Author's Note: I realize the majority of you are probably out for New Year's Eve parties by now or and spending time with your families, but I did want to try and squeeze this in before 2010.
I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has read this story, and of course those who have left reviews. An even bigger thanks goes out to those who have done so since the beginning. I would also like to take this final note to ask you, even if you've never done so before, to leave me a review. You can be as detailed as you like. Thank you so much and please...know how greatly they are appreciated!
Booth woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in from the window. He sighed before burrowing his face into the comforter, planting a kiss on Brennan's shoulder. Memories from the night before flashed in his mind. Clearly, he was not in the mood to get up and go to work. They had actually suggested that he take the day off after being gone for the weekend, but at the time he'd refused. As he watched Brennan stir, turning to face him in the early morning light, he wondered if it would be that hard to call and tell them he'd changed his mind.
"Morning." Brennan murmured against the warmth of his skin. She yawned and stretched languidly, reveling in the feeling that was everything finally being the way it was supposed to. "Do you have to go in today?"
He groaned and pulled her close before kissing on her forehead. "Mmm...no." He laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist, fingers tracing along her bare skin. "Yeah, I'm supposed to."
Brennan lifted her head to press her lips to his, slowly letting them linger. "Then maybe we should get up. I'll make breakfast."
"Really?" Booth asked. He wasn't surprised, but her sudden determination made him wonder. "No, we should stay here."
Brennan would have refused had it not been for his lips leaving kisses along her neck. She groaned and feigned trying to push him away. "Five minutes."
Booth shook his head before placing his hands on her shoulders, rolling her until her back was flat against the mattress. "Not good enough," he murmured as he peppered kisses against her collar bone. "Ten."
He certainly knew how to try and bribe her, Brennan thought, and for the moment everything else that mattered like deadlines and D.C. traffic and nosy coworkers that would inevitably ask why she was late drifted away from her mind. She pulled the covers up over them. "Fifteen."
The week passed with normalcy. Booth spent most of his time at the Hoover completing paperwork while Brennan completed several identifications on cases from limbo. With there not being a new case he didn't have as much of a reason to stop by the lab, but he'd dropped by a few times for signatures and to take Brennan out for lunch. Saturday rolled around and with it a planned party for Angela's birthday at the Hodgins estate.
"Do you have the gift?" Brennan asked as she pinned an earring in, checking her hair the mirror before she turned around.
Booth held up the silver gift bag as he nodded. "Ready to go?"
Brennan grabbed her purse from by the dresser. "We'll need to stop by the bakery on the way; the cake that I ordered should be ready."
It was, and so the made their way to the house, not at all surprised by being among the first guests in attendance. While Hodgins had been the one to plan Angela was able to catch on, thus making it a bit larger than originally planned. There was food and music, not to mention the gifts. Brennan mingled along the edge of the banquet room, speaking mostly with Angela as well as the other squints that happened to be in attendance.
Eventually, the overall noise of the room got to be too much. With Angela spending the majority of her time with Hodgins or floating around the room with the other patrons, Brennan made her way through the kitchen and out onto the back porch. It wasn't that she didn't want to be there-Angela was her best friend, so of course she wanted to help her celebrate-but she needed a few minutes of quiet. Thinking that some fresh air would do her good, she walked down the steps and down to the gazebo.
Night was just setting, casting a light orange glow across the sky. She could just make out her surroundings, from the trees that were near the tennis court to the near wall of the garage where Hodgins kept some of his car collection. Brennan sat down on the top step of the gazebo for a moment, her hand moving to fish the trinkets on her necklace out from under her shirt. She watched as light reflected off the surface, thinking of the people that had given them to her. Parker was her step son, but it was also him that had been partially responsible for helping her remember everything, though she was almost certain he didn't know that.
Booth was...different. Everything that needed to be said about his role in her recovery had already been spoken. Brennan hoped he realized how grateful she was to him for helping her even when she didn't ask or want him to. He was her best friend and her husband, and as Brennan heard footsteps upon the grass she didn't have to look up to realize just how well he knew her.
"Everything okay?" Booth asked, stopping just short of where she sat. He noticed she'd left a few minutes before. Thinking that she just needed to be by herself he was willing to give her that, but as the time passed he didn't want to leave her alone any more than necessary.
Brennan looked up and smiled. She brushed her hands on her knees before standing and walking towards him. Something was on her mind; something that she needed to say but couldn't quite find the words for. Instead, she cleared the space between them and gave him a kiss before pulling back, cupping his cheek in on hand. Her fingers traced across the stubble, framed the bones that defined who he was. She could name them all, but it wouldn't be enough. "I'm fine."
Booth sighed and lifted her hand, linking it with his before letting them both fall, creating a bridge between them. A few weeks before, he wouldn't have believed her. "I'm really glad to hear that."
"I'm glad to hear myself say it as well." Brennan smiled, her eyes shining in the earliest hints of the moon beginning to shine in the sky. She tilted her head toward the gazebo behind them. "This is where we were married."
Booth nodded and gave her hand a squeeze, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. "Kind of a coincidence, don't you think? I mean I know that you don't-"
"I don't believe in coincidences. Things either happen or-" Brennan offered a shrug. "they don't." She felt the cool metal from her necklace against her skin. Technically speaking, she hadn't actually planned for it to happen, but the more she thought about it the more she realized it made sense.
"You were beautiful, Bones. I mean, you still are of course, and I know you've seen the pictures." Booth mused. His words were full of bitter-sweetness, but in reality he wasn't sad. Brennan was back and he wouldn't dare ask for anything more.
"I have seen the pictures, yes." Brennan replied. Her nerves were buzzing because of the thought that suddenly occurred. Maybe it wasn't the best idea or the greatest way to go about it, but she needed him to know. "You're one of the most important people in my life, Booth, and that won't change. There is no way to tell what the future holds for you or me, but I can tell you that I'll be grateful and confident in knowing that I'll have the opportunity to find out. With you." Brennan paused with a smile on her face. She breathed a shaky breath out, eyes fixed on his face as she waited for the words to sink in.
"Bones..." Booth tightened his grip on her hand.
"I realize that it's a little irrational, but I do mean it when I say I don't know what my life would be without you." Brennan nodded in confirmation. Waiting for him to say something next didn't take very long, and she smiled again as she felt him clear the space between them.
Booth hugged her close, pulling her in tight as he breathed out a sigh of relief. He pulled back, brushing her hair back behind her ears before letting his hands rest against either side of her face. "You are an incredible woman, Temperance." Booth closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against her own. "When did you remember?"
Brennan knew the question would come, though she hadn't quite prepared a response. "I don't know. I just came out here to sit for a few minutes, and I-" Brennan shook her head, unable to truly explain it herself. "It's illogical."
"Love's not logical, Bones." Booth said. He could feel her breath against his lips, feel her hands as they rested against his chest.
"I know that now." Brennan replied. She moved toward him and cleared out all the space, feeling the star Parker had given her and the ring Booth had slipped onto her finger the day they were married pressing into her skin. "I love you, Booth. I really do."
Booth nodded and kissed her deeply, wanting to stretch the moment for as long as he could before reality came back and they had other responsibilities. "I do, too. Love you."
In the distance they could hear Angela calling out; something about presents and it being time, so whoever it was that made it outside had better come in soon. "We should probably go back inside." Brennan sighed.
Booth nodded reluctantly. He pulled back and started walking slowly with Brennan matching his stride. She rested a hand against his arm as his fell comfortably against the small of her back. He smiled just as they reached the back porch, thinking that some things never changed.
