He was sitting on the tan leather couch in their little house when she walked through the front door, stomping her boots on the front rug to get the snow off. "Booth?" she asked, trying to keep her voice under control. She hated that she wasn't even granted that little luxury. She couldn't even pretend with her words that she was alright. Booth was there in a second. He must have practically sprinted to her, he was breathing hard and his cheeks were flushed pink. She touched the side of his face with a small smile and he had to hold himself in place so he didn't jump back in surprise. Was his Bones back?
"How was work without me?" he joked, turning his head back to look at her as she followed him into the kitchen. Again, he was awarded with that smile. "Fairly boring, actually. Dr. Saroyan and I were unable to identify any of the bones in Limbo which is expected considering the time we worked, but disappointing nonetheless." He grinned at her use of "big science-y" words and began to prepare a dinner for two. He kept her talking for almost two hours about bones and anthropology and asdfqporigthgology and qurighhaddjghology and actually learned a thing or two. Her eyes began to droop and before he knew it, her head was on the table and her breathing was deep and even. He couldn't keep the smile off his face now; she was actually talking to him and not about how broken she felt. He watched her for a few minutes, marveling at her beauty. Her hair was falling out of its careful ponytail and her face was shrouded in shadow. He couldn't see her eyes, but he had looked into them so many times that they were memorized, ingrained in his brain. When he picked her up, hoping not to wake her, she stirred ever so slightly in his arms and put her own arm around his neck. He pulled her as close to his chest as he possibly could and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't wake up. He gently put her down and tucked the covers around her small form, kissing her forehead before standing in the doorway and turning off the light.
They were walking arm in arm down a dimly lit hallway at the Jeffersonian. Her dark curls bounced in laughter and face split into a smile. Hodgins trailed behind her as he always did. "Oh, sweetie, I knew you and Booth would be perfect together! You should have listened to me from the beginning." she said with an eye roll. She shrugged it off and waited for Angela's giggles to subside before she said, "Ange, I hope you know how much I..." her soft confession was interrupted by the screeching of a car's tires as a black sedan broke through the nearest door of the lab. She knew what would happen next. The car would smash into the dark haired beauty and Angela's body would fly across the room and land in a crumpled heap. She couldn't watch it again, but she couldn't force her eyes away. As soon as the body who was her best friend was an unmoving, mangled corpse, she woke up, sweat beading at her forehead, legs tangled in the sheets, screaming.
The same thing happened every night at roughly the same time. It had become routine. She'd toss and turn in her sleep, but it was impossible for him to wake her up before the screaming part happened. He had tried endlessly and had failed every time. She would up sobbing against his chest and he held her as the same tears flowed silently down his own cheeks. He didn't know how much longer they could keep this up.
Tonight was different. She held her scream in her mouth and he didn't even move an inch. Once the terror and heartache washed away, she tried to sleep but ended up laying for hours, remembering Angie's face as she realized what was happening. She wiggled as close as she could to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his neck. She wasn't usually THIS needy, even if she watched her best friend die. But being close to him was the only thing that made the ache in her heart go away. She eventually drifted off, without realizing that he was awake the whole time, trying to supress his tears at her bravery.