An: Been awhile since I've written on the Bones front, and for that I'm sorry. For some reason, I've been drained of inspiration. I hope to better that soon. :)

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Let's all think back on what brought us here
This is my grasp on what is real
Don't tell me how I feel
With all that's passed I can't relate
With myself from day to day
Why does everything seem so far away
To me?

There's no turning back from here
I've got to get away from everyone who's left
Everyone who's left
I'll tell the saddest story
Of how we made it through this past year

-Here's To The Past (A Day To Remember)

"Bones...I'm sorry it had to come down to this."

"So am I Booth," she sighed; her voice heavy, just as her lids were as they tried to hold against the onslaught of tears pressuring to fall down her cheeks. "But...why...why a letter? Why couldn't you just come...tell me, instead of hide behind this god damned letter."

"I don't know," he muttered. "I...I don't know. It just...it felt too personal."

"We are partners!" she exclaimed, tossing down the paper on his desk, and raising her fingers to touch her temples. "We...we were partners...We spent years as best friends, and eventually we grew into a relationship that was more than that...how could you expect this to be anything other than personal?"

"I couldn't let this be more personal than it had to be. We need distance, Bones. We need space."

"Fine," she whispered, turning away from him so she could quickly palm away the tear that escaped her crumbled facade. "Then...then I suppose, this is it."

"I...I suppose so."

"Well, I wish you luck in...wherever you're going," she explained. "I hope you-"

"Don't give me that," he growled; hissing to himself when her eyes widened and gravity worked to pull one of her tears from her eye. "Bones...we aren't some sort of couple; destined to have this fleeting and heartbreaking scene when one of us decides to leave. We agreed only to be partners, so yes, it's sad that I'm leaving to work in Philadelphia, but it should be a simple goodbye, and be done with it."

Her heart was pulsing wildly in her chest, and she tried to cross her arms over her chest to disguise the painful shaking that her body had fell into. Her knees buckled when she stepped backwards, and her lips opened to speak, but her voice failed to make an appearance. She felt as if she was slipping into shock; struck with burning and blinding pain. Her throat was dry, and she was incapable of making any sounds; she was simply destined to stand there and gawk like an idiot. He had long since stopped looking at her, and she decided to use that to her advantage.

The next time that he got the nerve to glance upwards, she was disappearing around the corner.

~*~*B+B*~*~

She had tried to drive home, but she found that with the constant sliding of tears had completely obliterated her vision. She couldn't see anything other than colored, shapeless blobs, and finally decided to pull to the side of the road before she got in any sort of accident.

Her forehead found her steering wheel, and her lips parted as she worked to calm down her sporadic heart. She had never felt pain worse than what was coursing through her now, and she wanted nothing more to do than let go of the scream bubbling at the base of her throat.

But she never did.

She knew she never could.

Her phone buzzed beside her, and she accepted the device as a means of a distraction...that was, until she looked at the name printed before the envelope depicting that she had a new text message.

'Are you okay?'

It was a simple enough question, but even in text form could she hear the spite behind his words. The hatred in his tone, and the spitting anger that had grown in the past weeks that she knew was a veiled attempt to try and act like he still cared.

She knew he had stopped caring a year ago.

'No,' she answered with ease. 'I am not. Though, I recognize that this is simply your way of trying to pretend to care. You need not do this anymore, Booth. We aren't partners anymore remember? At this point...we're simply strangers.'

'Where are you?'

'Why does it matter?'

'Because I need to know if you're alright. Do you need me to drive you home?'

'I already told you that I wasn't alright, Booth,' she sighed heavily as her fingers smoothed over the buttons on her phone; typing out her angered response quickly, and without remorse. 'I don't need your help anymore. I have to learn to take care of myself again. So, please, don't come rushing to my side pretending that you care.'

'I do care, Bones. I've always cared.'

'You, master of emotions, have a piss poor way of showing it.'

That was simple finalization. She turned her phone off, and tossed it somewhere far in the back of her car. She reached up and furiously wiped at her eyes; sucking in two, large breaths, before she looked over her shoulder, and pulled back into traffic. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the wheel with the same grip she felt she needed to bestow upon her ex-partner's throat.

She had no idea she could ever feel so much hatred for a man.

Especially the man she loved with all of her heart.

~*~*B+B*~*~

With every knock on her door; her heart pulsed. She felt weak, as she rested on her couch, and wished that she could simply ignore the man standing in the hall. But she knew him better than he knew himself, and she knew that if she didn't answer the door, she wouldn't have a door.

Her fingers slid against cool mahogany, and a deep sigh inflated her lungs. Her forehead touched the door, and reveled in the feeling of freezing wood against her heated skin. "Booth," she sighed; her voice sad and distant; as if mourning a lost lover. "What do you want?"

"Bones, let me in."

"I...I can't."

"Yes you can," he murmured from the other side. "I think we have things to talk about."

"You said yourself we shouldn't play this out into some huge, romanticized scene," she whimpered, letting her hand fall to door knob. She opened the door to him, and rested weakly against the doorjamb; glancing up at him with red rimmed eyes. "We...we voiced our good byes. That should have been enough."

"Bones," he whispered; reaching up in intent to touch the swollen skin under eyes, but in a flash as quick as lightning, she slapped his hand away from her.

"Don't pity me," she spat. "And...don't...whisper my name like that. It just makes things worse."

"Why do you care about this so much?" he asked; placing his hand in the doorjamb to, possibly, keep her from slamming the door in his face. He watched as her face contorted in pure horror, before she stepped back and laughed a rueful, and heart-tearing laugh.

"Booth...why do you not care enough?" she returned. "How the hell...after six years? How can you completely throw away our partnership without a stray thought alerting you that this isn't the right decision?"

"This is something that I need, Temperance. I would have thought that you, of all people, would accept that."

"Accept that?" she asked; whirling towards him with colorless streaks sliding down her cheeks. "ACCEPT...that? God dammit are you blind? Why the fuck do you think that I act 'okay' with this? Why do you think I haven't shaken you to your death, to tell you that you are a complete idiot for breaking us apart? Why do you think I have been standing to the side, ever since we fucked up our relationship last year? You are supposed to be the perceptive one...why couldn't YOU see it earlier?"

"What is there to see, Bones?" he growled. "You keep yourself locked away in this shell of a human. I can never tell anything with you, which is why I have to leave."

"And I recognize that," she sighed; stepping backwards and sinking down into her couch. "I know, Booth and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I can't be perfect...and I'm sorry that I can't be the punching bag you need to follow you. I don't want to let you go...but I know it has to happen."

"You don't want to let me go?" he asked; tasting the words on his tongue. "Then explain to me...why you aren't fighting back? Why aren't you fighting against me, and demanding that I stay?"

"You really are blind aren't you?" she chuckled; reaching up and brushing away her tears. "Jesus...Booth. I am in love with you. Madly, over a celestial object that far surpasses the moon, in love with you. But, I know that such feelings for me have since diminished. Any feelings for me have diminished. I don't fight your decisions, because I want you to be happy. I would do absolutely anything for you...even...even letting you go. So, there it is, we both have finally let go. Your mind is free...you can go now."

"Temperance..."

"No," she cried. "No. Get out. Get out now. You are no longer welcome here."

He sighed and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat. His shoulders slumped in defeat, and she could have sworn that she saw tears in his eyes when he looked up at her. "Will...will I see you before I leave?"

"I doubt it."

Her bluntness was like a stab to the heart. The three words that he had imagined to hear for seven years had finally reached his ears, and for the first time in a year, he felt at peace. The world seemed right with those words hanging in the air, but he knew that such a peace was simply an illusion. In reality, they were standing on thin ice that was cracking and breaking out from under them. There was no hope in sight, so he had but one last line to throw, in an attempt to solidify this world he had single-handedly shattered.

"I leave this Friday," he whispered; sliding the chain from around his neck. "I want you to be there...but if you can't make it, I want to give this to you now."

"I'm not taking anything from you."

"Bones, please," he pleaded; handing over his Pops' Saint Christopher medal to her, and pressing her delicate, long fingers over the piece of jewelry. "We've made a mess of everything Bones. We need to separate, but...there needs to be a line of purity that holds us together.."

"To give me false hope?"

"No...to instill true hope. I will be back, Temperance. One day, I'll show up on your door and I'll be ready. All I ask is that you wait. Give me a year...at most. When I come back, I'll be ready for forever."