Building a Life

The drive to Booth's house wasn't long, but it was made quicker by the fact that she actually had things in common with Jack, so they had things to talk about to pass the time. She learned during that time that he was very insistent on moving as far away from his family's lifestyle when he left school as possible. He was very enthusiastic when it came to anything scientific and she could tell, that whatever he decided to do he would exceed in, even if it was due to pure enthusiasm.

When they arrived at Booth's house he told her he would take her back home again in a couple of hours and politely declined when she invited him to join them. He told her he had other things to do, which she believed. After bidding Jack goodbye, Brennan walked up the steps towards Booth's grandfather's house and quickly knocked on the door, silently hoping that he was actually home. She heard noise from inside so someone was definitely inside, but who exactly had not yet been established.

She saw the door slowly open and saw Booth's brother Jared at the door and then he saw the look of disappointment on his face, "Oh, it's only you. Seeley, you have a visitor," Jared yelled up the stairs after letting her inside the house. Not expecting anyone, Booth slowly made his way downstairs, taking it one step at a time prolonging the process for as long as possible.

"Well, don't look too excited," she said when she saw him. It was only then when he looked up and saw her standing there, which made him practically jump the last few steps. He jumped in front of her and pulled her in for a hug, almost cutting off all circulation. "Yeah, Booth you may have to let go so I can breathe."

"Sorry, Bones I am just so happy to see you…Wait how did you get here?" he asked.

"Jack offered to drive me here, he said he had things to do in this area and guessed I would want to tell you about my first day in person anyway," she said smiling at him.

"That's great, I'm so glad you're here. Hey, let's go for a walk or something and you can tell me all about the new school," he said quickly grabbing his shoes by the front door. He grabbed her hand and led her outside with him and guided her along the sidewalk. "So, how was it?"

"It was good, better than I expected. Umm…Jack came over in the morning and we walked to school together and then he met up with me at lunch and introduced me to some of his friends," she started.

"Oh, yeah. What are they like?" he asked her.

"They seem nice from what I could gather, I was only around them for a while, but so far so good," she told him reassuringly.

"I'm glad then, at least you will have people to sit with." Booth had been extremely worried that she would be let alone like she had been at their school, that was apart from when he annoyed the crap out of her and it was a relief for him to know that she wouldn't be alone. It gave him one less thing to worry about, but only made the thing he was keeping from her more insistent.

"Yep, everything's good so far," Brennan told him smiling. He smiled back at her and leaned down and kissed her for the first time that day.

"So, when is Jack coming to take you home?" Booth asked.

"He said in a couple of hours or so," she answered.

"Alrighty then, we better make the most of it then," he said kissing her again and making it last for as long as possible before they both needed air. They spent the rest of the time talking and filling each other on what had happened in each other's day. But, Booth was faced still with one thing that she hadn't told her and with the end of the school year coming even closer, he was running out of time.

What does Booth to have to tell her, that is worrying me.

The next few months passed without too much drama. Brennan had a solid friend in Jack and had managed to string up friendships with his friends who made her time at school bearable and for the most part enjoyable. Her relationship with Booth was going strong and despite further away than before they managed to see each other as much as possible. Her foster parents were still just like they were at first, caring and the total opposite to her first ones.

But, Booth on the other hand was dealing with something different. While, yes he could say his relationship with Brennan was going perfectly, he was trying to figure out a way to tell her that he would be leaving her, temporarily. He was going to join the army, the rangers to be more specific, he hadn't exactly gotten the best grades to go to college and since he was injured the previous year; a sports scholarship was out of the question, basically Uncle Sam was his last ticket to get any sort of respectable job, preferably law enforcement.

Booth wasn't scared about what he may have to face in the army, going off to war and facing it head on, what worried him the most was telling that to the most important person in the world to him. He had made up his mind four months ago that this was what he was going to do when he left school, he had spoken to the careers adviser, his teachers, his grandfather, even Jack knew of his plan, but he had put off telling her mainly because he had no idea how to approach it.

Now he was closer to graduating high school so the time to tell her of his decision was looming and he knew the longer he left it, the worse it was going to be. He had organised to stay over at Jack's house on the weekend he graduated, and hoped to see Brennan during that day and tell her then, the only thing he was unsure of now was how she was going to take his impending news.


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It was now the weekend before he was to graduate and the weekend he was staying across the road from her house. He had spoken to Jack and after he had spent most of the day with her new friends the two of them split away from the group, where he hoped he would be able to tell her about his career choice. He managed to find a quiet park, one similar to the one they used to meet up in when she lived close to him and he convinced her to stop there so he could talk to her.

"Why have we stopped here Booth?" she asked him, she could sense he was anxious about something because he had been behaving out of the ordinary all day.

"I need to talk to you about something important Bones," he said to begin with, he still had no idea how to exactly break the news to her, so he thought if he just got the words out he would deal with the rest later.

"What Booth?"

"You know how I am graduating in a week; well I didn't end up finishing with the best scores in the world, which means my options for college are limited. And after the sports scholarship was kind of quashed last year, I have decided my last option is to join the army, the rangers," he said. It wasn't until he finished that he looked at her to gage her reaction.

"Umm…so what would that mean would you have to go and do some special training soon, or what?" she asked after a few minutes. He could tell she was going to hold off her emotions until necessary and focus on the details, and if that's what she wanted for now that's what he was going to give her.

"Well, after I have graduated I will have to register and six weeks into the summer they have a training course which lasts about a month, which I will have to go to. Depending on my skills I may be deployed for combat or not and well we will see from there," he told her. She nodded in response trying to take this new information in. Booth moved closer to her and put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest and held her tight. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pushed her head into his shoulder, and he kissed her forehead, knowing that this was comfort enough for now until she was ready to talk about it more.

wonder what will happen next?

"So have you registered yet?" Brennan asked Booth rather abruptly the day before he was set to graduated, almost a week after he had told her about his plans to join the army. This was the first time since then she had brought it up and frankly that unnerved him.

"Umm…why do you ask?" he asked curiously.

"Just wondering?" she said fiddling with the hem of her shirt; it seemed as if she was now regretting her question.

"Oh, well I have registered, since I am already eighteen I could so I thought the earlier I did the less chance I had to put it off," he told her waiting to see how she would react next.

"Oh, okay," she said. He watched her for a minute seeing if she would say anything else, but it seemed that she was still in denial or whatever you wanted to call it and wasn't ready to give her full opinion on the situation and if she didn't want to comment yet, he wasn't going to push her.


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The next day at his graduation she sat with his family which was made up of her, his grandfather and his brother. Luckily no sign of his father, just as he wanted it. Whenever he looked at her, she looked as if she was forcing a smile, like there was something she was hiding. He knew that she was trying to keep some brave face up around him, but she was completely failing because he could see though it and he knew it was only a matter of time until she broke. He just hoped it was before he was set to leave and he was able to pick up the pieces.

After the official ceremony ended Booth searched for his group and it wasn't long before he found them. He saw Hank, with the biggest smile on his face that he had ever seen; no one could deny how proud he was of his grandson. Even Jared who was overly mature was proud of his brother, maybe just knowing they were both safe and sound enough to see this day come. But Booth was the happiest when he saw her, his Bones, now with a smile on her face that he knew wasn't forced an was out of genuine happiness for the events that had transpired that day and the milestone it marked. But that didn't mean that either of them forgot what that signalled the approaching of, the day he could be shipped off to a war zone with so much as a day's notice.


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Booth noticed Brennan's happiness waver over the remainder of the day and he knew that he had to try and get her alone somehow. Hank had organised a party in Booth's honour celebrating the end of an era and since he was the main attraction it was difficult to sneak away. After speeches and the right of passage embarrassing stories he managed to pull himself away from the clutches of his 'adoring' fans. He grabbed Brennan's arm and pulled her around the front of the house and they began to walk down the street away from all the noise. They eventually ended up at the park, their park as he had come to think of it and he pulled her to where he knew they wouldn't be found.

"Hey, I haven't really been able to talk to you all day," he said when he had pulled her down to sit next to him on the grass.

"Yeah, well that was to be expected, considering what today was," she replied.

"I know, but I really wanted to spend time with you, not with them, I mean they are all friends of my grandfathers and people I see all the time. I mean the time we get to see each other is limited," he said. She nodded unsure of how to respond, some of her hair fell in front of her face and he didn't hesitate to lift his hand up and push it behind her ear. He then leaned in and kissed her slowly and waited for her to respond, when she did, she placed her hand on his cheek and they sat there for a few minutes and kissed. When they pulled back he noticed tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey, what's the matter?" he asked wiping away a lone tear that had fallen.

"Tess and Aaron said that we are going away this summer, they apparently want to give me the full summer vacation treatment, Jack's family is coming too," she said, more tears had begun to fall.

"But, I don't understand that's great isn't it, this means they want to do things for you and love you," he said not getting why she was so upset.

"But, I won't be able to see you, what if when after your training you are sent off straight away and I never see you again," she said. Now it clicked in his mind, she was terrified that her leaving and having a good time would mean that they would be separated and in turn they would be parted for good. Booth pulled his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest, rubbing his hand up and down her back.

"Shh, it's ok, don't worry. Whatever happens, if I am sent off, I promise you, I promise you that we will be together again not matter what, ok," he put his finger under her chin so he was looking into her eyes, "I love you Bones, I promise you nothing will keep us apart as long as I am still breathing I will come and find you and if for some reason you are moved out of the Sanders' home I will find you, ok. Don't worry." She didn't know what to say other than nod, he leant down and kissed her quickly and reassuringly and then pulled her back against his chest calming her down.

At least Bren has a great family, I hope everything turns out okay between B&B

Next chapter hopefully soon

Brennan woke up one morning a week after Booth's graduation completely out of sorts. Today was the beginning of her vacation with her foster parents and it was a massive understatement to say she was feeling a little apprehensive about it all. She was able to appreciate that they, unlike most foster parents she had heard of, were going out of there way to make her feel like part of a real family. But, honestly the timing couldn't be worse.

She was absolutely terrified about Booth's impending leave for army training, and those fears were heightened knowing she would be elsewhere when he left. Although rationally she knew that it was only training, nothing like the big leagues and nothing serious could happen, but she knew from his determined and dedicated nature that he would excel and ultimately be sent off soon after training was completed. That was what scared her the most, Booth being shipped off without notice and her potentially loosing him forever.

The other end of the scale was the possibility that while Booth was in training or deployed, she was moved out of the Sanders' house and placed somewhere else. Once again she knew that she had Jack who would be able to inform Booth of where she was or vice versa, or she could use Jared, Booth's brother for contact. But she found it all too risky. If she had learnt anything worthwhile in the past six or so months it was to not to trust the system, because she could be sent anywhere at anytime to anyone.

She finally rose from her bed and made her way downstairs, very much dreading that day.



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Booth managed to charm his Pops' car for the day, surprisingly after not much convincing. Somehow in that 'creepy' way that adults 'just know', Hank had an idea about what was to occur the coming day and managed to keep Jared busy so Booth could sneak out without becoming his little brother's chauffeur. Booth was feeling similarly to how his girlfriend was that day, terrified. It was finally hitting him that they were going to be separated for three months at the most and depending on him perhaps longer.

But, he could also understand why Brennan was completely freaking out over the situation they were in. Although he didn't want to admit it, he was scared over the possibility that she could be moved. It wasn't about not being able to find her that instilled fear in him, he knew he would search the ends of the earth until he found her; it was the fear that she could be moved to a place that was the complete opposite to the one she was in currently. That she could suffer pain and abuse all over again, but this time with the possibility that he may not be able to save her.

And what about when the time came for him to be sent off to an unknown location. He knew in his heart of hearts that he wouldn't slack off to avoid the opportunity of fighting for his country no matter what was at stake. But, what would happen when he was unable to contact her for weeks and months at a time, would they be pushed apart? Would they lose each other? Once again deep down he knew what the two of them shared was stronger to outlive anything, but it didn't stop the doubts and nigglings of fear imbedded in the back of his mind.

Booth was now realising how dependent each other's lives were on other peoples word and orders. Like a house of cards, one gush of wind and it could all come tumbling down.



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Booth arrived at her house early that morning, well early by his standards, in the attempts to catch her before she left for her vacation. They had said there goodbyes the day before, and he had been trying to reassure her all week about the trip, but he felt the need to see her again, especially since he didn't have an exact timeline on when he would again. Luckily he had been to the house so often now that he had worked out how to open the gate to the expansive driveway that lead up to the house and didn't need to call ahead.

After managing to let himself onto the property he cautiously made his way up the driveway, cautiously because he was still convince a property like this had vicious dogs hidden somewhere ready to attack. He made it 'safely' to the front door and rang the doorbell, praying that this family wasn't ones who hit the road in the wee hours of the morning. He was relived when he heard her voice yelling somewhere inside the monstrosity of a house that she would get the door, and it wasn't long before he was met by her now smiling face.

She had her arms around his neck in a few short seconds, almost causing him to lose his balance. Her face was quickly buried into his shoulder and she was hugging him like she would never let him go.

"Bones, hey what's this?" he asked taken aback by her string response to seeing him. He was glad she was obviously happy to she him, but he knew something else was going on.

"I just thought I wouldn't get to see you again before we left and I was thinking a lot this morning. And well I guess I'm just glad you're here," she mumbled into his shoulder.

"What did I tell you about thinking, huh, it can cause all sorts of trouble," he told her jokingly. At his words she pulled back and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Fine, then," she said with a slight smile on her face. He was quick to pull her back towards him and wrap his arms around her, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey, calm down, I always appreciate all you are willing to give me," he said whipping out his charm smile for safe measure. She smiled back at him and leaned up and placed a quick kiss on his lips before placing her head on his chest, where she felt the most comfortable. "So, do you reckon you are going to survive without me?" he asked her.

Slightly lifting her head she looked into his eyes and shook her head, "Nope, I think we should both stay right here in this spot and not move."

"Hmm, I am liking that idea right now, although I think someone will notice eventually," he told her.

"Who cares," she said. Booth stayed another hour and for that hour they stayed as she wanted, right in that spot, unmoving for anyone. They didn't need to speak to know exactly how each other were feeling about what was happening, one look said it all. Before he left, he kissed her like he never had before, passionate, soft and reassuring all at the same time. A promise between the pair that no matter what challenges they were to face between now and the time they saw each other again, they would overcome them leaps and bounds.

Adorably cute and heart "crushing" at the same time!

Bit of a filler chapter. Please Review and Enjoy

It had been three weeks since he had seen her. Luckily for him it had not been a total loss of contact, a few days earlier she had sent him a postcard from where she was staying. She had managed to say everything that made it obvious to him that she was having a miserable time without him but was keeping up the charade for her foster parents. But, she was saying good things about her time with Jack and it seemed that she had made a friend for life in him and he was keeping her sane while she was away from Booth.

Booth on the other hand didn’t have a handy distraction. He had nothing ahead of him other than his impending army training, which had the potential of separating the couple even more. Six weeks had never felt so long; while he was confident of his decision to enlist he still had those uneasy feelings he assumed anyone in his situation would have. He knew that deep down it was the only thing he could do without completely letting himself down and he continued to remind himself of that as the days drew closer.

He had decided to use this Bones-free time to spend as much time with his Pops and brother as he could, because in all honesty he didn’t know when he would see them again either. Hank had noticed that his grandson was missing Brennan and had aided in keeping his spirits up as much as possible. Booth actually felt more relaxed because of this leading up to his departure, because he was sure that if Brennan was around he would find it very difficult to leave.

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She felt alone and was slowly detaching. She knew that despite her foster parents best efforts to make this summer a memorable one, she knew that she would only become a problem for them. Brennan was constantly reminded of the vacations she had gone on not too long ago with her family. Those were the only times when she was able to let everything go and be herself without constant crude remarks being thrown her way. She had her brother to herself away from his ‘popular’ friends and she felt like she mattered and that she had a place other than to sit in a library and read.

It didn’t help her to feel excited or sociable when she knew that Booth was leaving in a few short weeks and she couldn’t be there to see him off. She had grown rather anxious recently, knowing that their ‘fate’ as Booth would probably refer to it could be decided solely on his performance at his training. While she knew that he would be highly determined which would allow him to excel, she felt slightly selfish in knowing there was a small part in her that hoped he wouldn’t. And that feeling made her feel extremely guilty.

Jack had been hanging around her more as the days went by, he to aware of what the weeks were leading up to. He knew that if she were to stuff this trip up, and become detached completely from her foster parents she could jeopardise her placing there. He had heard small things about the foster system and what he had heard wasn’t pretty, he knew that if she could make this work, it would definitely be an advantage for her.

Today was the big day, the day that could lead to the changing of two lives in an instant.

Booth hadn’t slept at all the night before, constantly being interrupted by morbid thoughts of what could happen at war. He knew it was stupid to think like that, especially since he was only leaving for training, but subconsciously he knew he would be doing the best he could and it would be a real possibility that he would be sent to war. That, paired with constant thoughts of his girlfriend miles away didn’t help with the bout of insomnia he was suffering from.

He woke early that morning and was dressed in his mandatory uniform as quickly as possible. While he didn’t have to leave until late morning, he didn’t want to waste anytime he had left with his grandfather and brother, especially given the uncertainty of hi future. When he went downstairs to the kitchen he found Hank already up, seemingly having the same idea Booth had.

“Morning, Shrimp,” Hank said when his grandson entered the room.

“Good morning Pops,” Booth answered, he strode across the kitchen towards the bench where coffee was already made. Hank turned on his chair to face Booth and took a good look at him in all his gear.

“So, big day today?” Hank said more as a statement than a question.

“Yep,” Booth was unsure of what to say, and luckily before he left an awkward silence Jared entered the room.

“Well, look at this. Seeley actually shaved and showered this morning, must be a special occasion,” Jared teased walking past Booth, as he did Booth pulled Jared into a headlock, as brothers would do.

“Come on boys, really do we have to be like that today,” Hank was trying to make today as peaceful as possible and didn’t want any of his two grandsons antics ruining that. “Seeley, can I talk to you for a minute,” Hank hardly ever called him Seeley, so Booth knew that this was either very serious or very important. Hank gestured towards the living room and the two sat down on the couch.

“What’s this about Pops?” Booth asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Today you are entering the real world; you are ‘leaving the nest’ as they say. And well we don’t know exactly for how long that is going to be, and while I know that you are string and capable, I still feel worried about not being there to protect you,” Hank began, Booth could see that this was hard for his grandfather and automatically put his hand on his Pops’ shoulder to offer some form of support, to which Hank placed his own hand on top. “I got you something, small, but it will help you while you are gone, protect you when I should be and keep you safe.”

Hank dug around in his pockets and Booth was curious to what he was going to be presented with. After a few moments of rummaging around he found what he was looking for, he pulled out a small silver medallion on a silver chain and handed it to Booth.

“It’s Saint Christopher, the patron saint of…” Hank began.

“Or travellers, yeah I know,” Booth said interrupting his grandfather.

“I thought with you going away, and for who knows how long and to where, you could need all the luck you could get,” Hank said, Booth had no words that seemed worthy enough at that point, so he settled on hugging Hank with all he had to show his appreciation.

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Brennan woke anxious and nervous; she was fully aware of what today was and couldn’t help feeling that way. Her whole vacation had been tainted with the anticipation of this day arriving and now that it had she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t stand at the airport and bid him farewell like they did in the movies and didn’t think she could contact him, so basically she was stuck uncertain of how to proceed for the day.

If she were to be completely honest she would say she had enjoyed her time away, she had some distraction from all the things occurring back at home. But, after nearly six weeks of basically doing nothing, thoughts about her family were seeping in. She would do something which reminded her only remotely of when her family was around and that pushed her back into the shell she had begun to slowly come out of.

…

Jack had seen the waves of despair that Brennan was floating in and out of and he knew that she needed something, one small thing to keep her at bay. He had been mulling over it for nearly a week and it wasn’t until the day before Booth had to leave that the light bulb went of in his head. He knew the perfect way to pull her back even if it was only slightly, and help her avoid being sent to a different foster home, for lack of involvement in family activities.

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Jack knocked on her door at 8.30 that morning; he knew she usually stayed in her room for as long as possible to avoid all the commotion of her foster parents and his parents. He heard a faint ‘come in’ and quickly entered the room, not wanting to waste any more time.

“Phone for you,” he said, holding it out towards her.

“I didn’t hear it ring,” she told him very matter-of-factly.

“That’s because it didn’t,” Jack held the phone closer to Brennan urging her to talk to whoever was on the other line. Brennan looked at Jack quizzically before holding the phone to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Bones,” the voice answered very casually.

“Booth,” she answered in a state of shock and disbelief. “How?”

“Jack called me and said you were a bit down in the dumps. He thought without six weeks of contact, you could at least speak to me before I leave,” Booth answered. Brennan looked at Jack who was leaving the room, he turned to look at her and saw her mouth ‘thank you’, which let him know this was exactly what she needed. Jack then left the room leaving the two to talk in private.

“I am so happy to hear your voice,” she said, speechless and unsure of what to say in what she expected would be a short call.

“Me too,” he said, in the same boat as her, wanting to say so much in such little time. For a few minutes the two sat by the phone content and listening to the other breathe, until Booth broke the silence. “You know I have to leave today, and well I am glad I can talk to you before that. I want you to remember that whatever happens, we will be together, nothing will break what we have and I won’t let you disappear from my life. I love you, Bones, and I won’t let anything come between us, that’s a promise,” he said with thick emotion in his voice.

Brennan didn’t know how to match his words, so settled with answering, “I love you too.”

They remained silent for a few more minutes; both feeling safe knowing the other was there. Booth then reluctantly said goodbye, the hardest goodbye he had made. He knew that he would keep his promise and she felt the same way he did, but it didn’t aid him in ending the call. Brennan eventually heard the dial tone, indicating to her that he was gone. For one of the first times since her parents left she curled up on her bed and let tears escape her. She was shedding tears for the horrible uncertainty that faced them and the days ahead she would face worrying about their future.