Seeley Christopher Booth.

That name rang throughout her head. It seemed to echo against her skull, though she knew that wasn’t possible. He was all she could think about.

And he was dead.

Seeley Christopher Booth, her partner, her best friend, her confident, was dead. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

Seeley Christopher Booth.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

“Sweetie?” Angela said. Brennan didn’t turn around as she studied a set of World War I remains. She felt the gaze of her whole team save Zach, who was next to her.

“Brennan, we’re leaving,” Angela said. Brennan paused, looked at Angela, and then back down to the remains. Angela sighed. Her friend had been non-responsive to this whole situation for the past week.

“Okay,” Brennan muttered. She didn’t have to see it to know that pity was seeping through the gazes of her friends.

“Sweetie, you need to go to this,” Angela said.

“I’m not going. I told you that a week ago, I told you that yesterday, I told you that this morning. Nothing has changed since then. Booth is dead, he isn’t coming back,” Brennan said, her voice trailing off toward the end. Angela sighed.

“He was your partner, Dr. Brennan,” Sweets piped up.

“You think I don’t know that, Sweets?” Brennan bit back. There wasn’t a person in the room who didn’t wince at her tone.

“I need you today, sweetie. I wasn’t anywhere near as close to Booth as you were, but I’m torn up about this. I need you,” Angela pleaded. It was only then that Brennan turned around and looked at Angela. Brennan’s unwavering stare softened a little as she observed how much this had affected Angela. She looked away, to the small stool that used to hold her partner when he came to the lab.

“Fine,” she all but whispered. She took off her blue lab coat and tossed it over the stool. “Let’s go then.”

The words of Booth’s loved ones washed over her as she stood, staring at the wooden coffin that held her partner’s body. He wouldn’t be in that coffin if it weren’t for her. She would be in that coffin. She should be in that coffin. And at that moment, she would’ve paid to be in that coffin instead of Booth.

He took a bullet for his partner.

A bullet she would’ve been glad to take for him.

The 21 gun salute had begun. It was an honorable service. He was an honorable man. It fit perfectly, like a piece to a puzzle.

It didn’t register until after one of the soldiers had pushed past her team and the coffin fell over, revealing a while doll that it was all a fake. There was no body. Booth wasn’t dead. In fact, that soldier wrestling the man in black was Booth.

Her quick thinking took over and she stepped up to get one of the arms of the dummy that had broken off. With all of her might, she swung the arm and hit the man in black, knocking him out.

There wasn’t an ounce of noise around her. She looked from the man who was unconscious, to Booth who was standing and straightening his uniform.

“Nice shot, Bones!” Booth said. Brennan stared at him. Was this some sort of sick joke? Was she dreaming all of this?

No. There he was, right in front of her. He had his charm smile on full blast. He looked absolutely gorgeous in his uniform. He was alive.

That son of a bitch!

She hauled out and slugged him one, right in the jaw. There was no way in hell she was letting this go any time soon. He had just lied to her. He had just left her.

Fuck. Him.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

The lab was quiet as Brennan and Zach looked at remains. Angela was sitting at Hodgins desk, drawing in her sketch book while Hodgins did research on beetles. Cam sat on one of the stools, seemingly staring off into space.

There was a beep as a badge was slipped through security, and footsteps were easily heard. All eyes went to the only person who hadn’t been present before.

“Bones,” Booth said quietly. Brennan didn’t turn around, nor did she acknowledge his presence.

“What do you see here, Zach?” she asked, pointing to an anomaly on the mandible of the WWI soldier.

“It’s a mark, like a piece of shrapnel possibly cut through the flesh and grazed the bone,” Zach said. “I’ll take a better look.”

“Bones, please,” Booth said. There was, once again, no response from the senior forensic anthropologist. Booth sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Will you just hear me out?” Booth said, anger seeping into his voice.

“Why should I, Booth?” Brennan asked, spinning around. The tension between the two of them was fierce. If all attention wasn’t on them before, it sure was now.

“Because I’m your partner,” Booth said, looking at her. Brennan scoffed and shook her head.

“That isn’t good enough,” Brennan said. She stared at Booth and when he didn’t say anything, she went to turn back around.

“Say something, Temperance,” Booth pleaded. “Please.”

“What do you want me to say, Seeley?” Brennan asked. “What am I supposed to say right now?”

“Anything,” Booth said.

“Okay,” she said. “If you want anything, here it goes.”

“For two weeks, I cried myself to sleep every single night because you weren’t there. For two weeks, I went to the diner, expecting to see you sitting at a table with your charm smile on full blast. Hell, I ordered pie. I hate pie. For two weeks, I found myself wishing you would walk through those doors telling me we had a case. I wished I could feel your hand on my back as we walked together. I wished I could see your smile at the end of my day. I wished you were there to call me and tell me about Parker and what he did in science class. But you weren’t. Because you were dead. For two fucking weeks you were dead to me, Seeley,” Brennan said. By the end, tears were steaming down her face. Booth was looking at her in anguish.

“And then, you weren’t. You weren’t dead at all. You were very much alive, standing in front of your coffin that was supposed to have you in it. And now you’re here in front of me. And honestly, I’m so incredibly happy I can’t even begin to tell you. Because you didn’t leave me after all, like you said you wouldn’t. But I’m so unbelievably pissed, that I really just don’t give a fuck.”

“Bones I never…I gave them a list of names that were supposed to know what was going on,” Booth said. “It was the only way that we could get the guy to come back out of hiding.”

“Then your boys conveniently forgot to give me the memo,” Brennan hissed. Booth looked near to tears.

“Temperance I swear-,” he choked out. It took less than five seconds for Brennan to break down in sobs and Booth to have his arms around her. Her hands came up to grip his jacket as her head fell against his chest. Brennan’s hot tears soaked his t-shirt.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” Brennan mumbled against her partner’s chest. “Don’t you ever leave me again.”

Angela had never seen Brennan break down like that. In the past decade that she had known the normally cool, collected anthropologist, she had never cried like that. She had never shown emotions like that. And all it took was a cocky, sweet, caring FBI agent to get her to show them.

The rest of Brennan’s team quietly left the platform to give the two partners space. They had seen enough. They had seen too much.

“I promised you Bones,” Booth whispered as he laid his head on top of hers. “I promised you I would never leave you.”

“Please don’t break it,” Brennan whispered.

“I won’t,” Booth said. “I won’t ever leave you without saying goodbye.”

(FIN)

O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Right, so Brennan was a little too Stepford! for me in the season finale. It was like she wasn’t fazed by Booth’s death. And if she was we didn’t see much of it.

Hence, this story.

And the whole bit about Zach. I honestly have always thought it was Sweets. But as soon as Hodgins showed the lead information, I knew it was Zach. It made sense. And there was so much foreshadowing it wasn’t even funny. Yes, honors English has ruined me for life. /

I liked Zach. And I’ll miss him on the show. But really? Brennan and Booth’s cute little moment at the end of the show made up for it, even under the circumstances.