able to reach, but the way his heart ached by his foul disgust was one thing he could no longer deny.

Being with two women was not hard to do; his partner often had at least two sexual partners with ease. But love and sex were two completely different things. She had never loved before. Just sexual gratification, that is what she had called it, but he knew the truth; she never loved, that was, until she found him. And with that realization he had done nothing more than destroy that fragile little heart of hers night after night with each gut wrenching lie and perverted denial.

Bastard. A sick, lying shell of a man was all he had become.

"The case is really getting to you, isn't it baby?" Hannah frowned from the doorframe; unable to shake the cold, dark feelings radiating from the shell of a man she had grown to love.

"Wha-" Booth rolled onto his back and away from Hannah, "Oh, no. I just haven't been able to sleep is all." He tried to reassure her but the guilt that filled the room was one thing that he could no longer deny. She had to know it was more than just his inability to catch the suspect, the betrayal was written on his face as clear as the morning sun cascading between them.

"I am sure whatever has become between you and Temperance will sort itself out in a few days." Hannah reassuringly smiled as she bounced into the kitchen; surely a tiff with his partner was the only logical conclusion left.

As soon as his girlfriend left Booth bounded up and ran into the bathroom. Yet splashing cold water on his face no longer seemed to wash away the guilt. For weeks the only relief he had was the jarring shock of water that was as cold as his shallow heart. In that brief few seconds he finally felt alive, not bound by the shackles that had long since torn his heart in two but rather free to be the man without boundaries that he had long since denied.

But as his face finally warmed up in the steamy bathroom, a the sudden realization hit what was left of his sanity in such a destructive fashion he couldn't help but let out a gasp as the tears began to flow.

In a split second he had managed to destroy every sense of the word family he had ever known. He had not only broken all the promises he had ever made to the woman he loved, but more importantly he had become nothing more than a façade. It was too late now for anything more than the destruction of his whole world bit by bit. If he was to admit the truth he knew there would be only one result, breaking the heart of one woman he loved and destroying the life of the other. He needed to fix all that he had destroyed before it was too late; starting with the love of the woman staring deeply into the depths of his soul in front of him.

"Bones" Booth rasped, his blood-shot eyes falling behind his partner as he felt his body go ramrod at her gaze, "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." Brennan rasped, unable to keep her hands from grasping at his frayed t-shirt, "After that night… I need to know that you…"

"No, Bones, no." Booth huffed as he willed his body to turn away from his partner.

"It is not like anyone has to know." Brennan sheepishly smiled as she watched her partner's taunt muscles fall under her command.

"But Hannah is here…" Booth interrupted as he swallowed hard, "What if she hears us… talking?" He meagerly whispered, suddenly finding his mouth dry.

"She won't." Brennan smiled as she bound toward her partner, refusing to let him deny her of her animalistic desires, "There is no one here except you, me and what is between us. Believe me." Brennan snickered as she watched the colour fade from all but his rosy checks. "I made sure of that."

"Bones… I… I cannot…" Booth stuttered, barely able to get the words off his lips.

"Oh God, Booth." Brennan finally growled as she took one last predatory jump toward her partner, landing squarely against his glowing skin, "Don't make me beg."

And in that second, as his eyes narrowed against her vibrant skin Booth could only think of one thing:

I have become a cheat, liar and a thief.