Ooh, it's been awhile since I've read some good angst. This is exactly where I see them headed if they ever did get together; they know too well where to hit each other to hurt the hardest and there'd be an element of self destruction there from the very beginning, I think. Theirloveissuchatrainwreckomg.

I particularly liked this:

As Booth himself once said, a tiger cannot change its stripes. (Obviously not; a tiger's stripes are the direct result of a millenia of specific genetic recombination and there's no known way to alter something as detailed as superficial markings on a large mammal without completely disturbing said mammal's DNA.) She is the tiger and her stripes cannot be changed, no matter how long she hopes the routine of being with Booth will sink into her skin.

The last paragraph is very poignant, too. Awesome job.