UFO
If I'm such a super hero
Why does it feel like my feet can't leave the ground?
If I was a steam train flying
Why do you stand in my way to slow me down?
My bills are overdue again
I know who's to blame
And I feel like skipping town
Slowing down
"Colonel Pelant? Yeah, this is Agent Booth…no, no, not Sergeant Major. Not yet, anyway…yes, who do I talk to to confirm my new position?" I sat in my office on my phone. Bones was definitely leaving and now, so was I.
"Oh, well I accept the Defense Secretary's request that I return to service….yes, I will go train soldiers…no, one year. That's it. I have a son. One year is long enough….Thank you for understanding…Okay, fax the paperwork to my office and I'll send it back once I get it taken care of…Yes, Sir."
I set the phone back into the receiver and leaned back into my chair. I was going to Afghanistan. I needed to think of a way to tell Parker. He'd be proud. But who was supposed to cheer for him at his hockey games? Rebecca hated hockey. I guess she'd have to learn to love it.
"Booth?" Bones stood right outside my office.
"Bones!" I shouted, waving her to come in. "What's up?"
"Well I was thinking…"
"You do that a lot, Bones," I said, smiling at her. She barely smiled back, nodding at my joke.
"Why would Caroline say we're running from each other? I'm going to Maluku to uncover inter-hominid remains and you're going to war. Yes, we will be away from each other but we're coming back in a year. This doesn't have to be our last case together…right?"
I suddenly saw what she was getting at.
"No, Bones. This is our last case," I told her quietly.
Her mouth fell open. "Why?" she shouted at me.
"I can't. I want to come back here in a year and solve more murders with you, Bones, but…I can't move on when you're around. Seeing you everyday…knowing you don't want what I do…I need to move on. And if you're here, if, in a year, we're right back here, seeing each other every day…I can't. I need those fifty years with someone. I'm sorry, Bones, but things need to change, between us no matter what. Either our work relationship or our personal one. So…no, Bones. This is my last case with you."
She wasn't looking at me anymore, but fiddling with her visitor badge on the waist of her skirt.
"I am not capable of…feeling what you feel. Love, to me, is not feasible anymore," she said quietly.
"Why?"
"Because…love ends badly."
"It doesn't have to."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"You're all I want."
"You're with Dr. Bryar anyway!"
I shook my head. "One date. That was all. I called her Bones. She knew. You're all I want," I repeated.
Her eyes were wet now and I could feel mine becoming the same way. For a second time, I was putting myself, and my sanity, on the line.
She still wasn't looking at me. But she said, "Okay. Show me love doesn't end badly."
I stood up and walked around my desk and pulled her up into a hug. She was still crying and I felt horrible for making my decision before really talking to her.
"I still have to go," I reminded her softly. I felt her nod against my chest and I pressed a kiss down onto her head.
"I know. I need to go too. We'll talk though, right? I'll have access to computers. We can email."
"We'll talk. As much as possible. I'm sorry, Bones. I wish this was going to be easier."
She pulled back from the hug and shrugged just a little. "What's a year, in the grand scheme of things?"