Disclaimer: I own neither Angel or anything associated with him, and "Bones" is equally out of my reach control-wise

Feedback: Appreciated

AN: And here we are; the final chapter of this storyline, looking at Angel's perspective on key events of life as Special Agent Seeley Booth. For those of you who haven't read my other work, this story is followed by "The Sister in the Door", which provides an explanation for Booth's tumour and explains exactly what this opening scene is all about…

Angel of the Bones

You think you've won anything, 'boyo'?

Who said that?

You really think you're any kind of champion in this world? You gave up everything you were to be some pathetic official flatfoot mooning over the sexy doctor?

What gives you the right-?

Oh, we've known each other for a very long time, buddy… and hopefully you'll be seeing me sooner rather than later…

What are you talking-?

You'll see when I'm ready, Boothy-boy, and not before.

Lying in bed, suddenly struck by both a sense of fatigue and a strange sense of unmourned loss, he didn't know what had just happened to him.

He had this strong sensation that he'd been dealing with some kind of murder mystery, involving a very modern-looking nightclub and a group of people he knew and somehow didn't know, but there were also memories of a life where doing that kind of thing was part of his regular day, in a laboratory that looked just like that nightclub, and then there were the more complicated memories of almost three centuries killing people, brooding around in alleys, and saving lives against all kinds of monsters…

'The thought of losing so much control over personal happiness is unbearable,' a voice said from somewhere outside him. 'You love someone, you open yourself up to suffering, that's the sad truth. Maybe they'll break your heart; maybe you'll break their heart and never be able to look at yourself in the same way. Those are the risks. That's the burden. Like wings, they have weight, we feel that weight on our backs, but they are a burden that lifts us. Burdens which allow us to fly.'

He didn't know where he'd heard that, but something about the voice that spoke those words resonated with him…

What kind of life do I have? he asked himself.

Something about the burden of romance felt so much more profound than it felt like it should if he only had an academic idea of that kind of situation…

"Such a weird dream…" he said, becoming dimly aware of needles and tubes in his arms and under his nose as he blinked his eyes open, becoming aware of what he was fairly sure was a hospital room around him.

"Booth?" a voice said, followed by a beautiful brunette appearing in front him, looking at him with a smile that seemed like she was fighting the urge to cry. "Booth! You're awake!"

"So real…" he said, his mind still struggling to piece together what had been happening; he remembered a curse… he remembered a blonde warrior forced to undertake a great destiny… he remembered a brunette scientist who sought to give others the answers she'd been denied… he remembered a life dedicated to giving others somewhere to relax and have fun…

"Your operation was a success, but you reacted poorly to the anaesthesia," the beautiful woman explained, her face becoming increasingly familiar as his vision improved even if her identity remained elusive. "You've been in a coma for the past four days. What took you so long to wake up?"

"It felt so real," he said, still struggling to put things in order.

"It wasn't real," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Booth asked her, gaze focusing on her face.

He felt like he knew this woman, and he hated to see her tearful expression at that last question, but he also felt like he was missing something here… there was some context to their relationship he was having trouble pinning down right now… and there was definitely something missing in the back of his mind here outside of this…

AN 2: Well, that's 'Angel of the Bones' over; I originally started writing this story to set up the background for 'The Sister in the Door' before I decided to just get straight to that storyline, and I have no plans to take this story beyond the removal of the tumour.

That said, I have some thoughts on a few other scenes in Booth/Angel's life that could be interesting reading when those events are viewed through Angel's eyes, such as his wedding to Brennan (which may or may not include some of Angel's surviving friends as well as Booth's existing social circle in this reality), but there are no immediate plans to write those right now when I have some other projects to work on.

Of course, if anyone has anything from the next few seasons of the show they'd like to see Angel/Booth's perspective on once his friends know the truth about his history as Angel, give me the details (preferably via PM) and I promise you that I'll at least think about them