Sully is leaving and Brennan must explain why she isn't going with him. Rated a slight T I think just to be safe. Enjoy! ~SAM

Rejection

"Wow. Didn't expect to see you here! You change your mind?" He smiled as he said this and immediately Brennan thought seeing him off might have been a mistake. She had no idea how to explain her decision but she had to try.

"No. I still can not come with you Sully."

"Can't or won't?"

"A little of both." This reply managed to dull his smile just a little. But she knew she had to continue. "Actually, I came to say goodbye. And thank you."

"For what?" He was confused. Was she actually thanking him for getting on a boat and leaving her?

"For asking me to join you. It was very nice and I know I should be jumping on that boat right now but—"

"You can't." His interruption caused her thoughts to scramble. She thought this was going to be easier.

"Sully, I've worked so hard to get where I am right now. Leaving for a year would be irresponsible of me. My team depends on me."

"Temperance, I think they can manage without you for a while. I know that what you do is important, but let's be honest here. You're decision is not about work. You've taken time off before and things turned out fine. There's more to it than that."

"No, Sully. There isn—"

"Yes, there is! If you don't want to admit it to me then fine. But at least admit it to yourself!"

Brennan stood there unsure what to say in response. Her mouth started to move as if to say something but no sound came out. So Sully moved closer and tried another approach.

"Look, Temperance, I just want you to be happy, okay? It's hard for me to picture myself doing what you and Booth do everyday. I need a change. Why do the same things all the time if you don't have to? I'm not someone who stays in one place long. I want to enjoy life, you know? See the world. Experience new things. I guess I just hoped that maybe you'd want that too. Or at least would want to try it for a while."

She looked up at him and tried to look him in the eye as she spoke.

"I under stand your need for change. Everything is constantly in flux and changing. But I enjoy my life the way it is. I like studying bones and catching murderers." As she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear she continued, "Before I started working with Booth I didn't understand just how much of a difference I could make. Yes, I'd been a part of identifying remains in mass graves around the world and unearthing long forgotten cultures. But now I can have an impact on people here in the present. I get the chance to sit down with a family and tell them I've found their son or daughter. I can help bring them justice while also possibly save someone else from a similar fate." She got quiet for a moment to allow her words to have more meaning. She tried to hold eye contact but found it easier to look at her feet. "Sully, Booth and I have the highest close rate in the entire district. We—"

"This has more to do with Booth than anything else doesn't it." He said this more as a statement than a question because deep down he already knew the answer. "What's going on between you guys?"

"I, nothing, it's just, it's complicated…" She stumbled over her words before taking a breath. When she continued she couldn't look at him only the ocean. She didn't want to see hurt in his eyes. "To be honest I don't know. It's hard to define what Booth and I are. I mean, we're partners but there's more to it; we're also friends. He just understands me better than most people."

"Maybe that's because you allow him to, Temperance." This caught her off guard but he continued "We may have shared a bed these past few weeks but we've shared little else. I don't know your favorite flower or movie. I don't know anything really about your past. But I have a feeling Booth does. And he didn't find all that out by snooping through files; you told him."

"Yes but I've known him for longer than a few weeks, Sully!"

"It doesn't matter. You trusted him after your first or second case together! You trusted him enough to take a risk and leave the lab to do field work. I know for a fact that you requested it, no, demanded it; that story circulated the Bureau for weeks! But you couldn't trust me enough to take a chance on me and risk leaving for while with me."

She finally stared directly at him, her blue eyes shining, and jaw tight. "What do you want me to say? That Booth is important to me? That I value our partnership? That being away from my life here for an entire year to sail around aimlessly seems irrational? Because all of that is true." Her expression softened as his wavered. She took another cleansing breath. "I don't want to leave what possibilities await me here, Sully. That's the best answer I can give you, I'm sorry."

"Right. Yeah." He shook his head slowly in defeat. "I think I understand." Forming a complete smile was more than he could handle at this point, but he tried. "Just take care of yourself okay?"

"Okay." She nodded. "You too."

After a slightly awkward hug, he climbed aboard the sailboat baring her name and turned back only once to wave a final goodbye. Noticing the man awaiting her presence in the distance, he decided to put D.C. and all that existed here behind him for good. Her rejection was one of the harder ones he'd taken in his life so far.