A/N: So, once again, I'm sorry for the delay. The last week was spent cleaning in preparation for hosting Thanksgiving, hosting Thanksgiving, then recuperating from it. This is the second to last chapter before the epilogue. Anyway, to recap, in the last chapter, Hannah showed up at the hospital.
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"I'm so sorry, Bones," Booth said, clumsily wrapping his arms around her rounded abdomen.
"It – it's okay. She called while you were unconscious. I should have told you. I never imagined she'd show up here."
"I know. She told me she called."
"Oh," Bones replied, lowering her head.
Booth tipped Bones chin up, so he could his girlfriend's brilliant blue eyes, "I'm sorry that you had to deal with that while everything else was going on."
Bones nodded and bit her lower lip in an attempt to prevent the tears welling in her eyes from falling. She and Booth had discussed Hannah, but they both bore blame in the events of last year. The night their daughter was conceived, they forgave one another their past transgressions and didn't look back.
"I never stopped loving you. You know that, right?" Booth asked insistently.
Bones hesitated, "When you were with Hannah, after the case with the polygamist, you told me that you can love a lot of people in this world, but there's only one person you love the most."
Booth nodded. He hadn't realized then how insensitive it was to say such a thing to the woman who had broken his heart and whose heart he later crushed in return.
"I – I was never sure if you were speaking of Hannah or -."
"You, Bones. Always. I've known that from the first time I met you. Hannah was a consolation prize. I was hurt, and I used her," Booth said shamefully.
"But you loved her. You wanted to marry her," Bones asserted.
"I thought I loved her…maybe I did, but not the way I love you, Bones. I could never love anyone the way I love you."
Booth took both of Bones' hands in his, "Bones, I love you. You, Parker, and our daughter are my life. I didn't need anything else, just the three of you."
Bones smiled through the tears that were now running freely down her cheeks, "Well, you need water and food to survive."
"I guess," Booth said, grinning broadly and leaning his body closer to hers.
Bones closed the gap between them and pressed her lips against Booth's. Before letting herself get lost in the kiss, Bones momentarily reflected on the possibility that she'd nearly never been able to kiss him again and found it difficult to breathe.
He tasted of the minty toothpaste she'd assisted him in brushing his teeth with earlier, and the scruff from Booth's three day beard felt rough against her lips. After they kissed, Booth scooted over in the bed to make room for Bones. Despite her objections that she might injure him, Bones slid into the bed beside him. She gently nuzzled her head into shoulder after double checking to ensure his comfort.
"Did she bring a gift?" Bones asked randomly.
"What?" Booth replied with a laugh.
"Hannah. Did she bring you a gift?"
"No," replied a confused Booth, "Why?"
"When Hannah was shot, I came to visit her. She informed me that it was customary to bring a gift when visiting someone in the hospital. Since I did not bring a gift, she accepted my sunglasses as a gift."
"She what!" exclaimed Booth.
"I gave her my sunglasses."
"Hannah stole your sunglasses from you, because you didn't bring a gift…after you saved her life!" Booth cried incredulously.
"Well, technically, it wasn't stealing. I gave them to her."
Booth pressed a kiss to his girlfriend's forehead, "She had no right to do that. W-why did you visit Hannah?"
Booth wasn't sure what response to expect, but he needed to know why she'd tortured herself to visit the woman he was sleeping with at the time.
"I wanted to see how she was progressing," Bones said then averted her eyes, "and I asked her to consider taking less dangerous assignments."
"Oh, Bones! I'm so sorry that I was so blind…"
"Booth," Bones interrupted, "You said you were going to move on, and you did. We agreed that we both regret having hurt one another in the past. We can't change the past. The only thing we can do is modify our behavior in the future."
Booth framed Brennan's face with his palms. From early in their partnership, he'd recognized a certain innocence in her frank statements. He knew that others often mistook her honesty for condescension. While Bones could be condescending, she would admit, more freely now than in the past, when something was out of her realm of expertise. On those matters, Booth sometimes underestimated her as well.
Booth rested his forehead against his partner's, "I know. I still wish I could turn back time, though."
"That would be a very useful skill," Bones said with a smile.
"But we are going to have a wonderful future together, the three of us."
"We are," Bones agreed, "I think the best way to atone for our past mistakes is to replace those unpleasant memories with happy ones."
"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea," Booth said before leaning to kiss her.