A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful comments that let me know you all are enjoying this story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing Bones related except my imagination.
"You look tired."
Brennan wished she could retract the softly spoken, compassion filled words as soon as they left her lips. She hadn't meant to state the observation out loud.
In the ten minutes that had passed since Booth had picked her up from the lab for an interview they were headed to, she'd been studying him covertly while they drove in silence. The slightly bruised and puffy looking eyes, the lethargic manner in which he moved, the tired droop of his shoulders despite the tension in his neck, and the fact that he had yawned multiple times in such a short expanse of time all indicated pretty clearly that he needed more sleep than he'd received the night before. Given that Hannah just returned last night from almost a week of travel, Brennan could imagine all too easily the type of activities that must've resulted in Booth's current state of sleep deprivation. She turned her face away from him, looking out the passenger side window, as she tried to banish the images of Booth and Hannah entwined together in his bed sheets and the sharp ache in her chest that always accompanied such intimate imaginings these days.
"Yeah," Booth answered, taking a hand off the steering wheel to rub the back of his neck for a moment as another yawn stretched his jaw wide open for a couple seconds. "I haven't been sleeping well the last week and stayed up a lot later than I should have last night." He'd laid awake until almost dawn in Parker's bed, thinking about the end of his relationship with Hannah and the possibilities the future might hold for him with her leaving. Possibilities that hopefully included the fascinating and brilliant, if occasionally challenging, bombshell currently riding in his car with him as more than just his work partner.
Don't ask him. Don't probe. You don't want the details, her subconscious screamed at her and yet, against her better judgment, she just couldn't seem to stop the words from leaving her mouth. "Hannah's homecoming celebration run late?"
Booth glanced sideways at his partner, an odd tone in her voice which was too difficult for him to interpret with his mind feeling sluggish and tired. Was she teasing him? Just curious and making conversation? Jealous sounding? He wasn't sure and since she was looking the other way, he couldn't read her face.
"Hrmph. I'm not sure I'd call it a celebration exactly," he groused.
Brennan's head snapped back towards him in surprise, her cerulean eyes locked in on his face. "What do you mean?"
Booth fidgeted in his seat, checking his rearview mirror, then his side mirror, then cast her a fleeting glance before looking forward towards the road once more. "Hannah said she stopped by your place to see you last night and do a little girl talk."
"Yes. That's true."
"She said she ah, she told you about the Munich job opportunity."
"Yes." Brennan found herself literally holding her breath, unable to look away, and she didn't know why.
Booth cleared his throat. "She's going to accept the job. In Germany. Hannah and me? What we were sharing, you know, as a couple, it's over. I dropped her and all of her belongings off at her office first thing this morning and we said our good-byes for what was most likely the last time."
"What? No. She's leaving? Why is she leaving? She was supposed to stay, to make you happy. You love her, why would she leave?"
"It's okay, Bones. It's for the best."
"No. No, it's not okay. You love her and she hurt you. Damn it! I told her before she moved in with you that she needed to be certain of what she felt so she wouldn't hurt you and she went and did it anyway."
Booth was a little taken aback by the vehemence of Brennan's response, but in a good way, a way that made a tingling feeling of warmth trickle throughout his body, from the tips of his ears to the tips of his fingers and toes. It confirmed what Hannah had told him the night before – that Brennan was willing to put his happiness ahead of everything else.
"You, ah . . . you grilled her on her intentions towards me before she moved in?"
"Of course I did. You are my partner, Booth. We watch out for one another," Brennan responded with a frown and Booth couldn't hold back the smile that felt like it stretched ear to ear, feeling himself fall a little more in love with this woman, if that was even possible. She was just so cute with her brow all furrowed and that little wrinkle in the center of her forehead as she expressed her outrage on his behalf. He hadn't been aware of the fact that Brennan had questioned Hannah about her intentions towards him before she moved in and he found the thought oddly endearing and, well, a little hot too if he were being honest about it. But it wouldn't be fair of him to let Bones put the blame for his failed relationship on Hannah.
"The thing is Bones, even though I loved Hannah, I'm not really feeling all that hurt right now by her electing to leave. Sure, I'll admit to being a little sad and a little disappointed that we didn't work out, but ultimately our decision to go our separate ways was mutual. With or without this particular job opportunity, we never would've worked out in the long run because she wasn't the right one for me and I wasn't the right one for her. This Munich opening just provided us with a convenient excuse to end a relationship that we both realized wasn't going to survive much longer either way."
"I don't understand. Your definition of being in love with someone seems very different to me than what I feel is love from my experience. I think I would find it much more challenging to move on than you seem ready to do." Again, she thought.
"Well, think of it like this, Bones . . . You can love a lot of different people in your life, but there's only one person that you love the most and Hannah is not that one for me. She knew it and I knew it and we parted on friendly terms, which is the best thing we could've hoped for."
"Well, if both you and she knew that you weren't that special one for each other, then why were you dating in the first place?"
Booth blew out his breath, stalling for a little time to think about how best to help her understand and how much he was willing to reveal at this time. On one hand, he didn't want to spook her by sharing the intensity of his feelings for her like he did that night in front of the Hoover, but on the other hand, he was coming to accept that in order for the two of them to ever have an honest shot at a deeper relationship together, the half-truths and prevarications were going to have to come to an end . . . eventually.
They had arrived at their destination so Booth parked the car and turned off the engine before turning to face his partner with his answer.
"At the time that Hannah and I started seeing one another, we didn't know what we would eventually come to mean to one another. That's the whole purpose of dating . . . to test the waters and see if the potential exists for an attraction to turn into something much deeper and more lasting. Hannah and me? We got along pretty good together but at our cores, we want different things out of life - I want to settle down, she wants to travel and live a nomadic lifestyle; I like the predictable routine of a steady job, she finds it monotonous; I'd like to have another kid someday, she's not really interested in motherhood – and we each want those things more than we wanted a life with each other. If we truly loved one another as much as we should, we'd be more willing to make sacrifices of the things we want just to be together."
Booth stretched behind him to grab his coat jacket from the back seat and, like so many times before, Brennan automatically watched as his crisp white shirt was pulled taught against his frame, displaying the muscles and sinew beneath in a manner that made her want to reach out and run her hands up and down his chest. And, also like many times before, she forced herself to reach for the car door handle instead, inhaling a steadying breath as she planted her feet on the firm pavement.
Watching Booth slip into his coat jacket as he came around the hood of the car so they could walk up the sidewalk side-by-side, Brennan wasn't quite ready to abandon their discussion yet. "So, you think you'll recognize when you find the-one-you-love-the-most because you'll be willing to make sacrifices for her?" Brennan knew she was willing to make sacrifices for Booth, so as far as she was concerned, his words were just affirming what she already knew - that her love for him was real.
"Aaarrrhhhhh," Booth grumbled out a groan of frustration at his partner's persistent interrogation. This is so NOT how he had wanted to do this . . . having this conversation with her about love and opening himself up to this extent while they were in the middle of working, but maybe it was best to just get it all out there. Romance with Bones wasn't likely to follow any stereotypical mores, so why not just go with it?
As they reached the front door, he turned to face her. "Yeah, Bones. For you, I'm willing to make sacrifices. I'd die for you. You know that. I'd eat tofu for dinner instead of steak just to see you smile. I'd follow you to Timbuktu so you could play in the dirt. I'd give up my dream to be married and live in a house with a white picket fence if it meant I could have you at my side as an equal partner in every sense of the word." He reached up and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, smiling softly at the completely stunned look on her face before reaching out and pressing the doorbell. "Hell, I might even be willing to let you drive the truck once in a while, but only on really special occasions."
"Booth . . ." Dr. Temperance Brennan was speechless and her cognitive functions seemed to have ceased working. Did he mean . . . ? Was he implying that she is his one . . . ? Her heart was racing, her breathing shallow, the sudden flood of chemicals rushing through her system as a result of his declaration left her reeling, and all she wanted to do right then was reach out and grab him to her. Oh Lord, she'd never been this close to attacking another person in her life, her desire being held in place by the thinnest of threads.
But they could both hear sounds on the other side of the door. In just a matter of seconds, they'd have to revert back to their fully professional personas and interview the person they had come here to see.
"Later, Bones" was all he said as the door swung open and he flashed his FBI badge at the person in the doorway, making introductions and stepping back into the role of Special Agent once more.
By tacit agreement, neither partner picked up where their earlier discussion ended after their interview was over. Instead, they both kept to safe topics, like their current case, while Booth drove Brennan back to the lab. Brennan needed time to process what Booth had revealed and Booth needed time to distance himself from what he'd shared with Hannah before he could fully jump into what was bound to be a roller coaster ride with Brennan.
A/N: Alas, even though we've finally banished The Blonde and Booth has even quasi-declared himself, it is still B&B, which means letting them simply fall into bed now and procreate like bunnies, while fun, would be too easy. Won't be too, too much longer though until they get their act together so I hope you hang in there and continue to enjoy the ride.