Just as a note, I love Cam. I love her character and personality and her addition to the team. This is just a what if scenario, just as the title suggests.

Booth clicked on the latest notification from the Jeffersonian and read the email once, then twice. The third time he made it halfway through before he heard a cracking sound and felt the hard plastic of the mouse break under his grip. Releasing his death grip on the thing he pushed away from his desk and walked to the door. Pausing he stalked back and sat back down, opening a new blank document.

Typing as quickly and legibly as his patience allowed he finished the short letter and printed it. Signing his name at the bottom he rushed out of his office and barged into Cullens. Throwing the sealed envelope to his secretary he managed to utter;

"Give this to the boss, ASAP."

Without waiting for affirmation he about faced and stormed straight out of the Hoover. He didn't call her, knowing she wouldn't pick up. Pulling out of his parking space he turned on the siren and sped through late afternoon traffic, making his way straight to the Jeffersonian.

He sent a mass text as he walked in to the team sans Cam and Brennan to meet in the Ookie Room.

Ten minutes later the door was closed and he turned to address Angela, Hodgins and Zack.

"Booth? What's going on? Where's Bren?" asked Angela worried.

"Before I say anything, I need to know something. I think I already know your answers but I need to hear it before I can go on."

At their nods he continued.

"Why are you three here?" At their shocked looks he elaborated. "Angela you hate looking at dead skeletons and giving them flesh masks, Hodgins you own one of the biggest conglomerates in the world and yet you sift through soil and shit on a daily basis. Why? Zack you are just as good as Bones in identifying remains, have been for years and you have a higher IQ. You could have gotten your Doctorate ages ago and yet you're still Bones' intern. Why?"

Angela shared a look with the other two and hesitated to answer. "That's a loaded question, Booth."

"Answer it please."

Still they resisted.

"We will answer it if you will." The response came from Zack, surprisingly.

Booth huffed out a short unamused laugh and ran a hand through his already messy hair, loosening his tie a little. He might as well go for broke, huh?

"Well, the reason I come here in this lab and watch you work with rotting remains, seared flesh and animal feces is because... Well because Bones needs me here. I mean I know she was here before me but she wasn't bringing people justice back then you know? Making a difference in the way that really mattered to her? I know that this job, our partnership in particular means a lot to her, and I know she wants me to be her partner."

Another hand went through his hair and he whipped off his tie and slapped it down on the table.

"Also," he said in a quiet voice. "In a very short amount of time, Bones has kind of become the most important person in my life, second only to Parker."

Angela's smile could have blinded him, if the situation was less serious he was sure she would be bouncing of the walls.

"Good answer there, Studly." she smirked. "Well for me the answer is simple. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Bren and I wouldn't have stayed if it wasn't for Bren. No matter what Goodman might have said to me in his sexy African twang, it wouldn't have made a bit of a difference if Brennan didn't want me to stay. I don't work for the Jeffersonian, the Government, the FBI, or Cam. I work for Brennan."

Booth smiled still feeling a sense of lightness at his own admission, Angela's admission adding to that euphoria, managing to calm the furnace of anger in his chest.

He turned to Zack who shrugged.

"I have a borderline Psychopathic personality. You profilers would have me committed on principle. I failed every psyc evaluation I ever took. I didn't even get into the program. It was Dr Brennan, who looked at my work instead of my history and took me in. She is the only one who gave me a chance. She is the only one who makes me feel."

Angela and Booth met eyes over the bowed head of Zack Addy. Both had already subconsciously suspected this about Zack, but never would they have voiced it. To see Zack admit and actually acknowledge that he knew about it and still worked to be good for Brennan was kind of humbling.

Patting Zacks shoulder three times Booth smiled at the kid before turning to the wild card. He liked Jack Hodgins but he knew that Hodgins was not really that close to Brennan. They were more work colleagues than friends. He though, thought differently.

"You know that I was here way before any of you idiots showed up on this scene? Dr B has been my colleague longer than she has been your best friend," he pointed at Angela. "Your Mentor," Zack. "And your Partner." Booth.

"I have seen her compartmentalize her way through so many cases in Limbo. I've seen her wade fearlessly through raw sewage that even I wasn't willing to step in to collect particulates. I've seen her butt heads with big wigs in parties and formal gatherings and hold her own, making us proud while I sulked in the corner. I've seen her go up against idiot Agent after idiot Agent who wouldn't give her credit when she deserved it, until you came along."

The gathered watched with wide eyes at the impassioned speech from the normally reserved Entomologist.

"I may not be her best friend, her prodigal son and I may not be in love with her. But Dr B is the one single person who I have been proud to call my colleague. She has my respect and loyalty. Now why are you asking these questions Booth?"

Booth blinked himself out of the stupor and sighed pulling out the folded piece of paper and tossed it next to his tie. It was snatched up mere seconds later by Zack and the two others leaned over to read it.

"I received that an hour ago in my inbox."

The small missive was read in under a minute and the rage that triplicated on the squints faces added to his own ire. He tamped it down ruthlessly, the time for rage was coming soon.

"That Bitch!" screamed Angela rushing towards the door only to be stopped by Hodgins. "Let me go!" she yelled to the shorter Bug Man.

"Angie! Stop. Wait a minute! I know what you want to do and I want to do that as well, but you know that there is a reason that Booth is here, giving us this letter asking us questions?" he looked to the Agent in question. "Right?"

Angela turned her anger towards Booth. "I don't care! It's his sweetheart that's going after Bren. I'm going to tear that Bitch limb from limb for even thinking to fire Brennan!"

"As much as I would love to see you do that Angela, I have a better plan. One that would probably take care of Cam and all of her other authoritarian problems."

Angela calmed down a little as Booth didn't rise to her bait and said something that actually made sense to her.

"What are you saying?"

"You know the last person who threatened Bones? I put a gun in his mouth and made him piss his pants before making him promise not to even look at her again."

This was news to the team but they waited for more.

"Well, I can't do that to Cam without being sent to jail, but I can do something that she won't expect, even if it had been threatened before."

"What are you talking about Booth?" even Hodgins was confused by now.

Booth smiled and tossed another envelope on the table, this letter a copy of the one that he just handed to Cullen.

Reading that through quickly Angela and Hodgins eyes widened in realisation.

"I don't understand, Agent Booth. What does your..." Zack was interuped by Angela whispering to him urgently. "Oh okay. Are you sure that would work Agent Booth?"

"Pretty sure," he said nodding with a smile. "But even if it doesn't, I don't want to work this job without Bones, I know you guys don't as well. So what do you say?"

Three identical grins elated his anxious heart as he smiled a wider toothy grin and walked out moving towards the new pathologists office.

He knocked on the door making Cam look up and smile at him.

"Seeley! Come in."

He didn't bother asking him to not call him Seeley, she had lost the right to banter with him.

"Cam, I got an email from the Jeffersonian. It was a surprise considering what I had said earlier about me being with Bones."

"Well, I figured you were concerned about losing your partner in the field. Well I have extensive experience in fieldwork for the FBI I figured I could fill in as your partner as well as take care of the running of the lab."

Booths jaw twitched but he managed to keep his tone civil. "And what about the squints? I thought they threatened to quit if you fired Bones?"

Cam stood up and pursed her lips, hands on her hips. It was a decidedly unattractive gesture. "I dismissed that as the childish posturing that it was Booth. A formerly unemployed roadside artist? An intern on half pay? And Doctor Hodgins doesn't even care about Brennan enough to be bothered if I fire her. I cannot tolerate insubordinates and they cannot afford to lose their jobs. There will be an adjusting period and then everyone will move on without Dr Brennan. I've already sent word for a new Forensic Anthropolist to be interviewed, in the meanwhile Mr Addy's work will suffice."

Booth stayed leaning against the wall choosing his words carefully lest he scream it out at the woman.

"Cam? Do you know how Bones came to work at the Jeffersonian?" he asked mildly.

Her eyebrow rose. "No but I have a feeling you're about to tell me."

"When she graduated with the highest achievements of any in her field in the last fifty years she was bombarded with requests and grants and scholarships, guaranteed jobs and the highest pay anyone of us would want to live off of. The Jeffersonian institute was merely one of many that coveted her. She inturn went to Rwanda to identify victims of genocide, putting back together decapitated bones of children barely older than Parker, giving them faces and names.

"She traveled the world to war torn places and worked in mass graves surrounded by soldiers who would kill or do worse to her at one misstep. After dozens upon dozens of requests per month, from institutes and colleges she finally aceepted work from the Jeffersonian because she had reached her limit of trying to understand why evil people did what they did.

"Bones didn't apply for the position at the Jeffersonian, Cam. She was pleaded with on bended knees for over ten years before she finally just gave in because she was tired of seeing the worst of man-kind. The effort that the higher ups went through to get her and for you to fire her three weeks into your new job? I don't think the big wigs will be too happy with you."

Cam was a lot of things but stupid wasn't one of them. The dawning horror on her face was more than enough to show to Booth that his point had been sent across succinctly.

"You might want to check your emails. I hope you enjoyed all your high tech equipment, Cam." With that parting dig he sauntered out of the lab while ringing Goodman.

"Hey," he said when the Archaeologist answered. "You messed up big time..."

Camile Saroyan was panicking. She had been vindictive sure but she had no idea of what Booth was saying was true. Booth had been pretty different as he talked to her. He hadn't been angry or explosive or expletive as she had come to expect from her former lover. He was calm and cool almost calculating. For the first time since she had known him she had felt his snipers gaze on her and she had known that she was the target and with his parting words he might have actually killed her.

Turning on her computer she clicked through to her emails and scanned the inbox. Blinking at the six different letters she frowned at the three that were sent mere minutes ago by her team. Clicking on Angela's letter she frowned as she read the measured letter that the artist had sent tendering her resignation effective immediately.

Two more of the same and suddenly the Medico-Legal team was down all members except for a pathologist. There was a missive from Booth as well sent half an hour ago. Reading that paled her complexion. He was resigning! Was Brennan really that important to him to quit his job over? A jobs that she knew he valued immensely.

The last two made her tremble. The board of governors of the Jeffersonian Institute had sent a summons for her to attent a meeting in four hours time. The last was from Deputy Director of the FBI Sam Cullen who was asking her what the hell had happened that caused his best Major Crimes Agent and decorated veteran Seeley Booth to quit his job without notice?

Sighing she glanced at her recently unpacked boxes for her move to her new office and thanked God for small favors as she emptied her drawers and prepared to face the music.

Booth rode casually up the elevator to Brennans apartment and knocked on her door. Not hearing her move inside he knocked again a little harder and finally spoke up.

"Bones I know you're in there. Stop sulking and open this damn door!"

Still no answer. Sighing he decided to pull out the big guns.

"Bones since I'm no longer employed by the FBI I can not justify breaking down this door. Can you please let me in?"

There was sound of breaking china and Booth winced, Brennan didn't own cheap china. The door slammed open as a red eyed Temperance Brennan glared at him in half disbelief.

"You were fired?!" she asked her face aghast. His heart broke for his Bones, she had obviously been crying.

Booth shook his head. "Nope," he said cheerfully. "I quit."

He saw her try to process this new information and then reject it out of hand.

"You're lying!" She declared hurt tinging her voice.

"I swear on Parker's life Bones, I'm telling the truth," he cut in serious. "I told you before; I don't lie to you."

Tears slipped down her rosy cheeks, this time obviously in empathy for him. How could someone ever call this woman cold? She had the biggest heart of anyone he had ever seen.

"What about your list?"

Booth shrugged. "I'll come back to it some day. But only when I get my partner back."

Brennans mouth fell open in shock. "You quit your job for me!" she asked anger rising in red swells on her cheeks. "What were you thinking you moron!"

Booth didn't rise to it, he was done being untrue to himself. "I was thinking that my job isn't worth losing my partner over."

She sputtered wordlessly. At one time he would have rejoiced at having rendered the indomitable Dr Temperance Brennan speechless, this time though he wanted nothing to distract him from what he was here to say.

"Listen Bones I've got a lot to say and you've got a lot to hear but let's talk inside okay. I don't want to argue in the hall. Please."

After a moment she nodded and moved aside to let him in. The half packed suitcases didn't surprise him so he chose not to comment on it even as he watched her expectant gaze travel from her luggage to his face and away.

He took her hand and gently guided the suddenly quiet Anthropologist onto her sofa and sat beside her keeping a friendly distance between them. This, tonight and every other night was about what she wanted, not what he wanted.

Reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out a few rolls of paper. "Here," he said handing her the roll.

She automatically opened it up and scanned the documents.

"What is this?" she asked confused.

"My resume," he answered back calmly.

"Why are you giving me this?"

"Well it's to show you my experience as a trained Army Sniper and war veteran. My tenure in the FBI, my psych eval and my job history, references and qualifications."

Brennan pursed her lips and he fought not to smile. "I know what a resume is Booth and I know all of your qualifications. I've worked with you for over a year remember. What I meant was why are you handing me this resume. Your resume?"

"Well it's for my interview."

"Interview?"

Booth smiled. "I'm out of a job Temperance and I'm asking you to give me one; as your Head of Security." He figured that would be less insulting than bodyguard.

"Wha...?" Once again he had rendered the great Temperance Brennan speechless.

"I think you would agree that I qualify very well for the position?" he asked rhetorically.

She still nodded slightly so he continued.

"I think that the need for that position is also apparent given your history on attending dig sites in dangerous territories?"

Another nod, hesitant this time.

"This also satisfies my need to keep you safe and your need to keep working with me."

Brennan closed her eyes two tracks of tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Please don't joke about this, Booth."

Gental hands reached up cupping her cheeks and wiping the twin tear tracks away. Her eyes opened, her azure gaze penetrating his very soul.

"I'm not joking Temperance," he whispered pulling back his hands but not before placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "I am no longer employed by the FBI and you are running off to a dig where I can't follow you unless I am, as I said your personal security."

An involuntary sob escaped her chest and he pulled her in to his chest as the dam broke. She sobbed her grief filled heart out as he gently stroked her hair, his tears mixing with hers as they lamented the decisions of a vindictive woman who didn't understand how many people she was hurting.

When her shaking subsided he pulled her back and kissed her forehead again and smiled at her handing her a tissue from her table to blot at her blotchy face. He nearly grinned as she scrunched up her nose at her emotional state.

"I know she hurt you, Bones." Blue gray eyes pinned soft brown as she assessed him. "I know she took your family from you. But I have a plan."

She frowned at him. "To become my Head of Security?" she asked trying to put together this puzzle but feeling as if she was missing some very important pieces.

Booth smiled at her confusion and nodded. "That is a contingency plan, that is our fallback."

"Fallback?"

Booth nodded this time allowing a grin to form. "Bones be honest, you can afford to pay me comfortably well to be your head of security, right or wrong?"

"That would be correct," she replied still trying to form the puzzle.

"Well if what I'm trying doesn't work then you can go whereever you want to go. Just know that I will not be left behind and I will go with you every step of the way. You can fight me, you can hate me. You can even hit me. But you'll have to kill me to get rid of me."

Her incredulous look made him grin even wider.

"What plan?" she finally asked. And so he told her.

How as soon as he had gotten news of her firing he had handed in his resignation and convinced without much effort for the squints to do so as well. He explained how much more valuable she was to the Jeffersonian than one pathetically petty pathologist. How the Jeffersonian wouldn't give her up without a fight.

Now adding that to the fact that she was a very successful author and that their job was so often in the limelight so the dismissing of such a powerful figure from her lifelong job would be talked about in the media soon. He explained patiently that Cam, by firing her, had essentially committed career suicide. And good riddance for that.

Step by step, logically and rationally, speaking the language that Brennan understood Booth explained to the distraught love of his life that she had nothing to be scared of and nothing to feel sorry for. The Jeffersonian would be knocking back on her door before long.

Just as he said that her phone rang.

"Brennan?" she said not a trace of her previous tears getting through the line. "Yes... Yes... Okay... Thank you... Oh and what would happen to Dr Saroyan...? Yes... Please wait on that decision... I would like to talk to her before you do that... Thank you... I know...It is appreciated... Goodbye."

Booth followed the exchange and registered the look of wonder on her face and grinned back.

"That... that was the Jeffersonian. I... I have been reinstated as have been my staff. Dr... Dr Saroyan is pending termination."

"There you go, Bones. See you had nothing to worry about."

Her eyes widened then. "But what about you! I don't want to partner with anyone but you Booth."

"Hey! Hey! Calm down Bones. I've been screening calls from Cullens office all afternoon. I'll talk to him and get reinstated before you know it. I would even bet he didn't go through with filing my resignation until he could talk to him."

"Then talk to him!" she urged pushing his phone into his hand.

"Soon," he promised taking the phone and placing it on the table. Taking a deep breath he prepared himself. He had promised no matter what, that today he would tell her. He wondered what she would say. He was expecting rejection but he was determined not to let it beat him. He would try again if this failed. He would not give up on her.

So reaching out he took her hands in his and examined her carefully clipped beautiful fingers.

"Temperance," he said using her first name to signify the gravity of this discussion. "Today was a roller-coaster ride for me. I know it must have been for you as well but it kind of hit me hard when I got the news about the termination of our partnership from the Jeffersonian instead of my partner."

Brennan bit her lip and looked away but Booth stumbled on, now that he had started he couldn't stop.

"I know why you did it, just as I know why you were packing. As much as it hurts to know that you don't trust me to support you I still understand why you do what you do. It's one of the many things that I love about you. And I know that word scares you, but I've decided to stop lying to myself. I know that I'm setting myself up for a fall but I...

He stared into scared blue gray eyes and faltered. If he told her this she would run and he would never see her again. Better to keep it bottled up and try and ignore his feeling just to save his partnership with her. But then what? Watch her be with people who didn't deserve her? Didn't understand her? Can't bring themselves to love all of her as he did? No.

No.

"You are frustrating, challenging, infuriating and so so so fucking beautiful Temperance Brennan. You are so much more than you believe and so much more than I deserve but I do love you and I will always love you. I chose to ignore it for a while but it always comes back to you. And the chances of you returning my feelings are very slim. But love does not have expectations.

"I just want you to know this, so that the next time you feel like running, know that there is someone who is willing to run with you."

They sat there tears in their eyes for over an hour. No interruptions, no declarations after his heartfelt ones but she had not run and he had not hid. This gave him hope for the future. Soon he needed to move, so excusing himself he went to the bathroom to relieve his bladder just as his phone rang for the umpteenth time.

Finally accepting the call from Cullen he walked out of the room as Brennan sat staring after him.

His declaration should have surprised her but Brennan was observant and she was not a fool. She had been hoping to avoid it because she saw Booth avoid it as well. She was happy to live in ignorant bliss, accepting his affections without reserve and with no obligation to return them. But could she do that now? After he had told her? He expected her to run. He expected her to reject him. His expectations were based on proof. On solid evidence. On her previous reactions and behavioural patterns. He had made this gamble, the biggest gamble of his life, fully expecting to lose. And then what? They were supposed to get back on with their lives?

Since when did Booth decide things based on empirical evidence anyways? Where was his gut in this decision. Wasn't he supposed to be the heart and she the brain? He quit his job for her. He wanted to go where she went. He gave up his list for her. How much more evidence did she need?

She knew what he was going to do when he came back out and it was now up to her to decide where this would go. Was she prepared to risk herself like that? Be so vulnerable, so naked that he could see right through her. She blinked. How was that so different to what they were now? He already could see right through her, she had been as vulnerable as she could be in front of him without even trying. She had already risked everything for him just as he had risked everything for her. What more could they lose to each other that wasn't already lost?

A smile lit up Temperance Brennan's face the object of her thoughts walked out into the living area of her apartment. He incidentally stood in front of her in such a way that her refrigerator door peeked out from behind him. Seeing her fridge with him in front of it brought back memories that she would rather not have. It must have registered on her face as he shifted and moved towards the door.

"That was Cullen," he said as he fetched his coat. "He called to tell me that if I wanted to resign then I had to tell him straight to his face." He smiled gently even as her eyes tracked his movements he waited for a moment and when she didn't say anything he turned. "So ill go and straighten everything out with him tomorrow morning and our partnership will be reinstated, just like old times," he finished cheerfully as he walked to the door. "See you tomorrow Bones."

"No," she whispered as he reached for the door handle.

He paused and tuned. "What was that, Bones?"he asked hand still on the knob.

"I said, No." Her voice got stronger as she stood up.

"No?" he asked softly, finally registering her words clearly misinterpreting her meaning. "O-Okay Bones." he had anticipated rejection, even expected it, but the experiencing it was another thing entirely. Taking a deep breath and viscously cutting of the start of tears, he turned the door knob and throwing a forced casual. "See you tomorrow, Bones," behind him he attempted to leave and lick his wounds. Apparently it was not to be.

"No, Booth! You're not listening to me!" she was positively angry and he was really scared now. If she was angry enough to end their partnership then what would he do?

"B-Bones?" he asked hating the stutter of his voice as she closed in on him.

"You are making assumptions!" she whisper yelled. "You decided how I would react to your proposal without even waiting for my answer. You promised you wouldn't expect anything and then you can't even look me in the eye."

His shoulders slumped as she leveled up to him and glared at him. God she was beautiful. "I guess," he started. "I guess reality is a little bit different than perception."

"Ask me," she said taking his hand and shutting the front door closed.

"What?" he whispered.

"Ask me the one question that you're afraid to know the answer to."

Seeley Booth had faced down killers, fought in a war and lost many men in combat situations, he had killed and almost been killed but never he had been more afraid to ask this woman this question.

"Booth?" she said softly taking both his hands in hers and looking straight at him fearlessly. "Ask. Me."

"Do... Do you think you could ever grow to love me as much as I love you." There it was the question that would decide everything.

And amazingly enough she smiled. "I don't know how much you love me, since I can not quantify an abstract emotion into empirical values but I can tell you right now that you are the most important person in my life. I wake up thinking about you and I go to sleep dreaming about you. You are in my fantasies day and night. When you're not around I miss you. When you're around I crave your touch. I don't know if that would quantify as love, you are much more experienced in that emotion than me, but don't think I don't feel anything for you. You couldn't be further from the truth."

Booth was left speechless. Where did that come from? But as he looked into her eyes he read pure sincerity shining from those azure depths.

"God you're amazing."

Her deep chuckle filled the air and did things to him that shouldn't be mentioned in public.

"I am pretty good, aren't I?" she asked impishly. And he laughed as he pulled her in for a long hug before pulling back and in an unspoken agreement leaned down to meet her lips with his. A sweet soft kiss that spoke of promises of the future.

As they pulled apart he gave her one more parting kiss and swept out of her apartment feeling more content than ever before.

The next morning found Booth getting chewed out by Cullen but eventually being reinstated in the FBI. Since he hadn't actually done any paper work to fire him the reinstatement was relatively painless.

Brennans morning was a little bit different. She had all the board members begging and pleading for her to accept the job back plus a pay rise and any other extras she wished to ask for.

Brennan took the job, refused the pay rise and extras and made a request.

She entered the conference room and took a seat across from Dr Camile Saroyan.

"Dr Saroyan," she said softly. "I find it difficult to talk to you. You see to you the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab maybe just a workplace but to me that place is my home...

"I find it difficult to talk about these things, normally Booth mediates, but I shall endeavour to get my point across. The people at the Lab are my family. You took from me my home and my family and for that reason we can never be friends. I may forgive in time, but I will never forget."

Cam was quiet and withdrawn, she fully expected Brennan to rub it in her face that she barely was a day out of work and essentially had to do nothing to make Cam go away but Brennan wasn't doing that.

"However our Lab does need a pathologist and an Administrator, both of which are jobs that you are good at. Make no mistake, I do not want you at the Lab but I also know that with your actions you have essentially handicapped yourself to being hired at any facility that would adequately utilise your skills.

"It is to this reason that I have requested that you remain employed by the Jeffersonian, you possess indispensable skill that we can utilise in our efforts to fight crime. However," Cam winced, here it comes. "Do not ever presume to command me or my team again. That particular ability has been stripped of you. You need not defer to me in anyway but you cannot order me around, I am not your subordinate. Neither is my team."

Brennan stood and dusted of some imaginary lint off her pants and strode out to find Booth. It was time for lunch.

Camile Saroyan sighed as she looked a the employee badge that Brennan had handed back to her and tried to stem the flow of her tears but at the end it was a futile effort.

She had made a big mistake. How was she going to work with a team that hated her guts? But she knew that she didn't have a choice. This was a hell of her own making. It was time to go live it.

Reviews helps tonnes. I'm thinking of tying up loose ends with another chapter. Let me know if you prefer that or not. See ya!