Before You Tell Him Goodbye, a bones fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones or the song…but I thought someone should at least try to put the two together since they seemed to fit.

-Enjoy!-

I know there's something in the wake of your smile.
I get a notion from the look in your eyes, yea.
You've built a love but that love falls apart.
Your little piece of heaven turns too dark.

He abandoned her…he left her just like every man in her life. At least that was how she saw it. The empty space on her wall where the team's picture had hung had been missing since he left. She, in a very irrational moment, had thrown the thing, frame and all into the trash. I had dug it out later and placed it in a box and hid it in the back of her closet, someday she would thank me, but I wasn't expecting that day any time soon.

I had been staying with her for the past week helping her pack her things. She was leaving DC, leaving the Jeffersonian, moving somewhere in Arizona. She was doing what I never thought she would. She was retiring as she called it, but it sounded more like running away to me. Brennan had said little, eaten little and all round had been more silent that her usual self. I had hoped after a year of him being gone she would have out grown the pain. But she didn't. He had been her knight in shining armor for five years, and then left her helpless and alone. I felt a flash of anger towards him, but it ebbed away almost instantly.

When he came back I could tell there was a change in him. He been back six months and his relationship with Hannah had completely fallen apart almost instantly. He was completely obsessed with rebuilding their relationship. But Brennan had not been so driven. I sighed, feeling almost sorry for him. One mistake shouldn't hang over you forever. But when Temperance Brennan's mind was made up it was made.

Even though the words had never been said and the feelings never acted upon I could tell it was there, even if Brennan had not. She had loved him in her way, gotten attached to him despite her brain telling her not to. I had to thank him for giving her someone to love. I snorted flipping through the channels on her never touched tv. He had been her first love and I wanted to cry that he would be her last. Brennen would never trust another man again, ever. I turned off the tv giving up and scanning the room.

There she was buried in stacks of paper work and files. I shook my head as her cell phone vibrated again. She had picked it up the first time just to verify he had not needed something regarding their last case. She realized he did not and she had hung up with a short crisp I'll have the files dropped off at your office tomorrow. She had to have at least 20 voicemails from him. Suddenly my phone went off and I had to sneak off to the bathroom to speak to him.

"What?" I answered.

"Why is she not picking up?" he snapped.

"She's busy pack..oops I wasn't supposed to tell you that…" I cringed.

"Packing! PACKING! WHERE IS SHE GOING ANGELA!" he yelled.

"She..oh hell…" I sighed. "Look she put in her notice at the Jeffersonian two weeks ago…she's…She leaving DC. She's retiring…"

That was when the banging on the door had started. He had persistence I had to give him that. I flushed the toilet and ran the sink for a moment so Brennan would think I had actually used the restroom and hurried back to the living room. I knew better than to attempt a rush to the door to open it.

"Bones! BONES OPEN THIS DOOR!" he snapped. "Bones don't do this. You have to talk to me. Temperance Brennan…answer me."

Listen to your heart when he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye.

She completely ignored him, just like she had ignored his phone calls. With every knock on the door and every time he said her full god given name demanding she open the door she had not flinched, but her eyes lost a little more of what luster they had left. Finally after his last knock and calling her name a little softer this time I couldn't take it anymore.

"Sweetie…you have to talk to him." I stated coming to stand in front of her desk and crossing my arms. "This isn't just anyone, you can't just ignore him. He isn't going to give up."

"!" he drug out her name like a long off key violin.

"No he isn't Ange. But he needs to understand he has to live with my decision." Brennan replied not looking up from her work. "Our relationship is not up for discussion, Angela. I'm leaving this weekend and that's the end of it."

I knew if I pressed the subject I would hit a brick wall, but her eyes as they always did, betrayed her. Temperance Brennen never could lie effectively. I could tell Temperance wanted to run to the door rip it open and hug him like she used to. Tell him how glad she was he was back, but Brennan wouldn't allow that, love didn't exist to her. I sighed. I walked over to a stack of boxes in the corner of the living room, rotating the stack until I found the right box. Pulling the discarded picture from the box I had hid it in a year ago I dropped it loudly in front of her. She started looking up at me confused.

"Come on Bones 5 minutes! Just open the door and give me five minutes!" He called, I cringed it almost sounded like he was whining now. "Please…I thought we had an understanding!"

"I want you to seriously consider that you may very well be the one in the wrong here. Yes he left you but he left everyone Brennan, not just you. He left Parker behind to you know and only after you made it clear you were not going to allow anything more than friendship. You left him a long time before he left you Brennan. And I am not going to sit here and listen to this. I'm going out." I replied grabbing my sweater and purse from the couch. I turned back to her before heading out the door. "Sweetie you told me once to tell you when you were making a fool of yourself….this is definitely one of those times."

I looked behind me once before opening the door and found I had hit a nerve. Her eyes were glazed over, unable to break eye contact with the picture lying in front of her. Temperance for all of Brennan's logical decisions had broken through if only for the moment.

Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile.
The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yea.
They're swept away and nothing is what is seems,
the feeling of belonging to your dreams.

To his credit, he did not try to bulldoze his way in. He stepped back almost as if he expected me to throw a punch. I corrected myself. Not me. I thought. He expected Brennan to coming out swinging. I closed the door locking it behind me. For a moment he stood looking anywhere but right at me. I sighed shaking my head.

"I should slap the both of you for the way your acting," I said softer than I meant to.

He did not respond and that confused me. There was no quick rebuttle no smug comment. He just stood there staring at his shoes, arm hung limp at his sides, hands in his pockets. His puppy act. I nearly rolled my eyes until he backed away slowly and made his way back to the elevator.

"That's it?" I asked after him. "That's all you've got? You're not going to even ask me to give her a message for you…nothing?"

"It won't mat..er and you know it." He stumbled over his words, his back still to me. "I don't know if she told you but, I gambled and lost Ange. She can't love me because ya know none of it's real just some brain..thing…."

"Studly…five years ago I would have agreed with you, but now…I'm not so sure what will help. You left her…you left her like her parents did…like her brother did. Only they ran to protect her. You ran Studly…you ran when you were just starting to get through to her…you ran and she iced over all over again. Yes she hurt you, but you still came back and now you have to deal with the consequences of that. It's all logic and rational thoughts again now." I stated setting my jaw, if I couldn't get through to Brennan, I'd be damned if I couldn't get through to him. "She has learned more from you about how to be a person and not just a robot than she ever learned from me…don't you get it? She idolized you, in her own way. She craved your approval, even if she didn't know it or understand why…You changed after you woke up. She didn't know how to act, she…she back pedal. Bones…is screaming to let you back in but Brennan won't let her have what she wants. Its not the logical step for her. You've got to find a way passed that…and if you can't she'll be out of all our lives for good. If she leaves she will never, ever come back Booth…ever."

I watched as he squared his shoulders, turned on his heels and marched himself right back to her door.

"Bon..es…." He stumbled through her name, the confidence he had mere seconds ago gone completely. "Yes I ran…I left you, just like everyone in your life has. Hannah was…was the second biggest mistake of my life. My biggest mistake…was…was…"

He glanced at me, I nodded encouragingly, waving my hand at him to keep going.

"Was that I left you..I abandoned you, after I promised to be there for you no matter what. I ran from you because it hurt too much, I was a co-co-ward. I ran because I…I didn't know what else to do Bones. And I hope someday, someday when….whe…" He rested his forehead on her door, taking an uneven breath, his eyes squeezed shut. "I'm not going to run away again. Just like a year ago Bones, I'm still that guy. And I'll be whatever you want me to be for you. Where ever it is your going I hope you find everything you're looking for."

He remained leaning against the door for a moment. The last rays of his hope ebbing away as the seconds passed and she didn't open the door. And just like that he walked away, I could hear his quick footsteps echoing down the hall, the ding of the elevator and then Agent Seeley Booth was gone.

I'm not sure how long I stood there staring stupidly at where he had been. I held my breath trying to hold back the tears. Brennan had won. After five years Brennan had won.

Listen to your heart, when he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye.

"Ange?"

Her voice jerked me back into existence. She was standing just inside the door frame her shadow spilling into the hallway. I smiled half heartedly. She had been crying.

"Ange where is.."

"He gave you what you wanted. For the second time he left the ball in your court." I replied

"I don't know what that means." She stated her eye brows nitting her eyes glazing over in confusion. I chuckled the tension released in my body. Our Brennan was back…he had gotten through to her.

"It means grab your jacket. We have a FBI agent to hunt down."

Brennan did as I instructed and we hurried off. We reached the garage a few minutes later and both stopped dead. Booth's SUV was parked right in front of us, locked up tight and no sign of him anywhere. I hurried her on to my car.

"He must have just taken off walking." I thought aloud pulling out of the parking space and pulling out into the street. I snorted. It was pouring down rain. Wow could this get anymore cliché?

After an hour of hunting all our usual places to hang out after work, the diner the founding fathers. Booth was nowhere in sight I felt myself starting to panic. Where could he be? I thought pulling over until we could think of where to check next.

"What are you doing? We can't stop now. Maybe he walked home?" Brennan offered never taking her eyes off the street and sidewalks. "He's going to get sick being out in this weather!"

"Sweetie he lives clear across town!" I countered, then kicked myself for not racking her brain before. "Brennan where would Booth go if he wanted to be alone…somewhere he could think?"

There was a moment of silence and I almost thought perhaps she didn't understand my question. And then she was gone, my passenger door left open her high heels left in my floorboard. I groaned. Now she gets impulsive. I thought grabbing my umbrella from the back seat, closing and locking the doors to my car and taking off after her retreating back. She owed me a day at the spa for this.

And there are voices that want to be heard.
So much to mention but you can't find the words.
The scent of magic, the beauty that's been
when love was wilder than the wind.

Brennan stopped short a few minutes later, staring at something I couldn't see. At first she looked as though she might take off back to the car but then very slowly she moved forward and I saw him. He was soaked to the bone staring at nothing in particular he didn't even respond when she sat down beside him. I was frozen I couldn't move, and then she spoke.

"When I was 17 I met a boy that lived next door to my foster parents home." She started. "I was delusional about love and caring people. I understood love to be useless. No one had stuck by me my whole life. Everyone left me. Foster parents, friends, my family…it didn't matter. Anyway, that boy his name was Taylor. He was kind to me when he didn't have to be. He was soft spoken, funny, took me places I would never have gone on my own, I didn't realize it until much later how much you and he were alike. His dad got a better job clear across the country and he moved away. He left me.

"My life just moved on after that. I shutdown I had let him in and although to know fault of his own he had left me behind to fend for myself. And I promised never to get attached to another person like that again. Then all of the sudden I'm presented with human remains…and before I know it I'm dragged into a murder case by a quick mouthed, flashy sure of himself FBI Agent, who completely and totally irritated me. I can't stand how he has to argue everything I say. How he know just how to completely anger me. I didn't like it. I didn't like him, and gave him no reason to like me. And then this odd thing happened, one day he just dodged my attempts to argue with him. He had a soft, kind answer for every harsh thing I said. And I realized that I had fooled myself into believing that Taylor was the only one that could ever be of that…nature…

Brennan fell silent. She for once had run out of something to say. I watched, rain pelting my umbrella as Booth never stirred. I wondered if he had heard her at all. I shifted my weight feeling awkward. I wanted to walk away but I couldn't. And then she said it and my I held my breath.

"I..for as illogical and irrastional as this sounds…I think I have grown attached to you…" Brennan muttered ducking her head and staring childishly at her feet. "…And not in a atta boy kinda way either…I still don't even know what that means."

Suddenly Booth chuckled, which quickly turned into a full fledge laugh and he almost fell off the bench they were sitting on. Brennan's face contorted in confusion and then out right anger. My breath caught she took his reaction completely wrong. She stood up hurriedly.

"Why are you laughing?" she half yelled. "I…you think this is a joke?"

Booth's face fell immediately trying to stop her from running away. He missed and she took off.

"BONES! BONES COME BACK!" he yelled sprinting after her.

She didn't get very far from him before he caught her, spinning her around into his arms. I really shouldn't be here…go back to the car Angela…I thought to myself but I still could not move. After five years of putting up with these two I had every right to see how it ended.

She fought against him at first trying to free herself to get away. But I knew Brennan was losing the battle, she knew it and she was fighting tooth and nail to regain control, but his Bones was not letting her hurt him. I knew, hell we all knew, Brennan could take down anyone and Booth was no exception.

"Bones…stop." Booth ordered, taking Brennan's face in his hands. I felt like I was watching an old Hollywood film, I giggled remembering which one. For a mere second Brennan and Booth were replaced by Rick and Isla, only in this little version Rick got his girl.

"Let go Booth. It was stupid to come here." She snapped trying to pull away again, only to be stopped when he wrapped her in another hug. I could hear the tears in her voice even if I could not see them. "I should never have come after you."

Booth did not respond. He sighed once, his jaw clenched. I held my breath for what would happen next, and had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from squealing. Booth pulled away from her quickly and without any hesitation kissed her, and Brennan turned into jelly leaning into him.

Listen to your heart…

I smiled. It was done. I turned walking back to the car. They would eventually find their way to me. I climbed in the car and started it, cranking up the heat.

"DC and its gloriously, cold, rainy nights." I groaned. I turned on the radio as the song being played slowed to an end. My smile reappeared on my face as Booth and Brennan came into view, running like school kids in the rain, the last verse of the song fading away.

I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why…
but listen to your heart…
before... you tell him goodbye…