TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
BONES

Season 6, Episode 9: The Doctor in the Photo

"I made a mistake."

"Nah, I told you my opinion, I mean, you got it right."

"Not everything. She died with regrets."

"Come on, Bones, everybody has regrets."

"I heard her, you know? Micah says that all we get are these…dim, staticky messages from the universe."

"Who's this Micah guy?"

"The night watchman, but he attends a lot of lectures. Anyway, the point is … she never gave him a chance."

"Micah."

"No, no, the helicopter pilot. He offered himself to her, but she never gave him a chance. That was her regret. I got the signal, Booth. I don't wanna have any regrets."

"Um, I'm with someone, Bones. And, uh, Hannah? She's not a consolation prize. I love her. You know, the last thing I wanna do is hurt you, but those are the facts."

"I understand. I missed my chance. My whole world turned upside down. I can adjust."

"I did."

"Yes, you did."

"Do you, uh, want me to call someone?"

"No. I'm fine. Alone."

The problem was she wasn't fine. And she didn't want to be alone. Closing her eyes as the hot water streamed down her face and body, washing away the residue of body wash, she tried to get her chaotic feelings in check but it wasn't as easy as it once had been.

Turning off the shower, she grabbed a towel as soon as she stepped out, drying herself before wrapping it around her wet hair. Looking over at the clock beside the bed, she saw it was just twenty after four in the morning.

Letting out a quiet sigh, she began to change into jeans and a long sleeve top, quickly blow drying her hair before she put on socks and low heeled boots. She didn't want to be alone, didn't want to dwell in the swirling emotions she was feeling.

Right now, all she wanted to do was find something to occupy her mind.

Friday

She didn't know how she'd ended up here. Her intention had been to go to the lab and get the paperwork done to close the Eames case. Instead, she stood just outside the door of the hospital's roof, where the heli-pad was located, holding two cups of black coffee.

She watched as the post-flight check was completed, Chris Markham reporting off to the incoming helicopter pilot. She attempted a smile when he looked her way, taking a few steps towards him as he picked up his duffel bag and headed her way. They stared at each other in awkward silence before Brennan handed him one of the cups she held, "Are you…available to talk?"

"Yes," Chris smiled as he took the cup, gesturing towards a far off corner of the heli-pad where they could be out of the way, "Did you find out what happened to Lauren?"

Nodding, she sat down at the edge of the bench, keeping her body angled so she could see his face, "It was…an accident."

"An accident?"

Looking down at her cup, she nodded again, taking a sip of her coffee before continuing, "She went to Woodland, to talk to the family of a brain dead boy. She tried to convince them to donate his heart to one of her patients…they said no."

He took a sip of his own coffee, his shoulders dropping as he looked out at the city spread out below them, "She couldn't deal with the rejection so she did something stupid, didn't she?"

"Yes," leaning forward, she rested her elbows against her thighs, holding the warm cup between her hands, "She bought heroin –for the thrill of it, so she could feel something. She put it in her pocket –she didn't buy it to use it. She got hit by a car –fractured her skull on one of those reflective traffic markers. The driver panicked, buried her under the tree."

Chris let out a sigh as he leaned back into the bench, resting his cup on his thigh as he stared unseeing at the still helicopter, "I would have been good for her…I really would have."

"She knew that."

There was something in the way that was said that got Chris' attention, his dark brown eyes focusing on her for the first time, "You remind me a lot of her…"

"I'm not her," she whispered as she sat back, setting her coffee aside.

"No, you're not," Chris gave her a sad smile as he studied her face, "But you're very similar. Lauren was driven, dedicated, intense…brilliant. You seem to have those same qualities."

Letting out a soft chuckle, she nodded as she stretched out her legs, crossing her booted feet at the ankles, "I think…it's why I had a hard time being objective with this case. There were so many similarities and I just…I couldn't differentiate between her and I. I started wondering if –if I kept holding myself back, keeping myself from feeling…anything, if I would end up like Lauren…alone, fading from existence, becoming a memory that would eventually disappear."

"I thought about her every single day," Chris clasped his hands over his flat stomach, "I still do."

Letting out a sigh, she stared out at the horizon, a slight breeze playing with her hair, the sun warm against the back of her head, "She died with regrets…I didn't want to have any regrets so…I told him –that I made a mistake."

Nodding, he leaned forward, hands still clasped, elbows resting on his thighs as he looked over at her, "That agent you work with?"

She nodded, not looking at him, "He's with someone else. I missed my chance."

"How are you dealing with the rejection?"

"I'm here," she quietly pointed out, reaching up to move her sunglasses from the top of her head as the sun kept climbing the sky, "Talking about it. I feel…sad."

"That's better than not feeling anything."

Brennan nodded in agreement, a sad smile on her face, "Yeah."

They sat in companionable silence, the warmth of the rising sun touching their exposed skin and the breeze keeping them comfortable as the temperature slowly increased. Sitting back, Chris looked over at Brennan, quietly watching as she stared out into the horizon, a small smile appearing on his face when she looked over at him, "I was planning on getting some breakfast before heading home. Would you like to join me?"

Before she could answer, the ding of an incoming text sounded from the pocket of her dark coat. Pulling out her phone, she saw the text was from Booth, her thumb hovering over the text icon for a couple of seconds before she slipped it back into her pocket without reading it.

"Need to be somewhere?"

"No," she shook her head, standing along with him as they both picked up their half empty cups, Chris shouldering his duffel bag as Brennan accepted his invitation, "Breakfast sounds good."

Saturday

Booth let out a sigh as he set his phone aside, rubbing his face with one hand before running his fingers through his hair. It had been three days since that night and he hadn't heard from or seen Bones since then. He'd texted her the morning after, to make sure she was okay, but she hadn't replied. Now, his calls were going straight to voicemail. He wondered if she had buried herself in Limbo, getting lost in her work, which was her go to solution whenever she struggled with the emotional stuff in life.

"What's wrong, Seeley?"

He looked up as Hannah came into the kitchen, wearing a pair of shorts and one of his work shirts, hair falling down her shoulders in messy waves, "Bones. I haven't heard from her these last three days. The Eames case was a hard one for her and I'm worried."

"I'm sure she's okay," Hannah poured herself a cup of coffee, moving to sit across the table from him; "She's a tough girl."

"Not really," Booth gave her a smile, grasping her ankle as soon as she lifted her legs to settle them across his lap, "She talks a tough game but Bones is all heart underneath."

Hannah didn't give a response. She sipped her coffee, studying Booth's face over the rim of her cup while he stared out the window. As the minutes ticked by in silence, she let her mind drift to the article she was currently working on.

Booth, on the other hand, was struggling with the heavy guilt weighing on him. He had hurt his best friend, and now he was keeping a secret from the woman he loved. He wasn't sure what to tell Hannah about Bones' revelation, or even if he should.

One thing at a time, though. First, he needed to touch base with Bones and make sure she was okay…he'll give her one more day before he broke through her self-imposed solitude.

Sunday
Grand Canyon, Arizona

"Thank you for inviting me along," Brennan stared out towards the horizon, comfortably seated in a camping chair with a glass of iced tea in one hand as she watched the changing colors of the sky and canyon rocks, "I've never seen a sunset like this before."

"This was going to be our first date, Lauren and I," Chris sat in a similar chair to her left, ankles crossed and body slouched comfortably as he watched the show nature was putting on for them, "She turned me down when I asked her out –every time."

Adjusting her sunglasses, she took a sip of her iced tea before looking over at Chris, "Tell me about the first time you met her."

Chris smiled, keeping his eyes on the horizon as he shared his favorite memory, "I got called into DC Memorial to pick up a cardiologist, along with a donor heart, and fly them up to New Hampshire. I was sitting in the cockpit, rotors still spinning, when she burst out onto the roof. She was wearing four inch heels and a dress that hugged her all the way down to her knees, and yet, I've never seen anyone move faster than her. I remember thinking there was no way she was going to be able to climb in with the dress she was wearing, but before I could undo my harness to get out and help her, she took her shoes off and tossed them into the helicopter, then hiked her skirt up high and climbed in, all the while yelling at me to get us up in the air."

Brennan rubbed a hand against her chest, her heart aching a bit at the warmth to his voice as he continued speaking, "I was in awe of her. For the first few months after that day, I admired her from afar, thinking she was too good for me –definitely way out of my league. I remember this one day I picked her up –she'd successfully completed a heart transplant on a five year old in Rhode Island. The smile on her face…god, she was beautiful. I asked her out a week later –she said no."

They sat in silence, watching the sun paint the bright blue sky in streaks of gold and pink, as well as splashes of deep red and bright orange, all the while causing the quartz embedded along the canyon walls to sparkle like diamond dust.

"What about the first day you met your partner?"

"Booth," Brennan smiled as she dropped her head back to rest against the canvas backing of the camping chair, settling the cold glass in the built in cup holder before drying her hand on her jeans, "I was teaching a course at American University. He came in towards the end of my lecture. He needed help with a cold case and I was his last option. He asked me if I believed in fate –I said no."

"What about now?"

Chuckling, she let her head fall to the side to be able to see him, "The concept of fate is ludicrous. Life is what we make of it. Our choices, and the consequences that come with them, are what shape our lives. To give credit to something as nebulous and undefined as fate for what happens in life is to negate our responsibility to ourselves and others."

Chris bit back a smile, turning to look at the horizon, watching as a condor flew in lazy circles, "That's a well thought out argument against fate."

"Of course," Brennan watched him with narrowed eyes, wondering if he was mocking her, "I never say anything without thinking it through."

"A good rule to live by," Chris gave her a sincere smile, his dark brown eyes sparkling as the sun lit up their little corner before sinking behind the rock walls, "Lauren had a similar notion. She would say life is what you make of it, not what it makes of you."

Tilting her head, she thought the words over, giving a slight nod in agreement, "Makes sense."

"And yet, the hardships that come with life had her close herself to the point of not feeling," Chris closed his eyes, able to clearly visualize Lauren's face, the way her smile would make her blue eyes shine, "At first, when she lost a patient, I was able to get her to smile by the time I had her back at DC Memorial. I would ask her out and she would let go of the hurt and guilt and smile before telling me no. I once told her I wouldn't give up, that I would keep asking. She told me her greatest fear was me giving up on her."

Brennan didn't say anything; she just sat beside him in silence, both of them watching the sky turn into a deep blue as the sun slipped further under the horizon.

Monday

"Hey, Bones," Booth spoke loud enough to be heard across the lab as he headed towards his partner's office, "How about we have lunch at Si –"

He stopped at the threshold of the dark and empty office, eyebrows lowering as he noticed she hadn't been there since last week.

Turning, he looked over at the platform, noticing a couple of the squinterns were hard at work, but no Bones in sight. Looking up at the open concept breakroom, he called out as he headed towards the stairs, "Hey Bones! I'm starving."

"Booth," Cam walked out of her office, placing her hands on her hips as she gave him a look of exasperation, "Why are you yelling in my lab?"

"Just looking for Bones to take her to lunch."

Cam tilted her head, eyes quizzical as she stared at him, "Dr. Brennan asked for a week off. She struggled throughout the Eames case so I went ahead and gave it to her. Didn't she tell you?"

Booth stood at the base of the stairs, his chest feeling tight as he rubbed the back of his neck, "No, she didn't…the whole week?"

"Yes," Cam crossed her arms over her chest, "She said she'll be back on Monday."

"What if we get a case?"

"She's assigned Mr. Bray to go out into the field with you," dropping her arms, she gave him a pointed look, "Whatever's going on with her, Seeley, I hope you pay better attention this time around."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Shaking her head, she turned to head back to her office, rolling her eyes when he followed behind her, "If I have to explain it to you, Seeley, then there's no hope for you at all."

"Look, Camille, if you've got something to say, just get it off your chest. I don't like all this cryptic talk, and you well know it."

Letting out a sigh, she stood behind her desk, leaning forward as she placed her hands flat on the surface, looking over at him, "Do you remember what I told you, at the Founding Fathers that day, not long after your brain surgery?"

Booth stared at her, thinking back, but the days leading up to and even some of the events weeks after the surgery, tended to blur and meld together, "Refresh my memory, will you?"

"You said you were in love with Dr. Brennan," Cam moved to sit in her chair, crossing one leg over the other, "And I told you to be sure before you approached her with your feelings. I don't know what happened, but I know you opened your big mouth before you were sure, which is why you two ended up at opposite ends of the world."

"She didn't feel the same way for me," Booth shoved his hands into his pockets, fingering the poker chip he kept as a reminder of his sobriety; "I had to move on."

"Seven months, Booth," Cam turned her body to face the computer, done with the conversation, "You showed Dr. Brennan that all it takes is seven months to move on from one person to the next, thus proving her theory love is nothing but brain chemistry."

Tuesday
Luray, Virginia

The silence was heavy, the echo of their footsteps loud in the cavernous chamber they walked through. Brennan stared at her surroundings in complete wonder, her hand on the rail the only thing serving as a guide as they walked the path leading deeper into the caves, "This is beautiful…I can't believe I've never been here before."

Chris smiled as he walked beside her, his hands in the pockets of his dark green cargo pants, "Lauren once told me she loved exploring caves on her free time when she was in college. She stopped doing it during med school because she didn't have the time."

"She did choose an extremely competitive discipline," she looked over at him, smiling at the look of wonder on his face as he studied the stalactites and stalagmites, as well as the many other unusual but beautiful rock formations, "Complete and total dedication is the only way to become the best."

"I agree. However," Chris looked sideways at her, cocking an eyebrow as they turned a corner, "Balance is necessary to be able to keep being the best."

Chuckling, Brennan stopped to look down, amazed at the depth of the caverns, "I can't argue with that."

He stood next to her, staring up –they'd traveled at least two miles down and the view above was just as amazing as the one below, "I discovered this place about a year ago. I thought of bringing Lauren here –I know she would have enjoyed it."

"I'm sure she would have," moving away from the railing, they continued their slow progress, the air growing thinner the farther down they went, "I definitely am."

"Now, I take you for being the adventuresome type," Chris' smile spread into a grin as he motioned towards a platform to their left, a couple of park rangers waiting, "So I arranged for us to abseil the rest of the way down. You game?"

Laughing as she followed behind him, she pulled a tie from the pocket of her jeans, pulling her hair back into a ponytail as they reached the park rangers, "Last one down buys dinner."

"Deal."

Wednesday

"Bones! Come on, open the door," Booth knocked on the door a little harder, his shoulder propped against the door frame as he listened for any movement within the apartment, "I've got coffee."

There was no response, and although he knew the key she'd given him was for emergencies, he decided to use it. For all he knew, she was unconscious inside her apartment and in need of help. He entered on silent feet, setting the cup carrier on the breakfast bar as he looked around the open floor apartment.

He noticed the half full coffee pot sitting on the coffee machine, the kitchen neat and tidy except for one mug in the sink. Moving further into the apartment, he saw the little things that let him know she was coming home at night then leaving in the morning. She was outright avoiding him, and although he knew it shouldn't hurt, it did.

Peeking into her bedroom, he noticed the neatly made bed, a pair of knee high boots beside her dresser, and a sweater neatly draped over a chair. Heading back into the kitchen, he quickly penned a note on the pad she kept beside the phone and propped it up against the cup of coffee he had brought her, taking the other one with him as he let himself out of her apartment, locking the door behind him.

Pulling his phone out of the pocket of his coat, he sent her a quick text, letting her know he'd stopped by and he missed her. He pressed send without thinking then realized telling her how he was feeling wasn't probably the best thing, not after the way he'd hurt her.

He closed his eyes as the memory of her crying beside him, the rain outside the moving SUV doing nothing to cover up her soft sobs, stabbed at him, making him grimace as he exited the building. In the six years he'd known her, he'd seen her cry…

He stood still, coffee cup in hand, as he realized he'd never seen her cry. He'd witnessed her sad little girl look many times, had held her when she needed comfort, but he'd never seen or heard her cry, not until that night. Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath, wondering what he was going to do to fix this mess.

He couldn't lose his best friend –no matter what was going on in his life, he wasn't willing to lose Bones.

Thursday
The Virginia Creeper Trail

Brennan's laughter was unrestrained as she crested the hill, enjoying the smell of fall in the air, the trees on either side of the bike trail brilliantly displayed in rich colors, the occasional deep green visible among the many yellow, red, orange and brown leaves.

"Okay, we need to stop," Chris panted as he crested the hill behind her, a grin on his own face, "I need a breather."

"Oh, come on," Brennan teased as she slowed down, looking over her shoulder to give him a smile, "We're barely fifteen miles in."

"Yeah, and the last five were uphill," Chris stopped, spreading his legs wide to keep his bike balanced, "We've still got twenty miles to go so we could take it easy for a while, don't you think?"

Playfully rolling her eyes at him, she stopped and got off her bike, removing her bright blue helmet and hanging it on the handlebars as Chris caught up to her, having done the same, "I guess we can walk a bit to cool off."

"You're merciless," Chris bumped his shoulder against hers, "Do you always throw yourself completely into whatever you do?"

"Yes," pushing her bike beside her, she kept her eyes on the colorful vista before them, ignoring the slight twinges of pain running up her calves, "I don't know how…to do anything halfway."

Nodding, he shook his legs, his thigh muscles burning from the hard pedaling uphill they had done, "It doesn't exhaust you, giving everything of yourself?"

Turning to look at him, she chewed on her bottom lip before shaking her head, "No. When it comes to work or a hobby, throwing myself into it without holding back will always give me the results I expect. When it involves another person…it becomes an unknown quantity, one I cannot predict or control, which frightens me. I realize now it's the reason why I never committed to a relationship."

"What were you expecting when you shared your feelings with Booth?"

Her eyes dropped down to her feet, her nose burning as she fought back the sudden need to cry. She hadn't seen Booth since that night, and even though she'd listened to his dozen voicemails and read his dozen texts, not to mention the coffee and note he'd left in her apartment yesterday, she still wasn't sure if she could face him yet, "I…I honestly thought…he told me many times before, that he loved Hannah and that they were serious, but I…I let myself hope that he –that he would love me more. I didn't set out to break them apart or to hurt Hannah, but a small part of me thought he would pick me."

He reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze, "Rejection is much more painful when hope is involved."

She let a sad little chuckle escape, nodding as she blinked away the tears, eyes on the light blue sky above them, "I haven't seen him since that night or spoken to him. I just…I don't know if I can… be like before."

"You need to ask yourself this," Chris kept her hand in his as they continued walking in the middle of the leaf strewn trail, both of them pushing their bikes with their free hands, "Can you see your life without Booth? Whether he's a friend, a partner, or whatever capacity he's willing to fulfill?"

She gave his question serious thought, her chest hurting and her stomach fluttering uncomfortably at the idea of never seeing Booth again, "No, I can't. I've been avoiding him, I know, it's just…I need the time and space to get myself together, to properly compartmentalize all these…feelings inside me. I haven't felt this emotionally out of control since…since the Christmas my parents abandoned me and my brother."

Chris nodded, having already learned some of the important details regarding Brennan's past, and gave her hand another comforting squeeze, "I'm glad you're able to deal with the pain instead of pushing it away –that was always Lauren's problem. She never let herself feel the disappointment that came with the loss of a life…and as such, she never let herself feel the joy of life."

She let go of his hand, placing the biking helmet back on before swinging her leg over the bike, Chris doing the same, "It's been a slow process but I've learned that very lesson having Booth in my life. Before he came along, I…I saw everything in black and white, I compartmentalized my feelings and avoided relationships outside of work. Any interactions I had with the opposite sex were purely to satisfy biological urges. When I met Booth…I was attracted to him –his physical attributes were pleasing and there was obvious chemistry between us. Even the verbal interaction…it was stimulating."

They pedaled slowly through the piles of autumn colored leaves, the breeze lifting them into a slow graceful dance before dropping them again.

"When did it become more than just…stimulating?'

His question startled her as it brought her back from that night long ago. Blinking back tears she hadn't been aware were forming, she looked over at Chris, her bicycle wavering slightly before she straightened it, "He approached me about a case…that's how we met. We danced around each other –the mutual attraction was obvious, even to me. A couple of days after, we met up at a bar one night, got to drinking tequila. He fired me for punching a judge, I propositioned him, and on our way out to get a cab, he kissed me…my entire life shifted right then and there. It scared me so much, I took off in the cab alone, and then proceeded to push him away."

She slowed her peddling as they rounded a bend on the trail, the sunlight falling across her face having her pulling her sunglasses from the collar of her shirt and slipping them on, "That lasted for a year, where he tried to get a hold of me and failed. He forced himself back into my life by having Homeland Security hold me for questioning on a return trip from Guatemala, then dangled a case he knew I wouldn't be able to say no to."

She saw him shake his head out of the corner of her eye, "What?"

Giving her a smile tinged with sadness and regret, he picked up the speed, but not before sharing what he was feeling, "I was just thinking, if I had done with Lauren as Booth did with you, maybe she would still be alive today."

Friday

"Hey, Angela," Booth strolled into the artist's office, flipping his sobriety chip in the air in an act of nonchalance, "How's it going?"

Angela grinned as she swiveled her desk chair, stretching out her legs and resting her hands on her slightly rounded stomach, "It's been quiet around here. Haven't seen you in days, Booth –where have you been?"

"Oh, you know," Booth walked around the large office, stopping now and then to study a painting or sculpture, "Meetings and work –got caught up on paperwork. How's the little peanut doing?"

Smiling as she rubbed her small protruding belly, she answered with a grin, "Growing every day."

"That's good," he flipped his coin again before sliding his hands into the pockets of his slacks, his open suit jacket bunching behind his arms, "What's Hodgins's been up to?"

"Bored as hell," Angela turned to face her desk, crossing her arms over its surface as she gave him a pointed look, "Why are you here Booth?"

"Oh, you know," Booth stood before one of Angela's paintings, intently studying the lines and colors, "Just paying a visit to you squinterns."

"Booth," Angela gave him a pointed look as soon as he turned to face her, "You hate the lab. The only reasons you come here is to get answers on a case, which we don't have, or to get Brennan, who is not here. So why are you here?"

Shrugging, he meandered around the office, picking up a small sculpture from a shelf, "Just wondering if you've heard from Bones."

Angela watched him, making note of his avoidance at looking her way, "This morning. She's doing well."

"Good," Booth nodded, setting the sculpture down, "That's good. Did she head off to some dig or something?"

"You don't know where she's at?"

Letting out a long breath, he finally looked over at Angela, "No. She won't answer my calls, won't return my texts. I have no idea where she is, what she's doing, or how she's doing."

"She's adjusting, as expected," Angela pushed her chair back, picking up a folder from her outgoing tray, "If you'll excuse me, I need to get this to Cam."

"Angela," Booth stopped her with a hand on her arm, his brown eyes quietly beseeching her to not leave him in the dark, "Where is she?"

"I don't know."

"I thought you talked to her this morning."

"I did," Angela gently tugged her arm away, moving around him to exit her office, "Considering the plans she had for today, she could be in any given place."

"What plans?"

Walking past the platform with Booth behind her, she did her best to keep the growing anger inside her from bleeding into her voice, "She's taking flying lessons."

"Flying lessons? Like, an airplane?"

"She doesn't need lessons to fly a kite," the sarcasm was sharp as she looked over at him where he was keeping step beside her, "Yes, she's learning to fly a plane."

Booth stopped where he was, staring after Angela, "Since when has she wanted to learn to fly a plane?"

Angela lifted a shoulder in a shrug, slowing down before turning to walk up to Booth, "You know what's bothering me," she didn't wait for him to answer, "That you forgot the truth about Brennan."

Booth opened his mouth, but Angela didn't let him speak as she smacked the folder against his chest, "You pushed when you knew damn well she wasn't ready. Not only that, but you didn't spell out exactly what you were feeling –instead, you go stupid and ask her to gamble on something she has no certainty of its outcome. Now, here she is, finally laying out the truth about how she's felt about you for years, and you had to go and let her know your heart belonged to someone else. You basically told her your love for her no longer existed and her own feelings didn't matter."

"I didn't –" Booth stopped what he was saying when she slapped his chest again, her eyes sparkling with long held anger, "You keep your mouth shut. I'm telling you right now, Booth, if you mess with her head the way you did with her heart, I will hurt you."

Booth stood where he was, watching Angela walk away in a huff, his own chest feeling painfully tight. Rubbing a hand over his chest, he turned to leave the lab, pulling out his phone to check and see if Bones had returned his calls and texts…

She had not.

Successfully turning the plane around at their turning point, Brennan laughed as she looked out at the view spread out before them, "This is amazing!"

Chris grinned as he watched her work the rudder and brakes under her feet, her touch light on the control wheel, "You're a natural at this."

"I can't believe I never thought of learning to do this," she let out a sigh as she leaned back her head against the seat's head rest. Their trek had consisted of leaving a small airport, with a flight plan taking them east of Washington D.C. Now, they were heading back to the city, the sun slowly setting before them and painting the sky into brilliant hot colors, "This is so freeing –like nothing I've ever experienced before."

Laughing, Chris quickly checked the gages spread out before them, noting their altitude and speed, seeing they had more than plenty of fuel left to make it home, "Wait until I teach you to land this baby –you'll understand what fear is."

"You actually were planning on teaching Lauren how to fly?"

"Yes," Chris tapped her left hand to get her to move the control wheel, which she had moved ten degrees away from their designated path, "Lauren enjoyed learning new things, and she was a bit of an adrenaline junkie. We would talk, you know, on the days when she successfully completed transplants. The success of those operations would make her happy. At times, nearly manic. The last couple of months, though…after she lost those three patients, one after the other, she shut down on me…"

Brennan looked over at him, a soft smile on her face, blue eyes glassy with unshed tears, "She would have been happy with you –she knew that. She just wasn't strong enough to reach out to you like she wanted to."

Chris nodded, blinking away tears as he took his control wheel, moving his feet to the rudders and brakes at his feet, "I'm glad I'm sharing this with you…I know she would have enjoyed it, and I'm glad you are too."

Placing her hands on her lap, she let him take control of the small air plane, watching the sunset as they slowly descended towards Washington D.C.

"You can't give up on him, Temperance," Chris looked over at her, seeing the lost look on her face as she studied the panoramic view, "He's stuck it out for years. A love like that doesn't just go away, it can't be replaced by another love."

"He said she wasn't a consolation prize," letting out a sigh, she turned her head to look at him, "What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Be the friend he was when you broke his heart."

"A heart can't be broken," she rubbed a finger against the seam of her dark jeans, dropping her eyes to watch its movement, "It's a muscle, so it can only be crushed."

"I stand corrected," he said with a chuckle as he slowly turned the plane towards the runway, quickly communicating with the tower to get the green light so he could land, doing so smoothly once he was given the go ahead, the wheels touching the tarmac, both of their seats bouncing slightly as the speed he was going slowly decreased until he was cruising along, pulling into the hangar he kept his plane in, "Are you ready to see him on Monday?"

"I'm not sure," she removed her headset as soon as Chris removed his, staying still when he reached over to undo her five point harness after having undone his, "I haven't talked to him all week, and I'll know he'll want to know why. What do I say?"

"Tell him you needed time to yourself and he should respect that," Chris helped her exit the plane, taking the duffel bag he had brought with him, "As your friend, he'll back off."

Chuckling, she walked beside him, settling her sunglasses on the top of her head as they arrived at his car, "Booth doesn't know how to back off."

"Then you tell him to back off," Chris opened the passenger door for her, having already tossed his duffel into the trunk, "Don't pussyfoot around him, Brennan."

"I don't know what that means."

Laughing, he closed her door and headed around the front, sliding into the driver's seat as he looked over at her, "Don't hold back. Don't keep your feelings and thoughts to yourself. If you need to, tell him to back off, to give you space, and if something he does or says hurts you, tell him. Friendship is about give and take, about being open and honest with each other."

The silence was comfortable as he easily navigated the streets towards her apartment. "Are we friends?"

Chris looked over at her, his mouth tipping into a smile as he answered her question, "Yes. We're friends."

"I'm naturally inclined to close myself off, to keep from getting hurt. I don't want to do that to Booth, but how do I fight my natural inclinations?"

"It won't be easy," he parked his car in the parking lot beside her apartment building, turning it off and removing his key as he looked over at her, "You'll have to fight every automatic response you have ingrained when it comes to emotional involvement. It'll become easier with time and practice."

Nodding, she got out of the car when he opened her door, pulling her keys out of the pocket of her coat, "Everything does."

Locking his car, he walked beside her, hands in the pockets of his bomber jacket, "I'm looking forward to this dinner you've got planned. I haven't had a home cooked meal in quite a while."

She laughed as she looked over her shoulder at him, "How do you feel about mac and cheese?"