Here it is! A lovely author named 554Laura wrote this spectacular ending. I think she did a great job. Enjoy, and let her know what you thought in a review.

Brennan's heart was pounding as she entered the lab and walked down the hall to Angela's office. Armed with Hannah's 'evidence', she felt the urgent need to discuss the situation with her best friend. Angela would understand her questions and could help her decide how to proceed in this situation. Normally, she'd talk to Booth, but since it was about him, that wasn't going to work, was it?

Biting her lip, she hesitated slightly before presenting herself in the doorway. "Angela?"

"Hey, Sweetie. What's up?" Closing the program she was working on, the artist turned to face Brennan. "Are you okay? You look...flustered."

Brennan's brow furrowed at her friend's statement. "I don't know what that means. I look like I always do." Shaking off the artist's questioning look, Brennan entered and sat down on the couch. "Can we talk? I have a problem and I need your assistance, if you have time."

"Okay…" Not sure where Brennan was going with this statement, Angela sat down opposite of her. "Let's hear it."

"Hannah has moved out of Booth's apartment and is leaving town. She says she never wants to see him again…nor me, for that matter..."

"Hallelujah!" Pumping her fist in the air, Angela let out a whoop. "There is a God…"

"What are you talking about? Why are you praising an imaginary being for Hannah's decision?"

Rolling her eyes, Angela chuckled at Brennan. "I'm just glad Blondie is leaving, that's all. Now maybe things can get back to the way they're supposed to be." Seeing Brennan's lip tremble a bit, Angela paused. "Wait...what's the matter. Aren't you happy she's leaving town?"

"I actually am...in some ways. However, I find the whole situation to be so confusing." She leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before continuing. "You see, Booth has told me many times over the past few months that he loves Hannah very much, and yet he now seems relatively unaffected by their break up. He's not angry or upset, and based on my experience with him, that's not normally how he handles disappointment." She hesitated, feeling awkward under Angela's intense gaze. "Then this morning, he told me that he loves me in a romantic way, but that makes no sense because in the very recent past, he was adamant when he said he loved Hannah...so I guess he really didn't love her? He said he'd lied to himself about his feelings for her, so how do I know he's not lying to himself about loving me? Does he even know what he truly wants?"

She handed Angela the papers that Hannah had printed. "Hannah said she had this evidence that he loves me, and that's why she chose to leave Booth, but in looking over these statements, they aren't really evidence so much as anecdotes. You'd think an experienced journalist like her would be able to understand the difference between anecdotal and empirical evidence..."

"Let me have those." After glancing at the pages, Angela threw them in the trash, much to Brennan's surprise. "Listen, Sweetie, I know this whole 'being in love' thing can be confusing, so I'm gonna talk you through it. I'm gonna give you some 'real' evidence of what love is, okay?"

Brennan sighed as she faced her friend. "Um...okay."

"Do you remember telling me that Booth said that there's only one person you can love the most?"

"Yes, he said that when we concluded our investigation into that murder involving the sister-wives."

"And who do you think Booth was referring to?" Angela waited while Brennan thought over the question. "I'll give you a hint...if he enlightened you with that little bit of wisdom, it wasn't Hannah…"

Brennan smiled briefly, but then shook her head as another thought occurred to her. "But perhaps that's why I'm confused. He also told me many times he loved her and that she wasn't a consolation prize."

"That's because there are many, many different kinds of love, Brennan, but I think in this case, instead of 'love' it would better be described as intimacy…" Angela sat back in her chair. "That's what you guys have…"

Brennan narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Booth and I...have never had sex, Angela…"

"Right." Given the partners' tendency to invade each other's personal space, Angela found that statement hard to believe, but forged ahead anyway. "I'm not talking about physical intimacy, Sweetie...I'm talking about emotional intimacy. Listen, you and Booth usually spend all your time together, right? You know practically everything about each other, probably down to your shoe size. You know about his dad's drinking...about his mom leaving...and how badly he felt about being a sniper...lots of deeply personal stuff. I'll bet you anything he never told Hannah about any of that. I mean they probably had sex galore, but I bet they never talked about anything meaningful...not about real life issues or even personal trivia...not like you and Booth have. I think their whole relationship was based on sex, and not much else. I mean, you and Booth have some major sexual tension, but what you two have goes way beyond just that." She gave Brennan an appraising glance. "Booth knows a lot of deeply personal stuff about you, too, right?"

"That's correct. Brennan shrugged as she studied her nails. "He knows about my abuse at the hands of my foster parents...about how I felt abandoned when my parents left...he understands that sometimes I find certain social situations awkward, and he helps me adapt...and he knows many other things about me that members of my own family don't know. He's someone I can trust…someone who tells me the truth...he worries about me...he cares about my health, and about my emotional well being..."

"Exactly. That's because he cares about you like you care about him. You two just clicked, okay? You just naturally seem to belong together. Almost from the beginning of your partnership, you two have accepted each other for who you really are, without judgment, without trying to change each other, and without expecting anything from each other except respect. You trust each other implicitly. You have common goals, and you care about a lot of the same things. In other words, you have a great friendship, and a deep, abiding love for each other...not just a romantic love, but a love of the whole person...the kind of love that you feel all the way down to your soul."

"You know I don't believe in souls, Angela…"

"Okay, okay...then all the way down to your toes. Add romantic love to the mix, and...that kind of love is life changing." Angela smiled as she reached over to pat Brennan's hand. "That kind of love is so precious...and it was too precious for Booth to give it up in exchange for being with Hannah in a superficial way. He may have truly loved her on some level, but his love for her could never reach the depth of his love for you. He needs you in his life, Brennan, or he'll never be completely happy...and I think Hannah finally figured out that she was always going to be on the losing end of that battle, so she surrendered and got the hell out of town."

Sitting in silence for a few minutes as she contemplated Angela's words, Brennan finally nodded. "So he really does love me…as much as he says he does..."

"And you really do love him." Angela laughed merrily. "It's okay to say that out loud, Brennan. I We both know you've loved him for a long time."

"Perhaps, but I think perhaps I need to say it to him first, not you." Smiling broadly, the anthropologist rose from the couch. "In fact, I think he needs me to say it to him within the next half hour. Thank you..."

"That's very true, and you're welcome. I think you'd better go find him as soon as you can." Waving as her friend left, Angela nodded in satisfaction. Things weren't getting back to normal...they were going to be much better than normal. "Finally…," she said to herself. "...maybe they'll get it right this time…"

%%%%%%%%

Feeling strange being in Brennan's apartment by himself after she'd left in a panic, Booth quickly gathered up the case files and drove himself back to the Hoover. He was still upset with what had transpired that morning, and he wondered if he'd be able to get any work done once he got there, but crimes didn't stop just because a Special Agent's life had gone to hell. He had a responsibility, and he was going to fulfill it as best he could.

He opened his office door and set the files down on his desk before slipping out of his jacket and sitting down at his computer. Suddenly he felt exhausted. "What is wrong with me?," he muttered quietly. "I should've known I can't push Bones, but I did. I should've realized how confused she'd be...I should've known she'd run...and now...well, who knows when I'll see her again…"

Sighing softly, he opened his email folder, scratching the back of his neck as he tried to wade through the messages. "Can't worry about that now...I've got work to do…"

"Booth?"

There she stood in the doorway...the answer to his prayers. "Bones? Man...I'm so glad to see you. Come on in…" He pointed to a chair. "How did you I was here?"

"Well since you work here, it was a logical assumption, but I also called Angela and asked her to track your phone. It's important that I speak to you." She sat down across from him, primly folding her hands in her lap. "I wanted to let you know that I've spoken with Hannah. She says she's leaving town and she never wants to see either of us again."

"Well, I suppose that's to be expected…"

"Perhaps, although I found her to be quite unreasonable...bordering on irrational, actually." Brennan shrugged slightly, fidgeting with her dolphin ring. "She gave me a long list of reasons indicating why she thinks you prefer me to her, such as the fact that I have a nickname and she does not, and she seemed to think it was odd that you know all my computer passwords. She also says you talk about me in your sleep…"

Embarrassed as he remembered some of the X rated dreams he'd had about his Bones recently, a blushing Booth tried to stammer out an excuse. "I...I think...if I remember...I was dreaming about...a case…"

Brushing off his response, Brennan continued. "She thinks you coached Parker somehow so he'd prefer me...you know, things like that. It's ridiculous! Nothing concrete...just a list of random observations. As I told Angela, an intelligent woman like Hannah should understand what really qualifies as evidence…"

Confused, Booth interrupted. "You went to see Angela, too?"

"Yes, right after I left Hannah. I had some questions I needed answered and she was most helpful, explaining how our relationship...yours and mine...is quite different from yours with Hannah. She mentioned our respect for each other and our common goals, as well as our sexual tension, and I must admit, I'm very interested in exploring that aspect of our partnership."

"Wait...what?" Stunned by her offhand comment, Booth wasn't sure he'd heard right. "Sexual aspect?," he squeaked. "Bones…really? I mean..."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Why are you so surprised? I'd assumed you would've realized by now that I find you very attractive physically, so adding that to your other fine qualities...well, Angela helped me realize how much I love you, Booth, and I'm very much ready for us to move forward in adding a romantic element to our partnership."

"Let me get this straight..." Booth scratched his chin as he tried to understand this sudden...and welcome...turn of events. "So, even after me being with Hannah for a couple of months...being a jerk...screwing up royally in every possible way...you...still...love...me?"

"Yes, of course, I do." Brennan laughed as she reached out to take his hand. "We all make mistakes, Booth, although you seem to make many more than I do, and recently that number has increased at an exponential rate. However, I'm willing to overlook those errors on your part and we can now move forward." Ignoring his dazed expression, she continued as she stood up to leave. "I see you're busy right now, so we can continue this discussion later. Why don't you come over to my apartment tonight?" She gave him a teasing smirk. "Oh, and bring some clothes to wear to work tomorrow…"

"Yeah...yes, I'll be there, but first…" Rising from his desk, he quickly took her into his arms and kissed her. "I love you so much…"

Caressing his cheek, she smiled. "I know...and I love you, too. I'll see you tonight."

"I'm looking forward to it." He kissed her again, enjoying the feeling of her tender lips on his. "And now, I need to get back to work…"

She giggled as she put her arms around his neck. "Do you really need to get back to work at this exact moment?"

Glancing at his desk, he grinned, waggling his eyebrows at her. "You know, I think I left an important case file at your apartment. Maybe we should go get it, okay?" He checked the time on his phone. "And I need something from my place first...and by the time we do all that...it'll be quitting time…so we won't need to come back here. I guess we can just stay home for the res of the day if we want..."

"Very true." She smiled as she helped him with his jacket. "Shall we?"

"We shall."

He chuckled as he took one last look at his desk for the night. Responsibility be damned. He was finally going to be on the same page with his Bones, and that was far more important.

The couple stepped into the elevator and he took her hand as the door closed. "You know what, Bones?"

"What, Booth?

"I'm kind of glad Hannah snooped on my phone...look where it got us, right? Me and you, together at last."

"You are correct, Booth." She gave him a kiss and smiled. "Maybe we should send her a thank you note of some sort, providing we can find out where she is..."

Embracing her tenderly, he nodded as he looked into the blue eyes he loved so much. "Definitely a thank you note, Bones. Most definitely."

Thanks for reading, ad thank you SO much to 554Laura for finishing the story. Be sure to check out her other great stories on her profile (fanfiction dot net /u/7175701/) and please leave a review!