Author's Note: Not a full chapter, but I didn't want you guys to forget about me, or to think that I forgot about you. This is part one of a two part chapter, I've decided. Let me know what you think, please. Chapter six got a whopping ZERO reviews and that makes me sad.

Disclaimer: Story is mine. Bones and affiliated characters are not.

Tears fell down Melinda's cheeks. I expected Booth to place her under arrest right then, but he turned to Dr. Alderman next.

"Dr. Alderman, where were you during the group session when Melinda allegedly began discussing what sounded like details of Kevin's final moments?"

The doctor sat a bit straighter in his chair. "I do not conduct the group therapy sessions, Agent Booth. For any information regarding the alleged event, you'd be better off speaking with my colleague, Dr. Cooper. I was in my office on the phone, speaking with relatives of Mr. Gardner."

"I see," Booth said curtly. "At what point did you intervene?"

"Dr. Cooper paged me when things got out of hand. Melinda was screaming and crying and needed to be removed from the group environment. I took her to my office and that was when Dr. Cooper phoned you."

"At that time you drugged her, is that correct?"

Dr. Alderman was taken aback. "You make me sound so sinister, Agent Booth. Ms. Reid was having a manic episode. I gave her the necessary medication to relieve her of her current distress."

"My partner here would argue that you were unsuccessful," Booth countered, glancing over at me. Sweets handed me her chart and I quickly noticed that there was no notation of a drug administration that afternoon.

"I see that, when Ms. Reid is compliant with her drug treatment, she is given 750 mgs of Divalproex Sodium tablets. When Agent Booth and I first spoke to Melinda, she was clearly experiencing a sedative effect. She was extremely lethargic and it took a great deal of effort to get our questions answered. These side effects are more commonly noted in higher dosages of the medication, dosages higher than her chart reports her having received in the past. How much did you give her, Dr. Alderman?"

"I think I'd better wait for my lawyer."

A few nights later, after the interrogations had wrapped up and the investigation was closed, I was with Booth at the Founding Fathers for our post-case celebration, not feeling particularly celebratory. Not only was the death ultimately a suicide, an evil that Booth and I cannot rid the world of, but Dr. Alderman had gotten involved and tried to cover the whole thing up with drugs and secrets.

According to final reports, Kevin, in an attempt to gain some sort of closure, told the doctor of his plans to end his life. When he'd tried to dissuade him, Kevin got angry and their discussion had become instead a physical confrontation. The blow to the head, Alderman claims, was accidental, purely in self-defense. Alderman did not have a history of violence with his patients, which was, I'll admit, reassuring. Still, the fact that a medical professional, or any rational human being for that matter, would cover up a death, accidental or otherwise, angered me greatly. While there was a court case pending to determine whether Melinda could be held legally responsible for her actions given her mental condition, Dr. Alderman would be paying time for his actions.

I couldn't stop thinking about Melinda's journal entry. "…I made my promise and could not rescind…" Love is a contract, a promise, a responsibility, and the more I thought about it in those terms, the more uncomfortable I became. I don't want to be someone's responsibility, somebody's burden. I don't want to be the voice in Booth's head when he's about to do something stupid. I don't know if I believe in fate or free will, but I want him to have it.

"Take it back," I told him. We hadn't spoken much since I ran from the diner, and Booth looked both startled and confused.

"Take what back, Bones?"

"You've always said that you'd kill for me, that you would die for me. Take it back. Booth," I pleaded, unwanted moisture springing to my eyes.

"I can't take it back, Bones. It's the truth. It's already out there."

"Please, Booth…" And that's when I crumbled. I placed my head in my hands and cried. As I anticipated he might, he placed his hand on my back, rubbing gently.

"Come on, let's get you home."

When he stopped in front of my building, he didn't turn off the car, he didn't make to get out. He looked apprehensive, as if any action at all would result in another emotional outburst from his usually collected and reserved partner. "Do you want me to walk you up?" he asked.

"No, Booth, I can take care of myself."

"I know you can, Bones, I know," he said, but still he got out of the SUV and accompanied me up to my apartment. He stood beside me as I unlocked the door.

"Okay, here we are. I've safely made it home," I told him, hinting at the fact that he could and probably should now leave.

"You are so damned confusing, Bones! I really don't get you. You watch one silly movie with Ange and you ask me to explain what friendship is. I tell you the deep down honest truth and you can't handle it. You spout off some nonsense about taking back my promises and force me to sit there and watch you cry. Now you won't let me do anything to fix it? I'm coming inside and we're talking this out, because I don't know how much more of this I can take."

I didn't respond, but I let him follow me inside. I slumped down onto the couch, crossing my arms in front of my chest and waited for the inevitable Booth lecture to begin. When he didn't speak, but instead stared at me expectantly, I let out an audible sigh. I felt like I was in Sweets' office and my own living room.

"Don't make me guess, Bones. I'm not good at reading your mind without translation or subtitles."

"I don't want to need you Booth. And I don't want you to need me. I don't want you to kill for me and I don't want you to die for me. It's unhealthy. It's unrealistic. It's a crime."

"Is that what this is about? Kevin and Melinda? We're not like them, Bones, I promise," he said, sitting down beside me. "We're not like them, we're not like Angela and Hodgins, and we're not like Harry and Sally either. It's just you and me. Booth and Brennan. And I know you don't need me Bones. You're the smartest, most capable woman I know. You don't need to need anybody, but you deserve to love and be loved." He put an arm around my shoulders, but I pushed him away.

"It's you who is the confusing one!" I said. "How can you say all of these things, Booth, when it's Hannah that you love? If not her, then Catherine or Cam, or Tessa, or Rebecca. You've been sending me mixed signals since the day I met you. No wonder I don't know what love or friendship is, because you've never been able to set the right example. If you know me, if you really know me, you know I need consistency, something to rely on, someone that won't leave. You may have always been here physically, but because you can't assert yourself with reasonable argument or make up your damned mind, you've come and gone all this time. You even invented that stupid line that we couldn't cross so that you could come and go as you pleased. You tricked me. You used my own rationality against me and I resent you for that!"