"They say that you will always be the last to know
They say that all that glitters is not gold
It's not just that you're never coming back to me
It's the bitter way that I was told."
~Elvis Costello, The Comedians
A little over two weeks later Brennan knocked on Booth's door a little after 9pm to drop off paperwork.
"Hey Bones, what's up?" He gestured for her to come in when he opened the door.
"I just wanted to drop these off since I'm not going to be in the office tomorrow." Brennan glanced around the room and was surprised at what she saw.
Charlotte was curled up on one end of the couch with her laptop, wearing a pair of faded, tattered jeans and one of Booth's equally well-worn Flyer's t-shirts. While it appeared, Booth had been sitting in the recliner on the opposite end of the room watching TV. She had thought that Charlotte was still in Cairo or Cypress or one of those places she disappeared to when she wasn't in DC with Booth.
"Hi, Charlotte." Brennan tried to sound as normal as possible.
Charlotte let the pencil that had been fixed in her mouth fall and she smiled, "Nice to see you again, Dr. Brennan."
"Please call me, Temperance."
As Charlotte opened her mouth to respond, her phone rang. "I'm sorry, I have to take this. It's my boss."
Brennan watched the other woman head back to the bedroom, Booth's bedroom, and then close the door. She turned to her partner, "I should get going."
"You don't have to." He sat back down in his chair and flipped through the files she gave him.
"No…" She sighed, "I really do need to get home and get ready for my meetings tomorrow and you're busy." She made her way to the door and quickly said, "G'night Booth."
Before Booth had the chance to tell her he wasn't busy, she was gone.
B&B
Cam was sitting at her desk working on the budget for the lab for the year when Brennan knocked softly on her door, looking almost tentative. Grateful for the respite, she waved Brennan in and gestured to the chair opposite her.
"Dr. Brennan, what can I help you with? Have we gotten any further in the case?"
"Can I ask you for some personal advice?" Brennan blurted out, looking to the office windows nervously, as if someone might be eavesdropping.
Cam managed to control the automatic reaction she wanted to have and kept her face as neutral as possible. "I- I'll do my best to help, although this idea seems to me like putting ketchup on ice cream."
"I don't know what that means, but it sounds distasteful." Brennan sighed and sat back in the chair, legs crossed. "You know that Booth is seeing a woman, correct?"
Cam nodded as she hid the smirk she wanted to give when Brennan completely ignored her comment. "Yes, I had heard."
"I'm confused."
"Yes, you often are in this area. What exactly are you confused about? That Booth is with another woman?"
Brennan scoffed. "Of course not. Booth is a very attractive man, with a kind disposition and any woman would be lucky to-" She stopped for a moment, and Cam swore she saw a flicker of pain cross her friend's face. "Any woman would be lucky to be with Booth. That's not…I'm not confused about that."
"Brennan…" Cam hesitated slightly. With anyone else she would be worried about hurting their feelings, but since this was Temperance Brennan, her only worry was actually being understood. "You need to tell me exactly what you're confused about because, frankly, I'm getting as confused as you."
"I'm sorry, I just…okay." Brennan seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. "I can't go into specifics, because it's personal, but essentially Booth made a romantic overture towards me and I turned him down."
"Whoa." Cam would have said she was stunned, but that word just didn't seem adequate. "When was this? Recently?"
"No. Last year, before he began dating Dr. Bryar."
"Ah." Cam finally got it. She had wondered why, after admitting he was in love with Brennan, Booth had suddenly began dating. She had considered asking him, but at the time there was quite a bit going on and by the time she thought of broaching the subject everyone was leaving for parts unknown. "That explains a few things."
Brennan nodded. "Yes. He said he had to move on, which he did."
"In spectacular Seeley Booth fashion, apparently." Cam smirked again.
"I don't know-"
"I'm sorry, Brennan. Ignore me. Go on." She waved her hand in front of her.
Settling herself back again, Brennan continued. "Anyway, when we agreed to go away for a year, it almost seemed as though…well, when we parted at the airport I felt…I had decided that I might have been…I can't explain this adequately. I just know that it didn't feel like a goodbye to me."
"More like a beginning?"
"Exactly! As if Booth understood how I was feeling, however he does that, and that we might be in a different place when we returned to each other."
Cam decided to ignore the blatant implication of Brennan's choice of words, instead focusing on the problem itself. "So he comes back, and this woman shows up shortly afterwards."
"Yes. Well…he did tell me about their relationship while they were in Afghanistan. Apparently, it was simply sexual in nature. At least…that's how Booth makes it seem. But…"
"Something happened?"
"Yes. I went to Booth's apartment to drop off some paperwork and Charlotte was there. And it was…"
"Awkward."
"No…well, yes. But not for the reasons you think. They were sitting around, Booth was watching television and she was working, and…it seemed like more than a sexual relationship. It was very comfortable." Brennan looked to her clasped hands in her lap, trying to hide the painful dismay on her face.
"It looked domestic." Cam said softly. At Brennan's nod, she continued. "I can see how that would not only confuse you, but maybe hurt you as well?"
Brennan's head shot up as she opened her mouth to immediately and reflexively object. Cam watched in fascination as the fight literally drained out of her friend, and her head dropped once again, the despair obvious and heart wrenching to watch. "Yes. I felt like I had been kicked in the chest."
Cam made a fist which caused her nails to bite into her palm, the sharp pain the only thing stopping her from bursting into tears. After all this time, after the denials and the obfuscations and the mutual blindness…this is what it's come down to. 'Unfuckingbelievable.', she thought to herself. 'Brennan finally realizes what is right in front of her, and now…it might be too late.'
Sighing, Cam stood and walked to kneel in front of Brennan, resting a hand on her chair. "Listen to me, Brennan. I am not going to get in the middle of what just might be the messiest, most complicated, most loving relationship I've ever had the honor of watching from the sidelines. But I want you to know that I do see why you're confused. All this time you've been insisting on having empirical proof that good, healthy love exists, that it's something you can have without the pain that has always accompanied it for you. And now you find yourself truly in love with this man who has promised to be all that and more, and when you realize it and decide to accept it from him, he's moved on to another woman. So you wonder…did he ever really feel it? Did you make some huge mistake? Because if he can move on with this other woman, how could he have loved you the way he says he did?" Cam paused, taking in Brennan's wide-eyed expression with something close to smugness. "Am I close?"
Brennan couldn't find her voice, she simply nodded.
"Dr. Brennan, I can assure you…Booth is still in love with you. He might always be in love with you, for the rest of his life."
"But how can you possibly know that?" Brennan managed to reply.
"Because the love he feels for you? It's born of years of friendship, of connecting with you on a base level that most marriages don't have, that's wrapped in more trust and respect than anything either of you will ever experience with anyone else. Anyone else." Cam stared directly into her eyes, willing her to understand. "Anyone else."
Brennan nodded and brushed an errant tear away irritated. "So, what? I just sit back and wait? Hope that he finally sees that I am ready to…to be with him?"
"Yes. That's exactly what you do. You owe it to yourself to do just that. And you especially owe it to Seeley." Cam stood and walked back to her chair, sat down, and delivered her final piece of wisdom. "Because that's what he has been doing for you for years."
Brennan dropped her head into her hands and released a long, exhausted, realization-filled breath. "Oh, my God."
Cam smiled. "Exactly."