Do you remember when the walls fell

Do you remember the sound that the door made when you closed it on me
Do you know that I went down to the ground
Landed on both my broken-hearted knees

I didn't even cry
'Cause pieces of me had already died

I'm a ghost
Haunting these halls
Climbing up walls that I never knew were there
And I'm lost
Broken down the middle of my heart, heart
I'm broken down the middle of my heart, heart, heart

You know you make me a ghost
You make me a ghost...

Ghost by Ingrid Michaelson - listen to the whole song. It is truly Brennan through this story. It is like Ingrid wrote what I imagined. Creepy.

The partners continued to aimlessly wonder and wander the corridors of the Jeffersonian. There was an awkward silence between the two. Brennan wondered who was going to break it first. She wasn't stupid he had come here for a reason, and it wasn't just to 'go for a walk or bring Thai take out like yesterday's'.

She wasn't a psychologist or good at reading people, but she knew her partner like a sailor knew the sea's currents, currents which have established "permanent" patterns which can last for tens of thousands of years. Patterns which she and he had a hard time breaking, because like the currents in the sea were permanent, so was the pattern they had so easily found themselves wanting desperately to fall back into.

As they came to the end of the hall Brennan looked curiously at Booth, "Have you figured out which direction we are going to go Booth?" she asked of their choices, it was either right or left. Bone storage was on the second to last floor, the floor they were on.

Booth looked to his right; it eventually brought them up and out toward the anthropology department. Brennan stood on his right. He looked to his left; it led them down lower toward the basement. He had never been down there. He wondered what was down there.

"Booth?" Brennan asked, but he seemed to be in a puzzled stupor.

He let his eyes curiously wander to the left, wondering what he would find if he went down there? Maybe the museum kept the pots of gold at the end of the rainbow down there or better yet, all the answers to the unasked questions he knew Brennan had.

He bet, maybe if he were younger and stronger he could find them, all of the answers. Though, he wasn't, and in between birthday cakes and fast mistakes that pot of gold he once stumbled upon a few years ago, had become a sunken treasure.

"Booth which direction?" Brennan asked. Nope he wasn't younger, he was as Cam said, smarter than that-you live, you learn. He was stronger now, but only because of life's mistakes. Though, at the same time he was more fragile than he had ever been.

He said nothing, taking a deep breath as he steered them in the right direction. The first step is the longest stride, a thousand mile journey starts with one step. Leaving the sunken treasure lying at the bottom of the sea he ascended upward. He knew this corridor; he had walked it many times before. Although, he had not been down to the level this corridor was on in a very, very long time. The surface looked so far away.

"I'm glad you chose this corridor Booth. I just remembered they are reconstructing the basement and that corridor is closed off." Brennan said and Booth smiled, as they glided through the corridors in the still of the storm.

"Hey, hey Bones. It looks like I chose right." Booth smiled at her.

"Booth, you did choose right. I just said that I was glad you went this direction." Brennan said.

"I meant…nevermind." Booth

"What?"

"I meant I chose the correct direction." Booth explained and Brennan looked at him odd.

"I know, I just said that if we were to have gone left we would have ended up at a dead end. The corridor to the basement is blocked off for the time being for repairs to the building." Brennan said.

"Metaphor Bones… metaphor."

"Oh." Her brow was furrowed lost on the metaphor, "Oh. Yes, yes I…" but words were lost on her lips as the wind carried them away. "I concur." The sentence fell slowly from her mouth.

They had a ways to go, but God promised that every time it rained he would provide a rainbow. Booth just had to be open enough to see it. He had seen the sun again. Maybe this storm was fierce enough it would wash that pot of gold up onto shore in a wave? Maybe he was crazy, but maybe his lost treasure really would come back to him. He would never know if he didn't take a walk down to the shore line to see what the turbulent waves had washed up.

"Bones?"

"Hhmm?"

"I'm sorry I've been a bit on edge with you. I just have a lot going on." Booth said, as he steered them toward the chaotic sea and pounding waves. He needed to know what they had washed up.

"I know that Booth." Brennan said as she tried to assemble her next thoughts, she found it hard to do. "Why… why did you want to go for a walk? What is the purpose?" Brennan asked.

Booth sighed, "Why does everything have to have a purpose Bones?"

"If something didn't have a purpose it would be considered pointless and irrational. Losing rational is foolish and can be very risky." Brennan explained.

Booth smiled a soft chuckle, "So, you have never done something just because?"

"Just because is not a valid reason Booth." Brennan said.

"So…" Booth stopped walking, "Let me get this straight Bones…" Booth smiled as Brennan studied his face. "…you're saying you have never lost rational? Never took a risk?" Booth asked.

Brennan inhaled locking eyes with Booth for a moment, her voice turned to a stern whisper. "I never said never Booth I said it was foolish." Brennan said as she watched her words register with him. Watched as the smile faded from his face and he somberly nodded in understanding.

"Mmmm." Booth said.

Brennan broke their gaze a second and gave him a half hearted smile shrugging her shoulders. That about broke him, because it was the same look she had given him when she told him, "Some people just don't get to be in a family Booth. I'm one of those people."

Once upon a time, she had taken a risk and opened up her heart; entertaining the idea that love was real. Though, fairytales started with the words once upon a time. She wasn't in a fairytale. Suddenly, in the quiet stillness of the corridors a light breeze started back up. The eye of the storm must be regarded with suspicion for it is deceiving.

Her voice was meek, so fragile and uncertain but she swallowed and spoke her words aloud, "Did…did you…" she glanced down for a second. "…did… you forget?" the last two words came out in one rushed breath.

No, wait he hadn't checked yet. He hadn't made it all the way down to the shore line. The calm of the storm couldn't be over just yet. He contemplated if he should continue walking further down toward the beach as he stood listening to her in the corridor.

Oh God. He put his hands on her shoulders, "Bones, no…no Bones…" his eyes searched hers frantically, hers were starting to well with water. She was tensing at his touch. He knew the shoreline was a dangerous place, he also knew no guts, no glory.

"No…us…you and me…Bones how could I forget, when the biggest risk you have ever taken was on me?" Booth strained.

She stepped backward out of his touch; his hands fell off of her shoulders to his sides in defeat. They had danced this dance before, she remembered the steps. She remembered the outcome and she knew she was better prepared today than she was that day.

"I don't know Booth, but you just did. You just did! You insinuated I never took a risk Booth! Never lose rational? Booth you were the most irrational decision I've ever made!" Brennan's words flew from her mouth.

"Really Bones, really?"

"Yes!"

"Well love is irrational Bones!"

"I know!" She screamed at him as tears fell faster than she could wipe them away. "I didn't want too, it just happened."

Booth rolled his eyes. "I thought you said nothing just happens?"

Brennan said nothing only looked back the way they came.

She had prepared herself for this moment since that day, so why when the moment came was she so unprepared? This was not what she had in mind; this was some distorted image of the dance she thought she could master with ease.

She shook her head no and her voice fell to a whisper, "Everything happened Booth. Not everything, though, a lot happened."

"Ashley?" Booth said and Brennan looked up at him sharply.

"No…well yes, but Ashley could not have possibly known that by being born she would change so many lives." Brennan said adding in a serious tone, "Though, I would not change the past, because if I did Ashley would not exist and she is a very loving person Booth. She even believes in angels. If you did not leave then I may not be her Godmother and I love Ashley." Brennan stated wiping her tears away.

She smiled a half hearted smile at him and he pulled her into a hug she accepted and he felt her exhale in his arms, tension releasing from her body. They stood there a moment in silence as the wind picked up Booth was reminded of the sea. Though, should he push her that far down the shore line. It was dangerous.

His voice was a soft whisper in her hair, "Bones?"

"Mmm?"

"You said you could see why I left you and proposed to Hannah, because I thought it was the right thing to do." said Booth

"Yes, I said that."

"So, you don't agree that it's the right thing to do?" Booth asked still holding her he spoke softly into her hair.

She didn't respond a moment and he wondered what she was thinking about.

"No, I don't. I do not believe one should marry someone just because they become pregnant with their child." Brennan said and Booth, while nervous to do so, released his grip on her to look into her eyes.

She said nothing as he released his hold on her. She now stared back into deep almond eyes. "Statistically speaking, parents whom marry purely for the reason that they had a child together end up in divorce or unstable relationships." Brennan finished.

Booth was quiet his eyes found hers and he nodded slowly in agreement, or just to end the conversation. She was unsure. His hand found the small of her back and they resumed their walk.

"Booth?" Brennan's voice was a whisper, so was Booth's.

"Yes?"

They were about to turn the corner that lead them toward the platform, but this time Brennan stopped walking. "Were you…were… were you… happy? With Hannah, I mean, were you happy?" her words stumbled out, and a gust picked up. "I wished you were happy…I wished you the best Booth." She started to cry again, "But I was selfish…I wished….sometimes, just sometimes I could have been her." Brennan stammered out.

"I know Bones, I know you did." He embraced her and she relaxed into his embrace then wondered what she was thinking.

"What do you mean you knew?" how could he possibly know?

"Bones, you left the states, but you came back Bones. You came back when I needed you most. You wouldn't have come back if you didn't still care. Plus, I know you Bones." He went to embrace her again but she stepped back. He looked into her eyes, the storm was coming quickly. They were running out of time to get to the shore line, to get back the precious treasure he lost. Soon the mighty wrath would overtake the beach once more.

"Do you still care?" she asked blue eyes full of wonder and hope. He had broke her heart once, she could take it again, right? Oh God, what had she done?

She held her breath and waited for it to be over. She could hear the wind picking up around her. Hear the deafening sound of hearts beating, like waves tossed onto the shore they pounded out a constant rhythm. She silently counted her heartbeats as she waited scared of his answer. One, two, three...

They were so close, yet so far from shore. There was no time. It was now or never.