(After 'The Boy with the Answer')

I really don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooo

Slowly sipping some Scotch from a tumbler, Booth stared at the curtained window across from his couch and debated whether he should drive over to Brennan's apartment to talk to her. He wanted to show her that nothing had changed between them, but he was afraid that things had changed and he was going to be the loser. He loved Brennan so much, but their lives had been a mess for a few years now and he felt it was mostly his fault. He had wanted to work with her, to solve cold cases and get justice for victims who needed it. She was brilliant and her team made him look good. He knew that and he was grateful, but he worried about the cost to Brennan and her squints.

Brennan's life had been endangered multiple times and he had never meant that to happen. He knew she was brave and independent and considered him a real partner. She backed him up in the field and he counted on her level head when situations turned sideways. She was a fairly good shot and knew self defense and wasn't afraid to charge in when she was needed.

He had never really known anyone else like her and he wanted to be her friend and partner until the day he died. A knock on the door breaking into his thoughts, he stood up, ran his hands through his hair and walked down the hallway to the door. Once it was open, he was surprised to see Brennan in the hallway. "Bones."

"May I come in?" Brennan knew that Booth had been unhappy with her decision to stay in her apartment alone during the trial, but she had needed solitude. The trial was over and she and her partner needed to talk.

"Of course you can, you don't need to ask me that." He was worried. She was being too formal and he was afraid of what that meant.

Once she was in the living room, Brennan placed her purse on the couch and turned to face her partner. "Booth . . . I know you don't understand why I needed to be alone during the trial . . . I needed to be able to concentrate on what was happening in the courtroom. I'm not sure I can explain it, but I will try."

Booth nodded his head and pointed at the kitchen. "Would you like a beer or a Coke?"

Slowly shaking her head, Brennan didn't want any distractions at the moment. "No thank you." Moving over to the couch, she sat down and waited for Booth to sit.

Unable to do anything else, Booth sat down on his recliner and stared at his partner. "Bones . . . are we still partners . . . are we friends?"

Startled, Brennan stared at Booth for a moment and realized that her decision to come to Booth had been the right decision. "Booth of course we are partners and friends. I hope we're more than friends . . . During the trial, I realized that I was becoming too emotional. I let Taffet try to manipulate me and I needed to stop that. I isolated myself to allow myself to regain my balance . . . Booth, I have a difficult time understanding my emotions on a normal day, you know that, but this trial . . . I couldn't allow Taffet to confuse me and that was what she was trying to do. It seemed to me that she was targeting me. Maybe she thought I was the weakest link . . . She was trying to focus the trial on me and I needed to stop that. She wanted the jury to judge me and my competence. She was questioning my objectivity our objectivity . . . She was trying to intimate that I was using the trial to get justice for me and I was focusing my efforts to convict her because I needed someone to blame when I was kidnapped and buried underground . . . You heard her. She made it appear that I was dysfunctional and needed a psychiatrist to help me function. She knew that the FBI required both of us to see Sweets because you arrested my father and they feared it would affect our partnership. She knew that and she tried to twist that information . . . She was manipulating the jury and I couldn't let her do that . . . When I realized that was what she was doing, I needed to shut down my emotional side and concentrate on what was happening. That number she hinted at was supposed to make me frantic and to doubt my abilities, but I don't do that . . . She thinks she knows me, but she doesn't . . . With Angela's help, I was able to find the significance of the number and we found the body of Terence Gilroy . . . I am certain that she didn't count on that happening. She made a mistake and we used that mistake to convict her . . . Booth . . . Booth, I need your help. I need you to help me to reconnect to my emotions. I . . ."

Standing, Booth moved over to where Brennan was sitting and sat down next to her. Taking her hand in his, he squeezed it gently. "Bones, I love you and I'm here for you. Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it. Just tell me what to do."

"I want you to make love to me, Booth. I want you to hold me and help me to reconnect to you. I need you to be you." Brennan stood up. "I am counting on you to be you."

He knew what she needed and he was going to help her. Standing, he followed her to his bedroom. "I missed you . . . I'm going to show you just how much I missed you."

"Good . . . show me, Booth. Show me now."

Oooooooooooooooo

Tired, Brennan rested next to her lover, her arm across his chest, her head on his shoulder. "I worry about you, Booth. I worry that someday, you will need me to help you, to back you up and I will fail. I worry that you might die and I won't be able to prevent it."

Not sure how to respond, Booth stared at the ceiling for a moment, trying to decide how to handle this. "Bones . . . my job is dangerous, I know that, but you can't worry about what might happen . . . Some of the things that have happened to me were my fault, like being kidnapped by Melvin Gallagher. I should have brought back up with me and I didn't . . . Some things . . . well, the Gravedigger kidnapped me, but that wasn't your fault either. That was her doing. She picked a time when I was alone and vulnerable . . . You couldn't have prevented that. Pam Noonan shooting me . . . you were the target and I got in the way. That wasn't your fault or mine. Pam was obsessed and well . . . she was obsessed with me . . . And my brain tumor, that was just bad luck . . . Bones, you're the best partner I've ever had. If you think about it, you've saved my life several times . . . you found me when Gallagher kidnapped me, when the Gravedigger kidnapped me, when Pam shot me you helped me until the ambulance came and you certainly saved my life when I had the brain tumor . . . Because of you, I'm alive. Because of you, I'm here now and . . . Thank you. I don't think I've ever actually thanked you for looking out for me, so I'm doing it now . . . You're the best partner I've ever had, so don't doubt yourself. I don't."

She listened to what he had to say and though she couldn't fault what he had said, she still felt that someday she might not find him when she needed to. "I will always look for you, Booth. I will never give up."

"And I won't give up." Booth sighed. "When Taffet kidnapped you and Hodgins, I did everything I could to find you. I didn't give up and I didn't let Cam and Zach give up . . . That's what we do. We don't give up. No matter what is going on, we keep looking, we keep trying and really, that's all we can do . . . Fate has tried to take you from me more times than I can count, but neither of us let Fate do that to us . . . We're the center and we will always hold.

"Yes, we are the center, Booth." Brennan didn't believe in Fate or luck, but she did believe in her partner and he believed in her. She had never met anyone like Booth before and she planned to be by his side as long as possible. "I love you, Booth. I may not understand how I feel about certain things, but I do know how I feel about you."

Turning, Booth kissed her. "And I love you. I've never loved anyone like I love you."

Oooooooooooooo

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