From Boneless Bride in the River
Booth sat at the diner table, looking out the window, trying to decide what to do. Bones had told him earlier that evening about Sully asking her to sail off to the Caribbean for a year on his boat. Booth shook his head. The idea of living on a boat for a year was just crazy as far as he was concerned, but that wasn't the problem.
Booth was trying to figure out how he felt. He really didn't want Bones to leave, but he couldn't seem to put into words exactly why. She was his partner, but was she more than that? And, no matter how he felt, how could he convince her to stay? Use logic? Point out how successful their partnership was? Grovel and beg? If she'd already made up her mind to leave, he probably wouldn't be able to change it.
Was he really in a position to ask her to stay? What exactly was their relationship, anyway? She was his partner, nothing more...except it hurt like Hell to know that Sully was kissing her and holding her close….Bones didn't seem to be too interested in anything more than being partners and friends. She said she loved Sully…..
Booth sighed. If he asked her to stay, and she did, what then? Would she expect them to begin a relationship? He wasn't sure that would be a good thing for either one of them. Would she have regrets and blame him because she didn't go? Bones could be so unpredictable when it came to how she reacted to relationships….
Finally Booth decided he had done the right thing. He'd told her to go, even though he felt awful about it. She'd have to make up her own mind, and he'd have to live with her decision, whatever it was.