A new twister! Hope you like this one. Honestly, why didn't this happen on the show?

--

How can he be dead? He can't be. I shouldn't be here. I can't be here. This funeral can't be real. He can't be dead. Temperance Brennan thought rapidly and repeatedly, her thoughts loud to try and block out the pain she was feeling. Sweets said that the funeral was a time to grieve – well what if she didn't want to grieve? What if she wanted to believe that he was alive, blissfully unaware that he was, in fact, three feet away from her in a coffin?

In a last ditch attempt to distract herself from her emotions, she started to recite, at random, the bones of the body.

Tarsals, ulna, femur, phalanges-

The military salutes were doing something fancy with their guns, but Temperance was concentrating.

Metatarsals, clavicle, scapula, patella-

One of the men in uniform was moving. He went for a man standing in the back. The two men scuffled around, kicking and punching. The casket toppled over as a man ran into it, revealing a manikin. The man from the back row managed to knock the soldier's hat off, giving Brennan a clear view of his face.

She felt her heart leap and sieze up at the same time. Grabbing a fake arm from the casket, she hit the assailant over that head, knocking him out.

"Bones!" Booth exclaimed, breathing heavily. "Nice shot-"

WHAM! Brennan punched him square in the jaw, knocking him flat. People around them gasped as she stood, shaking with rage, over her partner. With a groan, the injured agent staggered to his feet.

"What-" He was cut off as she jerked his lips to hers, kissing him angrily. Her lips attacked his, the bruising force matching the pain she felt inside. Her fingers threaded into his hair as she whimpered into his mouth, overwhelmed. Pulling away, she roughly fisted his hair, forcing his head down so that he had to look her in the eyes.

"If you ever do that again," She warned, voice low and shaking with emotion, "It will be me putting you in that casket."

Releasing him, she stalked away, tears stinging her eyes.

"Bones!" Booth yelled, starting after her. A hand on his arm stopped him.

"Let her go." Sweets said. Seeing Booth's face and recognizing the man's need to comfort his partner, the shrink added, "Go get some ice and give her a little time to calm down. Her car's here, she can't go far."

Nodding in defeat, Booth accepted the ice pack that Angela handed him, pressing it to his blackening eye with a sigh.

He'd give her one thing. She had a mean right hook.

--

At the grave of Christine Brennan -

"Are you really alive too?" Brennan asked her mother's grave as she angrily paced in front of it, swiping at tears. "No, I identified you. I believe in facts. Arrrggg!" She yelled angrily, "I knew it was a stupid idea to come to this funeral!"

Booth, who had been coming to find her, stopped in his tracks. She thinks my funeral was stupid? He watched as her tears turned to sobs. She sank down next to the headstone, burying her face in her arms.

"He didn't even tell me he was alive! Does he care that-," Shakily she gulped and tried to continue, " That he. . . he. . . oh Mom. I told myself. . . I promised myself that I wouldn't fall in love with him. And he was gone and I wanted to die, it hurt so much. I felt it - I felt my heart shatter when they told me he was dead. I can't go through that again, Mom. I can't.

"All I was thinking was, 'How can a bullet kill my Booth?' He's stronger than that. He has to be. He left me, goddammit!"

"But he came back." A soft voice said from behind her. Turning, she saw a sheepish yet pleading Seeley Booth, free of his military gear yet sporting a magnificent black eye.

"What do you want?" Brennan asked, trying to sound icy and cold but coming off as more hurt and betrayed. Silently, Booth limped over and eased himself onto the ground next to her. Meeting her gaze, he tried to apologise with his eyes. Tears continued to make their way down her cheeks.

With a sigh, Booth leaned in and rested his forehead against Brennan's. Both sets of eyes slid shut contentedly. Brennan couldn't even remember what she was mad at him for – just having him here, alive, was such a relief.

"I'm sorry, Bones. I thought they told you." She shook her head, dropping the contact from his forehead to his shoulder as she pressed closer to him, hardly daring to believe he was really there.

Bren felt a drop of water on her cheek. Looking up, she saw Booth furiously trying to blink as he black eye watered. Laughing, she curled further into him, all tension gone from her body.

"Don't laugh." He muttered, arms settling around her waist. "You don't know your own strength, Miss. Brennan."

"Maybe I don't." She agreed. But I know that as long as you're here, I'm invincible.