Another chapter. Yay.

On a random (or not so random) note: listen to the song "23" by Jimmy Eat World. It is so Booth/Brennan it's kind of ridiculous. It's like Jimmy was watching the 100th episode as he wrote it.

She got the call the day they arrested Jimmy Walpert for Harriet's "murder by chocolate" as Booth had come to refer to it. They wanted her to head a second dig in Indonesia. New bone fragments had been found just a few miles from her original dig site on the Maluku Islands and a full-on excavation was being planned. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and two years ago, she wouldn't have considered going. But now…

She said "maybe" and hung up the phone feeling inexplicably lonely.

Booth had told her he'd meet her outside the lab and give her a ride to the restaurant for Angela's "surprise" baby announcement. A year ago, he would've come inside. He would've teased her and helped her into her coat and put his hand on the small of her back as they walked out to his car. But now…

"Hey," he said as she slipped into the passenger seat.

"Hey," she returned as he pulled out of the parking lot onto the road.

She called love an idiot and he got annoyed, like he always did now, no matter what she said. She was getting the feeling recently that he could barely stand to be around her.

"Love is an idiot," she said again, because he'd spent five and a half years proving his love for her, proving that he would never betray her and within the last few months, he'd gone from being everything to barely being her partner. Love was an idiot. She felt like screaming it at the top of her lungs, because how could he love her that deeply and now not even stand to be near her. How could that happen?

Hannah was home from her trip and he wanted to go to her. She said it was fine, she said she's make excuses for him, but she felt like saying to him, "You know that unconventional family you taught me about a few years ago? You're coming dangerously close to not being a part of it anymore."

She felt like saying to him, "You know how you said you'd never betray me? Well, you are, because I don't even recognize you anymore. I feel like I lost my best friend in the whole world."

She didn't say any of those things. She just smiled and said goodbye and called the organizer of the dig to tell him that she was in. She'd fly out tomorrow.

—BB—

As Booth ran through the airport, all he could think about was her high school reunion. All he could think about was the look on her face when those stars dropped from the ceiling and she told him it was like the prom she never had. Sometimes, she was so innocent he could weep.

He remembered smiling and moving into her without thinking, because when she cried, he always held her, but then she was right there, all around him and he could barely think straight. He considered pulling away, but didn't. How could he? How many times was he going to have a chance to slow dance with Bones? How many times was he going to have a chance to hold her close, to feel her body moving against him, have her head resting on his shoulder? He barely even allowed himself to touch her anymore for fear that he'd break. For fear that he'd fall to his knees and beg or push her against the nearest wall and have his way with her. That's how close he was to the edge. He'd told her he had to move on and he did, he needed to, but he couldn't. It was as simple as that.

But then he'd met Hannah and she'd made him feel good. She laughed at his jokes and understood normal cultural references and didn't launch into lengthy diatribes against religion every time they passed a church. But Bones…Bones was his. She was his in this strange way that he could never explain to anyone. She was there, everywhere he turned. In the air he breathed, in the space behind his eyelids when he slept, in his chest, thudding, aching whenever she was near.

The night of the reunion they'd returned to the hotel and went into their respective hotel rooms. It had felt so strange, having her so close then having to leave her in the night. He could taste it that night, what it would be like to have her, really have her the way he wanted so desperately to.

He remembered tossing and turning in bed that night, almost going to her room so many times. He had pressed his hand to the wall and imagined her on the other side, so close and yet so horribly far. The next morning, he woke up early and drove around till he found a decent cup of coffee. She answered the door almost immediately when he knocked, cup in hand, and smiled at him in this oddly shy way that made him want to kiss her. But he didn't. Of course he didn't. "Morning, Bones," was what he said instead.

"Morning, Booth," she returned and for some reason, in that moment, he'd lost her.

—BB—

Brennan had just gotten through security when she heard him: "Bones!" He was calling her name. "Bones!"

She stopped, but didn't turn. She could see her terminal up ahead. She could just walk away. Board the plane and never look back. She could forget him. She could.

"Bones!"

She turned. He was trying to push his way past the security guards. He was breathless and desperate, fighting them off as they tried to pull him away. "Bones!" he called and she could see the hurt in his face. Even from a distance, she knew what he was thinking. He was the only person she could do that with.

She began to walk towards him, slowly at first, then faster as the guards pulled him away. "Wait!" she yelled. "Wait, let him go. It's okay."

She ran the wrong way through a metal detector and sent it into a beeping frenzy. The guards let him go reluctantly and she flew into his arms. "Booth," she breathed into his shirt and suddenly wanted to cry, because he was here, calling out to her in an airport.

"Bones," he whispered into her hair, his voice gentle.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

He pulled away and looked into her face, saw the tears perched just behind her eyelids. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked. She shook her head. She wanted to hear him say it. He smiled. He lifted his hand to her cheek. "I couldn't let you fly halfway across the world."

"Why not?" she asked, dropping her eyes from his face to his chest. She watched her own fingers toy with the fabric of his shirt. She had to hear him say it.

"Because I can't live without you," he told her.

The tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and for the first time in her life, she didn't feel weak for crying; she didn't feel embarrassed for falling apart. She just felt safe, standing there in his arms as the world rushed past. "I didn't want to go," she admitted. "But I…I missed you."

He smiled, a little sadly, down at her face. "I know."

"You were right there, next to me, but…" She shook her head and searched his face. "You were gone."

"I was momentarily lost," he told her. "But I think I'm back on track now."

She smiled through her tears. She wished he would kiss her. "I'm glad you're back."

He nodded. "Me too."

He began to lean towards her, his arms tightening around her waist, but she stopped him. "Wait," she murmured. He pulled back slightly and met her eyes.

"You okay?"

"Don't ever hurt me again."

He nodded. "I won't. I promise."

She nodded and closed her eyes as he bowed his head forward and brushed his lips against hers. "Love is an idiot," she breathed and he grinned against her lips.

"Nah," he murmured. "It's not so bad."

And as he kissed her again, deep and full on the mouth, right there beside the metal detectors, she thought that maybe he was right. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was awesome and I hope you enjoyed the fluff! Review please!