But when I hit the bottle, there's no tellin' what I'll do

'Cause something deep inside me wants to turn you black and blue

I can't resist you, I can't wait

To twist your loving arms till you capitulate.

– Elvis Costello, Wave a White Flag

With Charlotte out of the picture, not much changed for Booth. He got up, went to work, saw Parker, ate meals with Brennan and so on. The only difference he could see or feel was the lack of anything to look forward to, at least with Charlotte there was always her impending visits or the odd phone call from the road.

"Don't you think that it's suspicious that Susan has no alibi for the 15th?" Brennan asked Booth over drinks a little over a week after Charlotte had left.

He nodded but remained silent and took a drink of his beer, when he tilted his head back the TV above the bar caught his eye.

"Are you going to bring her in and question her?" She asked. When he failed to respond, Brennan followed his gaze up and saw the object of his attention. It was Charlotte in fatigues and a flak jacket reporting from the Green Zone in Iraq. "I didn't know that Charlotte was in Iraq."

He glanced at Brennan quickly and then looked back up at the screen, "Neither did I."

"How could you not know?"

"I-I'm not seeing her anymore." It was the first time he had said it aloud to anyone and it bothered him more than he expected it to.

"Since when?" Brennan tried to hide her shock but it was a nearly impossible task. He had been distant and preoccupied all week but she had chalked it up to the situation in general not this new development.

Booth rubbed his chin slowly, "Since last week."

"Why?"

He dropped his head and sighed, "I-I don't really want to talk about it." He reached into his back pocket and threw a handful of bills on the bar and stood, "I'm gonna head home. See you in the morning?"

Brennan swallowed the last of her wine and followed him out to the street, "Booth!"

He whipped around as he pulled his coat on, "What?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know what to say. It…happened gradually and then all at once and I don't…I don't feel all that great about it."

Brennan studied his feet on the sidewalk; she could see him shifting his weight back and forth, anxious to be anywhere but there. She looked up and asked, "Did you love her?"

The question didn't surprise him but the fear in her voice shocked the hell out of him. He shrugged, "I could have….if not for you."

She replayed his words in his head and scoffed, "You're blaming me for the demise of your relationship with Charlotte?"

"A little…"

"I was nothing but nice to her and supportive of you being with her. I had nothing to do with her leaving you."

He stepped toward her and dropped his voice, "First of all, I ended it. Me, not her. She, this woman who didn't know me nearly as well as you do and who I had given little of myself to, was ready to take a leap of faith with me and I ended it. And yes, Bones you had everything to do with it!"

"That's not fair."

"Nothing is ever fair. Sucks, huh?" He wanted to stop before he said another thing he couldn't take back so he turned on his heel and headed to the SUV parked on the side street.

Brennan followed hot on his heels, "Don't you say something like that to me and then walk away, you son of a bitch!"

He turned to face her but continued walking backwards, "Drop it, Bones."

"I will not! You tell me time and again how I'm not good with people, that I need to connect...but you're just as bad as I am! You claim to know how to read people, but when it comes to the most important people in your life...you're the one who sucks, Booth!"

Booth laughed darkly, "Yes, I do. I suck. But at least I can admit it."

"You admit it? Oh, of course...because you're always the first one to admit your failings!"

"Unlike you who never fails at anything, right? Ms. I-Never-Got-a-B."

""So what? I rarely fail! At least I don't use my physical attributes as a crutch! You throw that smile at people and expect them to fall at your feet and when they don't you take it personally. Well...it's not always about you."

He scoffed, "At least not with you it isn't."

"If you truly believe that, Booth, then you…you really don't know me at all." Brennan swallowed the tears she could feel rising and turned to head to her car.

"No, that's the problem. I know you too well. I always knew you'd say no!"

Brennan wheeled around, angry enough to spit fire. "Then why did you do it? Why, Booth? Why would you risk everything if you knew I wasn't ready?"

"Because I am so damn tired of always being the one who has to sacrifice, the one who puts everyone else first...and I just thought that maybe, just maybe it was my turn to be selfish and to hell with the consequences."

"But the consequences involved my life as well!"

"Did they? Could have fooled me."

"That's right, because I'm a cold, unfeeling robot. Like I said...you really don't know me at all." She turned and headed for her car without a single glance backward.

He watched her walk away, the pain and regret coiling in his gut. Shaking his head in self-deprecation, he muttered "And the hits keep on coming."